Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 08 (of 10): Bastiano to Taddeo ZuccheroVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 08 (of 10): Bastiano to Taddeo Zucchero
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
The same Perino having then caused Daniello to execute a frieze in the
hall of the Palace of M. Agnolo Massimi, with many divisions in stucco
and other ornaments, and stories of the actions of Fabius Maximus, he
bore himself so well, that Signora Elena Orsina, having seen that work
and hearing the ability of Daniello much extolled, commissioned him to
paint her chapel in the Church of the Trinita in Rome, on the hill,
where the Friars of S. Francesco di Paola have their seat. Wherefore
Daniello, putting forth all possible effort and diligence, in order to
produce a rare work which might make him known as an excellent painter,
did not shrink from devoting to it the labour of many years. From the
name of that lady, the title given to the chapel being that of the Cross
of Christ Our Saviour, the subject chosen was that of the actions of S.
Helen; and so in the principal altar-piece Daniello painted Jesus Christ
taken down from the Cross by Joseph, Nicodemus, and other disciples, and
the Virgin Mary in a swoon, supported on the arms of the Magdalene and
the other Maries, in all which he showed very great judgment, and gave
proof of very rare ability, for the reason that, besides the composition
of the figures, which has a very rich effect, the figure of Christ is
very fine and most beautifully foreshortened, with the feet coming
forward and the rest backwards. Very beautiful and difficult, likewise,
are the foreshortenings in the figures of those who, having removed Him
from the Cross, support Him with some bands, standing on some ladders
and revealing in certain parts the nude flesh, executed with much
grace. Around that altar-piece he made an ornament in stucco-work of
great beauty and variety, full of carvings, with two figures that
support the pediment with their heads, while with one hand they hold the
capital, and with the other they seek to place the column, which stands
at the foot on the base, below the capital to support it; which work is
done with extraordinary care. In the arch above the altar-piece he
painted two Sibyls in fresco, which are the best figures in the whole
work; and those Sibyls are one on either side of the window, which is
above the centre of the altar-piece, giving light to the whole chapel.
The vaulting of the chapel is divided into four compartments by bizarre,
well varied, and beautiful partitions of stucco-work and grotesques made
with new fantasies of masks and festoons; and in those compartments are
four stories of the Cross and of S. Helen, the mother of Constantine. In
the first is the scene when, before the Passion of the Saviour, three
Crosses are constructed; in the second, S. Helen commanding certain
Hebrews to reveal those Crosses to her; in the third, the Hebrews not
consenting to reveal them, she causes to be cast into a well him who
knows where they are; and in the fourth he reveals the place where all
three are buried. Those four scenes are beautiful beyond belief, and
executed with great care.
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