The History Of Painting In Italy Volume I Part 11

Batista Naldini holds the third rank among the scholars of Bronzino. He was first the pupil of Pontormo, afterwards of Bronzino, and having resided some time at Rome, he was chosen by Vasari as the companion of his labours in the old palace, and retained by him about fourteen years.

The historian makes honourable mention of Naldini, even when a young man, and denominates him a painter skilful and vigorous, expeditious and indefatigable. Naldini obtained similar praise in Rome from Baglione, especially for the chapel of John the Baptist, at Trinita de' Monti, which he painted with the history of the saint. He painted many pictures in his native city, some of which, as the taking down from the Cross, and the Purification of the Virgin, are commended by Borghini for the colouring and the design, for the disposition, the perspective, and the att.i.tudes. The defects observable in most of his pictures are, that the knees are rather too much swollen, the eyes too open, and marked with a certain fierceness, by which he may be generally recognized; his colouring is also characteristic, and those changeable hues in which he delighted more than any other artist of the age.

He taught according to the method then pursued by most masters, which was to employ his scholars in designing after the chalk drawings of Michelangiolo, and to give them his own finished pictures to copy; for, like bees, artists were exceedingly anxious to work in secret, and ready to wound all who overlooked them. Baldinucci has recorded several instances of this peculiarity. From these circ.u.mstances the fault of the scholars of Naldini was stiffness, the common failing of that age; they had little of that free touch and taste in colouring which he possessed, but yet they deserve to be recorded. Giovanni Balducci, called also Cosci, from the surname of his maternal uncle, was long his a.s.sistant.

His Last Supper in the cathedral, the Finding of the Cross at the Crocetta, his historical compositions in the cloister of the Domecans at Florence, and in S. Pra.s.sede at Rome, prove his genius to have been more refined than that of his master. To second the latter, he now and then, perhaps, went beyond his province, and to some, his att.i.tudes at times appear affected. He resided and died at Naples, and he is deservedly praised by the historians of that city. Cosimo Gamberucci appears to have aimed at a totally different object. On examining a great part of his works, we may say of him, as was observed of the ancient artist, that he has not sacrificed to the Graces. He seems finally to have improved, for he has left some fine pictures, worthy of the following epoch. Peter healing the lame in S. Pier Maggiore, a picture in the style of the Caracci, is the work of his hand. The Servitian monks have a good picture by him in their public hall; and his holy families and cabinet pictures of a high cla.s.s are to be met with in the city. The Cav. Francesco Currado had a still better opportunity of improvement, for he lived ninety-one years, constantly employed in painting and in teaching. One of his best pictures is on the altar of S. Saverio, in the church of S. Giovannino. He was very eminent in small figures, and in this style he painted the history of the Magdalen, and especially the martyrdom of S. Tecla, of the royal gallery, which are works of his best time. In the same school we may include Valerio Marucelli, and Cosimo Daddi, both artists of some merit; the second is memorable for his celebrated pupil Volterrano, in whose native place he married, and two of his altar-pieces still remain there.

Giovanni Maria b.u.t.teri, and Lorenzo dello Sciorina, were two other scholars of Bronzino, and a.s.sisted Vasari in the above mentioned pictures on the escrutoire, and in his preparations for festivals. The first imitated Vasari, his master, and t.i.ti; but at all times his colouring was inharmonious; the second has little to boast of beyond his design. Both are honourably mentioned among the academicians; as is also Stefano Pieri, who a.s.sisted Vasari in the cupola of the metropolitan church. The sacrifice of Isaac, of the Pitti palace, is ascribed to him, and it is the best of his works executed at Rome, which are censured as hard and dry by Baglione. Cristofano dell'Altissimo, whose talent lay in portrait painting, may be added to these. Giovio had formed the celebrated collection of portraits of ill.u.s.trious men, which is still preserved at Como, though now divided between the two families of the Conti Giovio, one of which possesses the portraits of learned men, the other those of warriors. From this collection, which the prelate styled his museum, that still existing at Mondragone was copied, and also the collection now in the Florentine gallery, by the labours of Cristofano, who was sent for that purpose to Como by Cosmo I. He copied the features of those celebrated men, but attended little to other circ.u.mstances; whence it happens that the Giovian collection exhibits many very dissimilar manners, the Medicean one alone; but the features of the originals are very faithfully expressed.

Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio instructed many artists in this epoch. From his school, proceeded Girolamo Macchietti, or G. del Crocifissaio, the a.s.sistant of Vasari for six years, who afterwards studied for two years at Rome, though already an adept in the art. His example merits imitation, for that school speaks more to the eye than the ear; and he who there employs his eyes judiciously, cannot fail to reap the advantage. After his return to Florence he finished a few valuable pictures with care and a.s.siduity, among which may be noticed an Epiphany for the chapel of the Marquis Della Stufa, at S. Lorenzo, and a martyrdom of S. Lorenzo S. Maria Novella, which is greatly praised by Lomazzo. Borghini also, after commending the beauty, the expression, and the picture in general, scarcely found any thing to censure. It is certainly among the most striking pictures in that church. Macchietti also went to Spain, and was not a little employed at Naples and at Benevento, where he is said to have painted his best pictures. In the Dizionario Storico of the professors of the fine arts at Urbino (Colucci tom. x.x.xi.) I find mention that Girolamo Macchietti produced some battle-pieces for the hall of the Albani at S. Giovanni; but I see no reason why he should be admitted to a place among native artists belonging to that city, or to the state of Urbino.

Vasari mentions Andrea del Minga, then a youth, as contemporary with Macchietti; yet he is reckoned by Orlandi and Bottari, the fellow student of Michelangiolo. He was among the last pupils of Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, when the school was chiefly under the direction of Michele; and hence he rather followed the latter than the former. His own works are by no means among the most excellent. In the Prayer in the Garden, which remains in the church of the Holy Cross, he rivals any of his contemporaries; and hence it is alleged, that he was a.s.sisted in this picture by three of his friends. Francesco Traballesi, mentioned by Baglione as the painter of some historical frescos in the Greek church at Rome, was a pupil of Michele, but lived too short a time to do him honour. The fable of Danae, on the writing desk, is the work of his brother Bartolommeo.

About this time lived Bernardino Barbatelli, surnamed Poccetti, an artist omitted by Vasari in the school of Michele, and in the catalogue of the academicians; because at that period he painted only grotesques and fronts of buildings, in which, though he had arrived at great eminence, he had not the reputation he afterwards attained in Rome as an architect, from a.s.siduously studying the works of Raffaello, and of other great masters. He subsequently returned to his native place, not only a pleasing and graceful figurist, but rich and learned in his compositions; hence he was enabled to adorn his historical subjects with beautiful landscapes, with sea-views, with fruit, and flowers, not to mention the magnificence of his draperies, and tapestries, which he imitated to admiration. Very few of his pictures on panel or on canva.s.s, but many of his frescos, remain in almost every corner of Florence; nor does he yield to many Italian masters in this art. Pietro da Cortona used to express his astonishment that he was in his time less esteemed than he merited; and Mengs never came to Florence without going to study him, and diligently searching after his most forgotten frescos. He often painted with careless haste, like a cla.s.s of poets whose minds are imbued with Parna.s.sian fury and fine imagery, and who recite verses with little preparation, and with little trouble. He is, however, always to be admired, always shews facility and freedom, with that resolute and firm pencil which never makes an erroneous touch; a circ.u.mstance from which he has been denominated the Paul of his school. He often studied and made great preparation for his works, and corrected his outline as one would do in miniature painting. Whoever wishes to estimate the powers of this artist should examine the Miracle of the drowned restored to life in the cloister of the Santissima Nunziata, a picture reckoned by some connoisseurs among the best in the city. His fresco works are to be met with nearly throughout all Tuscany, and his circular pictures in the cloister of the Servi at Pistoja, are greatly commended.

Maso Manzuoli, or M. di S. Friano, a scholar of Pierfrancesco di Jacopo and of Portelli, is esteemed equal to Naldini and Allori by Vasari. Nor will this appear strange to any one who beholds his Visitation, which, for many years, decorated S. Pier Maggiore, and was afterwards carried to Rome, where it was deposited in the gallery of the Vatican. It was painted when he was about thirty years of age; and, in the opinion of the historian, it abounds with beauty and grace in the figures, in the draperies, in the architecture, and in every other circ.u.mstance. This is his finest work, and is even among the best of that age. In his other pictures at S. Trinita, in the ducal gallery, and elsewhere, he is something dry; and may be compared to some writers who, though they offend not against grammar, are not ent.i.tled to the praise of eloquence.

