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YALE UNIVERSITY
ART LIBRARY

THE WRITINGS ON ART

OF

ANNA JAMESON
IN FIVE VOLUMES
VOL. V

MICHAEL .ANGELO (Cecconi). Page i4<)

MEMOIRS OF EARLY ITALIAN
PAINTERS BY ANNA JAMESON

THOROUGHLY REVISED AND IN PART
REWRITTEN BY ESTELLE M HURLL
WITH SIXTY-TWO PORTRAITS

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BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOOGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
(Cfig jRftiEtst&e ^tts^, CamliritiBe
MDCCCXCVI
Copyright, 1895,
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
AU rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Electrotj'ped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co.

EDITOE'S PEEFACE
The "Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters " first appeared
as a series of essays in the " Penny Magazine," where they
attracted so much attention that they were collected in book
form a few years later. The work has ever since been a
favorite hand-book on the subjects treated, and has even been
translated into French for the benefit of continental readers
(Paris, 1862). So great was its popularity in Mrs. Jameson's
lifetime that she was obliged to republish it in a revised and
enlarged edition, fourteen years after its first issue. The form
she then gave it has till now remained unchanged except in a
few trifling matters.'' The reader will naturally expect to find
the present edition differing in many ways from that completed
in 1859. Vasari was then the accepted authority on the his
tory of Italian art, and it is now well known that his " Lives "
are full of inaccuracies and blunders. Not only are many of
his biographical details disproved by documentary evidence,
but even the authorship of the paintings he enumerated is in
many cases disputed by modern criticism. The patient inves
tigations of expert critics have replaced the careless guesses
of earlier writers. In order, therefore, to make the Early
Italian Painters a more reliable hand-book it has been neces
sary to correct the text in accordance with accepted modern
authorities. On the other hand great pains have been taken
to preserve all that gives unique character and value to the
work. The sympathetic charm of Mrs. Jameson's narrative
and her poetic and discriminating comment upon pictures are
1 See the Editor's footnotes to the List of Authorities referred to by the Author,
and oa pages 58 and 73 of the text.

VI EDITORS PEEFACE
features which by their very nature cannot be affected by his
torical criticism. Thus all who have known and valued the
book in the old form will find it still familiar in its essential
character. AVhere any of the original text has been omitted,
there is usually a foot-note giving a clue to the reason for the
omission. Where new material has been added, or old state
ments modified, brackets are used to indicate plainly the edi
tor's hand. In some few cases the order of the narrative has
been slightly changed without any alteration in the words of
the text. The most conspicuous example is the treatment of
the Campo Santo, the authorship of the frescoes there being
a subject on which there are now entirely different opinions.
It has not always been possible for the editor to ascertain the
present locality of those works of art which, at the time of
Mrs. Jameson's writing, were in private collections. Such
collections are not accessible to the ordinary tourist, and are
not catalogued for the benefit of the public. Many are no
longer intact, as the Wallerstein collection of Kensington
Palace, Lord Northwick's (sold in 1859), and that belonging
to Mr. Sogers.
The Early Italian Painters is especially valuable in connec
tion with the study of the series on Sacred and Legendary Art,
and to facilitate its use in this way, cross references are freely
inserted to the illustrations and descriptions in Sacred and
Legendary Art, Legends of the Madonna, and Legends of the
]\Ionastic Orders.
The set of illustrations is entirely new. An effort has been
made in every case to present an authentic portrait, and where
none such can be found, to substitute one which has obtained
some acceptance, and is therefore of interest. Many of the
portraits of the earlier painters have been derived from old
editions of Vasari. EsTELLE M. HuRLL.
New Bedford, Ma.ss., June, 1895.

CONTENTS
PAGB
Authorities referred to by the Author and by the
Editor  xi
Author's Introduction, with something about Pic
tures AND Painters  xv
Giovanni Cimabue  1
NiCCOLO PiSANO  . . 12
Gaddo Gaddi  13
Duccio OP Siena  13
Giotto  16
PlETRO Cavallini  30
Andrea Orcagna  32
SiMONE Martini  34
Taddeo Gaddi  34
Giottino  36
PlETRO Lorenzetti  37
Andrea da Firenze  44
Antonio Veneziano  44
Spinello Aretino  45
Lorenzo Ghiberti  49
FiLIPPO LiPPI AND AnGELICO DA FlESOLE  57
Masaccio  65
Paolo Uccello  65
FiLippiNO Lippi  70
Benozzo Gozzoli  74
Andrea di Castagno  80
Sandro Botticelli  82
LUCA SiGNORELLI  84
DOMENICO DAL GHIRLANDA.ro  85
Andrea Verrocchio  90
The Pollajuoli  91
Andrea Mantegna  93
The Invention of Engraving  102
Commencement op the Venetian School : The Bellini 107

viii CONTENTS 110
The Umhrian School : Pibtro Pekugixo  j^j-'J
''!.... 120

Lo .Spagxa   ^•'

PlXTORICCHIO 
Francesco Raibolini, called II Francia  1-1
Fra Baktolojimeo  -^"^
Leonardo da Vince  • • 13"
]\Iichael Angelo Buonarroti  ¦ • 149
1\[arcello Vexusti  168
Skbasti.\n del Piombo  168
Daniel i).\ Yolterra  169
Giorgio A'asari  .  170
Andrea del Sarto  172
Raphael Sanzio d' Urbino  176
The Scholars of Raphael  208
(iiAx Francesco axd Luca Pexxi  209
GiULio Romano  210
Primaticcio  218
Giovanni da Udine  214
Perino del Vaga  214
Andrea da Salerno  214
Polidoro  215
The Dossi  216
Benvenuto Garofalo  217
GiuLio Clovio  218
Correggio  221
Parmigiano  229
GlORGIONE  236
Titian  242
The Venetian Painters of the Sixteenth Century . 256
Moroni  2.57
BoNiFAzio ....  . 258
Bonifazio Veronese  258
BONIFAZIO A'exeziano  259
II Moretto  260
Schiavone  261
Paris Bordone  262
Palma Vecchio  264
Tintoretto  264
Paul Vekoxese  267
The Bassani  271

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

PAGE

Michael Angelo (Cecconi). Ufllzi, Florence. (See page 149)
Fi-onlispiece
Cimabue (attributed to Simone Memmi). From a fresco in
Spanish Chapel, S. Maria Novella, Florence  5
Niccolo Pisano (P. Fedi). Uffizi Portico, Florence .... 11
Gaddo Gaddi  13
Duccio  14
Giotto (G. Dupre). UfBzi Portico, Florence . . . facing 22
CavaUini  31
Orcagna  33
Simone Memmi  3.5
Taddeo Gaddi  36
Giottino  37
Pietro Lorenzetti  39
Ambrogio Lorenzetti  43
Antonio Veneziano  45
Spinello Aretino  46
Ghiberti  51
Filippo Lippi (by himself). From Coronation of Virgin,
Florence Academy  59
Paolo Uccello  66
Masaccio (by himseK). From fresco in Brancacci Chapel,
Carmine, Florence  67
Filippino Lippi (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  69
Benozzo Gozzoli (by himself). From a fresco in Riocardi
Palace  75
Andrea di Castagno  81
Botticelli (by himself). From Adoration of Magi, Uffizi,
Florence  83
Signorelli and Angelico (by Signorelli). From a fresco at
Orvieto  facing 84
GhMandajo (by himself). From a fresco in S. Maria Novella,
Florence  87

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Andrea Verrocchio (Lorenzo di Credi). Uffizi, Florence . . 89
Antonio PoUajuolo (Filippino Lippi). From a fresco in
Brancacci Chapel, Carmine, Florence  9..
Mantegna (Jleglioli). Church of S. Andrea, Mantua ... 95
Gentile Bellini  108
Giovanni Bellini (Rondinelli). Uffizi, Florence  Ill
Perugino (by himself). From a fresco in the Sala del Cam-
bio, Perugia  115
Pinturicchio  119
Francia  • . . 123
Bartolommeo (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  129
Leonardo da A''inci. Uffizi, Florence  facing 146
Sebastian del Piombo  169
Daniel da Volterra   170
Giorgio Vasari (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  171
Andrea del Sarto (by himself). Uffizi, Florence .... 173
Raphael (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  facing 190
Gian Francesco Penni  209
Giulio Romano (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  211
Primaticcio  212
Giovanni da Udine  213
Perino del Vaga  214
Polidoro  215
Dosso Dossi (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  217
Garofalo  218
Giulio Clovio. Curzon portrait  219
Correggio. Parma Gallery  facing 226
Parmigiano (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  231
Giorgione (attributed to himself). Uffizi, Florence . . . 237
Titian (by himself). Berlin Gallery  facing 246
Moroni (by himself). Uffizi, Florence  257
Bonifazio Veneziano  259
Moretto  260
Schiavone  261
Paris Bordone  262
Palma Vecchio (Ity himself). IMiinich Gallery  263
Tintoretto (by himself). Uffizi, Florence .... facing 266
Paul Veronese  267
Bassano (by himseK). Uffizi, Florence  270

AUTHOEITIES EEFEEEED TO BY THE
AUTHOE
Giorgio Vasari. Lives of the Painters. Lemonnier edition, 1849.
Carlo Ridolfi. Maraviglie dell' Arte. Padua, 1835-37.
Giovanni Rosini. Storia della Pittura Italiana. Pisa, 1839.
F. T. Kugler. Handbook of the Italian Schools of Painting. Ed
ited by C. L. Eastlake, London, 1842.
Luigi Lanzi. Storia Pittorica della Italia.^
Lasinio. Early Florentine Masters.
Lasinio. Le tre Porte del Battisterio di San Giovanni di Firenze.
1821.
William Young Ottley. Early Florentine School. London, 1826.
William Young Ottley. Italian School of Design. London, 1823.
Karl Friedrich Ludwig Felix Rumohr. Italienische Forschungen.
Berlin, 1827.
Seroux d'Agincom-t. Histoire de 1' Art par les Monumens.
Paris, 1823.
Count Leopoldo Cicognara. Storia della Scultura Moderna.
Prato, 1823.
J. D. Passavant. Rafael von Urbino. Leipzig, 1839.
John Edward Taylor. Michael Angelo considered as a Poet.
London, 1852.
Allan Cunningham. Life of Sir David Wilkie. London, 1843.
Jonathan Richardson. Essay on the whole Art of Criticism as
it relates to Painting, and an Argument in behalf of the Science
of a Connoisseur. 1719.
Lewis Griiner. Fresco Decorations and Stuccoes in Italy. Lon
don, 1854.
Arena Chapel, Padua. A Series of Wood Engravings from the
Frescoes of Giotto. Accompanied by an explanatory notice by
John Ruskin. Arundel Society, 1860.^
1 It is impossible to learn what edition of this work was used by Mrs.
Jameson. 2 This worlt is mentioned on page 20 of the text, but it is probable that the
reference was inserted by some editor's hand after Mrs. Jameson's death.

xii AUTHOEITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR
Christian Carl Josias Bunsen. Beschreibung der Stadt Rom.
Stuttgart, 1830-42.
"SA'm. Hazlitt. Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in Eng
land. London, 1824. Republished as Criticisms on Art and
Sketches of the Picture Galleries of England. London, 1856.
Anna Jameson. Handbook to the Public Galleries of Art in and
near London. London, 1841.
Henry Hallam. History of the Literature of Europe. London,
1837-39.
AUTHOEITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOE
A. H. Layard's revision of Kugler's Handbook of the Italian
Schools of Painting. London, 1887.
Giovanni Morelli. Critical Studies of the Italian Painters. Trans
lated by Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes. London, 1893.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle. History of Painting in Italy. London,
1864.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle. History of Painting in North Italy.
London, 1871.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Titian : His Life and Times. London,
1877.
Eugene Miintz. Raphael. Translated by Walter Armstrong.
London, 1882.
Julia Cartwright (Mrs. Henry Ady). The Early Work of Ra
phael. Portfolio Monograph. London, January, 1895.
H. Grimm. The Life of Raphael. Translated by Sarah H.
Adams. Boston, 1888.
H. Grimm. Life of Michael Angelo. Translated by Fanny E.
Bunnett. Boston, 1865.
J. A. Symonds. The Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti. Lon
don, 1893.
Charles C. Perkins. Tuscan Sculptors : Their Lives, Works, and
Times. London, 1864.
Susan and Joanna Horner. Walks in Florence. London, 1893.
Karl Kilroly. Guide to the Paintings of Florence. London, 1893.
Eugenio Pieraccini. Guida della R. Galleria Antica e Moderna.
Florence, 1893.
Bernhard Berenson. The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance.
New York and London, 1894.
Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Venise. Venice, 1892.
Catalogo della R. Pinacoteca di Milano. Milan, 1892.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR xiii
E. G. Massi. Descrizione delle Gallerie di Pittura nel Pontificio
Palazzo Vaticano. Rome, 1887.
Wilh. von Wartenegg and Dr. Herm. DoUmayr. Fiihrer durch
die Gemalde-Galerie. Alte Meister. Italienische, Spanische
und Franzbsische Schulen. Vienna, 1894.
Konigliche Museen zu Berlin. Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der
Gemalde. Berlin, 1891.
Illustrierte Katalog der Alten Pinakothek. Officelle Ausgabe.
Munich.
Karl AVoermann. Katalog der Koniglichen Gemaldegalerie zu
Dresden. Dresden, 1892.
Julius Meyer. Antonio Allegri da Correggio, from the German ;
edited and with an introduction by Mrs. C. Heaton. London,
1876.
George Bedford. Art Sales. London, 1888.
John Denison Champlin, Jr., and Charles C. Perkins : Cyclopedia
of Painters and Painting. New York, 1886.
Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. Revised by Robt.
Edmund Graves. London, 1886.
J. Burckhardt. Le Cicerone : Guide de I'Art Antique et de I'Art
Moderne. Traduit par Aug. Gerard sur le 5''" edition par le
doctenr Wilhelm Bode. Paris, 1892.
Jean Paul Richter. Italian Art in the National Gallery. London,
1883.
Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the
National Gallery. Foreign Schools. By authority. London,
1892.
Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the
National Gallery. British and Modern Schools. By authority.
London, 1894.
Ernest Law. The New Guide to Hampton Court Palace. Lon
don, 1894.
Mary Logan. Guide to the Italian Pictures at Hampton Court.
London, 1894.
Official and Authorized Royal Guide to Windsor Castle. Windsor,
1894.
Le V" Both de Tauzia. Musee National du Louvre. Tableaux
des Ecoles d'ltalie et d'Espagne. Paris, 1894.

AUTHOE'S INTEODUCTION
WITH SOMETHING ABOUT PICTURES AND PAINTERS
It is now about fourteen years since these " Memoirs " of
the early Italian Painters were first published in the form of
detached essays.
The intention was to afford to young travellers, young stu
dents in art, young people generally, some information relating
to celebrated artists who have filled the world with their
names and their renown ; some means of understanding their
characters, as well as comparing their works ; for without
knowing what a painter was, as well as who he was, and the
circumstances around him, and the age and the country in
which he lived, we cannot comprehend the grounds of that
relative judgment which renders even imperfect works most
precious and admirable. These biographical essays were neces
sarily brief. Since they were first published the taste for art
has been much extended ; many works have appeared, some
beautifully illustrated ; and unnumbered reviews, and essays,
and guide-books, from the pens of accomplished critics and
artists, all facilitating the study of art ; but the original pur
pose of this little book as a companion for the young has not
been superseded. The author has therefore prepared this new
edition with great care. The references to examples have been
made, wherever it has been possible, to our National G-allery ;
and the number of valuable early pictures which have been
lately added to our collection has rendered these references and
descriptions much more intelligible and interesting to the
young student than they were a few years ago. Many remark
able pictures have since changed hands ; all the arrangements

xvi author's INTRODUCTION
in the Gallery of the Louvre at Paris, in the Florentine Gal
lery, and in that of the Academy at Venice, have been altered
within the last ten years. It has been necessary, therefore, to
correct the references with some regard to the existing arrange
ments. Of course it has not been possible in this little
work to enter into disputed points of criticism or chronology ;
but the author has profited by two recent visits to Italy, and
more particularly by the last excellent edition of Vasari,! ^^
add several new biographies, and to render these Memoirs alto
gether not only more interesting, but sufficiently accurate,
considering their comprehensive and popular form, not to
mislead the inexperienced student on questions relating to par
ticular pictures and individual artists which remain to be
settled. And with regard to pictures, let it be remembered that,
although a knowledge of the name, the character, the country
of the painter, adds greatly to the pleasure with which we
contemplate a work of art, it is not — it ought not to be — the
source of our highest gratification ; that must depend on our
capacity to understand the work in itself, and have delight in
it for its own sake. Our first question, when we stand before
a picture, should not be, " Who painted it ? " but " What
does it mean?" "What is it about?" "What was it in
the painter's mind to express when he thus embodied his
thoughts in form and color ? " We should be able to read a
picture as we read a book ; and the picture has this advan
tage over a book, that the significance is not expressed in
written or printed words, which are mere arbitrary signs of
human invention, but in forms and colors, which are the
creation of God. Imagery, whether in painting or sculpture,
was a means of imparting instruction as well as delight long
before the art of writing existed, and painting was brought to
a certain degree of perfection, and used for the grandest the
most important purposes, long before we had the art of printing.
1 The edition published by Le Monnier, at Florence, in 1846-1857.

author's INTRODUCTION xvii
In those times, to use the expression of one of the old Fathers
of the Church, " Pictures were the books of the people ; " in
fact, they had no other ; and even now, when books are plen
tiful and cheap, the use of pictures to convey instruction
more rapidly and more accurately than by any words, is well
known both to those who train the young and those who teach
science. But it is another thing when we have to consider pictures
as Aet, and painting as one of the divinest of the Fine Aets
properly so called.
Now a man may collect books merely as articles of curiosity
and rarity, as specimens of printing and binding, like that col
lector whom Pope describes —
"In books, not authors, curious was my lord ! "
or he may like them as furniture to fill his shelves with gay
binding and accredited names ; and even so may a man collect
pictures for their beauty, or their rarity, or their antiquity-, or
hang them upon his walls as mere ornamental furniture. No
doubt such collections are a great, an allowable source of
pleasure to the possessor and to the observer ; but considered
as productions of mind addressed to mind, this is not the high
est advantage to be derived from pictures. As I have said,
we should be able to read a picture as we read a book. A
gallery of pictures may be compared with a well-furnished
library ; and I have sometimes thought that it would be a
good thing if we could arrange a collection of pictures as we
arrange a collection of books. In the ordering of a library
with a view to convenience and use, we do not mix all subjects
together. We have different compartments for theology, his
tory, biography, poetry, travels, science, romances, and so forth ;
and we might consider pictures in a similar order. Theology
in that case would comprise all sacred subjects, whether taken
from the Holy Scriptures, or having any religious significance ;
they may be the representation of an event, such as the Eleva-

xviii author's INTRODUCTION
tion of the Serpent in the Wilderness (Rubens, National Gal
lery),! the Raising of Lazarus (Sebastian del Piombo, National
Gallery), the AVorship of the Magi (Paul Veronese, National
Gallery) ; or they may be the exjtression of an idea, such as
the Dead Saviour mourned by his Mother and the Angels (Fran
cia, National Gallery), or those most beautiful and inexhausti
ble subjects, the Human jNIother nursing her Divine Son,^ and
the Divine Son crowning in Heaven the Mother who bore him
on Earth (Andrea Orcagna, National Gallery). Such ideal
subjects bear the same relation to sacred events as the Psalms
and prophecies bear to the book of Kings.
In the category of theological pictures may be classed those
which represent the effigies and sufferings of the holy Martyrs,
who perished for their faith in the early ages of Christianity
— as the noble Roman soldier St. Sebastian (PoUajuolo, Na
tional Gallery) ; the Great Doctors and Teachers of the Church
— as St. Jerome [by Guido Reni, Roselli and Basaiti, in the
National Gallery], ¦^^'ho made the first translation of the Scrip
tures into the vulgar tongue (thence called the Vulgate) ; and
those personages who became ideal types of Christian virtues :
thus we have the valorous angel INIichael, the conqueror of the
powers of evil ; the benign angel Raphael, the guardian of the
young [compartments of Perugino's altar-piece. National Gal
lery] ; the learning and wisdom of St. Catherine (Raphael,
National Gallery) ; the fortitude of St. Anthony (Annibal
Caracci, National Gallery) ; the chivalrous faith of St. George
(Tintoretto, National Gallery). Some knowledge of these
personages, their characters and actions, historical or legendary,
and tlie manner in which they were represented by various
artists for the edification of the people, will add greatly to the
interest of a gallery of pictures ; and we class such subjects as
1 [There is another picture of the same subject by Rubens in the Madrid Gal-
lery.] 2 [See the painting in the National Gallery catalogued as belonging to the
Tuscan school. It has been successively attributed to Ghirlandajo and Pol-
lajuolo.]

AUTHORS INTRODUCTION xix
sacred art, just as we should class Milton's Paradise Lost and
the Pilgrim's Progress as sacred poetry.
All would range as theology, and nothing is more interest
ing than to observe the very different manner in which the
self-same scene and subject has been conceived and represented
by different artists.
But to continue our parallel between a library and a picture
gallery. History would comprise all pictures representing
such actions and events as have been recorded by uninspired
writers — classical and modern. Such are the Family of Darius
at the feet of Alexander, from Grecian history (Paul Veronese,
National Gallery) ; the Romans carrying off the Sabine Women,
from Roman history (Rubens, National Gallery) ; the Death
of Lord Chatham, from English history (Copley), [National
Gallery] ; and so on ; and portraiture stands in the same relation
to historical painting that biography bears to history. Is not
the picture of Ippolito de' Medici and Sebastian del Piombo
[by Sebastian del Piombo, National Gallery], a piece of bio
graphy ? and Julius the Second, that resolute old pope ? ! and
Julia Gonzaga ? ^ and Zurbaran's Monk ? and Rembrandt's
Rabbi ? ^ We are ignorant indeed, darkly ignorant, of history
as of character, if we cannot read such pictures.
Poetry would comprise all subjects from the poets —
ancient and modern. Such are the Bacchus and Ariadne
(Titian, National Gallery) ; the Venus and Adonis (Titian,
National Gallery) ; Mercury teaching Cupid to read (Correggio,
National Gallery) ; the Judgment of Paris (all taken from
the classics) ; Erminia and the Shepherds (Annibal Caracci,
National Gallery) (from Tasso) ; the Rescue of Serena * (from
1 [By Raphael. According to Passavant, the painter repeated the subject
nine times. The best authenticated portrait is in the Uffizi, Florence. The
National Gallery contains another, claimed as genuine.]
2 [The painting is by Sebastian del Piombo, in the National Gallery, and
represents the lady as St. Agatha.]
3 [Zurbaran's Monk and Rembrandt's Rabbi are both in the National Gal
lery.] i Hilton [National Gallery].

XX author's INTRODUCTION
Spenser). These are poetrij, if they be not rather each in
itself a poem. Then, correlative with fiction and the drama,
domestic or romantic, we have that style of painting, called
genre, which deals with the scenes and incidents of familiar
life, which may be of a very high moral significance, as the
Marriage h. la Mode, by Hogarth [National Gallery] ; or of
the lowest, as the Woman peeling Carrots (Maas, National Gal
lery) ; or the Drinking Boors (Teniers, National Gallery) ;
but whatever the significance, it may be ennobled by the per
fect execution. Some modern novels, in which the most com
monplace events of every-day life are treated with the most
exquisite grace, delicacy, and knowledge of human nature, may
be likened to those Dutch pictures in which two misers count
ing their gold, a lady reading a letter, or a woman bargaining
for a fowl, shall be treated with such consummate elegance of
execution, and even power of character, that they delight at
once the eye and the fancy.
But genre painting was unknown in the early schools of
Italian art ; the concerts and conversation i of Giorgione and
the other Venetians are too poetical to come under this desig
nation, so I shall say no more of it here. And animal-paint
ing, as a special class of art, such as Rubens, and Snyders, and
Landseer have made it, was also unknown. At the same time
we must acknowledge that, when the old Italians did introduce
animals into their pictures, they showed themselves capable
of excelling in imitative as well as ideal art. What can ex
ceed the little birds on the steps of the throne in Benozzo
Gozzoli's Madonna (National Gallery), or the fish in Perugino's
picture of Raphael and Tobit, for exquisite truth of nature ?
To be sure we cannot say the same of Paolo Uccello's horses
(in the Battle of St. Egidio, National Gallery). Yet it is
interesting to observe the first efforts in this way of a school
which afterwards produced Andrea Verrocchio's equestrian
statue of Colleone,! and Leonardo's Battle of the Standard.
1 [At Venice. There is a fine cast in the Crystal Palace.]

AUTHORS INTRODUCTION xxi
Landscape-painting, which may be likened to books of travels
and descriptions of scenery, was unknown as a separate class
of art till the middle of the sixteenth century ; but some of
the early painters, particularly the Venetians, give us lovely
bits of background to their religious scenes. That intense
sympathy with natural scenery which we find in the works of
Thomson and Wordsworth as poets, Cuyp and Hobbema as
painters, seems to have been the growth of modern times.
Lastly, to continue our parallel, we have a scientific class
of art as of books. Painting, when called in to illustrate the
discoveries and triumphs of science, as geology, botany, archi
tectural elevations, and the like, may be called scientific art ;
and a collection of this kind of pictures, where beauty of treat
ment is combined with exact truth, might be made very attrac
tive as well as interesting and profitable. In these days
scientific art is chiefly employed in illustrating books, and is
the handmaid rather than the priestess and interpreter of
nature. But photography is teaching us all the beauty and
all the poetry that may be found in the most literal transcripts
of truth ; and, like landscape and portraiture, scientific art will
find in time a place for itself in our galleries.
When we know and thoroughly understand the subject of a
picture, we may then inquire the name of the painter, the
age, the country, the school of art in which he was reared, to
which he belonged ; and hence we may derive the most vari
ous delight from the associations connected with this extended
knowledge. These Memoirs of famous painters are intended
to suggest such comparative and discriminating reflections, and
I will conclude with a passage written long ago by an almost
forgotten critic in art, old Jonathan Richardson : —
" When one sees an admirable piece of art, it is a part of
the entertainment to know to whom to attribute it, and then
to know his history ; whence else is the custom of putting the
author's picture or life at the beginning of a book ? When
one is considering a picture or a drawing, and at the same time

xxii author's INTRODUCTION
thinks that this was done by him who had many extraor-
dinary endowments of body and mind, but was withal very
capricious ; ! who was honored in life and death, expiring in
the arms of one of the greatest princes of that age, Francis I.,
king of France, who loved him as a friend. Another is of
him 2 who lived a long and happy life, beloved of Charles V.,
emperor, and many others of the first princes of Europe.
When one has another in his hand, and thinks this was done
by him^ who so excelled in three arts as that any of them in
that degree had rendered him worthy of immortality, and one
that, moreover, durst contend with his sovereign (one of the
haughtiest popes that ever was) upon a slight offered to him,
and extricated himself with honor. Another is the work of
him^ who, without any one exterior advantage, by mere
strength of genius, had the most sublime imaginations, and
executed them accordingly, yet lived and died obscurely. An
other we shall consider as the work of him ^ who restored
painting when it was almost sunk ; of him whose art made
honorable, but, neglecting and despising greatness with a sort
of cynical pride, was treated suitably to the figure he gave
himself, not his intrinsic merit ; which, not having philosophy
enough to bear it, broke his heart. Another is done by one^
who (on the contrary) was a fine gentleman, and lived in
great magnificence, and was much honored by his own and for
eign princes ; who was a courtier, a statesman, and a painter,
and so much all these, that, when he acted in either character,
that seemed his business, and the others his diversion. — I say,
that when one thus reflects, besides the pleasure arising from
the beauties and excellencies of the work, the fine ideas it
gives us of natural things, the noble way of thinking one
finds in it, and the pleasing thoughts it may suggest to us, an
additional pleasure results from these reflections.
" But, 0 the pleasure ! when a connoisseur and lover of
1 Leonardo da Vinci. 2 Titian. s Michael Angelo.
4 Correggio. 6 Annibal Cai-acci. 6 Rubens.

author S INTRODUCTION xxiii
art has before him a picture or a drawing of which he can
say, this is the hand, there are the thoughts, of him ^ who
was one of the politest, best-natured gentlemen that ever was ;
and beloved and assisted by the greatest wits and the greatest
men then in Rome ; of him, who lived in great fame, honor,
and magnificence, and died extremely lamented, and missed a
cardinal's hat only by dying a few months too soon, but was
particularly esteemed and favored by two popes, the only ones
who filled the chair of St. Peter in his time, and as great men
as ever sat there since that apostle, — if at least he ever did ; ^
one, in short, who could have been a Leonardo, a Michael
Angelo, a Titian, a Correggio, an Annibal, a Rubens, or any
other he pleased, but none of them could ever have been a
Raphael. And when we compare the hand and manner of
one master with another, and those of the same man in differ
ent times, when we see the various turns of mind and various
excellencies, and, above all, when we observe what is well or
ill in their works, as it is a worthy, so it is also a very de
lightful exercise of our rational faculties."
It is to enlarge this sphere of rational pleasure in the con
templation of works of art that the following Memoirs were
written. May, 1859.
1 Raphael.
2 Julius II. and Leo X. are the popes alluded to, whose likeness to St. Peter may
be doubted. Both were great patrons of art ; but the first was violent, haughty,
and ambitious; the latter selfish, sensual, vain, unprincipled. Raphael painted
both ; and each portrait is a faithful transcript of character, as well as a mas
terpiece of art.

MEMOIKS OF THE EARLY ITALIAN
PAINTERS

GIOVANNI CIMABUE
BoEN AT Florence 1240, Died about 1302
To Cimabue for three centuries had been awarded the lofty
title of "Father of Modern Painting;" and to him, on the
authority of Vasari, had been ascribed the merit, or rather the
tniracle, of having revived the art of painting when utterly
lost, dead, and buried — of having by his single genius brought
light out of darkness, form and beauty out of chaos. The
error of gross exaggeration of Vasari in making these claims
for his countryman has been pointed out by later authors :
some have even denied to Cimabue any share whatever in the
regeneration of Art ; and at all events it seems clear that his
claims have been much overstated ; that, so far from painting
being a lost art in the thirteenth century, and the race of
artists annihilated, as Vasari would lead us to believe, several
contemporary painters were living and working in the cities
and churches of Italy previous to 1240 ; and it is possible to
trace back an uninterrupted series of pictorial remains and
names of painters even to the fourth century. But in depriv
ing Cimabue of his false glories, enough remains to interest
and fix attention on the period at which he lived : his name
has stood too long, too conspicuously, too justly, as a land
mark in the history of Art to be now thrust back under the
waves of oblivion. A rapid glance over the progress of paint
ing before his time will enable us to judge of his true claims,
and place him in his true position relative to those who pre
ceded and those who followed him.
The early Christians had confounded in their horror of
heathen idolatry all imitative art and all artists ; they regarded

2 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
with decided hostility all images, and those who wrought them
as bound to the service of Satan and heathenism ; and Ave find
all visible representations of sacred personages and actions con
fined to mystic emblems. Thus the Cross signified Redemption ;
the Fish, Baptism ; the Ship represented the Church ; the Ser
pent, Sin or the Spirit of Evil. When, in the fourth century,
the struggle between paganism and Christianity ended in the
triumph and recognition of the latter, and Art revived, it was,
if not in a new form, in a new spirit, by which the old forms
were to be gradually moulded and modified. The Christians
found the shell of ancient Art remaining ; the traditionary
handicraft still existed ; certain models of figure and drapery,
etc., handed down from antiquity, though degenerated and dis
torted, remained in use, and were applied to illustrate, by direct
or symbolical representations, the tenets of a purer faith. From
the beginning, the figures selected to typify our redemption
were those of the Saviour and the Blessed Virgin, first sepa
rately, and then conjointly as the Mother and Infant. The
earliest monuments of Christian Art are to be found, nearly
effaced, on the walls and ceilings of the catacombs at Rome, to
which the persecuted martyrs of the faith had fled for refuge.
The first recorded representation of the Saviour is in the charac
ter of the Good Shepherd, and the attributes of Orpheus and
Apollo were borrowed to express the character of him who
"redeemed souls from hell," and "gathered his people like
sheep." In the cemetery of St. Calixtus at Rome a head of
Christ was discovered, the most ancient of which any copy has
come down to us : the figure is colossal ; the face a long oval ;
the countenance mild, grave, melancholy ; the long hair, parted
on the brow, falling in two masses on either shoulder ; the
beard not thick, but short and divided. Here, tlien, obviously
imitated from some traditional description (probably the letter
of Lentulus to tbe Roman Senate, supposed to be a fabrication
of the third century), we have the type, the generic character
since adhered to in the representations of the Redeemer.
A controversy arose afterwards in the early Christian Church
which had a most important influence on Art as subsequently
developed. One party, with St. Cyril at their head, main
tained that, the form of the Saviour having been described by
the Prophet as without any outward comeliness, he ought to
be represented in painting as utterly hideous and repulsive.

TRADITIONAL FORMS 3
Happily the most eloquent and influential among the fathers
of the Church, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St.
Bernard, took up the other side of the question ; the pope,
Adrian I., threw his infallibility into the scale ; and from the
eighth century we find it decided, and afterwards confirmed by
a papal bull, that the Redeemer should be represented with all
the attributes of divine beauty which Art in its then rude state
could lend him.
Since that time the accepted and traditional type for the
person of our Lord has been strictly attended to by the most
conscientious artists and in the best schools of Art — a tall,
slender figure ; a face of a long oval ; a broad, serene, elevated
brow ; a countenance mild, melancholy, majestic ; the hair
(" of the color of wine or wine lees " — which may mean
either a dark rich brown or a golden yellow — both have been
adopted) parted in the front, and flowing down on each side ;
the beard parted. The resemblance to his mother — his only
earthly parent — was strongly insisted upon by the early ecclesi
astical writers and attended to by the earliest painters, which
has given something peculiarly refined and even feminine to
the most ancient heads of our Saviour.
The most ancient representations of the Virgin Mary now
remaining are the sculptures on the ancient Christian sar
cophagi, about the third and fourth centuries, and a mosaic in
the chapel of San Venanzio at Rome, referred by antiquarians
to the seventh century.! Here she is represented as a colossal
figure majestically draped, standing with the arms outspread
(the ancient attitude of prayer), and her eyes raised to heaven ;
then, after the seventh century, succeeded her image in her
maternal character, seated on a throne with the infant Saviour
in her arms. We must bear in mind, once for all, that from
the earliest ages of Christianity the Virgin-mother of our Lord
has been selected as the allegorical type of Religion in the
abstract sense ; and to this, her symbolical character, must be
referred those representations of later times, in which she ap
pears as trampling on the Dragon; as folding her votaries
within the skirts of her ample robe ; as interceding for sinners ;
as crowned between heaven and earth by the Father and the
Son. 1 [For engravings of these early representations of the Virgin, see Legends oj
ike Madonna, pp. 8, 9, and 65.]

4 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
In the same manner traditional heads of St. Peter and St.
Paul, rudely sketched, became in after times the groundwork
of the highest dignity and beauty, still retaining that peculiar
ity of form and character which time and long custom had con
secrated in the eyes of the devout.
Besides the representations of Christ and the Virgin, some
of the characters and incidents of the Old Testament were
selected as pictures, generally with reference to corresponding
characters and incidents in the Gospel ; thus St. Augustine,
in the latter half of the fourth century, tells us that " Abra
ham offering up his son Isaac " was then a common subject,
typical, of course, of the Great Sacrifice of the Son of God
" Moses striking the rock," the Gospel or the Water of Life
the vine or grapes expressed the sacrament of the Eucharist
Jonah swallowed by the whale and then disgorged signified
Death and Resurrection ; Daniel in the lions' den signified
Redemption, etc. This system of corresponding subjects, of
type and antitype, was- afterwards, as we shall see, carried much
farther. In the seventh century, painting, as it existed in Europe,
may be divided into two great schools or styles, — the Western,
or Roman, of which the central point was Rome, and which
was distinguished, amid great rudeness of execution, by a cer
tain dignity of expression and solemnity of feeling ; and the
Eastern, or Byzantine school, of which Constantinople was the
headquarters, and which was distinguished by greater mechani
cal skill, by adherence to the old classical forms, by the use of
gilding, and by the mean, vapid, spiritless conception of motive
and character.
From the fifth to the ninth century the most important and
interesting remains of pictorial Art are the mosaics in the
churches,! and the miniature paintings with which the MS.
Bibles and Gospels were decorated.
But during the tenth and eleventh centuries Italy fell into
a state of complete barbarism and confusion, which almost ex
tinguished the practice of Art in any shape ; of this period only
1 Particularly those in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome, along
the nave and over the principal arch, which date about the vear 440 (those in
the vault of the apsis are much later, about 1288); in the cbiirch of St. Cosmo
and St. Damian at Rome, about the year 526 ; in the church of San Vitale at
Ravenna, about the years 627-565; and in the church of St. Cecilia at Rome
about the vear 817. '

BYZANTINE INFLUENCE

Cimabue (attributed to Simone Memmi)

a few works of extreme rudeness remain. In the Eastern em
pire painting still survived ; it became, indeed, more and more
conventional, insipid, and incorrect, but the technical methods
were kept up ; and thus it happened that when, in 1204, Con
stantinople was taken by the crusaders, and the intercourse
between the east and west of Europe was resumed, several
Byzantine painters passed into Italy and Germany, where they
were employed to decorate the churches ; and taught the prac
tice of their art, their manner of pencilling, mixing and using
colors, and gilding ornaments, to such as chose to learn of
them. They brought over the Byzantine types of form and
color, the long lean limbs of the saints, the dark-visaged jMa-

6 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
donnas, the blood-streaming crucifixes; and these patterns were
followed more or less servilely by the native Italian painters
who studied under them. Specimens of this early art remain,
and in these later times have been diligently sought and col
lected into museums as curiosities, illustrating the history and
progress of Art : as such they are in the highest degree inter
esting ; but it must be confessed that otherwise they are not
attractive. There [were] some very valuable examples in the
Wallerstein Gallery at Kensington Palace [now dispersed].
We have also one, lately acquired, in our National Gallery, a
little Greek picture of the famous Apothecary Saints, Cosmo and
Damian, painted by a certain Emanuel. In the Berlin Gallery,
in the Florence (i-allery, and in the Louvre, a few Greek pic
tures are preserved as curiosities. The subject is generally the
Madonna and Child, throned ; sometimes alone, sometimes with
angels or saints ranged on each side. The characteristics are in
all cases the same : the figures are stiff ; the extremities long
and meagre ; the features hard and expressionless ; the eyes
long and narrow. The head of the Virgin is generally declined
to the left : the infant Saviour is generally clothed, and some
times crowned ; two fingers of his right hand are extended in
act to bless ; the left hand holding a globe, a scroll, or a book.
With regard to the execution, the ornaments of the throne and
borders of the drajjeries, and frequently the background, are
elaborately gilded ; the local colors are generally vivid ; there
is little or no relief ; the handling is streaky ; the flesh tints
are blackish or greenish. At this time, and for two hundred
years afterwards (before the invention of oil painting), pictures
were painted either in fresco, an art never Avholly lost, or on
panels of seasoned wood, and the colors mixed with water
thickened with white of egg or the juice of the young shoots
of the fig-tree. This last method was styled by the Italians a
colla or a tempieru : Ijy the French, en detrempe : and in Eng-
lisli, ill disfi'injjer ; and in this manner all movable pictures
were executed previous to 1440.
As it is not the purpose of this little book to trace the grad
ual progress of early Art, but rather to give some account
of the early artists, and as we know nothing of those who
lived in the first half of the thirteenth century except a name
and a date inscribed on a picture, I shall not dwell upon them ;
only revert to the fact that before the birth of Cimabue (from

his SCHOOL-DAYS 7
1200 to 1240) there existed schools of painting at Siena, and
at Pisa, not only under Greek but under Italian teachers. The
former city produced Guido da Siena, whose Madonna and
Child, with figures the size of life, signed and dated 1221, is
preserved in the church of San Domenico at Siena. It is en
graved in Rosini's " Storia della Pittura " [PL IV.], on the
same page with a Madonna by Cimabue, to which it appears
superior in drawing, attitude, expression, and drapery. Pisa
produced about the same time Giunta Pisano, of whom there
remain works with the date 1236 : one of these is a Cruci
fixion,! engraved in Ottley's ["Early Florentine School"], and
[another] on a smaller scale in Rosini's " Storia della Pittura ; "
in [the former] the expression of grief in the hovering angels,
who are wringing their hands and weeping, is very earnest and
striking. But undoubtedly the greatest man of that time, he who
gave the grand impulse to modern Art, was the sculptor Nic
colo Pisano, whose works date from about 1220 to 1270. Fur
ther, it appears that even at Florence a native painter, a certain
Maestro Bartolommeo, lived and was employed in 1236.^ Thus
Cimabue can scarcely claim to be the " father of modern paint
ing," even in his own city of Florence. We shall now proceed
to the facts on which his traditional celebrity has been founded.
Giovanni of Florence, of the noble family of the Cimabui,
called otherwise Gualtieri, was born in 1240. He was early
sent by his parents to study grammar in the school of the con
vent of Santa ]Maria Novella, where (as is also related of other
inborn painters), instead of conning his task, he distracted his
teachers by drawing men, horses, buildings, on his school-books :
before printing was invented, this spoiling of school-books
must have been rather a costly fancy, and no doubt alarmed
the professors of Greek and Latin. His parents, wisely yield
ing to the natural bent of his mind, allowed him to study
painting under some Greek artists who had come to Florence
to decorate the church of the convent in which he was a
scholar. It seems doubtful whether Cimabue did study under
the identical painters alluded to by Vasari, but that his masters
and models were the Byzantine painters of the time seems to
admit of no doubt whatever.^ The earliest of his works men-
1 [Formerly preserved in S. Francesco at Assisi, but now lost.]
2 [Vide Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. i. p. 195.]
3 [Ibid. pp. 201, 202.]

8 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
tioned by Vasari still exists— a St. Cecilia, painted for the
altar of that saint, but now preserved in the Uffizi, Florence.!
He was soon afterwards employed by the monks of Vallom-
brosa, for whom he painted a Madonna with Angels on a gold
ground, now preserved in the Academy of the Fine Arts at
Florence. He also painted a Crucifixion for the church of the
Santa Croce,^ still to be seen there, and several pictures for
the churches of Pisa, to the great contentment of the Pisans ;
and by these and other works his fame being spread far and
near, he was called in the year 1265, when he was only
twenty-five, to finish the frescoes in the church of St. Francis
at Assisi, which had been begun by Greek painters and con
tinued by Giunta Pisano.
The decoration of this celebrated church is memorable in the
history of painting. It is known that many of the best artists
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were employed there,
but only fragments of the earliest pictures exist, and the au
thenticity of those ascribed to Cimabue has been disputed by a
great authority.^ Lanzi, however, and Dr. Kugler [also Crowe
and Cavalcaselle], agree in attributing to him the paintings on
the roof of the nave, representing, in medallions, the figures of
Christ, the Madonna, St. John the Baptist, St. Francis, and
four magnificent angels winged and sceptred. " In the lower
corners of the triangles are represented naked Genii bearing
tasteful vases on their heads ; out of these grow rich foliage
and flowers, on -which hang other Genii, who pluck the fruit
or lurk in the cups of the flowers." * If these are really by
the hand of Cimabue, we must allow that here is a great step
in advance of the formal monotony of his Greek models. He
executed many other pictures in this famous church, " con
diligenza infinita," from the Old and New Testaments, in
which, judging from the fragments which remain, he showed a
decided improvement in drawing, in dignity of attitude, and in
the expression of life, but still the figures have only just so
1 It is a doubtful picture, but interesting from the subject. St. Cecilia, in
stead of playing on her organ or listening to the angels, is here a solemn-looking
matron seated on a throne, and holding in one hand the palm as martjT, and in
the other the Gospel for which she died.
2 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle consider this "' rather ot his time than by the
painter himself."]
8 Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen.
* Kugler, Handbook [p. 82 of Layard's revision].

THE RUCCELLAI MADONNA 9
much of animation and significance as are absolutely necessary
to render the story or action intelligible. There is no variety,
no express imitation of nature. Being recalled by his affairs
to Florence, about 1270, he painted there the most celebrated
of all his works, the Madonna and infant Christ, for the chapel
of the Ruccellai in the church of Santa Maria Novella. This
Madonna, of a larger size than any which had been previously
executed, had excited in its progress great curiosity and interest
among his fellow-citizens, for Cimabue refused to uncover it to
public view : but it happened about that time that Charles of
Anjou, brother of Louis IX., being on his way to take posses
sion of the kingdom of Naples, passed through Florence, and
was received and feasted by the nobles of that city ; and among
other entertainments, they conducted him to visit the house of
Cimabue, which was in a garden near the Porta San Piero : on
this festive occasion the Madonna was uncovered, and the peo
ple in joyous crowds hurried thither to look upon it, rending
the air with exclamations of delight and astonishment, whence
it is said this quarter of the city obtained and has kept ever
since the name of the Borgo dei Allegri.! The Madonna,
when finished, was carried in great pomp from the house of
the painter to the church for which it was destined, accompa
nied by the magistrates of the city, by music, and by crowds
of people in solemn and festive procession. This well-known
anecdote has lent a venerable charm to the picture, which is
yet to be seen in the church of Santa IMaria Novella ; but it is
diflicult in this advanced state of Art to sympathize in the naive
enthusiasm it excited in the minds of a whole people six hun
dred years ago. Though not without a certain grandeur, the
form is very stiff, with long lean fingers and formal drapery,
little varying from the Byzantine models ; but the infant Christ
is better, the angels on either side have a certain elegance and
dignity, and the coloring in its first freshness and delicacy had
a charm hitherto unknown.^ After this Cimabue became
1 But according to others the street derived its name from the family of the
Allegri. 2 We have lately [1857] added lo our National Gallery a picture by Cimabue,
the originality of which has been disputed, but, as it appears to me, on no suffi
cient grounds. Its antecedents are well authenticated, and its resemblance to
the undisputed pictures in the Belle Arti and the Ruccellai chapel, at Florence,
is quite satisfactory. If one of the hard, melancholy, lifeless Greek Madonnas
could be placed beside it, the observer would better appreciate the advance made
by Cimabue in gentleness and dignity. As an historical document the specimen
is invaluable. It was foi-merly in the Santa Croce at Florence.

10 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
famous in all Italy. He had a school of painting at Florence
and many pupils, among them one who was destined to take
the sceptre from his hand and fill all Italy with his fame —
and who, but for him, would have kept sheep iu the Tuscan
valleys all his life — the glorious Giotto, of whom we are to
speak presently. Cimabue, besides being a painter, was a
worker in mosaic and an architect : he was employed, in con
junction with Arnolfo Lapi, in the building of the church of
Santa ]Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence. Finally,
having lived for more than sixty years in great honor and
renown, he died at Florence about the year 1302, while em
ployed on the mosaics of the Duomo of Pisa, and was carried
from his house in the Via del Cocomero to the church of Santa
]\Iaria del Fiore, where he was buried : the following epitaph
was inscribed above his tomb : —
CkEDIDIT ut CiMABOS PICTURjE c.vstra tenere;
Sic tenuit vivens — nunc tenet astra Poll i
Besides the undoubted works of Cimabue preserved in the
churches of San Domenico, and Santa IMaria Novella at Flor
ence, and in the Academy of Arts in the same city, there is in
the Gallery of the Louvre a Madonna and Child enthroned,
with six attendant angels ; the figures larger than life. This
is supposed to be the same Avhich was originally painted for
the convent of St. Francis at Pisa, and much resembles the
Madonna in the Ruccellai chapel. From these productions
we may judge of the real merit of Cimabue. In his figures
of the Virgin he has not much improved on the Byzantine
models. The faces are not beautiful ; the features are elon
gated ; the extremities meagre ; the general effect flat : but to
his heads of pro[3hets, patriarchs, and apostles, whether intro
duced into his great pictures of the Madonna or in other sacred
subjects, he gave a certain grandeur of expression and largeness
of form, or, as Lanzi expresses it, " un non so che di forte e sub
lime," in which he has not been greatly surpassed by succeeding
painters ; and this energy of expression — his chief and distin
guishing excellence, and which gave him the superiority over
Guido da Siena and others who painted onl}' iladonnas — was
in harmony with his personal character. He i.s described to us
as exceedingly haughty and disdainful, of a fiery temperament,
1 Cimabue thought himself master of the field ot painting;
While living he was so — no^v, he holds his place among the stars of heaven.

HIS CHARACTER

11

proud of his high lineage,
his skill in his art, and
his various acquirements,
for he was well studied
in all the literature of
his age. If a critic found
fault with one of his
works when in progress,
or if he were himself dis
satisfied with it, he would
at once destroy it, what
ever pains it might have
cost him. From these
traits of character, and
the bent of his genius,
which leaned to the grand
and terrible rather than
the gentle and graceful,
he has been styled the
Michael Angelo of his
time. It is recorded of
him by Vasari that he
painted a head of St.
Francis after nature, a
thing, he says, till then
unknown : it could not
have been a portrait from
life, because St. Francis
died in 1225. The ear
liest head after nature
which remains to us was
painted by Giunta Pisano
about 1235, and was the
portrait of Frate Elia, a monk of Assisi. Perhaps Vasari means
that the San Francesco was the first representation of a sacred
personage for which nature had been taken as a model.
The portrait of Cimabue inserted in this essay is from the
original head, painted on the walls of the chapel degli Spagnu-
oli, in the church of Santa Maria Novella, [attributed to]
Simone Memmi of Siena, who was at Florence during the life
time of Cimabue, and must have known him personally. This

Niccolo Pisano (P. Fedi)

12 GIOVANNI CIMABUE
painting, though executed after the death of Cimabue, has
always been considered authentic as a portrait ; it is the same
alluded to by Vasari, and copied for the first edition of his
book. Cimabue had several remarkable contemporaries. The greats
est of the.se, and certainly the greatest artist of his time, was the
sculptor Niccolo Pisaxo [Ijorn between 1206 and 1207, died
1278].-' The works of this extraordinary genius which have
been preserved to our time are so far beyond all contemporary
art in knowledge of form, grace, expression, and intention,
that, if indisputable proofs of their authenticity did not exist,
it would be pronounced incredible. On a comparison of the
works of Cimabue and Pisano, it is difficult to conceive that
Pisano executed the bas-reliefs of the pulpit in the cathedral
of Pisa while Cimabue was painting the frescoes in the church
of Assisi. He was the first to leave the stiff monotony of the
traditional forms for the study of nature and the antique. The
story says that his emulative fancy was early excited by the
beautiful antique sarcophagus on which is seen sculptured
the story of Phtedra and Hippolytus. In this sarcophagus
had been laid, a hundred years before, the body of Beatrice,
the mother of the famous Countess Matilda; in the time of
Niccolo it had been inserted into the exterior wall of the
Duomo of Pisa, and as a youth he had looked upon it from
day to day, until the grace, the life, and movement of the
figures struck him, in comparison with the barbarous art
of his contemporaries, as nothing less than divine.^ Many
before him had looked on this marble wonder, but to none had
it spoken as it spoke to him. He was the first, says Lanzi, to
see the light and to follow it. There is an engraving after
one of his bas-reliefs — a Deposition from the Cross — in
Ottley's " School of Design," which should be referred to by
the reader who may not have seen his works at Pisa, Florence,
Siena, and Orvieto. There are also several of his works en
graved in Ciooguara's " Storia della Scultura."
Another contemporary of Cimabue was his friend Gaddo
1 [These dates are on the authority of Charles C. Perkins's Tuscan Sculptors.
According to Rosini's Sloria delta Pittura, which Mrs. Jameson followed Nic
colo Pisano worked as late as 1290.]
2 This sarcophagus was restored iu 1810 to the Campo Santo, where Beatrice
had been interred in 1116.

Gaddo Gaddi

Gaddi, the mosaic-worker [1239-1312], remarkable for being
the first of a family illustrious in several departments of art
and literature. It must be remembered that the mosaic-
workers of those times prepared and colored their own designs,
and may therefore take rank with the painters.!
Further, there remain pictures by painters of tlie Siena
school which date before the death of Cimabue, and particu
larly a picture by a certain Maestro Mino,^ dated 128'.), which
is spoken of as wonderful for the invention and greatness of
style. [Virgin and Saints in Palazzo Pubblico at Siena.]
Another Sienese painter was Duccio, who painted from
1282 (twenty years before the death of Cimabue) to about
[1320], and " whose influence on the progress of Art was un
questionably great." To this painter was allotted, in the year
1308, the task of painting the great altar-piece for the beautiful
1 [Another early mosaic-worker was Andrea Tafi, who was living in 1.320 and
was consequently a contemporary of Giotto. There is considerable doubt as to
the work properly to be attributed to him.]
2 [Vide Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. i. p. 185.]
13

14

GIOVANNI CIMABUE

cathedral of Siena, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The high
altar then stood in the centre of the church, and the panel was
painted on both sides, as it was to be seen both from before
and behind the altar. On one side Duccio represented the

Duccio

history of our Lord in twenty-seven small compartments, be
ginning with the Annunciation and ending with the Crucifixion,
which forms the largest and princii)al sul)ject. On the other
side of the panel was represented the Madonna and Child
enthroned, on each side six prophets and ten adoring angels,
and lower down, on each side, five saints — in all forty-lour
figures. When finished this picture was carried in grand pro-

HIS CONTEMPORARIES 15
cession, attended by music and rejoicing crowds, to its place in
the cathedral. In the year 1506 it was removed. The panel
was afterwards sawed through into two parts : one side (the
Madonna) now hangs in the chapel of Sant' Ansano, to the
left of the choir ; the other (the life of Christ) on the right
hand, opposite. They are accounted among the most precious
monuments of early Art. The predella, which was beneath the
Madonna, contained, as usual, small subjects from the history
of the Virgin Mary — these, five in number, are now in the
sacristy of the cathedral. Besides this great altar-piece, only
a [few] undoubted pictures by Duccio are known to exist.!
[One of these is in the National Gallery ; two others are at
Cologne.] All these artists (Niccolo Pisano excepted) still worked on
in the trammels of Byzantine art. The first painter of his age
who threw them wholly off, and left them far behind him, was
Giotto. 1 A series of outline engravings from Duccio's History of our Lord was
published at Rome by Dr. Emil Braun, the celebrated archieologist, and these
justify the praise and admiration which is now accorded to the grace, the sim
plicity, and the spiritual significance of these beautiful compositions.

GIOTTO
Born 1276, Died 1336
Credette Cimabue nella Pittura
Tener lo campo, ed ora ha Giotto il grido ; —
SicchS la fama di colui oscura.
Cimabue thought
To lord it over painting's field ; and now
The cry is Giotto's and his name eclips'd.
Gary's Dante [Purg. canto xi. 93].
TgEsS'^often-qkQted lines from Dante's Purgatorio must
ne^s be once more quoted here : for it is a curious circum
stance that, applicable in his own day, five hundred years ago,
they should still be so applicable in ours. Open any common
history not intended for the very profound, and there we still
find Cimabue " lording it over painting's field," and placed at
the head of a revolution in Art with which, as an artist, he had
little or nothing to do — but much as a man ; for to him — to
his quick perception and generous protection of talent in the
lowly shepherd-boy — we owe Giotto, than whom no single
human being of whom we read has exercised, in any particular
department of science or art, a more immediate, wide, and
lasting influence. The total change in the direction and charac
ter of Art must in all human probability have taken place
sooner or later, since all the influences of that wonderful period
of regeneration were tending towards it. Then did architec
ture struggle as it were from the Byzantine into the Gothic
forms, like a mighty plant putting forth its rich foliage and
shooting up towards heaven ; then did the speech of the people
— the " vulgar tongues," as they were called — begin to assume
their present structure, and become the medium through which
beauty and love and action and feeling and thought were to
be uttered and immortalized ; and then arose Giotto, the des
tined instrument through which his own beautiful art was to
become one of the great interpreters of the human soul, with

HIS EARLY PRODUCTIONS 17
all its " infinite " of feelings and faculties, and of human life
in all its multifarious aspects. Giotto was the first painter
who "held as it were the mirror up to nature." Cimabue's
strongest claim to the gratitude of succeeding ages is that he
bequeathed such a man to his native country and to the world.
About the year 1289, when Cimabue was already old and at
the height of his fame, as he was riding in the valley of Ves-
pignano, about fourteen miles from Florence, his attention was
attracted by a boy who was herding sheep, and who, while his
flocks were feeding around, seemed intently drawing on a
smooth fragment of slate, with a bit of pointed stone, the
figure of one of his sheep as it was quietly grazing before him.
Cimabue rode up to him, and, looking with astonishment at
the performance of the untutored boy, asked him if he would
go with him and learn ; to which the boy replied, that he was
right willing, if his father were content. The father, a herds
man of the valley, by name Bondone, being consulted, gladly
consented to the wish of the noble stranger, and Giotto hence
forth became the inmate and pupil of Cimabue.
This pretty story, which was first related by Lorenzo Ghi
berti, the sculptor [born 1381] , and since by Vasari and a hun
dred others, luckily rests on evidence as satisfactory as can be
given for any events of a rude and distant age, and may well
obtain our belief, as well as gratify our fancy ; it has been
the subject of many pictures, and is introduced in Rogers's
" Italy : "— Let us wander thro' the fields
Where Cimabue found the shepherd-boy
Tracing his idle fancies on the ground.
Giotto was about twelve or fourteen years old when taken
into the house of Cimabue. For his instruction in those
branches of polite learning necessary to an artist, his protec
tor placed him under the tuition of Brunetto Latini, who was
also the preceptor of Dante. When, at the age of twenty-six,
Giotto lost his friend and master, he was already an accom
plished man as well as a celebrated painter, and the influence
of his large original mind upon the later works of Cimabue is
distinctly to be traced.
[A very interesting work] of Giotto was a painting on the
wall of the Palazzo dell' Podesta, or council-chamber of Flor
ence, in which were introduced the portraits of Dante, Brunetto

18 GIOTTO
Latini, Corso Donati, and others. Vasari speaks of these works
as the first successful attempts at portraiture in the history of
modern Art. They were soon afterwards plastered or white
washed over during the triumph of the enemies of Dante ; and
for ages, though known to exist, they were lost and buried
from sight. The hope of recovering these most interesting
portraits had long been entertained, and various attempts had
been made at different times without success, till at length, as
late as 1810, they were brought to light by the perseverance
and enthusiasm of ]\Ir. Bezzi and ilr. Kirkup, assisted by a
subscription among the English and American residents and
visitors then at Florence. On comparing the head of Dante,
painted when he was about thirty, prosperous and distinguished
in his native city, with the later portraits of him when an
exile, worn, wasted, embittered by misfortune and disappoint
ment and wounded pride, the difference of expression is as
touching as the identity in feature is indubitable.
The attention which in his childhood Giotto seems to have
given to all natural forms and appearances, showed itself in his
earlier pictures ; he was the first to whom it occurred to group
his personages into something like a situation, and to give to
their attitudes and features the expression adapted to it : thus
in a very early picture of the Annunciation he gave to the Vir
gin a look of fear ; and in another, painted some time after
wards, of the Presentation in the Temple, he made the infant
Christ shrink from the priest, and, turning, extend his little
arms to his mother — the first attempt at that species of grace
and naivete of expression afterwards carried to perfection by
Raphael. These and other works painted in his native city so
astonished his fellow-citizens and all who beheld them, by their
beauty and novelty, that they seem to ha^'e wanted adequate
words in which to express the excess of their delight and ad
miration, and insisted that the figures of Giotto so completely
beguiled the sense that they were mistaken for realities ; a
commonplace eulogium, never merited but by the most com
monplace and mechanical of painters.
In the church of Santa Croce, at Florence, Giotto painted a
Coronation of the A'irgin (still to be seen there in the Baron-
celli chapel), with choirs of angels and a multitude of saints
on either side. In the refectory he painted the Last Supper,
also still remaining ; a grand, solemn, simple composition.

HIS WORKS IN ROME 19
which, as a first endeavor to give variety of expression and
attitude to a number of persons — all seated, and all but two
actuated by a similar feeling — must still be regarded as extraor
dinary.! The pope, Boniface VIIL, hearing of his marvellous skill,
invited him to Rome ; and the story says that the messenger
of his Holiness, wishing to have some proof that Giotto was
indeed the man he was in search of, desired to see a specimen
of his excellence in his art : hereupon, Giotto, taking up a
sheet of paper, traced on it with a single flourish of his hand
a circle so perfect that " it was a miracle to see ; " and (though
we know not how or why) seems to have at once converted
the pope to a belief of his superiority over all other painters.^
This story gave rise to the well-known Italian proverb, " Piii
tonto che 1' O di Giotto" (rounder than the O of Giotto), and
is something like a story told of one of the Grecian painters.^
But to return. Giotto went to Rome, and there executed
many things which raised his fame higher and higher ; and
among them, for the ancient basilica of St. Peter's, the famous
colossal mosaic of the Navicella, or the Barca, as it is some
times called. It represents a ship, with the Disciples, on a
tempestuous sea ; the winds, personified as demons, rage around
it. Above are the Fathers of the Old Testament ; on the right
stands Christ, raising Peter from thee waves. The subject has
an allegorical significance, denoting the troubles and triumphs
of the Church. This mosaic has often changed its situation,
and has been restored again and again, till nothing of Giotto's
work remains but the original composition. It is now in the
vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome. (It is over the arch facing
the principal door, so that you must turn your back to the door
to see it.)
For the same Pope Boniface, Giotto painted the Institution
of the Jubilee of 1300, which still exists in the portico of
the Lateran at Rome.
1 The large refectory of Santa Croce is now a [museum], and Giotto's Cena-
colo fills up one side. It is in a most mined condition, and I find that it has
lately been attributed to Taddeo Gaddi, one of the best pupils of Giotto.
2 " He was probably guided by the safer evidence of Giotto's fame," says a
late critic.
3 [For a discussion of the question as to whether this incident applies to Giot
to's summons from Boniface VIII. or from Benedict XL, ride Crowe and Caval
caselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. i. p. 271.]

20 GIOTTO
In Padua Giotto painted the chapel of the Arena with fres
coes from the history of Christ and the Virgin, in fifty square
compartments. Of this chapel the late Lady Callcott pub
lished an interesting account, illustrated from drawings made
by Sir Augustus Callcott. These, however, are superseded by
the set of drawings engraved on wood and published by the
Arundel Society, which, besides their beauty and conscientious
accuracy, have the advantage of being described and commented
on by Mr. Ruskin. At Padua Giotto met his friend Dante ; !
and the influence of one great genius on another is strongly
exemplified in some of his succeeding works, and particularly in
his next grand performance, the frescoes in the church of Assisi.
In the under church, and immediately over the tomb of St.
Francis, the painter represented the three vows of the Order —
Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience ; and in the fourth compart
ment, the Saint enthroned and glorified amidst the host of
Heaven. The invention of the allegories under which Giotto
has represented the vows of the Saint, — his Marriage with
Poverty — Chastity seated in her rocky fortress — and Obedi
ence with the curb and yoke, — are ascribed by a tradition to
Dante. By the time Giotto had attained his thirtieth year he had
reached such hitherto unknown excellence in Art, and his
celebrity was so universal, that every city and every petty
sovereign in Italy contended for the honor of his presence and
his pencil, and tempted him with the promise of rich rewards.
For the lords of Arezzo, of Rimini, and Ravenna, and for the
Duke of Milan, he executed many works, now almost wholly
perished. Castruccio Castricani, the warlike tyrant of Lucca,
also employed him ; but how Giotto was induced to listen to
the offers of this enemy of his country is not explained. Per
haps Castruccio, as the head of the Ghibelline party, in which
Giotto had apparently enrolled himself, appeared in the light of a
friend rather than an enemy ; however this may be, a picture
which Giotto is said to have painted for Castruccio, and in which
he introduced the portrait of the tyrant, with a falcon on his
fist, was long preserved at Lucca.^ For Guido da Polente, the
father of that hapless Francesca di Rimini whose story is so
1 [Vasari relates that Giotto first made Dante's acquaintance in Rome.]
2 It is no longer there. It may have been a copy of the portrait of Castruccio
in the Campo Santo at Pisa.

HE VISITS NAPLES 21
beautifully told by Dante, he painted the interior of a church ;
and for Malatesta di Rimini (who was father of Francesca's
husband) he painted the portrait of that prince in a bark, with
his companions and a company of mariners ; and among them,
Vasari tells us, was the figure of a sailor, who, turning round
with his hand before his face, is in the act of spitting in the
sea, so lifelike as to strike the beholders with amazement :
this has perished ; but the figure of the thirsty man stooping
to drink, in one of the frescoes at Assisi, still remains, to show
the kind of excellence through which Giotto excited such ad
miration in his contemporaries — a power of imitation, a truth
in the expression of natural actions and feelings, to which
painting had never yet ascended or descended. This leaning
to the actual and the real has been made a subject of reproach,
to which we shall hereafter refer.
It is said, but this does not rest on very satisfactory evi
dence, that Giotto also visited Avignon, in the train of Pope
Clement V., and painted there the portraits of Petrarch and
Laura. [It is also said, without proof, that Giotto painted
in the Campo Santo at Pisa.]
About the year [1330], King Robert of Naples, the father
of Queen Joanna, wrote to his son, the Duke of Calabria, then
at Florence, to send to him, on any terms, the famous painter
Giotto, who accordingly travelled to the court of Naples, stop
ping on his way in several cities, where he left specimens of
his skill. He also visited Orvieto for the purpose of viewing
the sculpture with which the [artists] Agostino and Angelo
were decorating the cathedral, and bestowed on it high com
mendation. There [was] at Gaeta a Crucifixion painted by
Giotto, either on his way to Naples or on his return, in which
he introduced himself kneeling in an attitude of deep devotion
and contrition at the foot of the cross : ! this introduction of
portraiture into a subject so awful was another innovation, not
so praiseworthy as some of his characteristics. Giotto's feel
ing for truth and propriety of expression is particularly re
markable and commendable in the alteration of the dreadful
but popular subject of the crucifix ; in the Byzantine school
the sole aim seems to have been to represent physical agony,
and to render it, by every species of distortion and exagger-
1 [All of Giotto's frescoes at Gaeta perished in the modern alterations of the
church in which they were executed.]

