A
HISTORY OF ART
FOR
BEGINNERS AND STUDENTS
PAINTING—SCULPTURE—ARCHITECTURE
WITH
COMPLETE INDEXES AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT
AUTHOR OF “HANDBOOK OF LEGENDARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL ART,”
“PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, ENGRAVERS, ARCHITECTS AND THEIR WORKS,”
“ARTISTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,” ETC.
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
MDCCCXCI
COPYRIGHT, 1887,
BY FREDERICK A. STOKES,
SUCCESSOR TO WHITE, STOKES, & ALLEN.
PAINTING.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT PAINTING, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CHRISTIAN
ERA.
In speaking of art we often contrast the useful or mechanical arts with
the Fine Arts; by these terms we denote the difference between the arts
which are used in making such things as are necessary and useful in
civilized life, and the arts by which ornamental and beautiful things are
made.
The fine arts are Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry, and Music,
and though we could live if none of these existed, yet life would be far
from the pleasant experience that it is often made to be through the
enjoyment of these arts.
In speaking of Painting, just here I wish to include the more general idea
of pictures of various sorts, and it seems to me that while picturemaking belongs to the fine or beautiful arts, it is now made a very useful
art in many ways. For example, when a school-book is illustrated, how
much more easily we understand the subject we are studying through
the help we get from pictures of objects or places that we have not seen,
and yet wish to know about. Pictures of natural scenery bring all
countries before our eyes in such a way that by looking at them, while
reading books of travel, we may know a great deal more about lands we
have never seen, and may never be able to visit.
Who does not love pictures? and what a pleasure it is to open a
magazine or book filled with fine illustrations. St. Augustine, who wrote
in the fourth century after Christ, said that “pictures are the books of the
simple or unlearned;” this is just as true now as then, and we should
regard pictures as one of the most agreeable means of education. Thus
one of the uses of pictures is that they give us a clear idea of what we
have not seen; a second use is that they excite our imaginations, and
often help us to forget disagreeable circumstances and unpleasant
surroundings. The cultivation of the imagination is very important,
because in this way we can add much to our individual happiness.
Through this power, if we are in a dark, narrow street, in a house which
is not to our liking, or in the midst of any unpleasant happenings, we are
able to fix our thoughts upon a photograph or picture that may be there,
and by studying it we are able to imagine ourselves far, far away, in
some spot where nature makes everything pleasant and soothes us into
forgetfulness of all that can disturb our happiness. Many an
invalid—many an unfortunate one is thus made content by pictures
during hours that would otherwise be wretched. This is the result of
cultivating the perceptive and imaginative faculties, and when once this
is done, we have a source of pleasure within ourselves and not
dependent on others which can never be taken from us.
FIG. 1.—HARPPLAYER. From an Egyptian painting.
It often happens that we see two persons who do the same work and
are situated in the same way in the world who are very different in their
manner; one is light-hearted and happy, the other heavy and sad. If you
can find out the truth, it will result that the sad one is matter-of-fact, and
has no imagination—he can only think of his work and what concerns
him personally; but the merry one would surprise you if you could read
his thoughts—if you could know the distances they have passed over,
and what a vast difference there is between his thought and his work. So
while it is natural for almost every one to exclaim joyfully at the beauty of
pictures, and to enjoy looking at them simply, I wish my readers to think
of their uses also, and understand the benefits that may be derived from
them. I have only hinted at a few of these uses, but many others will
occur to you.
When pictures are composed of beautiful colors, such as we usually
think of when we speak of the art of painting, the greatest charm of
pictures is reached, and all civilized people have admired and
encouraged this art. It is true that the remains of ancient art now existing
are principally those of architecture or sculpture, yet there are a
sufficient number of pictures in color to prove how old the art of painting
is.
MOSAICS.
The pictures known as mosaics are made by fitting together bits of
marble, stone, or glass of different colors and so arranging them as to
represent figures and objects of various kinds, so that at a distance they
have much the same effect as that of pictures painted with brush and
colors. The art of making mosaics is very ancient, and was probably
invented in the East, where it was used for borders and other
decorations in regular set patterns. It was not until after the time of
Alexander the Great that the Greeks used this process for making
pictures. At first, too, mosaics were used for floors or pavements only,
and the designs in them were somewhat like those of the tile pavements
of our own time.
This picture of doves will give you a good idea of a mosaic; this subject
is a very interesting one, because it is said to have been first made by
Sosos in Pergamos. It was often repeated in later days, and that from
which our cut is taken was found in the ruins of Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli,
near Rome; it is known as the Capitoline Doves, from the fact that it is
now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Few works of ancient art are
more admired and as frequently copied as this mosaic: it is not unusual
to see ladies wear brooches with this design in fine mosaic work.
FIG. 13.—DOVES SEATED ON A BOWL.
From a mosaic picture in the Capitol, Rome.
A few examples of ancient mosaics which were used for wall
decorations have been found; they may almost be said not to exceed a
dozen; but pavement mosaics are very numerous, and are still seen in
the places for which they were designed and where they have been
during many centuries, as well as in museums to which they have been
removed. They are so hard in outline and so mechanical in every way
that they are not very attractive if we think of them as pictures, and their
chief interest is in the skill and patience with which mosaic workers
combine the numberless particles of one substance and another which
go to make up the whole.
Mosaic pictures, as a rule, are not large; but one found at Palestrina,
which is called the Nile mosaic, is six by five metres inside. Its subject is
the inundation of a village on the river Nile. There are an immense
number of figures and a variety of scenes in it; there are Egyptians
hunting the Nile horse, a party of revellers in a bower draped with vines,
bands of warriors and other groups of men occupied in different
pursuits, and all represented at the season when the Nile overflows its
banks. This is a very remarkable work, and it has been proved that a
portion of the original is in the Berlin Museum, and has been replaced by
a copy at Palestrina.
PAINTINGS ON STONE.
It is well known that much of the decoration of Greek edifices was in
colors. Of course these paintings were put upon the marble and stone of
which the structures were made. The Greeks also made small pictures
and painted them on stone, just as canvas and panels of wood are now
used. Such painted slabs have been found in Herculaneum, in Corneto,
and in different Etruscan tombs; but the most important and satisfactory
one was found at Pompeii in 1872. Since then the colors have almost
vanished; but Fig. 14, from it, will show you how it appeared when found.
It represents the mythological story of the punishment of Niobe, and is
very beautiful in its design.
VASE-PAINTING.
Vase-painting was another art very much practised by the ancients. So
much can be said of it that it would require more space than we can give
for its history even in outline. So I shall only say that it fills an important
place in historic art, because from the thousands of ancient vases that
have been found in one country and another, much has been learned
concerning the history of these lands and the manners and customs of
their people; occasionally inscriptions are found upon decorated vases
which are of great value to scholars who study the history of the past.
FIG. 14.—NIOBE. From a picture on a slab of granite at Pompeii.
FIG. 15.—THE DODWELL VASE. At Munich.
The Dodwell vase shows you the more simple style of decoration which
was used in the earlier times. Gradually the designs came to be more
and more elaborate, until whole stories were as distinctly told by the
pictures on vases as if they had been written out in books. The next cut,
which is made from a vase-painting, will show what I mean.
The subject of Fig. 16 is connected with the service of the dead, and
shows a scene in the under world, such as accorded with ancient
religious notions. In the upper portion the friends of the deceased are
grouped around a little temple. Scholars trace the manufacture of these
vases back to very ancient days, and down to its decline, about two
centuries before Christ. I do not mean that vase-painting ceased then,
for its latest traces come down to 65 B.C.; but like all other ancient arts, it
was then in a state of decadence. Though vase-painting was one of the
lesser arts, its importance can scarcely be overestimated, and it fully
merits the devoted study and admiration which it receives from those
who are learned in its history.
FIG. 16.—SCENE IN THE LOWER WORLD.
From a vase of the style of Lower Italy.
From what we know of ancient Greek painting we may believe that this
art first reached perfection in Greece. If we could see the best works of
Apelles, who reached the highest excellence of any Greek painter, we
might find some lack of the truest science of the art when judged by
more modern standards; but the Greeks must still be credited with
having been the first to create a true art of painting. After the decline of
Greek art fifteen centuries elapsed before painting was again raised to
the rank which the Greeks had given it, and if, according to our ideas,
the later Italian painting is in any sense superior to the Greek, we must at
least admit that the study of the works of antiquity which still remained in
Italy, excited the great masters of the Renaissance to the splendid
achievements which they attained.
CHAPTER II.
MEDIÆVAL PAINTING, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN
ERA
TO THE RENAISSANCE.
The Middle Ages extend from the latter part of the fifth century to the
time of the Renaissance, or about the fifteenth century. The painting of
this period has little to attract attention if regarded only from an artistic
stand-point, for we may truly say that, comparing it with the Greek art
which had preceded it, or with the Italian art which followed it, that of the
Middle Ages had no claim to the beautiful. On the other hand, it is full of
interest to students, because it has its part in the history of art; therefore I
shall give a mere outline of it, so that this link in the chain which unites
ancient and modern painting may not be entirely wanting in our book.
Early mediæval painting, down to about A.D. 950, consists principally of
paintings in burial-places, mosaics (usually in churches), and of
miniatures, or the illustration and illumination of MSS., which were the
books of that time, and were almost without exception religious writings.
This period is called the Early Period of the Middle Ages, and the
pictures are often called the works of Early Christian Art.
About 1050 a revival of intellectual pursuits began in some parts of
Europe, and from that time it may be said that the Renaissance, or new
birth of art and letters, was in its A B Cs, or very smallest beginnings. The
period between 950 and 1250 is often called the Central or
Romanesque Period of the Middle Ages, and it was during this time that
glass-painting originated; it is one of the most interesting features of art
in mediæval times.
From 1250 to 1400 comes the Final or Gothic Period of the Middle Ages,
and this has some very interesting features which foretell the coming
glory of the great Renaissance.
THE EARLY PERIOD.
The paintings of the catacombs date from the third and fourth centuries
after Christ. The catacombs, or burial-places of the early Christians,
consist of long, narrow, subterranean passages, cut with regularity, and
crossing each other like streets in a city. The graves are in the sides of
these passages, and there are some larger rooms or chambers into
which the narrow passages run. There are about sixty of the catacombs
in and near Rome; they are generally called by the name of some saint
who is buried in them. The paintings are in the chambers, of which there
are sometimes several quite near each other. The reason for their being
in these underground places was that Christians were so persecuted
under the Romans, that they were obliged to do secretly all that they did
as Christians, so that no attention should be attracted to them.
The principal characteristics of these pictures are a simple majesty and
earnestness of effect; perhaps spirituality is the word to use, for by these
paintings the early Christians desired to express their belief in the religion
of Christ, and especially in the immortality of the soul, which was a very
precious doctrine to them. The catacombs of Rome were more
numerous and important than those of any other city.
Many of the paintings in the catacombs had a symbolic meaning,
beyond the plainer intention which appeared at the first sight of them:
you will know what I mean when I say that not only was this picture of
Moses striking the rock intended to represent an historical fact in the life
of Moses, but the flowing water was also regarded as a type of the
blessing of Christian baptism.
FIG. 17.—MOSES. From a painting in the Catacomb of S. Agnes.
FIG. 18.—DECORATION OF A ROOF.
Catacomb of S. Domitilla.
The walls of the chambers of the catacombs are laid out in such a
manner as to have the effect of decorated apartments, just as was done
in the pagan tombs, and sometimes the pictures were a strange union of
pagan and Christian devices.
The above cut, from the Catacomb of S. Domitilla, has in the centre the
pagan god Orpheus playing his lyre, while in the alternate compartments
of the border are the following Christian subjects: 1, David with the Sling;
2, Moses Striking the Rock; 3, Daniel in the Lion’s Den; 4, The Raising of
Lazarus. The other small divisions have pictures of sacrificial animals.
These two cuts will give you an idea of the catacomb wall-paintings.
The mosaics of the Middle Ages were of a purely ornamental character
down to the time of Constantine. Then, when the protection of a
Christian emperor enabled the Christians to express themselves without
fear, the doctrines of the church and the stories of the life of Christ and
the histories of the saints, as well as many other instructive religious
subjects, were made in mosaics, and placed in prominent places in
churches and basilicas. Mosaics are very durable, and many belonging
to the early Christian era still remain.
The mosaics at Ravenna form the most connected series, and are the
best preserved of those that still exist. While it is true in a certain sense
that Rome was always the art centre of Italy, it is also true that at
Ravenna the works of art have not suffered from devastation and
restoration as have those of Rome. After the invasion of the Visigoths in
A.D. 404, Honorius transferred the imperial court to Ravenna, and that
city then became distinguished for its learning and art. The Ravenna
mosaics are so numerous that I shall only speak of one series, from
which I give an illustration (Fig. 19).
This mosaic is in the church of S. Vitalis, which was built
between A.D. 526 and 547. In the dome of the church there is a grand
representation of Christ enthroned; below Him are the sacred rivers of
Paradise; near Him are two angels and S. Vitalis, to whom the Saviour is
presenting a crown; Bishop Ecclesius, the founder of the church, is also
represented near by with a model of the church in his hand.
On a lower wall there are two pictures in which the Emperor Justinian
and the Empress Theodosia are represented: our cut is from one of
these, and shows the emperor and empress in magnificent costumes,
each followed by a train of attendants. This emperor never visited
Ravenna; but he sent such rich gifts to this church that he and his wife
are represented as its donors.
FIG. 19.—JUSTINIAN, THEODORA, AND ATTENDANTS. From a mosaic picture
at S. Vitalis, Ravenna.
After the time of Justinian (A.D. 527-565) mosaics began to be less
artistic, and those of the later time degenerated, as did everything else
during the Middle or Dark Ages, and at last all works of art show less and
less of the Greek or Classic influence.
When we use the word miniature as an art term, it does not mean simply
a small picture as it does in ordinary conversation; it means the pictures
executed by the hand of an illuminator or miniator of manuscripts, and
he is so called from the minium or cinnabar which he used in making
colors.
In the days of antiquity, as I have told you in speaking of Egypt, it was
customary to illustrate manuscripts, and during the Middle Ages this art
was very extensively practised. Many monks spent their whole lives in
illuminating religious books, and in Constantinople and other eastern
cities this art reached a high degree of perfection. Some manuscripts
have simple borders and colored initial letters only; sometimes but a
single color is used, and is generally red, from which comes our word
rubric, which means any writing or printing in red ink, and is derived from
the Latin rubrum, or red. This was the origin of illumination or miniaturepainting, which went on from one step to another until, at its highest
state, most beautiful pictures were painted in manuscripts in which rich
colors were used on gold or silver backgrounds, and the effect of the
whole was as rich and ornamental as it is possible to imagine.
Many of these old manuscripts are seen in museums, libraries, and
various collections; they are very precious and costly, as well as
interesting; their study is fascinating, for almost every one of the
numberless designs that are used in them has its own symbolic meaning.
The most ancient, artistic miniatures of which we know are those on a
manuscript of a part of the book of Genesis; it is in the Imperial Library at
Vienna, and was made at the end of the fifth century. In the same
collection there is a very extraordinary manuscript, from which I give an
illustration.
This manuscript is a treatise on botany, and was written by Dioskorides
for his pupil, the Princess Juliana Anicia, a granddaughter of the
Emperor Valentine III. As this princess died at Constantinople A.D. 527,
this manuscript dates from the beginning of the sixth century. This
picture from it represents Dioskorides dressed in white robes and seated
in a chair of gold; before him stands a woman in a gold tunic and scarlet
mantle, who represents the genius of discovery; she presents the
legendary mandrake root, or mandragora, to the learned man, while
between them is the dog that has pulled the root, and falls dead,
according to the fabulous story. This manuscript was painted by a
masterly hand, and is curious and interesting; the plants, snakes, birds,
and insects must have been painted from nature, and the whole is most
skilfully done.
FIG. 20.—THE DISCOVERY OF THE HERB MANDRAGORA. From a MS. of
Dioskorides, at Vienna.
During the Middle Ages the arts as practised in Rome were carried into
all the different countries in which the Romans made conquests or sent
their monks and missionaries to establish churches, convents, and
schools. Thus the mediæval arts were practised in Gaul, Spain, Germany,
and Great Britain. No wall-paintings or mosaics remain from the early
German or Celtic peoples; but their illuminated manuscripts are very
numerous: miniature-painting was extensively done in Ireland, and many
Irish manuscripts remain in the collections of Great Britain.
When Charlemagne became the king of the Franks in 768, there was
little knowledge of any art among his northern subjects; in 800 he made
himself emperor of the Romans, also, and when the Franks saw all the
splendor of Rome and other parts of Italy, it was not difficult for the great
emperor to introduce the arts into the Frankish portion of his empire. All
sorts of beautiful objects were carried from Italy by the Franks, and great
workshops were established at Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital, and were
placed under the care of Eginhard, who was skilled in bronze-casting,
modelling, and other arts; he was called Bezaleel, after the builder of the
Tabernacle. We have many accounts of the wall-paintings and mosaics
of the Franks; but there are no remains of them that can be identified
with positive accuracy.