Alessandro Fei, or A. del Barbiere, was his companion, and partly his scholar. This artist, who painted in private, received his first instruction in the school of Ghirlandaio, and of Piero Francia. He had a bold and fertile genius, adapted to large historical frescos, in which he introduced fine architecture and grotesques. In his pictures he attended more to design and expression than to colouring; except in some pieces, supposed to be his last productions, and executed after the reformation of the art by Cigoli. His picture of the Flagellation in S.

Croce is highly approved by Borghini. Baldinucci admires him, especially in small historical subjects, such as, amongst the pieces on the writing desk, are the Daniel at the Feast of Belshazzar, and that of the goldsmith's art.

Federigo Zuccaro may be reckoned among the instructors of the artists of this epoch; for whilst employed in painting the cupola of the cathedral, where Vasari had only finished a few figures at his death, he taught painting to Bartolommeo Carducci, who became an architect and statuary under Amannati, and an artificer in stucco under another master.

Carducci acquired distinction by those talents in the court of his Catholic Majesty, where he was introduced by Zuccaro; and where he established himself and his younger brother and pupil, Vincenzio. Both are mentioned by Palomino among the eminent artists who painted in the court of Spain. Both must be well known there; especially the latter, who lived but little at Florence, and who painted more pictures when in the service of Philip III. and Philip IV. than any of his predecessors or successors. He printed a dialogue in the Spanish tongue, _De las Excelencias de la Pintura_, from which Baldinucci has quoted some pa.s.sages in the account of this artist.

Of some of the artists mentioned by Vasari as his a.s.sistants in the decoration of the palace, in the preparations for the marriage of Prince Francesco, in the funeral obsequies of Bonarruoti, or in the collection of pictures on the writing desk, the masters are unknown; and the knowledge would be of little consequence. Such artists are Domenico Benci, and Tommaso del Verrocchio, whom he names in his third volume at page 873, and Federigo di Lamberto, a Fleming, called F. del Padovano, whom he had a little before noticed as a new citizen of Florence, and as a considerable ornament to the academy. Omitted by Vasari, but inscribed on the writing desk, we find the names of Niccolo Betti, who painted the story of Caesar; of Vittor Casini, who there represented the Forge of Vulcan; of Mirabello Cavalori, who pourtrayed Lavinia Sacrificing, and also the emblems of the art of weaving; of Jacopo Coppi, who there painted the Family of Darius, and the invention of gunpowder. I suspect that they were all scholars of Michele; and Vasari has more than once thus generally noticed them. Perhaps Cavalori is the Salincorno mentioned in another place, and Coppi is believed to be that Jacopo di Meglio, who is more severely treated by Borghini than any other in the church of the Holy Cross; and not without reason; for his _Ecce h.o.m.o_ in that place has all the defects of this epoch. Whether Coppi is to be identified with this person or not, he cannot be equally reprehended for his pictures on the writing desk; and in S. Salvator at Bologna, he produced a picture of the Redeemer Crucified by the Jews, that might vie with the best pictures in that city previous to the time of the Caracci, and is yet one of those most full of subject and most carefully studied.

He imitated Vasari in colouring, and in propriety of invention, in variety of figures, and in diligence in every part, I have seen no picture of Vasari by which it is surpa.s.sed. It bears the date of 1579, together with his name. There is an account of two of his frescos in the Guida di Roma; one of which, very copious in subject, is placed in the tribune of S. Pietro in Vincoli.

To the same period belongs the name of Piero di Ridolfo, by whom there is a large altar-piece, consisting of the Ascension, and bearing the date 1612; it is supposed that he took his name from the last of the Ghirlandai, in whose service he may have been during his early life.

Whoever may be desirous of adding to the list of names, will find a great number in a letter of Borghini to the Prince D. Francesco (Lett.

