[Illustration] Fra Filippo Lippi _Edward C. Strutt_ Rembrandt and His Work (8 vols.) _Wilhelm Bode_ Rembrandt _R. Muther_ The Rossettis _Elisabeth Luther Cary_ L’Oeuvre de P. P. Rubens _Maximilian Rooses_ Rubens (Masterpieces in Color Series) _S. L. Bensusan_ Andrea del Sarto _H. Guinness_ Sir Anthony Van Dyck _Lionel Cust_ [Illustration] _QUESTIONS ANSWERED_ Subscribers desiring further information concerning this subject can obtain it by writing to _The Mentor Association_ _381 Fourth Avenue, New York City_ [Illustration: LUCREZIA FEDI, BY ANDREA DEL SARTO] _THE WIFE IN ART_ _Andrea del Sarto and Lucrezia Fedi_ ONE “The Faultless Painter,” though his paintings seem faultless, led a life that was by no means free from mistakes. All went well with him up to the age of twenty. He was born near Florence in 1486, and when but a seven-year-old goldsmith’s apprentice began to show such skill that he was soon afterward sent to Piero de Cosimo, one of the best artists in Florence. He was only twenty years old when he painted the seven frescos in the Annunziata from the life of Saint Philip. Andrea was the son of Angelo the tailor. His name, Andrea del Sarto, means “the tailor’s Andrew,” and was not his real name at all, which was Andrea d’Angelo di Francesco. Sometimes he called himself Andrea del Sarto, sometimes Andrea d’Angelo, and again Andrea d’Angelo del Sarto. Andrea made his first great mistake by marrying the widow of a hatmaker. Lucrezia Fedi’s cold face was indeed the glory of his pictures, where she is nearly always to be seen in the robes of virgin, saint, or angel. As his model she was all that could be desired; yet when he married her the “faultless painter” lost many of his best friends and pupils, and worst of all the ideals of art. Blinded by her beauty, he could not see the failings that were plain to everyone else. All his life Andrea worked hard to support her and her sisters in their extravagances. Yet he went on painting faultlessly. His fame spread so far that King Francis I invited him to France, and gave him important commissions there. But Lucrezia persuaded him to return to Italy. He was granted a month in which to return and bring his wife to France. Francis also intrusted him with money to buy Italian works of art for the royal palace. A month passed. Andrea did not return; but purchased a plot of ground in Florence with the king’s money, and on it built a house for Lucrezia. King Francis never received his paintings, and the “faultless painter” had thrown away a chance of achieving supreme greatness.