Part 1
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LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO VASARI:
VOLUME III. FILARETE AND SIMONE TO MANTEGNA 1912
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES
PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED 7 GRAFTON ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III
PAGE
ANTONIO FILARETE AND SIMONE 1
GIULIANO DA MAIANO 9
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA [PIERO BORGHESE] 15
FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE [FRA ANGELICO] 25
LEON BATISTA ALBERTI 41
LAZZARO VASARI 49
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA 57
ALESSO BALDOVINETTI 65
VELLANO DA PADOVA 71
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI 77
PAOLO ROMANO, MAESTRO MINO [MINO DEL REGNO _OR_ MINO DEL REAME], AND CHIMENTI CAMICIA 89
ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO OF MUGELLO [ANDREA DEGL' IMPICCATI] AND DOMENICO VINIZIANO [DOMENICO DA VENEZIA] 95
GENTILE DA FABRIANO AND VITTORE PISANELLO OF VERONA 107
PESELLO AND FRANCESCO PESELLI [PESELLINO _OR_ FRANCESCO DI PESELLO] 115
BENOZZO GOZZOLI 119
FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO AND LORENZO VECCHIETTO 127
GALASSO FERRARESE [GALASSO GALASSI] 133
ANTONIO ROSSELLINO [ROSSELLINO DAL PROCONSOLO] AND BERNARDO HIS BROTHER 137
DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO 145
MINO DA FIESOLE [MINO DI GIOVANNI] 151
LORENZO COSTA 159
ERCOLE FERRARESE [ERCOLE DA FERRARA] 165
JACOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 171
COSIMO ROSSELLI 185
CECCA 191
DON BARTOLOMMEO DELLA GATTA, ABBOT OF S. CLEMENTE 201
GHERARDO 211
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO 217
ANTONIO AND PIERO POLLAIUOLO 235
SANDRO BOTTICELLI [ALESSANDRO FILIPEPI _OR_ SANDRO DI BOTTICELLO] 245
BENEDETTO DA MAIANO 255
ANDREA VERROCCHIO 265
ANDREA MANTEGNA 277
INDEX OF NAMES 287
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME III
PLATES IN COLOUR
FACING PAGE
VINCENZIO DI ZOPPA (FOPPA) Madonna and Child Settignano: Berenson Collection 6
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and Battista Sforza, his Wife Florence: Uffizi, 1300 18
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA The Baptism in Jordan London: N. G., 665 22
FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE (FRA ANGELICO) The Annunciation Cortona: Gesu Gallery 34
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA Portrait of a Young Man Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 18 62
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA The Crucifixion London: N. G., 1166 64
ALESSO BALDOVINETTI Madonna and Child in a Landscape Paris: Louvre, 1300B 68
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI The Annunciation London: N. G., 666 80
ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO Dante Florence: S. Apollonia 102
GENTILE DA FABRIANO Detail from The Adoration of the Magi: Madonna and Child, with Three Kings Florence: Accademia, 165 110
VITTORE PISANELLO The Vision of S. Eustace London: N. G., 1436 112
FRANCESCO PESELLI (PESELLINO) Madonna Enthroned, with Saints and Angels Empoli: Gallery 118
BENOZZO GOZZOLI Madonna and Child Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 60B 122
FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO S. Dorothy London: N. G., 1682 128
JACOPO BELLINI Madonna and Child Florence: Uffizi, 1562 174
GIOVANNI BELLINI The Doge Leonardo Loredano London: N. G., 189 174
GIOVANNI BELLINI Fortuna Venice: Accademia, 595 178
GIOVANNI BELLINI The Dead Christ Milan: Poldi Pezzoli, 624 178
GENTILE BELLINI S. Dominic London: N. G., 1440 182
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO The Vision of S. Fina San Gimignano 224
ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO David Victor Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 73A 240
SANDRO BOTTICELLI Pallas and the Centaur Florence: Pitti Palace 248
SANDRO BOTTICELLI Giovanna Tornabuoni and the Graces Paris: Louvre, 1297 248
SANDRO BOTTICELLI Madonna of the Pomegranate Florence: Uffizi, 1289 252
ANDREA MANTEGNA Madonna of the Rocks Florence: Uffizi, 1025 280
PLATES IN MONOCHROME
FACING PAGE ANTONIO FILARETE Bronze Doors Rome: S. Peter's 4
SIMONE Tomb of Pope Martin V Rome: S. Giovanni in Laterano 8
BENEDETTO DA MAIANO S. Sebastian Florence: Oratorio della Misericordia 14
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA The Resurrection Borgo S. Sepolcro 20
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA The Vision of Constantine Arezzo: S. Francesco 24
FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE (FRA ANGELICO) The Transfiguration Florence: S. Marco 30
FRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE (FRA ANGELICO) S. Stephen Preaching Rome: The Vatican, Chapel of Nicholas V 32
LEON BATISTA ALBERTI Facade of S. Andrea Mantua 46
ALESSO BALDOVINETTI The Annunciation Florence: Uffizi, 56 66
GRAFFIONE The Trinity Florence: S. Spirito 70
VELLANO DA PADOVA Jonah Cast into the Sea Padua: S. Antonio 74
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI The Virgin Adoring Florence: Accademia, 79 82
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI Madonna and Child Florence: Pitti, 343 86
ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO The Last Supper Florence: S. Apollonia 98
DOMENICO VINIZIANO Madonna and Child London: N. G., 1215 104
VITTORE PISANELLO Medals: N. Piccinino and Sigismondo Malatesta London: British Museum 114
BENOZZO GOZZOLI Detail: Procession of the Magi Florence: Palazzo Riccardi 120
BENOZZO GOZZOLI The Death of S. Augustine San Gimignano: S. Agostino 124
LORENZO VECCHIETTO The Risen Christ Siena: S. Maria della Scala 130
COSME (COSIMO TURA) The Madonna Enthroned Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 86 136
ANTONIO ROSSELLINO Tomb of Cardinal Jacopo of Portugal Florence: S. Miniato 142
BERNARDO ROSSELLINO Tomb of Leonardo Bruni Florence: S. Croce 144
DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini Florence: S. Croce 148
MINO DA FIESOLE Tomb of Margrave Hugo Florence: La Badia 154
LORENZO COSTA The Coronation of the Virgin Bologna: S. Giovanni in Monte 162
ERCOLE FERRARESE The Israelites Gathering Manna London: N. G., 1217 168
GENTILE BELLINI The Miracle of the True Cross Venice: Accademia, 568 176
GIOVANNI BELLINI Madonna and Saints Venice: S. Francesco della Vigna 180
COSIMO ROSSELLI Detail: Christ Healing the Leper Rome: Sistine Chapel 190
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO The Death of S. Francis Florence: S. Trinita 222
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO The Birth of S. John the Baptist Florence: S. Maria Novella 226
BASTIANO MAINARDI The Madonna giving the Girdle to S. Thomas Florence: S. Croce 232
PIERO POLLAIUOLO SS. Eustace, James, and Vincent Florence: Uffizi, 1301 238
ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO The Martyrdom of S. Sebastian London: N. G., 292 242
ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO Tomb of Pope Sixtus IV Rome: S. Peter's 242
SANDRO BOTTICELLI The Adoration of the Magi Florence: Uffizi, 1286 250
SANDRO BOTTICELLI The Calumny of Apelles Florence: Uffizi, 1182 254
BENEDETTO DA MAIANO Pulpit Florence: S. Croce 258
ANDREA VERROCCHIO David Florence: Bargello 266
ANDREA VERROCCHIO Detail: Corner and Foot of the Medici Sarcophagus Florence: S. Lorenzo 270
ANDREA VERROCCHIO Statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni Venice: Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo 272
ANDREA MANTEGNA The Martyrdom of S. James Padua: Eremitani 278
ANDREA MANTEGNA Madonna and Angels Milan: Brera, 198 282
ANDREA MANTEGNA Judith with the Head of Holofernes Dublin: N. G. 286
ANTONIO FILARETE AND SIMONE
LIVES OF ANTONIO FILARETE AND SIMONE
SCULPTORS OF FLORENCE
If Pope Eugenius IV, when he resolved to make the bronze door for S. Pietro in Rome, had used diligence in seeking for men of excellence to execute that work (and he would easily have been able to find them at that time, when Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, Donatello, and other rare craftsmen were alive), it would not have been carried out in the deplorable manner which it reveals to us in our own day. But perchance the same thing happened to him that is very often wont to happen to the greater number of Princes, who either have no understanding of such works or take very little delight in them. Now, if they were to consider how important it is to show preference to men of excellence in public works, by reason of the fame that comes from these, it is certain that neither they nor their ministers would be so negligent; for the reason that he who encumbers himself with poor and inept craftsmen ensures but a short life to his works or his fame, not to mention that injury is done to the public interest and to the age in which he was born, for it is firmly believed by all who come after, that, if there had been better masters to be found in that age, the Prince would have availed himself rather of them than of the inept and vulgar.