22 GIOTTO
ation, as terrible and repulsive as possible. Giotto was the
first to soften this awful and painful figure by an expression
of divine resignation and by greater attention to beauty of
form. A Crucifixion painted by him became the model for
his scholars, and was multiplied by imitation through all Italy ;
so that a famous painter of crucifixes after the Greek fashion,
Margaritone, who had been a friend and contemporary of Cima
bue, confounded by the introduction of this new method of
art, which he partly disdained and partly despaired to imitate,
and old enough to hate innovations of all kinds, took to his
bed infastidito (through vexation), and so died.
But to return to Giotto, whom we left on the road to Naples.
King Robert received him with great honor and rejoicing, and
being a monarch of singular accomplishments, and fond of the
society of learned and distinguished men, he soon found that
Giotto was not merely a painter, but a man of the world, a
man of various acquirements, whose general reputation for wit
and vivacity was not unmerited. He would sometimes visit
the painter at his work, and, while watching the rapid progress
of his pencil, amuse himself with the quaint good sense of his
discourse. " If I were you, Giotto," said the king to him one
very hot day, " I would leave off work and rest myself."
" And so would I, sire," replied the painter, " if I were you ! "
The king, in a playful mood, desired him to paint his king
dom, on which Giotto immediately sketched the figure of an
ass with a heavy pack-saddle on his back, smelling with an
eager air at another pack-saddle lying on the ground, on which
were a crown and sceptre. By this emblem the satirical
painter expressed the servility and the fickleness of the Nea
politans, and the king at once understood the allusion.
There exists at Naples, in the church of the Incoronata, a
series of frescoes representing the Seven Sacraments according
to the Roman ritual, which were formerly attributed to Giotto,
but are now supposed to be by some follower of his style and
time.! The Sacrament of Marriage contains many female fig
ures, beautifully designed and grouped, with graceful heads and
flowing draperies. This picture is traditionally said to repre-
1 There exist engravings from these frescoes, from which an idea may be
formed of the grouping and composition. Three of these are given in [Crowe
and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy]. But when I visited the old
church ot the Incoronata, in 1858, I found them in a ruined condition.

GIOTTO (G. Dupre)

THE CAMPANILE 23
sent the marriage of Joanna of Naples and Louis of Taranto ;
but Giotto died in 1336, and these famous espousals took place
in 1347 ; a dry date will sometimes confound a very pretty
theory. In the Sacrament of Ordination there is a group of
chanting boys, in which the various expressions of the act of
singing are given with truth of imitation not unworthy of the
master himself, which made Giotto the wonder of his day.
His paintings from the Apocalypse in the church of Santa
Chiara were whitewashed over, about two centuries ago, by a
certain prior of the convent, because, in the opinion of this
barbarian, they made the church looh darh !
Giotto returned [from Naples] to his native city with great
increase of riches and fame. He continued his works with
unabated application, assisted by his pupils, for his school was
now the most famous in Italy. Like most of the early Italian
artists, he was an architect and sculptor, as well as a painter ;
and his last public work was the exquisitely beautiful Cam
panile or Bell-tower at Florence, founded in 1334, for which
he made all the designs, and even executed with his own hand
the models for the sculpture on the three lower divisions.
According to Kugler, they form a regular series of subjects
illustrating the development of human culture, through religion
and laws, " conceived," says the same authority, " with pro
found wisdom." When the emperor Charles V. saw this ele
gant structure, he exclaimed that it ought to be " kept under
glass." In the same allegorical taste Giotto painted many
pictures of the Virtues and Vices, ingeniously invented and
rendered with great attention to natural and appropriate ex
pression. In these and similar representations we trace dis
tinctly the influence of the genius of Dante.
A short time before his death Giotto was invited to Milan
by Azzo Visconti. He executed some admirable frescoes in
the ancient palace of the dukes of Milan ; but these have per
ished. Finally, having returned to Florence, he soon after
wards died — " yielding up his soul to God in the year 1,336 ;
and having been," adds Vasari, " no less a good Christian than
an excellent painter : " he was honorably interred in the church
of Santa Maria del Fiore, where his master Cimabue had been
laid with similar honors thirty-five years before. Lorenzo de'
Medici afterwards placed above his tomb his effigy in marble.
Giotto left four sons and four daughters, but we do not hear

24 GIOTTO
that any of his descendants became distinguished in Art or
otherwise.! Before we proceed to give some account of the personal
character and influence of Giotto, both as a man and an artist,
of which many amusing and interesting traits have been handed
down to us, we must turn for a moment to reconsider that
revolution in Art which originated with him — which seized at
once on all imaginations, all sympathies ; which Dante, Boc
caccio, and Petrarch have all commemorated in immortal verse
or as immortal prose ; which, during a whole century, filled
Italy and Sicily with disciples formed in the same school and
penetrated with the same ideas. All that had been done in
painting before Giotto resolved itself into the imitation of cer
tain existing models, and their improvement to a certain point
in style of execution : there was no new method ; the Greekish
types were everywhere seen, more or less modified — a Madonna
in the middle, with a couple of lank saints or angels stuck on
each side ; or saints bearing symbols, or with their names writ
ten over their heads, and texts of Scripture proceeding from
their mouths ; or at the most a few figures, placed in such a
position relatively to each other as sufficed to make a story
intelligible, the arrangement being generally traditional and
arbitrary ; such seems to have been the limit to which painting
had advanced previous to 1280.
Giotto appeared ; and almost from the beginning of his
career he not only deviated from the practice of the older
painters, but stood opposed to them. He not only improved
— he changed ; he placed himself on wholly new ground. He
took up those principles which Niccolo Pisano had applied
to sculpture, and went to the same sources, to nature, and to
those remains of pure antique art which showed him how to
look at nature. His residence at Rome while yet young, and
in all the first glowing development of his creative powers,
must have had an incalculable influence on his after-works.
Deficient to the end of his life in the knowledge of form, he
was deficient in that kind of beauty which depends on form ;
1 In the foregoing sketch some disputed points in the life of Giotto are for
obvious reasons left at rest, and the order of events has been somewhat changed,
in accordance with more exact chroniclers than Vasari. [It is still impossible
to trace accurately the order of works, and the enumeration here does not cor
respond exactly to that of Crowe and Cavalcaselle.]

HIS STYLE 25
but his feeling for grace and harmony in the airs of his heads
and the arrangement of his groups was exquisite ; and the
longer he practised his art, the more free and flowing became
his lines. But, beyond grace and beyond beauty, he aimed at
the expression of natural character and emotion, in order to
render intelligible his newly invented scenes of action and his
religious allegories. A writer near his time speaks of it as
something new and wonderful, that in Giotto's pictures ¦' the
personages who are in grief look melancholy, and those who
are joyous look g^j." For his heads he introduced a new
type, exactly reversing the Greek pattern : long-shaped, half-
shut eyes ; a long, straight nose ; and a very short chin. The
hands are rather delicately, but never correctly, drawn, and
he could not design the feet well, for which reason we gener
ally flnd those of his men clothed in shoes or sandals wherever
it is possible, and those of his women covered with flowing
drapery. The management of his draperies is, indeed, partic
ularly characteristic ; distinguished by a certain lengthiness
and narrowness in the folds, in which, however, there is much
taste and simplicity, though, in point of style, as far from the
antique as from the complicated meanness of the Byzantine
models ; and it is curious that this peculiar treatment of the
drapery, these long perpendicular folds, correspond in character
with the principles of Gothic architecture, and with it rose
and declined. For the stiff, wooden limbs, and motionless
flgures, of the Byzantine school, he substituted life, movement,
and the looh, at least, of flexibility. His notions of grouping
and arrangement he seems to have taken from the ancient
basso-relievos ; there is a statuesque grace and simplicity in
his compositions which reminds us of them. His style of
coloring and execution was, like all the rest, an innovation on
received methods : his colors were lighter and more roseate
than had ever been known ; the fluid by which they were
tempered more thin and easily managed ; and his frescoes must
have been skilfully executed to have stood so well as they have
done. Their duration is indeed nothing compared to the
Egyptian remains ; but the latter have been for ages covered
up from light and air in a dry sandy climate : those of Giotto
have been exposed to all the vicissitudes of weather and of
underground damp, have been whitewashed and every way ill-
treated, yet the fragments which remain have still a surprising

26 GIOTTO
freshness, and his distemper pictures are still wonderful. The-
only picture in the Louvre attributed to him (a St. Francis, as
large as life) is dubious and unworthy of him. In the gallery
of the Academy of Arts, in Florence, are more than twenty
small pictures, about a foot in height, which formerly decorated
the presses or wardrobes in the sacristy of Santa Croce, and
representing subjects from the life and acts of Christ and St.
Francis.! [These have long been considered the work of
Giotto, but they may, perhaps, lie by some pupil. In any case,
they have a great interest as showing his characteristics.]
Those who are curious may consult the engravings after Giotto
in the plates to the " Storia della Pittura " of Rosini ; those
in D'Agincourt's " Histoire de I'Art par les Jlonumens ; " in
Ottley's "Early Italian School," a copy of which is in the
British Museum ; and the set of engravings published by the
Arundel Society.
Giotto's personal character and disposition had no small part
in the revolution he effected. In the union of endowments
which seldom meet together in the same individual — extraor
dinary inventive and poetical genius, with sound, practical,
energetic sense, and untiring activity ami energy — Giotto re
sembled Rubens ; and only this rare combination could have
enabled him to fling off so completely all the fetters of the old
style, and to have executed the amazing number of works
which are with reason attributed to him. His character was
as independent in other matters as in his own art. He seems
to have had little reverence for received opinions about any
thing, and was singularly free from the superstitious enthusi
asm of the times in which he lived, although he lent his
powers to embodying that very superstition. Perhaps the very
circumstance of his being employed in painting the interiors
of churches and monasteries opened to his acute, discerning, and
independent mind reflections which took away some of the
respect for the mysteries they concealed. There is extant a
poem of Giotto's, entitled " A Song against Poverty," which
becomes still more phpuante in itself, and expressive of the
1 There were originally twenty-six of these small but beauliful compositions;
thirteen from the histoiy ot our Saviour, and thirteen from the history of St.
Francis. The church of Santa Croce belongs to the Franciscan order. See
Kugler's Ilandhooh, p. 100, and the Legends of the Monastic Orders, p. 282, for
an explanation of this double series.

HIS CHARACTER 27
peculiar turn of Giotto's mind, when we remember that he had
painted the Glorification of Poverty as the Bride of St. Fran
cis, and that in those days songs in praise of poverty were as
fashionable as devotion to St. Francis, the " Patriarch of pov
erty.'' Giotto was celebrated, too, for his joyous temper, for
his witty and satirical repartees, and seems to have been as
careful of his worldly goods as he was diligent in acquiring
them. Boccaccio relates an anecdote of him, not very impor
tant ; but as it contains several traits which are divertingly
characteristic, I will give it here : —
" Fair and dear ladies ! " (Thus the novelist is wont to
address his auditory.) " It is a wondrous thing to see how
oftentimes nature hath been pleased to hide within the most
misshapen forms the most wondrous treasures of soul, which is
evident in the persons of two of our fellow-citizens, of whom I
shall now briefly discourse to you. Messer Forese da Rabatta,
the advocate, being a personage of the most extraordinary wis
dom, and learned in the law above all others, yet was in body
mean and deformed, with, thereunto, a flat, currish (ricagnato')
physiognomy ; and Messer Giotto, who was not in face or person
one whit better favored than the said Messer Forese, had a
genius of that excellence, that there was nothing which nature
(who is the mother of all things) could bring forth, but he
with his ready pencil would so wondrously imitate it, that it
seemed not only similar, but the same; thus deluding the
visual sense of men, so that they deemed that what was only
pictured before them did in reality exist. And seeing that
through Giotto that art was restored to light which had been for
many centuries buried (through fault of those who, in paint
ing, addressed themselves to please the eye of the vulgar, and
not to content the understanding of the wise), I esteem him
worthy to be placed among those who have made famous and
glorious this our city of Florence. Nevertheless, though so
great a man in his art, he Avas but little in person, and, as I
have said, ill-favored enough. Now it happened that Messer
Forese and Giotto had possessions in land in Mugello, which
is on the road leading from Florence to Bologna, and thither
they rode one day on their respective affairs, Messer Forese be
ing mounted on a sorry hired jade, and the other in no better
case. It was summer, and the rain came on suddenly and furi
ously, and they hastened to take shelter in the house of a peasant

28 GIOTTO
thereabouts who was known to them ; but the storm still pre
vailing, they, considering that they must of necessity return to
Florence the same day, borrowed from the peasant two old,
worn-out pilgrim-cloaks and tivo rusty old hats, and so they
set forth. They had not proceeded very far when they found
themselves wet through with the rain, and all bespattered with
the mud ; but after a while, the weather clearing in some small
degree, they took heart, and from being silent they began
to discourse of various matters. Messer Forese, having listened
a while to Giotto, who was, in truth, a man most eloquent and
lively in speech, could not help casting on him a glance as he
rode alongside, and considering him from head to foot thus wet,
ragged, and splashed all over, and thus mounted and accoutred,
and not taking his own appearance into account, he laughed
aloud. ' 0 Giotto,' said he jeeringly, ' if a stranger were now
to meet us, could he, looking on you, believe it possible that
you were the greatest painter in the whole world ? ' ' Cer
tainly,' quoth Giotto, with a side glance at his companion,
' certainly ; if looking upon your worship he could believe it
possible that you knew your ABC!' Whereupon JMesser
Forese could not but confess that he had been paid in his own
coin." This is one of many humorous repartees which tradition has
preserved, and an instance of that readiness of wit — -that
prontezza — for which Giotto was admired; in fact, he seems
to have presented in himself, in the union of depth and liveli
ness, of poetical fancy and worldly sense, of independent
spirit and polished suavity, an epitome of the national char
acter of the Florentines, such as Sisinondi has drawn it. We
learn, from the hyperboles used by Boccaccio, the sort of raptu
rous surprise which Giotto's imitation of life caused in his
imaginati\'e contemporaries, and which assuredly they would
be far from exciting now ; and the unceremonious description
of his person becomes more amusing when we recollect that
Boccaccio must have lived in personal intercourse with the
painter, as did Petrarch and Dante. When Giotto died,
in 1336, his friend Dante had been dead three years ; Pe
trarch was thirty-two, and Boccaccio twenty-three years of age.
"When Petrarch died, in 1374, he left to his friend Francesco
da Carrara, Lord of Padua, a IMadonna, painted by Giotto, as
a most precious legacy, " a wonderful piece of work, of which

ILLUMINATED MSS. 29
the ignorant might overlook the beauties, but which the learned
must regard with amazement." All writers who treat of the
ancient glories of Florence — Florence the beautiful — Flor
ence the free — from Villani down to Sismondi, count Giotto
in the roll of her greatest men. Antiquaries and connoisseurs
in Art search out and study the relics which remain to us, and
recognize in them the dawn of that splendor which reached
its zenith in the beginning of the sixteenth century. No vis
itor to Florence ever looks up to the Campanile without a feel
ing of wonder and delight, without thinking what that man
must have been who conceived and executed a work so nobly,
so supremely elegant ; while to the philosophic observer Giotto
appears as one of those few heaven-endowed beings whose de
velopment springs from a source within - — one of those uncon
scious instruments in the hand of Providence, who, in seeking
their own profit and delight through the expansion of their
own faculties, make unawares a step forward in human cul
ture, lend a new impulse to human aspirations, and, like the
"bright morning star, day's harbinger," may be merged in the
succeeding radiance, but never forgotten.
Before we pass on to the scholars and imitators of Giotto,
who during the next century filled all Italy with schools of
Art, we may here make mention of one or two of his contem
poraries, not so much for any performances left behind them,
but because they have been commemorated by men more cele
brated than themselves, and survive embalmed in their works
as "flies in amber." Dante has mentioned, in his Purgato
rio, two painters of the time, famous for their miniature illus
trations of Missals and MSS. Before the invention of print
ing, and indeed for some time after, this was an important
branch of Art : it flourished from the days of Charlemagne to
those of Charles v., and was a source of honor as well as riches
to the laymen who practised it. Many, however, of the most
beautiful specimens of illuminated manuscripts are the work
of the nameless Benedictine monks, who labored in the silence
and seclusion of their convents, and who yielded to their com
munity most of the honor and all the profit : this was not the
case with Oderigi,! whom Dante ^ has represented as expiating
1 [Vide Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. p. 187
et seq.]
2 [Purgatorio, canto xi. 80.]

30 GIOTTO
in purgatory his excessive vanity as a painter, and humbly
giving the palm to another. Franco Bolognese, of whom there
remains no relic but a Madonna, engraved in Rosini's " Storia
della Pittura " [Plate XL]. He retains, however, a name as
the founder of the early Bolognese school. The fame of Buf-
falmaco as a jovial companion, and the tales told in Boccaccio
of his many inventions and the tricks he played on his brother-
painter the simple Calandrino, have survived almost every
relic of his pencil. Yet he appears to have been a good painter
of that time, and to have imitated, in his later works, the
graceful simplicity of Giotto ; ! he had also much honor and
sufficient employment, but was more intent on spending than
earning." PlETRO Cavallini studied under Giotto at Rome, but
seems never to have wholly laid aside the Greekish style in
which he had been first educated. He was a man of extreme
simplicity and sanctity of mind and manners, and felt some
scruples in condemning as an artist the ill-painted Madonnas
before which he had knelt in prayer. This feeling of earnest
piety he communicated to all his works. There is by him a
picture of the Annunciation preserved in the church of St.
Mark at Florence, in which the expression of piety and modesty
in the Virgin, and of reverence in the kneeling angel, is per
fectly beautiful : the same devout feeling enabled him to rise
to the sublime in a grand picture of the Crucifixion which he
painted in the church of Assisi, and which is reckoned one of
the most important monuments of the Giotto school. ^ The res
ignation of the divine sufferer, the lamenting angels, the faint
ing Virgin, the groups of Roman soldiers, are all painted with
a truth and feeling quite wonderful for the time. Engravings
after Cavallini may be found in Ottley's "Early Italian School,"
and in Rosini (p. 21). He became the pupil of Giotto when
nearly forty years old, and survived him only a short time,
1 A picture of St. Ursula, an early work of this painter, in the Academy at
Pisa, is quite Byzantine iu style. The frescoes in the Campo Santo at Pisa, so
long attributed to him, are by another hand.
2 [His existence was once doubted, but is now proved by the discovery of his
name in a registrv of Florentine painters, 1.351. It is not known when he
died.] 3 [It is on the authority of Vasari that these two pictures are assigned to Ca
vallini. Crowe and Cavalcaselle express serious doubts as to such authorship,
considering the Assisi Crucifixion distinctly a Sienese Avork. See History of
Painting in Italy, vol. i. pp. Ill, 112.]

%,
•"l^1\,«(

Cavallini

dying in 1340. With Cavallini begins the list of painters of
the Roman school, afterwards so illustrious. Among the con
temporaries of Giotto we must refer once more to Duccio of
Siena, whose great altar-piece has been already described. It is
remarkable, and should be kept in remembrance, that, of all the
schools of painting then rising in Italy, all more or less modi
fied by the Giottesque style, the painters of Siena alone retained
a particular stamp of nationality, which in the course of two
centuries they never wholly lost. While the school of Flor
ence developed into increasing vigor, elegance, and dignity, that
of Siena leaned towards pathos and sentiment — qualities re
markable in Duccio and his successors, and which characterized
the Siena pictures even when that peculiar pathetic grace was
afterwards modified by the grand drawing of the Florentine
school. Duccio was an established painter when Giotto was a
31

32 GIOTTO
child, and his influence in his native city remained long after
death. Perhaps the perpetual enmity and jealousy between
these two famous cities, and frequent sanguinary conflicts, con
spired to keep the two nationalities at variance, even in Ait.
The scholars and imitators of Giotto, who adopted the new
method (il nuovo mctodo), as it was then called, and who col
lectively are distinguished as the iScn.ola Giottesca, may be
divided into two classes : 1. Those who were merely his assist
ants and imitators, who confined themselves to the reproduction
of the models left by their master. 2. Those who, gifted
with original genius, followed his example rather than his
instructions, pursued the path he had opened to them, intro
duced better methods of study, more correct design, and car
ried on in various departments the advance of Art into the
succeeding century.
Of the first it is not necessary to speak. Among the men
of great and original genius who immediately succeeded Giotto,
three must be especially mentioned for the importance of the
works they have left, and for the influence they exercised on
those who came after them. These were Andrea Orcagna,
Simone Memmi, and Taddeo Gaddi.
The first of these, Andrea Cioni, commonly called A.ndeea
Orcagna, did not study under Giotto, but owed much indi
rectly to that vivifying influence which he breathed through
Art. Andrea was the son of a goldsmith at Florence. The gold
smiths of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were in general
excellent designers, and not unfrequently became painters, as
in the instances of Francia, Verrochio, Andrea del Sarto, etc.
Andrea Orcagna apparently learned design under the tuition of
his father. Rosini places his birth previous to the year 1310.!
[His great work was the decoration of the Strozzi chapel in the
church of S. jNIaria Novella at Florence. Here he painted on
the three principal walls the Last Judgment, Paradise, and the
Inferno, and for the same chapel an altar-piece in five compart
ments. These works are characterized by rare qualities of
greatness. The laws of composition are perfectly observed.
Some of the figures are grand and beautiful. The color is
" brilliant and soft," the harmonies "true and pleasing." A
full description of the work is given by Crowe and Cavalcaselle,
in the "History of Painting in Italy," vol. i. p. 431 et seg-.]
1 [Sir Henry Layard gives 1308 as the date of Orcagna's birth.]

ANDREA ORCAGNA

33

We have now in the National Gallery an undoubted picture
by Andrea.^ a large altar-piece, in three large and nine small
divisions — which, if studied carefully, with the explanations
in the catalogue, will give a very good idea of the manner in
which these great religious compositions were put together.

Orcagna
Andrea Orcagna was also a sculptor. He executed in 1359
the exquisitely beautiful and elaborate tabernacle or shrine
which the Florentines dedicated in the church called Or San
Michele, and which is still to be seen there ; ! and not less
1 [See the beautiful engravings of Lasinio, " II Tabernacolo della Madonna
d' Or San Michele," Florence, 1851. All the details of the tabernacle are repro
duced iu photographs.]

34 GIOTTO
consummate as an architect than as a sculptor and painter, [he
was employed in the works of the Duomo at Florence and in
those of the cathedral at Orvieto. It is no longer believed,
however, that he was the builder of the Loggia de' Lanzi at
Florence, though this beautiful portico is still called by his
name.!] Simone Martini,^ usually [but incorrectly] called Simone
Memmi, was a painter of Siena, of whom very few works re
main, but the friendship of Petrarch has rendered his name
illustrious. Simone Memmi was employed at Avignon when
it was the seat of the popes (about 1340), and there he painted
the portrait of Laura and presented it to Petrarch, who re
warded him with two Sonnets — and immortality.
Simone Memmi also painted, in conjunction with Ambrogio
LoKBNZBTTi, another Sienese painter, some very extraordinary
frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico, or town hall, of Siena. I
have also seen at Naples, in the church of San Lorenzo, a very
interesting picture, representing St. Louis of Anjou, bishop of
Toulouse, crowning his brother, Robert of Anjou, as king of
Naples, while he is himself crowned by two angels. There is
a beautiful little miniature, undoubtedly by him, in the Liver
pool Museum, but we have no specimen in our National Gal
lery. [It was long supposed that some of the frescoes in the
Campo Santo at Pisa were by him, as well as the frescoes of
the Spanish chapel in Florence. Modern criticism assigns
these famous works to other hands.] Simone was certainly
one of the most remarkable and interesting painters of his
time, and quite independent of the influence of Giotto. He
died about 1345.3
The third painter alluded to was Taddeo Gaddi, the favor
ite scholar of Giotto, and his godson.* His pictures are con
sidered the most important works of the fourteenth century :
they resemble the manner of Giotto in the feeling for truth,
nature, and simplicity ; but we find in them improved execu
tion, with even more beauty and largeness and grandeur of
style. His pictures are numerous : several are in the Academy
t [It should be said that Perkins attributes the Loggia de' Lanzi to Orcagna,
but Sir Henrv Layard declares it not his work.]
2 [Born 128.3.]
2 [In 1344, according to Sir Henry Layard.]
< [Born in 1300.]

SIMONE MEMMI

35

Simone Memmi

at Florence and the Museum at Berlin ; and in our National
Gallery are two large panels, which probably formed the two
wings of a central piece (an " Enthroned Madonna," or a
" Coronation of the Virgin "), filled with figures of saints who
appear as if in attendance on some grand ceremony or some
superior personage, all the heads being finely discriminated in
character. Also an altar-piece dedicated to John the Baptist,
representing the Baptism of our Saviour, and subjects from
the history of St. John below, which are worthy of study as
examples of the style of Taddeo.! There are [three] small
pictures by him in the Louvre, and four more important in
1 [All these pictures in the National Gallery are catalogued as of his
"school."]

36

GIOTTO

the Berlin Gallery. Between Taddeo Gaddi and Simone
Memmi there existed an ardent friendship and a mutual ad
miration which did honor to both. He was, like many of the
old painters, a skilful architect, and built the Ponte Vecchio
at Florence, which is still standing, and still famous for the

Taddeo Gaddi

goldsmiths' shops which line it on each side. After Giotto's
there was no name more celebrated in his time than that of
Taddeo Gaddi. He died in 1366, leaving two sons, Agnolo
and Giovanni, who were both painters. Another of Giotto's
most famous followers was Tommaso di Steeano, called
Giottino, or " the little Giotto," from the success with which

GIOTTINO 37
he emulated his master. He was of a thoughtful, rather mel
ancholy temperament, and seems to have thrown all the ten
derness of his nature into a small picture of the dead Saviour
lamented by his Mother, the other Maries, and Nicodemus,
which exists in the Florence Gallery.''

Giottino
[PiETEO Lorenzetti, sometimes called Pietro Laurati,
was a Sienese painter and a contemporary of Simone Memmi.
There are a few examples of his work in Siena and in the
I [The authorship of this picture is a diflficult matter to determine on account
of the confusion between the names Maso di Banco and Tommaso di Stefano.
For a discussion of this subject see Laj^ard's revision of Kugler's Handbook,
p. 104.]

38 GIOTTO
Christian iMuseum of the Vatican which are not lacking in
originality and power. Lorenzetti's great work was in the
Campo Santo at Pisa, where, with his brother Ambrogio, he
painted the remarkable series of frescoes : The Last Judgment,
the Triumph of Death, and Hell.]
This seems the proper place to give a more detailed account
of one of the most extraordinary and interesting monuments
of the middle ages. The Campo Santo of Pisa, like the cathe
dral at Assisi, was an arena in which the best artists of the
time were summoned to try their powers ; but the influence of
the frescoes in the Campo Santo on the progress and develop
ment of Art was yet more direct and important than that of
the paintings in the church of Assisi.
The Campo Santo,! gj^^g ^ cemetery, though no longer used
as such, is an open space of about four hundred feet in length
and one hundred and eighteen feet in breadth, inclosed with
high walls, and an arcade, something like the cloisters of a
monastery or cathedral, running all round it. On the east
side is a large chapel, and on the north two smaller chapels,
where prayers and masses are celebrated for the repose of the
dead. The open space was filled with earth brought from
the Holy Land by the merchant-ships of Pisa, which traded to
the Levant in the days of its commercial splendor. This open
space, once sown with graves, is now covered with green turf.
At the four corners are four tall cypress-trees, their dark, mon
umental, spiral forms contrasting with a little lowly cross in
the centre, round which ivy or some other creeping plant has
wound a luxuriant bower. The beautiful Gothic arcade was
designed and built about 1283 by Giovanni Pisano, the son of
the great Niccolo Pisano already mentioned. This arcade, on
the side next the burial-ground, is pierced by sixty-two win
dows of elegant tracery divided from each other by slender
pilasters ; upwards of six hundred sepulchral monuments of
tlie nobles and citizens of Pisa are ranged along the marble
pavements, and mingled with them are some antique remains
of great beauty, which the Pisans in former times brought
from the Greek Isles. Here also is seen the famous sarcopha
gus which first inspired the genius of Niccolo Pisano, and in
which had been deposited the body of Beatrice, mother of the
' The Campo Santo or " Holy Field " is the generic name of a cemetery in
Italy.

CAMPO SANTO AT PISA 39
famous Countess Matilda. The walls opposite to the windows
were painted in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with
Scriptural subjects. Most of these are half ruined by time,
neglect, and damp ; some only present fragments ; here an arm,
there a head ; and the best preserved are faded, discolored,

Pietro Lorenzetti
ghastly in appearance, and solemn in subject. The whole as
pect of this singular place, particularly to those who wander
through its long arcades at the close of day, when the figures
on the pictured walls look dim and spectral through the gloom,
and the cypresses assume a blacker hue, and all the associations

40 GIOTTO
connected with its sacred purpose and its history rise upon the
fancy, has in its silence and solitude, and religious destination,
something inexpressibly strange, dreamy, solemn, almost aw
ful. Seen in the broad glare of noonday, the place and the
pictures lose something of their power over the fancy, and
that which last night haunted us as a vision, to-day we exam
ine, study, criticise.
'The building of the Campo Santo was scarcely finished when
the best painters of the time were summoned to paint the
walls all round the interior with appropriate subjects. This
was a work of many years : it was, indeed, continued at in
tervals through two centuries ; and thus we have a series of
illustrations of the progress of Art during its first develop
ment, of the religious influences of the age, and even of the
dress and manners of the people, which are faithfully exhib
ited in some of these most extraordinary compositions. To
comprehend them aright we must first consider the purpose
of the locality — a place sacred to the dead. It was to re
mind those who came to meditate within its precincts of the
providence of God towards men as exemplified in Scriptural
hi.story ; of the great sacrifice which brought redemption ; of
the troubles of human life ; of inevitable death ; of resurrec
tion ; of the last judgment ; and of the final destinies which
await the souls of the just and the unjust. This was the
general design.
On the left, as we enter, we find the troubles of life repre
sented in the history of Job, the great biblical type of suffering,
faith, and patience. Of this compartment but few fragments
remain. [It was once supposed to be the work of Giotto, but
it is now attributed to Francesco da Volterra.] On the north
wall opposite we find the history of God's dealings with man :
first, the Creation of the universe and of mankind ; then the
whole series of events from the Fall and the Expulsion from
Paradise down to David and Solomon, including the history
of the patriarchs Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph ;
the story of the Israelites and jNIoses and Aaron ; ending with
the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon. These were painted
by Benozzo Gozzoli. Then on the east wall was the history
of our Lord, now almost wholly effaced. On the south wall
followed the Triumph of Death, the Future Life, the Last
Judgment, and Punishment of the Wicked ; these were painted

CAMPO SANTO AT PISA 41
by [Pietro Lorenzetti].! Paradise and the Blessedness of
the Just were to have followed, but these were never exe
cuted ; and at a later period the Legends of the patron saints
of Pisa, St. Ranieri, St. Efeso, and St. Potito, were painted
on this portion of the wall. It is clear that, to understand
the religious significance of these decorations of the Campo
Santo, the subjects must be considered in the order I have
followed. The first is styled the Triumph of Death {II Trionfo della
Morte). It is full of poetry, and abounding in ideas then new
in pictorial art. On the right is a festive company of ladies
and cavaliers, who by their falcons and dogs appear to be re
turned from the chase. They are seated under orange-trees,
and splendidly attired ; rich carpets are spread at their feet.
A troubadour and singing-girl amuse them with flattering
songs ; Cupids flutter around them and wave their torches. All
the pleasures of sense and joys of earth are here united. On
the left Death approaches with rapid flight — a fearful-look
ing woman with wild streaming hair, claws instead of nails,
large bats' wings, and indestructible wire-woven drapery. She
swings a scythe in her hand, and is on the point of mowing
down the joys of the company. (This female impersonation
of Death is supposed to be borrowed from Petrarch, whose
" Trionfo della Morte " was written about this time.) A host
of corpses closely pressed together lie at her feet ; by their in
signia they are almost all to be recognized as the former rulers
of the world, kings, queens, cardinals, bishops, princes, war
riors, etc. Their souls rise out of them in the form of new
born infants ; angels and demons are ready to receive them :
the souls of the pious fold their hands in prayer, those of the
condemned shrink back in horror. The angels are peculiarly
yet happily conceived, with bird-like forms and variegated
plumage ; the demons have the semblance of beasts of prey or
of disgusting reptiles. They flght with each other. On the
right the angels ascend to heaven with those they have saved ;
while the demons drag their prey to a fiery mountain, visible
on the left, and hurl the souls down into the flames. Next to
these corpses is a crowd of beggars and cripples, who with out
stretched arms call upon Death to end their sorrows ; but she
1 [These frescoes were long attributed to Orcagna, and it was under his name
that the description which follows appeared in the original edition.]

42 GIOTTO
heeds not their prayer, and has already passed them in her
flight. A rock separates this scene from another, in which is
represented a second hunting-party descending the mountain
by a hollow path : here again are richly attired princes and
dames on horses splendidly caparisoned, and a train of hunters
with falcons and dogs. The path has led them to three open
sepulchres in the left corner of the picture ; in them lie the
bodies of three princes, in different stages of decay. Close
by, in extreme old age and supported on crutches, stands
the old hermit St. Macarius, who, turning to the princes,
points down to this bitter "Memento mori." They look on
apparently with indifference, and one of them holds his nose,
as if incommoded by the horrible stench. One queenly lady
alone, deeply moved, rests her head on her hand, her counte
nance full of a pensive sorrow. On the mountain heights are
several hermits, who, in contrast to the followers of the joys
of the world, have attained in a life of contemplation and ab
stinence to a state of tranquil blessedness. One of them
milks a doe, squirrels are sporting round him ; another sits and
reads ; and a third looks down into the valley where the re
mains of the mighty are mouldering away. There is a tradi
tion that among the personages in these pictures are many
portraits of the artist's contemporaries.
The second representation is the Last Judgment. Above,
in the centre, Christ and the Virgin are throned in separate
glories.! He turns to the left, towards the condemned, while
he uncovers the wound in his side, and raises his right arm
with a menacing gesture, his countenance full of majestic wrath.
The Virgin, on the right of her Son, is the picture of heavenly
mercy : she turns, with an appealing look, to our Lord ; with
one hand pressed to the bosom which nourished him, she
pleads for sinners. On either side are ranged the prophets of
the Old Testament, the apostles, and other saints — severe,
solemn, dignified figures. Angels, holding the instruments of
the Passion, hover over Christ and the Virgin : under them is
a group of archangels. First, the Archangel ^Michael, as the
" Angel of Judgment," stands in the midst, holding a scroll
in each hand ; immediately before him another archangel, sup
posed to represent Raphael, the guardian angel of humanity,
cowers down, shuddering, while two others sound the awful
1 [See illustration in Legends of the Madonna, p. 86.]

CAMPO SANTO AT PISA 43
trumpets of doom.! Lower down is the earth, where men are
seen rising from their graves ; armed angels direct them to the
right and left. Here is seen King Solomon, who, whilst he
rises, seems doubtful to which side he should turn ; here a
hypocritical monk, whom an angel draws back by the hair

Ambrogio Lorenzetti
from the host of the blessed ; and there a youth in a gay and
rich costume, whom another angel leads away to Paradise.
There is wonderful and even terrible power of expression in
some of the heads, and it is said that among them are many
portraits of contemporaries, but unfortunately no circumstantial
1 [See illustration in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 85.]

44 GIOTTO
traditions as to particular figures have reached us. The atti
tudes of Christ and the Virgin were afterwards borrowed by
Michael Angelo, in his celebrated Last Judgment ; but, not
withstanding the perfection of his forms, he stands far below
the dignified grandeur of the old master. Later painters have
also borrowed from his arrangement of the patriarchs and
apostles, particularly Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael.
The third representation, directly succeeding the foregoing,
is Hell. It is altogether inferior to the preceding represen
tations in execution, and even in the composition. Here the
imagination of the painter, unrestrained by any just rules of
taste, degenerates into the monstrous and disgusting, and even
the grotesque and ludicrous. Hell is here represented as a
great rocky caldron, divided into four compartments rising one
above the other. In the midst sits Satan, a fearful armed
giant — himself a fiery furnace, out of whose body flames arise
in different places, in which sinners are consumed or crushed.
In other parts the condemned are seen spitted like fowls, and
roasted and basted by demons, with other such atrocious fan
cies, too horrible and sickening for description. The lower
part of the picture was badly painted over, and altered accord
ing to the taste of the day, in the sixteenth century ; certainly
not for the better.
The Lorenzetti also painted in the Campo Santo the Her
mits in the Wilderness : ! they are represented as dwelling in
caves and chapels, upon rocks and mountains ; some studying,
others meditating, others tempted by demons in various horri
ble or alluring forms, for such were the diseased fancies which
haunted a solitary and unnatural existence. As the laws of
perspective were then unknown, the various groups of hermits
and their dwellings are represented one above another, and all
of the same size, much like the figures on a china plate. It
is, however, very interesting, and Lorenzetti repeated these
scenes on a smaller scale in a picture now in the Uffizi at
Florence.^ [Andrea da Firenze (1377) and] Antonio Veneziano [1386]
also painted in the Campo Santo the history of St. Ranieri, a
native of Pisa, who, for his pious life and wonderful miracles,
1 [For a detailed account of this fresco, and an engraving of same, see Sacred
and Legendary Art, p. 740 et seq.]
2 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle consider this picture the work of a pupil.]

ANTONIO VENEZIANO

45

* .'

y-;

LI?'-..

•,\

Antonio Veneziano
was held in great respect by his countrymen, the Pisans.!
[The three upper scenes were by Andrea da Firenze and rep
resent the saint's conversion from a worldly life, his journey
to Palestine, victory over temptation, and retirement to a mon
astery. The three lower scenes were by Antonio Veneziano,
and are better executed, though now much injured. They
show the saint returning from Palestine, miracles, his death,
and the removal of his body to the cathedral.]
Spinello of Arezzo was next employed, about 1390. He
painted the story of St. Ephesus. Spinello seems to have
been a man of genius, but of most unregulated mind. Vasari
1 [See Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 743.]

46

GIOTTO

Spinello Ai'etino

tells a story of him which shows at once the vehemence of his
fancj' and his morbid brain. He painted a picture of The Fal
len Angels, in which he had labored to render the figure of
Satan as terrible, as deformed, as revolting, as possible. The
image, as he worked upon it, became fixed in his fancy and
haunted him in sleep. He dreamed that the Prince of Hell
appeared before him under the horrible form in which he had
arrayed him, and demanded why he should be thus treated,
and by what authority the painter had represented him so
abominably hideous. Spinello awoke in terror : soon afterwards
he became distracted and so died. [There is evidence, however,
that he lived as late as 1410, several years after his vision, so

CHARACTER OF EARLY ART 47
that the direful effects of his nightmare were doubtless exag
gerated by Vasari.]
I have mentioned here but a few of the most prominent
names among the multitude of painters who flourished from
1300 to 1400 ; before we enter on a new century we will take
a general view of the progress of the art itself and the purposes
to which it was applied.
The progress made in painting was chiefly by carrying out
the principles of Giotto in expression and in imitation. Taddeo
Gaddi and Simone excelled in the first ; the imitation of form
and of natural objects was so improved by Stefano Fiorentino
that he was styled by his contemporaries II Scimia della Na-
tura, the Ape of Nature. Giottino, the son of this Stefano,
and others improved in color, in softness of execution, and in
the means and mechanism of the art ; but oil-painting was not
yet invented, and linear perspective was unknown. Engraving
on copper, cutting in wood, and printing were the inventions
of the next century. Portraits were seldom painted, and then
only of very distinguished persons, introduced into large com
positions. The imitation of natural scenery, that is, landscape
painting, as a branch of art, now such a familiar source of
pleasure, was as yet unthought of. When landscape was
introduced into pictures as a background or accessory, it was
merely to indicate the scene of the story : a rock represented
a desert ; some formal trees, very like brooms set on end, indi
cated a wood ; a bluish space, sometimes with fishes in it,
signified, rather than represented, a river or a sea ; yet in the
midst of this ignorance, this imperfect execu.tion, and limited
range of power, how exquisitely beautiful are some of the
remains of this early time ! affording in their simple, genuine
grace, and lofty, earnest, and devout feeling, examples of excel
lence which our modern painters are beginning to feel and
to understand, and which the great Raphael himself did not
disdain to study, and even to copy.
As yet the purposes to which painting was applied were
almost wholly of a religious character. No sooner was a
church erected than the walls were covered with representa
tions of sacred subjects, either from Scriptural history or the
legends of saints. Devout individuals or families built and
consecrated chapels ; and then, at great cost, employed painters
either to decorate the walls or to paint pictures for the altars ;

48 GIOTTO
the Madonna and Child, or the Crucifixion, were the favorite
subjects ; the donor of the picture or founder of the chapel
being often represented on his knees in a corner of the picture,
and sometimes (as more expressive of humility) of most diminu
tive size, out of all proportion to the other figures. Where the
object was to commemorate the dead, or to express at once the
grief and the devotion of the survivors, the subject was gen
erally a " Deposition from the Cross " — that is, our Saviour
taken down from the cross, and lying in the arms of his
afflicted mother. The doors of the sacristies, and of the
presses in which the priests' vestments were kept, were often
covered with small pictures of Scriptural subjects ; as were
also the chests in which were deposited the utensils for the
Holy Sacrament. Almost all the small movable pictures of
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which have come down
to us are either the borders or small compartments cut out
from the broken-up altar-pieces of chapels and oratories, or they
are from the panels of doors, from the covers of chests, or other
pieces of ecclesiastical furniture. In those days the idea of
having pictures of any kind, far less pictures representing the
most awful scenes and mysteries of our religion, hung as mere
ornaments upon the walls of a room, had never occurred to
any one.

LOEENZO GHIBERTI
[Born 1381, i Died 1455]
THE DOORS OF SAN GIOVANNI
We are now to enter on a view of the progress of painting
in the fifteenth century — a period perhaps the most remark
able in the whole history of mankind — distinguished by the
most extraordinary mental activity, by rapid improvement in
the arts of life, by the first steady advance in philosophical
inquiry, by the restoration of classical learning, and by two
great events, of which the results lie almost beyond the reach
of calculation — the invention of the art of printing, and the
discovery of America.
The progressive impulse which characterized this memorable
period was felt not less in the fine arts : in painting, the adop
tion of oils in the mixing of colors, instead of the aqueous and
glutinous vehicles formerly used for the purpose, led to some
most important results. But long before the general adoption
of this and other improvements in the materials employed,
there had been a strong impulse given to the mental develop
ment of Art, of which we have to say a few words before we
come to treat further of the history and efforts of individual
minds. During the fourteenth century the leading school of Art was
that of Florence, and we find all Italy filled with the scholars
and imitators of Giotto ; but in the fifteenth century there was
a manifest striving after originality of style, — a branching off
into particular schools, distinguished by the predominance of
some particular characteristic in the mode of treatment, — as
expression, form, color, the tendency to the merely imitative,
or the aspiration towards the spiritual and ideal. At this time
we begin to hear of the Neapolitan, Umbrian, Bolognese, Ve
netian, and Paduan schools as distinctly characterized ; but
1 [This date ia given by Perkins. Others give 1378.]

50 LORENZO GHIBERTI
from 1400 to 1450 we still find the painters of Florence, Siena,
and Arezzo in advance of all the rest in power, invention, fer
tility, and in the application of knowledge and mechanical
means to a given end ; and as in the thirteenth century we
traced the new influence given to modern Art by Giotto back
to the sculptor Niccolo Pisano, so in the fifteenth century we
find the infiuence of another sculptor, Lorenzo Ghiberti, pro
ducing an effect on his contemporaries, more especially his
fellow-citizens, which, by developing and perfecting the princi
ples of imitation on which Giotto had worked, stamped that
peculiar character on Florentine art which distinguished it all
through the century of which we have now to speak, and the
beginning of the next.
For these reasons, the story of Ghiberti, and the casting of
the famous doors of San Giovanni, may be considered as an
epoch in the history of painting : we shall find, as we proceed,
almost every great name, and every important advance in Art,
connected with it directly or indirectly, while the system of
competition which has been adopted with regard to the designs
for our Houses of Parliament and other public monuments
lends a particular interest and application to this beautiful
anecdote. Florence, at the period of which we speak, was at the head
of all the states of Italy, and at the height of its prosperity.
The government was essentially democratic in spirit and form ;
every class and interest in the state, the aristocracy, the mili
tary, merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics, had each a due
share of power, and served to balance each other. The family
of the Medici, who a century later seized on the sovereignty,
were at this time only among the most distinguished citizens,
and members of a great mercantile house, at the head of which
was Giovanni, the father of Cosmo de' jMedici. The trades
were divided into guilds or companies, called Arti, which
were represented in the government by twenty-four Cf)XSOLi,
or consuls. It was the consuls of the guild of merchants who,
in the year 1401, undertook to erect a second gate or door of
bronze to the Baptistery of St. John, which should form a
pendant to the first, executed in the preceding century (1330),
by Andrea Pisano, from the designs of Giotto, and represent
ing in rich sculpture the various events of the life of St. John

THE DOORS OF SAN GIOVANNI 51
the Baptist.! To equal or surpass this beautiful door, which
had been for half a century the admiration of all Italy, was the

Ghiberti
object proposed, and no expense was to be spared in its attain
ment. The Signoria, or members of the chief government, acting
in conjunction with the Consoli, made known this munificent
t A Bapfister}', as its name imports, is an edifice used for the purposes of
baptism, and always dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The Baptistery of San
Giovanni at Florence is a large chapel of an octangular form, surmounted by a
dome: on three of the sides are entrances. It is an appendage of the cathedral,
though separate from it.

62 LORENZO GHIBERTI
resolve through all Italy, and in consequence not only the best
artists of Florence, but many from other cities, particularly
Siena and Bologna, assembled on this occasion. From among
a great number, seven were selected by the Consoli as worthy
to compete for the work, upon terms not merely just, but
munificent. Each competitor received, besides his expenses, a
fair indemnity for his labor for one year. The subject pro
posed was the Sacrifice of Isaac, and at the end of the year
each artist was required to give in a design, executed in bronze,
of the same size as one of the compartments of the old door,
that is, about two feet square.
There were thirty-four judges, principally artists, some
natives of Florence, others strangers ; each was obliged to give
his vote in public, and to state at the same time the reasons
by which his vote was justified. The names of the seven
competitors, as given by Vasari, were — Jacopo della Querela,
of Siena ; Niccold d' Arezzo, his pupil ; Simon da CoUe, cele
brated already for his fine workmanship in bronze, from which
he was surnamed Simon dei Bronzi ; Francesco di Valdambrina ;
Filippo Brunelleschi ; Donato, better known as Donatello ; and
Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Lorenzo was at this time about twenty-three ; he was the
son of a Florentine named Clone, and of a family which had
attained to some distinction in Florence. The mother of Lo
renzo, left a widow at an early age, married a worthy man
named Bartoluccio,! known for his skill as a goldsmith. The
goldsmiths of those days were not merely artisans, but artists
in the high sense of the word ; they generally wrought their
own designs, consisting of figures and subjects from sacred or
classical story, exquisitely chased in relief, or engraved or en
amelled on the shrines or chalices used in the Church service ;
or vases, dishes, sword-hilts, and other implements.
The arts of drawing and modelling, then essential to a gold
smith, as well as practical skill in chiselling, and founding
and casting metals, were taught to the young Lorenzo by his
stepfather ; and his progress was so rapid that at the age of
nineteen or twenty he had already secured to himself the
patronage of the Prince Pandolfo jNIalatesta, Lord of Pesaro,
and was employed in the decoration of his palace when Bar
toluccio sent him notice of the terms of the competition for
1 [The name is given by Perkins as Bartolo di Michiele.]

THE DOORS OF SAN GIOVANNI 53
the execution of the doors of San Giovanni. Lorenzo imme
diately hastened to present himself as one of the competitors,
and, on giving evidence of his acquired skill, he was accepted
among the elected seven. They had each their workshop and
furnace apart, and it is related that most of them jealously
kept their designs secret from the rest ; but Lorenzo, who had
all the modest self-assurance of conscious genius, ditl not ; on
the contrary, he listened gratefully to any suggestion or criti
cism which was offered, admitting his friends and distinguished
strangers to his atelier while his work was going forward. To
this candor he added a persevering courage ; for when, after
incredible labor, he had completed his models, and made his
preparations for casting, some flaw or accident in the process
obliged him to begin all over again, he supplied this loss of
time by the most unremitting labor, and at the end of the year
he was not found behind his competitors. When the seven
pieces were exhibited together in public, it was adjudged that
the work of Querela was wanting in delicacy and finish ; that
of Valdambrina confused in composition ; that of Simon da
Colle well cast, but ill drawn ; that of Niccolo d' Arezzo heavy
and ill-proportioned in the figures, though well composed ; in
short, but three among the number united the various merits
of composition, design, and delicacy of workmanship, and were
at once preferred before the rest. These three were the work
of Brunelleschi, then in his twenty-fifth year ; Donatello, then
about eighteen ; and Lorenzo Ghiberti, not quite twenty-three.
The suffrages seemed divided ; but after a short pause, and
the exchange of a few whispered words, Brunelleschi and
Donatello withdrew, generously agreeing and proclaiming aloud
that Lorenzo had excelled them all, that to him alone belonged
the prize ; and this judgment, as honorable to themselves as
to their rival, was confirmed amid the acclamations of the as
sembly.! The citizens of Florence were probably not less desirous
than we should be in our day to behold the completion of a
1 The three are preserved in the Camera de' Bronzi, in the Florence Gallery;
and in the set of engravings from the three doors, published by Lasinio, the
designs by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi are placed side by side, and may be com
pared. The superioritv of the former, in point of ele.gance, is at once apparent.
See Le tre Porte del Battisterio di San Giovanni di Firenze, incise ed illustrate,
1821. There is a copy in the British Museum. [Perkins' Tuscan Sculptors also
contains engravings of the panels of Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.]

54 LORENZO GHIBERTI
work begun with so much solemnity. But the great artist
who had undertaken it was not hurried into carelessness by
their impatience or his own ; nor did he contract to finish it,
like a blacksmith's job, in a given time. He set about it with
all due gravity and consideration, yet, as he describes his own
feelings in his own words, con grandissima diligenza e gran-
dissimo amove, " with infinite diligence and infinite love." He
began his designs and models in 1402, and in twenty-two !
jrears from that time, that is, in 1424, the door was finished
and erected in its place. As in the first door Andrea Pisano
had chosen for his theme the life of John the Baptist, the
precursor of the Saviour, and the patron saint of the Baptistery,
Lorenzo continued the history of the Redemption in a series
of subjects from the Annunciation to the descent of the Holy
Ghost ; these he represented in twenty panels or compartments,
ten on each of the folding-doors, and below these eight others
containing the full-length effigies of the four evangelists and
the four doctors of the Latin Church — grand, majestic figures ;
— and all around a border of rich ornaments, fruit, and foliage,
and heads of the projDhets and the sibyls intermingled, won
drous for the beauty of the design and excellence of the work
manship ; the whole was cast in bronze, and weighed thirty-four
thousand pounds of metal.
Such was the glory which this great work conferred not
only on Lorenzo himself, but the whole city of Florence, that
he was regarded as a public benefactor, and shortly afterwards
the same company confided to him the execution of the third
gate of the same edifice. The gate of Andrea Pisano, formerly
the principal entrance, was removed to the side, and Lorenzo
was desired to construct a central door which was to surpass
the two lateral ones in beauty and richness. He chose this
time the history of the Old Testament, the subjects being se
lected by Leonardo Bruni d' Arezzo, chancellor of the republic,
and represented b)' Ghiberti in ten compartments, each two
and a half feet square, beginning with the Creation, and end
ing ^vith the Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ;
and he inclosed the whole in an elaborate border or frame
composed of intermingled fruits and foliage, and full-length
figures of the heroes and prophets and prophetesses of the Old
Testament, standing in niches, to the number of twenty-four,
1 [Perkins says twenty-one, giving 1403 for the date of the commission.]

THE DOORS OF SAN GIOVANNI 55
each about fourteen inches high, wonderful for their various
and appropriate character, for correct, animated design, and
delicacy of workmanship. This door, of the same material
and weight as the former, was assigned to him in 1424, and
the ten compartments finished in 1447; but the ornaments
and small figures around were not completed till 1450 ; the
whole was gilt and set up in its place by Lorenzo and his son
Vittorio in 1452.
It is especially worthy of remark that the only fault of these
otherwise faultless works was precisely that character of style
which rendered them so influential as a school of imitation
and emulation for painters. The subjects are in sculpture, in
relief, and cast in the hardest, severest, darkest, and most
inflexible of all manageable materials — in bronze. Yet they
are treated throughout much more in accordance with the
principles of painting than with those of sculpture. We have
here groups of numerous figures, near or receding from the eye
in just gradations of size and relief, according to the rules of
perspective ; different actions of the same story represented on
different planes ; buildings of elaborate architecture ; landscape,
trees, and animals : in short, a dramatic and scenic style of
conception and effect wholly opposed to the severe simplicity
of classical sculpture. Ghiberti's genius, notwithstanding the
inflexible material in whicli he embodied his conceptions, was
in its natural bent pictorial rather than sculptural ; and each
panel of his beautiful gates is, in fact, a picture in relief, and
must be considered and judged as such. Regarding them in
this point of view, and not subjecting them to those rules of
criticism which apply to sculpture, we shall be able to appre
ciate the astonishing fertility of invention exhibited in the
various designs — the felicity and clearness with which every
story is told, the grace and naivete of some of the figures, the
simple grandeur of others, the luxuriant fancy displayed in the
ornaments, and the perfection with which the whole is exe
cuted ; and to echo the energetic praise of Michael Angelo,
who pronounced these gates " worthy to he the Gates of
Paradise ! "
Complete sets of casts from these celebrated compositions
are now to be found in most of the collections and academies
on the Continent. King Louis Philippe presented a set to
our Government School of Design. In the Crystal Palace a

56 LORENZO GHIBERTI
set of the casts, with all the ornaments, has been most artis
tically put together and colored in imitation of bronze, so as to
give a very perfect idea of the present state of these gates ; it
must not be forgotten, however, that they were originally gilt.
[The Musedm of Fine Arts, Boston, has an excellent cast of
the second gate. The details may be studied from photographs.]
Lorenzo Ghiberti died in the year 1465, at the age of
seventy-seven. His former competitors, Brunelleschi and Do
natello, remained his friends through life, and have left behind
them names not less celebrated, the one as an architect, the
other as a sculptor.
This is the history of those famous gates
So marvellously wrought,
That they might serve to be the gates of Heaven !

FILIPPO LIPPI
Born 1400, Died 1469
AND
ANGELICO DA FlESOLE
Born 1387, Died 1455
CONTEMPORAEY with Lorenzo Ghiberti lived two painters,
both gifted with surpassing genius, both of a religious order,
being professed monks ; in all other respects the very anti
podes of each other ; and we find the very opposite impulses
given by these remarkable men prevailing through the rest of
the century at Florence and elsewhere. From this period we
date the great schism in modern Art, though the seeds of this
diversity of feeling and purpose were sown in the preceding
century. We now find, on the one side, a race of painters who
cultivated with astonishing success all the mental and mechani
cal aids that could be brought to bear on their profession ;
profoundly versed in the knowledge of the human form, and
intent on studying and imitating the various effects of nature
in color and in light and shade, without any other aspiration
than the representation of beauty for its own sake, and the
pleasure and the triumph of difficulties overcome. On the
other hand, we find a race of painters to whom the cultivation
of Art was a sacred vocation — the representation of beauty a
means, not an end ; by whom Nature in her various aspects
was studied and deeply studied, but only for the purpose of
embodying whatever we can conceive or reverence as highest,
holiest, purest in heaven and earth, in such forms as should
best connect them with our intelligence and with our sym
pathies. The two classes of painters who devoted their genius to
these very diverse aims have long been distinguished in German
and Italian criticism as the Naturalists and the Idealists or
Mystics, and these denominations are now becoming familiar
ized in our own language. During the fifteenth century we

58 FILIPPO LIPPI
find in the various schools of Art scattered through Italy these
different aims more or less apparent, sometimes approximating,
sometimes diverging into extremes, but the distinction always
apparent ; and the infiuence exercised by those who pursued
their art with such very different objects — with such very
different feelings — was of course different in its result. Paint
ing, however, during this centu.ry was still almost wholly de
voted to ecclesiastical purposes ; it deviated into the classical
and secular in only two places, Florence and Padua.
In the convent of the Carmelites where Masaccio painted
his famous frescoes was a young monk, one whom poverty had
driven, as a child, to take refuge there, and who had after
wards taken the habit from necessity rather than from in
clination. His name was Filippo Lippi (which may be
translated Philip the son of Philip), but he is known in the
history of Art as Fra Filippo (Friar Phili|)). In him, as in
many others, the bent of the genius was early decided, for
nature had made him a painter.! He was son of a butcher,
born 1412, and was left an orphan two years later. The
patient investigations of Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle ^ and
others prove, from authentic records, that the greater part of
Vasari's Life of him is without foundation, a mere romance,
though it is not possible to disprove altogether the charge of
immorality brought against him. From 1420 to 1432 he re
mained an inmate of the Carmine monastery, and perhaps
studied in the Brancacci chapel. In 1432 he left the monas
tery. It is probable that the connection of the friar with the
family of Cosmo de' Medici began at a much earlier date than
Vasari believed.
"The story of Lippi's capture by the pirates of Barbary
seems to be a romance, and there is no trace either of his stay
in Ancona, the place where he is supposed to have been cap
tured, or of his residence in Naples, where he is said to have
landed after his captivity. Nor is it true that his withdrawal
from the convent in which he had been brought up involved
his abandonment of the frock, or at least of some species of
1 On a comparison of dates it appears that Fra Filippo did not owe his first
inspiration to Masaccio, for he was at least thirty years of age when the frescoes
in the chapel of the Carmine were undertaken.
2 [This paragraph shows plainly an editor's hand, as Mrs. Jameson could
not have referred to investigations which had not been made at the time of her
writing.]

HIS ADVENTURES

59

Filippo Lippi (by himself)

religious vow. We may note, on the contrary, that in all the
pictures which bear his signature he calls himself ' Frater
Filippus.' In a letter written by Lippi to Piero de' Medici,
dated August 13, 1439, the Fra clearly describes his condition
when he says, ' I am one of the poorest friars of Florence.'
This note, indeed, is one of the most direct contradictions to the
general tenor of Vasari's narrative respecting Fra Filippo that

60 FILIPPO LIPPI
can be conceived. It paints the man, and gives such an in
sight into his struggles as to create a lively sympathy in his
favor." !
Under the patronage of the Medici family he painted at
Florence a great number of admirable pictures, and was called
upon to decorate many convents and churches in the neighbor
hood. He is known to have been very poor, and constantly
in want of money ; but the following story of his extreme
profligacy rests solely on the authority of Vasari, and its truth
may be fairly doubted. It is alleged that, being called upon
to paint a Madonna for the convent of St. Margaret at Prato,
he persuaded the sisterhood to allow a beautiful novice, whose
name was Lucretia Buti, to sit to him for a model. In the
end he seduced this girl, and carried her off from the convent,
to the great scandal of the community and the inexpressible
grief and horror of her father and family. The best answer
to this charge of profligacy, perhaps, is the fact that Filippo
was then an old man nearly sixty ; that he had been elected
in 1462 chaplain to a nunnery in Florence, and in 1457 was
rector of St. Quirico at Legnaia.
Filippo Lippi was undoubtedly a man of extraordinary
genius : he adopted and carried on all the improvements of
Masaccio, and was the first who invented that particular style
of grandeur and breadth in the drawing of his figures, the
grouping, and the contrast of light and shade, afterwards carried
to such perfection by Andrea del Sarto. He was one of the
earliest painters who introduced landscape backgrounds, painted
with some feeling for the truth of nature ; but the expression
he gave to his personages, though always energetic, was often
inappropriate, and never calm or elevated : in the representa
tion of sacred incidents he was sometimes fantastic and some
times vulgar ; and he was the first who desecrated such subjects
by introducing the portraits of women who happened to be the
objects of his preference at the moment. There are many pic
tures by Fra Filippo in the churches at Florence ; [several]
in the gallery of the Academy there ; [three] in the Berlin
Museum. 2 In the Louvre there is one undoubtedly genuine,
1 Crowe and Cavalcaselle's History of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. p. 323.
2 [Another picture by Filippo Lippi, representing St. Francis and some nuns,
was formerly in the Berlin Gallery, but no longer appears in the catalogue. An
other once attributed to the master is now called by his "school."]

ANGELICO DA FlESOLE 61
and of great beauty, marked by all his characteristics ; it repre
sents the Madonna standing, and holding the infant Saviour
in her arms ; on each side are angels ; and two bishops of the
Augustine Order, St. Frediano and St. Gregory, kneel in front.
The attitude of the Virgin is grand, the head commonplace ;
the countenance of the infant Christ heavy ; the angels, with
crisped hair, have the faces of street urchins ; but the adoring
monks are wonderful for the fine expression in their upturned
faces, and the whole picture is most admirably executed. It
was painted for the church of the Santo Spirito at Florence,
and is a celebrated production. In our National Gallery we
have now a remarkable and authentic picture, " The Vision of
St. Bernard;" also two lunettes from the Riccardi (Medici)
Palace, — the Annunciation, and St. John the Baptist with six
other saints. This extraordinary man died at Spoleto, it is
said of poison, about 1469. He left a son, probably an adopted
son, Filippo Lippi, called Filippino (to distinguish him from
his father), who became in after years an excellent painter.
Contemporary with Fra Filippo, or rather earlier in point of
date, lived the other painter-monk, presenting in his life and
character the strongest possible contrast to the former. He
was, as Vasari tells us, one who might have lived a very agree
able life in the world, had he not, impelled by a sincere and
fervent spirit of devotion, retired from it at the age of twenty
to bury himself within the walls of a cloister : a man with
whom the practice of a beautiful art was thenceforth a hymn
of praise, and every creation of his pencil an act of piety and
charity, and who, in seeking only the glory of God, earned an
immortal glory among men. This was Era Giovanni An
gelico DA FlESOLE, whose name, before he entered the con
vent, was Guido or Guidolino. He has since obtained, from
the holiness of his life, the title of II Beato, " the Blessed,"
by which he is often mentioned in Italian histories of Art.!
He was born in 1387, near Fiesole,-and in 1407, being then
twenty, and already skilled in the art of painting, particularly
miniature illuminations of missals and choral books, he, with
one of his brothers named Benedetto, also a painter, entered
the Dominican convent of St. Mark at Florence, and took the
habit of the Order. It is not known exactly under whom he
1 [For an explanation of the use of the term "Beato," see Legends of the
Monastic Orders, p. 15.]

62 ANGELICO DA FlESOLE
studied, but he is said to have been taught by Stamina, the
best colorist of that time. The rest of his long life of seventy
years presents only one unbroken tranquil stream of placid con
tentment and pious labors. Except on one occasion, when
called to Rome by Pope Nicholas V. to paint in the Vatican, he
never left his convent, and then only yielded to the express com
mand of the pontiff. While he was at Rome the archbishopric
of Florence became vacant, and the pope, struck by the virtue
and learning of Angelico, and the simplicity and sanctity of
his life, offered to install him in that dignity, one of the
greatest in the power of the papal see to bestow. Angelico
refused it from excess of modesty, pointing out at the same
time to the notice of the pope one of the monks of his convent
as much more worthy of the honor, and by his active talents
more fitted for the office. The pope listened to his recom
mendation ; Frate Antonio was raised to the see, and became
celebrated as the best archbishop of Florence that had been
known for two centuries. Jb.-anwhile Angelico pursued his
vocation in the still precincts of his quiet monastery, and, being
as assiduous as he was devout, he painted a great number of
pictures, some in distemper and on a small scale, to which he
gave all the delicacy and finish of miniature ; and in his own
convent of San Marco many large frescoes, with numerous
figures nearly life size, as full of grandeur as of beauty. He
painted only sacred subjects, and never for money. Those
who wished for any work of his hand were obliged to apply
to the prior of the convent, from whom Angelico received with
humility the order or the permission to execute it, and thus
the brotherhood was at once enriched by his talent and edified
by his virtue. To Angelico the act of painting a picture de
voted to religious purposes was an act of religion, for which
he prepared himself by fasting and prayer, imploring on bended
knees the benediction of Heaven on his work ; he then, under
the impression that he had obtained the blessing he sought,
and glowing with what might truly be called inspiration, took
up his pencil ; and mingling with his earnest and pious humil
ity a singular species of self-uplifted enthusiasm, he could never
be persuaded to alter his first draught or composition, believing
that which he had done was according to the will of God, and
could not be changed for the better by any afterthought of
his own or suggestion from others. All the works left by

HIS PRINCIPAL WORKS 63
Angelico are in harmony with this gentle, devout, enthusiastic
spirit. They are not remarkable for the usual merits of the
Florentine school : they are not addressed to the taste of con
noisseurs, but to the faith of worshippers. Correct drawing
of the human figure could not be expected from one who
regarded the exhibition of the undraped form as a sin ; in the
learned distribution of light and shade, in the careful imitation
of nature in the details, and in variety of expression, many of
his contemporaries excelled him ; but none approached him
in that poetical and religious fervor which he threw into his
heads of saints and Madonnas. Power is not the character
istic of Angelico ; wherever he has had to express energy of
action, or bad or angry passions, he has generally failed. In
his pictures of the Crucifixion and the Stoning of St. Stephen,
the executioners and the rabble are feeble and often ill drawn,
and his fallen angels and devils are anything but devilish ;
while, on the other hand, the pathos of suffering, of pity, of
divine resignation — the expression of ecstatic faith and hope,
or serene contemplation, have never been placed before us as
in his pictures. In the heads of his young angels, in the
purity and beatitude of his female saints, he has never been
excelled — not even by Raphael.
The principal works of Angelico are the frescoes in the
church of his own convent of St. Mark at Florence ; an ex
quisite reliquary or tabernacle, painted in miniature, in the
sacristy of Santa Maria Novella ; another large tabernacle of
an enthroned Madonna in the Florence Gallery, in which
the angels are surprising for their celestial grace ; at Rome,
the. stories of St. Laurence and St. Stephen in the chapel of
Nicholas V.! In the Louvre is an altar-piece by him of sur
passing beauty. The subject is the Coronation of the Virgin
Mary by her son the Redeemer, in the presence of saints and
angels. It represents a throne under a rich Gothic canopy,
to which there is an ascent by nine steps ; on the highest
kneels the Virgin, veiled, her hands crossed on her bosom.
She is clothed in a red tunic, a blue robe over it, and a royal
mantle with a rich border flowing down behind. The features
are most delicately lovely, and the expression of the face full
1 [The frescoes of this chapel were engraved by Francesco Giangiacomo
Romano: Le Pitlure della Cappella di Niccolo V., Rome, 1810. Braun has
photographed them in a series of fifteen pictures.]