Pittor. tom. i. p. 90), in which he suggests a plan for the preparations of the Prince's nuptials, as well as the artists best qualified to conduct them. The names, however, I here give would be more than amply sufficient, were it not my wish to ill.u.s.trate Vasari by every means in my power.

After considering the artists of Florence, on turning to the rest of Tuscany, we find in many places other a.s.sociates of Giorgio, who, perhaps, had as many a.s.sistants in painting as bricklayers in architecture. Stefano Veltroni, of Monte Sansavino, his cousin, was a man of slow parts, but very respectable in the art. He a.s.sisted Vasari in the vineyard of Pope Julius; or rather he superintended the grotesque works in that place; and followed his cousin to Naples, to Bologna, and to Florence. I know not whether Orazio Porta, likewise a native of Sansavino, and Alessandro Fortori of Arezzo, ever left Tuscany; they appear to have painted chiefly in their native city and its vicinity.

Bastiano Flori and Fra Salvatore Foschi, both natives of Arezzo, were employed in the Roman Chancery, along with Bagnacavallo, and the Spaniards Ruviale and Bizzerra. Andrea Aretino, the scholar of Daniello, lived at a later period, or at least until 1615.[207]

About this time Citta San Sepolcro was a seminary for painters, who were either wholly or chiefly educated by Raffaellino; and from this place Vasari invited not only the master, but several of the scholars to a.s.sist him in his labours. He was greatly a.s.sisted by Cristoforo Gherardi, surnamed Doceno, whose life he has written. This artist was his right hand, if we may be allowed the expression, in almost every place where he was much employed. Gherardi followed his designs with a freedom resulting from a genius pliant, copious, and natural, adapted to ornamental works. Such was his talent for managing fresco colours, that Vasari p.r.o.nounces himself his inferior: but the grotesques of the Vitelli palace, which are wholly his own, shew him not to have been more vigorous in his colouring. The oil picture of the Visitation in the church of S. Domenico, at Citta di Castello, is entirely his own; but Vasari does not mention it. The upper part of the picture of S. Maria del Popolo, at Perugia, is likewise his; and is no less elegant and graceful, than the lower part, which is the work of Lattanzio della Marca, is firm and vigorous. Doceno died in his native place in 1552; and Cosmo I. honoured his tomb with a bust of marble, and an epitaph, in which he is said to be _Pingendi arte praestantissimus_, and Vasari, who had approved of his labours in the old palace, is called _hujus artis facile princeps_. It is written in the name of all the Tuscan painters,[208] and is alone sufficient to demonstrate the state of this school, and the taste of Cosmo. After this specimen, it is not surprising that the prince neglected to have his portrait painted by Tiziano, whom he would esteem little in comparison to his own Vasari. It is a true observation that virtues are not hereditary, or, as it is expressed by the poet, they rarely spring up again in the branches. Leo X. was the patron of the arts, and he knew how to appreciate them; but Cosmo encouraged, without possessing taste to discriminate.

The Three Cungi (or Congi, as some will have it) are also claimed by San Sepolcro. Gio. Batista was the servant of Vasari for seven years; Lionardo is described to us as an eminent designer, in the life of Perino, and in that of Zuccaro is said to have been a painter employed in the pontifical palace about 1560, along with his countryman Durante del Nero. For a knowledge of the third brother, Francesco, I am indebted to my learned friend Sig. Annibale Lancisi; and I have since received more particular information from Sig. Giachi, who gives an account of an altar-piece of S. Sebastiano, in the cathedral at Volterra, together with the receipt for its purchase money in 1587, where he is called _Francesco di Leonardo Cugni da Borgo_. At Rome we cannot judge properly of their style, but it may be discovered in their own country, in the church of S. Rocco, at the convent of the Osservanti, and in other places. Their compositions display great simplicity, their ideas are chiefly drawn from nature, and they attended sufficiently to colouring.

Raffaele Scaminossi, a scholar of Raffaellino, painted in a similar but somewhat more lively manner. I learn nothing of Giovanni Paolo del Borgo, except that he was the a.s.sistant of Vasari in his very hasty labours in the Chancery, about 1545. He cannot be the Gio. de' Vecchi who painted so much in Rome, as we are informed by Baglione; and who chiefly excelled at Caprarola, when contending with Taddeo Zuccaro, and in the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, in the various histories of the Martyr. He appears to have arrived at a later period, as did the three Alberti, who were of a family in San Sepolcro, abounding in painters.