Miniature-painting flourished under the rule of Charlemagne and his
family, and reached a point of great magnificence in effect, though it
was never as artistic as the work of the Italian miniators; and, indeed,
gradually everything connected with art was declining in all parts of the
world; and as we study its history, we can understand why the terms
Dark Ages and Middle Ages are used to denote the same epoch,
remarkable as it is for the decay and extinction of so many beautiful
things.
THE CENTRAL, OR ROMANESQUE PERIOD.
During the Romanesque Period (950-1250) architecture was pursued
according to laws which had grown out of the achievements and
experiences of earlier ages, and had reached such a perfection as
entitled it to the rank of a noble art. But this was not true of painting,
which was then but little more than the painting of the Egyptians had
been, that is, a sort of picture-writing, which was principally used to
illustrate the doctrines of religion, and by this means to teach them to
peoples who had no books, and could not have read them had they
existed.
During all this time the art of painting was largely under the control of the
priests. Some artists were priests themselves, and those who were not
were under the direction of some church dignitary. Popes, bishops,
abbots, and so on, were the principal patrons of art, and they suggested
to the artists the subjects to be painted, and then the pictures were used
for the decoration of churches and other buildings used by the religious
orders. The monks were largely occupied in miniature-painting; artists
frequented the monasteries, and, indeed, when they were engaged
upon religious subjects, they were frequently under the same discipline
as that of the monks themselves.
Next to the influence of the church came that of the court; but in a way it
was much the same, for the clergy had great influence at court, and,
although painting was used to serve the luxury of sovereigns and nobles,
it was also true that these high personages often employed artists to
decorate chapels and to paint altar-pieces for churches at their expense,
for during the Romanesque period there was some painting on panels.
At first these panel-pictures were placed on the front of the altar where
draperies had formerly been used: later they were raised above the
altar, and also put in various parts of the church. The painting of the
Romanesque period was merely a decline, and there can be little more
said of it than is told by that one word.
FIG. 21.—KING DAVID. From a window in Augsburg Cathedral.
Glass-painting dates from this time. The very earliest specimens of
which we know are from the eleventh century. Before that time there
had been transparent mosaics made by putting together bits of colored
glass, and arranging them in simple, set and ornamental patterns. Such
mosaics date from the earliest days of Christianity, and were in use as
soon as glass was used for windows. From ancient writings we know
that some windows were made with pictures upon them as long ago
as A.D. 989; but nothing now remains from that remote date.
There is a doubt as to whether glass-painting originated in France or
Germany. Some French authors ascribe its invention to Germany, while
some German writers accord the same honor to France. Remains of
glass-painting of the eleventh century have been found in both these
countries; but it is probable that five windows in the Cathedral of
Augsburg date from 1065, and are a little older than any others of which
we know. This picture of David is from one of them, and is probably as
old as any painted window in existence.
FIG. 22.—WINDOW. From the Cathedral of St. Denis.
The oldest glass-painting in France is probably a single fragment in the
Cathedral of Le Mans. This cathedral was completed in 1093, but was
badly burned in 1136, so that but a single piece of its windows remains;
this has been inserted in a new window in the choir, and is thus
preserved. With the beginning of the twelfth century, glass-painting
became more frequent in Europe, and near the end of this century it was
introduced into England, together with the Gothic style of architecture.
Very soon a highly decorative effect was given to glass-painting, and the
designs upon many windows were very much like those used in the
miniatures of the same time. The stained glass in the Cathedral of St.
Denis, near Paris, is very important. It dates from about 1140-1151, and
was executed under the care of the famous Abbot Suger. He employed
both French and German workmen, and decorated the entire length of
the walls with painted windows. St. Denis was the first French cathedral
in the full Gothic style of architecture. The present windows in St. Denis
can scarcely be said to be the original ones, as the cathedral has
suffered much from revolutions; but some of them have been restored
as nearly as possible, and our illustration (Fig. 22) will give you a good
idea of what its windows were.
The stripes which run across the ground in this window are red and blue,
and the leaf border is in a light tone of color. There are nine medallions;
the three upper ones have simply ornamental designs upon them, and
the six lower ones have pictures of sacred subjects. The one given here
is an Annunciation, in which the Abbot Suger kneels at the feet of the
Virgin Mary. His figure interferes with the border of the medallion in a
very unusual manner.
Perhaps the most important ancient glass-painting remaining in France
is that of the west front of the Cathedral of Chartres. It dates from about
1125, when this front was begun; there are three windows, and their
color is far superior to the glass of a later period, which is in the same
cathedral. The earliest painted glass in England dates from about 1180.
Some of the windows in Canterbury Cathedral correspond to those in
the Cathedral of St. Denis.
In the Strasbourg Cathedral there are some splendid remains of painted
glass of the Romanesque period, although they were much injured by
the bombardment of 1870. Fig. 23 is from one of the west windows, and
represents King Henry I.
This is an unusually fine example of the style of the period before the
more elaborate Gothic manner had arisen; the quiet regularity of the
drapery and the dignified air of the whole figure is very impressive.
An entirely different sort of colored windows was used in the churches
and edifices which belonged to the Cistercian order of monks. The rule
of this order was severe, and while they wished to soften the light within
their churches, they believed it to be wrong to use anything which
denoted pomp or splendor in the decoration of the house of God. For
these reasons they invented what is called the grisaille glass: it is painted
in regular patterns in gray tones of color. Sometimes these windows are
varied by a leaf pattern in shades of green and brown, with occasional
touches of bright color; but this is used very sparingly. Some of
these grisaille windows are seen in France; but the finest are in
Germany in the Cathedral of Heiligenkreuz: they date from the first half
of the thirteenth century.
THE FINAL, OR GOTHIC PERIOD.
The Gothic order of architecture, which was perfected during this period,
had a decided influence upon the painting and sculpture of the time; but
this influence was not felt until Gothic architecture had reached a high
point in its development. France was now the leading country of the
world, and Paris came to be the most important of all cities: it was the
centre from which went forth edicts as to the customs of society, the
laws of dress and conduct, and even of the art of love. From France
came the codes of chivalry, and the crusades, which spread to other
lands, originated there. Thus, for the time, Paris overshadowed Rome
and the older centres of art, industry, and science, with a world-wide
influence.
FIG. 23.—FIGURE OF HENRY I. IN WEST WINDOW OF STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL.
Although the painting of this period had largely the same characteristics
as that of the Romanesque period, it had a different spirit, and it was no
longer under the control of the clergy. Before this time, too, painters had
frequently been skilled in other arts; now it became the custom for them
to be painters only, and besides this they were divided into certain
classes of painters, and were then associated with other craftsmen who
were engaged in the trade which was connected with their art. That is,
the glass-painters painted glass only, and were associated with the
glass-blowers; those who decorated shields, with the shield or
scutcheon makers, and so on; while the painters, pure and simple,
worked at wall-painting, and a little later at panel-painting also. From this
association of artists and tradesmen there grew up brotherhoods which
supported their members in all difficulties, and stood by each other like
friends. Each brotherhood had its altar in some church; they had their
funerals and festivals in common, and from these brotherhoods grew up
the more powerful societies which were called guilds. These guilds
became powerful organizations; they had definite rights and duties, and
even judicial authority as to such matters as belonged to their special
trades.
All this led to much greater individuality among artists than had ever
existed before: it came to be understood that a painter could, and had a
right to, paint a picture as he wished, and was not governed by any
priestly law. Religious subjects were still painted more frequently than
others, and the decoration of religious edifices was the chief
employment of the artists; but they worked with more independence of
thought and spirit. The painters studied more from nature, and though
the change was very slow, it is still true that a certain softness of effect,
an easy flow of drapery, and a new grace of pose did appear, and
about A.D. 1350 a new idea of the uses and aims of painting influenced
artists everywhere.
FIG. 24.—BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. From the Grandes Heures of the Duc de
Berri.
About that time they attempted to represent distances, and to create
different planes in their works; to reproduce such things as they
represented far more exactly than they had done before, and to put
them in just relations to surrounding places and objects; in a word, they
seemed to awake to an appreciation of the true office of painting and to
its infinite possibilities.
During this Gothic period some of the most exquisite manuscripts were
made in France and Germany, and they are now the choicest treasures
of their kind in various European collections.
Fig. 24, of the birth of the Virgin Mary, is from one of the most splendid
books of the time which was painted for the Duke de Berry and called
the Great Book of the Hours. The wealth of ornament in the border is a
characteristic of the French miniatures of the time. The Germans used a
simpler style, as you will see by Fig. 25, of the Annunciation.
The influence of the Gothic order of architecture upon glass-painting
was very pronounced. Under this order the windows became much
more important than they had been, and it was not unusual to see a
series of windows painted in such pictures as illustrated the whole
teaching of the doctrines of the church. It was at this time that the
custom arose of donating memorial windows to religious edifices.
Sometimes they were the gift of a person or a family, and the portraits of
the donors were painted in the lower part of the window, and usually in a
kneeling posture; at other times windows were given by guilds, and it is
very odd to see craftsmen of various sorts at work in a cathedral window:
such pictures exist at Chartres, Bourges, Amiens, and other places.
FIG. 25.—THE ANNUNCIATION. From the Mariale of Archbishop Arnestus
of Prague.
About A.D. 1300 it began to be the custom to represent architectural
effects upon colored windows. Our cut is from a window at
Konigsfelden, and will show exactly what I mean (Fig. 26).
This style of decoration was not as effective as the earlier ones had been,
and, indeed, from about this time glass-painting became less
satisfactory than before, from the fact that it had more resemblance to
panel-painting, and so lost a part of the individuality which had belonged
to it.
FIG. 26.—PAINTED WINDOW AT KONIGSFELDEN.
Wall-paintings were rare in the Gothic period, for its architecture left no
good spaces where the pictures could be placed, and so the interior
painting of the churches was almost entirely confined to borders and
decorative patterns scattered here and there and used with great effect.
In Germany and England wall-painting was more used for the
decoration of castles, halls, chambers, and chapels; but as a whole
mural painting was of little importance at this time in comparison with its
earlier days.
About A.D. 1350 panel pictures began to be more numerous, and from
this time there are vague accounts of schools of painting at Prague and
Cologne, and a few remnants exist which prove that such works were
executed in France and Flanders; but I shall pass over what is often
called the Transitional Period, by which we mean the time in which new
influences were beginning to act, and hereafter I will tell our story by
giving accounts of the lives of separate painters; for from about the
middle of the thirteenth century it is possible to trace the history of
painting through the study of individual artists.
FIG. 27.—PORTRAIT OF CIMABUE.
GIOVANNI CIMABUE, the first painter of whom I shall tell you, was born in
Florence in 1240. He is sometimes called the “Father of Modern
Painting,” because he was the first who restored that art to any degree
of the beauty to which it had attained before the Dark Ages. The
Cimabui were a noble family, and Giovanni was allowed to follow his
own taste, and became a painter; he was also skilled in mosaic work,
and during the last years of his life held the office of master of the
mosaic workers in the Cathedral of Pisa, where some of his own
mosaics still remain.
Of his wall-paintings I shall say nothing except to tell you that the finest
are in the Upper Church at Assisi, where one sees the first step in the
development of the art of Tuscany. But I wish to tell the story of one of
his panel pictures, which is very interesting. It is now in the Rucellai
Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence, and it is only
just in me to say that if one of my readers walked through that church
and did not know about this picture, it is doubtful if he would stop to look
at it—certainly he would not admire it. The story is that when Cimabue
was about thirty years old he was busy in painting this picture of the
Madonna Enthroned, and he would not allow anyone to see what he was
doing.
It happened, however, that Charles of Anjou, being on his way to Naples,
stopped in Florence, where the nobles did everything in their power for
his entertainment. Among other places they took him to the studio of
Cimabue, who uncovered his picture for the first time. Many persons
then flocked to see it, and were so loud in their joyful expressions of
admiration for it that the part of the city in which the studio was has since
been called the Borgo Allegri, or the “joyous quarter.”
When the picture was completed the day was celebrated as a festival; a
procession was formed; bands of music played joyful airs; the
magistrates of Florence honored the occasion with their presence; and
the picture was borne in triumph to the church. Cimabue must have
been very happy at this great appreciation of his art, and from that time
he was famous in all Italy.
FIG. 28.—THE MADONNA OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA.
Another madonna by this master is in the Academy of Florence, and one
attributed to him is in the Louvre, in Paris.
Cimabue died about 1302, and was buried in the Church of Santa Maria
del Fiore, or the Cathedral of Florence. Above his tomb these words
were inscribed: “Cimabue thought himself master of the field of painting.
While living, he was so. Now he holds his place among the stars of
heaven.”
Other artists who were important in this early time of the revival of
painting were ANDREA TAFI, a mosaist of Florence, MARGARITONE OF
AREZZO, GUIDO OF SIENA, and of the same city DUCCIO, the son of
Buoninsegna. This last painter flourished from 1282 to 1320; his altarpiece for the Cathedral of Siena was also carried to its place in solemn
procession, with the sound of trumpet, drum, and bell.
GIOTTO DI BONDONE was the next artist in whom we have an unusual
interest. He was born at Del Colle, in the commune of Vespignano,
probably about 1266, though the date is usually given ten years later.
One of the best reasons for calling Cimabue the “Father of Painting” is
that he acted the part of a father to Giotto, who proved to be so great an
artist that from his time painting made a rapid advance. The story is that
one day when Cimabue rode in the valley of Vespignano he saw a
shepherd-boy who was drawing a portrait of one of his sheep on a flat
rock, by means of a pointed bit of slate for a pencil. The sketch was so
good that Cimabue offered to take the boy to Florence, and teach him to
paint. The boy’s father consented, and henceforth the little Giotto lived
with Cimabue, who instructed him in painting, and put him to study
letters under Brunetto Latini, who was also the teacher of the great poet,
Dante.
FIG. 29.—PORTRAIT OF DANTE,
PAINTED BY GIOTTO.
The picture which we give here is from the earliest work by Giotto of
which we have any knowledge. In it were the portraits of Dante, Latini,
and several others. This picture was painted on a wall of the Podestà at
Florence, and when Dante was exiled from that city his portrait was
covered with whitewash; in 1841 it was restored to the light, having been
hidden for centuries. It is a precious memento of the friendship between
the great artist and the divine poet, who expressed his admiration of
Giotto in these lines:—
“In painting Cimabue fain had thought
To lord the field; now Giotto has the cry,
So that the other’s fame in shade is brought.”
Giotto did much work in Florence; he also, about 1300, executed
frescoes in the Lower Church at Assisi; from 1303-1306 he painted his
beautiful pictures in the Cappella dell’ Arena, at Padua, by which the
genius of Giotto is now most fully shown. He worked at Rimini also, and
about 1330 was employed by King Robert of Naples, who conferred
many honors upon him, and made him a member of his own household.
In 1334 Giotto was made the chief master of the cathedral works in
Florence, as well as of the city fortifications and all architectural
undertakings by the city authorities. He held this high position but three
years, as he died on January 8, 1337.
Giotto was also a great architect, as is well known from his tower in
Florence, for which he made all the designs and a part of the working
models, while some of the sculptures and reliefs upon it prove that he
was skilled in modelling and carving. He worked in mosaics also, and the
famous “Navicella,” in the vestibule of St. Peter’s at Rome, was originally
made by him, but has now been so much restored that it is doubtful if
any part of what remains was done by Giotto’s hands.
FIG. 30.—GIOTTO’S CAMPANILE AND THE DUOMO. Florence.
The works of Giotto are too numerous to be mentioned here, and his
merits as an artist too important to be discussed in our limits; but his
advance in painting was so great that he deserved the great compliment
of Cennino, who said that Giotto “had done or translated the art of
painting from Greek into Latin.”
I shall, however, tell you of one excellent thing that he did, which was to
make the representation of the crucifix far more refined and Christ-like
than it had ever been. Before his time every effort had been made to
picture physical agony alone. Giotto gave a gentle face, full of suffering,
it is true, but also expressive of tenderness and resignation, and it would
not be easy to paint a better crucifix than those of this master.
In person Giotto was so ugly that his admirers made jokes about it; but
he was witty and attractive in conversation, and so modest that his
friends were always glad to praise him while he lived, and since his
death his fame has been cherished by all who have written of him. There
are many anecdotes told of Giotto. One is that on a very hot day in
Naples, King Robert said to the painter, “Giotto, if I were you, I would
leave work, and rest.” Giotto quickly replied, “So would I, sire, if I were
you.”
When the same king asked him to paint a picture which would represent
his kingdom, Giotto drew an ass bearing a saddle on which were a
crown and sceptre, while at the feet of the ass there was a new saddle
with a shining new crown and sceptre, at which the ass was eagerly
smelling. By this he intended to show that the Neapolitans were so fickle
that they were always looking for a new king.
There is a story which has been often repeated which says, that in order
to paint his crucifixes so well, he persuaded a man to be bound to a
cross for an hour as a model; and when he had him there he stabbed
him, in order to see such agony as he wished to paint. When the Pope
saw the picture he was so pleased with it that he wished to have it for his
own chapel; then Giotto confessed what he had done, and showed the
body of the dead man. The Pope was so angry that he threatened the
painter with the same death, upon which Giotto brushed the picture over
so that it seemed to be destroyed. Then the Pope so regretted the loss
of the crucifix that he promised to pardon Giotto if he would paint him
another as good. Giotto exacted the promise in writing, and then, with a
wet sponge, removed the wash he had used, and the picture was as
good as before. According to tradition all famous crucifixes were drawn
from this picture ever after.