64 ANGELICO DA FlESOLE
of humility and adoration. Christ, seated on the throne, bends
forward, and is in the act of placing the crown on her head ;
on each side are twelve angels, who are playing a heavenly
concert with guitars, tambourines, trumpets, viols, and other
musical instruments ; lower than these, on each side, are forty
holy personages of the Old and New Testament ; and at the
foot of the throne kneel several saints, male and female, among
them St. Catherine with her wheel, St. Agnes with her lamb,
and St. Cecilia crowned with flowers. Beneath the principal
picture there is a row of seven small ones, forming the pre
della, and representing various incidents in the life of St. Dom-
inick. The whole measures about seven and a half feet high by
six feet in width. It is painted in distemper ; the glories
round the heads of the sacred personages are in gold ; the
colors are the most delicate and vivid imaginable, and the am
ple draperies have the long folds which recall the school of
Giotto ; the gayety and harmony of the tints, the expression of
the various heads, the divine rapture of the angels with their
air of immortal youth, and the devout reverence of the other
personages, the unspeakable serenity and beauty of the whole
composition, render this picture worthy of the celebrity it has
enjoyed for more than four centuries. It was painted by Frate
Angelico for the church of St. Dominick at Fiesole, where it
remained till the beginning of the present century. How ob
tained it does not appear, but it was purchased by the French
government in 1812, and is now to be seen in the long gal
lery of the Louvre.!
It is a curious circumstance that the key of the chapel of
Pope Nicholas V. in the Vatican, in which Angelico painted
some of his most beautiful frescoes, was for two centuries lost,
and few persons were aware of their existence, fewer still set
any value on them. In 1769 those who wished to see them
were obliged to enter by a window.
Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole died at Rome in 1455,
and is buried there in the church of Santa IMaria sopra jMi-
nerva, where his monument may now be seen and contemplated
with that reverence due to his excelling powers as an artist and
his most pious and blameless life.
1 A very good set of outlines were engraved and published at Paris, with ex
planatory notes by A. W. Schlegel ; and to those who have no opportunity of
seeing the original, these engravings will convey some faint idea of the com
position, and of the exquisite and benign beauty of the angelic heads.

MASACCIO
Born [1402], Died [about 1428]
It is easily conceivable that, during the forty years which
Lorenzo Ghiberti devoted to his great work, and to other un
dertakings on which he was employed at intervals, the assist
ance he required in completing his own designs, in drawing,
modelling, casting, polishing should have formed round him a
school of young artists who worked and studied under his eye.
The kind of work on which they were employed gave these
young men great superiority in the knowledge of the human
form, and in effects of relief, light and shade, etc. The applica
tion of the sciences of anatomy, mathematics, and geometry to
the arts of design began to be more fully understood. This
early school of painters was favorably distinguished above the
later schools of Italy by a generous feeling of mutual aid, emu
lation, and admiration among the youthful students, far removed
from the detestable jealousies, the stabbings, poisonings, and con
spiracies which we read of in the seventeenth century. Among
those who frequented the atelier of Lorenzo were Paolo Uc
cello, the first who applied geometry to the study of perspec
tive ; he attached himself to this pursuit with such unwearied
assiduity that it had nearly turned his brain, and it was for
his use and that of Brunelleschi that Manetti, one of the earli
est Greek scholars and mathematicians in modern Europe,
translated the " Elements of Euclid ; " Maso Finiguerra, who
invented the art of engraving on copper; PoUajuolo, the first
painter who studied anatomy by dissection, and who became
the instructor of Michael Angelo ; and Masolino, who had been
educated under Stamina, the best colorist of that time.
Paolo Uccello was one of the first of the early painters
who studied the imitation of animals, particularly birds (Uccelli,
— whence he derived his surname) and horses. He assisted
Ghiberti in modelling the animals and foliage introduced into
his first set of gates, and by him there is a curious picture
[acquired 1857] in our National Gallery, " The Battle of Sant'

66 MASACCIO
Egidio " (1416), in which Carlo Malatesta of Rimini and his
nephew Galeazzo were taken prisoners : the young Galeazzo,
with his fair hair uncovered, is seen in front. This picture is
historically interesting and most curious, as the earliest attempt
to represent such a scene. The horses, which appear to us
absolutely lifeless and wooden, were wonderful for the time.

Paolo Uccello
There was also a young boy, scarcely in his teens, who
learned to draw and model by studying the works of Ghiberti,
and who, though not considered as his disciple, after a while
left all the regular pupils far behind him. He had come from
a little village about eighteen miles from Florence, called San

Masaccio (by himself)

Giovanni, and of his parentage and early years little is recorded,
and that little is doubtful. His name was properly Tommaso
Guido, or, from the place of his birth, Maso di San Giovanni ;
but from his abstracted air, his utter indifference to the usual
sports and pursuits of boyhood, his negligent dress and man-
nej's, his companions called him Masaccio, which might be
translated ugly or slovenly Tom, ; and by this reproachful
nickname one of the most illustrious of painters is now known
throughout the world and to all succeeding generations. Ma
saccio was one of those rare and remarkable men whose voca
tion is determined beyond recall almost from infancy. He
made his first essays as a child in his native village ; and in
67

68 MASACCIO
the house in which he was born they long preserved the effigy
of an old woman spinning, which he had painted when a
mere boy on the wall of his chamber, astonishing for its life
like truth. Coming to Florence when about thirteen, he com
menced his studies, acquiring the principles of design under
Ghiberti and Donatello, and the art of perspective under Bru
nelleschi. The passionate energy and forgetfulness of all the
common interests and pleasures of life with which he pursued
his favorite art obtained him, at an early age, the notice of
Cosmo de' Medici. Then intervened the civil troubles of the
republic : Cosmo was banished ; and Masaccio left Florence to
pursue his studies at Rome with the same ardor, and with all
the advantages afforded by the remains of ancient Art collected
there. While at Rome, Masaccio ! painted in the church of San
Clemente a Crucifixion, and some scenes from the life of St.
Catherine of Alexandria ; ^ but unhappily these have been so
coarsely painted over, that every vestige of Masaccio's hand
has disappeared — only the composition remains ; and from
the engravings which exist some idea may be formed of their
beauty and simplicity. ^
Cosmo de' Medici was recalled from banishment in 1433 ;
and soon afterwards, probably through his patronage and influ
ence, the completion of the chapel of St. Peter in the church
of the Carmine, left unfinished by IMasolino, was intrusted to
Masaccio.'* This chapel is in the form of a parallelogram, and three
sides are covered with the frescoes, divided into twelve com
partments, of which four are large and oblong, and the rest
narrow and upright. All represent scenes from the life of St.
Peter,^ except two, which are immediately on each side as you
I [Mrs. Jameson is not the only authoritative writer who follows Vasari in
attributing these frescoes to Masaccio. Crowe and Cavalcaselle also give them
to him. Morelli, Sir Henry Layard, and others, consider them the work of Ma
solino.] 2 [See Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 480, 481.]
3 In Ottley's Early Italian School there is an engraving of St. Catherine dis
puting with the Heathen Philosophers [also engraved iu Sacred and Legendary
Art, p. 478]. In Rosini are others. [The entire series is reproduced in eighteen
engravings by Alovsius del Medico.]
^ [Other authorities place the date of these frescoes some ten years earlier.]
5 [These scenes are all referred to in their proper places under the subject of
St. Peter in Sacred and Legendary Art. See pages 195-197, 199, 202, 203,
206, 207.]

' '\

Filippino Lippi (by himself)
enter — Adam and Eve in Paradise, and the Expulsion from
Paradise — which are here introduced because St. Peter, ac
cording to the popular legend, was keeper of the gates of Para
dise. Of the twelve compartments, two had been painted by
Masolino previous to 1415 — the preaching of St. Peter, one
of the small compartments, and the St. Peter and St. John
healing the Cripple, one of the largest.! In this fresco are
introduced two beautiful youths, or pages, in the dress of the
patricians of Florence. Nothing can be more unaffectedly
elegant ; they would make us regret that the death of Masolino
left others to complete his undertaking, had he not been suc
ceeded by Masaccio and Filippino Lippi.
Six of the compartments, two large and four small ones,
1 [The attribution of these two frescoes to Masolino is according to Vasari,
and though Crowe and Cavalcaselle have a different opinion, later critics have
returned to Vasari's statement.]

70 MASACCIO
were executed by Masaccio. These represent St. Peter taking
the Tribute-money from the mouth of the fish ; Peter raising a
Youth to Life ; Peter baptizing the Con\'erts ; Peter and John
healing the Sick and Lame ; the same Apostles distributing
Alms ; and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The scene represented in one of these large compartments is
an incident in the apocryphal History of the Apostles. Simon
the Magician challenged Peter and Paul to restore to life a
dead youth, who is said to have been a kinsman or nephew of
the Roman emperor. The sorcerer fails of course. The Apos
tles resuscitate the youth, who kneels before them ; the skull
and bones near him represent the previous state of death : a
crowd of spectators stand around beholding the miracle. The
figures are half the size of life, and quite wonderful for the
truth of expression, the variety of character, the simple dignity
of the forms and attitudes. Masaccio died while at work on
this grand picture, and the central group was painted some
years later by Filippino Lippi. The figure of the youth in
the centre is traditionally said to be that of the painter Gra-
nacci, then a boy. Among the figures standing round are several
contemporary portraits : Piero Guicciardini, father of the great
historian ; Luigi Pulci, the poet, author of the " Morgante
Maggiore;'' Antonio PoUajuolo, the painter, and others.
The fresco of the two Apostles Peter and John accused by
Simon Magus before the throne of Nero, and the Crucifixion
of Peter, are now attributed to Filippino Lippi. To him also
belongs the grand figure of St. Paul standing before the Prison
of St. Peter, which Raphael transferred with little alteration
into his cartoon of St. Paul preaching at Athens. [It is sup
posed that Filippino finished his frescoes here between 1482
and 1490.] Of Filippino Lippi ! I must say a few words
here, as we possess two of his pictures in the National Gallery,
which indeed cannot be accounted among his best, but are gen
uine and valuable.^ He was the adopted son of Fra Filippo,
some say his natural son by Lucrezia Buti ; be this as it may,
1 [Filippino Lippi was born in 1460.]
2 [The two pictures referred to are a Virgin and Child with St. Jei'ome and
St. Dominick and an Adoration of the Magi, both purchased in 1857. Since
Ihen the National Gallery has added tour more paintings attributed to Filippino
Lippi. One of these is a St. Francis in Ecstasy which, though called authentic
by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, is doubted by Sir Henry Layard.]

FILIPPINO LIPPI 71
Era Filippo, dying when the boy was about nine years old, be
queathed him to the love and care of another painter-monk, his
friend Fra Diamante. With him and Sandro Botticelli, an ad
mirable artist of that time, Filippino pursued his studies, and,
gifted with all the genius of his father, but without his faults,
he became one of the greatest painters of that time. There
is a picture by him, painted when he was about twenty, in the
church of the Badia at Florence, which for drawing, expres
sion, vigorous color, and beauty of every kind, appeared to me
a wonder, even without regard to the early age of the painter
when it was executed. It represents the vision of St. Bernard
(the same subject painted by his father and in our National
Gallery, but treated in a very different manner). Another
most admirable picture by him is the altar-piece of the en
throned Madonna and Child, attended by St. John the Baptist,
St. Zenobio, St. Bernard, and St. Vittorio, painted for the chapel
of the Palazzo Pubblico, and now in the Uffizi Gallery of
Florence ; and in the same gallery is the Adoration of the Magi
¦ — a richly colored splendid composition, with heads worthy
of Raphael : this was painted in [1406]. To his excellence
as an artist Filippino united irreproachable morals and the
most courteous and amiable manner, so that he was adored by
his fellow-citizens, and when he died in 1505 he was carried to
the grave with public honors, all the shops being closed along
the way.
But to return to Masaccio. In considering his works, their
superiority over all that painting had till then achieved or at
tempted is such, and so surprising, that there seems a kind of
break in the progression of the art — ¦ as if Masaccio had over
leaped suddenly the limits which his predecessors had found
impassable ; but Ghiberti and his gates explain the seem
ing wonder. The chief excellences of Masaccio were those
which he had attained, or at least conceived, in his early studies
in modelling. He had learned from Ghiberti not merely the
knowledge of form, but the effects of light and shade in giving
relief and roundness to his figures, which, in comparison to
those of his predecessors, seemed to start from the canvas.
He was the first who successfully foreshortened the extremi-'
ties. In most of the older pictures the figures appeared to
stand on the points of their toes — the foreshortening of the
foot, though often attempted with more or less success, seemed

72 MASACCIO
to present insurmountable difficulties. Masaccio added a pre
cision in the drawing of the naked figure, and a softness and
harmony in coloring the flesh, never attained before his time,
nor since surpassed till the days of Raphael and Titian. He .
excelled also in the expression and imitation of natural actions
and feelings. In the fresco of St. Peter baptizing the Converts
there is a youth who has just thrown off his garment, and
stands in the attitude of one shivering with sudden cold.
"This figure," says Lanzi, "formed an epoch in art." Add
the animation and variety of character in his heads — so that
it was said of him that he painted souls as well as bodies —
and his free-flowing draperies, quite different from the longitu
dinal folds of the Giotto school, yet grand and simple ; and
we can form some idea of the combination of excellence with
novelty of style which astonished his contemporaries. The
chapel of the Brancacci was for half a century what the Ca-^
mere of Raphael in the Vatican have since become — a school
for young artists. Vasari enumerates by name twenty painters
who were accustomed to study there ; among them, Leonardo
da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolommeo,
Perugino, Baccio Bandinelli, and the divine Raphael himself.
Nothing less than first-rate genius ever yet inspired genius ;
and the chapel of the Brancacci has been rendered as sacred
and memorable by its association with such spirits, as it is pre
cious and wondrous as a monument of Art.
In this chapel wrought
One of the Few, Nature's interpreters;
The Few, whom Genius gives as lights to shine —
Masaccio; and he slumbers underneath.
Wouldst thou behold his monument ? Look round.
And know that where we stand, stood oft and long,
Oft till the day was gone, Raphael himself.
He and his haughty rivaU — patiently,
Humbl}^, to learn of those who came before.
To steal a spark of their authentic fire.
Theirs who first broke the universal gloom —
Sons of the morning. Rogers.
No mention is here made of Filippino Lippi, one of the
brightest among these "sons of the morning," and whose fame
has been merged in that of Masaccio — unjustly as we are now
obliged to confess ; but when Lanzi wrote, some of his finest
1 Michael Angelo.

MASACCIO 73
pictures were attributed to others. With regard to his pre
cursor, Masaccio, of him little is known but his works. It is
certain that he disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from
Florence, in debt, leaving unfinished his finest fresco in the
Brancacci chapel : documents discovered in the present cen
tury indicate that he died at Rome between 1427 and 1430.
The vexed question of his birth has also been set at rest
by recent investigations ; ! it occurred in 1402 at Castel S.
Giovanni di Val d' Arno, where his father was a notary. He
showed as a child a propensity for drawing ; at the age of nine
teen he was enrolled in the Grocers' Guild at Florence, and soon
after entered that of the Painters. As to his early attainment
of the most wonderful skill in Art, we may recollect several
other examples of precocious excellence : for instance, Ghiberti,
already mentioned, Filippino, who painted a masterpiece at the
age of twenty ; ^lichael Angelo, who executed the marble Pietti
in St. Peter's at the age of twenty-five ; and Raphael, who was
summoned to Rome to paint the great series of frescoes in the
Vatican in his twenty-seventh year. The head of Masaccio,
painted by himself, in the chapel of the Brancacci, in the story
of the Tribute-money, represents him as a man apparently
about four or five and thirty.
1 [These investigations wei-e made by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle. This
portion of the text, therefore, was doubtless written after Mrs. Jameson's death.]

BENOZZO GOZZOLI
Born 1424, Died [1498]
Era Giovanni Angelico possessed, among his other
amiable qualities, one true characteristic of a generous mind,
the willingness to impart whatever he knew to others ; and
notwithstanding the retirement in which he lived, he had
several pupils : but that which formed the principal charm
and merit of his productions, the impress of individual mind,
the profound sentiment of piety, was incommunicable except
to a kindred spirit. Hence it is that his influence, like the
prophetic mantle, fell on those who had the power to catch
it and retain it, and is more apparent in its general results, as
seen in the schools of Umbria and Venice, than in any par
ticular painter, or in any particular work. Cosimo Roselli, a
distinguished artist of that time, is supposed to have studied
under Angelico, and certainly began by imitating his manner :
afterwards he painted like Masaccio, and then fell into a
capricious manner, which strikes us as at once hard and fan
tastic. There is a picture by him in our National Gallery
(an altar-piece dedicated to St. Jerome), and of great interest,
though marked by his characteristic faults. A much more
celebrated name is that of Benozzo Gozzoli, who was born
at Florence about 1424.
We know very little of the life of this extraordinary man ;
but that little shows him to have been worthy of the particu
lar love of his master, whose favorite pupil and companion he
was, and, during the last years of Angelico's life, his assistant.
According to Vasari, Benozzo was an excellent man, and a
good and pious Christian, but he had no vocation for the
cloister. No painter of the time had such a lively sense of
all the beauty and variety of the external and material world.
For him beauty existed wherever he looked — wherever he
moved. He took such delight in the practice of his art that
he had little time for other pursuits. He succeeded to the

BENOZZO GOZZOLI

75

Benozzo Gozzoli (by himself)

popularity of Angelico as a painter of sacred subjects, into
which he introduced much more ornament, decorating them
with landscapes, buildings, animals, etc. It appears that he
did not design the figure more correctly than Angelico, nor
equal him in the profound feeling and celestial air of his heads ;
but he has shown more invention and variety in his composi-

76 BENOZZO GOZZOLI
tions, and mingled with his grace a certain gayety of conception,
a degree of movement and dramatic feeling, which are not seen
in the works of Angelico.
Benozzo, before the death of -his master, painted some fres
coes in the cathedral at Orvieto, and in the churches of the
little town of Montefalco near Foligno, and also at Rome in
the church of the Ara-Coeli. The former remain, but those
in the Ara-Ccsli have long since been destroyed. All these
were more or less in the style of his master. After the death
of Angelico, Benozzo was employed to paint the church of San
Geminiano, a little city on the road from Florence to Siena.
Here he painted the Death of St. Sebastian, and the history
of St. Augustine ; and here some of his own peculiar character
istics were first displayed. For Pietro de' Medici he painted
a chapel in the palace of the Medici (now the Palazzo Riccardi
at Florence), the subject being the Adoration of the Magi :
over the altar was the Nativity of our Lord [now lost] ; angels
scattering flowers, singing and rejoicing, approach on each
side ; while round the walls is still seen the journey of the
Wise Kings from the land of the East, and their return to
their own country, in a procession of figures on foot and on
horseback, represented with the utmost elegance and animation.
In all the paintings he executed at this time and afterwards,
Benozzo introduced many figures, generally the portraits of
distinguished inhabitants of the place, or those of his friends,
grouped as spectators round the principal incident or personage
represented, having nothing to do with the action, but so
beautifully managed, that, far from appearing intrusive, they
rather add to the solemnity and the poetry of the scene, as if
he would fain represent these sacred events as belonging to all
times, and still, as it were, passing before our ej^es.! This
observation must be borne in mind as generally applicable
to all sacred pictures, in which the apparent anachronisms are
not really such if properly considered. Benozzo carried this
and other characteristics of his own original style still farther
in his greatest work, the decoration of the Campo Santo.
When the troubles of war, famine, plague, and intestine
divisions which had distracted Pisa during the first half of the
fifteenth century had subsided, the citizens of that rich and
1 [Among the portraits introduced into the frescoes of the Riccardi chapel is
that of himself.]

FRESCOES IN THE CAMPO SANTO 77
active republic resumed those works of peace which had been
long interrupted, and resolved to complete the painting of their
far-famed cemetery, the Campo Santo. One whole side, the
north wall, was yet untouched : they intrusted the work to
Benozzo Gozzoli, who, though now old ! and worn with toil
and trouble, did not hesitate to undertake a task which, to
use Vasari's strong expression, was nothing less than terribi-
lissima, and enough " f;o frighten a whole legion of painters."
In twenty-four compartments he represented the whole history
of the Old Testament from Noah down to King Solomon.
The endless fertility of fancy and invention displayed in these
compositions; the pastoral beauty of some of the scenes, the
Scriptural sublimity of others ; the hundreds of figures intro
duced, many of them portraits of his own time ; the dignity
and beauty of the heads ; the exquisite grace of some of the
figures, almost equal to Raphael ; the ample draperies, the gay
rich colors, the profusion of accessories, as buildings, land
scapes, flowers, animals, and the care and exactness with which
he has rendered the costume of that time — render this work
of Benozzo one of the most extraordinary monuments of the
fifteenth century. But it would have been more than extraor
dinary, it would have been miraculous, had it been executed
in the space of two years, as Lanzi relates — trusting to a
popular tradition which a moment's reflection would have
shown to be incredible. It appears from authentic records
still existing in the city of Pisa that Benozzo was engaged on
this great work not less than sixteen years, from 1468 to
1484.2 Of the original frescoes, three out of the twenty-four are en
tirely destroyed ; the others have peeled off in some parts, but
in others have been coarsely restored ; in many figures the expres
sion of the features and the lucid harmony of the colors have
remained. Each compartment contains several incidents and
events artlessly grouped together. Thus we have Hagar's
presumption, her castigation by Sarah, the Visit of the three
Angels, etc., in one picture. Among the most beautiful sub-
1 [The date of beginning these frescoes is 1468. The painter was at this time
about forty-five years of age.]
2 Those who would form an idea of its immensity, considered as the work of
one hand, may consult the large set of engravings from the Campo Santo, pub
lished by Lasinio in 1821.

78 BENOZZO GOZZOLI
jects may be mentioned the A^ineyard of Noah, the first which
Benozzo painted, as a trial of his skill. On the left of this
composition are two female figures — one who comes tripping
along with a basket of grapes on her head, the other holding
up her basket for more — which are models of pastoral grace
and simplicity. In the Building of the Tower of Babel a
crowd of spectators have assembled to witness the work ;
among them are introduced the figures of Cosmo de' Medici,
the Father of his country, and his two grandsons Lorenzo and
Giuliano, with Poliziano and other personages, all in the cos
tume of that time. In the Marriage Feast of Jacob and
Rachel he has introduced two graceful dancing figures. In
the Recognition of Joseph he has painted a profusion of rich
architectural decoration — ¦ palaces, colonnades, balconies, and
porticoes — - in the style of the time ; and in the distance we
have, instead of the Egyptian Pyramids, a view of the cathe
dral of Pisa ! The last compartment represents the Queen of
Sheba's visit to Solomon, of which unhappily scarce a frag
ment remains.
[Benozzo Gozzoli died in 1498.] The grateful and admir
ing Pisans, among whom he had resided for sixteen years in
great honor and esteem, had presented him in the course of his
work with a vault or sepulchre just beneath the compartment
which contains the history of Joseph, and in this spot he lies
buried, with an inscription intimating that his best monument
consists in the works around. Benozzo left an only daughter,
who after his death inherited the modest little dwelling which
he had purchased for himself on the Carraia di San Francesco.
Benozzo's principal works, being in fresco, remain attached
to the walls on which they were painted. Those only of the
Campo Santo are engraved. In our National Gallery we have
a splendid and valuable specimen of this master, and one of
undisputed authenticity. It was painted for the charitable
association called the " Compagnia di San Marco," at Florence,
and represents the usual subject of the Madonna and Child
enthroned, attended by the patrons of Florence and other
saints. There is another, a small picture, representing Paris
and his companions carrying off Helen and her attendants,
which probably ornamented a marriage cassone or bridal chest.!
1 When I first saw this beautiful and curious little picture in the Lombardi
collection [from which it was purchased in 1857], it was ignorantlv styled " The
Bride of Venice," and attributed to Gentile da Fabriano !

PICTURE OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 79
A picture in distemper of St. Thomas Aquinas is in the Louvre,
and is the same mentioned by Vasari as having been painted
for the cathedral of Pisa. This picture is most curious as an
historical document, and an instance of the manner in which
Art was employed to illustrate the characters, opinions, and
controversies of tbe time. See, in the " Legends of the Monas
tic Orders," the Life of Thomas Aquinas.

ANDREA DI CASTAGNO
[Born 1390, Died 1457]
Towards the close of the fifteenth century we find Lorenzo
de' Medici, the Magnificent, master of the Florentine republic,
as it was still denominated, though now under the almost abso
lute power of one man. The mystic and spiritual school of
Angelico and his followers no longer found admirers in the
city of Florence, where the study of classical literature, and
the enthusiastic admiration of the Medici for antique Art, led
to the cultivation and development of a style wholly different ;
the painters, instead of confining themselves to Scriptural
events and characters, began at this time to take their subjects
from mythology and classical history : meantime the progress
made in the knowledge of form, the use of colors, and all the
technical appliances of the art, prepared the way for the ap
pearance of those great masters who in the succeeding century
carried painting in all its departments to the highest perfec
tion, and have never yet been surpassed.
About 1460 a certain Neapolitan painter, named Antonello
DA Messina, having travelled into the Netherlands, learned
there from John v. Eyck and his scholars the art of managing
oil-colors : being at Venice, on his return, he communicated
the secret to a Venetian painter, Domenico Veneziano, with
whom he had formed a friendship ! and who, having acquired
considerable reputation, was called to Florence to assist Andrea
DI Castagno in painting a chapel in Santa Maria Nuova.^
Andrea, who had been a scholar of Masaccio,^ was one of the
most famous painters of the time, and a favorite of the Medici
1 [Vasari relates that Andrea, becoming jealous of his friend's success, cruelly
murdered him. The story is entirely disproved by recent investigations, for as
a matter of fact, Domenico Veneziano outlived Andrea di Castagno.]
2 [Although both painters worked in this church, it is doubtful if they were
there at the same time.]
3 [This is a disputed point.]

ANDREA DI CASTAGNO

81

^.\.K.

Andrea di Castagno.
family : on the occasion of the conspiracy of the Pazzi, when
the archbishop of Pisa and his confederates were hung by the
magistrates from the windows of the palace, Andrea was called
upon to represent, on the walls of the Podesth, this terrible
execution — " fit subject for fit hand " ¦ — and he succeeded so
well, that he obtained the surname of Andrea degl' Impiccati,
which may be translated Andrea the Hangman. Very few
works of this painter remain : they are much praised by Lanzi.
One of his pictures, a figure of the Magdalene in the Belle
Arti, at Florence, as likewise those in the Berlin Museum,
struck me as intensely disagreeable — hard, almost cruel, in
character.! He seems to have preferred penitential subjects,

1 [The pictures referred to are a Pietii and a predella representing St. Jerome,
both of which are considered genuine works of Castagno by Crowe and Caval-

82 ANDREA DI CASTAGNO
such as St. Jerome beating his bleeding breast with a stone
[Florence Academy], or ]\Iary Magdalene looking emaciated
and despairing. It is also remarkable that none of his remain
ing pictures are painted in oil-colors, but all are in distemper,
as if he had feared to avail himself of the secret acquired by
such flagitious means, and the knowledge of which, though not
the practice, became general before his death.
In the year 1471 Sixtus IV. became pope. Though by no
means endued with a taste for Art, he resolved to emulate the
Medici family, whose example and patronage had diffused the
fashion, if not the feeling, throughout all Italy ; and having
built that beautiful chapel in the Vatican called by his name,
and since celebrated as the Sistine chapel, the next thing was
to decorate it with appropriate paintings. On one side of it
was to be represented the history of Moses ; on the other, the
history of Christ : the old law and the new law, the Hebrew
and the Christian dispensation, thus placed in contrast and
illustrating each other. As there were no distinguished painters
at that time in Rome, Sixtus invited from Florence those of
the Tuscan artists who had the greatest reputation in their
native country.
The first of these was Sandro (i. e. Alessandro) Filipepi,
called Botticelli [1447—1515],! remarkable for being one of
the earliest painters who treated mythological subjects on a
small scale as decorations for furniture, and the first who made
drawings for the purpose of being engraved : these, as well as
his religious pictures, he treated in a fanciful, allegorical style.
Six of his pictures are in the Museum at Berlin — one an
undraped Venus ; and two are in the Louvre. Sandro was a
pupil of the monk Fra Filippo already mentioned, and after
his death took charge of his young son Filippino Lippi, who
excelled both his father and his preceptor, and became one
of the greatest painters of his time.^ In the south corridor of
the Uffizi Gallery at Florence hangs a picture by Sandro Botti
celli of surpassing beauty.^ It represents the Virgin with the
caselle. The former, however, appears in the Berlin catalogue of 1891 under
the name of Ghirlandajo, and the latter is apparentlv omitted altogether from
the catalogue.]
^ [The dates are from Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Morelli gives 1446-1510.]
2 He completed the frescoes in the chapel of the Carmine at Florence, left
unfinished by Slasaccio, as already related.
^ [See illustration in Legends of the Madonna, p. 165.]

SANDRO BOTTICELLI

83

\

Vl~- \v^.' \ ^^i ''

Botticelli (bj' himself)
infant Saviour on her knee, whom she supports with one hand,
while with the other she is in the act of writing her famous and
beautiful hymn (" My soul doth magnify the Lord ! ") on the
leaf of a book held by an angel. The angel behind her throne
is the portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici when a boy. There is
a poor duplicate or copy of this picture in the Louvre. An
other exquisite picture in the first room of the Tuscan school

84 LUCA SIGNORELLI
represents the " Calumny of Apelles." [There are now several
works attributed to Botticelli in the National Gallery. The
most important is the Nativity, a picture of exquisite beauty.]
Another painter employed by Pope Sixtus was LucA Sig
norelli of Cortona, the first who not only drew the human
form with admirable correctness, but, aided by a degree of
anatomical knowledge rare in those days, threw such spirit and
expression into the various attitudes of his figures, that his
great work, the frescoes of the cathedral of Orvieto, represent
ing the Last Judgment, were studied and even imitated by
Michael Augelo. This original and illustrious painter was
born at Cortona in 1441. We have no reason to suppose that
he was distingiiished, like so many of his compeers, by any
early or precocious excellence in his art ; his first works, of
which we have any account, date about 1472, when he was
[over thirty]. Signorelli was a man of great learning and
industry as well as original genius — of irreproachable life
and amiable manners; courteous and helpful to those who
needed his assistance ; to his numerous scholars kind and
communicative, as became a great and generous artist. His
principal works are the grand mural frescoes at Orvieto, in
the Sistine chapel at Rome, and in the convent of Monte
Uliveto, near Siena. His movable pictures and altar-pieces
are of great value. Whatever subject he treated, whether
religious or classical, he treated with decision, with power and
grandeur in the grouping and forms, and with singular depth
and originality in the heads. He was famous in his lifetime,
enriched by constant employment, and is recorded as having
been several times elected as chief magistrate of his native city
of Cortona, then free and prosperous. Signorelli lived to be
upwards of eighty [and died in 1523]. This painter was ap
parently a favorite of Fuseli, whose compositions frequently
remind us of the long limbs and animated, but sometimes ex
aggerated, action of Signorelli. We have [three] pictures
attributed to him in our National Gallery.!
1 [One of these, the Triumph of Chastity, is not considered authentic by
Richter.]

SIGNORELLI AND ANGELICO (by Signoeelli)

DOMENICO DAL GHIRLANDAJO
Born [1449], Died 1495 [?]
Domenico dal Ghirlandajo was also employed in the
Sistine chapel, but he was then young, and, of his two pictures
there, one only remains, the Calling of St. Peter and St. An
drew, — so inferior to his later productions that we do not
recognize here the hand of him who became afterwards one of
the greatest and most memorable painters of his time.
Domenico Corradi, or Bigordi, was born at Florence in
[1449], and was educated by his father for his own profession,
that of a goldsmith. In tliis art he acquired great skill, and
displayed in his designs uncommon elegance of fancy. He was
the first who invented the silver ornaments in the form of a
wreath or garland (Ghirlctnda) which became a fashion with
the Florentine women, and from which he obtained the name
of Ghirlandajo, or Grillandajo, as it is sometimes written. At
the age of four-and-twenty he quitted the profession of gold
smith and became a painter. While employed in his father's
workshop he had amused himself with taking the likenesses of
all the persons he saw, so rapidly, and with so much liveliness
and truth, as to astonish every one : the exact drawing and
modelling of forms, the inventive fancy exercised in his
mechanical art, and the turn for portraiture, are displayed in
all his subsequent productions. These were so many in num
ber, so various in subject, and so admirable, that only a few
of them can be noticed here. [Among] his first works was
the painting of a chapel of the Vespucci family, in the church
of Ognissanti (All Saints), in which he introduced, in [1480],
the portrait of Amerigo Vespucoio the navigator, who after
wards gave his name to a new world.
Ghirlandajo painted a chapel for a certain Florentine citi
zen, Francesco Sassetti, in the church of the Trinitk. Here
he represented the whole life of Francesco's patron saint, St.
Francis, in a series of pictures full of feeling and dramatic

86 GHIRLANDAJO
power. As he was confined to the popular histories and tradi
tions, which had been treated again and again by successive
painters, and in which it was necessary to conform to certain
fixed and prescribed rules, it was difficult to introduce any
variety in the conception. Yet he has done this simply by
the mere force of expression. The most excellent of these
frescoes is the Death of St. Francis, surrounded by the monks
of his order, in which the aged heads, full of grief, awe, resig
nation, are depicted with wonderful skill : at the foot of the
bier is an old bishop chanting the litanies, with spectacles on
his nose, which is the earliest known representation of these
implements, then recently invented. On one side of the pic
ture is the kneeling figure of Francesco Sassetti, and on the
other Madonna Nera, his wife. All these histories of St.
Francis are engraved in Lasinio's " Early Florentine Masters,"
as are also the magnificent frescoes in the choir of Santa Maria
Novella, his greatest work. This he undertook for a generous
aud public-spirited citizen of Florence, Giovanni Tornabuoni,
who agreed to repair the choir at his own cost, and, moreover,
to pay Ghirlandajo one thousand two hundred gold ducats for
painting the walls in fresco, and to add two hundred more if
he were well satisfied with the performance.
Ghirlandajo devoted four years to his task. He jDainted on
the right hand wall the history of St. John the Baptist ; and, on
the left, various incidents from the life of the Virgin. One
of the most beautiful represents the Birth of the Virgin : !
female attendants, charming graceful figures, are aiding the
mother or intent on the new-born child ; while a lady, in the
elegant costume of the Florentine ladies of that time, and
holding a handkerchief in her hand, is seen advancing, as if
to pay her visit of congratulation. This is the portrait of
Ginevra de' Benci, one of the loveliest women of the time.
He has introduced her again as one of the attendants in the
Visit of the Virgin to St. Elizabeth. In the other pictures he
has introduced the figures of Lorenzo de' Medici, Poliziano,
Demetrio Greco, Marsilio Ficino, and other celebrated persons
(of whom there are notices in Roscoe's " Life of Lorenzo de'
Medici"), besides his own portrait and those of many other
persons of that time.
The idea of crowding these sacred and mystical subjects with
1 [See Legends of the Madonna, p. 194.]

GHIRLANDAJO

87

portraits of real persons
and representations of fa
miliar objects may seem,
on first view, shocking to
the taste, ridiculous ana
chronisms, and destruc
tive of all solemnity and
unity of feeling. Such,
however, is not the case,
but the reverse. In the
first place, the sacred and
ideal personages are never
portraits from nature, and
are very loftily conceived
in point of expression
and significance. In the
second place, the real
personages introduced are
seldom or never actors ;
they are merely attend
ants, and spectators in
events which may be
conceived to belong to
all time, and to have
no especial locality ; and
they have so much dig
nity in their aspects, the
costumes are so pictur
esque, and the grouping
is so fine and imagina
tive, that only the coldest
and most pedantic critic
could wish them absent.
When Ghirlandajo had finished this grand series of pictures,
his patron, Giovanni Tornabuoni, declared himself well pleased ;
but, at the same time, expressed a wish that Ghirlandajo
would be content with the sum first stipulated, and forego the
additional two hundred ducats. The high-minded painter,
who esteemed glory and honor much more than riches, imme
diately withdrew his claim, saying that he cared far more to
have satisfied his employer than for any amount of payment.

Ghirlandajo (by himself)

88 GHIRLANDAJO
Besides his frescoes, Ghirlandajo painted many pictures in
oil and in distemper. There is one of great beauty in the
Louvre — the Visitation ! — ¦ that is, the visit which Mary, the
mother of our Lord, paid to her cousin Elizabeth. In this
picture Elizabeth kneels as to a superior ; the two attendant
women are Mary Cleophas and jVIary Salome. But the sub
ject he most frequently repeated was the Adoration of the
Magi ; perhaps because it gave him the opportunity of intro
ducing brilliant accessories, as crowns, vases, embroidered
garments, and jewelled ornaments, in which, as well as in the
higher departments of painting, he excelled. His draperies
are elegant, but sometimes rather fluttering and fantastic.
The finest picture by him I have ever seen is the altar-piece
in the chapel of the Innocenti (the Foundling Hospital) at
Florence. It may be said, on the whole, that the attention of Ghir
landajo was directed less to the delineation of form than to
the expression of his heads and the imitation of life and nature
as exhibited in feature and countenance. He also carried the
mechanical and technical part of his art to a perfection it had
not before attained. He was the best colorist in fresco who
had yet appeared, and his colors have stood extremely well to
this day.^
Another characteristic which renders Ghirlandajo very inter
esting as an artist was his diligent and progressive improve
ment ; every successive production was better than the last.
He was also an excellent worker in mosaic, which, from its
durability, he used to call " painting for eternity."
To his rare and various accomplishments as an artist, Ghir
landajo added the most amiable qualities as a man — qualities
which obtained him the love as well as the admiration of his
fellow-citizens. He was, says Vasari, " the delight of the age
in which he lived." He was still in the prime of life and in
the full possession of conscious power — so that he was heard
to wish they would give him the walls all round the city to
cover with frescoes — when he was seized with sudden illness,
and died at the age of forty-four, to the infinite grief of his
numerous scholars, by whom he was interred, with every dem-
1 [See Legends of the Madonna, p 231.]
2 Except when the whole surface h;is been destroyed by damp or accident, as
in several of the frescoes in the choir of S. Maria Novella.

VERROCCHIO

89

r J;"'. '-/vV" 1-'-' --A ^'i?'

Andrea Verrocchio (Lorenzo di Credi)
onstration of mournful respect, in the church of Santa Maria
Novella, in the year 1495.! jjjg two brothers, Davide and
Benedetto, were also painters, and assisted him in the execution
of his great works ; and his son Ridolfo Ghirlandajo became
afterwards an excellent artist, but he belongs to a later period.
Ghirlandajo formed many scholars ; among them was the
great Michael Angelo.
Contemporary with Ghirlandajo lived an artist, memorable
1 [The date of Ghirlandajo's death is uncertain.]

90 VERROCCHIO
for having aided with his instructions both Michael Angelo
and Leonardo da Vinci. This was Andrea Verrocchio
(b. 1432, d. 1488),! who was a goldsmith and sculptor in
marble and bronze, and also a painter, though in painting his
works are few and little known. He drew and modelled
admirably, but his style of painting is rather hard and formal.
He is celebrated through the celebrity of the artists formed in
his school, and is said to have been the first who took casts
in plaster from life as aids in the study of form.
1 [These are the dates given by Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Sir Henry Layard
gives 1435 as the date of Verrocchio's birth.]

THE POLLAJUOLI
Antonio, Born [1433], i Died 1498
Piero, Born 1443, Died before 1496
Antonio del Pollajuolo, like many other great Floren
tine artists, began his professional career as a goldsmith and a
modeller and carver in wood and metal. ^ [In this work he
took the highest rank among the goldsmiths of his time.]
After executing many beautiful works in metal, and particu
larly part of the elaborate silver altar (Dossale) for the church
of St. John the Baptist [the Baptistery, Florence], Antonio
applied himself to painting, in which, however excellent in
some things, he retained a certain hardness and formality of
design derived from his first profession. [His work must be
considered in connection with that of his brother Piero, for
the two worked together.]
The altar-piece which they painted for Antonio Pucci in
1475 is now in our National Gallery.^ It is a known and
celebrated picture, and one of our most valuable acquisitions,
but not attractive considered as a religious work. The young
Roman soldier who died for his faith is here a commonplace
and contorted figure ; the head has none of that fervent aspi
ration and love which we are accustomed to look for in St.
Sebastian. It is, in fact, a portrait, and that of a celebrated
man, Gino Capponi. The two soldiers in front bending their
cross-bows are the most admired figures in this picture ; the
technical skill displayed in the foreshortening and in the ex
pression of strong bodily effort was new at that time, and was
a kind of merit which the learned and the unlearned would
equally understand. Antonio Pucci, in paying for it the stipu
lated three hundred crowns, expressed his satisfaction, and was
1 [The date is from Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Sir Henry Layard gives 1429.]
2 [Vasari relates that Antonio was an assistant of Ghiberti, and even specifies
a portion of the second bronze gate of the Baptistery on which his handiwork
may be seen. That this is impossible is shown by the fact that Antonio was but
fourteen years old when the gate was completed.]
8 [See illustration and description in Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 415, 416.]

92

THE POLLAJUOLI

Antonio Pollajuolo (Filippino Lippi)
heard to declare that the money only paid the cost of the
colors — it would not recompense the skill of the artist. Pol
lajuolo was soon afterwards called to Rome, employed there by
Sixtus IV., Innocent VIIL, and Alexander VI. , and executed
the famous and elaborate, but not quite satisfactory, monument
of Sixtus IV. in St. Peter's. Pollajuolo, as an artist, had that
leaning to pagan and classical taste which was the fashion of
the time ; he was a capital designer, but deficient in sentiment
and grace. As a man, he was esteemed for his exemplary life
no less than for his talents, and died at Rome in 1498, rich
and prosperous, leaving a dowry of five thousand gold crowns
to each of his two daughters. He and his brother Piero were
buried in the same tomb, in S. Pietro in Vincoli, at Rome.

ANDREA MANTEGNA
Born 1431, Died 1506
For a while we must leave beautiful Florence and her
painters, who were striving after perfection by imitating what
they saw in nature — the common appearances of the objects,
animate and inanimate, around them — and turn to another
part of Italy, where there arose a man of genius who pursued
a wholly different course, — at least he started from a different
point, — and who exercised for a time a great influence on all
the painters of Italy, including those of P'lorence. This was
Andrea Mantegna, particularly interesting to English read
ers, as his most celebrated work, the Triumph of Julius Csesar,
is now preserved in the palace of Hampton Court, and has
formed part of the royal collection ever since the days of
Charles I.
Andrea Mantegna was the son of very poor and obscure
parents, and was born near Padua in 1431.! j^n ^yg learn of
his early childhood amounts to this : that he was employed
in keeping sheep, and, being conducted to the city, entered,
we know not by what chance, the school of Francesco
Squarcione. About the middle of the fifteenth century, from which time
we date the revival of letters in Europe, the study of the
Greek language, and a taste for the works of the classical
authors, had become more and more diffused through Italy.
We are told that " to write Latin correctly, to understand the
allusions of the best authors, to learn at least the rudiments of
Greek, were the objects of every cultivated mind." Classical
literature was particularly studied at the University of Padua.
Squarcione, a native of that city, and by profession a painter,
was early smitten with this passion for the antique. He not
t [The birthplace of Mantegna is assigned by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to
Padua, but by Morelli to Vicenza. See Critical Studies of the Italian Painters,
vol. i. p. 271, and vol. ii. p. 171.]

94 MANTEGNA
only travelled over all Italy, but visited Greece in search of the
remains of ancient Art. Of those which he could not purchase
or remove, he obtained casts or copies ; and, returning to Padua,
he opened there a school or academy for painters, not indeed
the most celebrated nor the most influential, but at that time
the best attended in all Italy. Squarcione numbered one hun
dred and thirty-seven pupils, and was considered the best
teacher of his time ; yet of all this crowd of students the names
of [a few] only are preserved,! and of these only one has
attained lasting celebrity. By Squarcione himself we hear
only of one undoubted picture displaying great talent [The
Madonna in the Berlin Gallery] ; ^ but it appears that he
painted little, employed his scholars to execute what works
were conflded to him, and gave himself up to the business of
instruction. Andrea Mantegna was only known in the academy of Squar
cione as a poor boy, whose talent and docility rendered him a
favorite with his master, and at length his adopted son. He
worked early and late, copying with assiduity the models which
were set before him, drawing from the fragments of statues,
the busts, the bas-reliefs, ornaments, and vases with which
Squarcione had enriched his academy. At the age of seven
teen Andrea painted his first great picture [a Madonna] for the
church of Santa Sofia in Padua (now lost), and when nineteen
he executed the most important frescoes in the chapel of St.
Christopher in the Eremitani^ — here he represented on the
vault the Four Evangelists ; his imagination and his pencil
familiarized only with the forms of classical Art, he gave to
these sacred personages the air and attitude of heathen philoso
phers, but they excited, nevertheless, great applause.
At this time the Venetian Jacopo Bellini, father of the
two great Bellini, of whom we shall have to speak presently,
arrived in Padua, where he was employed to paint some pic
tures. He was considered as the rival of Squarcione, both as
a painter and teacher. Andrea was captivated by the talents
and conversation of the Venetian, and yet more attracted by
1 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle enumerate the following pupils of Squarcione:
Niccolo Pizzolo, Matfeo Pozzo, Marco Zoppo, Dario of Treviso, Bono of Ferrara,
and Ansuino. Morelli considers Schiavone and Crivelli also his pupils.]
2 [See illustration in Legends of the Madonna, p. 169.]
2 [The frescoes have been copied for the Arundel Society.]

HIS MARRIAGE

95

the charms of his daughter Nicolosia, whose hand he asked and
obtained from her father. Jacopo Bellini was of opinion that he
who had given such early proofs of assiduity and ability must
ultimately succeed ; and though Andrea was still poor and but
little known, and the Bellini family already rich and celebrated,

Mantegna (Meglioli)

he did not hesitate to bestow his daughter on the youthful and
modest suitor. This marriage, and what he regarded as the
revolt of his favorite disciple, so enraged Squarcione that he
never forgave the offence. Andrea having soon after com
pleted a picture which excelled his first, his old master attacked
it with the most merciless severity, and publicly denounced
its faults : the figures, he said, were stiff, were cold — without
life, without nature ; and he observed sarcastically that Andrea
should have painted them white, like marble, and then the

96 MANTEGNA
color would have harmonized with the drawing. This criti
cism came with a particularly ill grace from him who had
taught the very principles he now condemned, and Andrea felt
it bitterly. The Italian annotator of Vasari remarks very
truly, that excessive praise often turns the brain of the weak
man, and renders the man of genius slothful and careless ; but
that severe and unjust censure, while it crushes mediocrity, acts
as a spur and excitement to real genius. Andrea showed that
he had sufficient strength of mind to rise superior to both praise
and censure ; he felt with disgust and pain the malignity of his
old master; but he knew that much of his criticism was just.
Instead of showing any sense of injury or discouragement, he set
to work with fresh ardor ; he drew and studied from nature,
instead of confining himself to the antique ; he imitated the
fresher and livelier coloring of his new relations, the Bellini ;
and his next picture, which represented a legend of St. Chris
topher, was so superior to the last, that it silenced the open
cavilling of Squarcione, though it could not extinguish his
animosity, perhaps rather added to it ; for Andrea had intro
duced among the numerous figures in his fresco that of Squar
cione himself, and the likeness was by no means a flattering
one. Notwithstanding the admiration which these and other
works excited in his native city, the enmity of his old master
seems to have rendered Padua intolerable as a residence. An
drea therefore went to Verona, where he executed several fres
coes and some smaller pictures ; and being invited to Mantua
by Ludovico Gonzaga, he finally entered the service of that
prince. The native courtesy of Andrea's manners, as well as
his acquired knowledge and his ability in his profession, recom
mended him to his new patron, who loaded him with honors
and favors.
Some years after he had taken up his residence in INIantua,
and had executed for the Marquis Ludovico, and his son and
successor Federigo, several works which yet remain, Andrea
was invited to Rome by Pope Innocent VIII. , to paint for him
a chapel in the Belvedere. The ^Marquis of IMantua permitted
him to depart, but for a time only ; the permission was accom
panied by gifts and by letters of recommendation to the pon
tiff; and the more to show the esteem in which the painter
was held, he bestowed on him the honor of knighthood.
Mantegna, on liis arrival in Rome, set himself to work with

HIS EXISTING WORKS 97
his characteristic diligence and enthusiasm, and covered the
walls and the ceiling with a multiplicit}' of subjects, executed,
says Vasari, with the delicacy of miniatures. These beautiful
paintings existed till late in the last century, when Pius VL
destroyed the chapel to make room for his new museum.!
While Andrea was employed at Rome by Pope Innocent, a
pleasant and characteristic incident occurred, which does honor
both to him and to the pope. His holiness was at this time
much occupied and disturbed by state affairs, and it happened
that the payments were not made with the regularity which
Andrea desired. The pope sometimes visited the artist at his
work, and one day he asked him the meaning of a certain
female figure on which he was painting. Andrea replied, with
a significant look, that he was trying to represent Discretion.
The pope, understanding him at once, replied, " If you would
place Discretion in fitting company, you should place Patience
at her side." Andrea took the hint, and said no more ; and
when his work was completed, the pope not only paid him the
sums stipulated, but rewarded him munificently besides. About
the year [1490] he returned to Mantua, where he built him-
.self a magnificent house, painted inside and outside by his own
hand, and in which he resided in great esteem and honor until
his death in 1506. He was buried in the church of his patron
saint, St. Andrew, where his monument in bronze and several
of his pictures may yet be seen.
The existing works of Andrea Mantegna are so numerous
that I shall record here only the most remarkable, and the
occasions on which they were painted.
In the year 1488 Andrea executed for the ]\Iarquis Gian-
Franoesco (grandson of his first friend, Ludovico Gonzaga) the
famous frieze representing in nine compartments the Triumph
of Julius Cfesar after his conquest of GauL^ These were
placed round the upper part of the hall [used as a theatre]
in the palace of San Sebastiano, at ^Mantua, which Francesco
had lately erected. They hung in this palace for a century
1 "Contrary to the advice of those who entreated him to abstain from such
barbarity " {tanta barbaric). The " New Museum " is now the famous Braccio
Nuovo of the Vatican.
2 The dates are taken from the Chronological Supplement to the Life nf Man
tegna in the Lemonnier edition of Vasari, vol. v., 1849; from which it appears
that Mantegna began this frieze in the beginning of the year 1488, before he
went to Rome, and finished it, after his return, in 1492.

98 MANTEGNA
and a half. When Mantua was sacked and pillaged in 1629,
they, with many other pictures, escaped ; the Duke (Jarlo Gon
zaga, reduced to poverty by the vices and prodigality of his
predecessors, and the wars and calamities of his own time, sold
his gallery of pictures to our King Charles I. for 20,000/., and
these and other works of Andrea Mantegna came to England
with the rest of the jNIantuan collection. [Upon the establish
ment of the Commonwealth they were "reserved for his High
ness' use," i. e. for Cromwell, and at the Restoration formed,
as before, a part of the royal collection.] The nine pictures
now hang in the palace of Hampton Court. They are painted
in distemper on twilled linen, which has been stretched on
frames, and originally placed against the wall with ornamented
pilasters dividing the compartments. In their present faded
and dilapidated condition, hurried and uninformed visitors
will probably pass them over with a cursory glance ; yet Hamp
ton Court contains nothing so curious and valuable as this old
frieze of Andrea Mantegna, which, notwithstanding the fragility
of the material on which it is executed, has now existed for
three hundred and eighty years, and, having been frequently
engraved, is celebrated all over Europe.
Andrea retained through his whole life that {aste for the
forms and effects of sculpture which had given to all his earlier
works a certain hardness, meagreness, and formality of out
line, neither agreeable in itself nor in harmony with pictorial
illusion ; but in the Triumph of Julius Cisesar the combination
of a sculptural style 'with the aims and beauties of painting
was not, as we usually find it, misplaced and unpleasing ; it
was fitted to the designed purpose and executed with wonder
ful success; the innumerable figures move one after another
in a long and splendid procession, as in an ancient bas-relief,
but colored lightly, in a style resembling the antique paintings
at Pompeii. Originally it appears that the nine compartments
were separated from each other by sculptured pilasters. In
the first picture, or compartment, we have the opening of the
procession ; trumpets, incense burning, standards borne aloft
by the victorious soldiers. In the second picture we have
the statues of the gods carried oft" from the temples of the
enemy ; battering-rams, implements of war, heaps of glittering
armor carried on men's shoulders, or borne aloft in chariots.
In the third picture, more splendid trophies of a similar kind ;

TRIUMPH OF C^SAE 99
huge vases filled with gold coin, tripods, etc. In the fourth,
more such trophies, with the oxen crowned with garlands for
the sacrifice. In the fifth picture are four elephants adorned
with rich garlands of fruits and flowers, bearing on their backs
magniflcent candelabra, and attended by beautiful youths. In
the sixth are figures bearing vases, and others displaying the
arms of the vanquished. The seventh picture shows us the
unhappy captives, who, according to the barbarous Roman cus
tom, were exhibited on these occasions to the scoffing and
exulting populace : there is here a group of female captives of
all ages, among them a young dejected bride-like figure, a
woman carrying her infant children, and a mother leading by
the hand her little boy, who lifts up his foot as if he had
hurt it ; this group is particularly pointed out by Vasari, who
praises it for its nature and its grace. In the eighth picture
we have a group of singers and musicians, and among them
is seen a youth whose unworthy office it was to mock at the
wretched captives, in which he is assisted by a chorus of the
common people ; a beautiful youth with a tambourine is dis
tinguished by singular spirit and grace. In the last picture
appears the conqueror, Julius Ctesar, in a sumptuous chariot
richly adorned with sculptures in the antique style. He is
surrounded and followed by a crowd of figures, and among
them is seen a youth bearing aloft a standard, on which are
inscribed Caesar's memorable words, Veni, Vidi, Vici, — "I
came, I saw, I conquered."
The inconceivable richness of fancy displayed in this tri
umphal procession, the numbers of figures and objects of every
kind, the propriety of the antique costumes, ornaments, armor,
etc., with the scientific manner in which the perspective is man
aged, the whole being adapted to its intended situation far above
the eye, so that the under surfaces of the objects are alone
visible (as would be the case when viewed from below), the
upper surfaces vanishing into air ; all these merits combined
render this series of pictures one of the grandest works of the
fifteenth century, worthy of the attention and admiration of
all beholders.
When the great Flemish painter, Rubens, was at Mantua
in 1606, he was struck with astonishment on viewing these
works, and made a fine copy in a reduced form of the fifth
compartment : copy, however, it cannot properly be called ; it

100 MANTEGNA
is rather a version in the manner of Rubens, the style of the
whole, and even some of the circumstances, being altered.
Rubens made this copy for his own pleasure, and would never
part with it ; it was among the effects left at his death.
There can be no doubt that the sojourn of Rubens at jMantua,
previous to his visit to England in 1630, led to the acquisition
of the jMantuan Gallery by Charles I., which was effected by
the advice and agency of Rubens. After the death of Rubens,
this copy was acquired by the Balbi family ; and subsequently
it was purchased by ]\Ir. Rogers, and hung for many years in
his drawing-room over the chimney-piece. For all these rea
sons, the acquisition of this beautiful and memorable picture
by our National Gallery is a matter of congratulation.
In the British IMuseum there is a fine set of the woodcuts
in chiaroscuro, executed by Andrea Andreani about 1599, when
the original frieze still kept its place in the palace at IMantua.
Another of the most celebrated of Mantegna's works is the
great picture now in the Louvre, at Paris, and called by the
Italians " la Madonna della Vittoria," the Madonna of Vic
tory.^ The occasion on which it was painted recalls a great
event in history, the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of
France. Of all the wars undertaken by ambitious and unprin
cipled monarchs, whether instigated by revenge, by policy, or
by rapacious thirst of dominion, this invasion of Italy, in
1495, was the most flagitious in its injustice, its folly, and its
cruelty ; it was also the most retributive in its results. Charles,
after ravaging the whole country from the Alps to Calabria,
found himself obliged to retreat, and on the banks of the Taro
was met by Gian-Francesco, Marquis of ilantua, the son and
successor of Federigo, at the head of an army. On the part
of the Italians it was rather a victory missed than a victory
won ; for the French continued their retreat across the Alps,
and the loss of the Italians was immense. The Marquis of
Mantua, however, chose to consider it as a victory : he built a
church on the occa.'^ion, and commanded Andrea ^Mantegna to
paint a picture for the high altar which should express at
once his devotion and his gratitude. Considering the subject
and the occasion, the French must have had a particular and
malicious pleasure in placing this picture in the Louvre, where
it now hangs. 1 [See illustration in Legends of the Madonna, p. 152.]

OTHER PICTURES 101
It represents, in the centre, under a canopy or arbor com
posed of garlands of foliage and fruit, and seated on a throne,
the Virgin Mary, who holds on her knees the infant Saviour.
On her right stand the Archangel Michael and St. Maurice in
complete armor. On the left are the patron saints of Mantua,
St. Longinus and St. Andrew, with the infant St. John ; more
in front, on each side, are the Marquis of Mantua and his
wife, the celebrated and accomplished Isabella d' Este, who,
kneeling, return thanks for the so-called victory over the
French. The flgure of the Marchesa Isabella is still, in the
French catalogue of the Louvre [also by Crowe and Cavalca
selle], styled St. Elizabeth, an error pointed out long since by
Lanzi and others. This picture was finished in the year 1600,
when Andrea was seventy ; in beauty and softness of execution
it exceeds all his other works, while in the poetical conception
of the whole, the grandeur of the saints, and the expression in
the countenance of Gonzaga as he gazes upwards in a transport
of devotion, it is worthy of his best years. In the Louvre are
three other pictures by Andrea Mantegna. One is the Cruci
fixion of our Saviour, a small picture remarkable for contain
ing his own portrait in the figure of the soldier seen half-
length in front. Another, an allegorical subject, represents
the Vices flying before Wisdom, Chastity, and Philosophy,
while Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance return from above,
once more to take up their habitation among men. Another
picture, of exceeding beauty, represents the Muses dancing to
the sound of Apollo's lyre : Mars, Venus, and Cupid stand on
a rocky height, looking upon them, while Vulcan is seen at a
distance threatening his faithless consort. In this little pic
ture Mantegna seems inspired by the very spirit of Greek art:
the Pluses are designed with exquisite taste and feeling ; it is
probably the chefd'ceuvre of the artist in his own particular
style, that for which his natural turn of mind and early studies
under Squarcione had fitted him. In general his religious
pictures are not pleasing ; and many of his classical subjects
have a meagreness in the forms which is quite opposed to all
our conceptions of beauty and greatness of style ; but he has
done grand things. We are so fortunate as to possess in our
National Gallery a genuine and celebrated picture by Andrea
Mantegna, the Virgin and Child enthroned — the divine Child
standing on her knee, and blessing, while Mary Magdalene

102 MANTEGNA
and St. John the Baptist stand on each side ; the background
is formed of orange-trees. The coloring is rather pale, and
the expression of the Madonna rather weak, faults not usual
with Andrea ; in other respects — in the fine drawing, the
character of the two saints, and the pose and drapery of the
A'irgin — it is as fine as possible. Besides the works already
mentioned, there are two pictures in the Museum at Berlin,
and others at Vienna, Florence, and Naples ! [also at Milan
and Venice].
Of many disciples formed by Andrea Mantegna not one at
tained to any fame or influence in his art ; they all exaggerated
his manner and defects, as is usual with scholars who follow
the manner of their master. His two sons were both artists,
studious and respectable men, but neither of them inherited
the genius of their father. Ariosto, in a famous stanza of his
great poem (Orlando Furioso, c. xxxiii. st. 2), in which he
has commemorated all the leading painters of his own time,
places the name of Andrea jNIantegna between those of Leo
nardo da Vinci and Gian Bellini : —
E quel che furo a nostri di, o son ora,
Leonardo, Andrea IMantegna, Gian Bellino,
Duo Dossi, e quel, che a par scuipe, e colora
Michel piu che mortal Angel divino;
Bastiano, Raffael, Titian ch' honora
Non men Cadoi', che quel A''enezia e Urbino;
E gli altri di cui tal opra si vede
Qual della prisca eta si legge, e crede.
Lo ! Leonardo! Gian Bellino view,
Two Dossi, and Mantegna reached by few;
With these an angel, Michael, styled divine.
In whom the sculptor and the painter join :
Sebastian, Titian, Raphael, three that grace
Cadora, Venice, and Urbino's race :
Each genius that can past events recall
In living figures on the storied wall.
THE INVENTION OF ENGRAVING ON WOOD AND COPPER:
1423-1452.
Andrea Mantegna was not only eminent as a painter ; he
owed much of his celebrity and his influence over the artists
of that age to the multiplication and diffusion of his designs
1 [The Naples Mantegna is a beautiful St. Euphemia, the authenticity of
which is discredited by Morelli, who considers the inscription a forgery.]

THE INVENTION OF ENGRAVING 103
by copperplate engraving, an art unknown till his time. He
was one of the first who practised it ; certainly the first painter
who engraved his own designs.
In these days (1845), when we cannot walk through the
streets even of a third-rate town without passing shops filled
with engravings and prints ; when not our books only but the
newspapers that lie on our tables are illustrated ; when the
" Penny Magazine " can place a little print after ]\Iaiitegna at
once before the eyes of fifty thousand readers; when every
beautiful work of art as it appears is multiplied and diffused
by hundreds and thousands of copies ; when- the talk is rife of
wondrous inventions by which such copies shall reproduce
themselves to infinitude, without change or deterioration,! we
find it difficult to throw our imagination back to a time when
such things were not.
What printing did for literature, engraving on wood and
copper has done for painting, — not only diffused the designs
and inventions of artists, which would otherwise be confined
to one locality, but in many cases preserved those which would
¦otherwise have perished altogether. It is interesting to re
member that three inventions to which we owe such infinite
instruction and delight were almost simultaneous. The earliest
known impression of an engraving on wood is dated 1423 ; the
earliest impression from an engraved metal plate was made
about 1452 ; and the first printed book, properly so called,
bears date, according to the best authorities, 1455.
Stamps for impressing signatures and characters on paper,
in which the required forms were cut upon blocks of wood, we
find in use in the earliest times. Seals for convents and socie
ties, in which the distinctive devices or letters were cut hollow
upon wood or metal, were known in the fourteenth century.
The transition seems easy to the next application of the art ;
and thence perhaps it has happened that the name of the man
who made this step is lost. All that is certainly known is,
that the first wood-blocks for the purpose of pictorial repre
sentations were cut in Germany, in the province of Suabia ;
that the first use made of the art was for the multiplication of
playing-cards, which about the year 1418 or 1420 were manu
factured in great quantities at Augsburg, Nuremberg, and
Venice ; and that the next application of the art* was devo-
1 Electrotyping and photography for instance.

104 MANTEGNA
tional ; it was used to multiply rude figures of saints, which
were distributed among the common people. The earliest
woodcut known is a coarse figure of St. Christopher, dated
1423. This curiosity exists in the library of Earl Spencer, at
Althorpe. Another impression, which is declared by connois
seurs to be a little later, is in the Royal Library at Paris,
where it is framed and hung up for the inspection of the
curious. Rude, ill-drawn, grotesque, — printed with some
brownish fluid on the coarsest ill-colored paper, — still it is
impossible to look at it without some of the curiosity, interest,
and reverence with which we regard the first printed book,
though it must be allowed that, in comparison with this first
sorry specimen of a woodcut, the first book was a beautiful
performance. Up to a late period the origin of engraving on copper was
involved in a like obscurity, and volumes of controversy have
been written on the subject — some claiming the invention for
Germany, others for Italy : at length, however, the indefati
gable researches of antiquarians and connoisseurs, aided by the
accidental discovery, in 1794, of the first impression from a
metal plate, have set the matter at rest. If to Germany be
longs the invention of engraving on wood, the art of copper
plate engraving was beyond all doubt first introduced and
practised at Florence ; yet here again the invention seems to
have arisen out of a combination of accidental circumstances
rather than to belong of right to one man. The circumstances,
as well as we can trace them, were these : —
The goldsmiths of Italy, and particularly of Florence, were
famous, in the fifteenth century, for working in niello. They
traced with a sharp point or graver on metal plates, generally
of silver, all kinds of designs, sometimes only arabesques, some
times single figures, sometimes elaborate and complicated de
signs from sacred and profane history. The lines thus cut or
sr rat died were filled up with a black mass of sulphate of
silver, so that the design traced appeared very distinct con
trasted with the white metal : in Italy the substance used in
filling up the lines was called, from its black color, in Latin
nigellum, and in Italian niello. In this manner church plate,
as chalices and reliquaries, also dagger-sheaths, sword-hilts,
clasps, buttons, and many other small silver articles, were
ornamented ; those -who practised the art were called niellatori.

