Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Benedetto da Rovezzano

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE SCULPTOR, BENEDETTO DA ROVEZZANO.

[born..died between 1550 and 1560.]

Very great, as it appears to me, must be the pain of him who, having produced some ingenious work, and having hoped to enjoy the fruits thereof in his old age; or to see the results of industry and fine genius in the vrorks of others who have performed labours similar to his own, and to judge of the perfection whereunto the art he has exercised may have attained; very deep, I say, must be his grief, when, by some unhappy chance, by time, by sickness, or by whatever other cause, he finds himself deprived of the sight of his eyes, and can no longer be gratified by the perfections, or perceive the defects of those whom he hears mentioned as still living and labouring in the exercise of their vocation. And above all, as it seems to me, must he be grieved, when he hears the praises of the new artists; not from envy, but from regret that he also cannot have the opportunity of judging whether such commendations be well-founded or not.

Such was the misfortune which happened to the Florentine sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano,^[1] whose life we are now about to write, that the world may know how able and practised a master he was, and that all may be made aware of the extent to which he gave life^[2] to marble, and may learn to appreciate the care and ability which enabled him to produce the admirable effects exhibited in his delicately-executed labours. Among the earliest of the many works produced by this artist in Florence, may be mentioned a mantel-piece in the stone called macigno, for the palace of Pier Francesco Borgherini,^[3] the capitals, friezes, and other ornaments of which were richly carved by his hand; many of these decorations being wholly detached from the marble ground beneath, and exhibiting an almost inconceivable lightness; there is also another mantel-piece by the hand of Benedetto in the house of Messer Bindo Altoviti, with a lavatory in macigno stone, and other things all very delicately adorned by the same artist, but as regards the architecture, these last were designed by Jacopo Sansovino, who was then very young.

In the year 1512 Benedetto received the commission for a marble sepulchre very richly adorned, to be erected in the principal chapel of the church of the Carmine in Florence; this monument was dedicated to the memory of Piero Soderini, who had formerly been Gonfaloniere of the Florentine republic; it was executed by Benedetto with indescribable assiduity and care.^[4] The carvings of foliage, the various attributes of death, and the different figures, are all of great merit, and there is a canopy in basso-rilievo carved in the stone called paragone, and representing a drapery of black cloth, which is executed in a manner so graceful, and exhibits so much lustre as well as elegance, that the material of which it is composed might rather be taken for rich black satin than for the stone of which in fact it is formed: to say all in one word, the whole work, as executed by the hand of Benedetto, is such, that no praise can be bestowed on it which is not beneath its deserts.

This artist gave his attention to architecture also, and it was after his design that the house of Messer Oddo Altoviti, near the church of Sant’ Apostolo in Florence, of which the above-named Messer Oddo was the patron and prior, was entirely rebuilt and restored. The principal door, which is in marble, was likewise executed by the hand of Benedetto, and over this door are the arms of the Altoviti in macigno stone, also by the same master: in this work the gaunt and meagre wolf is so freely carved that it appears to be almost wholly separated from the shield; 'there are besides certain pendant ornaments on this coat of arms which are so delicately treated, and seem to flutter so lightly, that they look more like the finest paper than heavy stone. In the same church, and over the two chapels of Messer Bindo Altoviti, wherein Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo depicted the story of the Conception in oil, Benedetto executed the sepulchral monument of Messer Oddo above-named, this he surrounded with foliage of the most exquisite workmanship, the sarcophagus itself being also exceedingly beautiful.^[5]

In company with Jacopo Sansovino and Baccio Bandinelli Benedetto also took part, as is said, in the figures of the Apostles, four braccia and a half high, for Santa Maria del Fiore, the figure attributed to him being that of San Giovanni Evangelista, which is one of tolerable merit, and evinces good design as well as some practice. This is now in the rooms of the wardens of works together with the others.^[6]

In the year 1515,^[7] the superior and the more influential brethren of the order of Vallombrosa determined to transfer the body of San Giovanni Gualberto from the abbey of Passignano to the church of the Santa Trinita in Florence, which is also an abbey of the same order. They consequently commissioned Benedetto to prepare the design for a chapel and tomb, adorned with a large number of figures in full relief and of the size of life, all to be duly arranged, among the compartments of the work, in certain niches, to be prepared for that purpose; with columns, pilasters, rich friezes, and an infinite variety of fanciful ornaments, the whole of which were to be delicately carved: beneath the entire work there was also to be extended a basement, one braccio and a half in height, and here there were to be represented certain events from the life of the said San Giovanni Gualberto, while other decorations of various kinds were to be placed around the sarcophagus, and to be employed in other parts also, as the completion of the work.

At this monument therefore Benedetto, assisted by numerous carvers, laboured continually for ten years, to the great cost of that Brotherhood; the work was to be executed until its ultimate completion in the house of the Guarlondo, a place near San Salvi, outside the gate of the Croce, where the General of the order, who had commanded the erection of that monument, made his almost constant dwelling-place. This undertaking, both chapel and tomb, was carried forward by Benedetto, in a manner which caused the utmost surprise and admiration to all Florence, but as fate would. have it (for even the marble and other excellent works of men are subjected to Fortune,) there arose many discords among those monks, and the government of that community was consequently changed. The work therefore remained unfinished in the Guarlondo until the year 1530; at which time, war raging around the city of Florence, all these labours, the fruit of inconceivable toils and cares, were destroyed by the soldiery: those heads, executed with so much care, were brutally hewn from the figures; the whole was, in short, so completely ruined, that the monks afterwards sold the remnants for a trifling sum, and whoever shall desire to see a portion of them, may go to the house of the wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore, where there are several morsels, bought as broken marble some few years since by the officials of that cathedral.^[8] Truly may it be said that, as in those monasteries and other places where there are peace and concord, all things proceed to a satisfactory conclusion, so, on the contrary, where ambition and discord bear rule, nothing is ever brought to perfection, nothing attains to the desired end; for that which a good and wise government has contrived to bring about by care and prudence in a hundred years, shall frequently be ruined by a coarse and ignorant fool in a single day, and of a truth it does sometimes appear as if Fortune preferred those who know the least, and are the most incapable of taking pleasure in anything good or excellent, since she seems to call such by preference to govern and command, or rather to ruin and destroy every thing, as Ariosto, speaking of secular princes, remarks, no less judiciously than truly, in the commencement of his letters, canto xvii.^[9]