Now, after being created Pontiff in the year 1431, Pope Eugenius IV, hearing that the Florentines were having the doors of S. Giovanni made by Lorenzo Ghiberti, conceived a wish to try to make one of the doors of S. Pietro in like manner in bronze. But since he had no knowledge of such works, he entrusted the matter to his ministers, with whom Antonio Filarete, then a youth, and Simone, the brother of Donatello, both sculptors of Florence, had so much interest, that the work was allotted to them. Putting their hands to this, therefore, they toiled for twelve years to complete it; and although Pope Eugenius fled from Rome and was much harassed by reason of the Councils, yet those who had charge of S. Pietro contrived to prevent that work from being abandoned. Filarete, then, wrought that door in low-relief, making a simple division, with two upright figures in each part--namely, the Saviour and the Madonna above, and S. Peter and S. Paul below; and at the foot of S. Peter is that Pope on his knees, portrayed from life. Beneath each figure, likewise, there is a little scene from the life of the Saint that is above; below S. Peter, his crucifixion, and below S. Paul, his beheading; and beneath the Saviour and the Madonna, also, some events from their lives. At the foot of the inner side of the said door, to amuse himself, Antonio made a little scene in bronze, wherein he portrayed himself and Simone and their disciples going with an ass laden with good cheer to take their pleasure in a vineyard. But since they were not always at work on the said door during the whole of those twelve years, they also made in S. Pietro some marble tombs for Popes and Cardinals, which were thrown to the ground in the building of the new church.
After these works, Antonio was summoned to Milan by Duke Francesco Sforza, then Gonfalonier of Holy Church (who had seen his works in Rome), to the end that there might be made with his design, as it afterwards was, the Albergo de' poveri di Dio,[1] which is a hospital that serves for sick men and women, and for the innocent children born out of wedlock. The division for the men in this place is in the form of a cross, and extends 160 braccia in all directions; and that of the women is the same. The width is 16 braccia, and within the four square sides that enclose the crosses of each of these two divisions there are four courtyards surrounded by porticoes, loggie, and rooms for the use of the director, the officials, the servants, and the nurses of the hospital, all very commodious and useful. On one side there is a channel with water continually running for the service of the hospital and for grinding corn, with no small benefit and convenience for that place, as all may imagine. Between the two divisions of the hospital there is a cloister, 80 braccia in extent in one direction and 160 in the other, in the middle of which is the church, so contrived as to serve for both divisions. In a word, this place is so well built and designed, that I do not believe that there is its like in Europe. According to the account of Filarete himself, the first stone of this building was laid with a solemn procession of the whole of the clergy of Milan, in the presence of Duke Francesco Sforza, the Lady Bianca Maria, and all their children, with the Marquis of Mantua, the Ambassador of King Alfonso of Arragon, and many other lords. On the first stone which was laid in the foundations, as well as on the medals, were these words:
FRANCISCUS SFORTIA DUX IV, QUI AMISSUM PER PRAECESSORUM OBITUM URBIS IMPERIUM RECUPERAVIT, HOC MUNUS CHRISTI PAUPERIBUS DEDIT FUNDAVITQUE MCCCCLVII, DIE XII APRIL.
These scenes were afterwards depicted on the portico by Maestro Vincenzio di Zoppa, a Lombard, since no better master could be found in those parts.
