Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 09 (of 10): Michelagnolo to the FlemingsVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 09 (of 10): Michelagnolo to the Flemings
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
Now, to begin with one end: in the space of the first chapel that is
beside the high-altar, as you go towards the old sacristy, was a
picture six braccia in height and eight in length, in which, with
novel and as it were poetical invention, was Michelagnolo in the
centre, already come to the Elysian fields, where, on his right hand,
were figures considerably larger than life of the most famous and most
highly celebrated sculptors and painters of antiquity. Each of these
could be recognized by some notable sign; Praxiteles by the Satyr that
is in the Vigna of Pope Julius III, Apelles by the portrait of
Alexander the Great, Zeuxis by a little panel on which were figured
the grapes that deceived the birds, and Parrhasius with the covering
counterfeited in painting over his picture; and, even as these, so the
others were known by other signs. On the left hand were those who have
been illustrious in these arts in our own centuries, from Cimabue to
the present day. Thus Giotto could be recognized there by a little
panel on which was seen the portrait of Dante as a young man, in the
manner in which he may be seen in S. Croce, painted by Giotto himself;
Masaccio by his portrait from life, Donatello likewise by his
portrait, and also by his Zuccone from the Campanile, which was by his
side, and Filippo Brunelleschi by the representation of his Cupola of
S. Maria del Fiore; and there were portrayed from life, without other
signs, Fra Filippo, Taddeo Gaddi, Paolo Uccello, Fra Giovanni Agnolo,
Jacopo da Pontormo, Francesco Salviati, and others. All these were
about him with the same expressions of welcome as the ancients, full
of love and admiration, in the same manner as Virgil was received by
the other poets on his return, according to the fable of the divine
poet Dante, from whom, in addition to the invention, there was taken
also the verse that could be read in a scroll both above and in the
hand of the River Arno, which lay at the feet of Michelagnolo, most
beautiful in features and in attitude:
TUTTI L'AMMIRAN, TUTTI ONOR GLI FANNO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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