They went to study at Rome, and easily formed themselves on the style common to artists in the time of Gregory XIII. There they took up their abode, and there died, after having executed many works, especially in fresco, in that city, and also some memorials of their art in their native country.

The cathedral contains a Nativity by Durante, a subject which he handled better in the Vallicella of Rome, and which is, perhaps, his best performance in that city: in others he is often languid, both in design and colouring, and appears rather a laborious artist than a man of genius. Cherubino, the reputed son of Michele, and the a.s.sistant of Daniel di Volterra,[209] was a celebrated engraver on copper, and from this art he derived great a.s.sistance in design. Although late in applying to painting, he obtained a name in those times. His proportions were light and spirited; his choirs of angels were agreeable and original; his penciling and whole composition were dexterous and spontaneous. Such is the character of his Trinity in the cathedral of Borgo, in which place there remains the facade of a palace, well conceived, ornamented with arms, genii, and other fanciful devices. He painted the ceiling of the chapel of Minerva in Rome with various ornaments and figures, on a golden ground; in that city, however, he generally a.s.sisted his younger brother Giovanni, who introduced a new era in perspective; not only by his works, existing in the houses of private individuals at San Sepolcro, and other cities, but by the fresco perspectives which he executed at Rome. He claims admiration in the sacristy of the church of S. Gio. Laterano, where he imitated the salient and receding angles of architecture; and still more in the grand Clementine salon, the most prodigious and exquisite work in perspective then existing. Baglione highly commends the S. Clement and other figures with which it is ornamented; and remarks that they are admirably foreshortened, and are superior to those of Cherubino, who was not so eminent in perspectives. Baglione mentions a Francesco, the son of Durante, who died at Rome. I am uncertain whether he is the Pierfrancesco to whom we attribute the Ascension, in the church of S.

Bartholomew at Borgo, with some pictures of no great merit in the church of S. John, and in other places. History mentions also Donato, Girolamo, Cosimo, and Alessandro Alberti, of whom I can collect nothing further.

The writers of Prato exalt their countryman, Domenico Giuntalocchio, pupil to Soggi, in whose life Vasari mentions Domenico more as an engineer than a painter. He describes him as a correct portrait painter, but so extremely tardy in his works in fresco, that he became tiresome to the Aretini, with whom he for some time dwelt. I cannot point out any genuine picture from his hand; but his memory is still fresh in the minds of his fellow citizens, because, instead of leaving his native place ornamented with his pictures, he left 10,000 crowns as a fund to be appropriated to the education of young artists.

After the death of Daniel, his scholar and relation Giovanni Paolo Rossetti, retired to Volterra, and, as is attested by Vasari, executed works of great merit in this his native place; among which we may reckon the Deposto, in the church of S. Dalmatius. At a short distance from the city is a place which gave name to Niccol dalle Pomarance, of the family of Circignani. Vasari describes him as a young man of ability. He neglects to inform us who was his master; but he appears to have been t.i.ti, whom he a.s.sisted in the great salon of the Belvidere palace. He grew old in Rome, where he left numerous specimens of the labours of his pencil, which he employed with freedom, and at a good price. He shewed himself greatly superior to the artists of this period, in some of his works, as in the Cupola of S. Pudenziana. Cavalier Roncalli was a native of the same place; there are pictures by them both at Pomarance; where there are also some by Antonio Circignani, the son of the former, an able artist, though little known. All three will again be treated of in the third book.

Pistoia possessed at the same time two scholars of Ricciarelli; Biagio da Cutigliano, noticed by Vasari,[210] and P. Biagio Betti Teatino, a miniature painter, sculptor, and historical painter of merit, whom Baglione represents as constantly employed in the service of the church and convent to which he belonged. Leghorn gave birth to Jacopo Rosignoli, pupil of an unknown master, who lived in Piedmont, where his works must be sought. Baccio Lomi, whose style much resembles that of Zuccaro, remained at Pisa: he owes much of his skill and of his reputation to his two nephews, as we shall afterwards relate. Though unknown beyond the limits of his native country, he must not be pa.s.sed over in silence. The a.s.sumption, in the residence of the Canons, and some of his other pictures, partic.i.p.ate of the hardness of the age, but exhibit very good design and colouring.

