Chapter 1

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LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO VASARI:

VOLUME IV. FILIPPINO LIPPI TO DOMENICO PULIGO 1913

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 IV

PAGE

FILIPPO LIPPI, CALLED FILIPPINO 1

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO 11

FRANCESCO FRANCIA 21

PIETRO PERUGINO [PIETRO VANNUCCI, _OR_ PIETRO DA CASTEL DELLA PIEVE] 31

VITTORE SCARPACCIA [CARPACCIO], AND OTHER VENETIAN AND LOMBARD PAINTERS 49

JACOPO, CALLED L'INDACO 63

LUCA SIGNORELLI [LUCA DA CORTONA] 69

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE THIRD PART 77

LEONARDO DA VINCI 87

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 107

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 115

PIERO DI COSIMO 123

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 135

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO [BACCIO DELLA PORTA] 149

MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI 163

RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO 173

TORRIGIANO 181

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 189

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO [RAFFAELLO SANZIO] 207

GUGLIELMO DA MARCILLA [GUILLAUME DE MARCILLAC] 251

SIMONE, CALLED IL CRONACA [SIMONE DEL POLLAIUOLO] 263

DOMENICO PULIGO 277

INDEX OF NAMES 285

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IV

PLATES IN COLOUR

FACING PAGE FILIPPO LIPPI (FILIPPINO) The Vision of S. Bernard Florence: Church of the Badia 2

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO The Madonna in Glory San Gimignano: Palazzo Pubblico 14

BENEDETTO BUONFIGLIO Madonna, Child, and Three Angels Perugia: Pinacoteca 18

FRANCESCO FRANCIA Pieta London: N.G., 180 26

PIETRO PERUGINO Apollo and Marsyas Paris: Louvre, 1509 34

PIETRO PERUGINO Triptych: The Madonna adoring, with the Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Tobit London: N.G., 288 42

VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO) The Vision of S. Ursula Venice: Accademia, 578 56

VINCENZIO CATENA S. Jerome in his Study London: N.G., 694 58

GIOVAN BATTISTA DA CONIGLIANO (CIMA) Detail: Tobit and the Angel Venice: Accademia, 592 58

LUCA SIGNORELLI Pan Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 79A 72

ANDREA VERROCCHIO The Baptism in Jordan Florence: Accademia, 71 92

LEONARDO DA VINCI Monna Lisa (formerly) Paris: Louvre, 1601 102

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO Figures in a Landscape Venice: Prince Giovanelli's Collection 110

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO Antiope Paris: Louvre, 1118 118

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO The Adoration of the Magi Milan: Brera, 427 122

PIERO DI COSIMO The Death of Procris London: N.G., 698 126

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO The Deposition from the Cross Florence: Pitti, 64 152

MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI The Salutation Florence: Uffizi, 1259 168

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO S. George and the Dragon S. Petersburg: Hermitage, 39 210

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO Angelo Doni Florence: Pitti, 61 214

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO The Three Graces Chantilly, 38 242

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO Baldassare Gastiglione Paris: Louvre, 1505 248

PLATES IN MONOCHROME

FACING PAGE FILIPPO LIPPI (FILIPPINO) The Liberation of S. Peter Florence: S. Maria Del Carmine 6

FILIPPO LIPPI (FILIPPINO) S. John the Evangelist Raising Drusiana from the Dead Florence: S. Maria Novella, Strozzi Chapel 8

FILIPPO LIPPI (FILIPPINO) The Adoration of the Magi Florence: Uffizi, 1257 10

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO Frederick III Crowning the Poet AEneas Sylvius Siena: Sala Piccolominea 16

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO Pope Alexander VI Adoring the Risen Christ Rome: the Vatican, Borgia Apartments 16

FRANCESCO FRANCIA AND A PUPIL Medals London: British Museum 22

FRANCESCO FRANCIA Madonna and Child, with Saints Bologna: S. Giacomo Maggiore, Bentivoglio Chapel 24

PIETRO PERUGINO The Deposition Florence: Pitti, 164 38

PIETRO PERUGINO Christ Giving the Keys to S. Peter Rome: Sistine Chapel 40

PIETRO PERUGINO Fortitude and Temperance, with Warriors Perugia: Collegio Del Cambio 40

GIOVANNI (LO SPAGNA) Madonna and Child, with Saints Assisi: Lower Church 46

STEFANO DA VERONA (DA ZEVIO) The Madonna and Child with S. Catharine in a Rose Garden Verona: Gallery, 559 52

ALDIGIERI DA ZEVIO (ALTICHIERO) Presentation to the Madonna of Three Knights of the Cavalli Family Verona: S. Anastasia 54

VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO) S. George and the Dragon Venice: S. Giorgio Degli Schiavoni 56