THE INVENTION OF ENGRAVING 105
According to Vasari's account, Maso Finiguerra was a skilful
goldsmith living in Florence ; he became celebrated for the
artistic beauty of his designs and workmanship in niello. Fini
guerra is said to be the first to whom it accidentally occurred
to try the effect of his work, and preserve a memorandum of
his design, in the following manner : — Previous to filling up
the engraved lines with the niello, which was a final process,
he applied to them a black fluid easily removed, and then,
laying a piece of damp paper on the plate or object, and press
ing or rubbing it forcibly, the paper imbibed the fluid from
the tracing, and presented a fac-simile of the design, which
had the appearance of being drawn with a pen. That Fini
guerra was the first or the only worker in niello who used this
method of trying the effect of the work is more than doubtful ;
but it is certain that the earliest known impression of a niello
plate is the impression from a pax ! now existing in the
Gallery of Bronzes at Florence, executed by Finiguerra, and
representing the subject we have often alluded to — the Coro
nation of the Virgin by her Son the Redeemer, in presence of
Saints and Angels ; ^ it contains nearly thirty minute figures
most exquisitely designed. This relic is preserved in the
Royal Library at Paris, where it was discovered lying among
some old Italian engravings by the Abbe Zani. The date of
the work is fixed beyond all dispute ; for the record of the
payment of sixty-six gold ducats (32;^. sterling) to Maso Fini
guerra for this identical pax still exists, dated 1452. The only
existing impression from it must have been made previously,
perhaps a few weeks or months before. It is now, like the
first woodcut, framed and hung up in the Royal Library at
Paris for the inspection of the curious.
Another method of trying the effect of niello-work before
it was quite completed was by taking the impression of the de
sign, not on paper, but on sulphur, of which some curious and
valuable specimens remain. After seeing several impressions
of niello plates of the fifteenth century, we are no longer sur
prised to find skilful goldsmiths converted into excellent paint
ers and sculptors.^
1 A pax or pyx is the name given to the vessel in which the consecrated bread
or wafer of the sacrament was deposited. This vessel was usually of the richest
workmanship, often enriched with gems.
2 [See description in Legends of the Madonna, p. 84.]
8 In our own time this art, after having been forgotten since the sixteenth

106 MANTEGNA
We have no evidence that it occurred to Maso Finiguerra, or
any other niello-worker, to engrave designs on plates of cop
per for the express purpose of making and multiplying impres
sions of them on paper. The first who did this as a trade or
profession was Baccio Baldini, who, about 1467, employed
several painters, particularly Sandro Botticelli and Filippino
Lippi, to make designs for him to engrave. Andrea Mantegna
caught up the idea with a kind of enthusiasm ; he made the
first experiment wlien about sixty, and, according to Lanzi, he
engraved, during the sixteen remaining years of his life, not
less than fifty plates : of these about thirty are now known to
collectors, and considered genuine. Among them are his own
designs for the Triumph of Julius CcBsar (the fifth, sixth, and
seventh compartments only).
Familiar as we now are with all kinds of co|3perplate and
wood-engraving, there are persons who do not understand
clearly the difl'erence between them. Independent of the dif
ference of the material on which they are executed, the grand
distinction between the t\vo arts is this, — that the copperplate
engraver cuts out the lines by which the impression is pro
duced, which are thus left hollow, and afterwards filled up
Avith ink ; the impression is produced by laying a piece of wet
paper on the plate and passing them together under a heavy
and perfectly even roller. The method of the engraver on
wood is precisely the reverse. He cuts away all the surround
ing block of wood, and leaves the lines which are to produce
the impression prominent ; they are afterwards blackened with
ink like a stamp, and the impression taken with a common
printing-press. AMien Andrea Alantegna made his first essays in engraving
on copper ho does not seem to have used a press or roller ; per
haps lie was unacquainted with that implement. At all events,
the early impressions of his plates have evidently been taken by
merely laying the paper on the copperplate and then rubbing
it over with the hand ; and they are very faint and spiritless
compared with the later impressions taken ^vith a press.
century, when it fell into disuse, has been very successfully revived bv Mr.
Wagner, a goldsmith of Berlin, now [1845] residing at Paris."

COMMENCEMENT OF THE VENETIAN SCHOOL :
THE BELLINI
Jacopo Bellini, the father, had studied painting under
Gentile da Fabriano, of whom we have spoken as the scholar,
or at least the imitator, of the famous monk Angelico da Fie
sole. To express his gratitude and veneration for his instruc
tor, Jacopo gave the name of Gentile to his eldest son : the
second and most famous of the two was christened Giovanni
(John) ; in the Venetian dialect Gian Bellini.
The sister of the Bellini being married to Andrea Mantegna,
who exercised for forty years a sort of patriarchal authority
over all the painters of northern Italy, it is singular that he
should have had so little influence over his Venetian relatives.
It is true the elder brother. Gentile, had always a certain lean
ing to Mantegna's school, and was fond of studying from a
mutilated antique Venus which he kept in his studio. But
the genius of his brother Gian Bellini was formed altogether
by other influences. The commercial intercourse between
Venice and Germany brought several pictures and painters of
Germany and the Netherlands into Venice. In the island of
Murano, at Venice, dwelt a family called the Vivarini, who had
carried on the art of painting from generation to generation,
and who had associated with them some of the early Flemings :
thus it was that the painters of the first Venetian school became
familiarized with a style of coloring more rich and vivid than
was practised in any other part of Italy : they were among the
first who substituted oil-painting for distemper. To these ad
vantages the elder Bellini added the knowledge of drawing
and perspective taught in the Paduan school, and the religious
and spiritual feeling which they derived from the example and
instruction of Gentile da Fabriano. In these combined ele
ments Gian Bellini was educated, and founded the Venetian
school, afterwards so famous and so prolific in great artists.
The two brothers were first employed together in an im
mense work, which may be compared in its importance and

108

THE BELLINI

its object to the decoration of our houses of parliament. They
were commanded to paint the Hall of Council in the palace
of the Doge with a series of pictures representing the principal
events (partly legendary and fictitious, partly authentic) of the

Gentile Bellini

Venetian wars with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1177) ;
the combats and victories on the Adriatic, the reconciliation
of the emperor with Pope Alexander III. in the Place of St.
Mark, when Frederick held the stirrup of the pope's mule; the
Doge Ziani receiving from the pope the gold ring with which
he espoused the Adriatic in token of perpetual dominion over
it ; and other memorable scenes dear to the pride and patriot
ism of the Venetians.

GENTILE BELLINI 109
These were painted in fourteen compartments round the
hall. What remains to us of the works of the two brothers
renders it a subject of lasting regret that these frescoes, and
others still more valuable, were destroyed by fire in 1577.
In 1463 Constantinople was taken by the Turks, an event
which threw the whole of Christendom into consternation not
unmixed with shame. The Venetians were the first to resume
their commercial relations with the Levant ; they sent an em
bassy to the Turkish Sultan to treat for the redemption of the
Christian prisoners and negotiate a peace. This was happily
concluded in 1464, under the auspices of the Doge, old Fran
cesco Foscari.! It was on this occasion that the Sultan Mo
hammed II. , having seen some Venetian pictures, desired that
the Venetian government would send him one of their painters.
The Council of Ten, after some deliberation, selected for this
service Gentile Bellini, who took his departure accordingly
in one of the state galleys, and on arriving at Constantinople
was received with great honor [1479]. During his residence
there he painted the portrait of the Sultan and one of his
favorite sultanas ; and he took an opportunity of presenting
to the Sultan, as a token of homage from himself, a picture
of the head of John the Baptist after decapitation. The
Sultan admired it much, but criticised, with the air of a con
noisseur, the appearance of the neck : he observed that the
shrinking of the severed nerves was not properly expressed.
As Gentile Bellini did not appear to feel the full force of this
criticism, the Sultan called in one of his slaves, commanded
the wretch to kneel down, and, drawing his sabre, cut off his
head with a stroke, and thus gave the astonished and terrified
painter a practical lesson in anatomy. It may be easily be
lieved that after this horrible scene Gentile became uneasy till
he had obtained leave of departure, and the Saltan at length
dismissed him, with a letter of strong recommendation to his
own government, a chain of gold, and other rich presents. After
his return to Venice he painted some remarkable pictures ;
among them one representing St. Mark preaching at Alexan
dria, in which he has painted the men and women of Alexandria
in rich Turkish costumes, such as he had seen at Constantinople.
1 The story of the two Foscari is the subject of a tragedy by Lord Byron.
The taking of Constantinople is the subject of one of the most beautiful tragedies
of Joanna Baiilie.

110 THE BELLINI
This curious picture is now in the Brera at Milan, and. is en
graved in Rosini's " Storia della Pittura." A portrait of Mo
hammed II. , painted by Gentile Bellini, is in the collection of
Sir Henry Layard! [at Venice]. All the early engravings
of the grim Turkish conqueror which now exist are from the
portraits painted by Bellini. He died in [1507], at the age
of eighty.
A much more memorable artist in all respects was his
brother Gian Bellini. His works are divided into two
classes — those which he painted before he adopted the process
of oil-painting, and those executed afterwards. The first have
great sweetness and elegance and purity of expression, with,
however, a certain timidity and dryness of manner ; in the
latter we have a foretaste of the rich Venetian coloring, with
out any diminution of the grave simple dignity and melancholy
sweetness of expression which distinguished his earlier works.
Between his sixty-fifth and his eightieth year he painted those
pictures which are considered as his chifs-cV ceuvre, and which
are now preserved in the churches at A^enice and in the gal
lery of the Academy of Arts in that city.
It has been saiil that Gian Bellini introduced himself dis
guised into the room of Antonello da Messina when he was
painting at Venice, and stole from him the newly discovered
secret of mixing the colors with oils instead of water. It is
a consolation to think that this story does not rest on any
evidence worthy of credit. Antonello had divulged his secret
to several of his friends, particularly to Domenico Veneziano.
Besides, the character of Bellini renders it unlikely that he
would have been guilty of such a perfidious trick.
Gian Bellini is said to have introduced at A'enice the fashion
of portrait painting ; before his time the likenesses of living
persons had been frequently painted, but they were almost
always introduced into pictures of large subjects : portraits
properly so called were scarcely known till his time ; then,
and afterwards, every noble Venetian sat for his picture, gen
erally the head only or half length. Their houses were filled
with family portraits, and it became a custom to have the
effigies of their doges and those who distinguished themselves
in the service of their country painted by order of the state
and hung in the ducal palace, where many of them are still
i [Sir Henry Layard died July 6, 1894.]

WORKS OF GIAN BELLINI

111

Giovanni Bellini (Rondinelli)

to be seen. Up to the latest period of his life Gian Bellini
had been employed in painting for his countrymen only reli
gious pictures, or portraits, or subjects of A^enetian history ;
the classical taste -which had spread through all the states of
Italy had not yet penetrated to A'enice ; but towards the end
of his life, when nearly ninety, he was invited to Ferrara to
paint in the palace of the duke a Dance of Bacchanals. On
this occasion he made the acquaintance of Ariosto, who men
tions him with honor among the painters of his time. [The

112 THE BELLINI
sketch of the picture was made by Bellini and finished in after
years by Titian. It is now in England at Alnwick Castle.]
There is at the palace of Hampton Court a very curious
little head of Bellini, certainly genuine, though much injured :
it is inscribed underneath, Johanes Bellini ipse.^ We have in
our National Gallery a most curious and genuine portrait of
one of the old doges painted by Bellini. It is somewhat hard
in the execution, but we cannot look at it without feeling that
we could swear to the truth of the resemblance. [Among
other interesting paintings by Bellini in the National Gallery
are Christ's Agony in the Garden, an early work ; a Madonna
and Child, and an Ecce Homo, acquired in 1890.] In the
Louvre at Paris is a Virgin and Child ascribed to Gian Bellini.^
[Other pictures there once attributed to him are now assigned
to Gentile or to the Bellini school.] In the Berlin Museum
are [four] pictures by him, all considered genuine. [One is a
Virgin and Child, an early work. Two others represent the
same subject, and the fourth is the Dead Christ supported be
tween two angels.]
Gian Bellini died in 1516. He had formed many disciples,
and among them two whose glory in these later times has
almost eclipsed that of their great teacher and precursor —
Giorgione and Titian. Another, less famous, but of whom
some beautiful pictures still exist at Venice, was Cima da
Conegliano. 1 [The genuineness is qnestioned in Ernest Law's catalogue, 1894.]
2 [Ascribed to Rondinelli by Morelli.]

THE UMBEIAN SCHOOL: PIETEO PERUGINO
Born 1446, Died 1524
For a long period the fame of Perugino, at least in this
country, rested more on his having been the master and in
structor of Raphael than on his own works or worth, but he
is now better appreciated. He was a great and remarkable
painter, popular in his own day and interesting in ours as the
representative of a school of Art immediately preceding that of
Raphael. He was what the Italians call a " Capo-scuolo,'' and
one of the most celebrated of all.
The territory of Umbria in Italy comprises that mountain
ous region of the Ecclesiastical States now called the Duchy
of Spoleto. Urbino, Perugia, Foligno, Assisi, and Spoleto
were among its principal towns ; and the whole country,
with its retired valleys and isolated cities, wasdistinguished in
the middle ages as the peculiar seat of religious^en thusiasm.
It was Tiere~~that--StrTiSiws~oF~SisisrpFeached and prayed,
and gathered around him his fervid self-denying votaries. Art,
as usual, reflected the habits and feelings of the people, and
here Gentile da Fabriano, the beloved friend of Angelico da
Fiesole, exercised a particular influence. No less than thirteen
or fourteen Umbrian painters, who flourished between the time
of Gentile and that of Raphael, are mentioned in Passavant's
" Life of Raphael." Thisjn2sMcaljnKLspiriiiUal_j^^
Art extended itself to Bologna, and found a worthy interpreter
in Francesco Francia. We shall, however, speak first of Peru
gino. Pietro A''annucci was born at a little town in Umbria called
Cittk della Pieve, and he was known for the first thirty years
of his life as Pietro della Pieve ; after he had settled at Peru
gia, and had obtained there the rights of citizenship, he was
called Pietro di Perugia, or II Perugino, by which name he
is best known.
We know little of the early life and education of Peru-

114 PERUGINO
gino ; his parents were respectable, but poor. His first in
structor is supposed to have been [Fiorenzo di Lorenzo].! At
this time (about 1470) Florence was considered as the head
quarters of art and artists ; and the young painter, at the age
of five-and-twenty, undertook a journey to Florence as the
most certain path to excellence and fame.
Vasari, who is very unjust to Pietro in some respects, tells
us that he was excited to industry by being constantly told of
the great rewards and honors which the professors of painting
had earned in ancient and in modern times, and also by the
pressure of poverty, but there can be no doubt that he added
to genius and industry a more genuine sentiment of truth and
beauty, a more real delight in his art, and a nobler ambition
than A^asari gives him credit for, at least in his younger years.
He left Perugia in a state of absolute want, and reached Flor
ence, where he pursued his studies for many months with un
wearied diligence, but so poor meanwhile that he had not even
a bed to sleep on. He studied in the Brancacci chapel in
the Carmine, which has been already mentioned ; received
some instruction in drawing and modelling from Andrea A^er-
rocchio ; and was a friend and fellow-pupil of Leonardo da
Vinci. They are thus mentioned together in a contemporary
poem written by Giovanni Santi, the father of the great Ra
phael : — Due giovin par d' etate e par d' amovi,
Lionardo da Vinci e '1 Perusino
Pier della Pieve, che son divin pit tori.
Two youths, equal in years, equal in affection,
Lionardo da Vinci and the Pei'ugian
Peter della Pieve, both divine painters.
When young in his art a pure and gentle feeling guided his
pencil ; and in the desire to learn, in the fixed determination to
improve and to excel, his calm sense and his calculating spirit
stood him in good stead. There was a famous convent near
Florence,^ in which the monks — not lazy or ignorant, as
monks are usually described — carried on several arts success-
I [Various painters have been named as the first teacher of Perugino, Niccolo
Alunno, Bonfigli, etc.]
2 The convent of the Gesuati or Jesuati, who must not be confounded with
the Jesuiti — the Jesuits. This noble convent, with most of its fine paintings,
was destroyed when Clement VII. besieged Florence in 1529.

HIS EARLY LIFE

115

Perugino (by himself)

fully, particularly the art of painting on glass. Perugino was
employed to paint some frescoes in their convent, and also to
make designs for the glass-painters : in return, he learned how
to prepare and to apply many colors not yet in general use ;
and the lucid and vigorous tints to which his eye became accus
tomed in their workshop certainly influenced his style of
coloring. He gradually rose in estimation ; painted a vast

116 PERUGINO
number of pictures and frescoes for the churches and chapels
of Florence, and particularly an altar-piece of great beauty for
the famous convent of A'allombrosa. In this he represented
the Assumption of the A^irgin, who. is soaring to heaven in the
midst of a choir of angels, while the tutelary saints of the
convent, St. Bernard Cardinale, St. John Gualberto, St. Bene
dict, and the Archangel Alichael, standing below, look upwards
with adoration and astonishment.! This excellent picture is
preserved in the Academy of the Fine Arts at Florence.^ Ten
years after Perugino had first entered Florence a poor nameless
youth, he was called to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV. to assist
with most of the distinguished painters of that time in paint
ing the famous Sistine chapel. All the frescoes of Perugino
except two ^ were afterwards effaced to make room for Michael
Angelo's Last Judgment. Those which remain show that the
style of Perugino at this time was decidedly Florentine, and
quite distinct from his earlier and later works. They rep
resent the Baptism of Christ in the river Jordan, and Christ
delivering the Keys to St. Peter.* AA^iile at Rome he also
painted a room in the palace of Prince Coloiina. AA'hen he
returned to Perugia he resumed the feeling and manner of his
earlier years, combined with better drawing and coloring, and
his best pictures were painted between 1490 and 1602 ; his
principal work, however, was the hall of the Collegia del
Cambio (i. e. Hall of Exchange) at Perugia, most richly and
elaborately painted with frescoes, which still exist. The per
sonages introduced exhibit a strange mixture of the sacred and
profane : John the Baptist and other saints, Isaiah, Moses,
Daniel, David, and other prophets, are figured on the walls
¦with Fabius Maximus, Socrates, Pythagoras, Pericles, Horatius
Codes, and other Greek and Roman worthies. Other reli
gious pictures painted in Perugia are remarkable for the simpli
city, grace, and dignity of the A^rgin, the infantine sweetness
of the children and cherubs, and the earnest, ardent expression
in the heads of his saints.
Perugino, in the very beginning of the sixteenth century,
1 [See Legends of the Monastic Orders, p. 147.]
2 It belongs, however, to a later period than his first sojourn at Florence in
1482, the date on the picture being 1500.
3 [These two are also assigned to Perugino by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, but
later critics attribute the Baptism to Pinturicchio.]
¦• [See illustration and description in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 92.]

HIS POPULARITY 117
was certainly the most popular painter of his time ; a circum
stance which, considering that Raphael, Francia, and Leonardo
da Vinci were all working at the same time, would surprise us
did we not know that contemporary popularity is not generally
the recompense of the most distinguished genius. We must
remember that in 1505, when Raphael was a youth, Perugino
was nearly sixty, and had in his long life painted many pic
tures in many different cities of Italy, having been employed
at Rome, Florence, Siena, Orvieto, Fano, as well as his own
country of Perugia and its neighborhood, which no doubt
extended his name and popularity. He had also opened a
school or academy, which became celebrated for the number
of admirable painters it produced. After 1505 his powers
declined, though his fame and popularity remained. He un
dertook an immense number of works, and employed his
scholars and assistants to execute them from his designs. A
passion, of which perhaps the seeds were sown in his early
days of poverty and misery, took possession of his soul. He
was no longer excited to labor by a spirit of piety or the gen
erous ambition to excel, but by an insatiable thirst for gain :
all his late pictures, from the year 1606 to his death, betray
the influence of this mean passion. He aimed at nothing be
yond mechanical dexterity, and to earn his money with as
little expense of time and trouble as possible ; he became more
and more feeble, mannered, and monotonous, continually re
peating the same flgures, actions, and heads, till his very
admirers were wearied ; and on his last visit to Florence,
Michael Angelo, who had never done him justice, pronounced
him, with contempt, "Goffo nelP arte," that is, a mere bungler ;
for which affront Pietro summoned him before the magistrates,
but came off with little honor. He was no longer what he
had been. Such was his love of money, or such his mistrust
of his family, that when moving from place to place he carried
his beloved gold with him ; and being on one occasion robbed of
a large sum, he fell ill, and was like to die of grief. It seems,
however, hardly consistent with the mean and avaricious spirit
imputed to him, that, having married a beautiful girl of Peru
gia, he took great delight in seeing her arrayed, at home and
abroad, in the most costly garments, and sometimes dressed her
with his own hands. To the reproach of avarice — too well
founded — some writers have added that of irreligion : nay.

118 ALTAR-PIECE FOR THE CERTOSA
two centuries after his death they showed the spot where he
was buried in unconsecrated ground under a few trees, near
Fontignano, he having refused to receive the last sacraments :
this accusation has been refuted ; and in truth there is such a
divine beauty in some of the best pictures of Perugino, such
exquisite purity and tenderness in his Madonnas, such an ex
pression of enthusiastic faith and devotion in some of the heads,
that it would be painful to believe that there was no corre
sponding feeling in his heart. In one or two of his pictures
he has reached a degree of sublimity worthy of him who was
the master of Raphael, but the instances are few.
In our National Gallery we have one of his most exquisite
productions, an altar-piece painted for the Certosa at Pavia
about 1501, and in which he is supposed to have been assisted
by his pupil Raphael. In its original form this altar-piece
consisted of six divisions or compartments — the three which
we possess representing in the centre the Madre Pia (the Vir
gin Mary adoring her divine Son), with on one side the fine
martial figure of St. Alichael, " captain of the hosts of the
Lord," and on the other the graceful and sympathizing guardian
angel, St. Raphael, leading his young charge Tobias. Of the
three small half-length figures placed above, one remains in
the Certosa and two are lost. Another little picture in the
National Gallery (a Aladonna and Child with St. John) is
comparatively unimportant and feeble, and must have been
a very early picture, as it is painted in distemper, probably
before his first visit to Florence.
In the Louvre at Paris there is a curious allegorical picture
by Perugino, representing the Combat of Love and Chastity ;
many figures in a landscape. It seems a late production —
feeble and tasteless ; and the subject is precisely one least
adapted to the painter's style and powers.
In almost every collection on the Continent there are works
of Perugino, for he was so popular in his lifetime that his
pictures were as merchandise, and sold all over Italy.
Pietro Perugino died in 1524. He survived Raphael four
years, and he may be said, during the last twenty-five years of
his life, to have survived himself.
His scholars were very numerous, but the fame of all the
rest is swallowed up in that of his great disciple Raphael.
[After Raphael, Lo Spagna was perhaps his most distinguished

LO SPAGNA — PINTURICCHIO

119

Pinturicchio
pupil. There is no record of the birth of this painter, nor of
the period when he joined Perugino. He spent much of his
life at Spoleto, where he painted various pictures, and among
other things a series of frescoes representing the life of St.
James.! jjjg finest work is an Enthroned Madonna in S.
Francesco at. Assisi. The National Gallery contains one pic
ture by Lo Spagna, The Agony in the Garden. 2] Bernardino

1 [See Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 234.]
2 [Another picture in the National Gallery was formerly assigned to Lo Spagna,
The Glorification of the Virgin. This is now attributed to Bertucci, on the au
thority of Crowe and Cavalcaselle and Frizzoni.]

120 PINTURICCHIO
di Perugia, called Pinturicchio [1464-1513], was rather an
assistant than a pupil of Perugino ; he has left some excellent
and important works in the Ara-Cceli, the A^atican, and S.
Maria del Popolo at Rome, in the famous series of the life of
Pius II. at Siena, and at Spello. He was a most elegant and
graceful painter and a great friend of Raphael, though con
siderably older. [The National Gallery contains six pictures
attributed to Pinturicchio, added to the collection since ]\Irs.
Jameson's death. Previous to their acquisition a Madonna
had Ijeen catalogued to Pinturicchio, which is now attributed
to Ingegno.]

EEANCESCO EAIBOLINI, CALLED IL FEANCIA
Born 1450, Died 1518
There existed throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth cen
turies a succession of painters in Bologna, known in the history
of Italian Art as the early Bolognese school, to distinguish it
from the later school, which the Caracci founded in the same
city — - a school altogether dissimilar in spirit and feeling. The
chief characteristic of the former was the fervent piety and de
votion of its professors. In the sentiment of their works they
resembled the Umbrian school, but the manner of execution
is different. One of these early painters, Lippo (or Filippo)
di Dalmasio, was so celebrated for the beauty of his Madonnas
that he obtained the name of Lippo delle Madonne.^ He
greatly resembled the Frate Angelico in life and character, but
was inferior as an artist. To his heads of the Virgin he gave
an expression of saintly beauty, purity, and tenderness which
two hundred years later excited the admiration and emulation
of Guido. Lippo died about 1409. Passing over some other
names, we come to that of the greatest painter of the early
Bologna school, Francesco Raibolini.
He was born in 1460 ; being just four years younger than
his contemporary Perugino. Like many other painters of that
age, already mentioned, he was educated for a goldsmith, and
learned to design and model correctly. Francesco's master in
the arts of working in gold and niello ^ was a certain Francia,
whose name, in affectionate gratitude to his memory, he after
wards adopted, signed it on his pictures, and is better known
by it than by his own family name. Up to the age of forty,
Francesco Francia pursued his avocation of goldsmith, and
became celebrated for the excellence of his workmanship in
chasing gold and silver, and the exquisite beauty and taste of
1 [One of his Madonnas is in the National Gallery.]
2 For an account of the art of working in niello, and the invention to which it
led, see p. 104.

122 IL FRANCIA
his niellos. He also excelled in engraving dies for coins and
medals, and was appointed superintendent of the mint in his
native city of Bologna, which office he held till his death.
AA"e are not told how the attention of Francia was first
directed to the art of painting. It is said that the sight of a
beautiful picture by Perugino awakened the dormant talent ;
that he learned drawing from Marco Zoppo, one of the numer
ous pupils of Squarcione ; and that for many months he enter
tained in his house certain artists [notably Lorenzo Costa],
who initiated him into the use of colors, etc. However this
may be, his earliest [celebrated] picture is dated 1490, when
he was in his fortieth year.! j^, exists at present in the gallery
at Bologna, and represents his favorite subject, so often re
peated, a Madonna and Child, enthroned, and surrounded by
saints and martyrs. This picture, which, if it be a first pro
duction, may well be termed wonderful as well as beautiful,
excited so much admiration, that Giovanni Bentivoglio, then
lord of Bologna, desired him to paint an altar-piece for his
family chapel in the church of San Giacomo. This [exhi
bition] of his powers excited in the strongest degree the en
thusiasm of his fellow-citizens. The people of Bologna were
distinguished among the other states of Italy for their patron
age of native talent ; they now exulted in having produced an
artist who might vie with those of Florence, or Perugia, or
A'enice. The vocation of Francia was henceforth determined : he
abandoned his former employment of goldsmith and niello-
worker, and became a painter by choice and by profession.
During the next ten years he improved progressively in com
position and in color, still retaining the simple and beautiful
sentiment which had from the first distinguished his works.
His earliest pictures are in oil ; but his success encouraged him
to attempt fresco, and in this style, which required a grandeur
of conception and a breadth and rapidity of execution for
which his laborious and diminutive works in gold and niello
could never have prepared his mind or hand, he appears to
have succeeded at once. He was employed by Bentivoglio to
decorate one of the chambers in his palace with the story of
Judith and Holofernes : ^ and he afterwards executed in the
¦ [A still earlier picture bv Francia is the Madonna and Child in the Berlin
Gallery.] 2 [The palace was destroyed in 1507.]

HIS FRESCOES

123

Francia

chapel of St. Cecilia a series of frescoes from the legend of
that saint. " The composition," says Kugler, " is extremely
simple, without any superfluous figures ; the action dramatic
and well conceived. We have here the most noble figures,
the most beautiful and graceful heads, a pure taste in the dra
pery, and masterly backgrounds." It should seem that the
merits here enumerated include all that constitutes perfection :
unhappily these fine specimens of Francia's art are falling into
ruin and decay.
The style of Francia at his best period is very distinct from

124 IL FRANCIA
that of Perugino, whom he resembles, however, so far as to
show that the pictures of the latter were the first objects of
his emulation and imitation. In the later works of Perugino
there is a melancholy verging frequently on sourness and
harshness, or fading into insipidity. Francia, in his richer
and deeper coloring, his ampler forms, and the cheerful, hope
ful, affectionate expression in his heads, reminds us of the
Venetian school.
His celebrity in a short period had extended through the
whole of Lombardy. Not only his native city, but Parma,
Modena, Cesena, and Ferrara, were emulous to possess his
works. Even Tuscany, so rich in painters of her own, had
heard of Francia. The beautiful altar-piece which has enriched
our National Gallery since the year 1841 was painted at the
desire of a nobleman of Lucca.
This altar-piece is composed of two separate pictures. The
larger compartment contains eight figures rather less than life.
In the centre on a raised throne are seated the Virgin and her
mother St. Anna. The Virgin is attired in a red tunic and a
dark blue mantle which is drawn over the head. She holds
in her lap the infant Christ, to whom St. Anna is presenting
a peach. The expression of the Virgin is exceedingly pure,
calm, and saintly, yet without the seraph-like refinement
which we see in some of Raphael's Madonnas : the head of the
aged St. Anna is simply dignified and maternal. At the foot
of the throne stands the little St. John, holding in his arms
the cross of reeds and the scroll inscribed " Ecce Agnus Dei ! "
(Behold the Lamb of God !) On each side of the throne are
two saints. To the right of the A'irgin stands St. Paul hold
ing a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom ; and St. Sebas
tian bound to a pillar and pierced with arrows : on the left,
St. Laurence with the emblematical gridiron and palm-branch ;
and St. Benedict,! ¦^vearing the white habit of the reformed
Benedictines. The heads of these saints want elevation of
form, the brow in all being rather low and narrow ; but the
prevailing expression is simple, affectionate, devout, full of
faith and hope. The background is formed of two open arches
adorned with sculpture, the blue sky beyond ; and lower down,
between St. Paul and St. Sebastian, is seen a glimpse of a
beautiful landscape. The draperies are grand and ample ; the
1 [Called in the catalogue and by Crowe and Cavalcaselle St. Romualdo.]

HIS ALTAR-PIECES 125
coloring rich and warm ; the execution most finished in every
part. On the cornice of the raised throne or pedestal is in
scribed Francia aurifex Bononiensis P. {i. e. painted by
Francia, goldsmith of Bologna), but no date. It measures six
feet and a half high by six feet wide.
Over this square picture was placed the lunette, or arch,
which is now separated from it. It represents the subject
called in Italian a Pieta — the dead Redeemer supported on
the knees of the Virgin-mother. An angel clothed in green
drapery supports the drooping head of the Saviour ; another
angel in red drapery kneels at his feet. Grief in the face of
the sorrowing mother — in the countenances of the angels rev
erential sorrow and pity — are most admirably expressed.
This altar-piece was painted by Francia about the year 1600,
for the Marchesa Buonvisi of Lucca, and placed in the chapel
of the Buonvisi family in the church of San Frediano. It
remained there till purchased by the Duke of Lucca, who sent
it with other pictures to be disposed of in England. The two
pieces were valued at 4,000/.; after some negotiation our gov
ernment obtained them for the National Gallery at the price
of 3,600Z.i
The works of Francia were, until lately, confined to the
churches of Bologna and other cities of Lombajdy ; now they
are to be found in all the great collections of Europe. The
Bologna Gallery contains [eight] ,2 the Berlin Museum [t\vo]
of his pictures. In the Uffizi, Florence, is an admirable por
trait of a man holding a letter in his hand [Evangelista
Scarpi]. In the Imperial Gallery at Vienna there is a most
exquisite altar-piece, the same size and style as the one in
the National Gallery, but still more beautiful and poetical :
the A^rgin and Child are seated on the throne in the midst of
a charming landscape ; St. Francis standing on one side, and
St. Catherine on the other. The gallery at Munich contains
a picture by him, perhaps the most charming he ever painted :
it represents a Madre Pia, — the infant Saviour lying on the
1 In the same church of San Frediano at Lucca, where this altar-piece was
originallj' placed, there still exists a picture by Francia of astonishing beauty.
It represents that curious subject, the Predestination of the Madonna, and not
the Assumption, as it is styled in the last edition of Vasari, where, however, due
praise is given to this wonderful picture — Opera veramente stupenda in ogni
sun parte. Vide Vasari, edit. Lemonnier, vi. 19.
2 [According to the catalogue of the gallery issued in 1883.]

126 XL FRANCIA
grass amid roses and flowers, while the Virgin stands before
him, looking down with clasped hands, in an ecstasy of love
and devotion, on her divine Son : the figures are rather less
than life.
It is pleasant to be assured that the life and character of
Francia were in harmony with his genius. A'asari describes
him as a man of comely a.specf, of exemplary morals, of amiable
and cheerful manners ; in conversation so witty, so wise, and
so agreeable, that in discourse with him the saddest man would
have felt his melancholy dissipated, his cares forgotten ; adding
that he was loved and venerated not only by his family and
fellow-citizens, but by strangers and the princes in whose
service he was employed. A most interesting circumstance in
the life of Francia was his friendship and correspondence with
the youthful Raphael, who was thirty-four years younger than
himself. There is extant a letter which Raphael addressed to
Francia in the year 1508. In this letter, which is expressed
with exceeding kindness and deference, Raphael excuses him
self for not having painted his own portrait for his friend, and
promises to send it soon ; he presents him with his design for
the Nativity, and requests to have in return Francia's design
for the Judith,! j^q ]jq placed among his most precious treas
ures ; he alludes, but discreetly, to the grief which Francia
must have felt when his patron Bentivoglio was exiled from
Bologna by Pope Julius II. ; and he concludes affectionately,
"continue to love nie as I love you, with all my heart."
Raphael afterwards, according to his promise, sent his portrait
to his friend, and Francia addressed to him a very pretty son
net, in which he styles him, as if prophetically, the " painter
above all painters : "
Tu solo il Pittor sei de' Pitlori.
About the year 1516 Raphael sent to Bologna his famous
picture of the St. Cecilia .surrounded by other Saints, which
had been commanded by a lady of the house of Bentivoglio,
to decorate the church of St. Cecilia, the same church in which
Francia had painted the frescoes already mentioned. Raphael,
in a modest and affectionate letter, recommending the picture
to the care of his friend Francia, entreating him to be present
1 This drawing is said to exist in the collection of the Archduke Charles, at
Vienna. See Passavant.

HIS DEATH 127
when the case was opened, to repair any injury it might have
received in the carriage, and to correct anything which seemed
to him faulty in the execution. Francia zealously fulfilled his
wishes : and when he beheld this masterpiece of the divinest
of painters, burst into transports of admiration and delight,
placing it far above all that he had himself accomplished. As
he died a short time afterwards, it was said that he had sick
ened of envy and despair on seeing himself thus excelled, and,
in his native city, his best works eclipsed by a young rival.
A^asari tells this story as a tradition of his own time ; his
expression is come alcuni credono (as some believe) ; but it
rests on no other evidence, and is so contrary to all we know
of the gentle and generous spirit of Francia, and so inconsistent
with the sentiments which for many years he had cherished
and avowed for Raphael, that we may set it aside as unworthy
of all belief. The date of Francia's death has been a matter
of dispute, but it appears certain, from state documents lately
discovered at Bologna, that he died itaster of the Mint in that
city, on the [5th or] 6th of January, 1518, being then in his
sixty-eighth year. His son Giacomo became an esteemed
painter in his father's style. The Berlin Gallery [contains one
painting] by his hand ; and [two painted conjointly by Gia
como and] Giulio Francia, a cousin and pupil of the elder
Francia.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO
CALLED ALSO BACCIO DELLA PORTA AND IL FRATE
Born [1475], Died 1517
Before we enter on the golden age of painting, — that
splendid era which crowded into a brief quarter of a century
(between 1505 and 1530) the greatest names and most con
summate productions of the art, — we must speak of one more
painter justly celebrated. Perugino and Francia, of whom we
have spoken at length, and Era Bartolommeo, of whom
we are now to speak, Avere still living at this period ; but they
belonged to a previous age, and were informed by a wholly
different spirit. They contributed in some degree to the per
fection of their great contemporaries and successors, but they
owed the sentiment which inspired their own works to influ
ences quite distinct from those which prevailed during the
next half century. The last of these elder painters of the first
Italian school was Era Bartolommeo.
He was born in the little town of Savignano, in the terri
tory of Prato, near Florence. Of his family little is known,
and of his younger years nothing, but that, having shown a
disposition to the art of design, he was placed under the tuition
of Cosimo Roselli (of whom I have already spoken) ; and
that while receiving his instructions he resided with some rela
tions who dwelt near one of the gates of the city (la Porta
San Piero). Hence for the first thirty years of his life he
was known among his companions by the name of Baccio della
Porta ; Baccio being the Tuscan diminutive of Bartolommeo.
AVhile studying in the atelier of Cosimo Roselli, Baccio formed
a friendship with ilariotto Albertinelli, a young painter about
his own age. It was on both sides an attachment almost fra
ternal. They painted together, sometimes on the same picture,
and in style and sentiment were so similar that it has become
difficult to distinguish their works. Baccio was, however.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO

129

Bartolommeo (by himself)

more particularly distinguished by his feeling for softness and
harmony of color, and the tender and devout expression of his
religious pictures. From his earliest years he appears to have
been a religious enthusiast, and this turn of mind not only
characterized all the productions of his pencil, but involved
him in a singular manner with some of the most remarkable
events and characters of his time.
Lorenzo de' Medici, called Lorenzo the Magnificent, was
then master of the liberties of Florence. The revival of

130 FRA BARTOLOMMEO
classical learning, the study of the antique sculptures diffused,
as we have related, by the school of Padua, and rendered still
more a fashion by the influence and popularity of Andrea
Mantegna, already old, and Michael Angelo, then a young
man), was rapidly corrupting the simple and pious taste which
had hitherto prevailed in Art, even while imparting to it a
more universal direction, and a finer feeling for beauty and
sublimity in the abstract. At the same time, and encouraged
for their own purposes by the Medici family, there prevailed
with this pagan taste in literature and art a general laxity of
morals, a license of conduct, and a disregard of all sacred
things, such as had never, even in the darkest ages of barbar
ism, been known in Italy. The papal chair was during that
period filled by two popes, the perfidious and cruel Sixtus IV.,
and the yet more detestable Alexander AT. (the infamous
Borgia). Florence, meantime, under the sway of Lorenzo and
his sons, became one of the most magnificent, but also one of
the most dissolute of cities.
The natural taste and character of Bartolommeo placed him
far from this luxurious and licentious court ; but he had ac
quired great reputation by the exquisite beauty and tenderness
of his Madonnas, and he was employed by the Dominicans of
the convent of St. Mark to paint a fresco in their church rep
resenting the Last Judgment.! j^^ n^^^ time Savonarola, an
eloquent friar in the convent, was preaching against the dis
orders of the times, the luxury of the nobles, the usurpation
of the Medici, and the vices of the popes, with a fearless
fervor and eloquence which his hearers and himself mistook
for direct inspiration from heaven. The influence of this
extraordinary man increased daily ; and among his most de
voted admirers and disciples was Bartolommeo. In a flt of
perplexity and remorse, caused by an eloquent sermon of Sa
vonarola, he joined with many others in making a sacrifice of
all the books and pictures which related to heathen poetry
and art on which they could lay their hands ; into this funeral
pyre, which was kindled in sight of the people in one of the
principal streets of Florence, Bartolommeo flung all those of
his designs, drawings, and studies whicli represented either
profane subjects or the human figure undraped, and he almost
1 [Barfolommeo's great fresco of the Last Judgment is in the Hospital of S.
Maria Nuova, Florence.]

HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH SAVONAROLA 131
wholly abandoned the practice of his art for the society of his
friend and spiritual pastor. But the talents, the enthusiasm,
the popularity of Savonarola had marked him for destruction.
He was excommunicated by the pope for heresy, denounced by
the Medici, and at length forsaken by the fickle people who had
followed, obeyed, almost adored him as a saint. Bartolommeo
happened to be lodged in the convent of St. Mark when it
was attacked by the rabble and a party of nobles. The par
tisans of Savonarola were massacred, and Savonarola himself
carried off to torture and to death. Our pious and excellent
painter was not remarkable for courage. Terrified by the
tumult and horrors around him, he hid himself, vowing, if he
escaped the danger, to dedicate himself to a religious life.
Within a few weeks the unhappy Savonarola, after suffering
the torture, was publicly burned in the Grand Piazza of Flor
ence ; and Bartolommeo, struck with horror at the fate of his
friend, — a horror which seemed to paralyze all his faculties, —
took the vows and became a friar in the Dominican convent
of San Marco, leaving to his friend Albertinelli the task of
completing those of his frescoes and pictures which were left
unfinished. He passed the next four years of his life without touching
a pencil, in the austere seclusion of his convent. At the end
of this period the entreaties and commands of his superior
induced Bartolommeo to resume the practice of his art, and
from this time he is known as Fra Bartolommeo di San
i\Iarco, and by many writers he is styled simply II Frate (the
Friar) ; in Italy he is scarcely known by any other desig
nation. Timid by nature, and tormented by religious scruples, he at
first returned to his easel with languor and reluctance ; but an
incident occurred which reawakened all his genius and enthu
siasm. Young Raphael, then in his twenty-first year, and
already celebrated, arrived in Florence. He visited the Frate
in his cell, and between these kindred spirits a friendship
ensued which ended only with death, and to which we partly
owe the finest works of both. Raphael, who was a perfect
master of perspective, instructed his friend in the more compli
cated rules of the science, and Fra Bartolommeo in return
initiated Raphael into some of his methods of coloring.
It was not, however, in the merely mechanical processes of

132 FRA BARTOLOMMEO
art that these two great painters owed most to each other.
It is evident, on examining his works, that Fra Bartolom-
meo's greatest improvement dates from his acquaintance with
Raphael ; that his pictures from this time display more energy
of expression — a more intellectual grace; while Raphael imi
tated his friend in the softer blending of his colors, and learned
from him the art of arranging draperies in an ampler and
nobler style than he had hitherto practised ; in fact, he had
just at this time caught the sentiment and manner of Bartolom
meo so completely, that the only great work he executed at
Florence (the Madonna del Baldacchino in the Palazzo Pitti)
might be at the first glance mistaken for a composition of the
the Frate. Richardson, an excellent writer and first-rate au
thority, observes that "at this time Fra Bartolommeo seems
to have been the greater man, and might have been the Raphael,
had not Fortune been determined in favor of the other." It
is not, however. Fortune alone which determines these things ;
and of Raphael we might say, as Constance said of her son,
that " at his birth Nature and Fortune joined to make him
great." But this is digressing, and we must now return to the
personal history of the Frate.
About the year 1513 Bartolommeo obtained leave of the
superior of his convent to visit Rome. He had heard so much
of the grand works on which Raphael and Michael Angelo
were employed by Leo X. that he could no longer repress the
wish to behold and judge with his own eyes these wonderful
productions. He was also engaged to paint in the church of
St. Sylvester on Monte Cavallo ; but the air of Rome did not
agree with him. He indeed renewed his friendship with
Raphael, and they spent many hours and days in each other's
society ; but Raphael had by this time so far outrun him in
every kind of excellence, and what he saw around him in the
Vatican and in the Sistine chapel so far surpassed his previous
conceptions, that admiration and astonishment seemed to swal
low up the feeling of emulation. There was no envy in his
gentle and pious mind, but he could not paint, he could not
apply himself ; a cloud fell upon his spirits, which was
attributed partly to indisposition ; and he returned to Florence,
leaving at Rome only two unfinished pictures, figures of St.
Peter and St. Paul, which Raphael undertook to finish for
him, and, in the midst of his own great and multifarious

HIS PRINCIPAL WORKS 133
works, found time to complete.! It is said that while Raphael
was painting on the head of St. Peter, two of his friends, who
were cardinals, and not remarkable for the sanctity of their
lives, stood conversing with him, and thought either to com
pliment him, or perhaps rouse him to contradiction, by criti
cising the work of Bartolommeo : one of them observed that
the coloring was much too red. To which Raphael replied
with that graceful gayety which blunts the edge of a sarcasm,
" May it please your Eminences, the holy apostle here repre
sented is blushing in heaven, as he certainly would do were
he now present, to behold the Church he founded on earth
governed by such as you ! "
On returning to Florence, Fra Bartolommeo resumed his
pencil, and showed that his journey to Rome had not been in
vain. The St. jNIark now in the Pitti Palace and the famous
Madonna di ilisericordia at Lucca were executed after his
return. Every picture subsequently painted displayed increas
ing vigor, and he was still in the full possession of his powers
when he was seized with a fever and dysentery, caused, it is
said, by eating too many figs, and died in his convent October
8, 1517, being then in his forty-second year.
The personal character of Fra Bartolommeo is impressed on
all his works. He was deficient, as we have seen, in physical
courage and energy ; but in his disposition enthusiastic, de
vout, and affectionate. Tenderness and a soft regular beauty
characterize his female heads ; his saints have a mild and seri
ous dignity. He is very seldom grand or sublime in concep
tion, or energetic in movement and expression ; the pervading
sentiment in all his best pictures is holiness. He particularly
excelled in the figures of boy angels, which he introduced into
most of his groups, sometimes playing on musical instruments,
seated at the feet of the Virgin, or bearing a canopy over her
head, but, however employed, always full of infantine grace
and candor. He is also famed for the rich architecture he
introduced into his pictures, and for the grand and flowing
style of his draperies. It was his opinion that every object
should be painted, if possible, from nature ; and for the better
study and arrangement of the drapery he invented those
1 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle doubt that Raphael had any hand in these frescoes.
For a full discussion of the subject see the History of Painting in Italy, vol. iii.
p. 460.]

134 FRA BARTOLOMMEO
wooden figures with joints (called lay-figures) which are now
to be found in the studio of every painter, and Avhich have
been of incalculable service in Art.
AVe have not, as yet, any picture by Fra Bartolommeo in our
National Gallery. Lucca, Florence, and A'ienna possess the
three finest.
The first of these, at Lucca, is perhaps the most important
of all his works. It is called the Madonna della Misericordia,
and represents the A'irgin, a grand and beautiful figure, stand
ing on a raised platform with outstretched arms : beneath her
ample robe, Avhich is held open by two angels, are groups of
suppliants, who look up to her as she looks up to heaven,
where, hovering in a glory of light, is seen her divine Son.!
AVilkie, in one of his letters from Italy (1827), dwells upon
the beauty of this noble picture, and says that it combines
the merits of Raphael, of Titian, of Rembrandt, and of Ru
bens ! "Here," he says, " a monk in the retirement of his
cloister, shut out from the taunts and criticism of the world,
seems to have anticipated in his early time all that his art
could arrive at in its most advanced maturity ; and this he has
been able to do without the usual blandishments of the more
recent periods, and with all the higher qualities peculiar to the
age in which he lived." ^
This is very high praise, particularly from such a man as
AA'^ilkie. The mere outline engraving in Rosini's " Storia della
Pittura " will show the beauty of the composition ; and the
testimony of AA^ilkie with regard to the magical coloring is
sufficient. The St. Mark in the Pitti Palace is a single figure, seated,
and holding his Gospel in his hand.^ For this picture a grand-
duke of Tuscany (Ferdinand II.) paid 1,200/. nearly two hun
dred years ago, which, according to the present value of money,
would be equal to about 3,000Z. Much finer, though less cele
brated than the figure of St. INIark, is a Deposition from the
Cross, also in the Pitti Palace, in which the A^irgin gazing on
the face of her dead Son and the ^lagdalene bowed down with
anguish over his feet are remarkable for depth of pathetic
expression. 1 [See illustration and description in the Legends of the Madonna, p. 91.]
" Life of Sir David Wilkie [Cunningham], vol. ii. p. 451.
3 [See illustration and description in Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 141, 142.]

HIS WORKS 135
In the Imperial Gallery at A'^ienna is the Presentation in the
Temple, a picture of wonderful dignity and beauty, and well
known by the fine engravings which exist of it. The figures
are rather less than life.!
In the Louvre at Paris are two very fine pictures ; a Ma
donna enthroned with several figures, life size, which was
painted as an altar-piece for his own convent of St. Mark, and
afterwards sent as a present to Francis I.; the other is an An
nunciation. In the Gallery of Lord AA'estminster there is a divine little
picture, in which the infant Christ is represented reclining on
the lap of the A'irgin, and holding the cross, which the young
St. John, stretching forth his arms, appears anxious to take
from him.
The Berlin Gallery contains only one of his pictures ; ^ the
Dresden Gallery not one. His works are best studied at Lucca
and in his native city of Florence, to which they are chiefly
confined. Fra Bartolommeo had several scholars, none of whom were
distinguished except a nun of the monastery of St. Catherine,
known as Suor Plautilla, who imitated his style, and has left
some beautiful pictures.
1 [See illustration in Legends of the Madonna, p. 266.]
2 [A joint work of Bartolommeo aud Albertinelli.]

LEONARDO DA VINCI
Born 1452, Died 1519
We now approach the period when the art of painting
reached its highest perfection, whether considered with refer
ence to poetry of conception, or the mechanical means through
which these conceptions were embodied in the noblest forms.
Within a short period of about thirty years, ;'. e. between 1490
and 1620, the greatest painters whom the world has yet seen
were living and working together. On looking back we can
not but feel that the excellence they attained was the result of
the efforts and aspirations of a preceding age ; and yet these
men were so great in their vocation, and so individual in their
greatness, that, losing sight of the linked chain of progress,
they seemed at first to have had no precursors, as they have since
had no peers. Though living at the same time, and most of
them in personal relation with each other, the direction of
each mind was different — was peculiar ; though exercising m
some sort a reciprocal influ.ence, this influence never interfered
with the most decided originality. These wonderful artists,
who would have been remarkable men in their time though
they had never touched a pencil, were Leonardo da Vinci,
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, Giorgione, Titian, in Italy ;
and in Germany, Albert Durer. Of these men we might say,
as of Homer and Shakespeare, that they belong to no particular
age or country, but to all time, and to the universe. That
they flourished together within one brief and brilliant period,
and that each carried out to the highest degree of perfection
liis own peculiar aims, was no casualty : nor are we to seek for
the causes of this surpassing excellence merely in the history of
the art as such. The causes lay far deeper and must be
referred to the history of human culture. The fermenting
activity of the fifteenth century found its results in the extraor
dinary development of human intelligence in the commence
ment of the sixteenth century. AA^e often hear in these days

LEONARDO DA VINCI 137
of " the spirit of the age ; " but in that wonderful age three
mighty spirits were stirring society to its depths : the spirit
of bold investigation into truths of all kinds, which led to the
Reformation ; the spirit of daring adventure, which led men
in search of new worlds beyond the eastern and the western
oceans ; and the spirit of art, through which men soared even
to the " seventh heaven of invention."
Leonardo da Vinci seems to present in his own person a
resume of all the characteristics of the age in which he lived.
He was the miracle of that age of miracles. Ardent and ver
satile as youth ; patient and persevering as age ; a most pro
found and original thinker ; the greatest mathematician and
most ingenious mechanic. of his time; architect, chemist, engi
neer, musician, poet, painter ! — we are not only astounded by
the variety of his natural gifts and acquired knowledge, but
by the practical direction of his amazing powers.! The extracts
which have been published from MSS. now existing in his
own handwriting show him to have anticipated by the force of
his own intellect some of the greatest discoveries made since
his time.^ These fragments, says Mr. Hallam (History of
the Literature of Europe), " are, according to our common
estimate of the age in which he lived, more like revelations of
physical truths vouchsafed to a single mind, than the super
structure of its reasoning upon any established basis. The
discoveries which made Galileo, Kepler, Castelli, and other
names illustrious — tbe system of Copernicus — thevery the
ories of recent geologists, are anticipated by Da Vinci within
the compass of a few pages, not perhaps in the most precise
language, or on the most conclusive reasoning, but so as to
strike us Avith something like the awe of preternatural know
ledge. In an age of so much dogmatism he first laid down
the grand principle of Bacon, that experiment and observation
must be the guides to just theory in the investigation of nature.
If any doubt could be harbored, not as to the right of Leonardo
da Vinci to stand as the first name of the fifteenth century,
1 The Italian writers thus sum up the qualifications of Leonardo with an ar-
rav of discriminative epithets not easily translated: — " Valente musico e
pocta; ingegnoso meeanKO'.profondo geomelrae matematico; e^rei/w architetto ;
esimio idraulico ; eccelente plasticatore e sonimo piltore."
2 [Or. Jean Paul Richter has collected in two large volumes The Literary
Works of Leonardo da Vinci, compiled and edited f-om the Original Manu
scripts, London, 1883.]

138 LEONARDO DA VINCI
which is beyond all doubt,! but as to his originality in so
many discoveries, which probably no one man, especially in
such circumstances, has ever made — it must be by an hypo
thesis not very untenable, that some parts of physical science
had already attained a height which mere books do not re
cord." It seems at first sight almost incomprehensible that, thus
endowed as a philosopher, mechanic, inventor, discoverer, the
fame of Leonardo should now rest on the works he has left as
a painter. AA^e cannot, within these limits, attempt to ex]3lain
why and how it is that as the man of science he has been
naturally and necessarily left behind by the onward march of
intellectual progress, while as the poet-painter he still survives
as a presence and a power. AA'e must proceed at once to give
some account of him in the character in which he exists to us
and for us, — that of the great artist.
Leonardo was born at A'inci, near Florence, in the Lower
A^al d' xVrno, on the borders of the territory of Pistoia. His
father, Piero da A'inci, was an advocate of Florence — not rich,
but in independent circumstances, and possessed of estates in
land. The singular talents of his son induced Piero to give
him, from an early age, the advantage of the best instructors.
As a child, he distinguished himself by his proficiency in
arithmetic and mathematics. iSlusic he studied early, as a
science as well as an art. He invented a species of lyre for
himself, and sung his own poetical compositions to his own
music — both being frequently extemporaneous. But his fa
vorite pursuit was the art of design in all its branches ; he
modelled in clay or wax, or attempted to draw every object
which struck his fancy. His father sent him to study under
Andrea A'errocchio (of whom we have already given some
account), famous as a sculptor, chaser in metal, and painter.
Andrea, who was an excellent and correct designer, but a bad
and hard colorist, was soon after engaged to paint a picture of
the Baptism of our Saviour. He employed Leonardo, then a
youth, to execute one of the angels : this he did witli so much
softness and richness of color, that it far .surpassed the rest of
the picture ; and Verrocchio from that time threw away his
1 When we think of Leonardo's contemporary, Columbus, we feel inclined, if
not lo dispute this fiat of the great historian, at least to ponder on it, aud those
ponderings lead us far.

HIS YOUTHFUL STUDIES 139
palette, and confined himself wholly to his works in sculpture
and design; "enraged," says Vasari, "that a child should
thus excel him." This picture is now preserved in the Acad
emy at Florence. The first angel on the right is that which
was painted by Leonardo.
The youth of Leonardo thus passed away in the pursuit of
science and of art : sometimes he was deeply engaged in astro
nomical calculations and investigations ; sometimes ardent in
the study of natural history, botany, and anatomy ; sometimes
intent on new effects of color, light, shadow, or expression, in
representing objects animate or inanimate. A^ersatile, yet per
severing, he varied his pursuits, but he never abandoned any.
He was quite a young man when he conceived and demon
strated the practicability of two magnificent projects : one was,
to lift the whole of the church of San Lorenzo, by means of
immense levers, some feet higher than it now stands, and thus
supply the deficient elevation ; ! the other project was, to form
the Arno into a navigable canal as far as Pisa, which would
have added greatly to the commercial advantages of Florence,
and was carried into execution two hundred years later.
It happened about this time that a peasant on the estate of
Piero da Vinci brought him a circular piece of wood, cut hori
zontally from the trunk of a very large old fig-tree, which had
been lately felled, and begged to have something painted on
it as an ornament for his cottage. The man being an especial
favorite, Piero desired his son Leonardo to gratify his request ;
and Leonardo, inspired by that wildness of fancy which was
one of his characteristics, took the panel into his own room,
and resolved to astonish his father by a most unlooked-for
proof of his art. He determined to compose something which
should have an effect similar to that of the Medusa on the
shield of Perseus, and almost petrify beholders. Aided by
his recent studies in natural history, he collected together from
the neighboring swamps and the river-mud all kinds of hideous
reptiles, as adders, lizards, toads, serpents — insects, as moths,
locusts — and other crawling and flying obscene and obnoxious
things ; and out of these he composed a sort of monster or
chimera, which he represented as about to issue from the
1 Wild as this project must have appeared, it was not perhaps impossible. In
our days the Sunderland lighthouse was lifted from its foundations, and removed
to a distance of several 3'ards.

140 LEONARDO DA VINCI
shield, with eyes flashing flre, and of an aspect so fearful and
abominable that it seemed to affect the very air around.
AVhen finished, he led his father into the room in which it
was placed, and the terror and horror of Piero proved the suc
cess of his attempt. This production, afterwards known as
the Piotello del Fico,^ from the material on which it was
painted, was sold by Piero secretly for one hundred ducats to
a merchant, who carried it to Milan, and sold it to the duke for
three hundred. To the poor peasant thus cheated of his Ro
tello, Piero gave a wooden shield, on which was painted a heart
transfixed by a dart ; a device better suited to his taste and
comprehension. In the subsequent troubles of Milan, Leo
nardo's picture disappeared, and was probably destroyed as an.
object of horror by those who did not understand its value
as a work of art.
The anomalons monster represented on the Rotello was
wholly different from the Medusa, afterwards painted by Leo
nardo, and now existing in the Florence Gallery.^ This rep
resents the severed head of IMedusa, seen foreshortened, lying
on a fragment of rock : the features are beautiful and regular ;
the hair already metamorphosed into serpents —
Which curl and flow.
And their long tangles in each other lock.
And with unending involutions show
Their mailed radiance.
Those who have once seen this terrible and fa°scinating picture
can never forget it. The ghastly head seems to expire, and
the serpents to crawl into glittering life, as we look upon it.
During this first period of his life, which was wholly passed
in Florence and its neighborhood, Leonardo painted several
other pictures of a very different character, and designed some
beautiful cartoons of sacred and mythological subjects, which
showed that his sense of the beautiful, the elevated, and the
graceful was not less a part of his mind than that eccentricity
and almost perversion of fancy which made him delight in
sketching ugly, exaggerated caricatures, and representing the
deformed and the terrible.
I Rotello means a shield or buckler; Fico, a fig-tree.
2 [The picture is no longer considered a genuine production from the hand
of Leonardo, but if not a direct copy from him, it was at least, doubtless, an
attempt to imitate bis idea.]

INVITED TO MILAN 141
Leonardo da Vinci was now about thirty years old, in the
prime of his life and talents. His taste for pleasure and ex
pense was, however, equal to his genius and indefatigable
industry ; and anxious to secure a certain provision for the
future, as well as a wider field for the exercise of his various
talents, he accepted the invitation of Ludovico Sforza il Moro,
then regent, afterwards duke of Milan, to reside in his court,
and to execute a colossal equestrian statue of his ancestor Fran
cesco Sforza. Here begins the second period of his artistic
career, which includes his sojourn at Milan, that is, from
[1485] to 1499.
A'asari says that Leonardo was invited to the court of Milan
for the Duke Ludovico's amusement, "as a musician and per
former on the lyre, and as the greatest singer and iinpirovisutore
of his time ; " but this is improbable. Leonardo, in his long
letter to that prince, in whicli he recites his own qualifications
for employment, dwells chiefly on his skill in engineering and
fortification ; and sums up his pretensions as an artist in these
few brief words : " I understand the different modes of
sculpture in marble, bronze, and terra-cotta. In painting, also,
I may esteem myself equal to any one, let him be who he
may." Of his musical talents he makes no mention whatever,
though undoubtedly these, as well as his other social accom
plishments, his handsome person, his winning address, his wit
and eloquence, recommended him to the notice of the prince,
by whom he was greatly beloved, and in whose service he
remained for about seventeen years. It is not necessary, nor
would it be possible here, to give a particular account of all
the works in which Leonardo was engaged for his patron,! nor
of the great political events in which he was involved, more
by his position than by his inclination ; for instance, the inva
sion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France, and the subsequent
invasion of ililan by Louis XII., which ended in the destruction
of the Duke Ludovico. The greatest work of all, and by far
the grandest picture which, up to that time, had been executed
in Italy, was the Last Supper, painted on the wall of the refec
tory, or dining-room, of the Dominican convent of the iNIadonna
delle Grazie. It occupied Leonardo about two years, from
1496 to 1498.
1 Of these, the canal of the Martesana, as well from its utility as from the
difliculties he surmounted in its execution, would have been suflicient to immor
talize him.

142 LEONARDO DA VINCI
The moment selected by the painter is described in the 26th
chapter of St. ilatthew, 21st and 22d verses : " And as they
did eat, he said. Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall
betray me : and they were exceeding sorrowful, and began
every one of them to say unto him. Lord, is it I ? " The
knowledge of character displayed in the heads of the different
apostles is even more wonderful than the skilful arrangement
of the figures and the amazing beauty of the workmanship.
The space occupied by the picture is a wall twenty-eight feet
in length, and the figures are larger than life.!
Of this magnificent creation of Art only the mouldering
remains are now visible. It has been so often repaired, that
almost every vestige of the original painting is annihilated ;
but, from the multiplicity of descriptions, engravings, and copies
that exist, no picture is more universally known and celebrated.
Perhaps the best judgment we can now form of its merits is
from the fine copy executed by one of Leonardo's best pupils,
Marco d' Oggione, for the Certosa at Pavia, and now in London,
in the collection of the Royal Academy. [Burlington House.]
Eleven other copies, by various pupils of Leonardo, painted
either during his lifetime or within a few years after his death,
while the picture was in perfect preservation, exist in different
churches and collections.
AVhile engaged on the Cenacolo, Leonardo painted the por
trait of Lucrezia Crivelli, now in the Louvre. It has been
engraved under the title of La Belle Ferroniere, but later re
searches leave no doubt that it represents Lucrezia Crivelli,
a beautiful favorite of Ludovico Sforza, and was painted at
INIilan in 1497. It is, as a work of Art, of such extraordinary
perfection that all critical admiration is lost in wonder.^
Of the grand equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, Leo
nardo never finished more than the model in clay, which was
considered a masterpiece. Some years afterwards (in 1499),
when ]Milan was invaded by the French, it was used as a tar
get by the Gascon bowmen, and completely destroyed. The
profound anatomical studies which Leonardo made for this
Avork still exist.
t [For full description of this painting see Sacred and Legendary Art pp
262-264.] - [Morelli calls this picture the work of Bernardino de' Conti, but it is still
catalogued as by Leonardo.]