Paolo Guidotti distinguished himself in the neighbouring state of Lucca, as a painter of genius and of spirit, no less than a man of letters, and well grounded in anatomical knowledge; but his taste was not polished and refined. He came to Rome in the distracted times of Gregory and Sixtus, and lived there during the pontificate of Paul V., who created him a knight, and conservator of Rome: he further permitted him to a.s.sume the additional name of Borghese, the family name of the pontiff.

Many of his paintings in fresco are preserved at Rome, in the Vatican library, in the Apostolic chamber, and in several churches: the artists with whom he was a.s.sociated, prove that he was reputed a good artist.

Several of his pictures are in his native place; and there is a large piece representing the Republic, in the palace. Girolamo Ma.s.sei pursued a similar track, only confining himself to the art of painting.

Baglione, who gave an account of him, introduces him into Rome as an artist, already much commended for his accuracy; to which Taia adds, that he was both a good designer and colourist; so much so as to lead us to distinguish him from the crowd of Gregorian and Sixtine pract.i.tioners, in the same way that he was chosen by P. Danti to ornament the chambers of the Vatican; of which more hereafter. He returned to his native place in his old age, not to employ himself anew, but to die in tranquillity among his friends. Benedetto Brandimarte, of Lucca, is mentioned by Orlandi. I saw a decollation of S. John by this artist in the church of S. Peter, at Genoa, which was but a miserable performance; a single production, however, is not sufficient to decide the character of an artist.

The name of a Pietro Ferabosco is mentioned only by the continuator of Orlandi; he is supposed to have been a native of Lucca, though he is referred to the academy of Rome, where he probably pursued his first studies; I say _probably_, because the excellence of his colouring in the t.i.tian manner, would lead me rather to include him among the Venetian artists. There are three of his half-length figures, together with his name, and the date of 1616, reported as being in the possession of a gentleman in Portugal; where he resided, most likely, a longer period than in Italy.

We have already noticed some Tuscans who acquired distinction in the inferior branches of painting; such as Veltroni, Constantino de' Servi, Zucchi, and Alberti: Antonio Tempesti, of Florence, a scholar both of t.i.ti and Stradano, was among the first to acquire a celebrated name in Italy for landscapes and for battles. He practised engraving on copper, prepared cartoons for tapestry, and gave scope to his genius in the most fanciful inventions in grotesque and ornamental work. He surpa.s.sed his master in spirit, and was inferior to none, not even to the Venetians.

In a Letter on Painting by the Marquis Giustiniani,[211] he is adduced as an example of great spirit in design, a gift conferred by nature, and not to be acquired by art. He attempted few things on a large scale, and was not so successful as in small pictures. The Marquis Niccolini, the Order of the Nunziata, and several Florentine families, possess some of his battles painted on alabaster, in which he appears the precursor of Borgognone, who is said to have studied him attentively. He most frequently painted in fresco, as at Caprarola, in the Este Villa at Tivoli, and in many parts of Rome, from the time of Gregory XIII. Most of the historical pictures in the Vatican gallery are the work of his hands; the figures are a palm and a half high, and display astonis.h.i.+ng variety and spirit, accompanied by beautiful architecture and landscapes, with every species of decoration. He is not, however, very correct; and his tints are sometimes too much inclined to a brownish hue; but all such faults are pardonable in him, as being occasioned by that pictoric fury which inspired him, that fancy which hurried him from earth, and conducted him through novel and sublime regions, unattempted by the vulgar herd of artists.

[Footnote 181: "All painters seem to wors.h.i.+p him as their great master, prince, and G.o.d of design." It is thus Monsig. Claudio Tolomei writes in a letter to Apollonio Filareto, towards the end of the fifth book. Such is the opinion of the artists of the Leonine age, whatever may be the judgment pa.s.sed in the age of Pius VI.]

