Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Alesso Baldovinetti

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE FLORENTINE PAINTER, ALESSO BALDOVINETTI.

[born 1422—died 1499.]

So powerful is the attraction exercised by the noble art of painting, that many distinguished men have abandoned callings in which they might have become most wealthy, and, impelled by the inclination felt for this one, have pursued the desire by which they were animated, and, contrary to the wish of their elders, have devoted themselves to painting, to sculpture, or to other arts, as the case might be. And, of a truth, he who, esteeming riches at their true value and not more, shall propose excellence to himself as the aim of his life, will find treasures very different to those formed of gold and silver, nor need he ever fear the accidents which not unfrequently despoil us in a moment of those earthly riches, which are unwisely esteemed by men much beyond their true worth. Well persuaded of this, Alesso Baldovinetti, attracted by his own inclination towards art, abandoned commerce, to which all his predecessors had given their attention, (and in the honourable pursuit of which they had acquired riches, living in the manner of the most noble citizens), and devoted himself to painting, wherein he distinguished himself by his peculiar talent for imitating natural objects, as may be seen in the pictures executed by his hand.

This artist, while yet but a boy, and almost against the will of his father, who would have had him occupy himself with commerce, devoted his attention to drav/ing; and, in a short time, made so much progress therein, that his father consented to permit him to follow the bent of his inclinations.^[1] The first work in fresco of Alesso Baldovinetti was executed in Santa Maria Novella, on the external wall of the chapel of San Gilio, and was much commended, among other things, for a figure of Sant’ Egidio, which was considered to be a very beautiful one.^[2] He likewise painted the chapel of Santa Trinita in fresco, together with the altarpiece, which is in tempera, for Messer Gherardo and Messer Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, most honourable and very wealthy gentlemen of Florence. The subject chosen was from the Old Testament,^[3] and Alesso sketched the stories in fresco, but finished them a secco, tempering his colours with the yolk of eggs mingled with a liquid varnish, prepared over the fire: by means of this vehicle he hoped to defend his work from the effects of damp, but it was so exceedingly strong, that where it has been laid on too thickly the work has in several places peeled off; and thus, when the artist thought he had discovered a valuable and remarkable secret, he found himself deceived in his expectations.

This master drew very well from nature, and in the chapel above-named, wherein is the story of the queen of Sheba proceeding to hear the wisdom of Solomon, he has depicted the magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici, father of Pope Leo X. In the same picture is Lorenzo della Volpaja, a most excellent master in the art of making watches, and a distinguished astrologer, by whom that most beautiful clock was made for Lorenzo de’ Medici, which the most illustrious Duke Cosimo now has in his palace, and whefein all the movements of the planets are perpetually shown by means of wheels, a very rare thing, and the first that was made in that manner.^[4] In the picture opposite to this of the queen of Sheba, Alesso depicted Luigi Guicciardini the elder, Luca Pitti, Diotisalvi Neroni, and Giuliano de’ Medici, father of pope Clement VII. Beside the stone pillar he further placed Gherardo Gianfigliazzi the elder, and the knight Messer Bongianni, who wears a vestment of azure blue, with a chain round his neck; with Jacopo and Giovanni, both of the same family. Near these personages stand Filippo Strozzi the elder, with the astrologer Messer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. On the vault are four Patriarchs, and on the altar-piece is the Trinity, with San Giovanni Gualberto and another saint, both kneeling. All these portraits are easily recognized, from their close similarity to those of the same persons which we see in other works, whether of statuary or painting; more particularly to those existing in the houses of their respective descendants. Alesso devoted a large portion of time to this picture, being extremely patient, and liking to execute his works at his leisure and convenience. Pie drew exceedingly well, and in our book there is a mule, depicted from nature by his hand, wherein every turn of each hair, all over the animal, is represented with much patience and considerable grace of manner. Alesso was extremely careful and exact in his works, and of all the minutim which mother nature is capable of presenting, he took pains to be the close imitator; but he had a somewhat dry and hard manner, more especially in his draperies. Pie delighted in the representation of landscape, which he depicted with the utmost exactitude; thus we find in his pictures rivers, bridges, rocks, herbs, fruits, paths, fields, cities, castles, sands, and objects innumerable of the same kind.^[5] In the church of the Annunziata in Florence, at the back of the court, and on the wall where the Annunciation itself is depicted, Alesso executed an historical piece in fresco, but finished a secco,^[6] wherein he represented the Nativity of Christ, painted with such minuteness of care, that each separate straw, in the roof of a cabin, figured therein, may he counted; and every knot in these straws distinguished.^[7] In the same picture are the ruins of a liouse, the mouldering stones of which are corroded and wasted by rain and snow, a portion of the wall is covered by a thick branch of ivy, and in this it is to be remarked that the painter, with untiring patience, has made the upper part of the leaf of one shade of green, and the under side of a different tint, as does nature herself, neither more nor less. The shepherds in this work are very carefully painted, and there is a snake or adder crawling up a wall, which is entirelv natural.