A work by the same Antonio, likewise, was the principal church of Bergamo, which he built with no less diligence and judgment than he had shown in the above-named hospital. And because he also took delight in writing, the while that these works of his were in progress he wrote a book divided into three parts. In the first he treats of the measurements of all edifices, and of all that is necessary for the purpose of building. In the second he speaks of the methods of building, and of the manner wherein a most beautiful and most convenient city might be laid out. In the third he invents new forms of buildings, mingling the ancient with the modern. The whole work is divided into twenty-four books, illustrated throughout by drawings from his own hand; but, although there is something of the good to be found in it, it is nevertheless mostly ridiculous, and perhaps the most stupid book that was ever written. It was dedicated by him in the year 1464 to the Magnificent Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and it is now in the collection of the most Illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo. And in truth, since he put himself to so great pains, the book might be commended in some sort, if he had at least made some records of the masters of his day and of their works; but as there are few to be found therein, and those few are scattered throughout the book without method and in the least suitable places, he has toiled only to beggar himself, as the saying goes, and to be thought a man of little judgment for meddling with something that he did not understand.
But I have said quite enough about Filarete, and it is now time to turn to Simone, the brother of Donato. This man, after the work of the door, made the bronze tomb of Pope Martin. He likewise made some castings that were sent to France, of many of which the fate is not known. For the Church of the Ermini, in the Canto alla Macine in Florence, he wrought a life-size Crucifix for carrying in processions, and to render it the lighter he made it of cork. In S. Felicita he made a terra-cotta figure of S. Mary Magdalene in Penitence, three braccia and a half in height and beautifully proportioned, and revealing the muscles in such a manner as to show that he had a very good knowledge of anatomy. He also wrought a marble tombstone for the Company of the Nunziata in the Church of the Servi, inlaying it with a figure in grey and white marble in the manner of a painting (which was much extolled), like the work already mentioned as having been done by the Sienese Duccio in the Duomo of Siena. At Prato he made the bronze grille for the Chapel of the Girdle. At Forli, over the door of the Canon's house, he wrought a Madonna with two angels in low-relief; and he adorned the Chapel of the Trinita in S. Francesco with work in half-relief for Messer Giovanni da Riolo. In the Church of S. Francesco at Rimini, for Sigismondo Malatesti, he built the Chapel of S. Sigismondo, wherein there are many elephants, the device of that lord, carved in marble. To Messer Bartolommeo Scamisci, Canon of the Pieve of Arezzo, he sent a Madonna with the Child in her arms, made of terra-cotta, with certain angels in half-relief, very well executed; which Madonna is now in the said Pieve, set up against a column. For the baptismal font of the Vescovado of Arezzo, likewise, he wrought, in some scenes in low-relief, a Christ being baptized by S. John. In the Church of the Nunziata in Florence he made a marble tomb for Messer Orlando de' Medici. Finally, at the age of fifty-five, he rendered up his spirit to God who had given it to him. Nor was it long before Filarete, having returned to Rome, died at the age of sixty-nine, and was buried in the Minerva, where he had caused Giovanni Foccora, a painter of no small repute, to make a portrait of Pope Eugenius, while he was staying in Rome in the service of that Pontiff. The portrait of Antonio, by his own hand, is at the beginning of his book, where he gives instructions for building. His disciples were Varrone and Niccolo, both Florentines, who made the marble statue for Pope Pius II near Pontemolle, at the time when he brought the head of S. Andrew to Rome. By order of the same Pope they restored Tigoli almost from the foundations; and in S. Pietro they made the ornament of marble that is above the columns of the chapel wherein the said head of S. Andrew is preserved. Near that chapel is the tomb of the said Pope Pius, made by Pasquino da Montepulciano, a disciple of Filarete, and Bernardo Ciuffagni. This Bernardo wrought a tomb of marble for Gismondo Malatesti in S. Francesco at Rimini, making his portrait there from nature; and he also executed some works, so it is said, in Lucca and in Mantua.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Literally, Hospice for God's poor.
GIULIANO DA MAIANO
LIFE OF GIULIANO DA MAIANO
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT