Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 03 (of 10): Filarete and Simone to MantegnaVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 03 (of 10): Filarete and Simone to Mantegna
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
In the Church of Cestello he painted a panel--afterwards finished by his
brothers David and Benedetto--containing the Visitation of Our Lady,
with certain most charming and beautiful heads of women. In the Church
of the Innocenti he painted the Story of the Magi on a panel in
distemper, which is much extolled. In this are heads most beautiful in
expression and varied in features, both young and old; and in the head
of Our Lady, in particular, are seen all the dignity, beauty, and grace
that art can give to the Mother of the Son of God. On the tramezzo[24]
of the Church of S. Marco there is another panel, with a Last Supper in
the guest-room, both executed with diligence; and in the house of
Giovanni Tornabuoni there is a round picture with the Story of the Magi,
wrought with diligence. In the Little Hospital, for the elder Lorenzo
de' Medici, he painted the story of Vulcan, in which many nude figures
are at work with hammers making thunderbolts for Jove. And in the Church
of Ognissanti in Florence, in competition with Sandro di Botticello, he
painted a S. Jerome in fresco (which is now beside the door that leads
to the choir), surrounding him with an infinite number of instruments
and books, such as are used by the learned. The friars having occasion
to remove the choir from the place where it stood, this picture,
together with that of Sandro di Botticello, has been bound round with
irons and transported without injury into the middle of the church, at
the very time when these Lives are being printed for the second time. He
also painted the arch over the door of S. Maria Ughi, and a little
shrine for the Guild of Linen-Manufacturers, and likewise a very
beautiful S. George, slaying the Dragon, in the same Church of
Ognissanti. And in truth he had a very good knowledge of the method of
painting on walls, which he did with very great facility, although he
was scrupulously careful in the composition of his works.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF S. FRANCIS
(_After the fresco by =Domenico Ghirlandajo=. Florence: S. Trinita_)
_Alinari_]
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