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
The second whom I have mentioned among the artists in the Sistine
Chapel, is Domenico Corradi, surnamed Del Ghirlandaio, from the
profession of his father.[80] He was a painter, an excellent worker in
mosaic, and even contributed to the improvement of these arts. He
painted in the Sistine Chapel the Resurrection of Christ, which has
perished; and the Call of S. Peter and S. Andrew, which still remains.
He is that Ghirlandaio, in whose school, or on whose manner, not only
Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, his son, but also Bonarruoti, and the best
artists of the succeeding era, formed their style. He possessed
clearness and purity of outline, correctness of form, and variety of
ideas, together with facility and uncommon diligence; he was the first
Florentine, who, by means of true perspective, attained a happy method
of grouping, and depth of composition.[81] He was among the first to
reject the deep golden fringes to the drapery, that the old masters
introduced; who, unable to render their figures beautiful, endeavoured,
at least, to make them gaudy. Some of his pictures, however, yet remain,
moderately illuminated with gold; as for instance, the Epiphany in the
church of the Innocents at Florence. It is a fine work, as is also his
chapel in the Holy Trinity, with the actions of S. Francis, and his
Nativity, in the sacristy of that church. His most celebrated work is
the choir of S. Maria Novella, on one side of which he designed the
history of John the Baptist, on the other that of our Lady, and on
another part the murder of the Innocents, so much commended by Vasari.
It contains a vast many portraits of literary men, and noble citizens,
and almost every head is from the life; but they are dignified, and
judiciously selected. The hands and feet of the figures, however, do not
correspond, and attention to this circumstance is the peculiar merit of
Andrea del Sarto, who seems to have carried the manner of Ghirlandaio to
perfection. Many works of the latter are scattered over Italy, in Rome,
in Rimini, and at Pisa, at the Eremitani di Pietra Santa, and the
Camaldolesi of Volterra; where besides the paintings in the refectory,
there is in the church a figure of S. Romualdo, carved by Diana of
Mantua. The pictures of this master should not be confounded with those
of his scholars, as happens in many instances. Thus the holy families
painted by his brothers or his scholars, frequently pass for his; but
they are very far from meriting the praise we have justly bestowed on
him. Davide, one of his brothers, became very eminent in mosaic;
another, Benedetto, painted more in France than in Italy; Bastiano
Mainardi, their brother-in-law, was rather the assistant of Domenico,
than a painter of originality. Baldino Bandinelli, Niccolo Cieco, Jacopo
del Tedesco, and Jacopo Indaco, are little known; except that the last
is recorded as having assisted with Pinturicchio, at Rome, and was the
brother of Francesco, better known as a painter at Montepulciano than in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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