RIVALRY WITH MICHAEL ANGELO 143
In the year 1500, the Frfench being in possession of Milan,
his patron Ludovico in cajjtivity, and the affairs of the state
ill utter confusion, Leonardo returned to his native Florence,
where he hoped to reestablish his broken fortunes, and to find
employment. Here begins the third period of his artistic life,
from 1600 to 1513, that is, from his forty-eighth year to his
sixtieth year. He found the Medici family in exile, but was
received by Pietro Soderini (who governed the city as " Gon-
faloniere perpetuo " ) with great distinction, and a pension was
assigned him as a painter in the service of the republic. One
of his first works after his return to Florence was the famous
portrait of Madonna Li.sa del Giocondo, called in French La
Joconde, and now in the Louvre, which after the death of
Leonardo was purchased by Francis I. for 4,000 gold crowns,
equal to 45,000 francs or 1,800^., an enormous sum in those
days, yet who ever thought it too much ?
Then began the rivalry between Leonardo and IMichael An
gelo, which lasted during the remainder of Leonardo's life.
The difference of age (for IVIichael Angelo was twenty-two
years younger) ought to have prevented all unseemly jealousy :
but Michael Angelo was haughty, and impatient of all superi
ority, or even equality ; Leonardo, sensitive, capricious, and
naturally disinclined to admit the pretenisions of a rival, to
whom he could say and did say, " I was famous before you '
were born ! " AA'ith all their admiration of each other's gen
ius, their mutual frailties prevented any real good-will on either
side. The two painters competed for the honor of painting*
in fresco one side of the great Council-hall in the Palazzo Vec
chio at Florence. It was to have been adorned with the great
deeds of the Florentine republic, by two of the greatest men
that republic had ever produced. AA'e now see it covered with
the ostentatious misdeeds of the tyrant Cosmo, executed by
the servile painters of the sixteenth century. Each prepared
his cartoon ; each, emulous of the fame and conscious of the
abilities of his rival, threw all his best powers into his work.
Leonardo chose for _ his sjily.ect the Defeat of the Milanese
general "Niccolo Piccinino by the Florentine army in 1440. One
of the finest groups represented a combat of cavalry disputing
the possession of a standard. " It was so wonderfully exe
cuted, that the horses themselves seemed animated by the same
fury as their riders ; nor is it possible to describe the variety

144 LEONARDO DA VINCI
of attitudes, the splendor of the dresses and armor of the war
riors, nor the incredible skill displayed in the forms and actions
of the horses."
Michael Angelo chose for his subject the moment before the
same battle, when a party of Florentine soldiers bathing in the
Arno are surprised by the sound of the trumpet calling them
to arms. Of this cartoon we shall have more to say in treat
ing of his life. The preference was given to Leonardo da
A'inci. But, as Vasari relates, he spent so much time in try
ing experiments, and in preparing the wall to receive oil paint
ing, which he preferred to fresco, that in the interval some
changes in the government intervened, and the design was
abandoned about 1505. The two cartoons remained for several
years open to the public, and artists flocked from every part
of Italy to study them. Subsequently they were cut up into
separate parts, dispersed, and lost. It is curious that of
Michael Angelo's composition only one small copy exists ; of
Leonardo's, not one. From a fragment which existed in his
time, but which has since disappeared, Rubens made a fine
drawing, which was engraved by Edelinck, and is known as the
Battle of the Standard.
It was a reproach against Leonardo, in his own time, that he
began many things and finished few ; that his magnificent de
signs and projects, whether in art or mechanics, were seldom
completed. This may be a subject of regret, but it is unjust
to make it a reproach. It was in the nature of the man.
The grasp of his mind was so nearly superhuman, that he never,
in anything he effected, satisfied himself or realized his own
vast conceptions. The most exciuisitely finished of his works,
those that in the perfection of the execution have excited the
wonder and despair of succeeding artists, were put aside by
him as unfinished sketches. Most of the pictures now attrib
uted to him were ^^lIolly or in part painted by his scholars and
imitators from his cartoons. One of the most famous of these
was designed for the altar-piece of the church of the convent
called the Nunziata. It represented the A%gin Mary seated
in the lap of her mother St. Anna, having in her arms the in
fant Christ, while St. .John is playing with a lamb at their
feet ; St. Anna, looking on with a tender smile, rejoices in her
divine offspring. The figures were drawn with such skill, and
the various expressions proper to each conveyed with such in-

VISITS ROME 145
imitable truth and grace, that, when exhibited in a chamber of
the convent, the inhabitants of the city flocked to see it, and
for two days the streets were crowded with people, " as if it
had been some solemn festival ; " but the picture was never
painted, and the monks of the Nunziata, after waiting long
and in vain for their altar-piece, were obliged to employ other
artists. The cartoon, or a very flne repetition of it, is now in
the possession of our Royal Academy [Burlington House, Lon
don], and it must not be confounded with the St. Anna in the
Louvre, a more fantastic composition [whose authenticity is
doubtful]. Leonardo, during his stay at Florence, painted the portrait
of Ginevra Benci, already mentioned in the memoir of Ghir
landajo as the reigning beauty of her time.
AVe find that in 1502 he was engaged by Caesar Borgia to
visit and report on the fortifications of his territories, and in
this office he was employed for two years. In 1503 he formed
a plan for turning the course of the Arno, and in the follow
ing year he lost his father. In 1614 he was invited to Rome
by Leo X., but more in his character of philosopher, mechanic,
and alchemist, than as a painter. Here he found Raphael at the
height of his fame, and then engaged in his greatest works —
the frescoes of the Vatican.!
It appears that Leonardo was ill-satisfied with his sojourn at
Rome. He had long been accustomed to hold the first rank as
an artist wherever he resided ; whereas at Rome he found him
self only one among many who, if they acknowledged his
greatness, affected to consider his day as past. He was con
scious that many of the improvements in the arts which were
now brought into use, and which enabled the painters of the
day to produce such extraordinary effects, were invented or in
troduced by himself. If he could no longer assert that meas
ureless superiority over all others which he had done in his
younger days, it was because he himself had opened to them
new paths to excellence. The arrival of his old competitor,
Michael Angelo, and some slight on the part of Leo X., who
was annoyed by his speculative and dilatory habits in execut
ing the works intrusted to him, all added to his irritation and
1 [To this period in Rome were once assigned two paintings no longer con
sidered the work of Da Vinci : the Madonna of St. Onofrio and the Holy Family
at St. Petersburg.]

146 LEONARDO DA VINCI
disgust. He left Rome and set out for Pavia, where the French
king, Francis I., then held his court. He was received by the
young monarch with every mark of respect, loaded with favors,
and a pension of seven hundred gold crowns settled on him for
life. At the famous conference between Francis I. and Leo
X. at Bologna, Leonardo attended his new patron, and was of
essential service to him on that occasion. In the following
year, 1616, he returned with Francis I. to France, and was at
tached to the French court as principal painter. It appears,
however, that during his residence in France he did not paint
a single picture. His health had begun to decline from the
time he left Italy ; and feeling his end approach, he prepared
himself for it by religious meditation, by acts of charity, and
by a most conscientious distribution by will of all his worldly
possessions to his relatives and friends. At length, after pro
tracted suffering, this great and most extraordinary man died
at Cloux, near Amboise, on the 2d of May, 1519, being then
in his sixty-seventh year. It is to be regretted that we cannot
wholly credit the beautiful story of his dying in the arms of
Francis I., who, as it is said, had come to visit him on his death
bed. It would indeed have been, as Fuseli expressed it, " an
honor to the king, by which Destiny would have atoned
to that monarch for his future disaster at Pavia," had the
incident really happened, as it has been so often related by
biographers, celebrated by poets, represented with a just pride
by painters, and willingly believed by all the world ; but the
well-authenticated fact that the court was on that day at St.
Germain-en-Laye, whence the royal ordinances are dated, ren
ders the story, unhappily, very doubtful.
We have mentioned a few of the genuine works of Leonardo
da A'inci ; they are exceedingly rare. It appears certain that
not one third of the pictures attributed to him and bearing his
name were the production of his own hand, though they were
the creation of his mind, for he generally furnished the car
toons or designs from which his pupils executed pictures of
various degrees of excellence.
Thus the admirable picture in our National Gallery, of
Christ disputing with the Doctors, though undoubtedly de
signed by Leonardo, is supposed by some to be executed by
his best scholar, Bernardino Luini ; ! by others it is attributed
1 [It is now catalogued (1894) as the work of Luini.]

LEONARDO DA VINCI

HIS DEATH 147
to Francesco Melzi. Those ruined pictures which bear his
name at AVindsor and at Hampton Court are from the Milan
ese school.!
Of the pictures in the Louvre attributed to Leonardo, [one
after another has been disputed by modern critics until it is
puzzling to know if any are genuine. The famous portrait of
Mona Lisa remains unchallenged, as an incomparable work of
the master. La Vierge aux Rochers is also considered authen
tic] Others are from his designs and from his school.
In the Florentine Gallery [the only undisisuted painting is
the Adoration of the Magi, an unfinished picture] ; but the
famous Herodias holding the dish to receive the head of John
the Baptist [once attributed to him] was probably painted
from his cartoon by Luini. His own portrait, in the same
gallery (in the Salle des Peintres), [though] wonderfully fine,
[is now considered the work of an unknown artist of the mid
dle of the sixteenth century. It is generally accepted as a
likeness.] In the Milan collections are many pictures attributed to him :
a few are in private collections in England : Lord Ashburton
has an exquisite group of the infant Christ and St. John play
ing with a lamb ; and Lord Suffolk has a picture of the Virgin
and Child, with the little St. John adoring, with a rocky back
ground, celebrated for the perfect execution.^
But it is the MS. notes and designs left behind him that
give us the best idea of the indefatigable industry of this
" myriad-minded man," and the almost incredible extent of his
acquirements. In the Ambrosian Library at Milan there are
twelve huge volumes of his works, relative to arts, chemistry,
mathematics, etc. ; one of them contains a collection of anatomi
cal drawings which the celebrated anatomist. Dr. Hunter, de
scribed as the most wonderful things of the kind for accuracy
1 The Falconer at Windsor I believe to be by Holbein, and it is curious that
this is not the first nor only Holbein which has been attributed to Leonardo.
There is one in the Liverpool Institute, and at Dresden another [long attributed
to Leonardo but now correctly catalogued] — the wonderful portrait of a man
with a gold medal in his cap. We have an idea of Holbein's style in England
diametrically opposite to that of Leonardo.
2 The story ot this precious picture is one of the romances in the history of
Art. It was stolen from Lord Suffolk's country seat in 1857, and all trace of it
lost for many months, during which time it was hidden behind an old cupboard
in the House of Lords.

148 LEONARDO DA VINCI
and beauty that he had ever beheld. In the Royal Library at
Windsor there are three volumes of MSS. and drawings, con
taining a vast variety of subjects — portraits, heads, groups,
and single figures ; fine anatomical studies of horses ; a battle
of elephants, full of spirit ; drawings in optics, hydraulics, and
perspective ; plans of military machines, maps and surveys of
rivers ; beautiful and accurate drawings of plants and rocks, to
be introduced into his pictures ; musical airs noted in his own
hand, perhaps his own compositions ; anatomical subjects,
with elaborate notes and explanations. In the Royal Library
at Paris there is a volume of philosophical treatises, from which
extracts have been published by Venturi. In the Holkham
collection is a MS. treatise on hydraulics. The " Treatise on
Painting " by Leonardo da A'inci has been translated from the
original Italian into French, English, and German, and is the
foundation of all that has since been written on the subject,
whether relating to the theory or to the practice of the art.
His MSS. are particularly difficult to read or decipher, as he had
a habit of writing from riglit to left, instead of from left to
right. What was his reason for this singularity has not been
explained. The scholars of Leonardo da Vinci, and those artists formed
in the academy which he founded in Milan, under the patron
age of Ludovico il Moro, comprise that school of art known
as the Milanese or Lombard school. They are distinguished
by a lengthy and graceful style of drawing, a particular amenity
and sweetness of expression (which in the inferior painters
degenerated into affectation and a sort of vapid smile), and par
ticularly by the transparent lights and shadows — the chiaro
scuro, of which Leonardo was the inventor or discoverer. The
most eminent painters were Bernardino Luini ; Marco Uggione,
or D' Oggione ; Antonio Beltraflio ; Francesco ~Sle\zi ; and Andrea
Salai. All these studied under the immediate tuition of Leo
nardo, and painted most of the pictures ascribed to him. Gau-
denzio Ferrari and Cesare da Sesto imitated him, and owed
their celebrity to his influence.

MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI
Born 1474, Died 1564
We have spoken of Leonardo da Vinci. Michael Angelo,
the other great luminary of Art, was twenty-two years younger;
but the more severe and reflective cast of his mind rendered
their difference of age far less in effect than in reality. It is
usual to compare Michael Angelo with Raphael, but he is
more aptly compared with Leonardo da Vinci. All the great
artists of that time, even Raphael himself, were influenced
more or less by these two extraordinary men, but they exer
cised no influence on each other. They started from opposite
points ; they pursued throughout their whole existence, and in
all they planned and achieved, a course as different as their
respective characters. It would be very curious and interest
ing to carry out the comparison in detail ; to show the con
trast in organization, in temper, in talent, in taste, which
existed between men so highly and so equally endowed, but
our limits forbid this indulgence. We shall therefore only
observe that, considered as artists, they emulated each other in
variety of power, but that Leonardo was more the painter than
the sculptor and architect ; Michael Angelo was more the
sculptor and architect than the painter. Both sought true
inspiration in Nature, but they beheld her with different eyes :
Leonardo, who designed admirably, appears to have seen no
outline in objects, and labored all his life to convey, by color
and light and shade, the impression of beauty and the illusive
effect of rotundity. He preferred the use of oil to fresco,
because the mellow smoothness and transparency of the ve
hicle was more capable of giving the effects he desired.
Michael Angelo, on the contrary, turned his whole attention
to the deflnition oi form, and the expression of life and power
through action and movement ; he regarded the illusive effects
of painting as meretricious and beneath his notice, and de
spised oil-painting as a style for women and children. Con-

150 MICHAEL ANGELO
sidered as men, both Leonardo and Michael Angelo were as
high-minded and generous as they were gifted and original;
but the former was as remarkable for his versatile and social
accomplishments, his love of pleasure and habits of expense,
as the latter for his stern inflexible temper, and his temperate,
frugal, and secluded habits.
Michael Angelo Buonarroti was born at Settignano, near
Florence, in the year 1474. He was descended from a fam
ily once noble ¦ — even amongst the noblest of the feudal lords
of northern Italy — the Counts of Canossa ; but that branch of
it represented by his father, Lodovico Leonardo Buonarroti
Simoni, had for some generations become poorer and poorer,
until the last descendant was thankful to accept an office in
the law, and had been nominated magistrate or mayor (piodesta)
of Chiusi. In this situation he had limited his ambition to
the prospect of seeing his eldest son a notary or advocate in
his native city. The young Michael Angelo showed the
utmost distaste for the studies allotted to him, and was contin
ually escaping from his home and from his desk to haunt the
ateliers of the painters, particularly that of Ghirlandajo, who
was then at the height of his reputation, and of whom some
account has been already given.
The father of Michael Angelo, who found his family
increase too rapidly for his mean.s, had destined some of his
sons for commerce (it will be recollected that in Genoa and
Florence the most powerful nobles ^^•ere merchants or manu
facturers), and others for civil or diplomatic employments :
but the tine arts, as being at that time productive of little
honor or emolument, he held in no esteem, and treated these
tastes of his eldest son sometimes with contempt and some
times even with harshness. Michael Angelo, however, had
formed some friendships among the young painters, and partic
ularly with Francesco Granacci, one of the best pupils of
Ghirlandajo ; he contrived to borrow models and drawings,
and studied them in secret with such persevering assiduity
and consequent improvement that Ghirlandajo, captivated by
his genius, undertook f(i plead his cause to his father, and at
length prevailed over the old man's family pride and preju
dices. At the age of fourteen Michael Angelo was received
hito the studio of Ghirlandajo as a regular pupil, and bound
to him for three years ; and such was the precocious talent of

APPRENTICED TO GHIRLANDAJO 151
the boy, that, instead of being paid for his instruction, Ghir
landajo undertook to pay the father, Leonardo Buonarroti, for
the first, second, and third years, six, eight, and twelve
golden florins, as payment for the advantage he expected to
derive from the labor of the son. Thus was the vocation of
the young artist decided for life.
At that time Lorenzo the Magnificent reigned over Flor
ence. He had formed in his palace and gardens a collection
of antique marbles, busts, statues, fragments, which he had
converted into an academy for the use of young artists, pla
cing at the head of it as director a sculptor of some eminence
named Bertoldo. Michael Angelo was one of the first who,
through the recommendation of Ghirlandajo, was received into
this new academy, afterwards so famous and so memorable in
the history of Art. The young man, then not quite sixteen,
had hitherto occupied himself chiefly in drawing ; but now,
fired by the beauties he beheld around him, and by the exam
ple and success of a fellow-pupil, Torregiano, he set himself to
model in clay, and at length to copy in marble what was
before him ; but, as was natural in a character and genius so
steeped in individuality, his copies became not so much imita
tions of form as original embodyings of the leading idea. For
example : his first attempt in marble, when he was about fif
teen, was a copy of an antique mask of an old laughing Faun :
he treated this in a manner so different from the original and
so spirited as to excite the astonishment of Lorenzo de' Medici,
who criticised it, however, saying, "Thou shouldst have
remembered that old folks do not retain all their teeth ; some
of them are always wanting." The boy struck the teeth out,
giving it at once the most grotesque expression ; and Lorenzo,
infinitely amused, sent for his father and offered to attach his
son to his own particular service, and to undertake the entire
care of his education. The father consented, on condition of
receiving for himself an office under the government, and
thenceforth Michael Angelo was lodged in the palace of the
Medici and treated by Lorenzo as his son.!
1 This mask, which is really admirable in its way, is now in the Florentine
Gallery, where it hangs in the Gabinetto del Ermafrodito, 0%'er the unfinished
bust of Brutus, a later and celebrated work of tlie same Michael Angelo: the
manner in which the teeth had been struck from the jaw of the old Faun I
certified myself by a close examination of the mask in the winter of 1858.

152 MICHAEL ANGELO
Such sudden and increasing favor excited the envy and jeal
ousy of his companions, particularly of Torregiano, who, being
of a violent and arrogant temper (that of Michael Angelo was
by no means conciliating), sought every means of showing his
hatred. On one occasion a quarrel having ensued while they
were at work together, Torregiano turned in fury and struck
his rival a blow with his mallet, which disfigured him for life.
His nose was flattened to his face, and Torregiano, having by
this " sacrilegious stroke " gratifled his hatred, was banished
from Florence.
It is fair, however, to give Torregiano's own account of this
incident as he related it to Benvenuto Cellini many years
afterwards. "This Buonarroti and I, when we were young
men, went to study in the church of the Carmelites, in the
chapel of Masaccio : it was customary with Buonarroti to rally
those who were learning to draw there. One day, among
others, a sarcasm of his having stung me to the quick, I was
extremely irritated, and, doubling my fist, gave him such a
violent blow on the nose that I felt the bone and cartilage
yield as if they had been made of paste, and the mark I then
gave him he will carry to his grave."
Thus it appears that the blow was not unprovoked, and
that jNIichael Angelo, even at the age of sixteen, indulged in
that contemptuous arrogance and sarcastic speech which, in his
maturer age, made him so many enemies. But to return.
IMichael Angelo continued his studies under the auspices of
Lorenzo ; but just as he had reached his eighteenth year he
lost his generous patron, his second father, and was thenceforth
thrown on his own resources. It is true that the son of
Lorenzo, Piero de' JMedici, continued to extend his favor to
the young artist, but with so little comprehension of his genius
and character, that on one occasion, during the severe winter
of 1494, he set him to form a statue of snow for the amuse
ment of his guests.
Michael Angelo, while he yielded, perforce, to the caprices
of his protector, turned the energies of his mind to a new
study — that of anatomy — and pursued it with all that fervor
which belonged to his character. His attention was at the
same time directed to literature by the counsels and conversa
tions of a very celebrated scholar and poet then residing in
the court of Piero — Angelo Poliziano ; and he pursued at the

VISITS ROME 153
same time the cultivation of his mind and the practice of his
art. Engrossed by his own studies, he was scarcely aware of
what was passing around him, nor of the popular intrigues
which were preparing the ruin of the Medici ; suddenly this
powerful family were flung from sovereignty to temporary dis
grace and exile, and Michael Angelo, as one of their retainers,
was obliged to fly from Florence, and took refuge in the city
of Bologna. During the year he spent there he found a friend,
who employed him on some works of sculpture ; and on his
return to Florence he executed a Cupid in marble, of such
beauty that it found its way into the cabinet of the Duchess
of Mantua ! as a real antique. On the discovery that the
author of this beautiful statue was a young man of two-and
twenty, the Cardinal San Giorgio invited him to Rome, and
for some time lodged him in his palace. Here Michael Angelo,
surrounded and inspired by the grand remains of antiquity,
pursued his studies with unceasing energy : he produced a
statue of Bacchus [now in the Bargello, Florence] which
added to his reputation ; and in 1500, at the age of five-and-
twenty, he produced the famous group of the dead Christ on
the knees of his A'irgin-mother (called "The Pietk"), which is
now in the church of St. Peter's at Rome ; ^ this last, being
frequently copied and imitated, obtained him so much applause
and reputation, that he Avas recalled to Florence, to undertake
several public works, and we find him once more established
in his native city in the year 1502.
Hitherto we have seen Michael Angelo wholly devoted to
the study and practice of sculpture ; but soon after his return
to Florence he was called upon to compete with Leonardo da
1 Isabella d' Este, Marchesana of Mantua, was not only the first woman, but
the first European sovereign, who made a collection of beautiful objects of Art,
including gems, antiques, pictures, sculpture, and curiosities of every kind.
2 This Pieta is the only work whereon Michael Angelo inscribed his name.
The circumstance which induced him to do this is curious. Some time after the
group was fixed in its place, he was standing before it considering its effect,
when two strangers entered the church, and began, even in his hearing, to dis
pute concerning the author of the work, which they agreed in exalting to the
skies as a masterpiece. One of them, who was a Bolognese, insisted that it was
by a sculptor of Bologna, whom he named, Michael Angelo listened in silence,
and the next night, when all slept, he entered the church, and by the light of a
lantern engraved his name, in deep indelible characters, where it might best be
seen — on the band which confines the drapery of the Virgin. There is a fine
cast in the Crystal Palace.

154 MICHAEL ANGELO
Vinci in executing the cartoons for the frescoes with which it
was intended to decorate the walls of the Palazzo A^ecchio, or
town hall, of Florence (1504). The cartoon of Leonardo has
been already described : that of jMichael Angelo represented an
incident which occurred during the siege of Pisa — a group of
Florentine soldiers bathing in the Arno hear the trumpet
which proclaims a sortie of the enemy, and spring at once to
the combat. He chose this subject, perhaps, as affording ample
opportunity to exhibit his peculiar and wonderful skill in de
signing the human figure. All is life and movement. The
warriors, some already clothed, but the greater part undressed,
hasten to obey the call to battle ; they are seen clambering up
the banks — buckling on their armor — rushing forward, hur
riedly, eagerly. There are, altogether, about thirty figures,
the size of life, drawn with black chalk, and relieved with
white. This cartoon was regarded by his contemporaries as
the most perfect of his works ; that is, in respect to the execu
tion merely : as to subject, sentiment, and character, it would
not certainly rank with the finest of his works ; for, with every
possible variety of gesture and attitude, exhibited with admira
ble and lifelike energy and the most consummate knowledge
of form, there was only one expression throughout, and that
the least intellectual, majestic, or interesting — the expression
of hurry and surprise. AA'^hile this great work existed, it was
a study for all the young artists of Italy ; but Michael Angelo,
who had suffered in person from the jealousy of one rival, was
destined to suffer yet more cruelly from the envy of another.
It is said that Bandinelli, the sculptor, profited by the troubles
of Florence to tear in pieces this monument of the glory and
genius of a man he detested ; but in doing so he has only left
an enduring stain upon his own fame. A small old copy of
the principal part of the composition exists in the collection
of the Earl of Leicester, at Holkham, and has been finely en
graved by Schiavonetti. [It is also engraved in " Illustra
tions. Architectural and Pictorial, of the Genius of Michael
Angelo Buonarroti," by Canina, Cockerell, and Harford, Lon
don, 1867. Two groups from the composition were engraved
by Marc Antonio aud Agostino A^eneziano. The engraving of
Marc Antonio is reproduced in the above-mentioned work, also
in Krell's " Classics of Painting," London, 1879.]
In [1505] Michael Angelo was summoned to Rome by Pope

EMPLOYED BY POPE JULIUS II 155
Julius II. , who, while living, had conceived the idea of erect
ing a most splendid monument to perpetuate his memory.
For this work, which was never completed, Michael Angelo
executed the famous statue of Moses, seated, grasping his flow
ing beard with one hand, and with the other sustaining the
tables of the Law.! While employed on this tomb, the pope
commanded him to undertake also the decoration of the ceiling
of the Sistine chapel. The reader may remember that Pope
Sixtus TV., in the year 1473, erected his famous chapel, and
summoned the best painters of that time, Signorelli, Cosimo
Roselli, Perugino, and Ghirlandajo, to decorate the interior ;
but down to the year 1608 the ceiling remained without any
ornament ; and Michael Angelo was called upon to cover this
enormous vault, a space of one hundred and fifty feet in length
by fifty in breadth, with a series of subjects representing the
most important events connected, either literally or typically,
with the fall and redemption of mankind.
No part of Michael Angelo's long life is so interesting, so
full of characteristic incident, as the history of his intercourse
with Pope Julius II. , which began in 1606 and ended only
with the death of the pope in 1513.
Michael Angelo had at all times a lofty idea of his own
dignity as an artist, and never would stoop either to flatter a
patron or to conciliate a rival. Julius II. , though now seventy-
four, was as impatient of contradiction, as fiery in temper, as
full of magnificent and ambitious projects, as if he had been
in the prime of life ; in his service was the famous architect
Bramante, who beheld with jealousy and alarm the increasing
fame of Michael Angelo and his influence with the pontiff,
and set himself by indirect means to lessen both. He insinu
ated to Julius that it was ominous to erect his own mausoleum
during his lifetime, and the pope gradually fell off in his atten
tions to Michael Angelo, and neglected to supply him with the
necessary funds for carrying on the work. On one occasion
Michael Angelo, finding it difficult to obtain access to the

"^ Now in S. Pietro in Vincoli, at Rome. Other fragments of the design for
this sumptuous tomb are a group representing a warrior overcoming another,
called "La Vittoria," and now placed in the great hall of The Palazzo Vecchio;
six unfinished statues of prisoners or slaves, representing the provinces sub
jected by Julius II. ; two now in the Louvre (of the finest there is a cast in the
Crystal Palace) ; and four others preserved in the Boboli Gardens at Florence.

156 MICHAEL ANGELO
pope, sent a message to him to this effect, " that henceforth, if
his holiness desired to see him, he should send to seek him else
where ; " and the same night, leaving orders with his servants
to dispose of his property, he departed for Florence. The
pope dispatched five couriers after him with threats, persua
sions, promises, but in vain. He wrote to the Gonfaloniere
Soderini, then at the head of the government of Florence, com
manding him, on pain of his extreme displeasure, to send
Michael Angelo back to him ; but the inflexible artist abso
lutely refused ; three months were spent in vain negotiations.
Soderini, at length, fearing the pope's anger, prevailed on
Michael Angelo to return, and sent with him his relation. Car
dinal Soderini, to make up the quarrel between the high con
tending powers. The pope was then at Bologna, and at the
moment when JMichael Angelo arrived he was at supper ; he
desired him to be brought into his presence, and on seeing him
exclaimed in a transport of fury, " Instead of obeying our com
mands and coming to us, thou hast waited till we came in
search of thee 1 " (Bologna being much nearer to Florence than
to Rome). Michael Angelo fell on his knees, and entreated
pardon with a loud voice. " Holy father," said he, " my
offence has not arisen from an evil nature ; I could no longer
endure the insults offered to me in the palace of your holi
ness ! " He remained kneeling, and the pope continued to
bend his brows in silence ; when a certain bishop, in attendance
on the Cardinal Soderini, thinking to mend the matter, inter
fered with excuses, representing that "Michael Angelo — poor
man ! — had erred through ignorance ; that artists were wont
to presume too much on their genius," and so forth. The
irascible pope, interrupting him with a sharp blow across the
shoulders with his staff, exclaimed, " It is thou that art igno
rant and presuming, to insult him whom we feel ourselves
bound to honor ; take thyself out of our sight ! " And as the
terrified prelate stood transfixed with amazement, the pope's
attendants forced him out of the room. Julius then, turning
to Michael Angelo, gave him his forgiveness and his blessing,
and commanded him never again to leave him, promising him
on all occasions his favor and protection. This extraordinary
scene took place in November, 1606. It was some time after
this (about 1512) that Julius II. , in speaking of Michael
Angelo to Sebastian del Piombo, again showed, in the midst

STATUE OF JULIUS II 157
of his anger, his entire appreciation of the man and the artist.
" Look," he said, " at the work of Raphael ! (the fresco of the
Heliodorus). He no sooner saw the work of Michael Angelo
(the ceiling of the Sistine) than he threw aside the manner of
Perugino and tried to imitate that of Michael Angelo, who is,
notwithstanding (here he burst into a rage), a terrible fellow.
There is no getting on with him ! "
The work on the tomb was not, however, immediately re
sumed. Alicbael Angelo was commanded to execute a colossal
statue of the pope to be erected in front of the principal church
of Bologna. He threw into the figure and attitude so much of
the haughty and resolute character of the original, that Julius,
on seeing the model, asked him, with a smile, whether he
intended to represent him as blessing or as cursing ? To
which Michael Angelo prudently replied, that he intended to
represent his holiness as admonishing the inhabitants of Bo
logna to obedience and submission. " And what," said the
pope, well pleased, " wilt thou put in the other hand ? " "A
book, may it please your holiness." "A book, man!" ex
claimed the pope, " put rather a sword ; thou knowest I am
no scholar." The fate of this statue, however we may lament
it, was fitting and characteristic : a few years afterwards, in
1511, the populace of Bologna rebelled against the popedom,
flung down the statue of Julius, and out of the fragments was
constructed a cannon, which from its origin was styled " La
Giuliana." On his return to Rome, Michael Angelo wished to have
resumed his work on the mausoleum ; but the pope had
resolved on the completion of the Sistine chapel : he com
manded Michael Angelo to undertake the decoration of the
vaulted ceiling ; and the artist was obliged, though reluctantly,
to obey. At this time the frescoes which Raphael and his
pupils were painting in the chambers of the Vatican had excited
the admiration of all Rome. Michael Angelo, who had never
exercised himself in the mechanical part of the art of fresco,
invited from Florence several painters of eminence to execute
his designs under his own superintendence ; but they could
not reach the grandeur of his conceptions, which became
enfeebled under their hands, and one morning, in a mood of
impatience, he destroyed all that they had done, closed the
doors of the chapel against them, and would not thenceforth

158 MICHAEL ANGELO
admit them to his presence. He then shut himself up, and
proceeded with incredible perseverance and energy to accom
plish his task alone ; he even prepared his colors with his own
hands. He began with the end towards the door ; and in the
two compartments first painted (though not first in the series),
the Deluge, and the Vineyard of Noah, he made the figures
too numerous and too small to produce their full effect from
below, a fault which he corrected in those executed subse
quently. When almost half the work was completed, the
pope insisted on viewing what was done, and the astonishment
and admiration it excited rendered him more and more eager
to have the whole completed at once. The progress, however,
was not rapid enough to suit the impatient temper of the pon
tiff. On one occasion he demanded of the artist when he meant
to finish it ; to which Michael Angelo replied calmly, " AVhen
I can." " AVhen thou canst ! " exclaimed the fiery old pope :
" thou hast a mind that I should have thee thrown from the
scaffold ! " At length, on the day of All Saints, [1609, half of]
the ceiling was uncovered to public view, [and by October,
1512, the entire work was completed]. Michael Angelo had
employed on the painting only, without reckoning the time
spent in preparing the cartoons, twenty-two months, and he
received in payment three thousand crowns.!
To describe this grand work in all its details would occupy
many pages. It will give some idea of its immensity to say
that it contains in all upwards of two hundred figures, the
greater part of colossal size ; and that, with regard to invention,
grandeur, and expression, it has been a school for study, and a
theme for wonder, during three successive ages. In the centre
of the ceiling are four large compartments and five small ones.
In the former are represented the Creation of the Sun and
Moon ; the Creation of Adam, perhaps the most majestic
design that was ever conceived by the genius of man ; the Fall
and the Expulsion from Paradise ; the Deluge. In the five
small compartments are represented the Gathering of the
AA'aters (Gen. i. 9) ; the Almighty separating Light from
Darkness ; the Creation of Eve ; the Sacrifice of Noah ; and
Noah's Vineyard : around these, in the curved part of the
ceiling, are the Prophets and the Sibyls who foretold the birth
^ [These are the statements of Condivi, and are considered extravagant by
modern authorities.]

FRESCOES OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL 159
of Christ. These are among the most wonderful forms that
modern Art has called into life. They are all seated and em
ployed in contemplating books or antique rolls of manuscript,
with genii in attendance. These mighty beings sit before us,
looking down with solemn meditative aspects, or upwards with
inspired looks that see into futurity. All their forms are mas
sive and sublime, all are full of varied and individual character.
Beneath these again is a series of groups representing the
earthly genealogy of Christ, in which the figures have a repose,
a contemplative grace and tenderness, which place them among
the most interesting of all the productions of Michael Angelo.
These and the figure of Eve in the Fall show how intense was
his feeling of beauty, though he frequently disdained to avail
himself of it. In the four corners of the ceiling are repre
sentations of the miraculous deliverance of the people of Israel,
in allusion to the general Redemption of man by the Saviour,
viz. : Holofernes vanquished by Judith, David overcoming
Goliath, the Brazen Serpent, and the Punishment of Haman.
There is a small print in Kugler's " Handbook " which will
give a general idea of the arrangement of this famous ceiling :
there is one on a large scale by Piroli, and a still larger one by
Cunego, which, if accessible, will answer the purpose better.
[There is also an excellent diagram in Symonds's Life of
JMichel Angelo Buonarroti]. In our National School of De
sign there is an admirable colored drawing brought from Rome
by Mr. L. Gruner, which will convey a very correct idea not
merely of the arrangement of the subjects and figures, but of
the harmonious disposition of the colors — a merit not usually
allowed to Michael Angelo. This has been published in colors
at the expense of JMr. Holford of Blaise Castle, the author of
a Life of Michael Angelo.
The collection of engravings after Michael Angelo in the
British Museum contains some fine old prints from the Pro
phets which should be studied by those who wish to understand
the true merit of this great master, of whom Sir Joshua Rey
nolds said that " to kiss the hem of his garment, to catch the
slightest of his perfections, would be glory and distinction
enough for an ambitious man ! " [The Arundel Society has
published a chromo-lithograph of the Sistine ceiling, and Braun
has issued a series of one hundred and twenty photographs
of the panels.]

160 MICHAEL ANGELO
When the Sistine chapel was completed Michael Angelo
was in his thirty-ninth year ; fifty years of a glorious though
troubled career were still before him.
Pope Julius II. died in 1513, and was succeeded by Leo X.,
the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. As a Florentine and his
father's son, we might naturally have expected that he would
have gloried in patronizing and employing JMichael Angelo ;
but such was not the case. There was something in the stern,
unbending character, and retired and abstemious habits of
Michael Angelo, repulsive to the temper of Leo, who preferred
the graceful and amiable Raphael, then in the prime of his
life and genius : hence arose the memorable rivalry between
Michael Angelo and Raphael, which on the part of the latter
was merely generous emulation, while it must be confessed
that something lilvc scorn mingled with the feelings of JMichael
Angelo. The pontificate of Leo X., an interval of ten years,
was the least productive period of his life. In the year 1519,
when the Signoria of Florence was negotiating with Ravenna
for the restoration of the remains of Dante, he petitioned the
pope that he might be allowed to execute at his own labor and
expense a monument to the "Divine Poet." In the same
year (he was then at Florence) Sebastian del Piombo ! writes
to him concerning the success of his great picture, the Raising
of Lazarus, now in our National Gallery. Michael Angelo
had been sent to Florence to superintend the building of the
church of San Lorenzo and the completion of Santa Croce ;
but he differed with the pope on the choice of the marble,
quarrelled with the officials, and scarcely anything was accom
plished. Clement VIL, another JMedici, was elected pope in
1523. He was the son of that Giuliano de' J\fedici who was
assassinated by the Pazzi in 1478. He had conceived the idea
of consecrating a chapel in the church of San Lorenzo, to re
ceive the tombs of his ancestors and relations, and which should
be adorned with all the splendor of Art. JMichael Angelo
planned and built the chapel, and for its interior decoration
designed and executed six of his greatest works in sculpture.
There are casts of these likewise in the Crystal Palace, in the
Italian Court. Two are seated statues : one representing
Lorenzo de' Aledici, duke of Urbino, who died young, in 1519,
living only to be the father of Catherine de' JMedici (and, as it
1 [Symonds says that the letter was from " Leonardo, the saddle-maker."]

HIS DEFENCE OF FLORENCE 161
has been well said, " had an evil spirit assumed the human
shape to propagate mischief, he could not have done worse ") ;
the other, opposite, his cousin, Giuliano de' Medici, who was as
weak as Lorenzo was vicious. The other four are colossal re
cumbent figures, entitled the Night, the Morning, the Dawn,
and the Twilight ; though why so called, and why these figures
were introduced in such a situation — what was the intention,
the meaning of the artist — does not seem to be understood by
any of the critics on Art who have written on the subject.
The statue of Lorenzo is almost awful in its sullen grandeur.
He looks down in a contemplative attitude; hence the appella
tion by which the figure is known in Italy — II Pensiero
(Thought or Meditatioyi). But there is mischief in the look
— something vague, ominous — difficult to be described. Alto
gether it well-nigh realizes our idea of Milton's Satan brooding
over his infernal plans for the ruin of mankind. Mr. Rogers
styles it truly "the most real and unreal thing that ever came
from the chisel." And his description of the whole chapel is
as vivid as poetry and as accurate as truth could make it : —
Nor then forget that chamber of the dead
Where the gigantic shades of Night and Day,
Turned into stone, rest everlastingly.
There from age to age
Two ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres.
That is the Duke Lorenzo. Mark him well !
He meditates; his head upon his hand.
What from beneath his helm-like bonnet scowls'?
Is it a face, or but an eyeless skull ?
'Tis lost in shade — yet, like the basilisk.
It fascinates and is intolerable.!
While Michael Angelo was engaged in these works, his prog
ress was interrupted by events which threw all Italy into com
motion. Rome was taken and sacked by the Constable de
Bourbon in 1527. The Medici were once more expelled from
Florence ; and Michael Angelo, in the midst of these strange
vicissitudes, was employed by the republic to fortify his native
city against his former patrons. Great as an engineer, as in
every other department of art and science, he defended Flor-
1 Mr. Rogers possessed the small sketch or model (Michael Angelo's first
thought) for this wonderful figure. It used to stand on a pedestal in the cor
ner of his breakfast-room, looking ominous. At the sale of his collection it
was sold for 21i. I know not who is now the fortunate possessor.

162 MICHAEL ANGELO
ence for nine months. At length the city was given up by
treachery, and, fearing the vengeance of the conquerors,
Michael Angelo fled and concealed himself ; but Clement A'll.
was too sensible of his merit to allow him to remain long in
disgrace and exile. He was pardoned, and continued ever
afterwards in high favor with the pope, who employed him
on the sculptures in the chapel of San Lorenzo during the
remainder of his pontificate.
In the year 1531 he had completed the statues of Night and
Morning, and Clement, who heard of his incessant labors, sent
him a brief, commanding him, on pain of excommunication, to
take care of his health, and not to accept of any other work
but that which his holiness had assigned him.
Clement ATI. was succeeded by Pope Paul HI., of the Far-
nese family, in 1534. This pope, though nearly seventy when
he was elected, was as anxious to immortalize his name by great
undertakings as any of his predecessors had been before him.
His first wish was to complete the decoration of the interior
of the Sistine chapel, left unfinished by Julius II. and Leo X.
He summoned JMichael Angelo, who endeavored to excuse him
self, pleading other engagements ; but the pope would listen
to no excuses which interfered with his sovereign power to dis
solve all other obligations ; and thus the artist found himself,
after an interval of twenty years, most reluctantly forced to
abandon sculpture for painting ; and, as A'asari expresses it,
he consented to serve Pope Paul only because he could not do
otherwise. In representing the Last Judgment on the wall of the up
per end of the Sistine chapel, Michael Angelo only adhered
to the original plan as it had been adopted by Julius II. , and
afterwards by Clement A^I.
In the centre of this vast composition he has placed the
figure of the Messiah in the act of pronouncing the sentence
of condemnation, " Depart from me, ye accursed, into everlast
ing fire ; " and by his side the A'irgin Mary : around them, on
each side, the apostles, the patriarchs, the prophets, and a com
pany of saints and martyrs : above these are groups of angels
bearing the cross, the croAvn of thorns, and other instruments
of the passion of our Lord ; and farther down another group
of angels holding the book of life, and sounding the awful

THE LAST JUDGMENT 163
trumpets which call up the dead to judgment. Below, on one
side, the resurrection and ascent of the blessed ; and on the
other, demons drag down the condemned to everlasting fire.
The number of figures is at least two hundred. Those who
wish to form a correct idea of the composition and arrange
ment should consult the engravings [and photographs] ; ! sev
eral [engravings] of different sizes and different degrees of
excellence are in the British Museum.
There can be no doubt that Michael Angelo's Last Judgment
is the greatest effort of human skill, as a creation of Art ; yet is
it full of faults in taste and sentiment ; and the greatest fault of
all is in the conception of the principal personage, the Messiah
as judge. The figure, expression, attitude, are all unworthy —
one might almost say vulgar in the worst sense ; for is there
not both profaneness and vulgarity in representing the merci
ful Redeemer of mankind, even when he " comes to judgment,"
as inspired merely by wrath and vengeance ':' — as a thick-set
athlete, who, with a gesture of sullen anger, is about to punish
the wicked with his fist ? It has been already observed that
Michael Angelo borrowed the idea of the two figures of the
Virgin and Christ from the old fresco [of the Last Judgment]
in the Campo Santo ; but in improving the drawing he has
wholly lost and degraded the sentiment. In the groups of the
pardoned, as Kugler has well observed, we look in vain for "the
glory of heaven — for beings bearing the stamp of divine holi
ness and renunciation of human weakness : everywhere we meet
with the expression of human passion, human efforts ; we see no
choir of solemn tranquil forms — no harmonious unity of clear
grand lines produced by ideal draperies ; but in their stead a
confused crowd of naked bodies in violent attitudes, unaccom
panied by any of the characteristics made sacred by holy tradi
tion." On the other hand, the groups of the condemned, and
the astonishing energy and variety of the struggling and sus
pended forms, are most fearful : and it is quite true that when
contemplated from a distance the whole representation fills the
mind with wonder and mysterious horror. It was intended to
represent the defeat and fall of the rebel angels on the oppo
site wall (above and on each side of the principal door), but
this was never done ; and the intention of Michael Angelo in
the decoration of the Sistine chapel remains incomplete. The
1 [Braun has photographed it.]

164 MICHAEL ANGELO
picture of the Last Judgment was finished and first exhibited
to the people on Christmas-day, 1541, under the pontificate of
Paul HI. Michael Angelo was then in his sixty-seventh year,
and had been employed on the painting and cartoons nearly
nine years.
The same Pope Paul III. had in the mean time constructed
a beautiful chapel, which was called after his name the chapel
Paolina, and dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. Michael
Angelo was called upon to design the decorations. He painted
on one side the Conversion of St. Paul,! j^^^ qj^ ^y^^ other the
Crucifixion of St. Peter, which were completed in 1549. But
these fine paintings — of which existing old engravings (to be
found in the British JMuseum) give a better idea than the black
ened and faded remains of the original frescoes — were from
the first ill-disposed as to the locality, and badly lighted, and
at present they excite little interest compared with the more
famous works in the Sistine.
During the period that JMichael Angelo was engaged in the
decoration of the Pauline chapel, he executed a group in mar
ble — the A'irgin with the dead Redeemer and two other fig
ures — which was never completely finished. It is now at
Florence, behind the high altar of the cathedral. It is full
of tragic grandeur and expression.^
AA'ith the frescoes in the Pauline chapel ends Michael
Angelo's career as a painter. He had been appointed chief
architect of St. Peter's in 1647 by Paul III. He was then in
his seventy-second year ; and during the remainder of his life,
a period of sixteen years, we find him wholly devoted to
architecture. His vast and daring genius finding ample scope
in the completion of St. Peter's, he has left behind him in his
1 [A good idea of this composition may be obtained from the plate in Sixty
Outlines from the Principal Works of Michael Angelo Buonarroti, London,
186-3. Tliere is also a small outline in Kugler's Handbook.]
2 An eye-witness has left us a very graphic description of the energy with
which, even in old age. Michael Angelo handled his chisel: "I can say that
I have seen Michael Angelo at the age of sixty, and with a body announcing
weakness, make more chips of marble fly about in a quarter of an hour than
would three of the strongest young sculptors in an hour, — a thing almost in
credible to him who has not beheld it. He went to work with such impetuosity
and fury of manner that I feared almost every moment to see the block split
into pieces. It would seem as if, inflamed by the idea of greatness which in
spired him, this great man attacked with a species of fury the marble which
concealed the statue." Blaise di Vigenfere.

ARCHITECT OF ST. PETERS 165
capacity of architect yet greater marvels than he had achieved
as painter and sculptor. AVho that has seen the cupola of
St. Peter's soaring into the skies but will think almost with
awe of the universal and majestic intellect of the man who
reared it ?
There is a striking anecdote of Mrs. Siddons, which at this
moment comes back upon the mind. When standing before
the Apollo Belvedere, then in the gallery of the Louvre, she
exclaimed, after a long pause, " How great must be the Being
who created the genius which produced such a form as this ! "
— a thought characteristic of her mind, but more fitly inspired
by the works' of Michael Angelo than by those of any artist
the world has yet seen. They bear impressed upon them a
character of greatness, of durability, of sublimity of invention
and consummate skill in contrivance, which fills the contem
plative mind, and leads it irresistibly from the created up to
the Creator.
As our subject is painting, not architecture, we shall not
dwell much on this period of the life of Michael Angelo. He
filled the office of chief architect of St. Peter's through the
pontificates of Julius III., Pius IV., and Pius V. He accepted
the office with reluctance, pleading his great age and the ob
stacles and difficulties he was likely to meet with from the
jealousies and intrigues of his rivals and the ignorance and
intermeddling of the pope's officials. He solemnly called
Heaven to witness that it was only from a deep sense of duty
that he yielded to the pope's wishes ; and he proved that this
was no empty profession by constantly refusing any salary or
remuneration. Notwithstanding the difficulties he encountered,
the provocations and the disgusts most intolerable to his
haughty and impatient spirit, he held on his way with a stern
perseverance till he had seen his great designs so far carried
out that they could not be wholly abandoned or perverted by
his successors.!
AVhen his sovereign the Grand Duke of Florence endeavored,
by the most munificent offers and promises, to attract him to
his court, he constantly pleaded that to leave his great work
unaccomplished would be on his part "a sin, a shame, and
1 This, however, applies onlj' to the stupendous dome: his design for the
facade, and even the original form of the church, having been subsequentlj^ al
tered and spoiled.

166 MICHAEL ANGELO
the ruin of the greatest religious monument in Christian
Europe." Michael Angelo considered that he was engaged in
a work of piety, and for this reason, " for his own honor and
the honor of God," he refused all emolument.
It appears from the evidence of contemporary writers that
in the last years of his life the acknowledged worth and genius
of Michael Angelo, his widespread fame, and his unblemished
integrity, combined with his venerable age and the haughtiness
and reserve of his deportment to invest him with a sort of
princely dignity. It is recorded that, when he waited on Pope
Julius III. to receive his commands, the pontiff rose on his
approach, seated him, in sjoite of his excuses, on his right
hand ; and while a crowd of cardinals, prelates, ambassadors,
were standing round at humble distance, carried on the confer
ence, as equal with equal. AVhen the Grand Duke Cosmo was
in Rome in 1560 he visited Michael Angelo, uncovered in his
presence, and stood with his hat in his hand while speaking to
him ; but from the time when he made himself the tyrant of
Florence he never could persuade Michael Angelo to visit,
even for a day, his native city.
One of the most beautiful anecdotes recorded of Michael
Angelo in his later years, and one of the very few amiable
traits in his character, was his strong and generous attachment
to bis old servant Urbino. One daj', as Urbino stood by him
while he worked, he said to him, " My poor Urbino ! what
wilt thou do when I am gone ? " " Alas ! " replied Urbino,
" I must then seek another master ! " " No," replied Michael
Angelo, " that shall never be ! " and he immediately presented
him with two thousand crowns, thus rendering him independ
ent of himself and others. Urbino, however, continued in his
service, and, when seized with his last illness, JMichael Angelo,
the stern, the sarcastic, the overbearing JMichael Angelo, nursed
him with the tenderness and patience of a mother, sleeping in
his clothes on a couch that he might be ever near him. The
old man died at last, leaving his master almost inconsolable.
"JMy Urbino is dead," he writes to A^asari, " to my infinite
grief and sorrow. Living, he served me truly, and in his
death he taught me how to die. I have now no other hope
than to rejoin him in Paradise ! "
The arrogance imputed to JMichael Angelo seems rather to
have arisen from a contempt for others than from any over-

HIS POEMS 167
weening opinion of himself. He was too proud to be vain.
He had placed his standard of perfection so high that to the
latest hour of his life he considered himself as striving after
that ideal excellence which had been revealed to him, but to
which he conceived that others were blind or indifferent. In
allusion to his own imperfections, he made a drawing, since
become famous, which represents an aged man in a go-cart,
and underneath the words " Ancora iuipiara" ("still learn-
ing"). He continued to labor unremittingly, and with the same
resolute energy of mind and purpose, till the gradual decay of
his strength warned him of his approaching end. He did not
suffer from any particular malady, and his mind was strong
and clear to the last. He died at Rome, on the 18th of Feb
ruary, 1564, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. A few days
before his death he dictated his will in these few simple
words : " I bequeath my soul to God, my body to the earth,
and my possessions to my nearest relations." His nephew,
Leonardo Buonarroti, who was his principal heir, by the
orders of the Grand Duke Cosmo had his remains secretly
conveyed out of Rome and brought to Florence ; they were
with due honors deposited in the church of Santa Croce, under
a costly monument, on which we may see his noble bust sur
rounded by three very commonplace and ill-executed statues
representing the arts in which he excelled — Painting, Sculp
ture, and Architecture. They might have added Poetry ; for
Michael Angelo was so fine a poet that his productions would
have given him fame, though he had never peopled the Sis
tine with his giant creations, nor " suspended ihe Pantheon
in the air." ! The object to whom his poems are chiefly
addressed, Vittoria Colonna, JMarchioness of Pescara, was the
widow of the celebrated commander who overcame Francis I.
at the battle of Pavia ; herself a poetess, and one of the most
celebrated women of her time for beauty, talents, virtue, and
piety. She died in 1547. Several of Michael Angelo's son
nets have been translated by AA'ordsworth, and a selection of
his poems, with a very learned and eloquent introduction, has
1 The dome of the Pantheon, which appears self-sustained, had, from the
time of Augustus Cassar, attracted the wonder and admiration of all beholders, as
a marvel of scientific architecture. Michael Angelo said, on some occasion, *'I
will take the Pantheon and suspend it in the air ; " and he did so.

168 MARCELLO VENUSTI
been published by Mr. John Edward Taylor, in a little
volume entitled " Michael Angelo a Poet."
It must be borne in recollection that the pictures ascribed
to Michael Angelo in catalogues and picture galleries are in
every instance copies made by his scholars from his designs
and models. [For many years] only one easel picture [was]
acknowledged as the genuine production of his hand. [This
was] a Holy Family in the Florentine Gallery [Uffizi], which
as a composition is very exaggerated and ungraceful, and in
color hard and violent ; it is painted in distemper, varnished ;
not in oils, as some have supposed. [Critics now agree in
attributing to the Master a Madonna and Child in the National
Gallery.] Makcello Venusti [1515-1679] was continually employed
in executing small pictures from celebrated cartoons of Mi
chael Angelo ; and the diminutive size, and soft, neat, delicate
execution, form a singular contrast with the sublimity of the
composition and the grand massive drawing of the figures.
One of these subjects is the Virgin seated at the foot of the
Cross, holding on her lap the dead Redeemer, whose arms are
supported by two angels : innumerable duplicates and engrav
ings exist of this composition (one exquisite example is in
the Queen's gallery in Buckingham Palace) ; also of the
Christ on the Cross, with the Virgin and St. John standing,
and two angels looking out of the sky behind with an expres
sion of intense anguish. These two, the Pietk and the Cruci
fixion, were painted from drawings which he had made for Vit
toria Colonna. Another is II Silenzio, The Silence: the Virgin
is represented with the infant Christ lying across her knee, with
his arm hanging down ; she has a book in one hand ; behind
her on one side is the young St. John in the panther's skin,
with bis finger on his lips ; on the other, St. Joseph. The
Annunciation, in which the figure of the Virgin is particularly
majestic, is a fourth. Copies of these subjects, with trifling
variations, are to be found in many galleries, and the engrav
ings of all are in the British Museum.
Sebastian del Piombo [1486-1647] was another artist
who painted under the direction and from the cartoons of
Michael Angelo, and the most famous example of this union
of talent is the Raising of Lazarus, in our National Gallery.
" Sebastian," says Lanzi, " was without the gift of invention.

SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO

169

and in compositions of many flgures slow and irresolute ; "
but he was a consummate portrait painter and a most admira
ble colorist. A Venetian by birth, he had learned the art of
coloring under Giorgione. On coming to Rome in [1512] he
formed a close intimacy with Michael Angelo : the tradition
is, that Michael Angelo associated Sebastiano with himself,
and gave him the cartoons of his grand designs, to which the

J-9.

&ir,.-f„"'--- ¦ ¦ -yiJ^.,'. -.V-

-, *V». .

Sebastian del Piombo

A^enetian was to lend the magical hues of his palette, for the
purpose of crushing Raphael. If this tradition be true, the
failure was signal and deserved ; but luckily we are not obliged
to believe it : it rests on no authority worthy of credit.
But the most celebrated and the most independent among
the scholars and imitators of Michael Angelo was Daniel
DA A^OLTEEEA [1509-1666], whose most famous work is the
Taking down the Saviour from the Cross, with a number of

170

MICHAEL ANGELO

figures full of energy and movement. It is in the church of
the Trinitk de' Monti at Rome.
Giorgio Vasaei [1512-1579] was a pupil and especial
favorite of JMichael Angelo ; he was a painter and architect of
second-rate merit. He has, however, earned himself an im
mortality by his admirable biography of the painters, sculp-

Daniel da Volterra

tors, and architects of Italy, from the earliest times to the
death of Michael Angelo, whom he survived only ten years.
A large picture by A^asari, representing the six great poets of
Italy, is in the gallery of Mr. Hope.
It is not necessary to say anything here of the painters who,
in the middle of the sixteenth century, and in the lifetime of
Michael Angelo, imitated his manner ; they were mere jour
neymen, and, indeed, imitated him most abominably ; mistak
ing extravagance for sublimity, exaggeration for grandeur, and
distortion and affectation for energy and passion, -— a wretched

HIS IMITATORS

171

Giorgio Vasari (by himself)
set. But before we leave Florence we must speak of one
more artist, whose proper place is here, because he was a Flor
entine, and because he combined in a singular manner the
characteristics of the three great men of whom we have last
spoken, — Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolommeo, a-nd Michael
Angelo, — without exactly imitating or equalling any one of
them. This was Andea del Sarto, a great artist ; but who
would have been a far greater artist had he been a better man.

ANDREA DEL SARTO
Born 1487, Died 1531
Andrea [d' Agnolo !] was the son of a tailor (in Italian
Sarto) ; hence the appellation by which he was early known and
has since become celebrated : he was born in 1487, and, like
many others, began life as a goldsmith and chaser in metal,
but soon turning his attention to painting, and studying inde-
fatigably, he attained so much excellence that he was called
in his own time " Andrea senza errori," that is, Andrea the
Faultless. He is certainly one of the most fascinating of
painters, but in all his pictures, even the finest, while we are
struck by the elegance of the heads and the majesty of the
figures, we feel the want of any real elevation of sentiment
and expression. It would be difficult to point out any pic
ture of Andrea del Sarto which has either simplicity or devo
tional feeling.
A man possessed of genius and industry, loving his art, and
crowned with early fame and success, ought to have been
through life a prosperous and a happy man. Andrea was
neither: he was miserable, unfortunate, and contemned, through
his own fault or folly. He loved a beautiful woman of in
famous character, who was the wife of a hatter ; and on the
death of her husband, in spite of her bad reputation and
the warnings of his best friends, he married her : from that
hour he never had a quiet heart, or home, or conscience. He
had hitherto supported his old father and mother ; she pre
vailed on him to forsake them. His friends stood aloof,
pitying and despising his degradation. His scholars (and
formerly the most promising of the young artists of that time
had been emulous for the honor of his instructions) now fell
off, unable to bear the detestable temper of the woman who gov
erned his house. Tired of this existence, he accepted readily
1 [Professor Milanesi has shown this to be the real name of Andrea del Sarto,
and not Vannucchi, as was once supposed.]

ANDREA DEL SARTO

173

Andrea del Sarto (by himself)

an invitation from Francis I., who, on his arrival at Paris, loaded
him with favor and distinction ; but after a time, his wife,
finding she had no longer the same command over his purse
or his proceedings, summoned him to return. He had en
tered into such engagements with Francis I. that this was not
easy ; but as he pleaded his domestic position, and promised,

174 HIS WORKS
and even took an oath on the Gospel, that he would return in
a few months, bringing with him his wife, the king gave him
license to depart, and even intrusted him with a large sum of
money to be expended in certain specified objects.
Andrea hastened to Florence, and there, under the influence
of his infamous wife, he embezzled the money, which was
wasted in his own and her extravagance ; and he never returned
to France to keep his oath and engagements. But though he
had been weak and wicked enough to commit this crime, he had
sufficient sensibility to feel acutely the disgrace which was the
consequence ; it preyed on his mind and embittered the rest
of his life. The avarice and infidelity of his wife added to
his sufferings. He continued to paint, however, and improved
to the last in correctness of style and beauty of color.
In the year 1531 he was attacked by a contagious disorder ;
abandoned on his death-bed by the woman to whom he had
sacrificed honor, fame, and friends, he died miserably, and was
buried, hastily and without the usual ceremonies of the Church,
in the same convent of the Annunziata which he had adorned
with his works.
Andrea del Sarto can only be estimated as a painter by those
who have visited Florence. Fine as are his oil-pictures, his
paintings in fresco are still finer. One of these, a Repose of
the Holy Family [SS. Annunziata, Florence], has been cele
brated for the last two centuries under the title of the " JMadonna
del Sacco," because Joseph is represented leaning on a sack.
There are engravings of it in the British Museum. [It is
reproduced in chromo-lithograph by the Arundel Society.]
The cloisters of the convent of the Annunziata, confainins
scenes from the history of the Virgin Mary, and a court or
cloister once belonging to the Campagnia dello Scalzo, painted
with scenes from the life of John the Baptist (the tutelary
saint of Florence), are his greatest works. His finest picture
in oil is in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, in the cabinet called
the Tribune, where it hangs behind the A'enus de' JMedici.
It represents the Virgin seated on a throne, with St. John the
Baptist standing on one side, and St. Francis on the other, —
a picture of wonderful majesty and beauty. In general his
Madonnas are not pleasing ; they have, with great beauty, a
certain vulgarity of expression, and in his groups he almost
always places the Virgin on the ground, either kneeling or

ANDREA DEL SARTO 175
sitting. His only model for all his females was his wife ; and
even when he did not paint from her, she so possessed his
thoughts that unconsciously he repeated the same features in
every face he drew, whether Virgin, or saint, or goddess.
Pictures by Andrea del Sarto are to be found in almost all
galleries, but very fine examples of his art are rare out of
Florence. The [Holy Family] in our National Gallery at
tributed to him is very unworthy of his reputation. Those
at Hampton Court are not better. There is a fine portrait at
AVindsor, called the Gardener of the Duke of Florence, at
tributed to him, and a female head, a sketch full of nature
and power. In the Louvre is the picture of Charity, painted
for Francis I. when Andrea was at Fontainebleau in 1618,
and three others. Lord Westminster, Lord Lansdowne, Mr.
Munroe of Park Street, and Lord Cowper in his collection at
Panshanger, possess the finest examples of Andrea del Sarto
which are in England.! j^(; Panshanger there is a very fine
portrait of Andrea del Sarto by himself ; ^ he is represented as
standing by a table at which he has been writing, and looking
up from the letter which lies before him : the figure is half
length, and the countenance noble, but profoundly melancholy.
One might fancy that he had been writing to his wife.
t [For criticisms on these pictures, see Crowe and Cavalcaselle's History of
Painting in Italy, vol. iii. p. 584.]
2 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle question the subject of this portrait, though they
pronounce the work an undoubted specimen of Andrea del Sarin's hand.]

RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
Born 1483, Died 1520
I HAVE spoken at length of two among the great men who
influenced the progress of Art in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, — Leonardo da Alnci and JMichael Angelo. The third
and greatest name was that of Raphael.
In speaking of this wonderful man I shall be more diffuse
and enter more into detail than usual. How can we treat in
a small compass of him whose fame has filled the universe ?
In the history of Italian Art he stands alone, like Shakespeare
in the history of our literature, and he takes the same kind
of rank, a superiority not merely of degree, but of quality.
Everybody has heard of Raphael ; every one has attached
some associations of excellence and beauty, more or less defined,
to that familiar name ; but it is necessary to have studied pro
foundly the history of Art, and to have an intimate acquaints
ance with the productions of contemporary and succeeding
artists, to form any just idea of the wide and lasting influence
exercised by this harmonious and powerful genius. His works
have been an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas to painters and
to poets. Everywhere in Art we find his traces. Everywhere
we recognize his forms and lines, borrowed or stolen, repro
duced, varied, imitated — never improved. Some critic once
said, " Show me any sentiment or feeling in any poet, ancient
or modern, and I will show you the same thing either as well
or better expressed in Shakespeare ; " in the same manner one
might say, " Show me in any painter, ancient or modern, any
especial beauty of form, expression, or sentiment, and in some
picture, drawing, or print after Raphael, I will show you the
same thing as well or better done, and that accomplished,
which others have only sought or attempted." To complete
our idea of this rare union of greatness and versatility as an
artist with all that coulil grace and dignify the man, we must
add such personal qualities as very seldom meet in the same

RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO 177
individual — a bright, generous, genial, gentle spirit ; the most
attractive manners, the most winning modesty —
His heavenly face the mirror of his mind ;
His mind a temple for all lovely things
To flock to, and inhabit —
and we shall have a picture in our fancy more resembling that
of an antique divinity, a young Apollo, than a real human
being. There was a vulgar idea at one time prevalent that
Raphael was a man of vicious and dissipated habits, and even
died a victim to his excesses ; this slander has been silenced
forever by indisputable evidence to the contrary, and now we
may reflect with pleasure that nothing rests on surer evidence
than the admirable qualities of Raphael ; that no earthly re
nown was ever so unsullied by reproach, so justified by merit,
so confirmed by concurrent opinion, so established by time.
The short life of Raphael was one of incessant and persevering
study : he spent one half of it in acquiring that practical
knowledge and that mechanical dexterity of hand which were
necessary before he could embody in forms and colors the rich
creations of his wonderful mind ; and when he died, at the
age of thirty-seven, he left behind him two hundred and
eighty-seven pictures and five hundred and seventy-six draw
ings and studies.! jf .^yg reflect for one moment, we must be
convinced that such a man could not have been idle and dis
sipated ; for we must always take into consideration that an
excelling painter must be not only a poet in mind, but a ready
and perfect artificer, and that, though nature may bestow the
" genius and the faculty divine," only time, practice, assiduous
industry can give the exact and cunning hand. " An author,"
as Richardson observes, " must think, but it is no matter what
character he writes ; he has no care about that, if what he
writes be legible. A curious mechanic's hand must be exquisite ;
but his thoughts may be at liberty ; " while the painter must
think and invent with his fancy, and what his fancy invents
his hand must acquire power to execute, or vain is his power
of creative thought. It has been observed — though Raphael
was unhappily an exception — that painters are generally long-
lived and healthy, and that, of all the professors of science
and art, they are the least liable to alienation of mind or mor
bid effects of the brain. One reason may be, that through the
1 [These figures are doubtless somewhat modified by modern criticisms.]

178 RAPHAEL SANZIO D URBINO
union of the opposite faculties of the excursive fancy and me
chanic skill — head and hand balancing each other — a sort
of harmony in their alternate or coefficient exercise is preserved
habitually, which reacts on the whole moral and physical
being. As Raphael carried to the highest perfection the union
of those faculties of head and hand which constitute the com
plete artist, so this harmony pervaded his whole being, and
nothing deformed or discordant could enter there. In all the
portraits which exist of him, from infancy to manhood, there
is a divine sweetness and repose ; the little cherub face of
three years old is not more serene and angelic than the same
features at thirty. The child whom father and mother,
guardian and stepmother, caressed and idolized in his loving
innocence, was the same being whom we see in the prime of
manhood subduing and reigning over all hearts, so that, to
borrow the words of a contemporary, "'not only all men, but
the very brutes loved him ; " the only very distinguished man
of whom we read who lived and died without an enemy or a
detractor !
Raphael Sanzio or Santi was born in the city of Urbino, on
Good Friday in the year 1483. His father, Giovanni Santi,
was a painter of no mean talent, who held a respectable rank
in his native city, and was much esteemed by the Dukes Fede
rigo and Guidobaldo of Urbino, both of whom played a very
important part in the history of Italy between 1474 and 1494.
The name of Raphael's mother was Magia, and the house in
which he was born is still standing, and regarded by the citizens
of Urbino with just veneration. [It is now the property of
the Academy of Urbino.] He was only eight years old when
he lost his mother, but his father's second wife, Bernardina,
well supplied her place, and loved him and tended him as if
he had been her own son. His father was his first instructor,
and very soon the young pupil showed extraordinary talent ;
[but when the boy was but eleven years old his] good father
died, in August, 1494. [It is not quite certain who was
Raphael's next teacher,! but it appears that he] was sent to
study under Perugino in [1499], being then [sixteen] years
old. He remained in this school till he was nearly twenty, and
1 [Morelli, Sir Henry Layard, and Eugene Miintz are all of the opinion that
Raphael in the mean time studied under Timoteo Viti at Urbino.]

THE ANSIDEI MADONNA 179
was chiefly employed in assisting his master. A few pictures
painted between his sixteenth and twentieth year have been
authenticated by careful research, and are very interesting
from being essentially characteristic. There is, of course, the
manner of his master Perugino, but mingled with some of
those qualities which were particularly his own, and which
his after life developed into excellence ; and nothing in these
early pictures is so remarkable as the gradual improvement
of his style, and his young predilection for his favorite sub
ject, the Madonna and Child. The most celebrated of all
his pictures painted [under the influence] of Perugino was
one representing the Marriage of the Virgin JMary to Joseph
— a subject which is very common in Italian Art, and called
Lo Sposalizio (the Espousals). This beautiful picture is pre
served in the gallery at Milan. There is a large and fine
engraving of it by Longhi, which can be seen in any good
print-shop.! jj^ ^jjg game year that he painted this picture
(1604) Raphael visited Florence for the first time. He car
ried with him a letter of recommendation from Giovanna,
Duchess of Sora and sister of the Duke of Urbino, to Soderini,
who had succeeded the exiled Medici in the government of
Florence. In this letter the duchess styles him " a discreet
and amiable youth," to whom she was attached for his father's
sake and for his own good qualities, and she requests that
Soderini will favor and aid him in his pursuits. Raphael did
not remain long at Florence in this first visit, but he made the
acquaintance of Fra Bartolommeo and Ridolfo Ghirlandajo,
and saw some cartoons by Leonardo da A'inci and Michael
Angelo, which filled his mind with new and bold ideas both
of form and composition. In the following year he was em
ployed in executing several large pictures for various churches
at Perugia. One of these, a large altar-piece [known as the
Ansidei Madonna],^ painted for the church of the Serviti, is
now [in the National Gallery] ; it is full of beauty and dignity :
beneath it was a little picture of St. John preaching in the
AVilderness, which is in the possession of Lord Lansdowne.
The Ansidei altar-piece has been engraved in a perfect style
by Louis Gruner. The Ansidei Madonna represents the en-
1 [The picture is now very familiar through photographs.]
2 [There is a slight disagreement among authorities as to the date of this pic
ture, some placing it as late as 1507.]