When Boniface VIII. sent a messenger to invite Giotto to Rome, the
messenger asked Giotto to show him something of the art which had
made him so famous. Giotto, with a pencil, by a single motion drew so
perfect a circle that it was thought to be a miracle, and this gave rise to a
proverb still much used in Italy:—Piu tondo che l’O di Giotto, or, “Rounder
than the O of Giotto.”
Giotto had a wife and eight children, of whom nothing is known but that
his son Francesco became a painter. Giotto died in 1337, and was
buried with great honors in the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore. Lorenzo
de Medici erected a monument to his memory. The pupils and followers
of Giotto were very numerous, and were called Giotteschi; among
these TADDEO GADDI, and his son AGNOLO, are most famous: others
were MASO and BERNARDO DI DADDO; but I shall not speak in detail of
these artists.
While Giotto was making the art of Florence famous, there was an artist
in Siena who raised the school of that city to a place of great honor. This
was SIMONE MARTINI, who lived from 1283 to 1344, and is often
called SIMONE MEMMI because he married a sister of another
painter, LIPPO MEMMI. The most important works of Simone which
remain are at Siena in the Palazzo Pubblico and in the Lower Church at
Assisi. There is one beautiful work of his in the Royal Institution, at
Liverpool, which illustrates the text, “Behold, thy father and I have sought
Thee, sorrowing.”
While the Papal court was at Avignon, in 1338, Simone removed to that
city. Here he became the friend of Petrarch and of Laura, and has been
praised by this poet as Giotto was by Dante.
Another eminent Florentine artist was ANDREA ORCAGNA, as he is called,
though his real name was ANDREA ARCAGNUOLO DI CIONE. He was born
about 1329, and died about 1368. It has long been the custom to
attribute to Orcagna some of the most important frescoes in the Campo
Santo at Pisa; but it is so doubtful whether he worked there that I shall
not speak of them. His father was a goldsmith, and Orcagna first studied
his father’s craft; he was also an architect, sculptor, mosaist, and poet,
as well as a painter. He made an advance in color and in the painting of
atmosphere that gives him high rank as a painter; as a sculptor, his
tabernacle in the Church of Or San Michele speaks his praise. Mr. C. C.
Perkins thus describes it: “Built of white marble in the Gothic style,
enriched with every kind of ornament, and storied with bas-reliefs
illustrative of the Madonna’s history from her birth to her death, it rises in
stately beauty toward the roof of the church, and, whether considered
from an architectural, sculptural, or symbolic point of view, must excite
the warmest admiration in all who can appreciate the perfect unity of
conception through which its bas-reliefs, statuettes, busts, intaglios,
mosaics, and incrustations of pietre dure, gilded glass, and enamels are
welded into a unique whole.”
But perhaps it is as an architect that Orcagna is most interesting to us,
for he it was who made the designs for the Loggia de Lanzi in Florence.
This was built as a place for public assembly, and the discussion of the
topics of the day in rainy weather; it received its name on account of
its nearness to the German guard-house which was called that of the
Landsknechts (in German), or Lanzi, as it was given in Italian. Orcagna
probably died before the Loggia was completed, and his brother
Bernardo succeeded him as architect of the commune. This Loggia is
one of the most interesting places in Florence, fully in sight of the
Palazzo Signoria, near the gallery of the Uffizi, and itself the storehouse
of precious works of sculpture.
There were also in these early days of the fourteenth century schools of
art at Bologna and Modena; but we know so little of them in detail that I
shall not attempt to give any account of them here, but will pass to the
early artists who may be said to belong to the true Renaissance in Italy.
CHAPTER III.
PAINTING IN ITALY, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE RENAISSANCE
TO THE PRESENT CENTURY.
The reawakening of Art in Italy which followed the darkness of the
Middle Ages, dates from about the beginning of the fifteenth century
and is called the Renaissance. The Italians have a method of reckoning
the centuries which differs from ours. Thus we call 1800 the first year of
the nineteenth century, but they call it the first of the eighteenth; so the
painters of what was to us the fifteenth century are called by Italians the
“quattrocentisti,” or men of the fourteenth century, and while to us the
term “cinquecento” means the style of the sixteenth century, to the
Italians the same century, which begins with 1500, is the fifteenth
century.
I shall use our own method of reckoning in my writing; but this fact
should be known to all who read or study art.
The first painter of whom I shall now speak is known to us as FRA
ANGELICO. His name was Guido, the son of Pietro, and he was born at
Vicchio in the province of Mugello, in the year 1387. We know that his
family was in such circumstances that the young Guido could have led a
life of ease; but he early determined to become a preaching friar.
Meantime, even as a boy, he showed his taste for art, and there are six
years in his life, from the age of fourteen to twenty, of which no one can
tell the story. However, from what followed it is plain that during this time
he must somewhere have devoted himself to the study of painting and
to preparation for his life as a monk.
Before he was fully twenty years old, he entered the convent at Fiesole,
and took the name of Fra, or Brother Giovanni; soon after, his elder
brother joined him there, and became Fra Benedetto. Later on our artist
was called Fra Angelico, and again Il Beato Angelico, and then,
according to Italian custom, the name of the town from which he came
was added, so that he was at last called Il Beato Giovanni, detto
Angelico, da Fiesole, which means, “The Blessed John, called the
Angelic, of Fiesole.” The title Il Beato is usually conferred by the church,
but it was given to Fra Angelico by the people, because of his saintly
character and works.
It was in 1407 that Fra Angelico was admitted to the convent in Fiesole,
and after seven years of peaceful life there he was obliged to flee with
his companions to Foligno. It was at the time when three different popes
claimed the authority over the Church of Rome, and the city of Florence
declared itself in favor of Alexander V.; but the monks of Fiesole adhered
to Gregory XII., and for this reason were driven from their convent. Six
years they dwelt at Foligno; then the plague broke out in the country
about them, and again they fled to Cortona. Pictures painted by Fra
Angelico at this time still remain in the churches of Cortona.
After an absence of ten years the monks returned to Fiesole, where our
artist passed the next eighteen years. This was the richest period of his
life: his energy was untiring, and his zeal both as an artist and as a priest
burned with a steady fire. His works were sought for far and wide, and
most of his easel-pictures were painted during this time. Fra Angelico
would never accept the money which was paid for his work; it was given
into the treasury of his convent; neither did he accept any commission
without the consent of the prior. Naturally, the monk-artist executed
works for the adornment of his own convent. Some of these have been
sold and carried to other cities and countries, and those which remain
have been too much injured and too much restored to be considered
important now.
FIG. 31.—FRA ANGELICO. From the representation of him in the fresco of
the “Last Judgment,” by Fra Bartolommeo, in Santa Maria Nuova,
Florence.
He painted so many pictures during this second residence at Fiesole,
not only for public places, but for private citizens, that Vasari wrote: “This
Father painted so many pictures, which are dispersed through the
houses of the Florentines, that sometimes I am lost in wonder when I
think how works so good and so many could, though in the course of
many years, have been brought to perfection by one man alone.”
In 1436 the great Cosimo de Medici insisted that the monks of Fiesole
should again leave their convent, and remove to that of San Marco, in
Florence. Most unwillingly the brethren submitted, and immediately
Cosimo set architects and builders to work to erect a new convent, for
the old one was in a ruinous state. The new cloisters offered a noble field
to the genius of Fra Angelico, and he labored for their decoration with
his whole soul; though the rule of the order was so strict that the pictures
in the cells could be seen only by the monks, he put all his skill into them,
and labored as devotedly as if the whole world could see and praise
them, as indeed has since been done. His pictures in this convent are so
numerous that we must not describe them, but will say that the
Crucifixion in the chapter-room is usually called his masterpiece. It is
nearly twenty-five feet square, and, besides the usual figures in this
subject, the Saviour and the thieves, with the executioners, there are
holy women, the founders of various orders, the patrons of the convent,
and companies of saints. In the frame there are medallions with several
saints and a Sibyl, each bearing an inscription from the prophecies
relating to Christ’s death; while below all, St. Dominic, the founder of the
artist’s order, bears a genealogical tree with many portraits of those who
had been eminent among his followers. For this reason this picture has
great historic value.
At last, in 1445, Pope Eugenius IV., who had dedicated the new convent
of San Marco and seen the works of Angelico, summoned him to Rome.
It is said that the Pope not only wished for some of his paintings, but he
also desired to honor Angelico by giving him the archbishopric of
Florence; but when this high position was offered him, Fra Angelico
would not accept of it: he declared himself unequal to its duties, and
begged the Pope to appoint Fra Antonino in his stead. This request was
granted, and Angelico went on with his work as before, in all humility
fulfilling his heaven-born mission to lead men to better lives through the
sweet influence of his divine art.
The honor which had been tendered him was great—one which the
noblest men were striving for—but if he realized this he did not regret his
decision, neither was he made bold or vain by the royal tribute which the
Pope had paid him.
From this time the most important works of Fra Angelico were done in
the chapel of Pope Nicholas V., in the Vatican, and in the chapel which
he decorated in the Cathedral of Orvieto. He worked there one summer,
and the work was continued by Luca Signorelli. The remainder of his life
was passed so quietly that little can be told of it. It is not even known with
certainty whether he ever returned to Florence, and by some strange
fate the key to the chapel which he painted in the Vatican was lost
during two centuries, and the pictures could only be seen by entering
through a window. Thus it would seem that his last years were passed in
the quiet work which he best loved.
FIG. 32.—AN ANGEL.
In the Uffizi, Florence.
By Fra Angelico.
When his final illness was upon him, the brethren of Santa Maria Sopra
Minerva, where he resided, gathered about him, and chanted the Salve
Regina. He died on the 18th of February, 1455, when sixty-seven years
old. His tombstone is in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, in
Rome; on it lies the figure of a Dominican monk in marble. Pope
Nicholas V. wrote his epitaph in Latin. The following translation is by
Professor Norton:
“Not mine be the praise that I was a second Apelles,
But that I gave all my gains to thine, O Christ!
One work is for the earth, another for heaven.
The city, the Flower of Tuscany, bore me—John.”
In the Convent of San Marco in Florence there are twenty-five pictures
by this master; in the Academy of Florence there are about sixty; there
are eleven in the chapel of Nicholas V., and still others in the Vatican
gallery. The Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, the Cathedral of
Orvieto, the Church of St. Domenico in Perugia, and that of Cortona, are
all rich in his works. Besides these a few exist in some of the principal
European galleries; but I love best to see them in San Marco, where he
painted them for his brethren, and where they seem most at home.
The chief merit of the pictures of Fra Angelico is the sweet and tender
expression of the faces of his angels and saints, or any beings who are
holy and good; he never succeeded in painting evil and sin in such a
way as to terrify one; his gentle nature did not permit him to represent
that which it could not comprehend, and the very spirit of purity seems
to breathe through every picture.
Two other Florentine artists of the same era with Fra Angelico
were MASOLINO, whose real name was PANICALE, and TOMMASO GUIDI,
called MASACCIO on account of his want of neatness. The style of these
two masters was much the same, but Masaccio became so much the
greater that little is said of Masolino. The principal works of Masaccio
are a series of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. They
represent “The Expulsion from Paradise,” “The Tribute Money,” “Peter
Baptizing,” “Peter Curing the Blind and Lame,” “The Death of Ananias,”
“Simon Magus,” and the “Resuscitation of the King’s Son.” There is a
fresco by Masolino in the same chapel; it is “The Preaching of Peter.”
Masaccio was in fact a remarkable painter. Someone has said that he
seemed to hold Giotto by one hand, and reach forward to Raphael with
the other; and considering the pictures which were painted before his
time, his works are as wonderful as Raphael’s are beautiful. He died in
1429.
PAOLO UCCELLO (1396-1479) and FILIPPO LIPPI (1412-1469) were also
good painters, and SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1447-1515), a pupil of Filippo,
was called the best Florentine painter of his time. FILLIPINO LIPPI (14601505) was a pupil of Botticelli and a very important artist. ANDREA
VERROCCHIO, LORENZO DI CREDI, and ANTONIO POLLAJUOLO were all good
painters of the Florentine school of the last half of the fifteenth century.
Of the same period was DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO (1449-1494), who ranks
very high on account of his skill in the composition of his works and as a
colorist. He made his pictures very interesting also to those of his own
time, and to those of later days, by introducing portraits of certain
citizens of Florence into pictures which he painted in the Church of
Santa Maria Novella and other public places in the city. He did not
usually make them actors in the scene he represented, but placed them
in detached groups as if they were looking at the picture themselves.
While his scenes were laid in the streets known to us, and his
architecture was familiar, he did not run into the fantastic or lose the
picturesque effect which is always pleasing. Without being one of the
greatest of the Italian masters Ghirlandajo was a very important painter.
He was also a teacher of the great Michael Angelo.
Other prominent Florentine painters of the close of the fifteenth century
were FRANCISCO
GRANACCI (1477-1543), LUCA
SIGNORELLI (14411521), BENOZZO GOZZOLI (1424-1485), and COSIMO ROSSELLI (1439-1506).
Some good painters worked in Venice from the last half of the
fourteenth century; but I shall begin to speak of the Venetian school with
some account of the Bellini. The father of this family was JACOPO
BELLINI (1395-1470), and his sons were GENTILE BELLINI (1421-1507)
and GIOVANNI BELLINI (1426-1516).
The sketch-book of the father is one of the treasures of the British
Museum. It has 99 pages, 17 by 13 inches in size, and contains sketches
of almost everything—still and animal life, nature, ancient sculpture,
buildings and human figures, stories of the Scriptures, of mythology, and
of the lives of the saints are all illustrated in its sketches, as well as
hawking parties, village scenes, apes, eagles, dogs, and cats. In this
book the excellence of his drawing is seen; but so few of his works
remain that we cannot judge of him as a colorist. It is certain that he laid
the foundation of the excellence of the Venetian school, which his son
Giovanni and the great Titian carried to perfection.
The elder son, Gentile, was a good artist, and gained such a reputation
by his pictures in the great council-chamber of Venice, that when, in
1479, Sultan Mehemet, the conqueror of Constantinople, sent to Venice
for a good painter, the Doge sent to him Gentile Bellini. With him he sent
two assistants, and gave him honorable conduct in galleys belonging to
the State. In Constantinople Gentile was much honored, and he painted
the portraits of many remarkable people. At length it happened that
when he had finished a picture of the head of John the Baptist in a
charger, and showed it to the Sultan, that ruler said that the neck was
not well painted, and when he saw that Gentile did not agree with him he
called a slave and had his head instantly struck off, to prove to the artist
what would be the true action of the muscles under such circumstances.
This act made Gentile unwilling to remain near the Sultan, and after a
year in his service he returned home. Mehemet, at parting, gave him
many gifts, and begged him to ask for whatever would best please him.
Gentile asked but for a letter of praise to the Doge and Signoria of
Venice. After his return to Venice he worked much in company with his
brother. It is said that Titian studied with Gentile: it is certain that he was
always occupied with important commissions, and worked until the day
of his death, when he was more than eighty years old.
FIG. 33.—CHRIST.
By Gio. Bellini.
But Giovanni Bellini was the greatest of his family, and must stand as the
founder of true Venetian painting. His works may be divided into two
periods, those that were done before, and those after he learned the use
of oil colors. His masterpieces, which can still be seen in the Academy
and the churches of Venice, were painted after he was sixty-five years
old. The works of Giovanni Bellini are numerous in Venice, and are also
seen in the principal galleries of Europe. He did not paint a great variety
of subjects, neither was his imagination very poetical, but there was a
moral beauty in his figures; he seems to have made humanity as
elevated as it can be, and to have stopped just on the line which
separates earthly excellence from the heavenly. He often painted the
single figure of Christ, of which Lübke says: “By grand nobleness of
expression, solemn bearing, and an excellent arrangement of the
drapery, he reached a dignity which has rarely been surpassed.” Near
the close of his life he painted a few subjects which represent gay and
festive scenes, and are more youthful in spirit than the works of his
earlier years. The two brothers were buried side by side, in the Church of
SS. Giovanni e Paolo, in Venice.
There were also good painters in Padua, Ferrara, and Verona in the
fifteenth century.
ANDREA MANTEGNA, of Padua (1430-1506), was a very important artist.
He spent the best part of his life in the service of the Duke of Mantua;
but his influence was felt in all Italy, for his marriage with the daughter of
Jacopo Bellini brought him into relations with many artists. His services
were sought by various sovereigns, whose offers he refused until Pope
Innocent VIII. summoned him to Rome to paint a chapel in the Vatican.
After two years there he returned to Mantua, where he died. His pictures
are in all large collections; his finest works are madonnas at the Louvre,
Paris, and in the Church of St. Zeno at Verona. Mantegna was a fine
engraver also, and his plates are now very valuable.
