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
that Saint is. Meanwhile, Fra Mariano having died, who had the office of
the Piombo, his place was given to Sebastiano Viniziano, a painter of
great repute, and to Giovanni a pension on the same of eighty
chamber-ducats.
Then, after the troubles of the Pontiff had in great measure ceased and
affairs in Rome had grown quiet, Giovanni was sent by his Holiness with
many promises to Florence, to execute in the new sacristy of S. Lorenzo,
which had been adorned with most excellent sculptures by Michelagnolo,
the ornaments of the tribune, which is full of sunk squares that
diminish little by little towards the central point. Setting his hand to
this, then, Giovanni carried it excellently well to completion with the
aid of many assistants, with most beautiful foliage, rosettes, and other
ornaments of stucco and gold; but in one thing he failed in judgment,
for the reason that on the flat friezes that form the ribs of the
vaulting, and on those that run crossways, so as to enclose the squares,
he made foliage, birds, masks, and figures that cannot be seen at all
from the ground, although they are very beautiful, by reason of the
distance, and also because they are divided up by other colours,
whereas, if he had painted them in colours without any other
elaboration, they would have been visible, and the whole work would have
been brighter and richer. There remained no more of the work to be
executed than he would have been able to finish in a fortnight, going
over it again in certain places, when there came the news of the death
of Pope Clement, and Giovanni was robbed of all his hopes, particularly
of that which he expected from that Pontiff as the reward and guerdon of
this work. Wherefore, having recognized, although too late, how
fallacious in most cases are the hopes based on the favour of Courts,
and how often those who put their trust in the lives of particular
Princes are left disappointed, he returned to Rome; but, although he
would have been able to live there on his offices and revenues, serving
also Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici and the new Pontiff, Paul III, he
resolved to repatriate himself and to return to Udine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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