Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Berna

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE SIENESE PAINTER BERNA.^[1]

[born....—died in 1381?]

If those who labour to attain excellence in art or science were not too frequently cut off by death in the best of their days, there is no doubt but that many exalted minds would have gained the summit towards which their aims tended, and whither the world, as well as themselves, would have rejoiced to see them arrive. But the brevity of man’s life, and the

many accidents to which all, from various causes, are liable, often deprive us too early of those who might be most distinguished. Of this we have an instance in the hapless Sienese painter Berna, who, although he died young, yet left so many works, that we might easily believe his life to have been a long one; and these works were of such a character, as to impress on us the conviction that he would have been most eminently distinguished if his death had not been so prematurely hastened. Among the works of this master remaining in Siena are certain historical representations, in fresco,^[2] in two chapels of the church of Sant’ Agostino; there was, besides, on one of the walls of the same church, the story of a youth led to execution, than which it is not possible to conceive a more perfect work: the pallor and dread of death were depicted on his face with such truth and reality, that for this only the artist would merit the highest praise; beside the youth was a monk, who was seeking to console the sufferer, and whose attitude was very fine. The whole work, in short, was so admirably executed, and the story so eloquently told, that we clearly perceive the artist to have formed a most vivid conception of the fearful circumstance he describes. He has represented it as it must needs be, full of the bitterest agony, the most cruel terror; reproducing the whale so admirably with his pencil, that the scene itself, taking place before one’s eyes, would scarcely awaken more profound emotions. This work has unhappily been destroyed in our own day, the wall having been removed to make way for the chapels, which have been constructed in that part of the church.

In the city of Cortona, besides many -works scattered about in different parts of the same, Berna painted the greater part of the walls and ceiling in the church of Santa Margarita,^[3] where is now the convent of the Franciscan monks, called Zoccolanti.^[4] From Cortona he went to Arezzo, in the year 1369, and precisely at the moment when the Tarlati, who had formerly been lords of Pietramala, had caused the convent and church of Sant’ Agostino to be erected by Moccio, a sculptor and architect of Siena. Many of the Aretine citizens had constructed chapels and burial-places for their families in the side aisles of the church; and in one of these chapels— that dedicated to San Jacopo, namely—Berna painted various frescoes from the life of the saint.^[5] Among these was most vividly depicted the story of the smuggler Marino, whom avarice had tempted to give his soul to the devil, with whom he had made a written compact to that effect. He is here seen in the act of supplicating San Jacopo to liberate him from the consequences of his promise, but on the other hand is placed the devil—hideous to a miracle—who is pleading his rights with great animation before the saint, and exhibiting the written agreement, which fills Marino with the most deadly terror. The various emotions of all the figures in this work have been admirably expressed by the artist; the face of Marino, more especially, betrays the fears that devour him, but the faith and trust which give him hope of deliverance from San Jacopo are also visible; and the latter, after having inspired him with a true repentance of his sin, and sorrow for the promise he has made, delivers the culprit and restores him to God. Berna painted this same story, according to Lorenzo Ghiberti, in the church of Santo Spirito, in Florence, before the church was burnt; it was in a chapel of the Capponi, dedicated to St. Nicholas. After this the painter executed a large picture of the Crucifixion, for Messer Guccio di Vanni Tarlati, of Pietramala, in one of the chapels of the episcopal church of Arezzo: he here depicted the Virgin, with St. John the Evangelist and St. Francis, at the foot of the cross, in an attitude of the deepest grief; St. Michael, the archangel, is also present. The whole work merits no slight praise for the care with which it was executed, and more particularly because the colours have maintained themselves so admirably well, that the picture might seem to have been finished yesterday. Lower down is the portrait of the above-named Guccio, armed, and kneeling at the foot of the cross.^[6] In the capitular church of Arezzo, Berna painted numerous stories from the life of Our Lady, in the chapel of the Paganelli; and among the figures is a portrait, taken from the life, of the Beato Binieri, a holy man and prophet of that family, who bestows alms on the crowd of poor persons by whom he is surrounded.^[7] In the church of San Bartolommeo, also, this master executed various representations from the Old Testament, together with an adoration of the Magi, and in the church of the Spirito Santo he painted stories from the life of St. John the Evangelist. Among the figures of this last work, Berna has left us portraits of himself and of several of his friends, nobles of Arezzo. On the completion of this undertaking, the artist returned to his native city, where he painted numerous pictures on panel, both large and small; but he did not remain long at Siena, being invited to Florence, where he decorated the chapel of San Niccolo, in the church of the Spirito Santo, a work that was highly praised, and which we have already mentioned, with other pictures which were consumed in the lamentable conflagration of that church. At San Gimignano, in the Valdelsa, Berna painted certain frescoes in the capitular church; they represent stories from the New Testament,^[8] These works he had nearly brought to a conclusion,^[9] when he unhappily fell from the scaffold to the floor, and was so grievously injured, that he died in two days, more to the loss of art than of himself, for he departed from this life to a better one. His remains were very honourably entombed in the capitular church aforesaid, by the people of San Gimignano, who solemnized his obsequies with much pomp, and who gave proof after his death of the esteem in which they held him while living, not ceasing for many months after his interment to suspend verses to his honour, in Latin and the mother tongue, on the tomb of the lamented artist. The men of that country have indeed been ever devoted to the belles lettres, and they herein rendered the appropriate reward of Berna’s conscientious labours, celebrating him with their pens who had done them honour by his pictures. Giovanni of Asciano,^[10] a scholar of Berna, completed the work thus left unfinished.^[11] The same artist executed certain paintings in the hospital of Siena, with others in the ancient palace of the Medici, from which he acquired some reputation.^[12] The Sienese painter, Berna, laboured about the year 1381. In addition to what I have said of him, he deserves to be lauded and held in honour by all artists, as having been the first who began to depict animals well. A specimen of his talents in this way, may be seen in a sketch filled with wild beasts from different regions, and preserved in our book. His drawings, generally, are of considerable merit. The Sienese painter Luca di Tome, was also a disciple of Berna. This Luca painted many pictures in Siena and throughout Tuscany, more particularly the chapel of the Dragomanni family, in the church of San Domenico, in Arezzo, with its altar-piece. The chapel, which is of Gothic architecture, was indeed admirably adorned by this picture, and the frescoes which Luca the Sienese, with great judgment and ability, executed therein.^[13]