It is said that Alesso took great pains to discover the true method of working in Mosaic, but that he never succeeded in discovering any thing worth naming, until at length he happened to meet with a German, who was going to Rome for the sake of the indulgences: this man he took into his house, and by him was made fully acquainted with all the rules and the whole method of proceeding. Encouraged by this he set himself boldly to work, and on the inner wall of San Giovanni, in the arches over the bronze gates, he executed certain Angels holding the head of the Saviour. By means of this work, the good manner of Alesso became known, and he was commissioned by the consuls of the guild of merchants to clean and restore the entire vault of the church, which had been adorned by Andrea Tati, as has been related, but, having received injury in several places, then required to be repaired and set in order. This undertaking Alesso executed with love and diligence, availing himself for that purpose of a construction in wood-work, erected for him by Cecca,^[8] who was the best architect of that time. The practice of Mosaic was imparted by Alesso Baldovinetti to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who afterwards painted the portrait of the former near that of himself, in the chapel of the Tornabuoni family, in the church of Santa Maria Novella. These portraits are in the story of Joachim driven from the temple; that of Alesso is in the figure of an old man, his beard shaven, and Y.^earing a red cap or hood on his head.^[9]

Alesso Baldovinetti lived eighty years,^[10] and when he perceived the approaches of age, being desirous of a place where he might attend to the studies of his profession with a quiet mind, he purchased admission into the hospital of San Paolo. Plere, perhaps in the hope of being more willingly received and more favourably treated, perhaps also by mere chance, he caused a great chest to be carried into the rooms assigned to him, giving it to be understood that there was a considerable sum of money contained in it. Believing this to be the case, the superintendent and other officials of the hospital, who knew that he had made a donation to their house of all that should be found belonging to him after his deatii, received and treated him with the utmost cordiality. But at the death of the painter, nothing was found in the chest but some drawings, a few portraits on paper, and a small book, containing directions for preparing the stones and stucco for Mosaic, with instructions in the method of using them. Nor was it any great marvel, according to what is said of Alesso, that no money was found there, since the master was so benevolent and obliging, that he possessed nothing which was not as much the property of his friends as of himself. One of the disciples of Alesso Baldovinetti was the Florentine Graffione, who executed the figure of God the Father in fresco, with the angels around it, which is still to be seen over the door of the Innocenti.^[11] It is related that the Magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici, conversing one day with Graffione, who was a singularly eccentric person, said to him, “I will have all the angles of the inside of the cupola decorated with Mosaics and stucco-work.” To which Graffione replied, “But you have not masters for it.” Whereupon Lorenzo rejoined, “We have so much money that we shall make them.” But GralRone instantly exclaimed, “Heigh! Lorenzo; money can make no masters; it is the masters who make the money.” Graffione was a man of most fantastic character and singular habits. In his house he ate at no table but one prepared with his pasteboards, &c., and slept in no other bed than a great chest filled with straw and without sheets. But to return to Alesso: that master finished his works and ended his life in the year 1448,^[12] when he was honourably interred by his relations and fellow citizens.^[13]

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1. Alesso Baldovinetti was inscribed in the Company of Painters in 1448, and is thus denominated in the old book, “Alesso di Baldovinetto depintore, mocccxlviii.” Baldinucci considers him to have been a disciple of Paolo Uccello, from the resemblance which his manner bears to that of this master.
2. From a MS. Memoriale by Francesco di Giovanni Baldovinetti, a notice is cited by Manni to the effect that in this chapel Alesso had painted his own portrait dressed in a short tunic, and holding a javelin, but when the chapel was restored these pictures were destroyed.
3. The paintings of this chapel also were destroyed to remodernize the choir about the year 1760, Among the many portraits introduced in them was one of Alesso himself. This Giovanni di Poggio Baldovinetti, who added marginal notes to a copy of Vasari’s Lives in 1747, declares himself to have had copied in 1730.
4. It is now in the Florentine Museum of Natural History, but the Italian commentators accuse Vasari of “making a mere gratuitous assertion, when he declares it to be the first of its kind.”
5. n the Gallery of the Uffizj, in Florence, is a work by Alesso Baldovinetti, more perfectly preserved perhaps than any other that remains*to ns. The subject is a Virgin seated with the Divine Infant on her knee. On her right hand is St. John the Baptist, with SS. Cosimo and Damiano, before whom kneels St. Francis; on the left are St. Lorenzo and two other saints, with St. Dominick, also kneeling.
6. Lanzi remarks, that of this work little but the design remains.
7. Of this picture an engraving may be seen in the Etruria Pittrice.
8. Richa, Chiese Fiorentine, vol. v. p. 34, cites documents giving the dates of these works. The contract wherein Cecca (Francesco d’Angiolo, called II Cecca) engages to construct the “edifice,” or elaborate scaffold liere alluded to, bears date Feb. 20, 1402: he is declared in this document to be chosen “because there is not his equal in matters of this kind”—a reason that might be suffered to prevail with advantage in later times.
9. It appears from the MS. annotations of Giovanni Baldovinetti already referred to, that this portrait is not the likeness of Alesso, but that of Tommaso, the father of Domenico Ghirlandajo.
10. This would bring the date of his death down to the year 1502, but the register of deaths for the year 1499 has that of Alesso under date of the 29th of August in that year.
11. The Florentine Edition of Vasari, published in 1832-38, speaks of this work as in a very grievous state; that of 1846-49, not yet completed, but still in progress, informs us, that the fresco of Graffione “has been recently restored by the Professor Antonio Marini.”
12. An error of the press for 1498; for the true date of Alesso’s death, see note f, p. 68.
13. The Memoriale of Francesco di Giovanni di Guido Baldovinetti, before cited, makes mention of other works of Alesso, not alluded to by Vasari. One of these was in the cloisters of San Benedetto, outside Florence; another was in those of Santa Croce, and represented the Flagellation of Christ. All these works are dispersed or lost, some of them being ascribed to other masters, as that of Santa Croce, for example, which is attribute<i to Andrea dal Castagno.