Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 06 (of 10): Fra Giocondo to Niccolo SoggiVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 06 (of 10): Fra Giocondo to Niccolo Soggi
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
Of the Milanese Filippo Negrolo, who worked at chasing arms of iron with
foliage and figures, I shall say nothing, since copper-engravings of his
works, which have given him very great fame, may be seen about. By
Gasparo and Girolamo Misuroni, engravers of Milan, have been seen most
beautiful vases and tazze of crystal. For Duke Cosimo, in particular,
they have executed two that are marvellous; besides which, they have
made out of a piece of heliotrope a vase extraordinary in size and
admirable for its engraving, and also a large vase of lapis-lazuli,
which deserves infinite praise. Jacopo da Trezzo practises the same
profession in Milan; and these men, in truth, have brought great beauty
and facility to this art. Many masters could I mention who, in executing
in incavo heads and reverses for medals, have equalled and even
surpassed the ancients; as, for example, Benvenuto Cellini, who, during
the time when he exercised the goldsmith's art in Rome under Pope
Clement, made two medals with a head of Pope Clement that is a living
likeness, and on the reverse of one a figure of Peace that has bound
Fury and is burning her arms, and on the other Moses striking the rock
and causing water to flow to quench the thirst of his people: beyond
which it is not possible to go in that art. And the same might be said
of the coins and medals that Benvenuto afterwards made for Duke
Alessandro in Florence.
Of the Chevalier, Leone Aretino, who has done equally well in the same
art, and of the works that he has made and still continues to make,
there will be an account in another place.
The Roman Pietro Paolo Galeotto, also, has executed for Duke Cosimo, as
he still does, medals with portraits of that lord, dies for coins, and
works in tarsia, imitating the methods of Maestro Salvestro, a most
excellent master, who produced marvellous works in that profession at
Rome.
Pastorino da Siena, likewise, has executed so many heads from life, that
he may be said to have made portraits of every kind of person in the
whole world, great nobles, followers of the arts, and many people of low
degree. He discovered a kind of hard stucco for making portraits,
wherewith he gave them the colouring of nature, with the tints of the
beard, hair, and flesh, so that they had the appearance of life itself;
but he deserves much more praise for his work in steel, in which he has
made excellent dies for medals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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