180 RAPHAEL SANZIO D URBINO
throned ¦ A^irgin and Child, with John the Baptist and St.
Nicholas. About the same time he painted for himself a lovely
little miniature called the Dream of the Young Knight,! j^
which he represents a youth armed, who sees in a vision two
female figures, one alluring him to pleasure, the other, with a
book and sword, inviting him to study and to strive for excel
lence. It is now in the National Gallery. This also has been
engraved in an exquisite style by Griiner.
AVhen he had finished these and other works he returned to
Florence, and remained there till 1608. Some of his finest
works may be referred to this period of his life, that is, before
he was five-and-twenty.
One of these is the Madonna sitting under the Palm-tree,
while Joseph presents flowers to the infant Christ. This may
be seen in the Bridgewater Gallery. A second is the Madonna
in the possession of Earl Cowper, and now at Panshanger.
Another is the famous Madonna in the Florentine Gallery
[Uffizi], called the " Madonna del Cardellino " (the Alrgin of the
Goldfinch), because the little St. John is presenting a goldfinch
to the infant Christ. Another, as famous, now in the Louvre,
called " La Belle Jardiniere," because the Madonna is seated
in a garden amid flowers, with Christ standing at her knee.
The St. Catherine in our National Gallery was also painted
about the same period ; and the little picture of St. George
and the Dragon, which Guidobaldo, duke of Urbino, sent as a
present to Henry VIL, and which is now at St. Petersburg
[Hermitage Gallery]. In this picture St. George is armed with a
lance, and has the Garter round his knee, with the inscription
" Honi soit qui mal y pense." There is another little St.
George in the Louvre, in which the saint is about to slay the
dragon with a sword. And there are, besides, two or three large
altar-pieces and some beautiful portraits ; in all about thirty
pictures painted during the three years he spent at Florence.
In his twenty-fifth year, when Fra Bartolommeo, Leonardo
da A-'inci, and Michael Angelo were all at the height of their
fame, and many years older than himself, the young Raphael
had already become celebrated from one end of Italy to the
other. At this time Julius II. was pope. Of his extraordi-
1 [There is a difference of opinion among authorities as to the correct date of
this picture. Morelli calls it an early work, painted at the age of sixteen in
Urbino.]

EMPLOYED BY JULIUS II 181
nary and energetic character I have already spoken at length
in the Life of Michael Angelo. At the age of seventy he was
revolving plans for the aggrandizement of his power and the
embellishment of the Vatican, which it would have taken a
long life to realize ; conscious that the time before him was to
be measured by months rather than by years, and ambitious to
concentrate in his own person all the glory that must ensue
from such magnificent works, he listened to no obstacles, he
would endure no delays, he s[Dared no expense in his under
takings. Bramante, the greatest architect, and Michael Angelo,
the greatest sculptor in Italy, were already in his service. Leo
nardo da Vinci was then employed in public works at Florence,
and could not be engaged, and he therefore sent for Raphael
to undertake the decoration of those halls in the Vatican which
Popes Nicholas V. and Sixtus IV. had begun and left unfin
ished. The invitation, or rather order, of the pope was as
usual so urgent and so peremptory, that Raphael hurried from
Florence, leaving his friends Bartolommeo and Ghirlandajo to
complete his unfinished pictures, and immediately on his arrival
at Rome he commenced the greatest of his works, the Chambers
(Camere) of the Vatican.
In general, when Raphael undertook any great work illus
trative of sacred or profane history, he did not hesitate to ask
advice of his learned and literary friends on points of costume
or chronology ; but when he began his paintings in the Vatican
he was wholly unassisted, and the plan which he laid before
the pope, and which was immediately approved and adopted,
shows that the grasp and cultivation of his mind equalled his
powers as a painter. He dedicated this first saloon, called in
Italian the Camera della Segnatura, to the glory of those high
intellectual pursuits which may be said to embrace in some
form or other all human culture — he represented Theology,
Poetry, Philosophy, and Jurisprudence.
And first on the ceiling he painted in four circles four alle
gorical female figures with characteristic symbols, throned
amid clouds, and attended by beautiful genii. Of these the
flgure of Poetry is distinguished by superior grandeur and in
spiration. Beneath these flgures and on the four sides of the
room he painted four great pictures, each about fifteen feet
high by twenty or twenty-five feet wide, the subjects illustrat
ing historically the four allegorical figures above. Under

182 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
Theology he placed the composition improperly called " La
Disputa del Sacramento," which represents rather the whole
system of Revelation, like a grand poem combining heaven
and earth. In the upper part is the heavenly glory, the Re
deemer in the centre, beside him the A^irgin-mother. On the
right and left, arranged in a semicircle, patriarchs, apostles,
and saints, all seated ; all full of character, dignity, and a kind
of celestial repo.se befitting their beatitude. Angels are hover
ing round : four of them, surrounding the emblematic Dove,
hold the Gospels. In the lower half of the picture are assem
bled the celebrated doctors and teachers of the Church, grand,
solemn, meditative figures ; some searching their books, some
lost in thought, some engaged in colloquy sublime. And on
each side, a little lower, groups of disciples and listeners, every
head and figure a study of character and expression, all differ
ent, all full of nature, animation, and significance ; and thus
the two parts of this magnificent composition, the heavenly
beatitude above, the mystery of faith below, combine into one
comprehensive whole. This picture contains about fifty full-
length figures.
Under Poetry we have Mount Parnassus. Apollo and the
Muses are seen on the summit. On one side, near them, the
epic and tragic poets. Homer, Alrgil, Dante. (Ariosto had
not written his poem at this time, and Milton and Tasso were
yet unborn.) Below, on each side, are the lyrical poets
Petrarch, Sappho, Corinna, Pindar, Horace. The arrangement,
grouping, and character are most admirable and graceful ; but
Raphael's original design for this composition, as we have it
engraved by JMarc Antonio, is finer than the fresco, in which
there are many alterations which cannot be considered as im
provements. Under Philosophy he has placed the School of Athens. It
represents a grand hall or portico, in which a flight of steps
separates the foreground from the background. Conspicuous,
and above the rest, are the elder intellectual philosophers,
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates ; Plato characteristically pointing up
wards to heaven ; Aristotle pointing to the earth ; Socrates im-
pressi^•ely discoursing to the listeners near him. Then, on a
lower plan, we have the Sciences and Arts, represented by
Pythagoras and Archimedes ; Zoroaster, and Ptolemy the
geographer ; while alone, as if avoiding and avoided by all, sits

WORKS UNDER PATRONAGE OF JULIUS II 183
Diogenes the Cynic. Raphael has represented the art of paint
ing by the figure of his master Perugino,! and has introduced
a portrait of himself humbly following him. The group of
Archimedes (wdiose head is a portrait of Bramante the archi
tect) surrounded by his scholars, who are attentively watching
him as he draws a geometrical flgure, is one of the finest things
which Raphael ever conceived, and the whole composition has
in its regularity and grandeur a variety and dramatic vivacity
which relieve it from all formality. This picture also contains
not less than fifty figures.
Law, or Jurisprudence, from the particular construction of
the wall on which the subject is painted, is represented with
less completeness, and is broken up into divisions. Prudence,
Fortitude, and Temperance are above ; below, on one side, is
Pope Gregory delivering the ecclesiastical law ; and on the
other, Justinian promulgating his famous code of civil law.
The whole decoration of this chamber forms a grand allegory
of the domain of human intellect, shadowed forth in creations
of surpassing beauty and dignity. The description here given
is necessarily brief and imperfect. The reader should consult
the engravings [and photographs ^] of these frescoes, and with
the above explanation they will probably be intelligible ; at all
events, the wonderfully prolific genius of the painter will be
appreciated, in the number of the personages introduced and
the appropriate characters of each.
About this time Raphael painted that portrait of Julius II.
of which a duplicate is in our National Gallery. No one who
has studied the history of this extraordinary old man, and his
relations with Michael Angelo and Raphael, can look upon it
without interest. The original is in the Pitti Palace at Flor
ence. To this period we may also refer a number of beautiful
Madonnas : the Aldobrandini Madonna [National Gallery] ;
the A^irgin of the Bridgewater Gallery ; the A'ierge an Diademe
in the Louvre ; and the yet more famous Madonna di Foligno,
now at Rome in the Vatican Gallery.
AVhile employed for Pope Julius in executing the frescoes
already described, Raphael found a munificent friend and pa-
I [There are authorities who claim that the so-called figure of Perugino is a
portrait of Bazzi. See Layard's Revision of Kugler's Handbook, p. 490.]
2 [By A. D. Braun.]

184 RAPHAEL SANZIO d' URBINO
tron in Agostino Chigi, a rich banker and merchant who was
then living at Rome in great splendor. He painted several
pictures for him : the four Sibyls in the chapel of the Chigi
family, in the church of Santa Maria della Pace, sublime
figures, full of grandeur and inspiration ; and, on the wall of
a chamber in his palace, now called the Farnesina, that ele
gant fresco the Triumph of Galatea, well known from the
numerous engravings.
About the year [1512] Raphael began the decoration of the
second chamber of the A'atican. In this series of compositions
he represented the power and glory of the Church and her
miraculous deliverances from her secular enemies ; all these
being an indirect honor paid to, or rather claimed by, Julius II. ,
who made it a subject of pride that he had not only expelled
all enemies from the Papal territories, but also enlarged their
boundaries — by no scrupulous means. On the ceiling of this
room are four beautiful pictures — the promises of God to the
four Patriarchs, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. On
the four side walls, the Expulsion of Heliodorus from the
Temple at Jerusalem ; the JMiracle of Bolsena, by which, as it
was said, heretics were silenced ; Attila, king of the Huns,
terrified by the apparition of St. Peter and St. Paul ; and St.
Peter delivered from Prison. Of these the Heliodorus is one
of the grandest and most poetical of all Raphael's creations ;
the group of the celestial warrior trampling on the prostrate
Heliodorus, with the avenging spirits rushing, floating along,
air-borne, to scourge the despoiler, is wonderful for its super
natural power ; it is a vision of beauty and terror. [A. D.
Braun has published twenty photographs of the frescoes of
this chamber.]
Before this chamber was finished Julius IL died, and was
succeeded by Leo X. in 1613.
Though the character of Pope Leo X. was in all respects
different from that of Julius, he was not a less patron of
Raphael than his predecessor had been, and certainly the num
ber of learned and accomplished men whom he attracted to
his court, and the enthusiasm for classical learning which pre
vailed among them, strongly influenced those productions of
Raphael which date from the accession of Leo. They became
more and more allied to the antique, and less and less imbued
with that pure religious spirit which we find in his earlier
works.

HIS FRIENDS 185
Cardinal Bembo, Cardinal Bibbiena, Count Castiglione, the
poets Ariosto and Sanazzaro, ranked at this time among Ra
phael's intimate friends. AVith his celebrity his riches in
creased ; he built himself a fine house in that part of Rome
called the Borgo, between St. Peter's and the Castle of St.
Angelo ; he had numerous scholars from all parts of Italy,
who attended on him with a love and reverence and duty far
beyond the lip and knee homage which waits on princes ; and
such was the influence of his benign and genial temper, that
all these young men lived in the most entire union and friend
ship with him and with each other, and his school was never
disturbed by those animosities and jealousies which before and
since have disgraced the schools of Art in Italy. All the other
painters of that time were the friends rather than the rivals
of the supreme and gentle Raphael, with the single exception
of Michael Angelo.
About the period at which we are now arrived, the begin
ning of the pontiflcate of Leo X., Michael Angelo had left
Rome for Florence, as it has been related in his Life. Leo
nardo da Vinci came to Rome, by the invitation of Leo, attended
by a train of scholars, and lived on good terms with Raphael,
who treated the venerable old man with becoming deference.
Fra Bartolommeo also visited Rome about 1613, to the great
joy of his friend. AA^'e find Raphael at this time on terms of
the tenderest friendship with Francia, and in correspondence
with Albert Dlirer, for whom he entertained the highest admi
ration. Under Leo X. Raphael continued his great works in the
Vatican. He began the third hall or camera in 1515. The
ceiling of this chamber had been painted by his master Peru
gino for Sixtus IV. ; and Raphael, from a feeling of respect
for his old master, would not remove or paint over his work.
On the sides of the room he represented the principal events
in the lives of Pope Leo III. and Pope Leo IV., shadowing forth
under their names the glory of his patron Leo X. Of these pic
tures, the most remarkable is that which is called in Italian 1' In-
cendio del Borgo (the Fire in the Borgo). The story says that
this populous part of Rome was on fire in the time of Leo IV.,
and that the conflagration was extinguished by a miracle. In
the hurry, confusion, and tumult of the scene ; in the men
escaping half naked ; in the terrifled groups assembled in the

186 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
foreground ; in the women carrying water ; we find every va
riety of attitude and emotion expressed with a perfect know
ledge of form ; and some of the figures exhibit the influence
of JMichael Angelo's ceiling of the Sistine chapel already de
scribed. This fresco, though so fine in point of drawing, is
the worst colored of the whole series ; the best in point of
color are the Heliodorus and the Miracle of Bolsena. [All
the frescoes of the hall are photographed by Braun.]
The last of the chambers in the A'atican is the Hall of Con
stantine, painted with scenes from the life of that emperor.
The whole of these frescoes having been executed by the
scholars of Raphael from his designs and cartoons, we shall
not dwell on them here. [They are reproduced in a series of
photographs by A. D. Braun.]
AVhile Raphael, assisted by his scholars, was designing and
executing the large frescoes in the A'atican, he was also en
gaged in many other works. His fertile mind and ready hand
were never idle, and the number of original creations of this
wonderful man, and the rapidity with which they succeeded
each other, are quite unexampled. Among his most celebrated
and popular compositions is the series of subjects from the
Old Testament called " Raphael's Bible ; " these were com
paratively small pictures adorning the thirteen cupolas of the
"Loggie" of the A'atican. These "Loggie" are open galleries
running round three sides of an open court ; and the gallery
on the second story is the one painted under Raphael's direc
tion. Up the sides and round the windows are arabesque
ornaments, festoons of fruit, flowers, animals, all combined
and grouped together with the most exquisite and playful
fancy ; they have been much injured by time, yet more by
the barbarous treatment of the French soldiery when Rome
was sacked in 1527, and worst of all by unskilful attempts
at restoration. The pictures in the cupolas, being out of
reach, are better preserved. Sacred subjects were never repre
sented in so beautiful, so poetical, and so intelligible a manner
as by Raphael ; but as the copies and engravings of these
works are innumerable and easily met v/ith, I shall not enter
into a particular description of them ; very good copies of
several may be seen at the National School of Design at Ken
sington. [Braun has reproduced the panels in a series of fifty-
three photographs.]

HIS CARTOONS 187
There was still another great work for the A'atican intrusted
to Raphael. The interior of the Sistine chapel had been orna
mented round the lower walls with paintings in imitation of
tapestries. Leo X. resolved to substitute real draperies of the
most costly material ; and Raphael was to furnish the subjects
and drawings, which were to be copied in the looms of
Flanders, and worked in a mixture of wool, silk, and gold.
Thus originated the famous Caetoon.s of Raphael.
They were originally eleven in number, to fit the ten com
partments into which the wall was divided by as many pilasters
and the space over the altar. Eight were large, one larger
than the rest, and two small. Of the eleven cartoons designed
by Raphael, four are lost, and seven remain, which are now
in the South Kensington Museum. As they rank among the
greatest productions of Art, and are freely thrown open to the
public, I shall give a detailed account of them here from vari
ous sources,! and add some remarks which may enable the
uninitiated to form a judgment of their characteristic merits.^
The intention in the whole series of subjects was to express
the mission, the sufferings, and the triumph of the Christian
Church. The Death of the First Martyr and the acts of the
two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul were ranged along
the sides to the right and left of the high altar, while over
the altar was the Coronation of the Virgin, a subject which,
as I have already observed, was always symbolical of the
triumph of religion.^ In the original arrangement the tapes
tries hung in the following order : * —
On the left of the altar : 1. The Miraculous Draught of
Fishes (/. e. the Calling of Peter) ; 2. The Charge to Peter ;
3. The Stoning of Stephen ; 4. The Healing of the Lame
Man ; 5. The Death of Ananias.
On the right of the altar : 1. The Conversion of St. Paul ;
t See Passavant's Rafael; Kugler's Handbook; Bunsen's Stadt Rom;
[Mrs. Jameson's] Handbook to the Public Galleries of Art ; and a very clever
account of the cartoons which appeared in the Penny Mayazine some years
ago. From all these works extracts have been freely taken, and put together
so as to form a correct and complete description both of the cartoons and the
tapestries. 2 A series of photographs has been taken from the Cartoons.
3 [See Legends of the Madonna, pp. 72, 358.]
* Subsequently, when the whole of the wall was painted by Michael Angelo
with the Last Judgment, this order was changed, and the tapestry of the
Crowning of the Virgin entirely removed.

188 RAPHAEL SANZIO D URBINO
2. Elymas struck Blind; 3. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra;
4. Paul preaching at Athens ; 6. Paul in Prison. All along
underneath ran a rich border in chiaroscuro, of a bronze color,
relieved with gold, representing on a smaller scale incidents in
the life of Leo JX., with ornamental arabesques, groups of
sporting genii, fruits, flowers, etc. ; and the pilasters between
the tapestries were also adorned with rich arabesques. Old
engravings exist of some of these designs, which are among
the most beautiful things in Italian Art ; as full of grandeur
and grace as they are exquisitely fanciful and luxuriant.
The large cartoons of this series which are lost are the
Stoning of Stephen, the Conversion of St. Paul, Paul in his
Dungeon at Philippi, and the Crowning of the Virgin.
The seven which remain to us are arranged in [South Ken
sington Museum in the following order]. Beginning at the
right : —
1. The Charge to St. Petee.
Feed my sheep. John xxi. 16.
Christ is standing and pointing with the right hand to a
flock of sheep ; his left hand is extended towards Peter, who,
holding the key, kneels at his feet. The other ten Apostles
stand behind him, listening with various gestures and expres
sions to the words of the Saviour. In the background a land
scape, and on the right the Lake of Gennesareth and a fisher's
bark. In the tapestry the white robe of our Saviour is strewed
with golden stars, which has a beautiful effect, and doubtless
existed in the cartoon, though no trace of this is now visible.
As the transaction here represented took place between
Christ and St. Peter only, there was little room for dramatic
effect. Richardson praises the introduction of the sheep, as
the only means of making the incident intelligible ; but I agree
with Dr. AA'aagen that herein Raphael has perhaps, in avoiding
one error, fallen into another, and, not able to give us the real
meaning of the words, has turned into a palpable object what
was merely a figurative expression, and thus produced an am
biguity of another and of a more unpleasant kind.
The figure of Christ is wonderfully noble in conception and
treatment ; the heads of the Apostles finely diversified ; in .some
we see only aftectionate acquiescence, duteous submission ; in
others wonder, displeasure, and jealous discontent. The fig-

THE CARTOONS 189
ures of the apostles are in the cartoon happily relieved from
each other by variety of local tint, which cannot be given in a
print, and hence the heavy effect of the composition when
studied through the engraving only.
2. The Death of Ananias.
Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Acts v. i.
Nine of the Apostles stand together on a raised platform ;
St. Peter in the midst, with uplifted hands, is in the act of
speaking ; on the right Ananias lies prostrate on the earth,
while a young man and woman, on the left, are starting back,
with ghastly horror and wonder in every feature ; in the
background, to the left, is seen Sapphira, who, unaware of the
catastrophe of her husband and the terrible fate impending
over her, is paying some money with one hand, while she
withholds some in the other ; St. John and another Apostle
are on the left, distributing alms. The figures are altogether
twenty-four in number. Size, seventeen feet six inches by
eleven feet four inches.
As a composition, considered artistically, this cartoon holds
the first place ; nothing has ever exceeded it : only Raphael
himself, in some of his other works, has equalled it in the
wondrous adaptation of the means employed to the end in
view. By the circular arrangement of the composition, and
by elevating the figures behind above those in front, the whole
of the personages on the scene are brought at once to sight.
The elevated position of Peter and James, though standing
back from the foreground, and their dignified figures, contrast
strongly with the abject form of Ananias, struck down by the
hand of God, helpless, and, as it seems, quivering in every
limb. Those of the spectators who are near Ananias express
their horror and astonishment by the most various and appro
priate expression.
" He falls," says Hazlitt, " so naturally, that it seems as if
a person could fall no other way ; and yet, of all the ways in
which a human figure could fall, it is probably the most ex
pressive of a person overwhelmed by, and in the grasp of.
Divine vengeance. This is in some measure the secret of Ra
phael's success. Most painters, in studying an attitude, puzzle
themselves to find out what will be picturesque, and what will

190 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
be fine, and never discover it. Raphael only thought how a
person would stand or fall under such or such circumstances,
and the .picturesque and the fine followed as a matter of course.
Hence the unaffected force and dignity of his style, which are
only another name for truth and nature under impressive and
momentous circumstances. ''
AVe have here an instance of that truly Shakespearean art by
which Raphael always softens and heightens the effect of tragic
terror. St. .John, at the very instant when this awful judg
ment has fallen on the hypocrite and unbeliever, has benignly
turned to bestow alms and a blessing on the poor good man
before him. " It has been questioned whether the woman who
is advancing from behind was meant for Sapphira, as it is
stated in the sacred record that three hours had elapsed after
the death of Ananias before she entered the place. Notwith
standing this objection, it is most probable that Raphael
intended this figure for the wife of Ananias ; and the slight
inaccuracy is more than atoned for by the sublime moral, which
shows the woman approaching the spot where her husband had
met his doom, and where her own death awaits her, but wholly
unconscious of those judgments, and absorbed in counting that
gold by which both she and her partner had been betrayed to
their fate."

3. The Healing of the Lame Man at the Beau
tiful Gate of the Temple.
Then Peter said. Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee:
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took
him by the right hand, and lifted him up. Acts iii. 6, 7.
Under the portico of the Temple of Jerusalem stand the two
Apostles Peter and John ; the former is holding by the hand
a miserable deformed cripple, who gazes up in his face with
joyful, eager wonder ; another cripple is seen on the left.
Among the people are seen conspicuous a woman with an infant
in her arms, and another leading two naked boys, one of whom
is carrying two doves as an offering. The wreathed and richly
adorned columns are imitated from those which have been pre
served for ages in the church of St. Peter as relics of the
Temple of .Jerusalem. AVith regard to the composition, Ra
phael has been criticised for breaking it up into parts by the

RAPHAEL (by himself)

THE CARTOONS 191
introduction of the pillars ; yet, if properly considered, this
very management is a proof of the exquisite taste of the painter,
and his attention to the object he had in view. Adhering to
the sense of the passage in Scripture, he could not make all
the figures refer to one principal action, the healing of the
cripple ; he has therefore framed it in a manner between the
two columns ; and by the groups introduced into the other two
divisions he has intimated that the people were entering the
temple "at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour." It is
evident, moreover, that had the shafts been perfectly straight,
according to the severest law of good taste in architecture, the
effect would have been extremely disagreeable to the eye ; by
their winding form they harmonize with the manifold forms of
the moving figures around, and they illustrate, by their elabo
rate elegance, the Scripture phrase, " the gate which is called
Beautiful." The misery, the distortion, the ugliness of the
cripple, are made as striking as possible, and contrasted with
the noble head and form of St. Peter and the benign features
of St. John. The figure of the young woman with her child
is a model of feminine sweetness and grace ; it is eminently,
perfectly Raphaelesque, stamped with his peculiar sentiment
and refinement. The bright open sky seen between the
interstices of the columns harmonizes with the lightness, cheer
fulness, and happy expression of these figures. In the com
partment where the miracle is taking place there is the same
correspondence of effect with sentiment ; the subdued light of
the lamps burning in the depth of the recess accords well with
the reverential feeling excited by the sacred transaction. Many
parts of this cartoon have unfortunately been injured, and
much of the harmony destroyed, yet it remains one of the most
wonderful relics of Art now extant.
4. Paul and Baenabas at Ltstea.
Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and gar
lands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which
when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes. Acts
xiv. 13, 14.
On the left Paul and Barnabas are standing beneath a por
tico, and appear to recoil from the intention of the townsmen
to offer sacrifice to them ; the first is rending his garment and
rebuking a man who is bringing a ram to be offered. On the

192 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
right, near the centre, is seen a group of the people bringing
forward two oxen ; a man is raising an axe to strike one of
them down ; his arm is held back by a youth who, having
observed the abhorrent gesture of Paul, judges that the sacri
fice will be offensive to him. In the foreground appears the
cripple, no longer so, who is clasping his hands with an ex
pression of gratitude ; his crutches lie useless at his feet ; an
old man, raising part of his dress, gazes with a look of aston
ishment on the restored limbs. In the background, the forum
of Lystra, with several temples. Toward the centre is seen
a statue of Mercury, in allusion to the words in the text :
" And they called Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief
speaker." As a composition this cartoon is an instance of the con
summate skill with which Raphael has contrived to bring
together a variety of circumstances so combined as to make
the story perfectly intelligible as a passing scene, linking it
at the same time with the past and succeeding time. AA^e have
the foregone moment in the appearance of the healed cripple
and the wonder he excites ; in the furious looks directed
against the apostles by some of the spectators we see fore
shadowed the persecution which immediately followed this act
of mistaken adoration. Every part of the grouping, the figures,
the heads, both in drawing and expression, are wonderful, and
have an infusion of tlie antique and classical spirit most proper
to the subject. The sacrificial group of the ox, with the figure
holding its head and the man lifting the axe, was taken from
a Roman bas-relief which in Raphael's time was in the Axilla
Medici, and the idea varied and adapted to his purpose with
infinite skill. The boys piping at the altar are full of beauty,
and most gracefully contrasted in character. The whole is
full of movement and interest.
On the left, —
5. Elymas the Soeceeee struck with Blindness.
And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind,
not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist
and a darkness ; and he went about seeking some to lead him bv the hand.
Acts xiii. 11.
The Proconsul Sergius, seated on his throne, beholds with
astonishment Elymas struck blind by the word of the Apostle

THE CARTOONS 193
Paul, who stands on the left ; an attendant is gazing with
wonder in his face, while eight persons behind him are all
occupied with the miraculous event which is passing before
their eyes ; two lictors are on the left ; in all fourteen figures.
Size, fourteen feet seven inches by eleven feet four inches.
This cartoon, as a composition, is particularly remarkable
for the concentration of the effect and interest in the one action.
The figure of St. Paul is magnificent ; while the crouching
abject form of Elymas, grouping his way, and blind even to
his finger-ends, stands in the midst, and on him all eyes are
bent.! 'j'jjg nianner in which the impression is graduated from
terror down to indifferent curiosity, while one person explains
the event to another by means of gesture, are among the most
spirited dramatic effects Raphael ever produced.
6. St. Paul Preaching at Athens.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I per
ceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and be
held your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription. To the unknown
God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Acts
xvii. 22, 23.
Paul, standing on some elevated steps, is preaching to the
Athenians in the Areopagus ; behind him are three philosophers
of the different sects, the Cynic, the Epicurean, and the Pla
tonic ; beyond, a group of soijhists disputing among each other.
On the right are seen the half-figures of Dionysius the Areo-
pagite and the woman Damaris, of whom it is expressly said
that they " believed and clave unto him." On the same side,
in the background, is seen the statue of Mars, in front of a
circular temple. In point of pictorial composition this cartoon
is one of the finest in the series. St. Paul, elevated above
his auditors, grandly dignified in bearing, as one divinely in
spired, lofty in stature and position, "stands like a tower."
This figure of St. Paul has been imitated from the fresco by
Filippino Lippi, in the Carmine at Florence. There Paul
is represented as visiting St. Peter in prison ; one arm only is
raised, the forefinger pointing upward ; he is speaking words
1 A story is told of Garrick objecting to the truth of this action in the hearing
of Benjamin West, who, in vindication of the painter, desired Garrick to shut
his eyes and walk across the room, when he instantiv stretched out his hand,
and began to feel his way with the exact attitude and expression here repre
sented.

194 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
of consolation to him through the grated bars of his dungeon,
behind which appears the form of St. Peter. Raphael has
taken the idea of the figure, raised the two arms, and given
the whole an air of inspired energy wanting in the original.
The persons who surround him are not to be considered a
mere promiscuous assemblage of individuals : among them sev
eral figures may each be said to personify a class, and the dif
ferent sects of Grecian philosophy may be easily distinguished.
Here the Cynic, revolving deeply, and fabricating objections ;
there the Stoic, leaning on his staff, giving a steady but scorn
ful attention, and fixed in obstinate incredulity ; there the
disciples of Plato, not conceding a full belief, but pleased at
least with the beauty of the doctrine, and listening with gratified
attention. Farther on is a promiscuous group of disputants,
sophists, and freethinkers, engaged in vehement discussion, but
apparently more bent on exhibiting their own ingenuity than
anxious to elicit truth or acknowledge conviction. At a con
siderable distance in the background are seen two doctors of
the Jewish law. The varied groups, the fine thinking heads
among the auditors, the expression of curiosity, reflection,
doubt, conviction, faith, as revealed in the different counte
nances and attitudes, are all as flne as possible : particularly the
man who has wrapped his robe around him, and appears
buried in thought. "This figure also is borrowed from a
fresco in the Carmine. The closed eyes, which in the fresco
might be easily mistaken for sleeping, are not in the least
ambiguous in the cartoon ; the eyes indeed are closed, but
they are closed with such vehemence that the agitation of a mind
perplexed in the extreme is seen at the first glance. But what
is most extraordinary, and I think particularly to be admired,
is that the same idea is continued through the whole figure,
even to the drapery, which is so closely muffled about him
that even his hands are not seen ; by this happy correspond
ence between the expression of the countenance and the dis
position of the parts the figure appears to think from head
to foot." (Sir Joshua Reynolds.)
7. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying. Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Luke v. 8.
On the left Christ is seated in a bark, in the act of speaking

THE CARTOONS 195
to St. Peter, who has fallen on his knees before him ; behind
him is a youth, and a second bark is on the right. Two men
are busied drawing up the nets miraculously laden, while a
third steers. On the shore, in the foreground, stand three
cranes ; and in the distance are seen the people to whom Christ
had been preaching out of the ship or boat. In this cartoon
the composition is very beautiful ; and the execution, from its
mingled delicacy, power, and precision, is supposed to be
almost entirely from Raphael's own hand. The effect is won
derfully bright. In the broad clear daylight, and against the
sky, the figures stand out in strong relief. The clear lake
ripples round the bark, and the figure of the Saviour, in the
pale blue vest and white mantle, appears all light, and radiant
with beneficence. The awe, humility, and love in the attitude
and countenance of St. Peter are wonderfully expressive. The
masterly drawing in the figures of the Apostles in the second
boat conveys most strongly the impression of the weight they
are attempting to raise. In the fish and the cranes, all painted
with exquisite and minute fidelity to nature, we trace the hand
of Giovanni da Udine. These strange black birds have here a
grand effect. " There is a certain sea-wildness about them, and,
as their food was fish, they contribute mightily to express the
affair in hand : they are a fine part of the scene. They serve,
also, to prevent the heaviness which that part would otherwise
have had, by breaking the parallel lines which would have
been made by the boats and base of the picture." !
1 "A painter is allowed sometimes to depart even from natural and historical
truth. "Thus, in the cartoon of the Draught of Fishes, Raphael has made a boat
too little to hold the flgures he has placed in it; and this is so visible that some
are apt to triumph over that great man, as having nodded on that occasion, while
others have pretended to excuse it by saying it was done to make the miracle
appear greater ; but the truth is, had he made the boat large enough for those
figures, his picture would have been all boat, which would have had a disagree
able effect; and to have made his figures small enough for a vessel of that size
would have rendered them unsuitable to the rest of the set, and have made those
figures appear less considerable. It is amiss as it is, but would have been worse
any other way, as it frequently happens in other cases. Raphael, therefore,
wisely chose this lesser inconvenience, this seeming error, which he knew the
judicious world would know was none; and for the rest, he was above being soli
citous for his reputation with them. So that, upon the whole, this is so far from
being a fault, that it is an instance of the consummate judgment of that most
incomparable man, which he learned in his great school, the antique, where this
liberty is commonly taken in an eminent manner iu the Trajan and Antoninian
columns, and on many other occasions in the finest bas-reliefs. And to note it.

196 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
These are the subjects of the famous Cartoons of Raphael.
To describe the effect of the light and sketchy treatment, so
easy and yet so large and grand in style, I shall borrow the
words of an eloquent writer.
"Compared with these,"' says Hazlitt, as finely as truly,
" all other pictures look like oil and varnish ; we are stopped
and attracted by the coloring, the pencilling, the finishing, or
the want of it, that is by the instrumentalities of the art ; but
here the painter seems to have flung his mind upon the canvas.
His thoughts, his great ideas alone, prevail ; there is nothing
between us and the subject; we look through a frame and see
Scripture histories, and are made actual spectators in miracu
lous events. Not to speak it profanely, they are a sort of a
revelation of the subjects of which they treat ; there is an ease
and freedom of manner about them which brings preternatural
characters and situations home to us with the familiarity of
every-day occurrences ; and while the figures fill, raise, and
satisfy the mind, they seem to have cost the painter nothing.
. . . Everywhere else we see the means, here we arrive at the
end apparently without any means. There is a Spirit at work
in the divine creation before us ; we are unconscious of any
details, of any steps taken, of any progress made ; we are aware
only of comprehensive results — of whole masses and figures :
the sense of power supersedes the appearance of effort. . . .
It is as if we had ourselves seen these persons and things at
some former period of our being, and that the drawins^ certain
dotted lines upon coarse paper by some unknown spell brought
back the entire and living images, and made them pass before
us, palpable to thought, feeling, and to sight. Perhaps not all
this is owing to genius ; something of this effect may be as
cribed to the simplicity of the vehicle employed in embodying
the story, and something to the decayed and dilapidated state
of the pictures themselves. They are tlie more majestic for
being in ruin. AVe are struck chiefly with the truth of pro
portion, and the range of conception. . . The corruptible
by the by, it seems to be a strange rashness and self-sufticiencv in a spectator
or a reader when he thinks he sees an ab^urditv in a great author to take it
immediately for granted it is such. Surely it is a most reasonable and just
prejudice in favor of a man we have always known to act with wisdom aud pro
priety on every ureasion, to suspend at least our criticism, and cast off illiberal
triumph over him, and to suppose it at least possible that he might have had
reasons that we are not aware of." Richardson, p. 27.

ENGRAVINGS OF THE CARTOONS 197
has put on incorruption ; and, amidst the wreck of color and
the mouldering of material beauty, nothing is left but a uni
verse of thought, or the broad imminent shadows of ' calm
contemplation and majestic pains ' i " i
It is matter of regret, but hardly of surprise, that the car
toons have never yet been adequately engraved. The first
complete series which appeared was by Simon Gribelin, a
French engraver who came over in 1680, and was published
in the reign of Queen Anne. The prints are small neat mem
oranda of the compositions, nothing more.
The second set was executed by Sir Nicholas Dorigny, who
undertook the work under the patronage of the government,
and presented to the king, George I., in 1719, two sets of the
finished engravings, on which occasion the king bestowed on
him a purse of one hundred guineas, and, at the request of the
Duke of Devonshire, knighted him. These engravings are
large, and tolerably but coarsely executed, and are preferred
by connoisseurs ; but on the whole they are poor as works of
Art. The set of large engravings by Thomas Holloway was begun
by him in 1800, and was not quite completed at his death in
1826. These engravings have been praised for the "finished
and elaborate style in which they have been executed," and
they deserve this praise ; but, as transcripts of the cartoons,
they are altogether false in point of style. They are too
metallic, too mechanical, too labored : a set of masterly etch
ings would better convey an impression of the slight free exe
cution, the spiritual ease of the originals. These engravings
give one the idea of being done from highly finished, deeply
colored oil-pictures.
Since 1837 a large set has been commenced by John Bur
nett, in a mixed, rather coarse style, but effective and spirited :
they are sold at a cheap rate.
Lastly, a set of photographs has been recently published
(1868). Raphael finished these cartoons in 1616. They are all from
fourteen to eighteen feet in length, and about twelve feet
high ; the figures above life size, drawn with chalk upon strong
paper, and colored in distemper. He received for his designs
four hundred and thirty-four gold ducats (about 650/.), which
1 [Criticisms on Art, London, 1856, p. 76.]

198 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
were paid to him, three hundred on the 15th of June, 1615,
and one hundred and thirty-four in December, 1516. The
rich tapestries worked from these cartoons, in wool, silk, and
gold, were completed at Arras, and sent to Rome in 1519.
For these the pope paid to the manufacturer at Arras fifty
thousand gold ducats ; they were exhibited for the first time
on St. Stephen's Day, December 26, 1519. Raphael had the
satisfaction, before he died, of seeing them hung in their
places, and of witnessing the wonder and applause they ex
cited through the whole city. Their subsequent fate was very
curious and eventful. In the sack of Rome, in 1527, they
were carried away by the French soldiery ; but were restored
in 1553, during the reign of Pope Julius III., by the Due de
Montmorenci. The Coronation of the Virgin [was missing for
many years and was] supposed to have been burned for the
sake of the gold thread, [but it was discovered in the Vatican
in 1869.!] Again, in 1798, they made part of the French
spoliations, and were actually sold to a Jew at Leghorn, who
burnt one of them for the purpose of extracting the precious
metal contained in the threads. As it was found, however, to
furnish very little, the proprietor judged it better to allow the
others to retain their original shape, and they were soon after
wards repurchased from him by the agents of Pius VIL, and
reinstated in the galleries of the Vatican. Several sets of tap
estries were worked from the cartoons : one was sent as a pres
ent to Henry ATIL, and after the death of Charles I. sold into
Spain ; another or the same set was exhibited in London a few
years ago, and has since been sold to the king of Prussia. At
present these tapestries are hung in the Museum at Berlin.
AAliile all Rome was indulging in ecstasies over the rich
and dearly paid tapestries, which were not then, and are still
less now, worth one of the cartoons, these precious productions
of the artist's own mind were lying in the warehouse of the
weaver at Arras, neglected and forgotten. Some were torn
into fragments, and parts of them exist in various collections.
Seven still remained in some garret or cellar, when Rubens,
just a century afterwards, mentioned their existence to Charles
I. and advised him to purchase them for the use of a tapestry
1 [Monsieur Paliard, who was the fortunate discoverer of this valuable work
of Art, has given an interesting account of it in the Gazette des Beaux Arts,
187-3-1

VICISSITUDES OF THE CARTOONS 199
manufactory which King James I. had established at Mortlake.
The purchase was made. They had been cut into long slips
about two feet wide, for the convenience of the workmen, and
in this state they arrived in England.! q^ Charles's death,
Cromwell bought them at the sale of the royal effects for 300/.
We had very nearly lost them again in the reign of Charles
II. , for Louis XIV., having intimated through his ambassador,
Barillon, a wish to possess them at any price, the needy, care
less Charles was on the point of yielding them, and would
have done so but for the representations of the Lord Treasurer
Danby, to whom, in fact, we owe it that they were not ceded
to France. They remained, however, neglected in one of the
lumber-rooms at Whitehall till the reign of AVilliam III., and
narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire when AVhitehall was
burned in 1698. It must have been shortly afterwards that
King William ordered them to be repaired, the fragments
pasted together and stretched upon linen ; and being just at
that time occupied with the alterations and improvements at
Hampton Court, Sir Christopher Wren had his commands to
plan and erect a room expressly to receive them. [Thence
they were taken to South Kensington JMuseum, where they
now hang.]
In the Vatican there is a second set of ten tapestries, for
which Raphael gave the original designs, but he did not
execute the cartoons, and the style of drawing in those frag
ments which remain is not his. The subjects of the second
set were all from the life of Christ, and were as follows : ^ —
1. The Massacre of the Innocents.
2. The Adoration of the Shepherds.
3. The Adoration of the Magi.
4. The Presentation in the Temple.
5. The Resurrection.
6. The Noli me Tangere.
7. The Descent into Purgatory.
1 There can be no doubt of the purpose for which Charles I. acquii-ed them.
The entry in the king's catalogue runs thus: "In a slit wooden case some
two cartoons of Raphael Urbino's, for hangings to be made by ; and the other
five are, by the king's appointment, delivered to Jlr. Francis Cleyne, at Mort
lake, to make hangings by." It appears that Cromwell had some intention of
continuing the manufactory of tapestry at Mortlake as a national undertaking,
and retained the cartoons for purposes connected with it.
2 [The list is given somewhat differently by Muntz. Vide Raphael, p. 478.]

200 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
8. Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus.
9. The Ascension.
10. The Descent of the Holy Ghost.
The tapestries of these subjects still hang in the A^atican,
and all have been engraved.
The fame of Raphael had by this time spread to other coun
tries. Horace Walpole, in the " Anecdotes of Painting,"
assures us that Henry ATIL, who on coming to the throne
was desirious of emulating Francis I. as a patron of Art, invited
Raphael to his court ; but he does not say on what authority
he states this as a fact. At all events, the young king was
obliged to content himself with the little St. George sent to
him by the Du.ke of Urbino, as a specimen of Raphael's talent,
and with Holbein, whom he soon after engaged in his service,
as his court painter — perhaps the best substitute for Raphael
in point of original genius then to be obtained by offers of gold
or patronage. Francis I. was also most anxious to attract
Raphael to his court, and, not succeeding, he desired to have
a picture by his hand, leaving him the choice of subject. As
Raphael had chosen St. George as the fittest subject for the
king of England, he now, with equal propriety and taste,
chose St. Michael, the patron saint of the most celebrated
military order in France, as likely to be the most acceptable
subject for the French king, and represented the archangel as
victorious over the Spirit of Evil. The figures are as large as
life. St. Michael, beaming with angelic beauty and power,
stands with one foot on the Evil One, and raises his lance to
thrust him down to the deep. Satan is so represented that
very little of his hideous and prostrate form is visible, the
grand victorious Spirit filling the whole canvas and the eye of
the spectator. The king expressed bis satisfaction in a right
royal and graceful fashion, and rewarded the artist munificently.
Raphael, considering himself overpaid, and not to be outdone
in generosity, sent to the king his famous Holy Family (called
the large Holy Family, because the figures are life size), in
which the infant Christ is seen in act to spring from the cradle
into his mother's arms, while angels scatter flowers from above.!
Engravings and copies without number exist of this famous
picture : the original is in the gallery of the Louvre. Raphael
sent also his St. JMargaret overcoming the Dragon, a compli-
1 [In both these pictures Giulio Romano had a hand.]

FRESCOES OF THE FARNESINA 201
ment apparently to the king's favorite sister, Margaret, queen
of Navarre : this also is in the Louvre. AA^hen they were placed
before Francis I. he ordered his treasurer to count out twenty-
four thousand livres (about 3,000/. according to the present
value of money), and sent it to the painter with the strongest
expressions of his approbation. At a later period he purchased
the beautiful portrait of Joanna of Aragon, vice-queen of
Naples, which is also in the Louvre.
About the same period (that is, between 1517 and 1620)
Raphael painted for the convent of St. Sixtus at Piacenza one
of the grandest and most celebrated of all his works, called,
from its original destination, the Madonna di San Sisto. It
represents the Virgin standing in a majestic attitude ; the
mfant Saviour enthroned in her arms ; and around her head a
glory of innumerable cherubs melting into light. Kneeling
before her we .see on one side St. Sixtus, on the other St. Bar
bara, and beneath her feet two heavenly cherubs gaze up in
adoration. In execution, as in design, this is probably the
most perfect picture in the world. It is painted throughout
by Raphael's own hand ; and as no sketch or study of any part
of it was ever known to exist, and as the execution must have
been, from the thinness and delicacy of the colors, wonderfully
rapid, it is supposed that he painted it at once on the canvas
— a creation rather than a picture. In the beginning of the
last century the Elector of Saxony, Augustus III., purchased
this picture from the monks of the convent for the sum of
sixty thousand florins (about 6,000/.), and it now forms the
chief boast and ornament of the Dresden Gallery.!
For his patron Agostino Chigi, Raphael painted in fresco
the history of Cupid and Psyche. The palace which belonged
to the Chigi family is now the Axilla Farnesina, on the walls
of which these famous frescoes may still be seen in very good
preservation. In Griiner's admirable work on the " Decoration
of the Palaces and Churches in Italy " there is a perspective
view of the saloon in the Farnesina, showing how this beauti-
1 The engraving by Midler is celebrated; but good impressions are now ex
tremely rare, the plate having been often retouched. The engraving by Steinle
is not less fine — superior, perhaps, in the head of the Virgin — and may be more
easily procured. There is also a very good and faithful lithograph by Hof-
stilngel, and hundreds of indifferent and bad engravings, of all sizes. One of
the worst is the French print by Desnoyers. [The best possible reproductions
are the splendid photographs now made by the most recent processes.]

202 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
ful series of compositions is arranged on the ceiling and walls.
In the same palace he painted the Triumph of Galatea : in this
fresco he was greatly assisted by Giulio Romano.
During the last ten years of his life the fame of Raphael
was very much extended by means of the engraver Marc
Antonio Raimondi, who, after studying design in the school of
Francia at Bologna, betook himself to Rome, and gained the
admiration and good-will of Raphael by the perfect engravings
he made from some of his beautiful works. Marc Antonio
lived for some time in Raphael's own house, and engraved for
him and under his direction most of those precious and exqui
site compositions, the most wonderful creations of the mind of
Raphael, of which there exist no finished pictures, and in some
cases no drawings nor memoranda. Among these may be
mentioned a few which are to be found in the Print-room of
the British Museum : 1. The Lucretia, a single figure, won
derfully beautiful. 2. The Massacre of the Innocents. 3.
Eve presenting to Adam the forbidden fruit. 4. The Last
Supper. 5. The Mater Dolorosa, the A'irgin lamenting over
the dead body of our Saviour. 6. Another of the same sub
ject, containing several figures. These are only a few of the
most precious, for within the present limits it is impossible to
go into detail. Some time after the death of Raphael, Marc
Antonio was very deservedly banished from Rome by Clement
VII. Tempted by gold, he had lent his unrivalled skill to
shameful purposes. According to JMalvasia, he was afterwards
assassinated at Bologna.
The last great picture which Raphael undertook, and which
at the time of his death was not quite completed, was the
Transfiguration of our Saviour on Mount Tabor. This picture
is divided into two parts. The lower part contains a crowd of
figures, and is full of passion, energy, action. In the centre
is the demoniac boy, convulsed and struggling in the arms of
his father. Two women, kneeling, implore assistance ; others
are seen crying aloud and stretching out their arms for aid.
In the disciples of Jesus we see exhibited, in various shades of
expression, astonishment, horror, sympathy, profound thought.
One among them, with a benign and youthful countenance,
looks compassionately on the father, plainly intimating that he
can give no help. The upper part of the picture represents
JMount Tabor : the three apostles lie prostrate, dazzled, on the

THE TRANSFIGURATION 203
earth ; above them, transfigured in glory, floats the divine form
of the Saviour, with Moses and Elias on either side. " The
twofold action contained in this picture, to which shallow
critics have taken exception, is explained historically and satis
factorily merely by the fact that the incident of the possessed
boy occurred in the absence of Christ ; but it explains itself in
a still higher sense, when we consider the deeper universal
meaning of the picture. For this purpose it is not even neces
sary to consult the books of the New Testament for the expla
nation of the particular incidents : the lower portion represents
the calamities and miseries of human life, the rule of demoniac
power, the weakness even of the faithful when unassisted, and
directs them to look on high for aid and strength in adversity.
Above, in the brightness of divine bliss, undisturbed by the
sufferings of the lower world, we behold the source of our
consolation and of our redemption from evil." [Vatican Gal
lery.] At this time the lovers of painting at Rome were divided
in opinion as to the relative merits of Michael Angelo and
Raphael, and formed two great parties, that of Raphael being
by far the most numerous.
Michael Angelo, with characteristic haughtiness, disdained
any open rivalry with Raphael, and put forward the Venetian,
Sebastian del Piombo, as no unworthy competitor of the great
Roman painter. Raphael bowed before Michael Angelo, and,
with the modesty and candor which belonged to his character,
was heard to thank Heaven that he had been born in the same
age and enabled to profit by the grand creations of that sub
lime genius : but he was by no means inclined to yield any
supremacy to Sebastian ; he knew his own strength too well.
To decide the controversy, the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici,
afterwards Clement A^IL, commissioned Raphael to paint this
picture of the Transfiguration, and at the same time com
manded from Sebastian del Piombo the Raising of Lazarus,
which is now in our National Gallery ; both pictures were
intended by the cardinal for his cathedral at Narbonne, he
having lately been created archbishop of Narbonne by Francis
I. Michael Angelo, well aware that Sebastian was a far bet
ter colorist than designer, furnished him with the cartoon for
his picture, and, it is said, drew some of the figures (that of
Lazarus, for example) with his own hand on the panel ; but

204 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
he was so far from doing this secretly, that Raphael heard of
it, and exclaimed joyfully, " Michael Angelo has graciously
favored me, in that be has deemed me worthy to compete with
himself, and not with Sebastian ! " But he did not live to
enjoy the triumph of his acknowledged superiority, dying before
he had finished his picture, which was afterwards completed
by the hand of Giulio Romano.
During the last years of his life, and while engaged in
painting the Transfiguration, Raphael's active mind was em
ployed on many other things. He had been appointed by
the pope to superintend the building of St. Peter's, and he
prepared the architectural plans for that vast undertaking.
He was most active and zealous in carrying out the pope's pro
ject for disinterring and preserving the remains of Art which
lay buried beneath the ruins of ancient Rome. A letter is
yet extant addressed by Raphael to Pope Leo X., in which he
lays down a systematic, well-considered plan for excavating
by degrees the whole of the ancient city ; and a writer of that
time has left a Latin epigram to this purpose — that Raphael
had sought and found in Rome " another Borne." "To seek
it," adds the poet, "was worthy of a great man; to reveal it,
worthy of a god." He also made several drawings and models
for sculpture, particularly for a statue of Jonah, now in the
church of Santa Maria del Popolo. The beautiful group of
the Dead Child and the Dolphin is also attributed to him.!
Nor was this all. AA'ith a princely magnificence he had sent
artists at his own cost to various parts of Italy and into Greece,
to make drawings from those remains of antiquity which his
numerous and important avocations prevented him from visit
ing himself. He was in close intimacy and correspondence
with most of the celebrated men of his time ; interested him
self in all that was going forward ; mingled in society, lived
in splendor, and was always ready to assist generously his own
family and the pupils who had gathered round him. The
Cardinal Bibbiena offered him his niece in marriage, with a
dowry of three thousand gold crowns ; but the early death of
Maria di Bibbiena prevented this union, for which it appears
that Raphael himself had no great inclination. In possession
1 [For the evidence that Raphael made such a piece of sculpture, and an
account of the pieces successively adopted as the original, see Miintz, Raphael.
p. 561.]

HIS SECOND FUNERAL 205
of all that ambition could desire, for him the cup of life was
still running over with love, hope, power, glory — when, in
the very prime of manhood, and in the midst of vast under
takings, he was seized with a violent fever, caught, it is said,
in superintending some subterranean excavations, and expired
after an illness of fourteen days. His death took place on
Good Friday (his birthday), April 6, 1520, having completed
his thirty-seventh year. Great was the grief of all classes ;
unspeakable that of his friends and scholars. The pope had
sent every day to inquire after his health, adding the most
kind and cheering messages ; and when told that the beloved
and admired painter was no more, he broke out into lamen
tations on his own and the world's loss. The body was laid
on a bed of state, and above it Avas suspended the last work
of that divine hand, the glorious Transfiguration. From his
own house, near St. Peter's, a multitude of all ranks followed
the bier in sad procession, and his remains were laid in the
church of the Pantheon, near those of his betrothed bride,
Maria di Bibbiena, in a spot chosen by himself during his
lifetime. In the year 1833 there arose among the antiquarians of
Rome a keen dispute concerning a human skull, which, on no
evidence whatever, except a long-received tradition, had been
preserved and exhibited in the Academy of St. Luke as the
skull of Raphael. Some even expressed a doubt as to the
exact place of his sepulchre, though upon this point the con
temporary testimony seemed to leave no room for uncertainty.
"To ascertain the fact, permission was obtained from the papal
government, and from the canons of the church of the Rotunda
(/. e. of the Pantheon), to make some researches; and on the
14th of September in the same year, after five days spent in
removing the pavement in several places, the remains of Ra
phael were discovered in a vault behind a high altar, and cer
tified as his by indisputable proofs. After being examined,
and a cast made from the skull and from the right hand, the
skeleton was exhibited publicly in a glass case, and multitudes
thronged to the church to look upon it. On the 18th of Octo
ber, 1833, a second funeral ceremony took place. The remains
were deposited in a pine-wood coffin, then in a marble sar
cophagus, presented by the pope (Gregory XVI.), and rever
ently consigned to their former resting-place, in presence of

206 RAPHAEL SANZIO D' URBINO
more than three thousand spectators, including almost all the
artists, the officers of government, and other persons of the
highest rank in Rome.
Besides his grand compositions from the Old and New
Testament, and his frescoes and arabesques in the A^'atican,
Raphael has left about one hundred and twenty pictures of
the Virgin and Child, all various — only resembling each
other in the peculiar type of chaste and maternal loveliness
which he has given to the A^irgin, and the infantine beauty of
the Child. The most celebrated of his Madonnas in the
order in which they were painted, are : 1. The JMadonna di
Foligno, in the A^atican Gallery. 2. The Madonna of the
Fish, at Madrid. 3. The Madonna del Cardellino, in the Uffizi
at Florence. 4. ' The Madonna di San Sisto, at Dresden.
5. The Madonna called the Pearl, at Madrid.! [Several] of
his Madonna pictures are in England, in private galleries.
There are but few pictures taken from mythology and pro
fane history, the Cupid and Psyche and the Galatea being the
most important ; but a vast number of drawings and composi
tions, some of them of consummate beauty.
He painted about eighty portraits,^ of which the most fa
mous are Julius II. ; Leo X. (the originals of both these are
at Florence) ; Cardinal Bibbiena [Madrid] ; Cardinal Bembo
[lost] ; and Count Castiglione (Paris) ; the Youth with his
Violin ^ in the Sciarra Palace, at Rome ; Bindo Altoviti (sup
posed for a long time to be his own portrait),'* now at Munich ; ^
the beautiful Joanna of Aragon, in the Louvre. The por
trait called the Fornarina ^ [Uffizi, Florence] had long been
supposed to represent a young girl to whom Raphael had
attached himself soon after his arrival in Rome ; but this ap
pears very doubtful ; Passavant supposes it to represent Bea
trice Pio, a celebrated improvisatrice of that time. [His
own portrait was painted about 1606 for his friends in Urbino.
1 [It is probable that the execution of this picture was intrusted to Giulio
Romano.] ¦^ [The list given by Miintz includes the names of only twent3'-four persons.]
3 [This portrait is not considered the work of Raphael by some modern crit
ics, including ^lorelli. Miintz and Grimm, however, still claim its genuineness.]
* [Engraved as such by Raphael Morghen.]
^ [The authorship as well as the subject of this picture is a disputed point.]
" [This portrait is now very generally attributed to Sebastian del Piombo.]

HIS ARTISTIC QUALITIES 207
It is now in the Uffizi at Florence.!] p.esides the [portraits]
we have seventeen architectural designs for buildings, public
and private, and several designs for sculpture, ornaments, etc.
But it is not any single production of his hand, however
rarely beautiful, nor his superiority in any particular depart
ment of Art ; it is the number and the -s'ariety of his crea
tions, the union of inexhaustible fertility of imagination with
excellence of every kind — faculties never combined in the
same degree in any artist before or since — which have placed
Raphael at the head of his profession, and have rendered him
the wonder and delight of all ages.
We shall now proceed to give an account of some of Ra
phael's most famous scholars.
1 [There is an engraving by Pontius.]

THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL
We have already had occasion to observe the great number
of scholars, some of them older than himself, who had assem
bled round Raphael, and the unusual harmony in which they
lived together ; Vasari relates that, when he went to court, a
train of fifty painters attended on him from his own house to
the Vatican. They came from every part of Italy ; from
Florence, Milan, Venice, Bologna, Ferrara, Naples, and even
from beyond the Alps, to study under the great Roman mas
ter. JMany of them assisted, with more or less skill, in the
execution of his great works in fresco ; some imitated him in
one thing, some in another ; but the unrivalled charm of
Raphael's productions lies in the impress of the mind which
produced them ; this he could not impart to others. Those
who followed servilely a particular manner of conception and
drawing, which they called " Raphael's style," degenerated
into insipidity and littleness. Those who had original power
deviated into exaggerations and perversities. Not one among
them approached him. Some caught a faint reflection of his
grace, some of his power ; but they turned it to other pur
poses ; they worked in a different spirit ; they followed the
fashion of the hour. AVhile he lived, his noble aims elevated
them, but when he died they fell away one after another.
The lavish and magnificent Pope Leo X. was succeeded in
1521 by Adrian VI. , a man conscientious even to severity,
sparing even to asceticism, and without any sympathies either
for art or artists ; during his short pontificate of two years
all the works in the A^atican and St. Peter's Avere suspended ;
the poor painters were starving ; and the dreadful pestilence
which raged in 1523 drove many from the city. Under Clem
ent VIL, one of the JMedici, and nephew of Leo X., the arts
for a time revived ; but tbe sack of Rome by the barbarous
soldiery of Bourbon in 1527 completed the dispersion of the
artists who had flocked to the capital ; each, returning to his
native country or city, became also a teacher ; and thus what

GIAN FRANCESCO PENNI 209
was called " Raphael's school," or " the Roman school," was
spread from one end of Italy to the other.
Raphael had left by his will his two favorite scholars, Gian
Francesco Penni and Giulio Romano, as executors, and to them
he bequeathed the task of completing his unfinished works.

Gian Francesco Penni
GiAN Francesco Penni, called II Fattore, was his be
loved and confidential pupil, and had assisted him much, par
ticularly in preparing his cartoons ; but everything he executed
from his own mind and after Raphael's death has, with much
tenderness and Raphaelesque grace, a sort of feebleness more
of mind than hand ; his pictures are very rare. He [was born
in 1488 and] died in 1528.

210 THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL
His brother LucA Penni was in England for some years
in the service of Henry VIIL, and employed by Wolsey in
decorating his palace at Hampton Court ; some remains of his
performances there were still to be seen in the middle of the
last century ; but Horace AA'alpole's notion that Luca Penni
executed those three singular pictures, the Field of the Cloth
of Gold, the Battle of the Spurs, and the Embarkation of
Henry VIIL, appears to be quite unfounded.
Giulio Pippi, surnamed from the place of his birth II
Romano, and generally styled Giulio Romano [1492 ?-1546],
was also much beloved by Raphael, and of all his scholars the
most distinguished for original power. AA'hile under the in
fluence of Raphael's mind he imitated his manner and copied
his pictures so successfully that it is sometimes difficult for the
best judges to distinguish the difference of hand. The Julius
II. in our National Gallery is an instance. After Raphael's
death he abandoned himself to his own luxuriant genius. He
lost the simplicity, the grace, the chaste and elevated feeling
which had characterized his master. He became strongly
imbued with the then reigning taste for classical and mytho
logical subjects, which he treated not exactly in a classical
spirit, but with great boldness and fire, both in conception and
execution. He did not excel in religious subjects ; if he had
to paint the A'irgin, he gave her the air and form of a com
manding Juno ; if a Saviour, he was like a Roman emperor ;
the apostles in his pictures are like heathen philosophers ;
but when he had to deal with gods and Titans he was in his
element. For four years after the death of Raphael he was chiefly
occupied in completing his master's unfinished works ; at the
end of that time he went to Mantua and entered the service
of the Duke Gonzaga, as painter and architect. He designed
for him a splendid palace called the Palazzo del Te, which he
decorated with frescoes in a grand but coarse style. In one
saloon he represented Jupiter vanquishing the giants ; in an
other, the history of Psyche : everywhere we see great luxuri
ance of fancy, Avonderful power of drawing, and a bold large
style of treatment ; but great coarseness of imagination, red
heavy coloring, and a pagan rather than a classical taste.
In character Giulio Romano Avas a man of generous mind;
princely in his style of living ; an accomplished courtier, yet

GIULIO ROxMANO

211

Giulio Romano (by himself)

commanding respect by a lofty sense of his own dignity as an
artist. He amassed great riches in the service of the Duke
Gonzaga, and spent his life at Mantua : his most important
works are to be found in the palaces and churches of that city.
AA^hen Charles I. purchased the entire collection of the
dukes of Mantua in 1629, there were among them many pic-

212

THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL

Primaticcio

tures by Giulio Romano ; one of these was the admirable copy
of Raphael's fresco of the battle between Constantine and
Maxentius, now at Hampton Court ; ! in the same [palace] are
seven others, all mythological, and characteristic certainly,
but by no means favoraljle specimens of his genius ; they have,
besides, been coarsely painted over by some restorer, so as to
retain no trace of the original workmanship. The most im
portant picture which came into the possession of King Charles
was a Nativity, a large altar-piece, which after the king's
death was sold into France : it is now in the Louvre. A very
1 [It is not mentioned in Ernest Law's catalogue.]

GIULIO ROMANO

213

Giovanni da Udine

pretty little picture is the Venus persuading Vulcan to forge
the arrows of Cupid ; also in the Louvre. Engravings after
Giulio Romano are very commonly met with.
Giulio Romano was invited by Francis I. to undertake the
decoration of his palace at Fontainebleau, but, not being able
to leave Mantua, he sent his pupil Primaticcio, who covered
the walls with frescoes and arabesques, much in the manner
of those in the Palazzo del Te ; that is to say, with gods and
goddesses, fauns, satyrs, nymphs, Cupids, Cyclops, Titans, in
a style as remote from that of Raphael as can well be imagined,
and yet not destitute of a certain grandeur.
Primaticcio [1604-1670], Niccol6 dell' Abbate, Rosso

214

THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL

Perino del Vaga
[1494-1541], and others who worked with them, are desig
nated in the history of Art as the " Fontainebleau school," of
which Primaticcio is considered the chief.
Giovanni da Udine [1487-1564], who excelled in paint
ing animals, flowers, and still life, was Raphael's chief assist
ant in the famous arabesques of the A^atican.
Peking del Vaga [1500-1547], another of Raphael's
scholars, carried his style to Genoa, where he was chiefly em
ployed ; and Andrea da Saleeno [1480-1630], a far more
charming painter, who was at Rome but a short time, has left
many pictures at Naples, nearer to Raphael in point of feeling
than those of other scholars who had studied under his eye

POLIDORO

215

for years. Andrea seems also to have been allied to his master
in mind and character, for Raphael parted from him with deep
regret.! PoLiDOEO Caldaea [1495-1543], called from the place
of his birth Polidoro da Caravaggio, was a poor boy who had
been employed by the fresco painters in the Vatican to carry

Polidoro

the wet mortar and afterwards to grind their colors : he learned
to admire, then to emulate what he saw, and Raphael en
couraged and aided him by his instructions. The bent of
Polidoro's genius as it developed itself was a curious and
interesting compound of his two vocations. He had been a
mason, or -^vhat we should call a bricklayer's boy, for the first
twenty years of his life. From building houses he took to
1 [The close relation between Salerno and Raphael is doubted by modern art
writers.]

216 THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL
decorating them, and from an early familiarity with the remains
of antiquity lying around him, the mind of the uneducated
mechanic became unconsciously imbued with the very spirit
of antiquity ; not one of Raphael's scholars was so distin
guished for a classical purity of taste as Polidoro. He painted,
chiefly in chiaroscuro (that is, in two colors, light and shade),
friezes, composed of processions of figures, such as we see in
the ancient bas-reliefs, sea and river gods, tritons, bacchantes,
fauns, satyrs, Cupids. At Hampton Court there are six pieces
of a small narrow frieze, representing boys and animals, which
apparently formed the top of a bedstead or some other piece
of furniture ; these will give some faint idea of the decorative
style of Polidoro. This painter was much employed at Naples,
and afterwards at Messina, where he was assassinated by one
of his servants for the sake of his money.
Pellegeino da Modena, an excellent painter, and one of
Raphael's most valuable assistants in his Scriptural subjects,
carried the " Roman school " to Modena.
At this time there was in Ferrara a school of painters very
peculiar in style, distinguished chiefly by extreme elegance of
execution, a miniature-like neatness in the details, and deep,
vigorous, contrasted colors — as intense crimson, vivid green,
brilliant white, approximated ; a little grotesque in point of
taste, and rather like the very early German school in feeling
and treatment, but with more grace and ideality. Dosso
Dossi and Battista Dossi of Ferrara were two brothers,
whom Ariosto [in Orlando Furioso] mentions simply as " Due
Dossi " — Two Dossi.! j^ seems that Battista Dossi excelled
in landscape backgrounds, and had a thorough and poetical
feeling for nature. [Two of his landscapes are in the Borghese
Gallery at Rome. Dosso Dossi was distinguished for the mar
vellous richness of his color. His masterpiece is in the pub
lic gallery at Ferrara. In tbe centre are the enthroned Virgin
and Child with the little St. John Baptist. St. John is seated
below with other saints; in compartments on either side are
St. Sebastian, St. George, St. Gregory, and St. Ambrose.] Two
fine pictures I remember, one in the Dresden Gallerj' (the Pre-
1 [There was formerly some confusion among art critics in regard to the
respective works of the two, but the diflSculty has been removed by modern
researches.]