[Footnote 182: Baldinucci, tom. ix. p. 35.]

[Footnote 183: He executed a picture of S. Sigismund for the church of S. Lorenzo, at the desire of the n.o.ble family of Martelli, which delighted the Duke Cosmo. This picture ought to be removed from the altar, for the tints are fading.]

[Footnote 184: We learn from Pliny, that Filosseno Eretrio, celeritatem praeceptoris (Nicomachi) secutus breviores etiamnum quasdam picturae vias, et compendiarias invenit. (Lib. x.x.xV. cap. 36.) We perceive, however, from the context, that his pictures were no less perfect on that account; and I believe that those compendious means were more particularly connected with the mechanism of the art.]

[Footnote 185: See Lettere Pittoriche, tom. ii. let. 2.]

[Footnote 186: Bald. tom. ix. p. 35.]

[Footnote 187: See his "Description of the preparations for the marriage of the Prince D. Francesco, of Tuscany." It is inserted in volume xi. of the ed. of Siena, which we frequently allude to.]

[Footnote 188: "Treatises by the Cav. Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect of Arezzo, upon the designs painted by him at Florence, in the palace of their Serene Highnesses, &c.; together with the design of the painting commenced by him in the cupola." It is a posthumous work, supplied by his nephew Giorgio Vasari, who published it in 1588 at Florence. It was republished at Arezzo in 1762, in 4to.]

[Footnote 189: He had been well imbued with literature at Arezzo, and, when a youth at Florence, "he spent two hours every day along with Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, under their master Pierio." Vasari nella Vita del Salviati.]

[Footnote 190: See Lett. Pittoriche, tom. iii. lett. 104.]

[Footnote 191: Bottari adduces an authentic doc.u.ment of this in his Preface, page 6.]

[Footnote 192: In the Dedicatory Letter to Cosmo I., prefixed to second edit.]

[Footnote 193: See Lett. Pittor. tom. iii. let. 226.]

[Footnote 194: It is founded also on Vasari's remark, in his Life of Frate: "_There is likewise a portrait by F. Gio. da Fiesole, whose life we have given, which is in the part of the Beati_;" which cannot, observes Bottari, apply to any other except D. Silvano Razzi, author of the "Vite dei S. S. e Beati Toscani;" among which is found that of B.

Giovanni. But this indication would be little; or at least it is not all. The doc.u.ment which clearly reveals the fact, has been pointed out to me by the polite attention of Sig. Luigi de Poirot, Secretary to the Royal Finances; and this is in the "Vite de' SS. e BB. dell' ordine de'

Frati Predicatori di Serafino Razzi Domenicano," published after the death of Vasari, in Florence, 1577. In these, treating of works in the fine arts in S. Domenico at Bologna, he adds; "we cannot give a particular account of these histories, but whoever is desirous of it may consult the whole, in the Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, written, _for the most part_, by D. Silvano Razzi, my brother, for the Cav. Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo, his very intimate friend." After such information, we must suppose that Vasari, having communicated his materials to this monk, received from him a great number of Lives, that boast such elegant prefaces and fine reflections; but that he here and there retouched them; adding things either from haste or inadvertency, not well connected with the context, or repeated elsewhere. And in this way we may account for the many inconsistencies to be met with in a number of Lives, very finely written, but containing pa.s.sages that do not appear to come from the same pen, and frequently make the author contradict himself.]

[Footnote 195: It is to be observed that Bottari wrote princ.i.p.ally to mark the changes that the works described by Vasari had undergone during 200 years. In regard to the emendations pointed out by us, he declares in the Preface, that he could not undertake them for want of time, health, books, and most of all, inclination. However, we are indebted for not a few to him, and also to P. Guglielmo, though not equally so in every school. Both are writers of merit; the former by his citations from printed works, the second for his information of MSS. and unedited authors.]

[Footnote 196: Tom. vii. p. 249.]

[Footnote 197: Vide Taia _Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano_, p. 11.

Zuccaro did not so readily pardon Vasari, whose work he noted with severity: as did also one of the three Caracci. Lett. Pittor. tom. iv.

lett. 210.]

[Footnote 198: Tom. viii. p. 203.]

[Footnote 199: P. 117.]