In the Umbrian school Pietro Perugino (1446-1524) was a notable
painter; he was important on account of his own work, and because he
was the master of the great Raphael. His pictures were simple and
devout in their spirit, and brilliant in color; in fact, he is considered as the
founder of the style which Raphael perfected. His works are in the
principal galleries of Europe, and he had many followers of whom we
have not space to speak.
FRANCISCO FRANCIA (1450-1518) was the founder of the school of
Bologna. His true name was Francisco di Marco Raibolini, and he was a
goldsmith of repute before he was a painter. He was also master of the
mint to the Bentivoglio and to Pope Julius II. at Bologna. It is not possible
to say when he began to paint; but his earliest known work is dated 1490
or 1494, and is in the Gallery of Bologna. His pictures resemble those of
Perugino and Raphael, and it is said that he died of sorrow because he
felt himself so inferior to the great painter of Urbino. Raphael sent his St.
Cecilia to Francia, and asked him to care for it and see it hung in its
place; he did so, but did not live long after this. It is well known that these
two masters were good friends and corresponded, but it is not certain
that they ever met. Francia’s pictures are numerous; his portraits are
excellent. Many of his works are still in Bologna.
FIG. 34.—MADONNA. By Perugino.
In the Pitti Gallery, Florence.
We come now to one of the most celebrated masters of Italy, LEONARDO
DA VINCI (1452-1519), the head of the Lombard or Milanese school. He
was not the equal of the great masters, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and
Titian; but he stands between them and the painters who preceded him
or those of his own day.
In some respects, however, he was the most extraordinary man of his
time. His talents were many-sided; for he was not only a great artist, but
also a fine scholar in mathematics and mechanics; he wrote poetry and
composed music, and was with all this so attractive personally, and so
brilliant in his manner, that he was a favorite wherever he went. It is
probable that this versatility prevented his being very great in any one
thing, while he was remarkable in many things.
When still very young Leonardo showed his artistic talent. The paper
upon which he worked out his sums was frequently bordered with little
pictures which he drew while thinking on his lessons, and these
sketches at last attracted his father’s attention, and he showed them to
his friend Andrea Verrocchio, an artist of Florence, who advised that the
boy should become a painter. Accordingly, in 1470, when eighteen
years old, Leonardo was placed under the care of Verrocchio, who was
like a kind father to his pupils: he was not only a painter, but also an
architect and sculptor, a musician and a geometer, and he especially
excelled in making exquisite cups of gold and silver, crucifixes and
statuettes such as were in great demand for the use of the priesthood in
those days.
FIG. 35.—LEONARDO DA VINCI. From a drawing in red chalk by himself.
In the Royal Library, Turin.
Pietro Perugino was a fellow-pupil with Leonardo, and they two soon
surpassed their master in painting, and at last, when Verrocchio was
painting a picture for the monks of Vallambrosa, and desired Leonardo
to execute an angel in it, the work of his pupil was so much better than
his own that the old painter desired to throw his brush aside forever. The
picture is now in the Academy of Florence, and represents “The Baptism
of Christ.” With all his refinement and sweetness, Leonardo had a liking
for the horrible. It once happened that a countryman brought to his
father a circular piece of wood cut from a fig-tree, and desired to have it
painted for a shield; it was handed over to Leonardo, who collected in
his room a number of lizards, snakes, bats, hedgehogs, and other
frightful creatures, and from these painted an unknown monster having
certain characteristics of the horrid things he had about him. The
hideous creature was surrounded by fire, and was breathing out flames.
When his father saw it he ran away in a fright, and Leonardo was greatly
pleased at this. The countryman received an ordinary shield, and
this Rotello del Fico (or shield of fig-tree wood) was sold to a merchant
for one hundred ducats, and again to the Duke of Milan for three times
that sum. This shield has now been lost for more than three centuries;
but another horror, the “Medusa’s Head,” is in the Uffizi Gallery in
Florence, and is a head surrounded by interlacing serpents, the eyes
being glassy and deathlike and the mouth most revolting in expression.
While in Florence Leonardo accomplished much, but was at times
diverted from his painting by his love of science, sometimes making
studies in astronomy and again in natural history and botany; he also
went much into society, and lived extravagantly. He had the power to
remember faces that he had seen accidentally, and could make fine
portraits from memory; he was also accustomed to invite to his house
people from the lower classes; he would amuse them while he sketched
their faces, making good portraits at times, and again ridiculous
caricatures. He even went so far, for the sake of his art, as to
accompany criminals to the place of execution, in order to study their
expressions.
After a time Leonardo wished to secure some fixed income, and wrote
to the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, called Il Moro, offering his
services to that prince. This resulted in his going to Milan, where he
received a generous salary, and became very popular with the Duke and
all the court, both as a painter and as a gentleman. The Duke governed
as the regent for his young nephew, and gathered about him talented
men for the benefit of the young prince. He also led a gay life, and his
court was the scene of constant festivities. Leonardo’s varied talents
were very useful to the Duke; he could assist him in everything—by
advice at his council, by plans for adorning his city, by music and poetry
in his leisure hours, and by painting the portraits of his favorites. Some of
these last are now famous pictures—that of Lucrezia Crevelli is believed
to be in the Louvre at Paris, where it is called “La Belle Ferronière.”
The Duke conferred a great honor on Leonardo by choosing him to be
the founder and director of an academy which he had long wished to
establish. It was called the “Academia Leonardi Vinci,” and had for its
purpose the bringing together of distinguished artists and men of letters.
Leonardo was appointed superintendent of all the fêtes and
entertainments given by the court, and in this department he did some
marvellous things. He also superintended a great work in engineering
which he brought to perfection, to the wonder of all Italy: it was no less
an undertaking than bringing the waters of the Adda from Mortisana to
Milan, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. In spite of all these
occupations the artist found time to study anatomy and to write some
valuable works. At length Il Moro became the established duke, and at
his brilliant court Leonardo led a most agreeable life; but he was so
occupied with many things that he painted comparatively few pictures.
FIG. 36.—THE LAST SUPPER. By Leonardo da Vinci.
At length the Duke desired him to paint a picture of the Last Supper on
the wall of the refectory in the Convent of the Madonna delle Grazie.
This was his greatest work in Milan and a wonderful masterpiece. It was
commenced about 1496, and was finished in a very short time. We must
now judge of it from copies and engravings, for it has been so injured as
to give no satisfaction to one who sees it. Some good copies were made
before it was thus ruined, and numerous engravings make it familiar to
all the world. A copy in the Royal Academy, London, was made by one
of Leonardo’s pupils, and is the size of the original. It is said that the prior
of the convent complained to the Duke of the length of time the artist
was spending upon this picture; when the Duke questioned the painter
he said that he was greatly troubled to find a face which pleased him for
that of Judas Iscariot; he added that he was willing to allow the prior to
sit for this figure and thus hasten the work; this answer pleased the Duke
and silenced the prior.
After a time misfortunes overtook the Duke, and Leonardo was reduced
to poverty; finally Il Moro was imprisoned; and in 1500 Leonardo
returned to Florence, where he was honorably received. He was not
happy here, however, for he was not the one important artist. He had
been absent nineteen years, and great changes had taken place;
Michael Angelo and Raphael were just becoming famous, and they with
other artists welcomed Leonardo, for his fame had reached them from
Milan. However, he painted some fine pictures at this time; among them
were the “Adoration of the Kings,” now in the Uffizi Gallery, and a portrait
of Ginevra Benci, also in the same gallery. This lady must have been
very beautiful; Ghirlandajo introduced her portrait into two of his
frescoes.
But the most remarkable portrait was that known as Mona Lisa del
Giocondo, which is in the Louvre, and is called by some critics the finest
work of this master. The lady was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a
lovely woman, and some suppose that she was very dear to Leonardo.
He worked upon it for four years, and still thought it unfinished: the face
has a deep, thoughtful expression—the eyelids are a little weary, perhaps,
and through it all there is a suggestion of something not quite
understood—a mystery: the hands are graceful and of perfect form, and
the rocky background gives an unusual fascination to the whole picture.
Leonardo must have loved the picture himself, and it is not strange that
he lavished more time upon it than he gave to the great picture of the
Last Supper (Fig. 37).
Leonardo sold this picture to Francis I. for nine thousand dollars, which
was then an enormous sum, though now one could scarcely fix a price
upon it. In 1860 the Emperor of Russia paid twelve thousand dollars for a
St. Sebastian by Leonardo, and in 1865 a madonna by him was sold in
Paris for about sixteen thousand dollars. Of course his pictures are rarely
sold; but, when they are, great sums are given for them.
In 1502 Cæsar Borgia appointed Leonardo his engineer and sent him to
travel through Central Italy to inspect his fortresses; but this usurper
soon fled to Spain, and in 1503 our painter was again in Florence. In
1504 his father died. From 1507 to 1512 Leonardo was at the summit of
his greatness. Louis XII. appointed him his painter, and he labored for
this monarch also to improve the water-works of Milan. For seven years
he dwelt at Milan, making frequent journeys to Florence. But the political
troubles of the time made Lombardy an uncongenial home for any artist,
and Leonardo, with a few pupils, went to Florence and then on to Rome.
Pope Leo X. received him cordially enough, and told him to “work for the
glory of God, Italy, Leo X., and Leonardo da Vinci.” But Leonardo was not
happy in Rome, where Michael Angelo and Raphael were in great favor,
and when Francis I. made his successes in Italy in 1515, Leonardo
hastened to Lombardy to meet him. The new king of France restored
him to the office to which Louis XII. had appointed him, and gave him an
annual pension of seven hundred gold crowns.
FIG. 37.—MONA LISA.—
“LA BELLE JOCONDE.”
When Francis returned to France he desired to cut out the wall on which
the Last Supper was painted, and carry it to his own country: this proved
to be impossible, and it is much to be regretted, as it is probable that if it
could have been thus removed it would have been better preserved.
However, not being able to take the artist’s great work, the king took
Leonardo himself, together with his favorite pupils and friends and his
devoted servant. In France, Leonardo was treated with consideration.
He resided near Amboise, where he could mingle with the court. It is
said that, old though he was, he was so much admired that the courtiers
imitated his dress and the cut of his beard and hair. He was given the
charge of all artistic matters in France, and doubtless Francis hoped that
he would found an Academy as he had done at Milan. But he seems to
have left all his energy, all desire for work, on the Italian side of the Alps.
He made a few plans; but he brought no great thing to pass, and soon
his health failed, and he fell into a decline. He gave great attention to
religious matters, received the sacrament, and then made his will, and
put his worldly affairs in order.
The king was accustomed to visit him frequently, and on the last day of
his life, when the sovereign entered the room, Leonardo desired to be
raised up as a matter of respect to the king: sitting, he conversed of his
sufferings, and lamented that he had done so little for God and man.
Just then he was seized with an attack of pain—the king rose to support
him, and thus, in the arms of Francis, the great master breathed his last.
This has sometimes been doubted; but the modern French critics agree
with the ancient writers who give this account of his end.
He was buried in the Church of St. Florentin at Amboise, and it is not
known that any monument was erected over him. In 1808 the church
was destroyed; in 1863 Arsine Houssaye, with others, made a search for
the grave of Leonardo, and it is believed that his remains were found. In
1873 a noble monument was erected in Milan to the memory of Da Vinci.
It is near the entrance to the Arcade of Victor Emmanuel: the statue of
the master stands on a high pedestal in a thoughtful attitude, the head
bowed down and the arms crossed on the breast. Below are other
statues and rich bas-reliefs, and one inscription speaks of him as the
“Renewer of the Arts and Sciences.”
Many of his writings are in the libraries of Europe in manuscript form: his
best known work is the “Trattato della Pittura,” and has been translated
into English. As an engineer his canal of Mortesana was enough to give
him fame; as an artist he may be called the “Poet of Painters,” and, if
those who followed him surpassed him, it should be remembered that it
is easier to advance in a path once opened than to discover a new path.
Personally he was much beloved, and, though he lived when morals
were at a low estimate, he led a proper and reputable life. His pictures
were pure in their spirit, and he seemed only to desire the progress of art
and science, and it is a pleasure to read and learn of him, as it is to see
his works.
Other good artists of the Lombard school in the fifteenth century
were BERNARDINO LUINI (about 1460-1530), who was the best pupil of
Leonardo, GIOVANNI
ANTONIO
BELTRAFFIO (1467-1516), GAUDENZIO
FARRARI (1484-1549), AMBROGIO BORGOGNONE (works dated about 1500),
and ANDREA SOLARIO, whose age is not known.
We return now to the Florentine school at a time when the most
remarkable period of its existence was about to begin. We shall speak
first of FRA BARTOLOMMEO or BACCIO DELLA PORTA, also called IL
FRATE (1469-1517). He was born at Savignano, and studied at Florence
under Cosimo Rosselli, but was much influenced by the works of
Leonardo da Vinci. This painter became famous for the beauty of his
pictures of the Madonna, and at the time when the great Savonarola
went to Florence Bartolommeo was employed in the Convent of San
Marco, where the preacher lived. The artist became the devoted friend
of the preacher, and, when the latter was seized, tortured, and burned,
Bartolommeo became a friar, and left his pictures to be finished by his
pupil Albertinelli. For four years he lived the most austere life, and did not
touch his brush: then his superior commanded him to resume his art; but
the painter had no interest in it. About this time Raphael sought him out,
and became his friend; he also instructed the monk in perspective, and
in turn Raphael learned from him, for Fra Bartolommeo was the first
artist who used lay figures in arranging his draperies; he also told
Raphael some secrets of colors.
About 1513 Bartolommeo went to Rome, and after his return to his
convent he began what promised to be a wonderful artistic career; but
he only lived four years more, and the amount of his work was so small
that his pictures are now rare. His madonnas, saints, and angels are holy
in their effect; his representations of architecture are grand, and while
his works are not strong or powerful, they give much pleasure to those
who see them.
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI was born at the Castle of Caprese in 1475.
His father, who was of a noble family of Florence, was then governor of
Caprese and Chiusi, and, when the Buonarroti household returned to
Florence, the little Angelo was left with his nurse on one of his father’s
estates at Settignano. The father and husband of his nurse were stonemasons, and thus in infancy the future artist was in the midst of blocks of
stone and marble and the implements which he later used with so much
skill. For many years rude sketches were shown upon the walls of the
nurse’s house made by her baby charge, and he afterward said that he
imbibed a love for marble with his earliest food.
FIG. 38.—PORTRAIT OF
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI.
At the proper age Angelo was taken to Florence and placed in school;
but he spent his time mostly in drawing, and having made the
acquaintance of Francesco Granacci, at that time a pupil with
Ghirlandajo, he borrowed from him designs and materials by which to
carry on his beloved pursuits. Michael Angelo’s desire to become an
artist was violently opposed by his father and his uncles, for they desired
him to be a silk and woollen merchant, and sustain the commercial
reputation of the family. But so determined was he that finally his father
yielded, and in 1488 placed him in the studio of Ghirlandajo. Here the
boy of thirteen worked with great diligence; he learned how to prepare
colors and to lay the groundwork of frescoes, and he was set to copy
drawings. Very soon he wearied of this, and began to make original
designs after his own ideas. At one time he corrected a drawing of his
master’s: when he saw this, sixty years later, he said, “I almost think that I
knew more of art in my youth than I do in my old age.”
When Michael Angelo went to Ghirlandajo, that master was employed
on the restoration of the choir of Santa Maria Novella, so that the boy
came at once into the midst of important work. One day he drew a
picture of the scaffolding and all that belonged to it, with the painters at
work thereon: when his master saw it he exclaimed, “He already
understands more than I do myself.” This excellence in the scholar
roused the jealousy of the master, as well as of his other pupils, and it
was a relief to Michael Angelo when, in answer to a request from
Lorenzo de Medici, he and Francesco Granacci were named by
Ghirlandajo as his two most promising scholars, and were then sent to
the Academy which the duke had established. The art treasures which
Lorenzo gave for the use of the students were arranged in the gardens
of San Marco, and here, under the instruction of the old Bertoldo,
Angelo forgot painting in his enthusiasm for sculpture. He first copied
the face of a faun; but he changed it somewhat, and opened the mouth
so that the teeth could be seen. When Lorenzo visited the garden he
praised the work, but said, “You have made your faun so old, and yet
you have left him all his teeth; you should have known that at such an
advanced age there are generally some wanting.” The next time he
came there was a gap in the teeth, and so well done that he was
delighted. This work is now in the Uffizi Gallery.
Lorenzo now sent for the father of Angelo, and asked that the son might
live in the Medici palace under his own care. Somewhat reluctantly the
father consented, and the duke gave him an office in the custom-house.
From this time for three years, Angelo sat daily at the duke’s table, and
was treated as one of his own family; he was properly clothed, and had
an allowance of five ducats a month for pocket-money. It was the
custom with Lorenzo to give an entertainment every day; he took the
head of the table, and whoever came first had a seat next him. It often
happened that Michael Angelo had this place. Lorenzo was the head of
Florence, and Florence was the head of art, poetry, and all scholarly
thought. Thus, in the home of the Medici, the young artist heard learned
talk upon all subjects of interest; he saw there all the celebrated men
who lived in the city or visited it, and his life so near Lorenzo, for a
thoughtful youth, as he was, amounted to an education.
