Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Cosimo Bosselli

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE FLORENTINE PAINTER, COSIMO ROSSELLI.

[born 1439—died about 1506.]

There are many who find an unworthy pleasure in casting ridicule and contempt on others, but these, for the most part, turn to their own confusion, as happened in the case of Cosimo Rosselli, by whom the scorn with which certain artists treated his works was thrown back on their own heads.^[1] Now this Cosimo, though he was not among the eminent or distinguished painters of his day, yet his works are, upon the whole, moderately good.^[2] In his youth he painted a picture in the church of Sant’ Ambrogio, in Florence, which is on the right hand of the entrance, with three figures, for the nuns of San Jacopo delle Murate.^[3] He also worked in the church of the Servites (likewise in Florence), where he painted the altar-piece for the chapel of Santa Barbara,^[4] and in the first court, before entering the church, there is a fresco, by Cosimo Bosselli, the subject of which is the Beato Filippo receiving the Habit of the Order of Our Lady.^[5] For the monks of the Cestello this artist painted the picture of the High Altar, with a second picture for another chapel in the same church; he also painted that in the little church above the Bernardino, which stands beside the entrance to the Cestello.^[6] For the brotherhood of the above-named Bernardino, he likewise painted the banner they bear in procession, as he did that for the company of San Giorgio, on the latter of which he depicted an Annunciation.^[7] For the above-named nuns of Sant’Ambrogio, Rosselli painted the chapel of the Miracle of the Sacrament, which is a tolerably good work, and considered the best executed by this master in Florence; he therein depicted a procession supposed to be proceeding along the piazza of that church, and in which the bishop is seen bearing the Tabernacle of the above-mentioned Miracle; he is accompanied by his clergy and a vast number of the inhabitants, men and women, clothed in the dress of those times. In this work, among many other portraits, is that of Pico della Mirandola,^[8] so admirably executed that it does not seem to be a portrait, but a living man. In Lucca, in the church of San Martino, there is a painting by Cosimo Rosselli, on the right hand as we enter by the smaller door of the principal façade; this work represents Nicodemus executing the Statue of the Santa Croce,^[9] and afterwards the passage of the same over land and sea, nntil it is brought to Lucca. In this picture are many portraits, more particularly that of Paolo Guinigi, which Cosimo took from one executed in terra by Jacopo della Fonte, when he constructed the tomb of Paolo’s wife.^[10] There is also a painting by this master in the chapel of the silk-weavers, in the church of San Marco at Florence; in the centre is the Holy Cross, and on either side are San Marco, San Giovanni Evangelista, Sant’ Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, and other figures.^[11]

Being afterwards invited, with other masters, by Pope Sixtus lY., to take part in the works which that pontiff caused to be executed in the chapel of his palace,^[12] Cosimo Rosselli repaired to Rome, where he laboured in company with Sandro Botticello, Domenico Ghirlandajo, the Abate di San Clemente, Luca da Cortona, and Piero Perugino. The pictures painted by Cosimo were three; one representing the Submersion of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, the second, Christ Preaching to the People on the shores of Lake Tiberias,^[13] and the third, the Last Supper of the Saviour with his Apostles. In the last of these pictures he drew an octangular table in perspective, the ceiling above it having also eight compartments, and in the angles of this he gave proof that he possessed as much knowledge of perspective as any of the other masters^[14] It is said that Pope Sixtus had offered a prize to be given to the master who, according to his judgment, should best acquit himself in those paintings. The stories being finished, therefore, his Holiness went to see them, and to judge how far each of the masters had exerted himself to merit the honour of the reward abovenamed. Cosimo Rosselli, feeling conscious that he was but feeble in respect of invention and design, had sought to conceal his deficiencies by covering his work with the finest ultra-marine blues and other gorgeous colours: he had, moreover, illuminated his pictures with a good store of gold, insomuch that there was not a tree, nor herb, nor vestment, nor cloud, but was glittering with light, for he had persuaded himself that the Pope, who had very little knowledge of art, would be thereby induced to give him the prize of victory. When the day arrived on which the works of all the masters were to be uncovered, that of Cosimo also was seen, and was received with peals of laughter and cutting jests by all the other masters, who jeered and bantered Posselli, instead of having compassion on him. But the laugh was turned against themselves in the end, for those colours, as Cosimo had expected, at the first glance, so dazzled the eyes of the Pope, who did not understand much of such matters, although he greatly delighted in them, that he judged Cosimo to have performed better than any one of the others, and accordingly commanded the prize to be given to him. His Holiness then ordered all the other masters to cover their pictures with the best azures that could be found, and to touch them with gold, that they might be equal to those of Cosimo in splendour and richness of colour. Whereupon the poor painters, in despair at having to be guided by the narrow intelligence of the Holy Father, set themselves to spoil what they had executed so well, and Cosimo laughed at those who but a short time before were making a jest of him.^[15]

Having returned to Florence with some money, Rosselli, lived much at his ease, hut occupied himself with his labours as usual, having in his company that Piero who was always called Piero di Cosimo, his disciple, who had assisted him in his works for the chapel of San Sisto in Pome. Among other things, Piero di Cosimo^[16] executed the landscape of the picture which represents the Preaching of Christ, and which is considered to be the best part of the painting. Another disciple of the same master was Andrea di Cosimo, who occupied himself much with the “Grottesche.” Having lived to the age of sixty-eight, Cosimo, who had long been consumed by a grievous infirmity, departed this life in the year 1484,^[17] and was buried in Santa Croce, by the brotherhood of San Bernardino.^[18]