DOSSO DOSSI

217

destination of the Virgin !), and one in the Borghese Gallery
(which is rich in pictures of the Ferrara school) representing
Circe in a wild landscape.
Another of these Ferrarese painters, Benvenuto Gaeo-
EALO [1481-1559], studied for some time at Rome in the
school of Raphael, but it does not appear that he assisted, like

"T"-J-

\x>^ ^

Dosso Dossi (by himself)

most of the other students, in any of his works. He was
older than Raphael, and already advanced in his art before he
went to Rome ; but while there he knew how to profit by the
higher principles which were laid down, and studied assidu
ously ; with a larger, freer style of drawing, and a certain ele
vation in the expression of his heads acquired in the school of
Raphael, he combined the glowing color which characterized

1 [Vide Legends of the Madonna, p. 104, and Sacred and ie
pp. 278, 279.]'

Art,

218

THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL

Garofalo
the first painters of his native city. [He can be best studied
in the public gallery at Ferrara. The Dresden and Berlin
galleries also contain fine examples of his work.] There [are
four] pictures by Garofalo in our National Gallery, and also
[three] by JMazzolino da Ferrara, which will give some idea of
this school, with its characteristic beauty of color and singular
ity of treatment.
Another painter who must not be omitted was Giulio
Clovio. He was originally a monk, and began by imitating
the miniatures in the illuminated missals and psalm-books used
in the Church. He then studied at Rome, and was particularly
indebted to Michael Angelo and Giulio Romano. His works

GIULIO CLOVIO

219

are a proof that greatness and correctness of style do not depend
on size and space ; for into a few inches square, into the ara
besque ornaments round a page of manuscript, he could throw
a feeling of the sublime and beautiful worthy of the great mas
ters of Art. The vigor and precision of his drawing in the
most diminutive figures, the imaginative beauty of some of his
tiny compositions (for Giulio was no copyist), is almost incon
ceivable. His works were enormously paid, and executed only

for sovereign princes and rich prelates. Fifteen years of his
life were spent in the service of Pope Paul III. (1534-1549),
for whom his finest productions were executed. He died in
1578, at the age of eighty. [Examples of his work are in the
library at Naples and in the Vatican library.]
Besides the Italians, Innocenzo da Imola, Timoteo della A'ite
of Bologna, and Andrea da Salerno of Naples, many painters
came from beyond the Alps to place themselves under the
tuition of Raphael; among these were Bernaertvan Orley from
Brussels; Michael Coxis from Mechlin; and Georg Pencz
from Nuremberg. But the influence of Raphael's mind and
style is not very apparent in any of these painters.

220 THE SCHOLARS OF RAPHAEL
On the whole we may say that, while Michael Angelo and
Raphael displayed in all they did the inspiration of genius,
their scholars and imitators inundated all Italy with medi
ocrity : — Art with hollow forms was fed,
But the soul of art lay dead.

CORREGGIO
BoEN 1494, Died 1534
While the great painters of the Florentine school, with
Michael Angelo at their head, were carrying out the principle
of form, and those of Rome — the followers and imitators of
Raphael — were carrying out the principle of expression, — and
the first school deviating into exaggeration, and the latter
degenerating into mannerism, — there arose in the north of
Italy two extraordinary and original men, who, guided by their
own individual genius and temperament, took up different prin
ciples and worked them out to perfection : one revelling in the
illusions of chiaroscuro, so that to him all nature appeared
clothed in a soft transparent veil of lights and shadows ; the
other delighting in the luxurious depth of tints, and beholding
all nature steeped in the glow of an Italian sunset. They
chose each his world, and " drew after them a third part of
heaven." Of the two, Giorgione appears to have been the most original
— the most of a creator and inventor. Correggio may possibly
have owed his conception of melting, vanishing outlines and
transparent shadows, and his peculiar feeling of grace, to Leo
nardo da A'inci, whose pictures were scattered over the Avhole
of the north of Italy. Giorgione found in his own fervid
melancholy character the mystery of his coloring — warm,
glowing, yet subdued — and the noble yet tender sentiment of
his heads ; characteristics which, transmitted to Titian, became
in coloring more sunshiny and brilliant, Avithout losing depth
and harmony ; and in expression more cheerful, still retaining
intellect and dignity.
We will speak first of Cokeeggio, so styled from his birth
place, a small town not far from Modena, now called Reggio.
His real name was Antonio Allegri, and he was born towards
the end of the year 1494. Raphael was at this time ten years
old, Michael Angelo twenty, and Leonardo da Vinci [about

222 CORREGGIO
forty. J The father of Antonio was Pellegrino Allegri, a trades
man possessed of moderate property in houses and land. He
gave his son a careful education, and had him instructed in
literature and rhetoric, as well as in the rudiments of Art,
which he imbibed at a very early age from an uncle, Lorenzo
Allegri, a painter of little merit. Afterwards he studied for
a short time under Andrea Mantegna ; and although, when
this painter died in 1606, Antonio was but thirteen, he had so
far profited by his instructions and those of Francesco Man
tegna, who continued his father's school, that he drew well
•and caught that taste and skill in foreshortening which distin
guished his later works ; it was an art which Mantegna may
almost be said to have invented, and which was first taught
in his academy ; but the dry, hard, precise, meagre style of
the JMantegna school Correggio soon abandoned for a man
ner entirely his own, in which movement, variety, and, above
all, the most delicate gradation of light and shadow, are the
principal elements.! All these qualities are apparent in the
earliest of his authenticated ^ pictures, painted in [1516]. It
is one of the large altar-pieces in the Dresden Gallery, called
the Madonna di San Francesco, because St. Francis is one of
the principal figures. The influence of the taste and manner
of Leonardo da A-'inci is very conspicuous in this picture.
In 1619, having acquired some reputation and fortune in his
profession, Correggio married Girolama Merlini ; and in the
following year, being then six-and-twenty, he ¦was commissioned
to paint in fresco the cupola of the church of San Giovanni at
Parma. He chose for his subject the Ascension of Christ, who
in the centre appears soaring upwards into heaven, surrounded
by the Twelve Apostles, seated around on clouds, and who
appear to be watching his progress to the realms abo-^-e ; below
are the four Evangelists in the four arches, with the four
Fathers of the Church. The figures in the upper part are of
course colossal, and foreshortened with admirable skill, so as
to produce a wonderful effect when viewed from below. In
the apsis of the same church, over the high altar, he painted
the Coronation of the Virgin, but this was destroyed when the
t [Modern authorities give a somewhat different account of Correggio's art
studies, claiming that he was a pupil of Francesco Bianchi, and conjecturing that
he was afterwards in the atelier of Costa and Francia.]
2 [That is, the earliest to which his signature was attached.]

THE ASSUMPTION 223
church was subsequently enlarged, and is now only known
through engravings and the copies made by Annibal Caracci,
which are preserved at Naples. For this work Correggio re
ceived five hundred gold crowns, equal to about 1,600/. at the
present day.
About the year 1625 Correggio was invited to Mantua, where
he painted for the reigning duke, Federigo Gonzaga, the Edu
cation of Cupid, which is now in our National Gallery. For
the same accomplished but profligate prince he painted the
other mythological stories of lo, Leda, Danae, and Antiope.!
Passing over, for the present, a variety of works which Cor
reggio painted in the next four or flve years, we shall only
observe that the cupola of San Giovanni gave so much satisfac
tion that he was called upon to decorate in the same nianner
the cathedral of Parma, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
In the centre of the dome he represented the Assumption —
the Madonna soaring into heaven, while Christ descends from
his throne in bliss to meet her ; an innumerable host of saints
and angels, rejoicing and singing hymns of triumph, surround
these principal personages. Lower down in a circle stand the
Apostles, and, lower still, genii bearing candelabra and swing
ing censers. In lunettes below are the four Evangelists, the
figure of St. John being one of the finest. The whole compo
sition is full of glorious life ; wonderful for the relief, the bold
and perfect foreshortening, the management of the chiaroscuro ;
but from the innumerable figures, and the play of the limbs
seen from below — legs and arms being more conspicuous than
bodies — the great artist was reproached in his lifetime with
having painted " un guazzetto di rane " (a fricassee of frogs). ^
There are several engravings of this magnificent work ; but
those who would form a just idea of Correggio's sublime con
ception and power of drawing should see some of the cartoons
prepared for the frescoes and drawn in chalk by his own hand.
A few of these, representing chiefly angels and cherubim, were
discovered a few years ago at Parma, rolled up in a garret :
they were conveyed to Rome, thence brought to England by
1 The Leda is in the Berlin Gallery ; [the lo in Vienna] ; the Danae in the Bor
ghese Gallery ; and the Antiope in the Louvre : the latter once belonged to King
Charles. 2 In cookery only the hind legs of the frogs are used; the bodies are thrown
away.

224 CORREGGIO
Dr. Frail Braun, and are now in the British Museum. These
heads and forms are gigantic, nearly twice the size of life ; yet
such is the excellence of the drawing, and the perfect grace
and sweetness of the expression, that they strike the fancy as
sublimely beautiful, without giving the slightest impression of
exaggeration or effort. Our artists who are preparing cartoons
for works on a large scale could have no finer studies than
these grand fragments, emanations of the mind and creations
of the hand of one of the most distinguished masters in Art.
They show his manner of setting to -work, and are in this
respect an invaluable lesson to young painters.
(Jorreggio finished the dome of the cathedral of Parma in
1530, and returned to his native town, where he resided for
the remainder of his life. AVe find that in the year 1533 he
was one of the witnesses to a marriage which was celebrated
in the castle of Correggio, between Ippolito, Lord of Correggio
(son of A^eronica Gambara, the illustrious poetess, who was the
widow of Ghiberto da Correggio), and Chiara da Correggio, his
cousin. Correggio's presence on this occasion, and his signa
ture to the marriage-deed, prove the estimation in which he
was held by his sovereigns. In the following year he had
engaged to paint for Alberto Panciroli an altar-piece ; the sub
ject fixed upon is not known, but it is certainly known that
he received in advance, and before his work was commenced,
twenty-five gold crowns. It was destined never to be begun,
for soon after signing this agreement Correggio was seized with
a malignant fever, of which he died after a few days' illness,
March .5, 1534, in the forty-first year of his age. He was
buried in his family sepulchre in the Franciscan convent at
Correggio, and a few words placed over his tomb merely record
the day of his death, and his name and profession, — " Maestro
Antonio Allegei, depintoee."
There is a tradition that Correggio was a self-educated painter,
unassisted except by his own transcendent genius ; that he
lived in great obscurity and indigence ; and that he was ill
remunerated for his works. And it is further related, that,
having been paid in copper coin a sum of sixty crowns for one
of his pictures, he carried home this load in a sack on his
shoulders, being anxious to relieve the wants of his family ;
and stopping, when heated and wearied, to refresh himself with
a draught of cold water, he was seized with a fever, of which

HIS CHARACTER 225
he died. Though this tradition has been proved to be false,
and is completely refuted by the circumstances of the last years
of his life related above, yet the impression that Correggio
died miserably and in indigence prevailed to a late period.!
From whatever cause it arose, it was early current. Annibal
Carracci, writing from Parma fifty years after the death of
Correggio, says, " I rage and weep to think of the fate of this
poor Antonio ; so great a man — if, indeed, he were not rather
an angel in the flesh — to be lost here, to live unknown, and
to die unhappily ! " Now he who painted the dome of the
cathedral of Parma, and who stood by as one of the chosen
witnesses of the marriage of his sovereign, could not have lived
unknown and unregarded ; and we have no just reason to sup
pose that this gentle, amiable, and unambitious man died un
happily. AAlth regard to his deflcient education, it appears
certain that he studied anatomy under Lombardi, a famous
physician of that time, and his works exhibit not only a classi
cal and cultivated taste, but a knowledge of the sciences — of
optics, mathematics, perspective, and chemistry, as far as they
were then carried. His use and skilful preparation of rare
and expensive colors imply neither poverty nor ignorance. His
modest, quiet, amiable temper and domestic habits may have
given rise to the report that he lived neglected and obscure in
his native city ; he had not, like other great masters of his
time, an academy for teaching, and a retinue of scholars to
spread his name and contend for the supremacy of their master.
Whether Correggio ever visited Rome is a point undecided by
any evidence for or against, and it is most probable that he did
not. It is said that he was at Bologna, where he saw Raphael's
St. Cecilia, and, after contemplating it for some time with ad
miration, he turned away, exclaiming, " Anch' io sono pittore ! "
(And I too am a painter !) — an anecdote which shows that, if
unambitious and unpresuming, he was not without a conscious
ness of his own merit.^ [Vasari tells us that Correggio was
too modest to paint his own portrait, and never allowed any
other artist to do so. Several supposed portraits of Correggio
1 The popular tradition of the death of Correggio is the subject ot a very beau
tiful tragedy by Oehlenschlager.
2 [Dr. Julius Meyer calls this anecdote a mere "fable," declaring that there
is no evidence that Correggio visited Bologna, and that, even had he done so, he
could not have seen the St. Cecilia, which was not there at the time.]

226 CORREGGIO
have been engraved, but there is no proof of the authenticity
of any. One of the most interesting is in the Parma Gallery,
said to be by his own hand, but not accredited by critics.]
The father of Correggio, Pellegrino Allegri, who survived
him, repaid the twenty-five gold crowns which his son had
received in advance for work he did not live to complete.
The only son of Correggio, Pomponio Quirino Allegri, became
a painter, but never attained to any great reputation, and ap
pears to have been of a careless, restless disposition.
I will now give some account of Correggio's works. His
two greatest performances — the dome of the San Giovanni
and that of the cathedral of Parma — have been mentioned.
His smaller pictures, though not numerous, are dispersed
through so many galleries that they cannot be said to be rare.
It is remarkable that they are very seldom met with in the
possession of individuals, but, with few exceptions, are to be
found in royal and public collections.
In our National Gallery are five pictures by Correggio : two
are studies of angels' heads,! which, as they are not found in
any of the existing frescoes, are supposed to have formed part
of the composition in the San Giovanni, which, as already
related, was destroyed. The other three are among his most
celebrated works. The first. Mercury teaching Cupid to read
in the presence of A'enus, is an epitome of all the qualities
which characterize the oil-painter ; that peculiar smiling grace
which is the expression of a kind of Elysian happiness, and
that flowing outline, that melting softness of tone, which are
quite illusive. "Those who may not perfectly understand
what artists and critics mean when they dwell with rapture on
Correggio's wonderful chiaroscuro should look well into this
picture. They will perceive that in the painting of the limbs
they can look through the shadows into the substance, as it
might be into the flesh and blood ; the shadows seem mutable,
accidental, and aerial, as if between the eye and the colors, and
not incorporated with them. In this lies the inimitable excel
lence of Correggio." ^
This picture was painted for Federigo Gonzaga, duke of
Mantua ; it was brought to England in 1629, when the Man-
1 [These are marked in the catalogue as being "after Correggio."]
2 [Mrs. Jameson's] Public Galleries of Art [in or near London, vol. i. p. 33],
in which there is a history of the picture, too long to be inserted here.

CORREGGIO

HIS WORKS 227
tua Gallery was bought by our Charles I., and hung in his
apartment at Whitehall ; afterwards it passed into the posses
sion of the Duke of Alva ; then, during the French invasion
of Spain, Murat secured it as his share of the plunder ; and
his widow sold it to the Marquis of Londonderry, from whom
it was purchased by the nation. The Ecce Homo ! was pur
chased at the same time : it is chiefly remarkable for the fine
head of the A^irgin, who faints with anguish on beholding the
suffering and degradation of her Son ; the dying away of sense
and sensation under the influence of mental pain is expressed
with admirable and affecting truth : the rest of the picture is
perhaps rather feeble, and the head of Christ not to be com
pared to one crowned with thorns which is in the possession of
Lord Cowper, nor with another in the Bridgewater collection.
The third picture is a small but most exquisite Madonna,
known as the " Vierge au Panier," from the little basket in
front of the picture. The Virgin, seated, holds the infant
Christ on her knee, and looks down upon him with the fond
est expression of maternal rapture, while he gazes up in her
face : Joseph is seen in the background. This, though called
a Holy Family, is a simple domestic scene ; and Correggio
probably in this, as in other instances, made the original study
from his wife and child. Another picture in our gallery as
cribed to Correggio, the Christ on the Mount of Olives, is a
very fine old copy, perhaps a duplicate, of an original picture
now in the possession of the Duke of AA^ellington.
In the gallery of Parma are five of the most important and
beautiful pictures of Correggio. The most celebrated is that
called the St. Jerome.^ It represents the saint presenting to
the Virgin and Child his translation of the Scriptures, while
on the other side the Magdalene bends down and kisses with
devotion the feet of the infant Saviour. [The picture is called
"II Giorno," the Day.]
The Dresden Gallery is also rich in pictures of Correggio.
It contains four large altar-pieces, bought out of churches in
Modena ; among these is the famous picture of the Nativity,
called the Notte, or Night, of Correggio, because it is illumi
nated only by the unearthly splendor which beams round the
1 [Dr. Julius Meyer considers this a copy of Correggio's original painting, by
Ludovico Caracci.]
2 [See illustration in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 352.]

228 CORREGGIO
head of the infant Saviour ; and the still more famous Magda
lene, who lies extended on the ground intently reading the
Scriptures. No picture in the world has been more universally
admired and multiplied through copies and engravings than
this little picture.!
In the Florence Gallery are three pictures ; one of them, the
JMadonna on her knees, adoring with ecstasy her Infant, who
lies before her on a portion of her garment.
In the Louvre are two of his works — the Marriage of St.
Catherine ^ and the Antiope, painted for the Duke of Mantua.
In the Naples Gallery there are three ; one of them a most
lovely Madonna, called, from the peculiar headdress, the Zin-
garella, or Gypsy.
In the Vienna Gallery are [four].
There are in the British Museum a complete collection of
engravings after Correggio, and a great number of his original
drawings. Correggio had no school of painting, and all his authentic
works, except his frescoes, were executed solely by his own
hand : in the execution of his frescoes he had assistants, but
they could hardly be called his pupils. He had, however, a
host of imitators who formed what has been called the School
of Parma, of which he is considered the head. The most
famous of these imitators was Francesco Mazzola, of whom we
are now to speak.
1 [The authenticity of this famous picture has been challenged by Morelli,
whose views are adopted by Dr. Woermann. See Morelli's Critical Studies,
vol. ii. p. 158 et seq.]
'^ [See illustration in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 476.]

PARMIGIANO
Born 1503,i Died 1540
Francesco Mazzola, or Mazzuoli, called Paemigiano,
and, by the Italians, Il Paemigianino (to express by this
endearing diminutive the love as well as the admiration he in
spired even from his boyhood), was a native of Parma, born
on the 11th of January, 1503. He had tvi'o uncles who were
painters, and by them he was early initiated into some know
ledge of designing, though he could have owed little else to
them, both being very mediocre artists. Endowed with a most
precocious genius, ardent in every pursuit, he studied indefa-
tigably, and at the age of fourteen he produced a picture of
the Baptism of Christ, wonderful for a boy of his age, exhibit
ing even thus early much of that easy grace which he is sup
posed to have learned from Correggio ; but Correggio had not
then visited Parma. When he arrived there four years after
wards, for the purpose of painting the cupola of San Giovanni,
Francesco, then only eighteen, was selected as one of his assist
ants, and he took this opportunity of imbuing his mind with
a style which certainly had much analogy with his own taste
and character : Parmigiano, however, had too much genius, too
much ambition, to follow in the footsteps of another, however
great. Though not great enough himself to be first in that
age of greatness, yet, had his rivals and contemporaries been
less than giants, he must have overtopped them all ; as it was,
feeling the impossibility of rising above such men as Michael
Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, yet feeling also the consciousness
of his own power, he endeavored to be original by combining
what has not yet been harmonized in nature, therefore could
hardly succeed in Art — the grand drawing of Michael Angelo,
the antique grace of Raphael, and the melting tones and sweet
ness of Correggio. Perhaps, had he been satisfied to look at
t [The date 1503 is according to the Register ; according to the present mode
of reckoning it is 1504. Vasari also gives 1504.]

230 PARMIGIANO
nature through his own soul and eyes, he would have done
better ; had he trusted himself more, he would have escaped
some of those faults which have rendered many of his works
unpleasing, by giving the impression of effort, and of what in
art is called mannerism. Ambitious, versatile, accomplished,
generally admired for his handsome person and graceful man
ners, Parmigiano would have been spoiled by vanity, if he had
not been a man of strong sensibility and of almost fastidious
sentiment and refinement ; when these are added to genius,
the result is generally a tinge of that melancholy, of that dis
satisfaction with all that is achieved or acquired, which seem
to have entered largely into the temperament of this painter,
rendering his character and life extremely interesting, while it
strongly distinguishes him from the serenely mild and equal-
tempered Raphael, to whom he was afterwards compared.
AA^hen Parmigiano was in his twentieth year he set off for
Rome. The recent accession of Clement VIL, a declared
patron of Art, and the death of Raphael, had opened a splen
did vista of glory and success to his imagination. He carried
with him to Rome three pictures. One of these was an ex
ample of his graceful genius ; it represented the infant Christ
seated on his mother's knee, and taking some fruit from the
lap of an angel. The second was a proof of his wonderful
dexterity of hand : it was a portrait of himself seated in his
atelier amid his books and musical instruments ; but the whole
scene represented on the panel as if viewed in a convex mirror.
The third picture was an instance of the success with which
he had studied the magical effects of chiaroscuro in Correggio
— torchlight, daylight, and a celestial light being all intro
duced without disturbing the harmony of the coloring. This
last he presented to the pope, who received both the young
painter and his offering most graciously. He became a favorite
at Rome ; and as he studiously imitated while there the works '
of Raphael, and resembled him in the elegance of his person
and manners and the generosity of his disposition, the poets
complimented him by saying, or singing, that the late-lost and
lamented Raphael had revived in the likeness of Parmigiano :
we can now measure more justly the distance which separated
them. AA'hile at Rome, Francesco was greatly patronized by the
Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, and painted for him several

VISION OF ST. JEROME

231

n^

"^ '
I 4»

Parmigiano (by himself)
beautiful pictures ; for the pope also, several others, and the
portrait of a young captain of his guard, Lorenzo Cibo, which
is supposed to be the fine portrait now at AA^indsor. For a
noble lady, a certain Donna JMaria Buffalini, he painted a grand
altar-piece to adorn the chapel of her family at Citt;i di Cas-
tello. This is the celebrated Vision of St. Jerome, now in
our National Gallery : it represents the A'irgin holding a book,
with the infant Christ leaning on her knee, as seen above in
a glory, while St. John the Baptist points to the celestial
vision, and St. Jerome is seen asleep in the background.
This picture is an eminent example of all the beauties and

232 PARMIGIANO
faults of Parmigiano. The Madonna and the Child are models
of dignity and grace ; the drawing is correct and elegant ; the
play of the lights and shadows, in delicate management, worthy
of Correggio ; on the other hand, the attitude of St. John the
Baptist is an attempt at singularity in drawing, which is alto
gether forced and theatrical ; while the foreshortened figure of
St. Jerome in the background is most uncomfortably distorted.
Notwithstanding these faults, the picture has always been
much celebrated. When the church in which it stood was
destroyed by an earthquake, the picture was purchased from
among the ruins, and afterwards sold to the Marquis of Aber-
corn for fifteen hundred guineas ; subsequently it passed
through the hands of two great collectors, Mr. Hart Davis and
Mr. Watson Taylor, and was at length purchased by the mem
bers of the British Institution, and by them generously pre
sented to the nation.
It is related that Rome was taken by assault and pillaged
by the barbarous soldiery of the Constable de Bourbon at the
very time that Parmigiano was painting on this picture, and
that he was so absorbed by his work that he heard nothing
of the tumult around him till some soldiers, with an officer at
their head, broke into his atelier. As he turned round in
quiet surprise from his easel, they were so struck by the beauty
of his work, as well as by the composure of the artist, that
they retired without doing him any injury. But another
party afterwards seized him, insisted on ransom, and robbed
him of all he possessed. Thus reduced to poverty, he fled
from Rome, noAv a scene of indescribable horrors, and reached
Bologna barefoot and penniless.
But the man of genius has at least this high privilege, that
he carries with him everywhere two things of which no earthly
power can rob him — his talent and his fame. On arriving
at Bologna he drew and etched some beautiful compositions.
He is said by some to have himself invented the art of etching,
— that is, of corroding, or, as it is technically termed, biting
the lines on the copper-plate by means of nitrous acid, instead
of cutting them with the graver. By this new-found art he
was relieved from the immediate pressure of poverty, and very
soon found himself, as a painter, in full employment. He exe
cuted at Bologna some of his most celebrated works : the Ma
donna della Rosa of the Dresden Gallery, and the Madonna

WORK IN THE STECCATA 233
del collo lungo (or long-necked Madonna) in the Pitti Palace
at Florence ; also, a famous altar-piece called the St. Margaret
[Bologna Gallery]. Of all these there are numerous engrav
ings. After residing nearly four years at Bologna, Parmigiano
returned, rich and celebrated, to his native city. He reached
Parma in 1631, and was immediately engaged to paint in fresco
a new church which had recently been erected to the honor of
the Virgin Mary, and called the Steccata. There were, how
ever, some delays on the side of his employers, and more on
his own, and four years passed before he set to work. Much
indignation was excited by his dilatory conduct ; but it was
appeased by the interference of his friend Francesco Boiardo,
who offered himself as his surety for the completion of his
undertaking within a given time. A new contract was signed,
and Parmigiano thereupon presented to his friend his picture
of Cupid shaping his Bow, a lovely composition ; so beautiful,
that it has been again and again attributed to Correggio, and
engraved under his name, but it is undoubtedly by Parmigiano.
Several repetitions of it were executed at the time, so much
did it delight all who saw it. Engravings and copies likewise
abound ; a very good copy is in the Bridgewater Gallery : the
picture which is regarded as the original is in the gallery of
the Belvedere at Vienna.
At last he began his works in the Steccata, and there he
executed his figure of Moses in act to break the Tables of the
Law, and his Eve in act to pluck the forbidden fruit : the
former is a proof of the height he could aspire to in sublime
conception ; we have few examples in act of equal grandeur
of character and drawing : the poet Gray acknowledged that
when he pictured his Bard, —
Loose his beard and hoary hair
Streamed like a meteor on the troubled air, —
he had this magnificent figure full in his mind. The Eve, on
the other hand, is a perfect example of that peculiar grace in
which Parmigiano excelled.
After he had painted these and a few other figures in the
church, more delays ensued. It is said by some that Parmi
giano had wasted his money in gambling and dissipation, and
now gave himself up to the pursuit of the philosopher's stone,

234 PARMIGIANO
with a hope of repairing his losses. One of his biographers
has taken pains to disprove these imputations ; but that he
was improvident, restless, and fond of pleasure is admitted.
AVhatever might have been the cause, he broke his contract,
and was thrown into prison. To obtain his freedom, he
entered into a new engagement, but was no sooner at liberty
than he escaped to the territory of Cremona. Here his consti
tutional melancholy seized him ; and though he lived, or
rather languished, long enough to paint some beautiful pic
tures, he died in a few months afterwards, and was, at his
own request, laid in the earth without any coffin or covering,
only a cross of cypress-wood was placed on his breast. He
died just twenty years after Raphael, and at the same age,
having only completed his thirty-seventh year.
Parmigiano, in his best pictures, is one of the most fasci
nating of painters — dignified, graceful, harmonious. His
children, Cupids, and angels are, in general, exquisite ; his
portraits are noble, and are perhaps his finest and most faultless
productions — the Moses and the Eve excepted. It was the
error of Parmigiano that in studying grace he was apt to devi
ate into affectation, and become what the French called mani-
ere. All studied grace is disagreeable. In' his female figures
he lengthened the limbs, the necks, the fingers, till the effect
was not grace, but a kind of stately feebleness ; and as he im
itated at the same time the grand drawing and large manner
of JMichael Angelo, the result conveys an impression of some
thing quite incongruous in nature and in art. Then his
Madonnas have in general a mannered grandeur and elegance,
something between goddesses and duchesses ; and his female
saints are something between nymphs and maids of honor.
For instance, none of his compositions, not even the Cupid
shaping his Bow, has been more popular than his Marriage of
St. Catherine, of which there are so many repetitions ; a fa
mous one in the collection of Lord Normanton ; another,
smaller and most exquisite, in the Grosvenor Gallery — not to
speak of an infinitude of copies and engravings : but is not the
Madonna, with her long slender neck and her half-averted
head far more aristocratic than divine ? and does not St.
Catherine hold out her pretty finger for the ring with the air
of a lady-bride ? — and most of the sacred pictures of Parmi-

HIS STYLE 235
giano are liable to the same censure. Annibal Caracci, in a
famous sonnet, in which he pointed out what was most
worthy of imitation in the elder painters, recommends, signifi
cantly, " a little " of the grace of Parmigiano ; thereby indicat
ing, what we feel to be the truth, that he had too much.

GIORGIONE
Bokn 1478,1 Died 1511
This painter was another great inventor ; one of those who
stamped his own individuality on his art. He was essentially
a poet, and a subjective poet, who fused his own being with
all he performed and created : if Raphael be the Shakespeare,
then GiOEGiONE may be styled the Byron, of painting.
He was born at Castel Franco, a small town in the territory
of Treviso, and his proper name was Giorgio Barbarelli.
Nothing is known of his family or of his younger years, ex
cept that, having shown a strong disposition to Art, he was
brought, when a boy, to Venice, and placed under the tuition
of Gian Bellini. As he grew up he was distinguished by his
tall noble figure and the dignity of his deportment ; and his
companions called him Giorgione, or George the Great, by
which nickname he has, after the Italian fashion, descended to
posterity. Giorgione appears to have been endowed by nature with an
intense love of beauty and a sense of harmony which pervaded
his whole being. He was famous as a player and composer
on the lute, to which he sung his own verses. In his works
two characteristics prevail, sentiment and color ; both tinged
by the peculiar temperament of the man : the sentiment is
noble, but melancholy, and the color decided, intense, and
glowing. His execution had a freedom, a careless mastery of
hand, or, to borrow the untranslatable Italian word, a sprezza-
tura, unknown before his time. The idea that he founded
his style on that of Leonardo da A'inci cannot be entertained
by those who have studied the works of both ; nothing can be
more distinct in character and feeling.
It is to be regretted that of one so interesting in his charac
ter and his works we know so little ; yet more to be regretted
1 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle say that Giorgione was born before 1477, but
authorities usually follow Vasari, who says 1478.]

HIS FRESCOES

237

Giorgione (attributed to himself)
that a being gifted with the passionate sensibility of a poet
should have been employed chiefly in decorative painting, and
that, too, confined to the outsides of the A^enetian palaces.
These creations have been destroyed by fire, ruined by time,
or effaced by the damps of the Lagune. He appears to have
early acquired fame in his art, and we find him in [1606]
employed, together with Titian, in painting with frescoes the
exterior of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the hall of Exchange

238 GIORGIONE
belonging to the German merchants). That part intrusted
to Giorgione he covered with the most beautiful and poetical
figures ; but the significance of the whole was soon after the
artist's death forgotten, and A^asari tells us that in his time
no one could interpret it. It appears to have been a sort of
arabesque on a colossal scale.
Giorgione delighted in fresco as a vehicle, because it gave
him ample scope for that largeness and freedom of outline
which characterized his manner ; unhappily, of his numerous
works, only the merest fragments remain. AA^e have no evi
dence that he exercised his art elsewhere than at Venice, or
that he ever resided out of the Venetian territory : in his pic
tures the heads, features, costumes, are all stamped with the
Venetian character. He had no school, though, induced by
his social and affectionate nature, he freely imparted what he
knew, and often worked in conjunction with others. His
love of music and his love of pleasure sometimes led him
astray from his art, but were oftener his inspirers : both are
embodied in his pictures, particularly his exquisite pastorals
and concerts, over which, however, he has breathed that cast
of thoughtfulness and profound feeling which, in the midst
of harmony and beauty, is like a revelation or a prophecy of
sorrow. All the rest of what is recorded concerning the life and
death of Giorgione may be told in a few words. Among the
painters who worked with him was Pietro Luzzo, of Feltri,
near Venice, known in the history of Art as Morto da Feltri,
and mentioned by Vasari as the inventor, or rather reviver of
arabesque painting in the antique style, which he had studied
amid the dark vaults of the Roman ruins. This Morto, as
Ridolfi relates, was the friend of Giorgione, and lived under
the same roof with him. He took advantage of Giorgione's
confidence to seduce aud carry off from his house a girl whom
he passionately loved. AA^ounded doubly by the falsehood of
his mistress and the treachery of his friend, Giorgione sank
into despair, and soon afterwards died, at the early age of
thirty-three. Morto da Feltri afterwards fled from A'enice,
entered the army, and was killed at the battle of Zara in 1519.
Such is the Venetian tradition.
Giorgione's genuine pictures are very rarely to be met

LANDSCAPES AND PASTORALS 239
with ; ! of those ascribed to him, the greater number were
painted by Pietro della Veechia, a Venetian who had a pecul
iar talent for imitating Giorgione's manner of execution and
style of color. These imitations deceived picture dealers and
collectors ; they could not for one moment deceive those who
had looked into the feeling impressed on Giorgione's works.
The only picture which could have imposed on the true lover
of Giorgione is that in Lord Ellesmere's gallery, the Three
Ages, by Titian, in which the tone of sentiment as well as
the manner of Giorgione are so happily imitated that for many
years it was attributed to him. It was painted by Titian when
he was the friend and daily companion of Giorgione, and under
the immediate influence of his feelings and. genius.
We may divide the undoubted and existing pictures of
Giorgione into three classes.
I. The historical subjects, which are very uncommon ; such
seem to have been principally confined to his frescoes, and
have mostly perished.^
Sacred subjects of the usual kind were so seldom painted
by Giorgione that there are not perhaps half a dozen in ex
istence. [An interesting example is in the Madrid Gallery,
where it is attributed to Pordenone. It is a Madonna and
Child between St. Anthony and St. Roch.^]
II. There is a class of subjects which Giorgione represented
with peculiar grace and felicity. They are in painting what
idyls and lyrics are in poetry, and seem like direct inventions
of the artist's own mind, though some are supposed to be
scenes from Venetian tales and novels now lost. These gen
erally represent groups of cavaliers and ladies seated in beauti
ful landscapes under the shade of trees, conversing or playing
on musical instruments. Such pictures are not unfrequent,
and have a particular charm, arising from the union of melan
choly feeling with luxurious and festive enjoyment, and a
mysterious allegorical significance now only to be surmised.
1 [Morelli enumerates nineteen authentic paintings by Giorgione. Vide
Critical Studies of the Italian Painters, vol. ii. p. 22-t.]
2 [Two historical pictures once attributed to Giorgione are The Tempest, in
the Venice Academy, and the Death of St. Peter Martyr, in the National Gal
lery. The former is now assigned to Paris Bordone, the latter to Cariani.]
8 [Vide Morelli's Critical Studies of the Italian Painters, vol. ii. p. 216.]

240 GIORGIONE
To this class may be referred the three AVise Men of the East
watching for the Star, in the Belvedere at Vienna.!
III. His portraits are magnificent. They have all, with
the strongest resemblance to general nature, a grand ideal cast;
for it was in the character of the man to idealize everything
he touched. A'ery few of his portraits are now to be identified.
[The Berlin Gallery contains a brilliant example. The sub
ject is a young man with keen expression. Other good speci
mens of Giorgione's portraiture are in the Borghese Gallery at
Rome, the Esterhazy at Buda Pesth, and the Uffizi at Flor
ence.^] Lord Byron has celebrated in some beautiful lines
the impression made on his mind by a picture in the Manfrini
Palace ^ at A'enice ; but the poet errs in styling it the " por
traits of Giorgione's son, and wife, and self : " Giorgione never
had either son or wife. The picture alluded to represents a
Venetian lady, a cavalier, and a page, — portraits evidently,
but the names are unknown.
The striking characteristic of all Giorgione's pictures,
whether portraits, ideal heads, or compositions, is the inefface
able impression they leave on the memory — the impression
of reality. In the apparent simplicity of the means through
which this effect is produced, the few j^et splendid colors, the
vigorous decision of touch, the depth and tenderness of the
sentiment, they remind us of the old religious music — a few
simple notes, long sustained, deliciously blended, swelling
into a rich, full, and perfect harmony, and melting into the
soul. Though Giorgione left no scholars, properly so called, he
had many imitators, and no artist of his time exercised a more
extensive and long-felt influence. He diffused that taste for
vivid and warm color which we see in contemporary and suc
ceeding artists ; and he tinged with his manner and feeling the
whole A'enetian school. Among those who were inspired by
this powerful and ardent mind may be mentioned Sebastian
del Piombo, of whom some account has already been given,
Jacopo Palma, called Old Palma (Palma Vecchio), Paris
1 Called the "Asfrologi," "Die Feldmasser," [and "Die drei morgenland-
ischen Weisen."] Vide Legends of the .^fadonna, p. 2fi2.
2 [The portrait in the iMunich Gallery long thought to be Giorgione's, by
himself, is now catalogued to Palma and attributed to Cariani by Morelli.]
3 [Referred by Sir Henry Layard to the collection of the Prince Giovanelli.]

DISTINGUISHED FROM TITIAN 241
Bordone, Pordenone, and, lastly, Titian, the great represen
tative of the Venetian school. The difference between Gior
gione and Titian, as colorists, seems to be this, that the colors
of Giorgione appear as if lighted up from within, and those
of Titian as if lighted from without. The epithet fiery or
glowing would apply to Giorgione ; the epithet golden would
express the predominant hues of Titian.

TITIAN
BoEN 1477, Died 1576
TiziANO A^ECELLi was born at Cadore in the Friuli, a dis
trict to the north of Venice, where the ancient family of the
Vecelli had been long settled. There is something very amus
ing and characteristic in the first indication of his love of Art ;
for while it is recorded of other young artists that they took
a piece of charcoal or a piece of slate to trace the images in
their fancy, we are told that the infant Titian, with an instinc
tive feeling prophetic of his future excellence as a colorist,
used the expressed juice of certain flowers to paint a figure of
a JMadonna. AA'hen he was a boy of nine years old his father
Gregorio carried him to Venice and placed him under the
tuition of Sebastian Zuccato, a painter and worker in mosaic.
He left this school for that of the Bellini, where the friendship
and fellowship of Giorgione seems early to have awakened his
mind to new ideas of Art and color. Albert Diirer, who was
at Venice in 1494, and again in 1507, also influenced him.
At this time, when Titian and Giorgione were youths of
eighteen and nineteen, they lived and worked together. It
has been already related that they were employed in painting
the frescoes of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi ; the preference being
given to Titian's performance, which represented the story of
Judith, caused such a jealousy between the two friends that
they ceased to reside together ; but at this time and for some
years afterwards the influence of Giorgione on the mind and
the style of Titian was such that it became difficult to distin
guish their works ; and on the death of Giorgione, Titian was
required to complete his unflnished pictures. This great loss
to Venice and the world left him in the prime of life without
a rival. AA^e flnd him for a few years chiefly employed in
decorating the palaces of the Venetian nobles, both in the city
and on the mainland. The first of his historical compositions
which is celebrated by his biographers is the Presentation of

HIS WORKS 243
the Virgin in the Temple, a large picture, now in the Academy
of Arts at Venice ; and [among] the first portraits recorded is
that of Catherine, queen of Cyprus, of which numerous repe
titions and copies were scattered over all Italy : ! there is a
fine original in the Dresden Gallery.^ This unhappy Catherine
Gornaro, the " daughter of St. Mark," having been forced to
abdicate her crown in favor of the Venetian State, was at this
time living in a sort of honorable captivity at Venice. She
had been a widow for forty years, and he has represented her
in deep mourning, holding a rosary in her hand — the face
still bearing traces of that beauty for which she was cele
brated. It appears that Titian was married about 1612 ; but of his
wife we do not hear anything more. We know that her name
was Cecilia (not Lucia, as she is sometimes called), and that
she bore him three children, two sons, and a daughter called
Lavinia. It seems probable, on a comparison of dates, that
she died about the year 1530.
One of the earliest works on which Titian was engaged was
the decoration of the convent of St. Anthony at JPadua, in
which he executed a series of frescoes from the life of St.
Anthony.^ Perugino was at Venice in 1515 : he was then an
old man ; and looking round him at what the Venetian painters
were achieving, he seems to have been reluctant to enter the
lists with them, and went away without doing anything. In
fact, Titian [began] in the next year (1616) his famous As
sumption of the Virgin for the Frari * — a picture of dazzling
splendor. It is now in the Academy at Venice ; well known
from innumerable copies [and photographs], and the fine en
graving by Schiavone. He was next summoned to Ferrara by
the Duke Alphonso I., and was employed in his service for at
least two years. He painted for this prince the beautiful pic
ture of Bacchus and Ariadne, which is now in our National
Gallery, and which presents on a small scale an epitome of all
the beauties which characterize Titian, in the rich, picturesque,
animated composition — in the ardor of Bacchus, who flings
1 [For a discussion of the various portraits said to represent Catherine Cornaro,
see Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Titian, vol. i. pp. 57, 58.]
2 [Catalogued as a "Lady in Sorrow."]
2 [See the Legends of the Monastic Orders, p. 295.]
¦* [See the Legends of the Madonna, p. 354.]

244 TITIAN
himself from his car to pursue Ariadne — in the dancing bac
chanals, the frantic grace of the bacchante, and the little joyous
satyr in front, trailing the head of the sacrifice. This picture
was suggested by a passage in Catullus. The poet, in the
" Marriage of Peleus and Thetis," describes the couch of the
goddess-bride as covered with rich tapestry " embroidered with
figures in gorgeous colors, portrayed with wondrous art." It
represents the story of Ariadne. In one part she is seen wan
dering on the shore of Naxos, after she has been abandoned by
Theseus, broken-hearted, and appealing to all the gods against
the perfidy of her lover. In another part Bacchus is seen ap
proaching : — Young lacchus, flushed
With bloom of youth, comes flying from above
Witli choirs of satyrs and Sileui born
In Indian Nyse: seeking thee he conies,
O Ariadne! with thy love inflamed !
They, blythe, from every side come revelling on,
Disti-aught with jocund madness, with a burst
Of Bacchic outcries, aud with tossing heads!
Some shake their ivy-shrouded spears; and some
From hand to hand, in wild and fitful feast.
Snatch the torn heifer's limbs: some gird themselves
With twisted serpents ; others bear along,
In hollow arks, the mysteries of the god.
. . . . . On timbrels others smite
With tapering hands, or from smooth orbs of brass
Clank forth a tinkling sound; and many blow
On the hoaise horn; and the barbaric pipe
Brays harsh upon the ear its dinning tune.
We have only to read this fancied description of a fancied
picture in presence of ~the real picture to feel how Titian has
animated the words into hues and forms, and rendered the
whole scene literally, line for line.
Titian also painted for Duke Alphonso two other festive
subjects : one, [" The Bacchanal,"] in which a nymph and two
men are dancing, while another nymph lies asleep ; and a third
in which a number of children and Cupids are sporting round
a statue of A'enus : there are here upwards of sixty figures in
every variety of attitude, some fluttering in the air, some
climbing the fruit-trees, some shooting arroAvs, or embracing
each other. This picture is known as tbe Sacrifice to the God
dess of Fertility. AA^hile it remained in Italy it was a study
for the first painters, for Poussin, the Caracci, Albano, and Fia-

HIS WORKS 245
mingo the sculptor, so famous for his models of children.
These two pictures are now at Madrid. A good copy of the
last used to hang in the dark at Hampton Court, and has been
lately removed to AA^indsor. At Ferrara, Titian also painted
the well-known picture in the Louvre, called " Titian and his
Mistress," but which I have no doubt represents the Duke
Alphonso and his second wife Laura ; and here also he formed
a friendship with the poet Ariosto, whose portrait he painted,
and who, in return, consecrated to him two lines of the Or
lando Furioso.
In [1613] he [had been] invited to Rome by Leo X., for
whom Raphael, then in the zenith of his powers, was execut
ing some of his finest works. It is curious to speculate what
influence these two great and gifted men might have exercised
on each other had they met ; but it was not so decreed. Titian
was strongly attached to his home and his friends at Venice ;
and to his birthplace, the little town of Cadore, he paid an
annual summer visit. His long absence at Ferrara had wearied
him of courts and princes ; and, instead of going to Rome to
swell the luxurious state of Leo X., he returned to A''enice and
remained there stationary for the next few years, enriching its
palaces and churches with his magnificent works. These were
so numerous that it would be in vain to attempt to give an
account even of those considered as the finest among them.
In the year [1530] Titian finished for the Dominicans the
Death of St. Peter Martyr when attacked by assassins at the
entrance of a wood. The resignation of the prostrate victim
and the ferocity of the murderer, the attendant flying " in the
agonies of cowardice," with the trees waving their distracted
boughs amid the violence of the tempest, have rendered this
picture famous as a piece of scenic poetry as well as of dramatic
expression. [The picture was unfortunately destroyed by fire
in 1866.]
[In 1532 the Emperor Charles V. of Spain was in Mantua,
and was so struck by a remarkable portrait of the duke which
Titian had painted that he expressed a strong desire to obtain
a portrait of himself by the same hand. It was not long after
that the royal patron gave the great painter his first sitting.]
Charles V. was represented in complete armor on horseback,
and he was so satisfied with his portrait, that he became the
zealous friend and patron of the painter. The portrait of the

246 TITIAN
Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, in the Hungarian costume, now
in the Pitti Palace, belongs to this period.
He had up to this time managed his worldly affairs with
great economy, but now he purchased for himself a house oppo
site to Murano, and lived splendidly, combining with the most
indefatigable industry the liveliest enjoyment of existence;
his favorite companions were the architect Sansovino and the
witty profligate Pietro Aretino. Titian has often been re
proached with his friendship for Aretino, and nothing can be
said in his excuse, except that the proudest princes in Europe
condescended to flatter and caress this unprincipled literary
ruffian, who was pleased to designate himself as the " friend of
Titian, and the scourge of princes." !
Thus, in the practice of his art, in the society of his friends,
and in the enjoyment of the pleasures of life, did Titian pass
several years.
In the middle of this century he was without a rival in his
art. Leonardo, Raphael, Correggio, Andrea del Sarto, had all
passed away. Titian himself, at the age of sixty, was no longer
young, but he still retained all the vigor and the freshness of
youth ; neither eye nor hand, nor creative energy of mind, had
failed him yet. He visited Urbino, where he painted for the
duke [1537] the famous Venus which hangs in the Tribune of
the Uffizi, Florence, and many other pictures. [In 1543] he
was again invited to Ferrara, and painted there the portrait
of the old pope Paul III.
Pope Paul III. invited him to Rome, whither he repaired
in 1646. There he painted that wonderful picture of the old
pope with his two nephews (the Duke Ottavio and Cardinal
Farnese) which is now in the Museum at Naples.'^ The head
of the pope is a miracle of character and expression : a keen-
visaged, thin little man, with meagre fingers like birds' claws,
and an eager cunning look, riveting the gazer like the eye of a
snake — nature itself ! — and the pope had either so little or
1 Titian's house and garden were near that part of Venice which is now called
the Fondamente Ntiove, with a vineyard stretching down to the shore. The
house, though now blocked up with buildings, is still standing. See, in Stitdies,
Stories, and -Memoirs, by Mrs. Jameson [Boston, 1894], the Essay on the House
of Titian.
2 There are two alike in treatment. The finest is the one unfinished, which
appears to be the first sketch from life. Another of Paul III. is in the Belvedere
at Vienna.

TITIAN (BY himself)

AT AUGSBURG 247
SO much vanity as to be perfectly satisfied : he rewarded the
painter munificently ; he even offered to make his son Pompo
nio bishop of Ceneda, which Titian had the good sense to
refuse. AVhile at Rome he painted several pictures for the
Farnese family, among them the Venus and Adonis, of which
a repetition is in our National Gallery ; a Danae which excited
the admiration of Michael Angelo [Naples Museum]. At
this time Titian was in his seventieth year.
He next, by command of Charles V., repaired to Augsburg,
where the emperor held his court. Eighteen years had elapsed
since he first sat to Titian, and he was now broken by the
cares of government — far older at fifty than the painter at
seventy. It was at Augsburg that the incident occurred
which has been so often related : Titian dropped his pencil,
and Charles, taking it up and presenting it, replied to the
artist's excuses that " Titian was worthy of being served by
Caesar." This pretty anecdote is not without its parallel in
modern times. When Sir Thomas Lawrence was painting at
Aix-la-Chapelle, as he stooped to place a picture on his easel,
the Emperor of Russia anticipated him, and taking it up ad
justed it himself ; but we do not hear that he made any speech
on the occasion. When at Augsburg, Titian was ennobled
and created a count of the empire, with a pension of tvpo hun
dred gold ducats, and his son Pomponio was appointed canon
of the cathedral of Milan. After the abduction and death of
Charles V., Titian continued in great favor with his successor,
Philip II. , for whom he painted several pictures. It is not
true, however, that Titian visited Spain : the assertion that he
did so rests on the sole authority of Palomino, a Spanish
writer on Art, and, though wholly unsupported by evidence,
has been copied from one book into another. Later researches
have proved that Titian returned from Augsburg to Venice,
and an uninterrupted series of letters and documents, with
dates of time and place, remain to show that, with the excep
tion of this visit to Augsburg and another [in 1550], he
resided constantly in Italy, and principally at Venice, from
[1551] to his death. Notwithstanding the compliments and
patronage and nominal rewards he received from the Spanish
court, Titian was worse off under Philip II. than he had been
under Charles V. His pension was constantly in arrears ; the
payments for his pictures evaded by the officials ; and we find

248 TITIAN
the great painter constantly presenting petitions and complaints
in moving terms, which always obtained gracious but illusive
answers. Philip II. , who commanded the riches of the Indies,
was for many years a debtor to Titian for at least two thousand
gold crowns, and his accounts were not settled at the time of
his death. For our Queen JMary of England, who wished to
patronize a man favored by her husband, Titian painted several
pictures, some of which were in the possession of Charles I. ;
others had been carried to Spain after the death of Mary, and
are now in the royal gallery at Madrid.
Besides the pictures painted by command for royal and no
ble patrons, Titian, who was unceasingly occupied, had always
a great number of pictures in his house which he presented to
his friends, or to the officers and attendants of the court, as a
means of procuring their favor. There is extant a letter of
Aretino, in which he describes the scene which took place
when the emperor summoned his favorite painter to attend the
court at Augsburg in 1550. " It was," he says, " the most
flattering testimony to his excellence to behold, as soon as it
was known that the divine painter was sent for, the crowds of
people running to obtain, if possible, the productions of his
art ; and how they endeavored to purchase the pictures, great
and small, and everything that was in the house, at any price ;
for everybody seems assured that his august majesty will so
treat his Apelles that he will no longer condescend to exercise
his pencil except to oblige him."
The " A'enus and Adonis " now in our National Gallery
was painted by Titian for Philip II. in 1664, when he was in
his seventy-eighth year, and the Cenacolo now at Madrid in
1665,! when he was in his eighty-ninth year ; but time passed
on, and seemed to have no power to quench the ardor of this
wonderful old man. He was eighty-one when he painted the
Martyrdom of St. Laurence, one of his largest and grandest
compositions. The Magdalene, the half-length figure with
uplifted streaming eyes, which he sent to Philip II. , was exe
cuted even later : and it was not till he was approaching his
ninetieth year that he showed in his works symptoms of en
feebled powers ; and then it seemed as if sorrow rather than
time had reached him and conquered him at last. He had
lost his daughter Lavinia, who had been his model for many
1 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle give the date a year earlier.]

HIS DEATH 249
beautiful pictures. The death of many friends, the compan
ions of his convivial hours, left him " alone in his glory ; "
and he found in his beloved art the only refuge from grief.
His son Pomponio was still the same worthless profligate in
age that he had been in youth : his son Orazio attended upon
him with truly filial duty and affection, and under his father's
tuition had become an accomplished artist ; but as they always
worked together, and on the same canvas, his works are not to
be distinguished from his father's. Titian was likewise sur
rounded by painters who, without being precisely his scholars,
had assembled from every part of Europe to profit by his in
structions.! The early morning and the evening hour found
him at his easel ; or lingering in his little garden (where he
had feasted with Aretino and Sansovino, and Bembo and Ari
osto, and " the most gracious Virginia," and " the most beau
tiful Violante "), and gazing on the setting sun, with a thought
perhaps of his own long and bright career fast hastening to its
close, — not that such anticipations clouded his cheerful spirit
— buoyant to the last ! In 1674, when he was in his ninety-
seventh year, Henry III. of France landed at Venice on his
way from Poland, and was magnificently entertained by the
Republic. On this occasion the king, attended by a numerous
suite of princes and nobles, visited Titian at his own house.
Titian entertained them with splendid hospitality ; and when
the king asked the price of some pictures which pleased him,
he presented them as a gift to his majesty, and every one
praised his easy and noble manners and his generous bearing.
Two years more passed away, and the hand did not yet
tremble, nor did the eye wax dim. When the plague broke
out in Venice, in 1676, the nature of the distemper was at first
mistaken, and the most common precautions neglected ; the
contagion spread, and Titian and his son were among those
who perished : every one had fled, and before life was extinct
some ruffians entered his chamber and carried off, before his
eyes, his money, jewels, and some of his pictures. His death
took place on the 9th of September, 1576. A law had been
made during the plague that none should be buried in the
churches, but that all the dead bodies should be carried be
yond the precincts of the city. An exception, however, even in
1 It seems however, generally admitted that Titian, either from impatience
or jealousy, or both, was a very bad instructor in his art.

250 TITIAN
that hour of terror and anguish, was made in favor of Titian:
his remains were borne with honor to the tomb and deposited
in the church of Santa Maria de' Frari, for which he had
painted his famous Assumption. [His monument is an object
of unique interest to the traveller in Venice. It was erected
in 1852 by Emperor Ferdinand I. The three most celebrated
compositions of Titian are reproduced in the bas-reliefs of
which it is composed : the Assumption, the Death of St. Peter
JMartyr, and the JMartyrdom of St. Laurence. Above are re
liefs representing his first and last works, the Visitation and
the Descent from the Cross.]
This was the life and death of the famous Titian. He was
preijminently the painter of nature ; but to him nature was
clothed in a perpetual garb of beauty, or rather, to him nature
and beauty were one. In historical compositions and sacred
subjects he has been rivalled and surpassed, but as a portrait
painter never ; and his portraits of celebrated persons have at
once the truth and the dignity of history. It would be in
vain to attempt to give any account of his works ; numerous as
they are, not all that are attributed to him in various galleries
are his : many are by Palma, Bonifazio, and others his contem
poraries, who imitated his manner with more or less success.
As almost exeij gallery in Europe, public and private, contains
pictures attributed to him, I shall not attempt to enumerate
even the acknowledged chefs-iFoi-uvre. It will be interesting,
however, to give some account of those of his works contained
in our national and royal galleries. In our National Gallery
there are five, of which the Bacchus and Ariadne and the
A'enus and Adonis are fair examples of his power in the poet
ical department of his art. The lovely little picture of Christ
appearing to JMary JMagdalene, which belonged to JMr. Rogers,
and used to hang in the poet's drawing-room, he bequeathed
to the National Gallery in 1866 ; but we still want one of his
inestimable portraits. In the gallery at Hampton Court there
are seven or eight pictures attributed to him, most of them in
a miserably ruined condition.! The finest of these is a portrait
of a man in black, with a white shirt seen above his vest up
to his throat ; in his right hand a red book, his forefinger be-
1 [Although there are several pictures attributed to Titian in Ernest Law's
catalogue, Mary Logan's Guide gives only two as authentic]

HIS PICTURES IN ENGLAND 251
tween the leaves : it is called in the old catalogues Alessandro
de' Medici, and has been engraved under the name of Boccac
cio ; ! but it has no pretensions to either name : it is a wonder
ful piece of life. There is also a lovely figure of a standing
Lucretia, about half life size, with very little drapery — ¦ not at
all characteristic of the modest Lucretia who arranged her
robes that she might fall with decorum : she holds with her
left hand a red veil over her face, and in the right a dagger
with which she is about to stab herself. This picture belonged
to Charles I., and came to England with the Mantua Gallery
in 1629 ; it was sold in 1650, after the king's death, for 200/.
(a large price for the time), and afterwards restored. In the
collection at AA^indsor there are the portraits of Titian and
Andrea Franceschini, half length, in the same picture. Fran-
ceschini was chancellor of the Republic, and distinguished for
his literary attainments ; he is seen in front in a robe of crim
son (the habit of a cavaliero of St. Mark), and holds a paper
in his hand. The acute and refined features have that expres
sion of mental power which Titian, without any apparent
effort, could throw into a head : the fine old face and flowing
heard of Titian appear behind. This picture belonged to
Charles I., and was sold after his death for 112/. ; it has been
called in various catalogues Titian and Aretino, [but in the
" Official Guide to Windsor Castle," 1894, it is correctly en
tered.] In the Louvre there are [about fifteen] pictures by Titian ;
in the Vienna Gallery [a much larger number, more indeed
than in all the other German collections put together]. The
Madrid Gallery contains most of the fine pictures painted for
Charles A^. and Philip II.
Before I quit the subject of Titian, I may remark that a
collection of his engraved portraits would form a complete his
torical gallery illustrative of the times in which he lived. Not
only was his art at the service of princes and their favorite
beauties, but it was ever ready to immortalize the features of
those who were the objects of his own affection and admiration.
1 The engraving, which is most admirable, was executed by Cornelius Vischer,
when the picture was in Holland, in the possession of a great collector of that
time named Van Kevnst, from whom the States of Holland purchased it with
several others, and presented them to Charles I.

252 TITIAN
Unfortunately it was not his custom to inscribe on the canvas
the names of those who sat to him : many of the most glorious
heads he ever painted remain to this hour unknown. Amid
all their reality (and nothing in painting ever so conveyed the
idea of a presence) they have a particular dignity which strikes
us with respect ; we would fain interrogate them, while they
look at us lifelike, grandly, calmly, like beings of another
world ; they seem to recognize us, but we can never recognize
them : only we feel the certainty that just as they now look,
so they lived and looked in long past times. Such a portrait
is that in Hampton Court Gallery ; that grave dark man, — in
figure and attitude so tranquil, so contemplative, but in his
eyes and on his lips a revelation of feeling and eloquence.
But leaving these, I will subjoin here a short list of those
great and celebrated personages who are known to have sat
to Titian, and whose portraits remain to us, a precious legacy,
and forming the truest commentary on their lives, deeds, and
works.! Charles V. Titian painted this emperor several times : the
first time in [1532-33], in a full suit of armor, when he was a
young man full of health and conscious of power ; ^ the last
time in [1648], when he was a broken-down and feeble old
man, seated in an armchair in a velvet dressing - gown.
[Munich Gallery.] He has always a grave, even melancholy,
expression, very short hair and beard, a large square brow, and
the full lips and projecting under-jaw which became a deform
ity in his descendants.
His wife, the Empress Isabella, holding flowers in her
hand. Philip II. : like his father, but uglier, more melancholy,
less intellectual. The Duke of Devonshire has a fine full
length in rich armor. There is a very good one at Florence,
in the Pitti Palace, and another at JMadrid. [According to
Morelli, undoubtedly " one of the most splendid portraits in
1 [The following names are omitted from the original list, no trace of the
portraits mentioned being found in Crowe and Cavalcaselle : The Emperor
Rudolph II., Paul IV., Ferdinand Leyva, Alphonso d'Avalos, Tasso, Cardinal
Castiglione. The famous portrait called the " Bella diTiziano " (Sciarra Palace)
is now known to be the work of Palma.]
2 [For the history of this portrait, which was sold in 1856, see Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, Titian, vol. i. p. 367.]

HIS PORTRAITS 253
the world."] In the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge is the
picture called " Philip IL and the Princess Eboli," of which
there are several repetitions.
Francis I. : half length, in profile ; now in the Louvre.
Titian did not paint this king from nature, but from a medal
which was sent to him to copy.
The Emperor Ferdinand I.
The Sultan Solyman II. His wife Roxana. (These are
engraved after Titian, but from what originals we know not.
They cannot be from nature.!)
The Popes Julius IL, Clement VII. (doubtful), and Paul
III. All the Doges of A^enice of his time. [Antonio Grimani,
Andrea Gritti, Pietro Lando, Francesco Donato.]
Francesco, Duke of Urbino, and his Duchess Eleonora : two
wonderful portraits, now in the Florence Gallery.
The Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici (in the Louvre, and in
the Pitti Palace).
The Constable de Bourbon. [Only known by Vorstermann's
print.] The famous and cruel Duke of Alva [lost].
Andrea Doria, Doge of Genoa.
Isabella d' Este, Marchioness of Mantua. [Belvedere,
Vienna.] Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara [Madrid] ; his first wife, Lucrezia
Borgia [engraved by Sadeler] ; and his second wife, Laura
Eustochia. (In the Dresden Gallery there is a picture by
Titian, in which Alphonso is presenting his wife Lucrezia to
the Madonna.)
Csesar Borgia. Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus.
The poet Ariosto.^
Cardinal Bembo. Cardinal Sforza. Cardinal Farnese.
Pietro Aretino : several times. (The finest is at Florence
in the Pitti Palace ; [another, representing the poet in advan
cing years, is in the collection of Prince Mario Chigi, Rome.]
The engravings by Bonasone of Aretino and Cardinal Bembo
rank among the most exquisite works of Art. There are im
pressions of both in the British Museum.)
1 [Crowe and Cavalcaselle say that the portraits were from medals.]
2 [The history of the portraits of Ariosto is discussed at length by Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, Titian, vol. i. pp. 197-203.]

254 TITIAN
Sansovino, the famous A'enetian architect.! [Uffizi, Flor
ence.] The Cornaro family, in the possession of the Duke of Nor
thumberland. [Alnwick Castle.]
Fracastaro, a famous Latin poet.
Irene da Spilemborgo, a young girl who had distinguished
herself as a musician, a poetess, and to whom Titian himself
had given lessons in painting. She died at the age of
eighteen. Andrea A'esalio, who has been called the father of anatomi
cal science — the particular friend of Titian, and his instructor
in anatomy. He was accused falselj' of having put a man to
death for anatomical purposes, and condemned. Philip II. ,
unwilling to sacrifice so accomplished a man to mere popular
prejudice, commuted his punishment to a forced pilgrimage to
the Holy Land. He obeyed the sentence ; but on his return
he was wrecked on the island of Zante, and died there of hun
ger in 1564. (This magnificent portrait, -which Titian seems
to have painted with enthusiasm, is in the Pitti Palace at
Florence.) Titian painted several portraits of himself, but none which
represent him young. In the fine portrait at Florence he is
about fifty, and in the other known representations he is an
old man, with an aquiline nose and long flowing beard. Of
his daughter Lavinia there are many portraits. She was her
father's favorite model, being very beautiful in face and form.
In a famous picture, now at Berlin, she is represented lifting
with both hands a dish filled with fruits. There are four
repetitions of this subject : in one the fruits are changed into
a casket of jewels, in the collection of [Lord Cowper], in
another she becomes the daughter of Herodias, and the dish
bears the head of John the Baptist. All are striking, graceful,
full of animation. [There are two portraits of Lavinia in
the Dresden Gallery. In one, she holds a fan such as was
only carried by the newly married. The other shows her
some fifteen years older, a woman of about forty.]
The only exalted personage of his time and country whom
1 [The so-called portrait of Sansovino diifers so much from that of the same
personage by Tintoretto that it would seem that one or the other must be mis
named. The Titian portrait has been repainted.]

HIS PORTRAITS 255
Titian did not paint was Cosmo I., grand duke of Florence.
In passing through Florence, in 1648, Titian requested the
honor of painting the grand duke : the offer was declined.
It is worthy of remark that Titian had painted, many years
before, the father of Cosmo, Giovanni de' JMedici, the fa
mous captain of the Bande Neri ; but this appears to have
been from a mask in plaster sent to him after the death of
Giovanni.