The society of Florence at this time was not of a high moral tone, and in
the year in which Michael Angelo entered the palace, a monk called
Savonarola came to Florence to preach against the customs and the
crimes of the city. Michael Angelo was much affected by this, and
throughout his long life remembered Savonarola with true respect and
affection, and his brother, Leonardo Buonarroti, was so far influenced
that he withdrew from the world and became a Dominican monk.
Michael Angelo’s diligence was great; he not only studied sculpture, but
he found time to copy some of the fine old frescoes in the Church of the
Carmine. He gave great attention to the study of anatomy, and he was
known throughout the city for his talents, and for his pride and bad
temper. He held himself aloof from his fellow-pupils, and one day, in a
quarrel with Piètro Torrigiano, the latter gave Angelo a blow and crushed
his nose so badly that he was disfigured for life. Torrigiano was banished
for this offence and went to England; he ended his life in a Spanish
prison.
In the spring of 1492 Lorenzo de Medici died. Michael Angelo was
deeply grieved at the loss of his best friend; he left the Medici palace,
and opened a studio in his father’s house, where he worked diligently for
two years, making a statue of Hercules and two madonnas. After two
years there came a great snow-storm, and Piero de Medici sent for the
artist to make a snow statue in his court-yard. He also invited Michael
Angelo to live again in the palace, and the invitation was accepted; but
all was so changed there that he embraced the first opportunity to leave,
and during a political disturbance fled from the city with two friends, and
made his way to Venice. There he met the noble Aldovrandi of Bologna,
who invited the sculptor to his home, where he remained about a year,
and then returned to his studio in Florence.
Soon after this he made a beautiful, sleeping Cupid, and when the
young Lorenzo de Medici saw it he advised Michael Angelo to bury it in
the ground for a season, and thus make it look like an antique marble;
after this was done, Lorenzo sent it to Rome and sold it to the Cardinal
Riario, and gave the sculptor thirty ducats. In some way the truth of the
matter reached the ears of the Cardinal, who sent his agent to Florence
to find the artist. When Michael Angelo heard that two hundred ducats
had been paid for his Cupid, he knew that he had been deceived. The
Cardinal’s agent invited him to go to Rome, and he gladly went. The
oldest existing writing from the hand of Michael Angelo is the letter
which he wrote to Lorenzo to inform him of his arrival in Rome. He was
then twenty-one years old, and spoke with joy of all the beautiful things
he had seen.
Not long after he reached Rome he made the statue of the “Drunken
Bacchus,” now in the Uffizi Gallery, and then the Virgin Mary sitting near
the place of the cross and holding the body of the dead Christ. The artterm for this subject is “La Pietà.” From the time that Michael Angelo
made this beautiful work he was the first sculptor of the world, though
he was but twenty-four years old. The Pietà was placed in St. Peter’s
Church, where it still remains. The next year he returned to Florence. He
was occupied with both painting and sculpture, and was soon employed
on his “David,” one of his greatest works. This statue weighed eighteen
thousand pounds, and its removal from the studio in which it was made
to the place where it was to stand, next the gate of the Palazzo Vecchio,
was a difficult undertaking. It was at last put in place on May 18, 1504;
there it remained until a few years ago, when, on account of its
crumbling from the effect of the weather, it was removed to the
Academy of Fine Arts by means of a railroad built for the purpose.
About this time a rivalry sprang up between Michael Angelo and
Leonardo da Vinci. They were very unlike in their characters and mode
of life. Michael Angelo was bitter, ironical, and liked to be alone;
Leonardo loved to be gay and to see the world; Michael Angelo lived so
that when he was old he said, “Rich as I am, I have always lived like a
poor man;” Leonardo enjoyed luxury, and kept a fine house, with horses
and servants. They had entered into a competition which was likely to
result in serious trouble, when Pope Julius II. summoned Michael Angelo
to Rome. The Pope gave him an order to build him a splendid tomb; but
the enemies of the sculptor made trouble for him, and one morning he
was refused admission to the Pope’s palace. He then left Rome, sending
this letter to the Pope: “Most Holy Father, I was this morning driven from
the palace by the order of your Holiness. If you require me in future you
can seek me elsewhere than at Rome.”
Then he went to Florence, and the Pope sent for him again and again;
but he did not go. Meantime he finished his design, and received the
commission that he and Leonardo had striven for, which was to
decorate the hall of the Grand Council with pictures. At last, in 1506, the
Pope was in Bologna, and again sent for Michael Angelo. He went, and
was forgiven for his offence, and received an order for a colossal statue
of the Pope in bronze. When this was finished in 1508, and put before
the Church of St. Petronio, Michael Angelo returned to Florence. He had
not made friends in Bologna; his forbidding manner did not encourage
others to associate with him; but we now know from his letters that he
had great trials. His family was poor, and all relied on him; indeed, his life
was full of care and sadness.
In 1508 he was again summoned to Rome by the Pope, who insisted
that he should paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican.
Michael Angelo did not wish to do this, as he had done no great painting.
It proved to be one of his most famous works; but he had a great deal of
trouble in it. On one occasion the Pope threatened to throw the artist
from the scaffolding. The Pope complained also that the pictures looked
poor; to this the artist replied: “They are only poor people whom I have
painted there, and did not wear gold on their garments.” His subjects
were from the Bible. When the artist would have a leave of absence to
go to Florence, the Pope got so angry that he struck him; but, in spite of
all, this great painting was finished in 1512. Grimm, in his life of Michael
Angelo, says: “It needed the meeting of these two men; in the one such
perseverance in requiring, and in the other such power of fulfilling, to
produce this monument of human art.”
FIG. 39.—THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. By M. Angelo.
From the Sistine Chapel.
It is impossible here to follow, step by step, the life and works of this
master. Among the other great things which he did are the tomb of
Julius II. in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome, of which the
famous statue of Moses makes a part (Fig. 40).
FIG. 40.—STATUE OF MOSES.
By M. Angelo.
He made the statues in the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo,
in Florence, the painting of the Last Judgment on a wall of the Sistine
Chapel, and many works as an architect; for he was called upon to
attend to fortifications both in Florence and Rome, and at last, as
his greatest work of this sort, he was the architect of St. Peter’s at Rome.
Many different artists had had a share in this work; but as it now is
Michael Angelo may be counted as its real architect. His works are
numerous and only a small part of them is here mentioned; but I have
spoken of those by which he is most remembered. His life, too, was a
stormy one for many reasons that we have not space to tell. While he
lived there were wars and great changes in Italy; he served also under
nine popes, and during his life thirteen men occupied the papal chair.
Besides being great as a painter, an architect, and a sculptor, he was a
poet, and wrote sonnets well worthy of such a genius as his. His whole
life was so serious and sad that it gives one joy to know that in his old
age he formed an intimate friendship with Vittoria Colonna, a wonderful
woman, who made a sweet return to him for all the tender devotion
which he lavished upon her.
Italians associate the name of Michael Angelo with those of the divine
poet Dante and the painter Raphael, and these three are spoken of as
the three greatest men of their country in what are called the modern
days. Michael Angelo died at Rome in 1564, when eighty-nine years old.
He desired to be buried in Florence; but his friends feared to let this be
known lest the Pope should forbid his removal. He was therefore buried
in the Church of the Holy Apostles; but his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti,
conveyed his remains to Florence secretly, disguised as a bale of
merchandise. At Florence, on a Sunday night, his body was borne to
Santa Croce, in a torchlight procession, and followed by many
thousands of citizens. There his friends once more gazed upon the face
which had not been seen in Florence for thirty years; he looked as if
quietly sleeping. Some days later a splendid memorial service was held
in San Lorenzo, attended by all the court, the artists, scholars, and
eminent men of the city. An oration was pronounced; rare statues and
paintings were collected in the church; all the shops of the city were
closed; and the squares were filled with people.
Above his grave in Santa Croce, where he lies near Dante, Machiavelli,
Galileo, and many other great men, the Duke and Leonardo Buonarroti
erected a monument. It has statues of Painting, Sculpture, and
Architecture, and a bust of the great man who sleeps beneath.
In the court of the Uffizi his statue stands together with those of other
great Florentines. His house in the Ghibelline Street now belongs to the
city of Florence, and contains many treasured mementoes of his life and
works; it is open to all who wish to visit it. In 1875 a grand festival was
held in Florence to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of his birth.
The ceremonies were very impressive, and at that time some
documents which related to his life, and had never been opened, were,
by command of Victor Emmanuel, given to proper persons to be
examined.
Thus it is that the great deeds of great men live on and on, through all
time, and it is a joy to know that though the fourscore and nine years of
the life of this artist had much of care and sorrow in them, his name and
memory are still cherished, and must continue to be, while from his life
many lessons may be drawn to benefit and encourage others—lessons
which we cannot here write out; but they teach patience, industry, and
faithfulness to duty, while they also warn us to avoid the bitterness and
roughness which are blemishes on the memory of this great, good man.
DANIELE DE VOLTERRA (1509-1566) was the best scholar of Michael
Angelo. His principal pictures are the “Descent from the Cross,” in the
Church of Trinità di Monti, in Rome, and the “Massacre of the Innocents,”
in the Uffizi Gallery; both are celebrated works.
The next important Florentine painter was ANDREA DEL SARTO (14881530). His family name was Vannucchi; but because his father was a
tailor, the Italian term for one of his trade, un sarto, came to be used for
the son. Early in life Andrea was a goldsmith, as were so many artists;
but, when he was able to study painting under Pietro di Cosimo, he
became devoted to it, and soon developed his own style, which was
very soft and pleasing. His pictures cannot be called great works of art,
but they are favorites with a large number of people. He succeeded in
fresco-painting, and decorated several buildings in Florence, among
them the Scalzo, which was a place where the Barefooted Friars held
their meetings, and was named from them, as they are called Scalzi.
These frescoes are now much injured; but they are thought his best
works of this kind.
Probably Andrea del Sarto would have come to be a better painter if he
had been a happier man. His wife, of whom he was very fond, was a
mean, selfish woman who wished only to make a great show, and did
not value her husband’s talents except for the money which they
brought him. She even influenced him to desert his parents, to whom he
had ever been a dutiful son. About 1518 Francis I., king of France, invited
Andrea to Paris to execute some works for him. The painter went, and
was well established there and very popular, when his wife insisted that
he should return to Florence. Francis I. was very unwilling to spare him,
but Andrea dared not refuse to go to his wife; so he solemnly took an
oath to return to Paris and bring his wife, so that he could remain as long
as pleased the king, and then that sovereign consented. Francis also
gave the artist a large sum of money to buy for him all sorts of beautiful
objects.
When Andrea reached Florence his wife refused to go to France, and
persuaded him to give her the king’s money. She soon spent it, and
Andrea, who lived ten years more, was very unhappy, while the king
never forgave him, and to this day this wretched story must be told, and
continues the remembrance of his dishonesty. After all he had sacrificed
for his wife, when he became very ill, in 1530, of some contagious
disease, she deserted him. He died alone, and with no prayer or funeral
was buried in the Convent of the Nunziata, where he had painted some
of his frescoes.
FIG. 41.—THE MADONNA DEL SACCO. By Andrea del Sarto.
His pictures are very numerous; they are correct in drawing, very softly
finished, and have a peculiar gray tone of color. He painted a great
number of Holy Families, one of which is called the “Madonna del
Sacco,” because St. Joseph is leaning on a sack (Fig. 41). This is in the
convent where he is buried. His best work is called the “Madonna di San
Francesco” and hangs in the tribune of the Uffizi Gallery. This is a most
honorable place, for near it are pictures by Michael Angelo, Raphael,
Titian, and other great painters, as well as some very celebrated statues,
such as the “Venus de Medici” and the “Dancing Faun.” Andrea del
Sarto’s pictures of the Madonna and Child are almost numberless; they
are sweet, attractive works, as are also his St. Barbara, St. Agnes, and
others of his single figures.
We will now leave the Florentine school of the sixteenth century, and
speak of the great master of the Roman school, RAPHAEL SANZIO,
or SANTI (1483-1520), who was born at Urbino on Good Friday. His
father was a painter, and Raphael showed his taste for art very early in
life. Both his parents died while he was still a child, and though he must
have learned something from seeing his father and other painters at
their work, we say that Perugino was his first master, for he was but
twelve years old when he entered the studio of that painter in Perugia.
Here he remained more than eight years, and about the time of leaving
painted the very celebrated picture called “Lo Sposalizio,” or the
Marriage of the Virgin, now in the Brera at Milan. This picture is famous
the world over, and is very important in the life of the painter, because
it shows the highest point he reached under Perugino, or during what is
called his first manner in painting. Before this he had executed a large
number of beautiful pictures, among which was the so-called “Staffa
Madonna.” This is a circular picture and represents the Virgin walking in
a springtime landscape. It remained in the Staffa Palace in Perugia three
hundred and sixty-eight years, and in 1871 was sold to the Emperor of
Russia for seventy thousand dollars.
In 1504 Raphael returned to Urbino, where he became the favorite of the
court, and was much employed by the ducal family. To this time belong
the “St. George Slaying the Dragon” and the “St. Michael Attacking
Satan,” now in the gallery of the Louvre. But the young artist soon grew
weary of the narrowness of his life, and went to Florence, where, amid
the treasures of art with which that city was crowded, he felt as if he was
in an enchanted land. It is worth while to recount the wonderful things he
saw; they were the cathedral with the dome of Brunelleschi, the tower of
Giotto, the marbles and bronzes of Donatello, the baptistery gates of
Ghiberti, the pictures of Masaccio, Ghirlandajo, Fra Angelico, and many
other older masters, while Michael Angelo and Leonardo were surprising
themselves and all others with their beautiful works.
At this time the second manner of Raphael begun. During his first winter
here he painted the so-called “Madonna della Gran Duca,” now in the
Pitti Gallery, and thus named because the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
Ferdinand III., carried it with him on all his journeys, and said his prayers
before it at morning and evening. He made a visit to Urbino in 1505, and
wherever he was he worked continually, and finished a great number of
pictures, which as yet were of religious subjects with few and
unimportant exceptions.
FIG. 42.—PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL.
Painted by Himself.
When he returned to Florence in 1506, the cartoon of Leonardo da
Vinci’s “Battle of the Standard” and Michael Angelo’s “Bathing Soldiers”
revealed a new world of art to Raphael. He saw that heroic, exciting
scenes could be represented by painting, and that vigor and passion
could speak from the canvas as powerfully as Christian love and
resignation. Still he did not attempt any new thing immediately. In
Florence he moved in the best circles. He received orders for some
portraits of nobles and wealthy men, as well as for madonnas and Holy
Families. Before long he visited Bologna, and went again to Urbino,
which had become a very important city under the reign of Duke
Guidobaldo. The king of England, Henry VIII., had sent to this duke the
decoration of the Order of the Garter. In return for this honor, the duke
sent the king rich gifts, among which was a picture of St. George and
the Dragon by Raphael.
While at Urbino, at this time, he painted his first classic subject, the
“Three Graces.” Soon after, he returned the third time to Florence, and
now held much intercourse with Fra Bartolommeo, who gave the
younger artist valuable instruction as to his color and drapery. In 1508,
among a great number of pictures he painted the madonna which is
called “La Belle Jardinière,” and is now one of the treasures of the
Louvre. The Virgin is pictured in the midst of a flowery landscape, and it
has been said that a beautiful flower-girl to whom Raphael was attached
was his model for the picture. This picture is also a landmark in the
history of Raphael, for it shows the perfection of his second manner, and
the change that had come over him from his Florentine experience and
associations. His earlier pictures had been full of a sweet, unearthly
feeling, and a color which could be called spiritual was spread over them;
now his madonnas were like beautiful, earthly mothers, his colors were
deep and rich, and his landscapes were often replaced by architectural
backgrounds which gave a stately air where all before had been
simplicity. His skill in grouping, in color, and in drapery was now
marvellous, and when in 1508 the Pope, who had seen some of his
works, summoned him to Rome, he went, fully prepared for the great
future which was before him, and now began his third, or Roman
manner of painting.
This pope was Julius II., who held a magnificent court and was
ambitious for glory in every department of life—as a temporal as well as
a spiritual ruler, and as a patron of art and letters as well as in his office
of the Protector of the Holy Church. He had vast designs for the
adornment of Rome, and immediately employed Raphael in the
decoration of the first of the Stanze, or halls of the Vatican, four of which
he ornamented with magnificent frescoes before his death. He also
executed wall-paintings in the Chigi Palace, and in a chapel of the
Church of Santa Maria della Pace.
With the exception of a short visit to Florence, Raphael passed the
remainder of his life in Rome. The amount of work which he did as an
architect, sculptor, and painter was marvellous, and would require the
space of a volume to follow it, and name all his achievements, step by
step, so I shall only tell you of some of his best-known works and those
which are most often mentioned.