But to return to Benedetto; it was indeed a great misfortune that all his labours, as well as the cost expended by that religious order, should have so unhappily come to that deplorable end. The architecture and arrangement of the gate and vestibule of the abbey of Florence ‘are due to this master, as are several of the chapels in that edifice, among others that of San Stefano, which was constructed by the Pandolfini family.^[10]

At a later period Benedetto was invited into England to take service with the king of that country, for whom he executed many works in marble and bronze, but more especially the tomb of his majesty. By these labours he obtained such large rewards from the liberality of that monarch, as to be supplied with the means of living at his ease for the remainder of his days. He returned to Florence, therefore; but after he had there completed a few small works, a kind of dizziness, from which he had suffered in England, and which had then begun to affect his eyes, increased to so painful a degree as to occasion him much pain; other causes contributed to the evil, among which, as it is said, was the having stood too long near the fire while engaged in the founding of metals: from these, or whatever else may have been the disposing circumstances, Benedetto became gradually incapable of distinguishing objects, and finally the sight^of his eyes was totally lost; he ceased his labours, therefore, in the year 1550,^[11] and died a few years after.

Benedetto endured the blindness which afflicted him during the last years of his life with Christian patience and resignation, thanking God for having permitted him first to provide himself by the fruit of his labours with the means cf living honourably. A good and courteous man was Benedetto, nnd one wlio always took pleasure in the society of men distinguished by their talents and virtues^[12] His portrait was copied from one taken of him in his youth by Agnolo di Donino,^[13] and whereof we have the original itself in our book of designs, where there are, likewise, certain drawings, exceedingly well executed, by the hand of Benedetto, who, for the works we have enumerated, well deserves to be numbered among more eminent artists.

---

1. Rovezzano is a small market town, situate about two miles from Florence, the road to it leaving that city by the Porta alla Croce. — Ed. Flor. 1832-8.
2. The Italian commentators make some question as to the precise meaning to be attached to the word “campare,” as here used. The present writer has given that which seems best to render the thought of the author as gathered from the context, &c., but the reader who shall desire to see the subject discussed, is referred to the annotation of the learned and reverend Monsignore Bottari, Roman Edition of Vasari, 1759.
3. This work may still be seen in excellent condition, the house being that in the Borgo Sant’ Apostolo, which now belongs to the Rosselli family. See Cicognara, Storia, tom. ii. pl. xxx.
4. This monument is in the choir of the above-named church. It may be seen engraved in the Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana, the illustrative text of which is by Dr. Gius. Gonnelli.
5. In the year 1833, the tomb of Oddo Altoviti was transported to the appointed niche, a door having been opened through its original place, to afford a more convenient communication with the sacristry. Of this work also there is an engraving in Gonnelli, as above cited.
6. It was afterwards placed in the church, where it still remains. Cicognara remarks of this work, that the folds of the vestments are somewhat too formally complicated, but that the dignity of the head and the grandeur of the style might else render it worthy to be enumerated among the best works of that age. See Storia, &c
7. This should perhaps be 1505, since we find in Albertinelli, Relazione, &c., 1510, that Benedetto had then been for some time employed on the tomb of San Giovanni Gualberto.
8. Four historical representations in basso-relievo, with numerous pieces of the several ornaments belonging to this work, are now in the Public Gallery of Florence, in the small corridor of the modem sculptures, that is to say. It is matter of surprise that Cicognara should be unacquainted with their existence, and the place wherein they were deposited; yet, that he must be so, is manifest from the fact that in the 3rd cap. of lib. v., Storia, &c., he declares that after the ruin suffered about the year 1530, ‘‘ the broken relics were entirely dispersed.”
9. The stanza of Ariosto here alluded to is as follows;—

   Il giusto Dio quando i peccati nostri
   Han di remission passato il segno,
   Acciò che la giustizia sua dimostri
   Equale alia pietà, spesso dà regno

   A tiranni airocissimi ed a mostri,
   E dà lor forza e di mal fare ingegno:
   Per questo Mario e Silla pose al Mondo,
   E duo Neroni e Cajo furibundo.

10. The access to the chapel of St. Stephen is through the corridor, which serves as a vestibule to the church. —Ed. Flor. 1832 -8.
11. In the year 1550 it was that Vasari’s first edition was published, and he then remarks that Benedetto, “old and blind, had ceased to work since the year 1540, but having prudently managed the gains won by his labours, he can still live in comfort, although fortune has turned her back on hiraj and he endures all her insults most patiently.”
12. After these words the editio princeps has the following: “Benedetto also wrote poetry, which he sang to music, the latter, in like manner, of his own composition. In these works he displayed no less ability than in those of the chisel, wherefore he has won well-merited fame in both arts.”
13. Agnolo di Donnino, as Vasari more correctly calls him in other places. In certain MSS. of the Magliabecchiana Library, he is called, according to Piacenza, Agnolo in Domenico Donnini.