This artist took great pleasure in alchemy, insomuch that he vainly expended all he possessed in that pursuit, as do all those wlio are addicted to it; which impoverished him while he lived, and finally conducted him from a state of ease to one of extreme poverty, Cosimo drew exceedingly well,^[19] as may be seen from our book, not only in the specimen where we have the story of the above-named Preaching, executed in the chapel of Sixtus, but also in many other drawings with the pencil, and in chiaro-scuro; in the same book we have his portrait by the hand of the painter, Agnolo di Donnino,^[20] his most intimate friend. The last-named artist executed his work with great care, as may be seen in the Loggia of the hospital of St. Boniface, where there is a Trinity in fresco, painted by Mm on the key-stone of the vaulted ceiling. Beside the door of the same hospital, where the foundlings now are, is also a work by him; it represents certain poor persons received by the Superintendent, with several women, all very finely done. Agnolo passed Ms life, labouring and wasting all his time in the preparation of drawings, without putting them into execution, and he finally died as poor as a man well could be.^[21] But to return to Cosimo. He left behind him only one son, who was a builder, and a tolerably good architect.

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1. See p. 176.
2. Baldinucci considers Cosimo Rosselli, a disciple of Alesso Baldovinetti; but Nero di Bicci, in his Ricordi, speaks of him as a scholar of his own, as was also a certain Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli, cousin of Cosimo. —Ed. Flor., 1838 and 1849.
3. These works are supposed to be lost, although the later Florentine commentators believe themselves to have discovered the first-mentioned in an Assumption of the Virgin, on the third altar of St. Ambrogio on the left of the entrance.
4. This picture, which is certainly not beautiful, represents the saint trampling on a warrior under her feet. This figure represents her father, who is enraged at her having become a Christian. For the Legend of St. Barbara, See Mrs. Jameson, Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art. The work is now in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
5. This story, from the life of San Filippo Benizi, is the last of the pictures on the left of the entrance. — Ed. Flor., 1849.
6. The church then called that of the Cestello, now Santa ]Taria aegli Angeli (or popularly, Santa Maddalena dei Pazzi), has been restored, and Bottari declares the works of Cosimo Rosselli to have been destroyed; but the latest Florentine annotators assure us that the Coronation of the Virgin is in the chapel now belonging to the Giglio family. In that church is one of those here mentioned. The authority they cite is that of the Jesuit Father Bicha, Chiese Fiorentine.
7. The Brotherhood of San Bernardino has been long suppressed, and the picture is lost, as is that of San Giorgio.
8. This work still exists. See Rumohr, Italianische Forschungen, vol. ii. p. 285. For an engraving from this work, see also Malvasia, Felsina Fittrice; and Lasinio, who gives the whole series.
9. The Statue di Santa Croce is the celebrated Crucifix of Lucca, called the Volto Santo, which, according to the tradition, was carved in wood, by Nicodemus, the disciple of Christ, who was assisted in his work by angels, and was thereby enabled to produce an exact likeness. When discovered in the Holy Land, it was consigned to a bark, and set afloat without a pilot or steersman, in the port of Joppa, whence it was borne by the winds and waves, without human assistance, to the haven of Luni; there it was laid on a car, to which two young oxen, never before yoked, were attached, and by these animals, left to themselves, and without any driver, it was drawn to the city of Lucca. The Florentines quarrel with Vasari for what they call “his incorrect syntax” in the description of this picture, and refer their readers to Ridolfl, for a more exact description of the whole work. — See Scritti varj di Belle Arti, Lucca, 1844, pp. 148—154.
10. See the life of Jacopo, vol. i.
11. The fate of this picture is not known, but Bottari declares it to have been white-washed over when the church was restored, from which it would seem to have been a fresco.
12. The Sistine Chapel.
13. The landscape in this picture was painted by Pier di Cosimo, disciple of Rosselli, as is related hereafter.
14. These stories are still well preserved in the Capella Sistina. See - Plattner and Bunsen, Beschreihung der Stadt Rom. The Abate Francesco Cuncellieri, in his description of the Pontifical Chapels, attributes a fourth picture to Cosimo Rosselli; the subject is the Adoration of the Golden Calf. D’Agincourt gives a small engraving of this work, tav. clxxiii.
15. The works of Cosimo are without doubt the least meritorious of all those executed in the Sistine Chapel; nor does his liberal use of gold contribute to improve them. See Plattner Beschreihung der Stadt Rom. See also Rumohr, Ital. Forsch.
16. Who was afterwards master of Andrea del Sarto.
17. The inaccuracy of this date is shown by sufficient documentary evidence. See Gaye, Carteggio inedito di Artisti, &c., vol. ii. p. 457, note.
18. Not that named in the first part of this life, which was a company of children, but one of adults, which had its seat near Santa Croce.—Ed. Flor., 1849.
19. Vasari is accused of inconsistency for having before said that the drawing of Cosimo was feeble; but he is here merely alluding to that general readiness in the expression of his thoughts on paper which Cosimo possessed in common with many other painters, who are, nevertheless, far from approaching Masaccio, or other masters, distinguished for the perfection of their drawing.
20. Of this master Vasari makes further mention in the life of Benedetto da Rovezzano. He was one of the painters whom Michael Angelo invited from Florence to Rome, that he might acquire from them the method of painting in fresco.— Ed. Flor., 1849.
21. No work of Agnolo di Doiinino can now be found.— Ed. Flor., 1838.