MARCO BASSITI (BASAITI) Christ on the Mount of Olives Venice: Accademia, 69 60

GIOVANNI BUONCONSIGLI Pieta Vicenza: Pinacoteca, 22 60

LUCA SIGNORELLI Detail: The Last Judgment Orvieto: Duomo 74

LEONARDO DA VINCI The Adoration of the Magi Florence: Uffizi, 1252 94

LEONARDO DA VINCI The Last Supper Milan: S. Maria delle Grazie 96

LEONARDO DA VINCI Cartoon: The Madonna and Child with S. Anne London: Burlington House 98

LEONARDO DA VINCI (?) Fragment of Cartoon: The Battle of the Standard Oxford: Ashmolean Museum 104

GIOVAN ANTONIO BOLTRAFFIO Man and Woman Praying Milan: Brera, 281 104

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO Portrait of a Young Man Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 12A 112

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO Judith S. Petersburg: Hermitage, 112 112

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO (?) Caterina, Queen of Cyprus Milan: Crespi Collection 114

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO Detail: S. Thomas and S. James the Less Parma: S. Giovanni Evangelista 120

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO The Madonna and Child with S. Jerome Parma: Gallery, 351 120

PIERO DI COSIMO Perseus delivering Andromeda Florence: Uffizi, 1312 128

PIERO DI COSIMO Venus, Mars, and Cupid Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 107 130

PIERO DI COSIMO Francesco Giamberti Hague: Royal Museum, 255 134

BRAMANTE DA URBINO Interior of Sacristy Milan: S. Satiro 138

BRAMANTE DA URBINO Tempietto Rome: S. Pietro in Montorio 142

BRAMANTE DA URBINO Palazzo Giraud Rome 146

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO The Holy Family Rome: Corsini Gallery, 579 154

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO S. Mark Florence: Pitti, 125 158

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO God the Father, with SS. Mary Magdalen and Catharine Lucca: Gallery, 12 160

MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI The Madonna enthroned, with Saints Florence: Accademia, 167 166

RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO The Resurrection Florence: Accademia, 90 176

TORRIGIANO Tomb of Henry VII London: Westminster Abbey 186

GIULIANO DA SAN GALLO Facade of S. Maria delle Carceri Prato 194

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO Lo Sposalizio Milan: Brera, 472 212

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO Maddalena Doni Florence: Pitti, 59 212

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO "The School of Athens" Rome: The Vatican 216

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO The "Disputa del Sacramento" Rome: The Vatican 222

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO The Mass of Bolsena Rome: The Vatican 224

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals Florence: Pitti, 40 230

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO The Transfiguration Rome: The Vatican 240

SIMONE (IL CRONACA) Detail of Cornice Florence: Palazzo Strozzi 266

NICCOLO GROSSO Iron Link-holder Florence: Palazzo Strozzi 268

NICCOLO GROSSO Iron Lantern Florence: Palazzo Strozzi 268

SIMONE (IL CRONACA) Interior of Sacristy Florence: S. Spirito 270

DOMENICO PULIGO (?) Madonna and Child, with Saints Florence: S. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi 280

FILIPPO LIPPI

LIFE OF FILIPPO LIPPI, CALLED FILIPPINO

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

There was at this same time in Florence a painter of most beautiful intelligence and most lovely invention, namely, Filippo, son of Fra Filippo of the Carmine, who, following in the steps of his dead father in the art of painting, was brought up and instructed, being still very young, by Sandro Botticelli, notwithstanding that his father had commended him on his death-bed to Fra Diamante, who was much his friend--nay, almost his brother. Such was the intelligence of Filippo, and so abundant his invention in painting, and so bizarre and new were his ornaments, that he was the first who showed to the moderns the new method of giving variety to vestments, and embellished and adorned his figures with the girt-up garments of antiquity. He was also the first to bring to light grotesques, in imitation of the antique, and he executed them on friezes in terretta or in colours, with more design and grace than the men before him had shown; wherefore it was a marvellous thing to see the strange fancies that he expressed in painting. What is more, he never executed a single work in which he did not avail himself with great diligence of Roman antiquities, such as vases, buskins, trophies, banners, helmet-crests, adornments of temples, ornamental head-dresses, strange kinds of draperies, armour, scimitars, swords, togas, mantles, and such a variety of other beautiful things, that we owe him a very great and perpetual obligation, seeing that he added beauty and adornment to art in this respect.

In his earliest youth he completed the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine at Florence, begun by Masolino, and left not wholly finished by Masaccio on account of his death. Filippo, therefore, gave it its final perfection with his own hand, and executed what was lacking in one scene, wherein S. Peter and S. Paul are restoring to life the nephew of the Emperor. In the nude figure of this boy he portrayed the painter Francesco Granacci, then a youth; and he also made portraits of the Chevalier, Messer Tommaso Soderini, Piero Guicciardini, father of Messer Francesco the historian, Piero del Pugliese, and the poet Luigi Pulci; likewise Antonio Pollaiuolo, and himself as a youth, as he then was, which he never did again throughout the whole of his life, so that it has not been possible to find a portrait of him at a more mature age. In the scene following this he portrayed Sandro Botticelli, his master, and many other friends and people of importance; among others, the broker Raggio, a man of great intelligence and wit, who executed in relief on a conch the whole Inferno of Dante, with all the circles and divisions of the pits and the nethermost well in their exact proportions, and all the figures and details that were most ingeniously imagined and described by that great poet; which conch was held in those times to be a marvellous thing.

