[140] In no instance seems Vasari to have given a more decisive proof of
his attachment to the Florentine school, than by building the fame of
Pisano on having been the pupil of Andrea del Castagno, and having been
allowed to terminate the works which he had left unfinished behind him
about 1480; an anachronism the more absurd as the Commendator del Pozzo
was possessed of a picture by Pisano, inscribed 'Opera di Vittor
Pisanello de San V. Veronese, MCCCCVI.' a period at which probably
Castagno was not born. The truth is, that Vasari, whose rage for
dispatch and credulity kept pace with each other, composed the first
part of Pisano's life nearly without materials, and the second from
hearsay.
[141] What Vasari says of the dog of S. Eustachio and the horse of St.
Giorgio, though on the authority of Frà Marco de' Medici, warrants the
assertion; and still more the foreshortened horse on the reverse of a
medal struck in 1419, in honour and with the head of John Palæologus.
The horse, like that of M. Antoninus, has an attitude of parallel
motion. The medal has been published by Ducange in the appendix to his
Latin Glossary, by Padre Banduri, Gori and Maffei.
[142] See their lists in _Descrizione delle Architetture, Pitture e
Sculture di Vicenza con alcune osservazioni, &c._ Vicenza, 1779, 8vo. p.
I. II.
[143] Ridolfi, i. 68. Vasari, who treats his art with contempt, calls
him Jacopo; and Orlandi, afraid of choosing between them, used both, and
made two different artists.
[144] Vasari dates his birth 1480.
[145] Liruti, Notizie de' Letterati del Friuli, t. ii. p. 285.
[146] Sebastiano Zuccati of Trevigo, flourished about 1490. He had two
sons, Valerio and Francesco, celebrated for mosaic about and beyond the
middle of the sixteenth century. Flaminio Zuccati, the son of Valerio,
who inherited his father's talent and fame, flourished about 1585. See
Zanetti.
[147] See Ridolfi. The original went to Dresden; but Italy abounds in
copies of it. Lanzi mentions one which he saw at S. Saverio in Rimini,
with Tiziano's name written on the fillet of the Pharisee, a performance
of great beauty, and by many considered less a copy than a duplicate.
The most celebrated copy, that of Flaminio Torre, is preserved at
Dresden with the original.
[148] "Si può quasi dire, che il vizio sia la virtù della Scuola
Veneziana, poichè fa pompa della sollecitudine nel dipingere; e perciò
fa stima di Tintoretto, che non avea altro merito." Mengs, Opere, t. i.
p. 175. ed. Parm.
[149] It has supplanted, was probably perpetuated in allusion to his
rapidity of execution, and remains familiar to ears that never heard of
Robusti.
[150] See Varie Pitture a fresco de' principali Maestri Veneziani, &c.
Venez. fol. 1760. Tab. 8, 9, p. viii. No one who has seen the original
figures of the Aurora and Creposcolo in S. Lorenzo, can mistake their
imitation, or rather transcripts, in these.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account