The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)Vasari, Giorgio
History
The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
It was indeed bold of Buonamico to set himself to make a God the
Father five braccia high, the hierarchy, the heavens, the angels, the
zodiac, and all the things above to the sky of the moon, and then the
element of fire, the air, the earth, and finally the centre. For the
two lower corners he did a St Augustine and a St Thomas Aquinas. At
the top of this Campo Santo, where the marble tomb of the Corte now
is, Buonamico painted the Passion of Christ, with a great number of
figures on foot and on horse, all in varied and beautiful attitudes,
and in conformity with the story. He also did the Resurrection and
the Apparition of Christ to the apostles very satisfactorily. When he
had completed these labours, and had at the same time spent
everything that he had gained at Pisa, which was not a little, he
returned to Florence as poor as he had left it, and there he did many
pictures and works in fresco, which it is not necessary to describe
further. When his close friend Bruno, with whom he had returned from
Pisa after squandering everything, was employed to do some works in
S. Maria Novella, because he had not much skill in design or
invention, Buonamico designed for him all that he afterwards did for
a wall of that church opposite the pulpit, filling the space between
column and column. This was the story of St Maurice and his
companions, who were beheaded for the faith of Jesus Christ. Bruno
executed this work for Guido Campese, then constable of the
Florentines. The artist took his portrait before his death, in the
year 1320, and afterwards put it in this work, as an armed man, as
was customary in those days, and behind him he made an array of
warriors, all armed in the antique style, forming a fine spectacle,
while Guido himself kneels before Our Lady, who has the child Jesus
in her arms while St Domenic and St Agnes, who are on either side of
her, intercede for him. Although this painting is not remarkable for
its design and invention, yet it is worthy of some amount of praise,
chiefly on account of the variety of clothing, and of the barbed and
other armour of the time. I myself made use of it in some scenes
which I did for Duke Cosimo, in which it was necessary to represent
an armed man in the antique style and other similar things of that
age. This thing greatly pleased His Most Illustrious Excellency and
others who have seen it. From this it may be seen what an advantage
it is to draw materials from inventions and works made by these
ancients, for although they are not perfect, yet it is useful to know
in what manner they can be made of service, since they opened the
way to the marvels which have since been produced. Whilst Bruno was
engaged upon these works, a rustic desired him to do a St
Christopher, and they made an agreement at Florence, the terms being
that the price should be eight florins, and the figure should be
twelve braccia high. Accordingly Buonamico went to the church where
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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