While he was working upon the halls of the Vatican Julius II. died. He
was succeeded by Leo X., who also was a generous patron to Raphael,
who thus suffered no loss of occupation from the change of popes. The
artist became very popular and rich; he had many pupils, and was
assisted by them in his great frescoes, not only in the Vatican, but also in
the Farnesina Villa or Chigi Palace. Raphael had the power to attach
men to him with devoted affection, and his pupils gave him personal
service gladly; he was often seen in the street with numbers of them in
attendance, just as the nobles were followed by their squires and pages.
He built himself a house in a quarter of the city called the Borgo, not far
from the Church of St. Peter’s, and during the remainder of his life was
attended by prosperity and success.
One of the important works which he did for Leo X. was the making of
cartoons, or designs to be executed in tapestry for the decoration of the
Sistine Chapel, where Michael Angelo had painted his great frescoes.
The Pope ordered these tapestries to be woven in the looms of Flanders,
from the richest materials, and a quantity of gold thread was used in
them. They were completed and sent to Rome in 1519, and were
exhibited to the people the day after Christmas, when all the city flocked
to see them. In 1527, when the Constable de Bourbon allowed the
French soldiers to sack Rome, these tapestries were carried away. In
1553 they were restored; but one was missing, and it is believed that it
had been destroyed for the sake of the gold thread which was in it.
Again, in 1798, the French carried them away and sold them to a Jew in
Leghorn, who burned one of the pieces; but his gain in gold was so little
that he preserved the others, and Pius VII. Bought them and restored
them to the Vatican. The cartoons, however, are far more important than
the tapestries, because they are the work of Raphael himself. The
weavers at Arras tossed them aside after using them, and some were
torn; but a century later the artist Rubens learned that they existed, and
advised King Charles I. of England to buy them. This he did, and thus the
cartoons met with as many ups and downs as the tapestries had had.
When they reached England they were in strips; the workmen had cut
them for their convenience. After the king was executed Cromwell
bought the cartoons for three hundred pounds. When Charles II. Was
king and in great need of money he was sorely tempted to sell them to
Louis XIV., who coveted them, and wished to add them to the treasures
of France; but Lord Danby persuaded Charles to keep them. In 1698
they were barely saved from fire at Whitehall, and finally, by command
of William III., they were properly repaired and a room was built at
Hampton Court to receive them, by the architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
At present they are in the South Kensington Museum, London. Of the
original eleven only seven remain.
FIG. 43.—THE SISTINE MADONNA.
Both Henry VIII and Francis I had received presents of pictures by
Raphael: we have told of the occasion when the St. George was sent to
England. The “Archangel Michael” and the “Large Holy Family of the
Louvre” were given to Francis I. by Lorenzo de Medici, who sent them
overland on mules to the Palace of Fontainebleau. Francis was so
charmed with these works that he presented Raphael so large a sum
that he was unwilling to accept it without sending the king still other
pictures; so he sent the sovereign another painting, and to the king’s
sister, Queen Margaret of Navarre, he gave a picture of St. Margaret
overcoming the dragon. Then Francis gave Raphael many thanks and
another rich gift of money. Besides this he invited Raphael to come to
his court, as did also the king of England; but the artist preferred to
remain where he was already so prosperous and happy.
About 1520 Raphael painted the famous Sistine Madonna, now the pride
of the Dresden Gallery. It is named from St. Sixtus, for whose convent, at
Piacenza, it was painted: the picture of this saint, too, is in the lower part
of the picture, with that of St. Barbara. No sketch or drawing of this work
was ever found, and it is believed that the great artist, working as if
inspired, sketched it and finished it on the canvas where it is. It was
originally intended for a drappellone, or procession standard, but the
monks used it for an altar-piece (Fig. 43).
While Raphael accomplished so much as a painter, he by no means
gave all his time or thought to a single art. He was made superintendent
of the building of St. Peter’s in 1514, and made many architectural
drawings for that church; he was also much interested in the
excavations of ancient Rome, and made immense numbers of drawings
of various sorts. As a sculptor he made models and designs, and there is
in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in Rome, a statue of Jonah
sitting on a whale, said to have been modelled by Raphael and put into
marble by Lorenzetto Latti.
Raphael was also interested in what was happening outside the world of
art; he corresponded with scholars of different countries, and sent men
to make drawings of places and objects which he could not go to see.
He was also generous to those less fortunate than himself, and gave
encouragement and occupation to many needy men.
At one time he expected to marry Maria de Bibiena, a niece of Cardinal
Bibiena; but she died before the time for the marriage came.
While Raphael was making his great successes in Rome, other famous
artists also were there, and there came to be much discussion as to their
merits, and especially as to the comparative worth of Michael Angelo
and Raphael. At last, when this feeling of rivalry was at its height, the
Cardinal Giulio de Medici, afterward Pope Clement VII., gave orders to
Raphael and Sebastian del Piombo to paint two large pictures for the
Cathedral of Narbonne. The subject of Sebastian’s picture was the
“Raising of Lazarus,” and it has always been said that Michael Angelo
made the drawing for it.
Raphael’s picture was the “Transfiguration,” and proved to be his last
work, for before it was finished he was attacked by fever, and died on
Good Friday, 1620, which was the thirty-seventh anniversary of his birth.
All Rome mourned for him; his body was laid in state, and the
Transfiguration was placed near it. Those who had known him went to
weep while they gazed upon his face for the last time.
He had chosen his grave in the Pantheon, near to that of Maria Bibiena,
his betrothed bride. The ceremonies of his burial were magnificent, and
his body was followed by an immense throng dressed in mourning.
Above his tomb was placed an inscription in Latin, written by Pietro
Bembo, which has for its last sentence these words: “This is that Raphael
by whom Nature feared to be conquered while he lived, and to die when
he died.” Raphael had also requested Lorenzo Lorenzetti to make a
statue of the Virgin to be placed above his resting-place. He left a large
estate, and gave his works of art to his pupils Giulio Romano and
Francesco Penni; his house to Cardinal Bibiena; a sum to buy another
house, the rent of which should pay for twelve masses to be said
monthly, for the repose of his soul, from the altar near his grave; this was
observed until 1705, when the income from the house was not enough
to support these services.
For many years there was a skull at the Academy of St. Luke, in Rome,
which was called that of Raphael; but there was no proof of this, and in
1833 some antiquarians received the consent of the Pope to their
searching for the bones of Raphael in his grave in the Pantheon. After
five days of careful work, and removing the pavement in several places,
the skeleton of the great master was found, and with it such proofs of its
being his as left no room for doubt. Then a second great funeral service
was held; the Pope, Gregory XVI., gave a marble sarcophagus in which
the bones were placed, and reverently restored to their first restingplace. More than three thousand persons were present at the service,
including artists of all nations, as well as Romans of the highest rank.
They moved in procession about the church, bearing torches in their
hands, and keeping time to beautiful chants from an invisible choir.
FIG. 44.—SAINT CECILIA LISTENING TO THE SINGING OF ANGELS. By Raphael.
Raphael left two hundred and eighty-seven pictures and five hundred
and seventy-six studies and drawings, and all done in so short a life. In
considering him and the story of his life, we find that it was not any one
trait or talent that made his greatness; but it was the rare union of gifts of
genius with a personal charm that won all hearts to him. His famous
picture of “St. Cecilia,” with its sweetness of expression and lovely
color—its union of earthly beauty with spiritual feeling, is a symbol of the
harmonious and varied qualities of this prince of painters (Fig. 44).
GIULIO ROMANO (1492-1556) was the favorite pupil of Raphael, and the
heir of a part of his estate; but his remaining works would not repay us
for a study of them.
Of course, the influence of so great a master as Raphael was felt outside
of his own school, and, in a sense, all Italian art of his time was modified
by him. His effect was very noticeable upon a Sienese painter, BAZZI,
or RAZZI, called IL SODOMA (1477-1549), who went to Rome and was
under the immediate influence of Raphael’s works. He was almost
unrivalled in his power to represent beautiful female heads.
His important works were frescoes, many of which are in the churches
of Siena. Doubtless Bazzi was lost in the shadow of the great Raphael,
and had he existed at a time a little more distant from that great man, he
would have been more famous in his life.
During the sixteenth century the Venetian school reached its highest
excellence. The great difference between it and the school of Florence
was, that the latter made beauty of form the one object of its art, while
the Venetian painters combined with grace and ease the added charm
of rich, brilliant color.
GIORGIO BARBARELLI, called GIORGIONE (1477-1511), was the first great
artist of Venice who cast off the rigid manner of the Bellini school, and
used his brush and colors freely, guided only by his own ideas, and
inspired by his own genius.
He was born at Castelfranco, and was early distinguished for his
personal beauty. Giorgione means George the Great, and this title was
given him on account of his noble figure. He was fond of music, played
the lute well, and composed many of the songs he sang; he had also an
intense love of beauty—in short, his whole nature was full of sentiment
and harmony, and with all these gifts he was a man of pure life. Mrs.
Jameson says of him: “If Raphael be the Shakespeare, then Giorgione
may be styled the Byron of painting.”
There is little that can be told of his life. He was devoted to his art, and
passionately in love with a young girl, of whom he told one of his artist
friends, Morto da Feltri. This last proved a traitor to Giorgione, for he too
admired the same girl, and induced her to forsake Giorgione, and go
away with him. The double treachery of his beloved and his friend
caused the painter such grief that he could not overcome his sadness,
and when the plague visited Venice in 1511, he fell a victim to it in the
very flower of his age.
Much of the work of Giorgione has disappeared, for he executed
frescoes which the damp atmosphere of Venice has destroyed or so
injured that they are of no value. His smaller pictures were not numerous,
and there is much dispute as to the genuineness of those that are called
by his name. He painted very few historical subjects; his works are
principally portraits, sibyls, and religious pictures. Among the last, the
altar-piece at Castelfranco holds the first place; it represents the Virgin
and Child between Sts. Francis and Liberale, and was painted before
1504.
Giorgione gave an elevated tone to his heads and figures; it seemed as
if he painted only the beings of a superior race, and as if they must all be
fitted to do great deeds. His fancy was very fruitful, and in some of his
works he pictured demons, sea-monsters, dogs, apes, and such
creatures with great effect. In clearness and warmth of color
Giorgione is at the head of the Venetian painters; in truth, it seems as if
the color was within them and showed itself without in a deep, luminous
glow.
The most important of Giorgione’s scholars was called FRA SEBASTIANO
DEL PIOMBO; his real name was Luciani, and he was a native of Venice
(1485-1547). This artist excelled in his coloring and in the effect he gave
to the atmosphere of his work, making it a broad chiaro-scuro, or clearobscure, as it really means. This is an art term which is frequently used,
and denotes a sort of mistiness which has some light in it, and is
gradually shaded off, either into a full light or a deep shadow. But from
the earliest efforts of this artist, it was plain that he had no gift of
composition, neither could he give his pictures an elevated tone or
effect. For this reason his portraits were his best works, and these were
very fine.
A portrait of his in the National Gallery, London, and another in the Städel
Gallery at Frankfort, are both said to be of Giulia Gonzaga, the most
beautiful woman of her day in Italy. In 1553, Ippolito de Medici, who was
madly in love with her, sent Sebastian with an armed force to Fondi to
paint her portrait; it was finished in a month, and was said to be the best
ever painted by Sebastian. It was sent to France as a gift to Francis I.,
and its present abiding-place is not known.
While Raphael was at the height of his fame in Rome, the banker Chigi
invited Sebastian to that city, and in the Farnesina he painted works
which were very inferior beside Raphael’s. Then Sebastian tried to
improve by study under Michael Angelo. This last great master would
not compete with Raphael himself, but he was very jealous of the fame
of the younger man, and it is said that he aided Sebastian, and even
made his designs for him, in the hopes that thus he might eclipse
Raphael. We have spoken of one large picture of the “Raising of Lazarus”
said to have been made from Michael Angelo’s design, which Sebastian
colored; it was painted in competition with Raphael’s Transfiguration,
and even beside that most splendid work the Lazarus was much
admired. This is now in the National Gallery, London.
After Raphael’s death Sebastian was called the first painter in Rome, and
was made a piombatore. It was necessary to be an ecclesiastic to hold
this office, and it is on account of this that he gave up his real name, and
became a friar. He wrote to Michael Angelo: “If you were to see me as
an honorable lord, you would laugh at me. I am the finest ecclesiastic in
all Rome. Such a thing had never come into my mind. But God be
praised in eternity! He seemed especially to have thus decreed it. And,
therefore, so be it.” It is not strange that he should have been so
resigned to a high office and a salary of eight hundred scudi a year!
Another Venetian, of the same time with Giorgione, was JACOPO PALMA,
called IL VECCHIO, or the elder (about 1480-1528). He was born near
Bergamo, but as an artist he was a Venetian. We do not know with
whom he studied, and he was not a very great man, nor was he
employed by the state—but he dwelt much in the palaces of noble
families and did much work for them. When he died he left forty-four
unfinished paintings.
His female figures are his best works, and one of his fine pictures at
Dresden, called the “Three Graces,” is said to represent his daughters.
The work which is usually called his masterpiece is an altar-piece in the
Church of Santa Maria Formosa, in Venice; the St. Barbara in the centre
is very beautiful, and is said to have been painted from his daughter
Violante.
FIG. 45.—PORTRAIT OF TITIAN.
From the etching by Agostino Caracci.
The greatest master of the Venetian school is called TITIAN, though his
real name was TIZIANO VECELLI, and sometimes Cadore is added to this,
because of his having been born in that village (1477-1576). His family
was noble and their castle was called Lodore, and was in the midst of a
large estate surrounded by small houses; in one of these last, which is
still preserved, the painter was born.
As a child he was fond of drawing, and so anxious to color his pictures
that he squeezed the juices from certain flowers, and used them as
paints. When but nine years old he was taken to Venice to study, and
from this time was called a Venetian; he is said by some writers to be the
first portrait-painter of the world.
He first studied under Sebastian Zuccato, and then under the Bellini,
where he was a fellow-pupil with Giorgione, and the two became
devoted friends, at the time when they were just coming to be men and
were filled with glad hopes of future greatness. After a time, when Titian
was about thirty years old, the two were employed on the “Fondaco dei
Tedeschi,” or the exchange for German merchants in Venice. Here the
frescoes of Titian were more admired than those of Giorgione, and the
latter became so jealous that they ceased to live together, as they had
done, and there is cause for believing that they were never good friends
again. But after the early death of Giorgione, Titian completed the works
he had left unfinished, and, no doubt, sincerely mourned for him.
One of the most celebrated pictures by Titian is the Presentation in the
Temple, which was painted for the Church of the Brotherhood of Charity,
called in Italian “La Scuola della Carità;” this church is now the Academy
of Fine Arts in Venice, where the picture still remains. It represents the
Virgin Mary when three years old entering the temple and the high priest
receiving her at the entrance. All around below the steps is a company
of friends who have been invited by her father and mother to attend
them on this important occasion. The picture is full of life and action, and
is gorgeous in its coloring. Several of the figures are said to be portraits,
one being that of Titian himself.
Among his female portraits, that of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus,
is celebrated; also one called “Flora;” both of these are in the Uffizi
Gallery, in Florence, while nearby, in the Pitti, is “La Bella,” or the
beautiful lady of Titian. He also made many portraits of his daughter
Lavinia, who was very beautiful; sometimes he represented her as a fruit
or flower-girl, again as Herodias and in various characters (Fig. 46). One
of the finest of these is at Berlin, where she is in a very rich dress, and
holds up a plate of fruit; it is one of his best works.
Titian’s fame extended throughout Italy, and even all over Europe, and
the Duke of Ferrara invited him to his court. The artist went, and there
painted two very famous mythological pictures, besides portraits and
other works. One of these important subjects was “Bacchus and
Ariadne,” and it is now in the National Gallery, London; the second was a
Venus, surrounded by more than sixty children and cupids; some are
climbing trees, others shoot arrows in the air, while still others twine their
arms around each other; this is now in Madrid.
While at Ferrara the Pope, Leo X., asked Titian to go to Rome; but he
longed for his home—he wished for his yearly visit to Cadore, and he
declined the honorable invitation, and returned to Venice. In 1530 Titian’s
wife died, leaving him with two sons, Pomponio and Orazio, and his
daughter, Lavinia. In this same sad year the Emperor Charles V. and
Pope Clement VII met at Bologna. All the most brilliant men of Germany
and Italy were also there, and Titian was summoned to paint portraits of
the two great heads of Church and State, and of many of the notable
men among their followers.
FIG. 46.—PORTRAIT OF LAVINIA. By Titian.
When the painter returned to Venice he was loaded with honors and
riches. He bought a new house at Berigrande, opposite the island of
Murano; it commanded fine views and its garden was beautiful. The
landscapes of his pictures soon grew better than they had been, and no
wonder, when he could always see the Friuli Alps in the distance with
their snow-capped peaks rising to the clouds; nearer him was the
Murano, like another city with its towers and domes, and then the canals,
which at night were gay with lighted gondolas bearing fair ladies hither
and thither. Here Titian entertained many people, and some of them
were exalted in station. The house was called “Casa Grande,” and on
one occasion, when a cardinal and others invited themselves to dine
with him, Titian flung a purse to his steward, saying, “Now prepare a
feast, since all the world dines with me.”