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1. Ghiberti calls this artist Barna, an abreviation of Barnabd. Baldinucci and Rumohr agree with him; but the later Florentine editors consider Berna or Barna to be rather an abbreviation of Bernardo or Bernardino. The true name of the painter, they incline to think, was Barna Bertini.
2. These paintings have perished, as have those described immediately after them.
3. These pictures have perished.
4. So called from Zoccolo, a wooden shoe, which the members of the Franciscan order wear.
5. These works have also been destroyed in the rebuilding of the church.
6. This painting is still in good preservation, in the cathedral of Arezzo; it has been retouched of late years. Montani has a remark, to the effect that the portrait of Guccio—whom the commentators command us to call rather Ciuccio—has been stabbed in various parts, by his enemies and those of his family.
7. All these works are lost, as are also those of San Bartolommeo and the Spirito Santo. — Montani.
8. hese paintings have been retouched, not to say spoiled, in many parts. — Ed. Flor. 1846.
9. For a description of these paintings, see Della Valle, Lettere Sanesi, vol. ii, p. 117. See also Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. ii, 109.
10. A castle in the Sienese territory. —Montani.
11. Baldinucci places this deplorable event in the year 1380. The first edition of Vasari gives the following epitaph, as written on Berna; but the Florentine commentators remark, that it is obviously of a later period:
    “ Bernardo Senensi pictori in primis illustri, qui dum naturam di/igentius imitatur, quam vitae, suce consulit, de tabulato considens diem suum obiit. Geminianenses hominis de se optime meriti vicem dolentes poss.”
12. The works of Giovanni of Asciano are believed to be all lost.
13. The Livornese edition, published about 1760, and quoted by Ludwig Schorn, declares these works to be still existing. The Florentine editors of 1846, assigning the last Guida di Arezzo as their authority, inform us that the picture has long been lost, but say that a part of the frescoes still remains.