THE VENETIAN PAINTERS

SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Titian was the last great name of the earlier schools of
Italy — the last really great painter whom she produced. After
him came many who were good artists, excellent artificers ;
but, compared with the heaven-endowed creators in Art — the
poet-painters who had gone before them — - they were mere
mechanics, the best of them. No more Raphaels, no more
Titians, no more Michael Angelos, before whom princes stood
uncovered ! but very good painters, bearing the same relation
to their wondrous predecessors that the poets, wits, and play
wrights of Queen Anne's time bore to Shakespeare. There was,
however, an intervening period between the death of Titian
and the foundation of the Caracci school, a sort of interreg
num, during which the art of painting sank to the lowest
depths of labored inanity and inflated mannerism. In the
middle of the sixteenth century Italy swarmed with painters ;
these go under the general name of the mannerists, because
they all imitated the manner of some one of the great masters
who had gone before them. There were imitators of Michael
Angelo, of Raphael, of Correggio, — A^asari and Bronzino, at
Florence ; the two brothers Taddeo and Federigo Zuccaro, and
the Cavalier d' Arpino, at Rome ; Federigo Baroccio, of Urbino ;
Luca Cambiasi, of Genoa ; and hundreds of others, who covered
with frescoes the walls of villas, palaces, churches, and pro
duced some fine and valuable pictures, and many pleasing and
graceful ones, and many more that were mere vapid or exagger
ated repetitions of worn-out subjects. And patrons were not
wanting, nor industry, nor science ; nothing but original and
elevated feeling — "the inspiration and the poet's dream."
But in the Venetian school still survived this inspiration,
this vital and creative power, when it seemed extinct every-

MORONI

257

Moroni (by himself)
where besides. From 1540 to 1590 the Venetians were the
only painters worthy the name in Italy. This arose from the
elementary principle early infused into the Venetian artists — -
the principle of looking to Nature, and imitating her, instead of
imitating others and one another. Thus, as every man who
looks to Nature looks at her through his own eyes, a certain
degree of individuality was retained even in the decline of the
art. There were some who tried to look at Nature in the
same point of view as Titian, and these are generally included
under the denomination of the " School of Titian," though in
fact he had no school properly so called.
MoEONi [Giovanni Battista] was a portrait painter who in
some of his heads equalled Titian. We have in England

258 SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS
[some interesting examples of his work. One is] the portrait
of a Jesuit [Ercole Tasso], in the gallery of the Duke of Suther
land [Stafford House, London], which for a long time went
by the name of Titian's Schoolmaster ; it represents a grave,
acute-looking man, holding a book in his hand, which he has
just closed ; his finger is between the leaves, and, leaning from
his chair, he seems about to address you.
The very life is warm upon that lip.
The fixture of the eye has motion in 't,
And we are mock'd by art !
[The National Gallery contains six portraits by Moroni, of
which the " Sailor " has acquired most celebrity. He died in
1678.] Bonifazio,! [Veronese] who had studied under Palma
and Titian, painted many pictures which are frequently attrib
uted to both these masters. For example, the " Finding of
Moses," in the Brera at Milan, was long attributed to Gior
gione. This picture may be called rather a romantic and poef>
ical version than an historical representation of the scene. It
would shock Sir Gardner AA'ilkinson. In the centre sits the
princess under a tree ; she looks with surprise and tenderness
on the child, which is brought to her b}' one of her attend
ants : the squire or seneschal of the princess, with knights
and ladies, stand around; on one side two lovers are seated on
the grass ; on the other are musicians and singers, pages with
dogs. All the figures are in the A'"enetian costume ; the coloring
is splendid, and the grace and harmony of the whole composi
tion is even the more enchanting from the na'ivete of the con
ception. This picture, like many others of the_same age and
style, reminds us of those poems and tales of the middle ages
in which David and Jonathan figure as preuic chevaliers,
and Sir Alexander of Macedon and Sir Paris of Troy fight
tournaments in honor of ladies' eyes and the " blessed Vir
gin." They must be tried by their own aim and standard,
not by the severity of antiquarian criticism. [The A^enice
Academy possesses the finest of Bonifazio's works ; the most
important being " Dives and Lazarus," " Massacre of the Inno
cents," and an " Adoration of the JMagi." Bonifazio died in
1 [Early writers on art referred to but one Bonifazio, attributing to him all
the works now distinguished as the productions of three different artists.]

BONIFAZIO VENEZIANO

259

Bonifazio Veneziano

1540. There was a second Venetian painter by the name of
Bonifazio, a younger brother of the first, and like him a pupil
of Palma. The two worked in a similar manner and some
times conjointly, so that the works of the younger often pass
under the name of the elder. Two large works by the second
Bonifazio are in the public gallery at Weimar : " The Tri
umph of Religion," and " The Triumph of Science." The
Louvre contains three of his works : " Christ at Emmaus,"
and two " Holy Families." He died in 1553.
Still a third Bonifazio (Veneziano), son of one of the preced
ing, was born in Venice between 1525 and 1630, and was liv-

260

SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS

Moretto

ing as late as 1579.
Venice Academy.]

Several examples of his work are in the

A much finer painter was Alessandro Bonvicino, called
Il Moeetto, who [it is said] also studied under Titian,! i^^^^
by uniting with Venetian color and sentiment something of
the dignity of the Roman school and a depth of religious feel
ing which seems to have belonged to his individual character,
he surpassed in some of his pictures every painter of his time
except Titian. A^ery little is known of his life, except that
1 [It is not certain that Moretto was an actual pupil of Titian, but he shows
great familiarity with the latter's works.]

ANDREA SCHIAVONE

261

Schiavone
he chiefly worked in Brescia and its neighborhood.! There is
a rich purple glow over his pictures, which distinguishes them
from all others I have seen. The Santa Giustina,^ at Vienna,
long attributed to Pordenone, and a magnificent altar-piece in
the [National Gallery], are the finest I can remember, besides
those in the churches at Brescia.

Andeea Schiavone [1522-1582], whose elegant pictures
are often met with in collections, was a poor boy who began
the world as an assistant mason and house-painter, and who
1 [He was born at Rovato, near Brescia, about 1498,and died in 1555.]
2 l&ee illustration in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 564.]

262

SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS

Paris Bordone

became an artist from the love of Art ; but by some fatality,
or some quality of mind which we are wont to call a fatality,
he remained always poor. He painted numerous pictures,
which others obtained and sold again for high prices, enrich
ing themselves at the expense of his toil of hand and head.
At length he died, and in such wretched circumstances that
he was buried by the charity of a few friends. In general
the Venetian painters were joyous beings ; Schiavone was a
rare and melancholy exception. Very different was the tem
per and the fate of Paris Bordone of Treviso [1600-1670],
a man without much genius, weak in drawing, capricious or

PALMA VECCHIO

263

I -P^).:^ 
i;Tf"V^'^-\r.^  *

Palma Vecchio (by himself)
commonplace in invention, without fire or expression, but a
divine colorist, and stamping on his pictures his own buoyant,
life-enjoying nature ; in this he was like Titian, but utterly
inferior in all other respects. Some of his portraits are very
beautiful, particularly those of his women, which have been
often mistaken for Titian's.

264 SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS
The elder Palma is also considered as a scholar of Titian,
though deriving as little from his personal instruction as did
Tintoretto, Bordone, and others of the school The date of
his birth has been rendered uncertain by the mistakes of vari
ous authors, who confounded the elder and the younger
Palma ; but it appears that he was born between 1473 and
1480, — that he was, in fact, about the same age as Titian.!
In some pictures he has shown the dignity of Titian, in others
a touch of the melancholy sentiment of Giorgione. Not half
the pictures attributed to Palma Vecchio are by him. We
have [but] one in our National Gallery [a portrait long at
tributed to Titian]. On the whole he was a most charming
painter, and his religious subjects in that pastoral style which
belonged to the A'enetian school are beyond expression lovely
¦ — one in the Louvre [Adoration of Shepherds] and one at
Dresden [Holy Family] are examples. [Early writers tell
us that] this painter had three daughters of remarkable beauty.
Violante, the eldest and most beautiful, is said to have been
loved by Titian. She was frequently painted by her father,
and it is a tradition that she 'was the model of his St. Barbara,
in the S. JMaria Formosa at Venice; his masterpiece- — and one
of the finest pictures in the world. AA^e have the three [so-
called] daughters of Palma, painted by himself, in the Vienna
Gallery ; one, a most lovely creature, with long light brown
hair, and a violet in her bosom, is without doubt Titian's Vio
lante. In the Dresden Gallery are the same three beautiful
girls in one picture, the head in the centre being f/ie Violante. ^
[The Munich Gallery contains a very interesting portrait long
attributed to Giorgione, but now catalogued as a portrait of
Palma by himself.^]
It remains to give some account of two remarkable A^'enetian
painters an'Iio were contemporaries of Titian, but could hardly
be called his rivals, his equals, or his imitators. They were
both inferior to him, but original men in their different styles.
The first was Tintoeetto, born in [1518] ; his real name
I [Palma died in 1528.]
2 [Sir Henry Layard states that it is now known that Palma had no daughter
and that Violante was probably a favorite model.]
3 []\Iorelli challenges both the subject and the authorship of this portrait,
which he attributes to Cariani. It is, however, still widely accepted as Raima's
portrait, being undoubtedly the picture described as such by Vasari.]

TINTORETTO 265
was Jacopo Robusti. His father was a dyer (in Italian, Tin-
tore) ; hence he received in childhood the diminutive nick
name II Tintoretto, by which he is best known to us. He
began, like many other painters whose genius we have recorded,
by drawing all kinds of objects and figures on the walls of
his father's house. The dyer, being a man of sense, did not
attempt to oppose his son's predilection for Art, but procured
for him the best instruction his means would allow, and even
sent him to study under Titian. This did not avail him
much, for that most excellent painter was by no means a good
instructor. Tintoretto, however, did not lose courage ; he pur
sued his studies, and after a few years set up an academy of
his own, and on the wall of his painting-room he placed the
following inscription, as being expressive of the principles he in
tended to follow : "II disegno di Michel Agnolo : il colorito di
Tiziano " (the drawing of Michael Angelo, and the coloring
of Titian). Tintoretto was a man of extraordinary talent, un
equalled for the quickness of his invention and the facility
and rapidity of his execution ; with an original, often eccentric,
way of treating his subjects which set religious convention
alities at naught. I remember, as instances, an Annuncia
tion, in which the Angel Gabriel, instead of approaching in
the usual manner, comes rushing down from heaven into the
presence of the Virgin Mary with a whole host of attendant
spirits ; and no one who has seen his Christ before Pilate, in the
[Scuola di S. Rocco] at Venice, will ever forget that pale pa
thetic figure. It frequently happened that he would not give
himself the trouble to make any design or sketch for his pic
ture, but composed as he went along, throwing his figures on
the canvas, and painting them in at once, with wonderful
power and truth, considering the little time and pains they
cost him. But this want of study was fatal to his real great
ness. He is the most unequal of painters. In his composi
tions we find often the grossest faults in close proximity with
the highest beauty. Now he would paint a picture almost
equal to Titian ; then produce one so coarse and careless
that it seemed to justify Titian's expression of a " dauber."
He abused his mechanical power by the utmost recklessness
of pencil; but then, again, his wonderful talent redeemed
him, and he would enchant his fellow-citizens by the gran
deur, the dramatic vivacity, the gorgeous colors, and the luxu-

266 SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS
riant invention displayed in some of his vast compositions.
The larger the space he had to fill, the more he seemed at
home ; his small pictures are seldom good. His portraits in
general are magnificent ; less refined and dignified than those
of Titian, less intellectual, but quite as full of life.
Tintoretto painted an amazing number of pictures, and of
amazing size — one of them, the great Crucifixion, at Venice
[Scuola di S. Rocco], is seventy-four feet in length and thirty
feet in height : here the Passion of our Saviour is represented
like a vast theatrical scene, crowded with groups of figures on
foot and on horseback, exhibiting the greatest variety of move
ment and expression. Another very large picture, called the
JMiracle of St. Mark, is in the Academy of A''enice ; ! a certain
slave having become a Christian, and having persevered in pay
ing his devotions at the shrine of St. Mark, is condemned to
the torture by his heathen lord ; but just as he is bound and
prostrate St. Mark descends from above to aid his votary ; the
executioner is seen raising the broken instruments of torture,
and a crowd of people look on in various attitudes of wonder,
pity, interest. The whole picture glows with color and move
ment.^ In our National Gallery we have only [three] works by
Tintoretto, but there are ten or eleven in the royal galleries ;
he was a favorite painter of Charles I., who purchased many
of his works from Venice. Two pictures which belonged to
this king are now at Hampton Court, — Esther fainting before
Ahasuerus, and the Nine Muses. They have suffered terribly
from audacious restorers ; but in this last picture the figure of
the Muse on the right, turning her back, is in a grand style,
not unworthy, in its large, bold, yet graceful drawing, of the
hand of Michael Angelo himself. In the same collection are
three very fine portraits. ^
Tintoretto died in [1594]. His daughter, Marietta Robusti,
whose talent for painting was sedulously cultivated by her
father, has left some excellent portraits ; and in her own time
obtained such celebrity that the kings of France and Spain
invited her to their courts with the most tempting offers of
1 [See illustration in Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 146.]
2 The beautiful study for this picture once belonged to the poet Rogers, and
is now in the possession of [the Baroness] Burdett-Coutts.
3 [See Mary Logan's Guide to the Italian Pictures at Hampton Court, pp.
29, 30.]

TINTORETTO (by himself)

PAUL VERONESE

267

Paul Veronese

patronage, but she would never leave her father and her native
Venice. Ridolfi speaks also of her rare skill in music. She
died at the age of thirty.

Paolo Cagliaei of A^erona, better known as Paul A''eronese,
was born in that city in [1528], the son of a sculjjtor, who

268 SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS
taught him early to draw and to model ; but the genius of the
pupil was so diametrically opposed to this style of Art, that
he soon quitted the studio of his father for that of his uncle
Antonio Badile, a very good painter, from whom he learned
that florid grace in composition which he afterwards carried
out in a manner so consummate and so characteristic. At
that time A^erona, like all the other cities of Italy, could boast
of a crowd of painters ; and Paolo Cagliari, finding that he
could not stand against so many competitors, repaired to
Venice, where he remained for some time, studying the works
of Titian and Tintoretto, but without attracting much atten
tion himself till he had painted on the roof of the church of
St. Sebastian the history of Esther. This was a subject well
calculated to call forth his particular talent in depicting the
gay, the sumptuous accessories of courtly pomp — banquet
scenes, processions, etc. ; and from this time he was contin
ually employed by the splendor-loving citizens of Venice, who
delighted in his luxuriant magnificence, and overlooked, or
perhaps did not perceive, his thousand sins against fact, proba
bility, costume, time, and place. We are obliged to do the
same thing in these days, if we would duly appreciate the
works of this astonishing painter. We must shut our eyes to
the violation of all proprieties of chronology and costume, and
see only the abounding life, the wondrous variety of dignified
and expressive figures crowded into his scenes (we may a little
marvel how they got there), and the prodigality of light and
colors, all harmonized by a mellowness of tone which renders
them most attractive to the eye. To give an idea of Paul
Veronese's manner of treating a subject, we will take one of
his finest and most characteristic pictures, the JMarriage at Cana,
which was painted for the refectory of the convent of San Gior
gio at A'enice, and is now in the Louvre. It is not less than
thirty feet long and twenty feet high, and contains about one
hundred and thirty figures, life size. The Marriage Feast of
the Galilean citizen is represented with a pomp worthy of
" Ormuz or of Ind : " a sumptuous hall of the richest archi
tecture ; lofty columns, long lines of marble balustrades rising
against the sky ; a crowd of guests splendidly attired, some
wearing orders of knighthood, are seated at tables covered
with gorgeous vases of gold and silver, attended by slaves,
jesters, pages, and musicians. In the midst of all this dazzling

PAUL VERONESE 269
pomp, this display of festive enjoyment, these moving figures,
these lavish colors in glowing approximation, we begin after
a while to distinguish the principal personages, our Saviour,
the Virgin Mary, the Twelve Apostles, mingled with Vene
tian senators and ladies clothed in the rich costume of the
sixteenth century — monks, friars, poets, artists, all portraits
of personages existing in his own time ; while in a group of
musicians he has introduced himself and Tintoretto playing
the violoncello, while Titian plays the bass. The bride in
this picture is said to be the portrait of Eleanor of Austria,
the sister of Charles V., and second wife of Francis I., of whom
there is a most beautiful portrait at Hampton Court. There
is a series of these Scriptural banquet scenes, painted by Paul
Veronese, all in the same extraordinary style, but varied with
the utmost richness of fancy, invention, and coloring : Christ
entertained by Levi, now in the Academy of Venice ; the Sup
per in the house of Simon the Pharisee, with Mary Magdalene
at the feet of our Saviour, now in the Turin Gallery, of which
the flrst sketch, a magnificent piece of color, was in the pos
session of Mr. Rogers, and is now in the collection of the
Baroness Burdett-Coutts ; and the Supper at Emmaus [Louvre],
in which he has introduced his wife and others of his family
as spectators.
The companions of St. Sebastian, Marcus and Marcellinus,
preparing for their Martyrdom, which is now in the church of
San Sebastiano at Venice, is, for the expression of life, passion,
and dramatic power, one of the grandest pictures in the world :
it is esteemed the masterpiece of the painter.
Paul Veronese died in 1688. He was a man of amiable
manners, of a liberal, generous spirit, and extremely pious.
When he painted for churches and convents, he frequently
accepted very small prices, sometimes merely the value of his
canvas and colors ; for that stupendous picture in the Louvre,
the Marriage at Cana, he received not more than 40/. of our
money. He had sons and relations who were educated in his atelier
and assisted in painting his great pictures, and who after his
death continued to carry on a sort of manufactory of pictures
in the same magnificent ornamental style ; but they were far
inferior painters, and had not, like him, the power of redeem
ing gross faults of judgment and taste by a vivid imagination
and strong feeling of character.

270

SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS

Almost all galleries and collections contain specimens of the
works of this splendid and popular painter ; but the finest are
in the churches at Venice, in the Louvre, and in the Dresden
Gallery, where there are [fourteen] of his pictures.
In our National Gallery we may now boast of possessing

,1, -{4^^^^^.

K ¦%'¦••¦,' '^'^''

Bassano (by himself)
one of his grandest and most celebrated works, "The Family
of Darius at the feet of Alexander," once the glory of the
Pisani Palace at A'^enice, and which was in the possession of
the family from the hour it was painted till it passed into our
possession. It is easy to criticise the anachronisms in this
picture ; but Paul A'eronese did not think about anachronisms,
and its excellence is such that, in the words of a great critic,
" in its presence we forget for a time all other productions in
painting." AA^e have also a fine picture of the Consecration of

JACOPO BASSANO 271
St. Nicholas as bishop of Myra ; ! and a large altar-piece of the
Worship of the Magi. The little sketch of Europa is a study
for the splendid picture now at Verona.
Before we close the list of the elder painters of Italy we
must mention as flourishing at this time the Da Ponte family
of Bassano. Giacomo or Jacopo da Ponte [born 1510],
called Old Bassano, was the head of it. His father [Francesco]
had been a painter before him, and he, with his four sons,
Leandro, Francesco, Gian Battista, and Girolamo, set up in
their native town of Bassano a kind of manufactory of pictures,
which were sold in the fairs and markets of the neighboring
cities, and became popular all over the north of Italy. The
Bassani were among the earliest painters of the genre style ;
they treated sacred and solemn subjects in a homely familiar
manner which was pleasing and intelligible to the people, and,
at the same time, with a power of imitation, a light and spirited
execution, and, in particular, a gem-like radiance of color which
fascinates even judges of Art. There are pictures of the elder
Bassano which at the first glance remind one of a handful of
rubies and emeralds. His best and largest works are at Bassano
[St. Martin dividing his Cloak with the Beggar, in the Munici
pal Gallery, and the Baptism of St. Lucilla in the church of
S. Valentino] ; his small pictures are numerous, and scattered
through most galleries. He painted sheep, cattle, and poultry
well, and was fond of introducing them in the pastoral scenes
of the Old Testament, where they are appropriate : sometimes.
unhappily, where they are least appropriate they are the prin
cipal objects. His scenery and grouping have a rural charac
ter ; and his personages, even sacred and heroic, look like
peasants. They are not vulgar, but rustic. The same kind
of spirit informed the Bassani that afterwards informed the
Dutch school — the imitation of familiar objects without ele
vation and without selection ; but the nature of Italy was as
different from that of Holland as Bassano is different from
Jan Steen.
Like all the A'enetians, the Bassani were good portrait
painters. We have a fine portrait by Jacopo Bassano in our
National Gallery, and at Hampton Court several very fine and
characteristic pictures, which will give an excellent idea of his
1 For an account of this saint, see Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 444.

272 SIXTEENTH CENTURY VENETIAN PAINTERS
general manner ; the best are Jacob's Journey and the Deluge.
Mr. Rogers ! possessed the two best pictures of this artist now
in England ; they are small, but most beautiful, vivid as gems
in point of color, with more dignity and feeling than is usual :
the subjects are, the Good Samaritan ^ and Lazarus at the door
of the Rich JMan. Nothing could tempt Bassano from the
little native town where he flourished, grew rich, and brought
up a numerous family. He died in 1592.
All these men had original genius and that individuality of
character which lends a vital interest to all productions of Art,
whether the style be elevated and ideal or confined to the imi
tation of common nature : but to them succeeded a race of
mannerists and imitators, so that about the close of the six
teenth century all originality seemed extinguished at A''enice,
as well as everywhere else. And here we close the history of
the earlier painters of Italy.
1 [Mr. Rogers's pictures were sold in 1856.]
2 [Now in the National Gallery.]

INDEX OF PLACES

This Index does not include the pictures of those collections known to be dispersed (as
noted on page vi. of the Editor's Preface), nor those iu the small private collections
which are inaccessible to the ordinary tourist.

Alnwick Castle : Gian Bellini, 112 ; Ti
tian, 254.
Assisi — S. Francesco: Pietro Cavallini,
30; Giotto, 20 ; Lo Spagna, 119.
Bassano — S. Valentino: Jacopo Bassano,
271.
Municipal Gallei'y : Jacopo Bassano,
271.
Beelin — Gallei-y : Early Greek pictures,
6 ; Albertinelli, 135 note ; Era Barto
lommeo, 135; Gian Bellini, 112;
Botticelli, 82 ; Andrea di Castagno,
SI ; Correggio, 223 note ; Francia,
122 note, 125 ; Giacomo and Giulio
Francia, 127 ; Taddeo Gaddi, 35, 36 ;
Garofalo, 218 ; Ghirlandajo (attributed
to), 82 note ; Giorgione, 210 ; Filippo
Lippi, 60 ; Andrea Mantegna, 102 ;
Raphael, 198 ; Squarcione, ^ ; Titian,
254.
Bologna — S. Cecilia: Francia, 123; Ra
phael, 126.
S. Giacomo : Francia, 122.
Steccata : Parmigiano, 233.
Gallery: Francia, 122, 125; Parmi
giano, 233.
Boston — Museum of Fine Arts : cast of
one of Ghiberti's gates, 56.
Brescia : Moretto, 261.
Buda Pesth — Esterhazy Gallery : Gior
gione, 240.
Cambridge — Fitiwilliam Museum: Ti
tian, 253.
Chatsworth — Duke of Devonshire's Col
lection : Titian, 252.
Dresden — Gallery : Correggio, 222, 227 ;
Dosso Do.ssi, 216 ; Garofalo, 218 ; Hol
bein, 147 note ; Palma Vecchio, 264 ;
Parmigiano, 232 ; Raphael, 201, 206;
Titian, 243, 253, 254 ; Paul Veronese,
270.
Ferrara — GaZ^ery .- Dosso Dossi, 216;
Garofalo, 218.
¥ho^¥.-Ncz— Annunziata : Andrea del Sar
to, 174.
Badia: Filippino Lippi, 71.
Baptistenj : Ghiberti, 53 ; Andrea Pisano

(after Giotto), 50 ; Antonio Pollajuolo,
91.
Carmine: Filippino Lippi, 70, 193;
Masaccio and Masolino, 68-70.
Duomo ¦ Michael Angelo, 164 ; Andrea
Orcagna, 34.
S. Maria Novella : Fra Angelico, 63 ;
Cimabue, 9 ; Ghirlandajo, 86 ; Andrea
Orcagna, 32.
Ognisanii : Ghirlandajo, 85.
Or San Michele : Andrea Orcagna, 33.
Santa Croce : Cimabue (attributed to),
8 ; Giotto, 18, 19 note.
Trinita : Ghirlandajo, 85.
Academy of ihe Fine Arts: Andrea di
Castagno, 81, 82; Cimabue, 8; Tad
deo Gaddi, 35; Giotto, 26; Filippo
Lippi, 60 ; Perugino, 116 ; Andrea
Verrocchio, 138; Leonardo da Viiici,
139.
Bargello : Michael Angelo, 153.
Boboli Gardens : Michael Angelo, 155
note.
Foundling Hospital: Ghirlandajo, 88.
S. Marco (church) : Pietro CavaUini,
30. (convent) Fra Angelico, 63.
Hospital of Si. Maria Nuova : Fra Bar
tolommeo, 130 note ; Andrea di Cas
tagno, 80 ; Domenico Veneziano, SO.
Palazzo delV Podesta : Giotto, 17.
Piiti Palace: Michael Angelo, 183 ; Fra
Bartolommeo, 133, 134; Parmigiano,
233 ; Raphael, 132 ; Titian. 246, 252,
253, 254.
Palazzo Riccardi : Benozzo Gozzoli, 76.
Palazzo Vecc/iio : Michael Angelo, 155
note.
TJffizi : Early Greek pictures, 6 ; Fra
Angelico, 63 ; Michael Angelo, 151
and note, 168 ; Botticelli, 82 ; Brunel
leschi, 53 and note ; Cimabue, 8 ; Cor
reggio, 228 ; Donatello, 53 ; Maso Fini
guerra, 105; Francia, 125; Ghiberti,
53 ; Giorgione, 240 ; Giottino (attrib
uted to), 37 ; Leonardo da Vinci,
147 ; Pietro Lorenzetti (attributed to),
44 ; Bernardino Luini, 147 ; Andrea
Mantegna, 102; Raphael, 180, 206;
Andrea del Sarto, 174 ; Titian, 246,
253, 254.

274

INDEX OF PLAGES

Hampton Court : Gian Bellini, 112 ; Ja
copo Ba.ssano, -71 ; Leonardo daMnci,
147 ; Andrea Mantegna, 93, 98 ; Poli
doro, 216 ; Giulio Romano, '2i'2 ; An
drea del Sarto, 175 ; Tintoretto, 20U ;
Titian, 250, 252.
B-OLKH AN. — Earl of Leicester's Collec
tion : copy from Michael Angelo, 154.
Liverpool ~ Institute : Holbein, 147 note ;
Simone Memmi, 34.
London — Bridgewater Gallery (Lord
EUesmere): Raphael, ISO, 1S3; copy
from Parmigiano, 233 ; Titiau, 230.
Grusvenor Galle nj : Parmigiano, 234.
NafitinnI Gallery : Fra Angelico, 61 ;
Michael Angelo, 160, 168 ; Jacopo
Bassano, 271, 272 ; Gian BeUini, 112 ;
Bertucci, 119 note ; Botticelli, S4 ;
Cariani, 239 note; Cimabue, 9 note;
Correggio, 223, 22G; Duccio, 15; Eman
uel, (i ; Mazzolino da Ferrara, 218;
Francia, 121 note, 124, 125; Taddeo
Gaddi (or his school), 35 ; Garofalo,
218 ; Benozzo Gozzoli, 74, 78 ; Ingegno
(attributed to), 120 ; Filippino Lip
pi, "0, 71 ; Lippo di Dalmasio, 121
note ; Bernardino Luini, 148 ; An
drea Mantegna, 100, 101 ; :\Inretto,
261 ; Moroni, 258 ; Andrea Orcagna,
33 ; Palma Vecchio, 264 ; Parmigiano,
231 ; Perugino, 118 ; Pinturicchio
(attributed to), 120; Sebastian del
Piombo, 168, 203 ; the Pollajuoli, 91 ;
Raphael, 179, 180, Ife:'. ; Giulio Roma
no, 210 ; Andrea del Sarto, 175 ; Luca
Signorelli, 84 ; Lo Spagna, 119; Tin
toretto, 266; Titian, 243, 247, 248,
250 ; Paolo Uccello, 65 ; Paul Vero
nese, 270.
Queen'' s Gallery, Buckingham Palace:
Marcello Venusti, 16S.
Suih-'rland Gallery, Stafford House:
Moroni, 258.
Briti.sh Museuvi : Andrea Andreani (af
ter Mantegna), 100 ; Bonasone (after
Titian), 253; Correggio, 224, 228 ; en
gravings after IMiihael Angelo, 159,
163, 164 ; after Andrea del Sarto, 174 ;
after Marcello Venusti, 168 ; Marc An
tonio Raimondi (after Raphael), 202.
South Kensington Bluseum: Raphael,
187, 190.
National School of Design: casts of
Ghiberti's gates, 55; colored drawing
after Micliael Augelo, 159 ; copies
from Raphael, 186.
Limsdon-iii' House: Raphael, 179 ; An
drea del Sarto, 175.
Boyal Academy, BurVington House:
Marco d' Oggione (after Leonardo da
Viiici), 142 ; Leonardo da Vinci, 145.
Lord Ashhiirton''s Cvlhituju: Leonardo
da Vinci, 147.
Baroness Burdell-Coutis''s Collection :
Titian, 260 note ; Paul Veronese, 269.
Lucca— S. Frediano : Franci.i, 12.% note.
Gallery : Fra Bartolommeo, 133, 134.
Madrid — Gallery (Prado) : Giorgione
(attributed also to Pordenone), 230 ;

Raphael, 206 ; Titian, 244, 248, 251,
Escorial : Titian, 248.
Mantua — S. Andrea: Andrea Mantegna,
Milan — -S". Mfria delle Grazie: Leo
nardo da Vinci, 141.
Brera: Gentile Bellini, 110; Andrea
Mantegna, 102 ; Raphael, 179 ; Boni
fazio Veronese, 258.
A m }>rosian Library : Leonardo da Vinci,
147.
Montefalco : Benozzo Gozzoli, 76.
Munich — Galle) y : Francia, 125 ; Palma
Vecchio (or Cariani), 240 note, 264
note ; Raphael, 206 ; Titian, 252.
Naples : Annibal Caracci, 223 ; Andrea
Mantegna, 102.
Iitcoronaia : Giotto (attributed to), 22.
S. Lorenzo : Simoue Memnii, 34.
Museum : Correggio, 22S ; Titian, 246,
247.
Libniry : Giulio Clovio, 219.
Orvieto — Cathrdral : Benozzo Gozzoli,
70; Andrea Orcagna, 34; Luca Sig
norelli, 84.
Vadva— Chapel of the Arena: Giotto,
20.
Ereuiitani: Andrea Mantegna, 94.
Pan>^haxger — Lord Cou-ppr''s Collection:
Raphael, 180 ; Andrea del Sarto, 175,
180; Titian, 2.')4.
Paris — Lnnvri- ; Early Greek pictures, 6 ;
Fra Angelico, 63, 64 ; Michael Angelo,
155 note; Fra Bartolommeo, 135;
Gian Bellini (or Rondinelli), 112 ;
Bonifazio, 259; Botticelli, 82, 83;
Cimabue, 10 ; Bernardo de' Conti
(attributed to), 142 note; Correggio,
223 note; Taddeo Gaddi, 35; Ghir
landajo. 88 ; Giotto (attributed to), 26 ;
Bt^iiozzo Gozzoli, 79; Leonardo da
Vmn, 142, 143, 145, 147 ; Filippo Lip
pi, (11); Andrea Mantegna, 100, 101;
Pahiia Vecchio, 204; Perugino, 118;
Raphael, ISO, 183,200, 201, 206 ; Giulio
Romano, 212 ; Andrea del Sarto, 175 ;
Titiau, 245, 251, 253; Paul Veronese,
2(iS, 269, 270.
Boyal Library: Early woodcut, 104;
Maso Finigui-rra. 105.
Parma — Cathedral : Correggio, 223.
S. (-iiovanni : Correggio, 222.
G'll/rrtf: Correggio (attributed to), 226,
227. "
Pavia — Certosa : Perugino, 118.
Perugia — Collegia del Cambio : Peru
gino, lie.
Pisa — Duomo : Cimabue, 10 ; Niccolo
Pisano, 12.
Academy: BufFalmaco, 30 note.
Campo Santo : Andrea da Firenze, 44,
45 ; Benozzo Gozzoli, 40, 76-78 ; Am
brogio Lorenzetti, 38; Pietro Loren
zetti, 38, 41; Giovanni Pisano, 38;
Spinello Aretino, 45 ; Antonio Vene
ziano, 44, 45 ; Francesco da Volterra,
40.

INDEX OF PLACES

275

Ravenna — ^. Vitale: mosaics, 4 note.
Rome — The Vatican: Pinturicchio, 120.
(Sistine Chapel) Michael Angelo,
155; Ghirlandajo, 85; Perugino, 116;
Luca Signorelli, 84.
(Nicholas V.'s chapel) Fra Angelico,
63. (Christian Museum) Pietro Loren
zetti, 38.
(Picture Gallery) Raphael, 183, 203,
206. (Gallery of Tapestries) Raphael, 198,
199. (Camera della Segnatura) Raphael,
181. (Stanza d' Eliodoro) Raphael, 184.
(Stanza del Incendio) Raphael, 185.
(Sala di Co.'^tantino) Raphael, 186.
(Library) Giulio Clovio, 219.
Ara-Cceli: Pinturicchio, 120.
S. Cecilia : mosaics, 4 note.
S. Clemente: Masaccio (or Masolino),
68.
SS. Cosmo and Damian: mosaics, 4
note.
Lateran: Giotto, 19.
(Chapel of S. Venanzio), mosaic, 3.
S. Miiria del Popolo : Pinturicchio, 120 ;
Raphael, 204.
S. Maria dvlla Pace: Raphael, 184.
S. Maria Maqfjiore : mosaics, 4 note,
St. Peter's : Michael Angelo, 73, 153 ;
Giotto, 19 ; Antonio Pollajuolo, 92.
S. Pietro in Vincoli : Michael Angelo,
155 note.
Trinita de' 3 font i : Daniel da Volterra,
169.
Borghese Gallery : Correggio, 223 note ;
Battista Dossi, 210 ; Dosso Dossi, 217 ;
Giorgione, 240.
Sciarra I-'alace: Palma Vecchio, 252
note ; Raphael, 200.
Villa Farnesina : Raphael, 184, 201,
202; Giulio Rnmauo, 202.
Collection of Prince Mario Chigi: Ti
tian, 253.

St. Petersburg— i/^er»u7a(7e; Raphael,
180.
San Geminiano — C/iwrc/i.- Benozzo Goz
zoli, 76.
Siena — S. Domenico : Guido da Siena, 7.
Duomo: Duccio, 14; Pinturicchio, 120.
Palazzo Pubblico : Ambrogio Loren
zetti, 34 ; Simoue Memmi, 34 ; Maestro
Mino, 13.
Siena (near) — Convent of Monte Uliveto :
Luca Signorelli, 84.
Spello — Collegiate Church : Pinturic
chio, 12.
Sydenham — Cvt/s/qZ Palace: casts of
Ghiberti's gates, 55 ; casts, after Mi
chael Angelo, 153 note, 155 note, 100.
Tv&m — Gallery : Paul Veronese, 269.
Venice: Cima da Conegliano, 112; An
drea Mantegna, 102.
S. 3Iaria Formosa: Palma Vecchio,
264.
S. Sebastiano: Paul Veronese, 268, 269.
Academy : Gian Bellini, 110 ; Paris Bor
done, 239 note ; Tintoretto, 266 ;
Titian, 243 ; Bonifazio Veneziano, 260 ;
Bonifazio Veronese, 258 ; Paul Vero
nese, 209.
Sir Henry Layard's Collection : Gen
tile Bellini, 110.
School of S. Boch : Tintoretto, 265, 206.
Verona : Paul Veronese, 271.
Vienna : Andrea Mantegna, 102.
Belvedere : Fra Bartolommeo, 135 ; Cor
reggio, 223 note ; Francia, 125 ; Gior
gione, 240 ; Moretto, 261 ; Palma Vec
chio, 264 ; Parmigiano, 233 ; Titian,
246 note, 251, 253.
Weimar — Gallery : Bonifazio, 259.
WmBsoB.— Gall ei-y : Leonardo da Vinci
(or Holbein), 147 and note ; Parmi
giano, 231 ; Andrea del Sarto, 175 ;
Titian, 251.
Boyal Library : Leonardo da Vinci, 148.

GENERAL INDEX

Agincourt, see Seroux d'Agincourt.
Agnolo, Andrea d', see Sarto.
Albertinelli, M;iriotto, and Fra Bartolom
meo, 128, 135 note.
Allegri, Antonio, see Correggio.
Andreani, Andrea, woodcuts by, 100.
Angelico, Fra, 61-64 ; said to have been
taught by Stamina, 62 ; painted only sa
cred subjects, 62; his style, 63; princi
pal works, 03, 64.
Arezzo, Niccolo d', 52, 53.
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso quoted, 102;
cited, 216.
Arundel Society, engravings of the, 20, 26,
94 note ; chromo-lithograph of the Sis
tine chapel ceiling, 159 ; of the Madonna
del Sacco, 174.
Baldini, Baccio, first professional engraver
on copper, 106.
Baptistery, Florence, competitors for
bronze gate of, 52, 53 ; Ghiberti's gates,
53-55.
Barbarelli, Giorgio, see Giorgione.
Bartolommeo, Fra, 128-135 ; pupil of Co
simo Roselli, 128 ; portrait of himself,
12U ; his Madonna di Misericordia, 133,
134 ; his personal character, 133 ; his
style, 133 ; his principal works, 133-135.
Bartolommeo, Maestro, preceded Cima
bue, 7.
Bassani, the, 271.
Bassano, Jacopo (Jacopo or Giacomo da
Ponte), portrait of himself, 270 ; his best
works, 271.
Beatrice, sarcophagus of, 12.
Bellini, Gentile, portrait of, 108 ; employed
by Sultan Mohammed IL, 109; his prin
cipal works, 109, 110.
Bellini, Giovanni (Gian), education of,
107 ; his chefs-d'ceu vre, 110 ; his influence
on portrait painting, 110 ; portrait of,
111 ; extuiit works of, 112.
Bellini, Jacopo, father-in-law of Andrea
Mantegna, 04, 107.
Bertucci, Glorification of the Virgin, at
tributed to, 119 note.
Bigordi, Domenico, see Ghirlandajo, Do
menico.
Boccaccio, anecdote of Giotto, 27.
Bolognese, Franco, Madonna by, 30.
Bolognese school, early and later, 121.
Bonasone, Giulio, engravings after Titian,
253.
Bonifazio, younger brother of Bonifazio
Veronese, 259.
Bonifazio Veneziano, portrait of, 259 ; ex
amples of his work, 260.

Bonifazio Veronese, the Finding of Moses,
258.
Bonvicino, Alessandro, see Moretto.
Bordone, Paris, The Tempest, attributed
to, 239 note ; portrait of, 262.
Botticelli, Sandro (Sundro Filipepi),
teacher of Filippino Lippi, 71, 82 ; char
acteristics of, 82 ; pictures by, 82, 83,
84 ; portrait of, S3.
Bramante, Donato Lazzari, his jealousy of
Michael Angelo, 155.
Braun, A. D., photographs of frescoes by
Fra Angelico, 63 note ; of Michael An
gelo's frescoes in the Sistine chapel,
159 ; of Raphael's in the Vatican, 183,
184, 186.
Braun, Dr. Emil, published engravings
from Duccio's History of our Lord, 15
note ; brought to England some of Cor
reggio's cartoons, 224.
Brunelleschi, Filippo, 52, 53, 56.
Buffalmaco, a jovial companion and a good
painter, 30 ; picture of St. Ursula, 30
note.
Bunsen, Chevalier, Stadt Bom cited, 187
note.
Buonarroti, Michael Angelo, 149-168 ; bor
rowed from Giotto, 44; sculptor and
architect, more than painter, 149 ; com
pared with Leonardo da Vinci, 149; his
ancestry, 150 ; pupil of Ghirlandajo, 150 ;
his first attempt in marble, 151 ; treated
as a son by Lorenzo de' IMedici, 151 ;
quarrel with Torregiano, 152 ; study of
literature, 152 ; early statues, 153 ; car
toons for frescoes in Palazzo A''ecchio,
154 ; relations with Pope Julius II. , 155,
156 ; statue of Moses, 155 ; statue of
Pope Julius IL, 157 ; work in the Sistine
chapel, 157-159 ; statues in the church of
S. Lorenzo, 160 ; defence of Florence,
161 ; the Last Judgment, 162, 163 ; fres
coes in the Pauline chapel, 164 ; chief
architect of St. Peter's, 164 ; personal
traits, 166 ; his poems, 167.
Burnett, John, engravings of Raphael's
cartoons, 197.
Byzantine painters, come into Italy and
Germany, 5.
Byzantine types, in art, 5, 6.
Cagliari, Paolo, see Veronese.
Caldara, Polidoro (Polidoro da Caravag
gio), portrait of, 215 ; distinguished for
classical purity of taste, 216.
Callcott, Sir Augustus, drawings from
frescoes by Giotto, 20.
Campo Santo, the, 38-44.

GENERAL INDEX

277

Caracci, Annibal, copies of Correggio's
Coronation of the Virgin, 223 ; quota
tion from a letter about Correggio, 225 ;
sonnet on the older painters, 235.
Caracci, Ludovico, Ecce Homo, attributed
to by Dr. Julius Meyer, 227 note.
Cariani, the Death of St. Peter Martyr,
attributed to, 239 note ; portrait attrib
uted to, 240 note, 264 note.
Castagno, Andrea di, favorite of the Me
dici family, 80 ; portrait of, SI ; extant
works by, SI, 82.
Castricani, Castruccio, tyrant of Lucca, 20.
Catullus, Marriage of Peleus and Thetis
quoted, 244.
Cavallini, Pietro, his character and work,
30 ; Annunciation by, 30 ; Crucifixion,
30 ; portrait of, 31.
Christ, first recorded representation of, 2 ;
traditional type of, 3.
Christians, the early, hostile to all images,
1 ; mystic emblems used by, 2 ; contro
versy among, about representations of
Christ, 2, 3 ; favorite subjects of, in
art, 4.
Cicognara, Count Leopoldo, Sioria della
Scultura 3Ioderna, engravings in, 12.
Cimabue, Giovanni, 1-12 ; called Father of
Modern Painting, 1 ; his claims over
stated, 1; portrait of, 5, 11; Madonna by,
7 ; birth and education, 7 ; St. Cecilia
by, 8 ; Madonna, 8 ; Crucifixion, 8 ; Ru-
cellai Madonna, 9 ; a worker in mosaic
and au architect, 10 ; Madonna and Child
enthroned, 10 ¦, figures of the Virgin, 10 ;
his death, 10 ; his character, 11 ; teacher
of Giotto, 17.
Cioni, Andrea, see Orcagna.
Clovio, Giulio, excellence of his work, 219 ;
portrait of, 219.
Colle, Simon da (Simon dei Bronzi), 52, 53.
Colonna, Vittoria, and Michael Angelo,
167.
Condivi, cited, 158 note.
Conti, Bernardino de', picture attributed
to, 142 note. \
Copper engraving, invention of, 102 ; first i
practised at Florence, 104 ; difference i
between it and wood engraving, 106.
Corradi, Domenico, see Gliirlandajo, Do
menico.
Correggio (Antonio Allegri), 221-22S ; com
pared with Giorgione, 221 : early teach
ers, 222 and note ; frescoes in the church
of San Giovanni at Parma, 222, and in
the cathedral, 223 ; his principal works,
226-22S.
Credi, Lorenzo di, portrait of Andrea Ver
rocchio, 89.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Paint
ing in Itali/ cited, 7 notes, 13 note, 19
note, 29 note, 32, 60 note, 133 note, 175
note ; engravings in, 22 note.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Titian cited, 243
note, 252 note, 253 note.
Crowe aud Cavalcaselle, cited, 8 and note,
24 note, 44 note, 58, 68 note, 60 note, 73,
81 note, S2 note, 90 note, 91 note, 93
note, 94 note, 101, 110 note, 119 note,
124 note, 175 note, 236 note, 252 note,
253 note.

Cunego, print of Michael Augelo's frescoes
hi the Sistine chapel, 159.
Dalmasio, Lippo di, called Lippo delle Ma-
donne, 121.
Dante, Purgatorio quoted, 16 ; cited, 29.
Desuoyers, engraving of the Madonna di
San Sisto, 201 note.
Donatello, 52, 53, 56.
Dorigny, Sir Nicholas, engravings of Ra
phael's Cartoons, 197.
Dossi, Battista, excelled in landscape back
grounds, 216.
Dossi, Dosso, his masterpiece, 216; other
works, 216, 217 ; portrait of himself, 217.
Duccio, altar-piece for the cathedral of
Siena, 13 ; portrait of, 14 ; influence of,
31, 32.
Edelinck, Gerard, engraving of the Battle
of the Standard, 144.
Emanuel, picture of St. Cosmo and St.
Damian, 6.
Emblems, of the early Christians, 2.
Engraving on wood aud copper, invention
of, 102 ; importance of, 103 ; first use of
wood-blocks, 103 ; earliest woodcut
known, 104 ; copperplate engraving
first pi-actised at Florence, 104.
Fabriano, Gentile da, the so-called Bride
of Venice, 78 note.
Fedi, P., portrait of Niccolo Pisano, 11.
Ferrara, Mazzolino da, three pictures by,
218.
Fiesole, Angelico da, see Angelico.
Filipepi, Sandro, see Botticelli.
Finiguerra, Maso, inventor of copper en
graving, 65 ; examples of his work, 105.
Fiorentino, Stefano, styled II Scimia della
Natura, 47.
Firenze, Andrea da, scenes from the life of
St. Ranieri, 44, 45.
Fontainebleau school, iu art, 214.
Francia, Giacomo, son of II Francia, 127.
Francia, Giulio, cousin and pupil of II
Francia, 127.
Fi'ancia, II (Francesco Raibolini), 121-127 ;
educated for a goldsmith, 121 ; learned
drawing from Marco Zoppo, 122 ; his
earliest pictures, 122 and note ; portrait
of, 123 ; altar-piece by, 124 ; other works,
125 ; his chai'acter, 126 ; friendship with
Raphael, 126.
Frate, II, see Bartolommeo, Fra.
Frizzoni, Gustavo, Arte Italiano del Ri-
nascimenio cited, 119 note.
Fuseli, John Henry, quoted, 146.
Gaddi, Gaddo, the mosaic-worker, 12 ;
portrait of, 13.
Gaddi, Taddeo, favorite scholar of Giotto,
34 ; Enthroned Madonna by, 35 ; Bap
tism of our Saviour, 35 ; portrait of, 36 ;
a skilful architect, 36; excelled in
expression, 47.
Garofalo, Benvenuto, studied in the school
of Raphael, 217 ; portrait of, 218 ; his
best work, 218.
Garrick, David, anecdote of, 193 note.
Ghiberti, Loreuzo, his story of Cimabue

278

GENERAL INDEX

and Giotto, 17 ; portrait of, 51 ; chosen
to erect Baptistery doors, 53, 54 ; sub
jects represented, 54, 55 : pupils of, 65.
Ghirlandajo, Benedetto and Davide, bro
thers of Domenico, 89.
Ghirlandajo, Domenico dal, Pieta attrib
uted to, 82 note ; a skilful goldsmith,
85 ; frescoes and portraits by, 85-87 ;
portrait of himself, 87 ; other pictures,
88 ; his characteristics, 8S.
Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, son of Domenico,
80.
Giorgione (Giorgio Barbarelli), 236-241 ;
compared with Correggio, 221 ; taught
by Gian Bellini, 23ij ; his characteris
tics, 236, 240 ; portrait of, 237 ; relations
with Morto da Feltri, 238 ; his pictures,
239, 240 ; distinguished from Titian, 241. j
Giottino, one of the most famous followers i
of Giotto, 36 ; portrait of, 37.
Giotto, 16-29 ; greatness of his influence,
16 ; pupil of Cimabue, 17 ; invited to
Rome by Boniface VIIL, 19 ; a friend of
Dante, 20 ; his treatment of the Cruci
fix, 21 ; his style, 24-26 ; his character
and disposition, 26 ; poem by, 26 ; anec
dote of, 27 ; scholars and imitators of, 32 ;
wall-painting by, containing portraits of
Dante aud others, 17 ; Annunciation by,
18 ; Presentation in the Temple, 18 ;
Coronation of the Virgin, IS ; Last Sup
per, IS, 19 note ; colossal mosaic of the
Navicella, 19 ; Institution of the Jubilee
of 1300, 19 ; frescoes in the chapel of the
Arena, 20 ; frescoes at Assisi, 20, 21 ;
Crucifixion, 22 ; a satirical sketch, 22 ;
Seven Sacraments, attributed to, 22 ; the
Apocalypse, 23 ; the Campanile, '-i3, 29 ;
St. Francis, attributed to, 26 ; subjects
from the life of Christ and of St. Fran
cis, 26 ; Madonna, 2S ; designs for Bap
tistery gate, 50.
Giovanni, Agostino di, work in the cathe
dral at Orvieto, 21.
Gozzoli, Benozzo, frescoes in the Campo
Santo, 40 ; favorite pupil of Fra Ange
lico, 74 ; portrait of, 75 ; frescoes by, 76 ;
work in the Campo Santo, 76 ; other pic
tures by, 78, 79.
Gray, Thomas, quoted, 233.
Gribelin, Simon, engravings of Raphael's
Cartoons, 197.
Grimm, cited, 206 note.
Gruner, Louis, engraving of the Ansidei
Madonna, 179 ; of the Dream of the
Young Knight, ISO.
Guido, Tommaso, see Masaccio.
Hallam, Henry, Literature of Europe
quoted, 137.
Hazlitt, William, Criticisms on Art
quoted, 189, 196.
Hofstiingel, engraving of the Madonna di
San Sisto, 201 note.
Holbein, Hans, pictures by, formerly at
tributed to Leonardo da Vinci, 147 note.
Holloway, Thomas, engravings of Ra
phael's Cartoons, 197.
Idealists, in art, 57.
Ingegno, Madonna, attributed to, 120.

Jameson, Anna, Sacred and Legendary
Art cited, 43 note, 45 note, 68 notes, 91
note, 110 note, 119 note, 134 note, 142
note, 217 note, 227 note, 228 note, 201
note, 266 note, 271 note.
Jameson, Anna, Ligends of ihe 3/onastic
Orders cited, 20 note, 61 note, 79, 116
note, 243 note.
Jameson Anna, Lrynds of ihe Madonna
cited, 3 note, 42 note, 82 note, 86 note,
88 note, 94 note, 100 note, 105 note, 134
note, 135 note, 187 note, 217 note, 240
note, 243 note.
Jameson, Anna, Handbook to the Public
Galleries of Art in or near London cited,
1S7 note, 226 note.
Jameson, Anna, Studies, Stories, and Me
moirs cited, 246 note.
Krell, Classics of Painting, engravings in,
154.
Kugler, Franz, cited, 8, 23, 123, 163;
Handbook (Layard's revision), quoted,
8 ; cited, 26 note, 32 note, 34 note, 37
note, 183 note, 187 note ; prints in, 159,
164 note.
Lanzi, Luigi, Storia pittorica della Italia
cited, S, 12, 72, 77, 81, 106, 16S.
Lapi, Arnolfo, employed with Cimabue,
10.
Lasinio, Carlo, H Tabernacolo della Ma
donna d' Or San 3lichele, engravings in,
33 note ; engravings of the Baptistery
doors, 53 note ; from the Campo Santo,
77 note ; after Ghirlandajo, 86.
Latini, Brunetto, teacher of Giotto and
Dante, 17.
Laurati, Pietro, see Lorenzetti, Pietro.
Law, Ernest, Illustrated New Guide io
Hampton Court Palace cited, 112 note,
212 note, 250.
Layard, Sir Henry, cited, 68 note, 70 note,
90 note, 91 note, 17S note, 240 note,
264 note.
Lentulus, letter of, to the Roman Sen
ate, 2.
Leonardo da Vinci, 136-148 ; his natural
gifts, 137 ; pupil of Andrea Verrocchio,
138 ; early work, 139, 140 ; the Last
Supper, 141 ; La Belle Ferroniere, 142;
portrait of Mona Lisa, 143 ; rivalry with
Michael Angelo, 143 ; philosopher, me
chanic, and alchemist, 145 ; pictures by,
146-148; MSS. by, 148; his scholars,
148 ; compared with Michael Angelo,
149.
Lippi, Filippino, portrait of, 69 ; frescoes
by, 70, 71 ; other pictures by, 71 ; por
trait of Antonio Pollajuolo, 92 ; fresco
in tlie Carmine at Florence, 193.
Lippi, Filippo (Fra Filippo), 58-61 ; por
trait of, 59 ; his style, 60 ; principal
works, 60, 61.
Logan, Mary, Guide io the Italian Pic
tures at Hampjton Court cited, 250 note,
266 note.
Lombard School, the, 148.
Longhi, Giuseppe, engraving of Raphael's
Lo Sposalizio, 179.
Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, associate of Simone

GENERAL INDEX

279

Memmi, 34 ; frescoes iu the Campo
Santo, 38-44 ; portrait of, 43.
Lorenzetti, Pietro, 37-44 ; frescoes in the
Campo Santo, 38-44 ; portrait of, 39.
Luini, Bernardino, Christ disputing with
the Doctors, 146 ; Herodias, 147.
Luzzo, Pietro, see Morto da Feltri.
Malvasia, Carlo Cesare, Felsina Piitrice
cited, 202.
Manetti, Gianozzo, translator of Euclid,
65.
Mantegna, Andrea, 93-106 ; his most cel
ebrated work, 93 ; taught in the school
of Francesco Squarcione, 93 ; frescoes
in the Eremitani, 94 ; portrait of, 95 ;
his marriage, 95 ; enters the service of
Ludovico Gonzaga, then of Pope Inno
cent VIIL, 96 ; his principal existing
works, 97-102 ; disciples of, 102 ; first
painter who engraved his own designs,
103 ; extent of his work in this line,
106.
Margaritone, story of his death, 22.
Martini, Simone (called Simone Memmi),
portrait of Cimabue, attributed to, 5, 11;
friend of Petrarch, 34; frescoes in the
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 34 ; St. Louis
of Toulouse, 34 ; portrait of, 35 ; ex
celled in expression, 47.
Masaccio (Tommaso Guido), 67-73 ; por
trait of, 67 ; studied under Ghiberti,
Donatello, and Brunelleschi, 68 ; frescoes
by him and Masolino, 68-70 ; his chief
excellences, 71.
Masolino da Pauicale, frescoes attributed
to, 68-70.
Mazzola (or Mazzuoli), Francesco, see
Parmigiano.
Medico, Aloysius del, engravings by, 68
note.
Meglioli, Bart, di Virgilio, bust of Andrea
Mantegna, 95.
Memmi, Simone, see Martini.
Messina, Antonello da, 80.
Meyer, Dr. Julius, cited, 225 note, 227
note.
Michael Angelo, see Buonarroti.
Milanese school, the, 148.
Milanesi, Professor, cited, 172 note.
Miniature paintings, iu MS- Bibles and
Gospels, 4.
Mino, Maestro, Virgin and Saints by, 13.
Modena, Pellegrino da, valuable assistant
of Raphael in Scriptural subjects, 216.
Morelli, Critical Studies of the Italian
Painters cited, 68 note, 82 note, 93 note,
94 note, 102 note, 112 note, 142 note, 178
note, 180 note, 206 note, 228 note, 239
note, 240 note, 252, 264 note.
Moretto, II (Alessandro Bonvicino), por
trait of, 260 ; surpassed every painter of
his time except Titian, 260.
Morghen, Raphael, engraving after Ra
phael, 206 note.
Moroni, Giovanni Battista, portrait of
himself, 257 ; other portraits, 258.
Morto da Feltri and Giorgione, 238.
Mosaics, important and interesting, 4.
Muller, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm, en
graving of the Madonna di San Sisto, 201
note.

Miintz, Eugene, Raphael cited, 178 note,
199 note, 204 note, 206 note.
Mystics, in art, 57.
Naturalists, in art, 57.
Niello, working in, 104.
Oderigi, Dante's opinion of, 29.
Oehlenschlager, Adam, his Correggio men
tioned, 225 note.
Oggione, Marco d', copy of Leonardo da
Vinci's Last Supper, 142.
Orcagna, Andrea, 32-34 ; portrait of, 33 ;
sculptor as well as painter, 33 ; aud ar
chitect, 34 ; frescoes in the Campo Santo,
formerly attributed to, 41 note.
Ottley, Wilham Young, Early Florentine
School, engravings in, 7 ; Early Italian
School, engravings in, 26, 30, 68 note ;
School of Design, engraving in, 12.
Paliard, M., his account of Raphael's
cai'toon, the Coronation of the Virgin,
198 note.
Palma Vecchio, portrait attributed to,
240 note ; Bella di Tiziano, 252 note ;
portrait of himself, 263, 264.
Parmigiano (Francesco Mazzola), 229-235 ;
produced a picture of the baptism of
Christ when only fourteen, 229 ; per
sonal characteristics, 230 ; portrait of
himself, 231 ; Vision of St. Jerome, 231 ;
robbed at Rome, 232 ; said to have in
vented the art of etching, 232 ; two
Madonnas, 232 ; frescoes in the Steccata,
233; Cupid shaping his Bow, 233; hie
burial, 234 ; his style, 234.
Passavant, J. D., Life of Raphael cited,
113, 126 note, 187 note, 206.
Penni, Gian Francesco and Luca, Ra
phael's favorite scholars, 209, 210.
Perkins, Charles C, cited, 34 note, 49
note, 52 note, 54 note ; engravings in
Tuscan Sculptors, 53 note.
Perugino, II (Pietro Vannucci), 113-118 ;
his teachers, 114 ; friend of Leonardo
da Vinci, 114 ; portrait of himself, 115 ;
his principal works, 116-118 ; his pop
ularity and characteristics, 117.
Petrarch, Trionfo della Morie, 41.
Pieve, Pietro della, see Perugino.
Pintui'icchio (Bernardino di Perugia),
Baptism of Christ, attributed to, 116
note ; assistant of Perugino, 120 ; his
most important works, 120.
Piombo, Sebastian del, scholar and imita
tor of Michael Angelo, 108 ; portrait of,
169 ; contest with Raphael, 203 ; portrait
assigned to, 206 note.
Piroli, Tommaso, print of Michael An
gelo's frescoes in the Sistine chapel,
159.
Pisano, Andrea, bronze gate of the Baptis
tery, Florence, 50, 54.
Pisano, Giovanni, Gothic arcade in the
Campo Santo, 38.
Pisano, Giunta, Crucifixion by, 7 ; frescoes
in S. Francesco, at Assisi, 8 ; portrait of
Frate Elia, 11.
Pisano, Niccol6, greatest artist of his time,
7, 12 ; portrait of, 11 ; Deposition from
the Cross, 12.

280

GENERAL INDEX

Plautilla, Suor, pupil and imitator of Fra
Bartolommeo, 135.
Poliziano, Angelo, his influence on Michael
Augelo, 152.
Pollajuolo, Antonio del, first painter who
studied anatomy by dissection, 65 ; gold
smith, modeller, and carver, 91 ; Ms
principal works, 91, 92; his character
istics, 92 ; portrait of, 92.
Pollajuolo, Piero, 91, 92.
Ponte, Giacomo (or Jacopo) da, see Bas
sano.
Pontius, Paul, engraving of Raphael's por
trait of himself, 207 note.
Porta, Baccio della, see Bartolommeo, Fra.
Primaticcio, Francesco, portrait of, 212;
chief of the Fontainebleau school, 213,
214.
Pucci, Antonio, patron of the PoUajuoli, 91.
Querela, Jacopo della, 52, 53.
Rabatta, Messer Forese da, and Giotto, 27.
Raibolini, Fi-ancesco, see Francia.
Raimondi, Marc Antonio, engravings after
Michael Angelo, 154 ; after Raphael, 202.
Raphael Sanzio d' Urbino, 176-207 ; his
friendship wath Francia, 126, aud with
Fra Bartolommeo, 131 ; his industry,
177 ; birth and early teachers, 178 ; em
ployed by Pope Julius II. in the Vati
can, 181-186; architect of St. Peter's,
202 ; contest with Sebastian del Piombo,
203 ; death and burial, 205 ; his St. Ce
cilia, 126 ; the Madonna del Baldacchino,
132 ; Lo Sposalizio, 179 ; the Ansidei
Madonna, 179 ; other Madonnas, ISO,
1S3, 206; "Raphael's Bible." 186; the
Cartoons, 187-200 ; the large Holy Fam
ily, 200 ; the Madonna di San Sisto, 201 ;
frescoes of the A'illa Farnesina, 184, 201 ;
his last great picture, 202 ; portraits by,
206.
Raphael, the scholars of, 208-220.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, on Raphael, 194.
Richardson, Jonathan, quoted, 132, 177,
195 note ; cited, 188.
Richter, Jean Paul, cited, S4 note; Liter
ary Works of Leonardo da Vinci men
tioned, 137 note.
Robusti, Jacopo, see Tintoretto.
Robusti, Marietta, daughter of Tintoretto
and painter of excellent portraits, 266.
Rogers, Samuel, Italy quoted, 17, 72, 161.
Romano, Francesco Giangiacomo, engrav
ings in Le Piiture ddla Cappella di Nic-
collb V. , 63 note.
Romano, Giulio, assistant of Raphael, 200
note, 202. 204, 206 note; his character
istics, 210 ; portrait of himself, 211 ; his
best works, 210, 212.
Rondinelli, portrait of Giovanni Bellini,
111; Virgin and Child, attributed to,
112 note.
Roscoe, William, Life of Lorenzo de"*
Medici cited, 86.
Roselli, Cosimo, altar-piece by, 74.
Rosini, Storia della Pittura, engravings in,
7 ; cited, 12 note, 26, 30, 08 note, 110, 134.
Rubens, Peter Paul, copies Mantegna, 99 ;
drawing of a cartoon by Leonardo da
Vinci, 144.

Rumohr, Karl Friedrich, Italienische
Forschungen cited, 8.
Sadeler, engraving of Titian's Lucrezia
Borgia, 253.
Salerno, Andrea da, a successful scholar
of Raphael, 214.
Santi, Giovanni, quoted, 114.
Sarto, Andrea del, 172-175 ; began life as
a goldsmith, 172 ; his unfortunate mar
riage, 172; portrait of himself, 173; his
character, 174 ; his gi-eatest works, 174,
175.
Savonarola, infiuence of, on Fra Barto
lommeo, 130.
Schiavone, Andrea, portrait of, 261.
Schiavonetti, Luigi, eugi'aving after Mi
chael Angelo, 154.
Schlegel, A. W., notes on engravings after
Fra Angelico, 64 note.
Seroux d'Agincourt, Histoire de VArt par
les Monumens, engravings in, 26,
Siddons, Blrs., anecdote of, 165.
Siena, Guido da. Madonna and Child, 7.
Signorelli, Luca, principal works of, 84.
Spagna, Lo, pupil of Perugino, 118; his
finest work, 119.
Spinello Aretino, work in the Campo
Santo, 45, 46 ; portrait of, 46.
Squarcione, Francesco, his school, 93, 94 ;
Madonna by, 94.
Stefano, Tommaso di, see Giottino.
Steinle, engraving of the Madonna di San
Sisto, 201 note.
Symonds, J. A., Life of Jfichel Angelo
Buonarroti, diagram in, 159.
Tafi, Andrea, an early mosaic-worker, 13
note.
Taylor, John Edward, Michael Angelo a
Poet mentioned, 108.
Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), portrait of
Sansovino, 254 uote ; his characteristics,
265 ; his principal works, 205, 266.
Titian (Tiziano Vecelli), 242-255 ; the
Three Ages, 239 ; distinguished from
Giorgione, 241 ; first indication of his
love of art, 242 ; pupil of Sebastian Zuc
cato and of the Bellini, 242 ; first por
traits by, 243 ; Assumption of the Virgin,
243 ; works painted at Ferrara, 243-245 ;
at Rome, 246, 247 ; at Augsburg, 247 ;
other works, 248, 250, 251 ; portraits,
252-254; dies of the plague, 249; his
monument, 250.
Tornabuoni, Giovanni, patron of Ghirlan
dajo, 86, 87.
Torregiano, Piero, quarrel with Michael
Angelo, 152.
Uccello, Paolo, 65, 60 ; portrait of, 66.
Udine, Giovanni da, his work on one of
Raphael's Cartoons, 195, 214 ; portrait
of, 213.
Vaga, Perino del, carried Raphael's style
to Genoa, 214 ; portrait of, 214.
Valdambrina, Francesco di, 52, 53.
Vannucchi, Andrea, see Sarto.
Vannucci, Pietro, see Perugino.
Vasari, Giorgio, an especial favorite of
Michael Angelo, 170 ; portrait of him-

GENERAL INDEX

281

self, 171 ; his Lives of tlie Painters
cited, 1, 11, 18, 20 note, 21, 23, 30 note,
52, 58, 60, 61, 68 note, 69 note, 72, 74,
79, 80 note, SS, 91 uote, 97, 99, 105, 114,
125 note, 126, 127, 139, 141, 144, 162,
208, 225, 229 note, 236 note, 238, 264
note.
Veechia, Pietro della, imitator of Gior
gione, 239.
Vecelli, Tiziano, see Titian.
Veneziano, Agostino, engravings after
Michael Angelo, 154.
Veneziano, Antonio, scenes from the life
of St. Ranieri, 44, 45 ; portrait of, 45.
Veneziano, Domenico, aud Andrea di
Castagno, 80 and note.
Ventura, Angelo di, work in the cathe
dral at Orvieto, 21.
Venusti, Marcello, small pictures from
Michael Angelo's cartoons, 168.
Veronese, Paul (Paolo Cagliari), portrait
of, 267 ; his characteristics, 268 ; the
Marriage at Cana, 268, 269 ; specimens
of his work, 270.
Verrocchio, Andrea, portrait of, 89 ;
goldsmith, sculptor, and painter, 90 ;
teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, 138; in
fluence of Leonardo on, 138.
Vigenere, Blaise di, quoted, 164 note.

Vinci, Leonardo da, see Leonardo.
Virgin Mary, most ancient representations
of, 3 ; later representations, 3.
Vischer, Cornelius, engraving after Titian,
251 note.
Volterra, Daniel da, scholar and imitator
of Michael Angelo, 169 ; portrait of,
170.
Volterra, Francesco da, frescoes in the
Campo Santo, 40.
Vorstermann, Lucas, print of Titian's
portrait of the Constable de Bourbon,
253.
Waagen, Dr., on Raphael, 18S.
Walpole, Horace, Anecdotes of Painting
cited, 200.
West, Benjamin, anecdote of, 193 note.
Wilkie, Sir David, quoted, 134.
Woermann, Dr., cited, 228 note.
Wood engraving, invention of, 102 ; first
use of, 103 ; earliest woodcut known,
104 ; difference between it and copper
engraving, 106.
Zoppo, Marco, taught Francia to draw,
122.
Zuccato, Sebastian, teacher of Titian,
242.

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