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
The men of Romagna, also, spurred by the example of the Bolognese,
their neighbours, have executed many noble works in our arts; for,
besides Jacopone da Faenza, who, as has been related, painted the
tribune of S. Vitale in Ravenna, there have been and still are many
others after him who are excellent. Maestro Luca de' Longhi of
Ravenna, a man of good, quiet, and studious nature, has painted in his
native city of Ravenna and in the surrounding country many very
beautiful panel-pictures in oils and portraits from nature; and of
much charm, among others, are two little altar-pieces that he was
commissioned not long since to paint for the Church of the Monks of
Classi by the Reverend Don Antonio da Pisa, then Abbot of that
Monastery; to say nothing of an infinite number of other works that
this painter has executed. And, to tell the truth, if Maestro Luca had
gone forth from Ravenna, where he has always lived and still lives
with his family, being assiduous and very diligent, and of fine
judgment, he would have become a very rare painter, because he has
executed his works, as he still does, with patience and study; and to
this I can bear witness, who know how much proficience he made during
my sojourn of two months in Ravenna, both practising and discussing
the matters of art; nor must I omit to say that a daughter of his,
still but a little girl, called Barbara, draws very well, and has
begun to do some work in colour with no little grace and excellence of
manner.
A rival of Luca, for a time, was Livio Agresti of Forlì, who, after he
had executed for Abbot de' Grassi in the Church of the Spirito Santo
some scenes in fresco and certain other works, departed from Ravenna
and made his way to Rome. There, attending with much study to design,
he became a well-practised master, as may be seen from some façades
and other works in fresco that he executed at that time; and his first
works, which are in Narni, have in them not a little of the good. In a
chapel of the Church of the Santo Spirito, in Rome, he has painted a
number of figures and scenes in fresco, which are executed with much
industry and study, so that they are rightly extolled by everyone.
That work was the reason, as has been related, that there was allotted
to him one of the smaller scenes that are over the doors in the Hall
of Kings in the Palace of the Vatican, in which he acquitted himself
so well, that it can bear comparison with the others. The same master
has executed for the Cardinal of Augsburg seven pieces with scenes
painted on cloth of silver, which have been held to be very beautiful
in Spain, where they have been sent by that same Cardinal as presents
to King Philip, to be used as hangings in a chamber. Another picture
on cloth of silver he has painted in the same manner, which is now to
be seen in the Church of the Theatines at Forlì. Finally, having
become a good and bold draughtsman, a well-practised colourist,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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