Next, in the Chapel of Francesco del Pugliese at Campora, a seat of the Monks of the Badia, without Florence, he painted a panel in distemper of S. Bernard, to whom Our Lady is appearing with certain angels, while he is writing in a wood; which picture is held to be admirable in certain respects, such as rocks, books, herbage, and similar things, that he painted therein, besides the portrait from life of Francesco himself, so excellent that he seems to lack nothing save speech. This panel was removed from that place on account of the siege, and placed for safety in the Sacristy of the Badia of Florence. In S. Spirito in the same city, for Tanai de' Nerli, he painted a panel with Our Lady, S. Martin, S. Nicholas, and S. Catherine; with a panel in the Chapel of the Rucellai in S. Pancrazio, and a Crucifix and two figures on a ground of gold in S. Raffaello. In front of the Sacristy of S. Francesco, without the Porta a S. Miniato, he made a God the Father, with a number of children. At Palco, a seat of the Frati del Zoccolo, without Prato, he painted a panel; and in the Audience Chamber of the Priori in that territory he executed a little panel containing the Madonna, S. Stephen, and S. John the Baptist, which has been much extolled. On the Canto al Mercatale, also in Prato, in a shrine opposite to the Nuns of S. Margherita, and near some houses belonging to them, he painted in fresco a very beautiful Madonna, with a choir of seraphim, on a ground of dazzling light. In this work, among other things, he showed art and beautiful judgment in a dragon that is at the feet of S. Margaret, which is so strange and horrible, that it is revealed to us as a true fount of venom, fire, and death; and the whole of the rest of the work is so fresh and vivacious in colouring, that it deserves infinite praise.

He also wrought certain things in Lucca, particularly a panel in a chapel of the Church of S. Ponziano, which belongs to the Monks of Monte Oliveto; in the centre of which chapel there is a niche containing a very beautiful S. Anthony in relief by the hand of Andrea Sansovino, a most excellent sculptor. Being invited to go to Hungary by King Matthias, Filippo refused, but made up for this by painting two very beautiful panels for that King in Florence, and sending them to him; and in one of these he made a portrait of the King, taken from his likeness on medals. He also sent certain works to Genoa; and beside the Chapel of the High-Altar in S. Domenico at Bologna, on the left hand, he painted a S. Sebastian on a panel, which was a thing worthy of much praise. For Tanai de' Nerli he executed another panel in S. Salvadore, without Florence; and for his friend Piero del Pugliese he painted a scene with little figures, executed with so much art and diligence that when another citizen besought him to make a second like it, he refused, saying that it was not possible to do it.

After these things he executed a very great work in Rome for the Neapolitan Cardinal, Olivieri Caraffa, at the request of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici, who was a friend of that Cardinal. While going thither for that purpose, he passed through Spoleto at the wish of Lorenzo, in order to give directions for the making of a marble tomb for his father Fra Filippo at the expense of Lorenzo, who had not been able to obtain his body from the people of Spoleto for removal to Florence. Filippo, therefore, made a beautiful design for the said tomb, and Lorenzo had it erected after that design (as has been told in another place), sumptuous and beautiful. Afterwards, having arrived in Rome, Filippo painted a chapel in the Church of the Minerva for the said Cardinal Caraffa, depicting therein scenes from the life of S. Thomas Aquinas, and certain most beautiful poetical compositions ingeniously imagined by himself, for he had a nature ever inclined to this. In the scene, then, wherein Faith has taken Infidelity captive, there are all the heretics and infidels. Hope has likewise overcome Despair, and so, too, there are many other Virtues that have subjugated the Vice that is their opposite. In a disputation is S. Thomas defending the Church "ex cathedra" against a school of heretics, and holding vanquished beneath him Sabellius, Arius, Averroes, and others, all clothed in graceful garments; of which scene we have in our book of drawings the original design by Filippo's own hand, with certain others by the same man, wrought with such mastery that they could not be bettered. There, too, is the scene when, as S. Thomas is praying, the Crucifix says to him, "Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma"; while a companion of the Saint, hearing that Crucifix thus speaking, is standing amazed and almost beside himself. In the panel is the Virgin receiving the Annunciation from Gabriel; and on the main wall there is her Assumption into Heaven, with the twelve Apostles round the sepulchre. The whole of this work was held, as it still is, to be very excellent and wrought perfectly for a work in fresco. It contains a portrait from life of the said Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa, Bishop of Ostia, who was buried in this chapel in the year 1511, and afterwards removed to the Piscopio in Naples.