The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth CenturyLanzi, Luigi
History
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
d'Arno, where he was associated with one Bruno di Giovanni, formerly his
fellow student, and believed to be the painter of a St. Ursula in a
piece which still exists in the Commenda. Unable to attain the
expression of Buffalmacco, he tried to atone for the defect by the aid
of sentences proceeding from the mouths of his figures, which expressed
what their features and attitudes were incapable of explaining, a
practice in which he was preceded by Cimabue, and followed by the
eccentric Orcagna and several others. This Bruno, together with Nello di
Dino, was associated with Buffalmacco in the jests contrived for the
simple Calandrino. They all owe their fame to Boccaccio, who introduces
them in the eighth day of his Decamerone; and a similar favour was
conferred by Sacchetti on a Bartolo Gioggi, a house-painter, whom he
introduced into his one hundred and seventieth tale. Giovanni da Ponte,
the scholar of Buffalmacco, had some merit, but he was not at all
solicitous to increase it by his diligence. Some remains of his pictures
exist on the walls of the church of St. Francis, at Arezzo.
I believe that Bernardo Orcagna, who rivalled the fame of Buffalmacco,
proceeded from some old school. He was the son of one Cione, a sculptor,
and his brother Jacopo was of the same profession: but the other
brother, Andrea, surpassed them all; and in himself so far united the
attainments of the three sister arts, that he was by some reckoned
second only to Giotto. He is known among architects for having
introduced the circular arch instead of the acute, as may be seen in the
gallery of the Lanzi, which he built and ornamented with sculpture.
Bernardo taught him the principles of painting. They who have
represented him as the pupil of Angiol Gaddi, do not appear attentive to
dates. In the Strozzi chapel in the church of S. Maria Novella, he and
Bernardo painted Paradise, and over against it the Infernal Regions; and
in the Campo Santo of Pisa, Death and the Judgment were executed by
Andrea, and Hell by Bernardo. The two brothers imitated Dante in the
novel representations which they executed at those places; and that
style was more happily repeated by Andrea in the church of Santa Croce,
where he inserted portraits of his enemies among the damned, and of his
friends among the blessed spirits. These pictures are the prototypes of
similar pictures preserved in S. Petronio, at Bologna, in the cathedral
of Tolentino, in the Badia del Sesto, at Friuli,[63] and some other
places, in which hell is distinguished by abysses and a variety of
torments, after the manner of Dante. Several pictures by Andrea remain,
and his name is still on that in the Strozzi chapel, which is full of
figures and of episodes. On the whole, he discovers fertility of
imagination, diligence, and spirit, equal to any of his contemporaries.
In composition he was less judicious, in attitudes less exact, than the
followers of Giotto; and he yields to them in drawing and in colouring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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