Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 02 (of 10): Berna to Michelozzo MichelozziVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 02 (of 10): Berna to Michelozzo Michelozzi
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
But to return to Luca; he was buried, with the rest of his family, in
their ancestral tomb in S. Piero Maggiore, and in the same tomb there
was afterwards buried Andrea, who left two sons, friars in S. Marco,
where they received the habit from the Reverend Fra Girolamo Savonarola,
to whom that Della Robbia family was ever devoted, portraying him in
that manner which is still seen to-day in the medals. The same man,
besides the said two friars, had three other sons: Giovanni, who devoted
himself to art and had three sons, Marco, Lucantonio, and Simone, who
died of plague in the year 1527, having given great promise; and Luca
and Girolamo, who devoted themselves to sculpture. Of these two, Luca
was very diligent in glazed works, and he made with his own hand,
besides many other things, the pavements of the Papal Loggie which Pope
Leo X caused to be made in Rome under the direction of Raffaello da
Urbino, and also those of many apartments, wherein he put the insignia
of that Pontiff. Girolamo, who was the youngest of all, devoted himself
to working in marble, in clay, and in bronze, and had already
become an able man, by reason of competing with Jacopo Sansovino, Baccio
Bandinelli, and other masters of his time, when he was brought by
certain Florentine merchants to France, where he made many works for
King Francis at Madri, a place not far distant from Paris, and in
particular a palace with many figures and other ornaments, with a kind
of stone like our Volterra gypsum, but of a better quality, for it is
soft when it is worked, and afterwards with time becomes hard. He also
wrought many things in clay at Orleans and made works throughout that
whole kingdom, acquiring fame and very great wealth. After these works,
hearing that he had no relative left in Florence save his brother Luca,
and being himself rich and alone in the service of King Francis, he
summoned his brother to join him in those parts, in order to leave him
in credit and good circumstances, but it fell out otherwise, for in a
short time Luca died there, and Girolamo once more found himself alone
and without any of his kin; wherefore he resolved to return, in order to
enjoy in his own country the riches that his labour and sweat had
brought him, and also to leave therein some memorial of himself, and he
was settling down to live in Florence in the year 1553, when he was
forced to change his mind, as it were, for he saw that Duke Cosimo, by
whom he was hoping to be honourably employed, was occupied with the war
in Siena; whereupon he returned to die in France. And not only did his
house remain closed and his family become extinct, but art was deprived
of the true method of making glazed work, for the reason that, although
there have been some after them who have practised that sort of
sculpture, nevertheless they have all failed by a great measure to
attain to the excellence of the elder Luca, Andrea, and the others of
that family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account