While living at “Casa Grande,” the artist saw the most glorious years of
his life. It seemed that every person of note in all Europe, both men and
women, desired their portraits at his hand. One only, Cosmo I., Grand
Duke of Florence, refused to sit to him. If these pictures could be
collected together, most of the famous persons of his time would be
represented in them.
After he was sixty years old Titian made a second journey to Ferrara,
Urbino, and Bologna. This time he painted a portrait of Charles V., with a
favorite dog by his side. After this, in 1545, at an invitation from Pope
Paul III., the great master went to Rome; while there he painted many
wonderful pictures—among them, one of the pope with his two
grandsons was very remarkable; it is now in the Museum of Naples. He
left Rome when he was sixty-nine years old.
In 1548 Charles V. summoned Titian to Augsburg, and while there made
him a count, and gave him a yearly pension of two hundred gold ducats.
The emperor was very fond of Titian, and spent a good deal of time with
him. On one occasion the painter dropped his brush; the
emperor picked it up, and returned it to him. The etiquette of courts
forbade any one to receive such a service from the sovereign, and Titian
was much embarrassed, when Charles said, “Titian is worthy to be
served by Cæsar,” this being one of the great ruler’s titles. Charles
continued his favors to Titian through life, and when he resigned his
crown, and retired to the monastery of Yuste, he took nine pictures by
this master into his solitude. One of these, a portrait of the Empress
Isabella, was so hung that the emperor gazed upon it when dying; this is
now in the museum at Madrid, where also many fine works by Titian, for
Philip II are was his patron as his father had been.
When eighty-five years old he finished his wonderful picture of the
“Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” for the Church of the Jesuits in Venice, and
his old age was one of strength and mental clearness. Though he had
seen great prosperity and received many honors, he had not escaped
sorrow. After the death of his wife, his sister Orsa, who was very dear to
him, had kept his house; she too sickened and died; his son Pomponio
was a worthless fellow, and caused him much grief; Lavinia had married,
and the old man was left with Orazio alone, who was a dutiful son. He
also was an artist, but painted so frequently on the same canvas with his
father that his works cannot be spoken of separately.
At length Titian’s work began to show his years, and someone told him
that his “Annunciation” did not resemble his usual pictures. He was very
angry, and, seizing a pencil, wrote upon it, “Tizianus fecit
fecit”—meaning to say by this, “Truly, Titian did this!” When he was ninety
-six years old he was visited by Henry III of France, attended by a train of
princes and nobles. The aged painter appeared with such grace and
dignity as to excite the admiration of all, and when the king asked the
price of some pictures, Titian presented them to him as one
sovereign might make a gift to another who was his equal, and no more.
In 1576 the plague broke out in Venice, and both Titian and Orazio fell
victims to it. Naturally the man of ninety-eight years could not recover,
and, though Orazio was borne off to the hospital and cared for as well as
possible, he also died. After Titian was left alone robbers entered his
house while he still lived, and carried away jewels, money, and pictures.
He died August 27th, and all Venice mourned for him.
There was a law that no person who died of the plague in Venice should
be buried within the city; but Titian was so much honored and beloved
that exception was made, and he was buried in the Church of Santa
Maria Gloriosa de Frari; or as it is usually called, “the Frari.” He had
painted a great picture of the Assumption for this church, which has
since been removed to the Academy of Venice; but another work of his,
called the Pesaro altar-piece, still remains near his grave. His burialplace is marked by a simple tablet, inscribed thus: “Here lies the great
Tiziano di Vecelli, rival of Zeuxis and Apelles.”
A little more than two centuries after his death the citizens of Venice
determined to erect a monument to Titian, and Canova made a design
for it; but political troubles interfered, and prevented the execution of the
plan. In 1852 the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I., placed a costly
monument near his grave; it consists of a Corinthian canopy beneath
which is a sitting statue of the painter, while several other allegorical
figures are added to increase its magnificence. This monument was
dedicated with imposing ceremonies, and it is curious to note that not
far away from it the sculptor Canova is buried, and his own monument is
made from the design which he made for that of Titian.
Some writers consider the “Entombment of Christ,” in the Manfrini
Palace, as the greatest work of Titian. At all events, it is the best existing
representation of this subject, and is a picture which has had a great
effect upon art; its chief feature is the general expression of sorrow
which pervades the whole work.
Titian gave a new importance to landscape-painting by making
backgrounds to his pictures from natural scenery, and that not as if it
was merely for the sake of a background, but in a manner which
showed his love for Nature, and, in fact, he often rendered it with
poetical significance.
The works of Titian are very seldom sold. One subject which he
oftentimes repeated was that of “Danäe” with the shower of gold falling
about her; one of these was purchased by the Emperor of Russia for six
hundred thousand francs. One of the most important of his religious
pictures was that of “St. Peter Martyr;” this was burned in the Church of
SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice in 1868. An excellent copy of it had been
for a long time in the Museum of Florence, and this was presented to the
Venetians in order to repair their loss as far as possible. Victor Amadeus
of Sardinia presented nine pictures by Titian to the Duke of Marlborough,
and these were all destroyed in 1861 when the château of Blenheim was
burned. Kugler says: “In the multifariousness of his powers Titian takes
precedence of all other painters of his school; indeed, there is scarcely a
line of art which in his long and very active life he did not enrich.” His last
work was not quite completed by himself, and is now in the Academy of
Venice. It is a Pietà, and although the hand of ninety-eight years guided
the brush uncertainly, yet it has the wonderful light this master threw
around his figures, and the whole is conceived with his accustomed
animation.
The pupils and followers of Titian were too numerous to be spoken of
one by one, and none of them were so great as to require their mention
in detail here; yet they were so good that, while the other schools of Italy
were decreasing in importance during the sixteenth century, that of
Venice was flourishing, and some great masters still existed there.
Among these was JACOPO ROBUSTI (1512-1594), who was called, and is
best known as Tintoretto, which name was given him because his father
was a dyer. He studied under Titian for a time, and then he attempted to
follow Michael Angelo, and it is said that his motto was, “The coloring of
Titian, the drawing of Michael Angelo.” His best pictures are slightly
treated, and others are coarse and unfinished in the manner of painting.
His portraits seem to be his best works, probably because they are more
carefully finished.
Several works of his are simply enormous; one is seventy-four by thirty
feet; the school of St. Roch has fifty-seven large pictures by him, in
many of which the figures are of life size. His two most famous works
are the “Miracle of St. Mark,” in the Academy of Venice, and the
“Crucifixion,” in the school of St. Roch. The last is, for every reason, his
best work; there are crowds of people in it, on foot and on horseback,
while their faces show every possible kind of expression, and their
movements are infinitely varied. The immense painting mentioned
above is in the Doge’s Palace, and is called “Paradise.” His
daughter, MARIETTA ROBUSTI (1560-1590), was a pupil of her father’s,
and became so good a portrait-painter that she was invited to the Court
of Spain by Philip II., but her father could not consent to a separation
from her. Some excellent pictures of hers still exist, and her portraits of
Marco dei Vescovi and the antiquarian Strada were celebrated pictures.
When the Emperor Maximilian and the Archduke Ferdinand, each in turn,
desired her presence at their courts, her father hastened to marry her to
Mario Augusti, a wealthy German jeweller, upon the condition that she
should remain in her father’s house. She was celebrated for her beauty,
had fine musical talents, and was sprightly and enthusiastic; her father
was so fond of having her with him that he sometimes allowed her to
dress as a boy, and go with him to study where young girls were not
admitted.
When but thirty years old Marietta Robusti died; she was buried in the
Church of Santa Maria dell Orto, where are several works by her father.
Both he and her husband mourned for her all their remaining days. Many
pictures of Tintoretto painting his daughter’s portrait after her death have
been made by later artists.
PAOLI CAGLIARI, or CALIARI, called PAUL VERONESE (1528-1588), was born
at Verona, but as he lived mostly at Venice, he belongs to the school of
that city. He was an imitator of Titian, whom he did not equal; still he was
a fine painter. His excellences were in his harmonious color, his good
arrangement of his figures in the foreground, and his fine architectural
backgrounds. He tried to make his works magnificent, and to do this he
painted festive scenes, with many figures in splendid costumes. He is
buried in the Church of St. Sebastian, where there are many of his works.
In the gallery of the Louvre is his “Marriage at Cana.” It is thirty by twenty
feet in size, and many of its figures are portraits. His pictures are
numerous and are seen in the European galleries. The “Family of Darius,”
in the National Gallery, London, cost that institution the enormous sum of
thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty pounds; it was formerly in the
Pisani Palace, Venice, and was said to have been left there by Veronese
as payment for his entertainment during a visit he had made in the
palace. In 1868, at the Demidoff sale, a portrait of his daughter sold for
two thousand five hundred and twenty-four pounds.
At the close of the sixteenth century a family of a father and four sons
were busy painting what may rightfully be termed the
earliest genre pictures of Italy. This term is used to denote pictures that
stand between historical and utterly imaginary subjects; that is to say,
the representation of something that seems real to us because it is so
familiar to our imagination, or because it is something that we know
might have happened, that it has all the naturalness of an actual
reproduction
of
a
fact.
There
may
be
interior
or
landscape genre pictures. The first represent familiar in-door
scenes—the latter are landscapes with animals or figures to give a life
element and to tell a story.
The name of the family of which I speak was Da Ponte, but it was called
Bassano, from the birth-place of JACOPO DA PONTE BASSANO (1510-1592),
the father, who was the most important of the family. He studied in
Venice, but returned to his native town. His portraits are fine; among
them are those of the Doge of Venice, Ariosto, and Tasso. His works are
very numerous and are seen in all galleries. He introduced landscapes
and animals into most of his pictures, sometimes with great impropriety.
We come now to ANTONIO ALLEGRI, called CORREGGIO (1493-1534), who
was born at the end of the fifteenth, but did his work in the beginning of
the sixteenth century. His name of Correggio is that of his birth-place,
and as he was not born at any of the great art centres, and did not adopt
the precise manner of any school, he, with his followers, stand by
themselves, and yet, because his principal works were done at Parma,
he is sometimes said to be of the school of Parma.
When Correggio was thirteen years old he had learned to draw well. He
studied under Andrea Mantegna and his son Francesco Mantegna.
From these masters he learned to be very skilful in drawing, especially in
foreshortening, or in representing objects seen aslant. But though he
learned much of the science of art from his teachers, his grace and
movement and his exquisite light and shade are all his own, for they did
not possess these qualities.
FIG. 47.—PORTRAIT OF CORREGGIO.
Foreshortening is so important that I must try to explain it; and, as
Correggio is said to be the greatest master in this art since the days of
the Greeks, it is quite proper for me to speak of it in connection with him.
The art of foreshortening is that which makes different objects painted
on a plane or flat surface appear as if they were at different distances
from the eye of the person who is looking at the picture, or as scenes in
nature appear, where one part is much farther off than another. To
produce this effect it is often necessary to make an object—let us say,
for example, an arm or a leg, look as if it was stretched forward, out of
the canvas, directly toward the person who is looking at it. Now, the truth
is that in order to produce this effect the object is often thrown backward
in the drawing; sometimes also it is doubled up in an unnatural manner,
and occupies a small space on the canvas, while it appears to be of life
size when one looks at it. A “Christ in Glory” painted by Correggio in the
cupola of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Parma, is a fine
piece of foreshortening. The head is so thrown back, and the knees are
so thrown forward, that the whole figure seems to be of life size; yet if
the space from the top of the head to the soles of the feet were
measured, it would be found to be much less than the height of the
same figure would be if it were drawn in an erect position.
I have already explained the meaning of chiaro-scuro, and this delicate
manner of passing from light to shade was another quality in the works
of Correggio. It is even seen in his early works, as, for instance, in the
beautiful Madonna di San Francesco, now at Dresden, which he painted
when he was but eighteen years old.
When this master was twenty-six years old he married Girolama Nurlini,
and about the same time he was summoned to Mantua by the Duke
Federigo Gonzaga. During eleven years after his marriage he was
occupied with works in Mantua, and with his great frescoes at Parma. In
1530 he returned to Correggio, and there passed the remainder of his
life. That he held a high position is proved by certain records of his life,
among which is the fact that in 1533 he was invited to be one of the
witnesses of the marriage of the Lord of Correggio.
It is said that when this painter saw one of the great works of Raphael,
he exclaimed, enthusiastically and thankfully, “I, too, am a painter!” and
no doubt he then felt himself moved to attempt such works as should
make his name known to all the world through future centuries. When
Titian saw Correggio’s frescoes at Parma, he said: “Were I not Titian, I
should wish to be Correggio.” Annibale Caracci, also a great artist, said
of Correggio, more than a hundred years after his death, “He was the
only painter!” and declared that the children he painted seemed to
breathe and smile with such grace that one was forced to smile and be
happy with them.
In 1534 Correggio died of a fever, and was buried in his family tomb in
the Franciscan Convent of his native city. His grave is simply marked
with his name and the date of his death.
Some of his oil-paintings are very famous. One at Dresden, representing
the “Nativity of the Saviour,” is called the “Notte,” or night, because the
only light on the picture comes from the halo of glory around the head of
the Holy Child. Correggio’s “Reading Magdalen” is in the same gallery;
probably no one picture exists which has been more universally admired
than this.
FIG. 48.—UPPER PART OF A FRESCO BY CORREGGIO.
There was a large work of his representing “The Shepherds Adoring the
Infant Saviour,” at Seville, in Spain. During the Peninsular War (1808-14)
the people of that city sent many valuable things to Cadiz for safety, and
this picture, on account of its size, was cut in two. By some accident the
two parts were separated; but both were sold, and the purchaser of
each was promised that the other portion should be given him. From this
much trouble arose, because both purchasers determined to keep what
they had, and each claimed that the whole belonged to him, and as they
were equally obstinate, the two parts of the same work have never been
reunited. Fortunately, each half makes a picture by itself.
The frescoes at Parma are the greatest works of this master, and it is
very interesting to visit that quaint old city; his works are in the Cathedral,
the Church of St. John the Evangelist, and in the parlor of the Convent of
the Benedictine Nuns. This last is a wonderful room. The ceiling is
arched and high, and painted to represent an arbor of vines with sixteen
oval openings, out of which frolicsome children are peeping, as if, in
passing around behind the vines, they had stopped to look down into the
room. The pictures here will make you understand the effect (Figs.
48 and 49). Beneath each of these openings or lunettes is a half-circular
picture of some mythological story or personage. Upon the wall of the
parlor, above the mantel, there is a picture of Diana, the goddess of the
moon and the protector of young animals, which is a beautiful picture.
When Correggio worked on the frescoes at the Church of St. John, he
lived much in the monastery connected with it. The monks became very
fond of him, and made him a member of the Congregation Cassinensi;
the poet Tasso also was a member of this fraternity. This membership
gave him the right to share in the masses, prayers, and alms of the
community, and after his death the same offices for the repose of his
soul would be performed as if he had been a true monk.
FIG. 49.—LOWER PART OF A FRESCO BY CORREGGIO.
The works of Correggio are very rarely sold. The madonna in the
National Gallery, London, known as “La Vierge au Panier,” was formerly
in the Royal Gallery at Madrid. During the French invasion of Spain, Mr.
Wallace, an English artist, obtained it. It is painted on a panel, and is 13½
inches high by 10 inches wide. In 1813 it was offered for sale in London
at twelve hundred pounds. In 1825 it was sold in Paris for eighty
thousand francs, and soon after sold to the National Gallery for thirtyeight hundred pounds, or nearly nineteen thousand dollars.
A copy of the “Reading Magdalen” was sold to Earl Dudley for sixteen
hundred pounds, or more than seven thousand dollars.
Correggio had but few pupils, but he had many imitators. The one most
worthy of mention was FRANCESCO MAZZUOLI (1503-1540), called IL
PARMIGIANO, or PARMIGIANINO. He was not a great painter. The “Vision of
St. Jerome,” in the National Gallery, London, is one of his best works. It
is said that during the sack of Rome, in 1527, he was painting the figures
of the Virgin and Child in this picture, and was so engrossed by his work
that the invaders entered his studio, and surrounded him before he was
aware of their approach. And they, for their part, were so moved by
what they saw that they went away, and left him undisturbed.
Art writers often use the term “early masters.” This denotes Michael
Angelo, Raphael, and other men so great that they were very prominent
in the history of art, and were imitated by so many followers that they
had an unusual effect upon the world. Titian may be called the last of
these great masters of the early school, and his life was so long that he
lived to see a great decline in art.
The painters of the close of the sixteenth century are called “Mannerists,”
which means that they adopted or imitated the manner or style of some
great master who had preceded them—and this was done in so cold and
spiritless a way that it may be said that true artistic inspiration was dead
in Italy. No one lived who, out of his own imagination, could fix upon the
wall or the canvas such scenes as would befit a poet’s dream or serve to
arouse the enthusiasm of those who saw the painted story born in the
artist’s brain.
About 1600, the beginning of the seventeenth century, there arose a
new movement in Italian art, which resulted in forming two schools
between which there came to be much bitterness of feeling, and even
deadly hatred. On one side there were those who wished to continue the
study and imitation of the works of the old masters, but with this they
united a study of nature. These men were called “Eclectics,” because
they elected or chose certain parts of different systems of painting, and
from these formed a new manner of their own.
