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
It is also related that Sandro, for a jest, accused a friend of his own
of heresy before his vicar, and the friend, on appearing, asked who
the accuser was and what the accusation; and having been told that it
was Sandro, who had charged him with holding the opinion of the
Epicureans, and believing that the soul dies with the body, he insisted
on being confronted with the accuser before the judge. Sandro therefore
appeared, and the other said: "It is true that I hold this opinion with
regard to this man's soul, for he is an animal. Nay, does it not seem to
you that he is the heretic, since without a scrap of learning, and
scarcely knowing how to read, he plays the commentator to Dante and
takes his name in vain?"
It is also said that he had a surpassing love for all whom he saw to be
zealous students of art; and that he earned much, but wasted everything
through negligence and lack of management. Finally, having grown old and
useless, and being forced to walk with crutches, without which he could
not stand upright, he died, infirm and decrepit, at the age of
seventy-eight, and was buried in Ognissanti at Florence in the year
1515.
In the guardaroba of the Lord Duke Cosimo there are two very beautiful
heads of women in profile by his hand, one of which is said to be the
mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, brother of Lorenzo, and the other
Madonna Lucrezia de' Tornabuoni, wife of the said Lorenzo. In the same
place, likewise by the hand of Sandro, is a Bacchus who is raising a
cask with both his hands, and putting it to his mouth--a very graceful
figure. And in the Duomo of Pisa he began an Assumption, with a choir of
angels, in the Chapel of the Impagliata; but afterwards, being
displeased with it, he left it unfinished. In S. Francesco at
Montevarchi he painted the panel of the high-altar; and in the Pieve of
Empoli, on the same side as the S. Sebastian of Rossellino, he made two
angels. He was among the first to discover the method of decorating
standards and other sorts of hangings with the so-called inlaid work, to
the end that the colours might not fade and might show the tint of the
cloth on either side. By his hand, and made thus, is the baldacchino of
Orsanmichele, covered with beautiful and varied figures of Our Lady;
which proves how much better such a method preserves the cloth than does
the use of mordants, which eat it away and make its life but short,
although, being less costly, mordants are now used more than anything
else.
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