Opposed to the Eclectics were the “Naturalists,” who insisted that nature
only should be studied, and that everything should be represented in the
most realistic way, and made to appear in the picture exactly as it did in
reality, not being beautified or adorned by any play of fancy or
imagination.
The chief school of the Eclectics, of whom I will first speak, was at
Bologna, and is known also as the “school of the Caracci,”
because LUDOVICO CARACCI (1555-1619) was at the head of a large
academy there, and was assisted by his nephews, AGOSTINO
CARACCI (1558-1601) and ANNIBALE CARACCI (1560-1609), the latter
being the greatest artist of the three. The lives of the Caracci are not of
such interest as to require an account of them here, neither are their
works so interesting that we may not leave these artists by saying that
they have great consideration as the heads of the Eclectic Academy,
and for the work they did in it at an important era in the history of Italian
art; but the fruits of their work are shown in that of their scholars rather
than in their own paintings, and in this view their influence can scarcely
be overvalued.
The greatest of their scholars was DOMENICO ZAMPIERI (1581-1641),
called DOMENICHINO, who was born at Bologna, and was instructed by
Denis Calvert, who forbade his drawing after the works of Annibale
Caracci. Domenico disobeyed this command, and was so severely
treated by Calvert that he persuaded his father to take him from that
master, and place him in the school of the Caracci. When he entered the
Academy he was so dull that his fellow-pupils nicknamed him “The Ox;”
but Annibale Caracci said: “Take care: this ox will surpass you all by and
by, and will be an honor to his art.” Domenichino soon began to win
many prizes in the school, and left it well trained and prepared for a
brilliant career.
He gave much thought to his art, shunned private society, and if he went
out at all he frequented public places where large numbers of people
were gathered, thus affording him an opportunity to study their varying
expressions. He also tried to feel in himself the emotions of the person
he was painting. For instance, it is said that when he was painting the
“Scourging of St. Andrew,” he threw himself into a passion, and used
threatening gestures and high words. In the midst of this his master,
Annibale Caracci, surprised him, and was so impressed with his method
that he threw his arms about his pupil’s neck, exclaiming, “To-day, my
Domenichino, thou art teaching me!”
The most celebrated work by Domenichino is the “Communion of St.
Jerome,” in the Vatican. It is universally considered the second picture in
Rome, the “Transfiguration,” by Raphael, being the only one that is
placed before it. The scene it represents is just before the death of the
saint, when he was borne into the chapel to receive the sacrament of
the communion for the last time (Fig. 50).
FIG. 50.—COMMUNION OF
ST. JEROME.
Domenichino was made very unhappy in Rome, on account of the
jealousy of other artists, and he returned to Bologna. However, his fame
had reached the court at Naples, and the viceroy of that city invited the
artist to decorate the Chapel of St. Januarius. There was in Naples at
that time an association of artists who had determined that no strange
artist should be allowed to do work of any account in their city. As soon
as Domenichino began his work, therefore, he received letters
threatening his life. His colors were spoiled by having ruinous chemicals
mixed with them, his sketches were stolen from his studio, and all sorts
of insults and indignities were heaped upon him.
After a time, the painter was so disheartened that he fled to Rome; but
the viceroy sent for him and took every precaution possible to protect
him and enable him to work in peace. But just as all seemed to be going
well he sickened and died, and it has always been said that he was
poisoned. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that the fear, vexation, and
anxiety of his life caused his death, and on this account his tormentors
were his murderers.
The works of Domenichino are not numerous, and are not seen in as
many galleries as are those of some Italian painters; but there are a
considerable number scattered over Europe and very beautiful ones in
several galleries in Rome.
The next painter of importance in the Eclectic school was GUIDO
RENI (1575-1642), born at Bologna, and the son of a professor of music.
His father intended that Guido also should be a musician, and the poor
boy was much persecuted on account of his love for drawing. But after
many struggles the boy came into the Caracci school, and was soon a
favorite pupil there.
When still young he listened with great attention to a lecture from
Annibale, in which he laid down the rules which should govern a true
painter. Guido resolved to follow these rules closely, and soon he
painted so well that he was accused of trying to establish a new system
of painting. At last Ludovico Caracci turned against him and dismissed
him from his school.
FIG. 51.—AURORA. By Guido Reni.
The young artist went to Rome; but his persecutions did not cease, and it
seemed to be his fate to excite the jealousy of other painters. Now,
when so much time has elapsed, we know that Guido was not a very
great master, and had he painted in the days of Michael Angelo he
would not have been thought so. But art had lowered its standard, and
Guido’s works were suited to the taste of his time; he had a high
conception of beauty, and he tried to reach it in his pictures.
In the course of his career Guido really painted in three styles. His
earliest pictures are the strongest; those of his middle period are weaker,
because he seemed only to strive to represent grace and sweetness; his
latest pictures are careless and unequal in execution, for he grew
indifferent to fame, and became so fond of gaming that he only painted
in order to get money to spend in this sinful folly.
His masterpiece in Rome was the “Aurora,” on a ceiling of the
Rospigliosi Palace; it represents the goddess of the dawn as floating
before the chariot of Apollo, or Phœbus, the god of the sun. She scatters
flowers upon the earth, he holds the reins over four piebald and white
horses, while Cupid, with his lighted torch, floats just above them.
Around the chariot dance seven graceful female figures which represent
the Hours, or Horæ. I have been asked why seven was the number; the
ancients had no fixed number for the Hours; sometimes they were
spoken of as two, again three, and even in some cases as ten. It has
always seemed to me that ten was the number chosen by Guido, for in
that case there would naturally be three out of sight, on the side of the
chariot which is not seen (Fig. 51).
FIG. 52.—BEATRICE CENCI.
The portrait of Beatrice Cenci is another very celebrated picture by
Guido; it is in the gallery of the Barberini Palace, in Rome (Fig. 52). The
interest in the portrait of this unhappy girl is world-wide. She was the
daughter of a wealthy Roman noble, who after the death of her mother
married a second time, and treated the children of his first marriage in a
brutal way. It is even said that he hired assassins to murder two of his
sons on their return from a journey to Spain. The story also relates that
his cruelty to Beatrice was such that, with the aid of her step-mother and
her brother, she killed him. At all events, these three were accused of
this crime and were executed for it in 1599. Other accounts say that he
was murdered by robbers, and his wife and children were made to
appear as if guilty. Clement VII was the pope at that time, and in spite of
his knowledge of the cruelty of the father he would not pardon them,
though mercy was implored of him for this lovely girl. The reason given
for this action of the pope’s is that he wished to confiscate the Cenci
estates, which he could do if the family suffered the death penalty. So
many reproductions of this sad face have been made that it is very
familiar to us, and almost seems to have been the face of someone
whom we have known.
Guido did not paint his St. Michael for the Cappucini in Rome until after
he returned to his native city. When he sent the picture to the monks, he
wrote: “I wish I had the wings of an angel to have ascended into
Paradise, and there to have beholden the forms of those beautified
spirits from which I might have copied my archangel; but not being able
to mount so high, it was in vain for me to search for his resemblance
here below, so that I was forced to make an introspection into my own
mind, and into that idea of beauty which I have formed in my own
imagination.”
We are told that he always tried to paint his ideal of beauty rather than to
reproduce any human beauty that he had seen. He would pose his color
-grinder, and draw his outlines from him, and then fill in with his own
conceptions of what the head he was painting should be; this accounts
for the sameness in his heads and faces.
His passion for gaming degraded the close of his life. It led him into
great distresses, and for the sake of money he painted many pictures
which are not worthy of his name. He had always received generous
prices for his pictures, but he left many debts as a blot upon his memory.
His works are seen in the galleries of Europe, and are always admired
for their feeling, beauty, and grace.
FRANCESCO ALBANI (1578-1660), born at Bologna, was another scholar of
the Caracci school, and a friend of Guido Reni. There are many works of
his in Rome. His pictures of landscapes with figures were his best works,
and beauty was his characteristic. His own home had all the advantages
for painting such works as he best succeeded in, such as Venus and the
Loves, maids and boys, children and Cupids in unending variety.
His villa was surrounded by charming views. His wife was very
handsome, and they had twelve lovely children, so lovely that it is said
that other artists besides himself made use of them for models.
There were several other Eclectics of some importance of whom we
shall not speak, but shall leave them with an account of ELISABETTA
SIRANI (1640-1665), who also was born at Bologna, and is worthy of
attention on account of her talents, while the story of her life adds
another interest than that which she has as an artist.
She was an imitator of the attractive manner of Guido Reni. The heads
of her madonnas and magdalens are charming, and, indeed, all her
work speaks of the innate refinement of her nature. Her industry was
marvellous, since she made one hundred and fifty pictures and etchings
in a period of about ten years. Much has been said of the rapidity with
which she worked, and one story relates that on a certain day the
Duchess of Brunswick, the Duchess of Mirandola, and the Duke Cosimo
de Medici, with other persons, met in her studio, and she sketched and
shaded drawings of subjects which they named to her, with a skill and
celerity which astonished and delighted her guests.
Her masterpiece is a picture of “St. Anthony Adoring the Virgin and
Child,” which is in the Pinacoteca of Bologna. There are pictures by her
in the Belvedere and Lichtenstein Galleries at Vienna, in the Hermitage at
St. Petersburg, and in the Sciarra Palace, Rome.
In person Elisabetta Sirani was beautiful, and her character commanded
the affection of all who knew her. She was a sweet singer, and her
biographers increase her virtues by praising her taste in dress, and even
her moderation in eating! She was skilful in domestic affairs, and was in
the habit of rising early to perform her share in the household duties,
never allowing her art to displace any occupation which properly made a
part of her life. Her name has come down through more than two
centuries as one whose “devoted filial affection, feminine grace, and
artless benignity of manner added a lustre to her great talents, and
completed a personality which her friends regarded as an ideal of
perfection.”
She died very suddenly, and the cause of her death has never been
known; but the theory that she was poisoned has been generally
accepted. Several reasons for the crime have been given; one is that
she was the victim of jealous artists, as Domenichino had been; another,
that a princely lover whom she had scorned thus revenged himself. A
servant-girl in her family was suspected of the crime, tried, and
banished; but after a time she was recalled to Bologna at the request of
the father of Elisabetta, for he saw no proof of the girl’s guilt. Thus the
mystery was never solved, but the whole city of Bologna was saddened
by her death. The day of her burial was one of public mourning; her
funeral was attended with great pomp, and she was buried beside Guido
Reni in the splendid church of the Dominicans. Poems and orations in
her praise were numerous, and a book was published, called “Il Penello
Lagrimate,” which contained these, with odes, anagrams, and epitaphs,
in both Latin and Italian, all setting forth her charms and virtues. Her
portrait in the Ercolani Gallery at Bologna represents her when occupied
in painting her father’s portrait; according to this picture she had a tall,
elegant figure, and a very pretty face. She had two sisters, Barbara and
Anna Maria, who also were artists, but her fame was so much greater
than theirs that she quite overshadowed them.
The earliest master of the Naturalists was MICHAEL ANGELO AMERIGI,
called CARAVAGGIO, from the name of his birth-place (1569-1609). His
life and character was not such as to make him an attractive study. His
subjects and his manner of representing them combined in producing
what has been called “the poetry of the repulsive.” He was wild in his
nature and lived a wild life. His religious subjects, even, were coarse,
though his color was vivid and his figures arranged with good effect. His
“False Players” is one of his best works; it represents two men playing
cards, while a third looks over the shoulder of one as if advising him
what to play.
Naturally, his manner of painting was best suited to scenes from
common life, though he made those coarse and sometimes painful; but
when he attempted subjects of a higher order his works are positively
offensive. Some of his sacred pictures were removed from the altars for
which they were painted on account of their coarseness. His most
celebrated work is the “Entombment of Christ,” at the Vatican; in the
Gallery of the Capitol in Rome there is a “Fortune Teller,” which is also a
fine work.
Next to Caravaggio came GIUSEPPE RIBERA, called IL SPAGNOLETTO (15881656). He was a native of Valencia, and when very young made his way
to Rome, so that, although his education as an artist was wholly Italian,
his familiar name arose from his Spanish origin. While living in miserable
poverty in Rome, and industriously copying such frescoes as he could
gain access to, he attracted the attention of a cardinal, who took him to
his home, and made him comfortable. But the young painter soon ran
away, and returned to his street life. The cardinal sought him out, and
called him an “ungrateful little Spaniard;” but Ribera excused his conduct
by saying that as soon as he was made comfortable and was well fed he
lost all ambition to work, adding that it would require the spur of poverty
to make him a good painter. The cardinal respected his courage, and
the story being repeated to other artists, much interest was attracted to
him.
Later he went to Naples, and joined the cabal there which had agreed to
persecute the strange artists who should come to work in that city. If
Ribera did not actually commit many of the crimes which were done
there, he was responsible for them through his influence. His works are
frequently so brutal in their subjects and treatment that one feels that he
who painted them must have lost all the kindliness of his nature.
He married the daughter of a rich picture dealer, and became very rich
himself. In 1630 he was made a member of the Academy of St. Luke, at
Rome, and in 1648 Pope Innocent X. sent him the cross of the Order of
Christ. Few Italian artists were better known in their own country, and
many of his pictures were sent to Spain. His greatest excellence was in
his knowledge of anatomy, and he painted subjects that enabled him to
show this. Among his famous works are a “Descent from the Cross;”
“The Flaying of St. Bartholomew;” “Ixion on the Wheel;” and “Cato of
Utica.” His works are in all the famous galleries of the world.
Ribera’s greatest pupil was SALVATOR ROSA (1615-1673), the landscape
painter, who was a very gifted man, being a poet and musician as well
as an artist. His father was an educated man, and with his other relatives
encouraged his son in his taste for art. When twenty years old he went
to Rome, and with the exception of some intervals remained there
during his life.
It is said that as a youth he associated much with bandits, and, when one
considers the wildness of many of his scenes and the character of the
figures in their midst, it is not difficult to believe that this may have been
true. It is certain that he painted the portrait of the famous Masaniello
more than once, and he is believed to have joined the Compagnia della
Morte, of which Falcone, one of his masters, was the captain.
Salvator made many enemies by his independence and his inclination to
satire. He wrote satires on various subjects which were not published
until after his death, but it was known that he had written them. He
married a Florentine woman, who was the mother of his two sons. When
he died he was buried in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where
a monument is erected to his memory.
He painted some historical subjects and portraits in which he followed
the Naturalists, but his principal works were landscapes. Jagged rocks
and mountains, wild dells and lonely defiles, with here and there robbers,
hermits, or soldiers, make his most effective pictures. There is a deep
sense of desolation, almost of fear, in them which is very impressive.
Sometimes he painted serene landscapes and poetic figures; but his
best works are not of this sort. His pictures are in the principal public and
in some private galleries. He also left about ninety etchings which are
masterly in execution and full of expression in the heads, while the
atmosphere is soft. When his works are sold they bring great prices. A
large landscape with Apollo and the Sibyl in the foreground brought
eight thousand five hundred dollars in England years ago, and is now
worth much more than that.
Early in the eighteenth century an artist named ANTONIO CANALE (16971768), called CANALETTO, and began to make views of the city of Venice
and scenes on the canals. He had two followers, BERNARDO
BELLOTTI (1720-1780), who was his nephew, and FRANCESCO
GUARDI (1712-1793), and these three painters executed a large number
of these pictures, which are found in many European galleries, and it is
not always easy to distinguish their authorship. There is no doubt that
many which were once attributed to the first master were really painted
by his pupils.
Before the commencement of the eighteenth century the decline of the
Renaissance school in Italy had begun; in fact, the painting of the
seventeenth century came to be mere mechanical realism. For this
reason the portraits were the best pictures of the time, as in them it was
requisite to be true to the object represented.
Late in the eighteenth century a new impulse was given to Italian
painting, chiefly through the influence of foreign artists such as Raphael
Mengs, and the French painter David. In the beginning of our own
century LORENZO BENVENUTI (1769-1844) executed some excellent
frescoes in Florence, Siena, and Arezzo, which was his native city. He
decorated the ceiling of the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo
in Florence, and Leopold II., Grand Duke of Tuscany, erected a tomb to
this painter in the same church where he had spent so much time and
talent. His portrait, painted by himself, is in the gallery of the Uffizi, at
Florence. VINCENZIO CAMMUCCINI (1775-1844), too, was a celebrated
master of his time. He was a Roman by birth, and became President of
the Academy of St. Luke; he was also a member of the Institute of
France, and received decorations from sovereigns of various countries.
He made many copies from the works of the great masters. His portraits
were so much admired as to be compared to those of Rubens and
Tintoretto, and his ceiling frescoes in the Torlonia Palace, Rome, were
among his important works, as was a “Presentation of Christ in the
Temple,” painted for the Church of San Giovanni in Piacenza.
But there has been no true restoration of Italian art. The painting of Italy
in our time has been largely a commercial enterprise rather than an
outcome from artistic genius or impulse, and the few works which are
exceptions to this rule are not sufficient to encourage the hope that this
nation can again attain to her former rank or regain the fame of her past
in the history of modern art.