Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Antonio Viniziano

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE PAINTER ANTONIO VINIZIANO.^[1]

[Flourished in the second half of the fourteenth century.]

Many men, who would gladly remain in the country of their birth, being wounded by the tooth of envy, or oppressed by the persecutions of their fellow-citizens, wander forth to some land, where their talents being acknowledged and appreciated, they there make their home, thus choosing a new country, wherein they then bring forth the fruits of their genius. Nay, they sometimes labour all the more earnestly for distinction, to the end that they may thus in a certain sort take vengeance on those by whom they have been outraged, and not unfrequently become great men by these means, when, had they remained quietly in their native land, they might perchance hare attained little beyond mediocrity in the vocation of their choice. Antonio the Venetian, who repaired to Florence^[2] for the purpose of studying the art of painting under Agnolo Gaddi,^[3] acquired the best methods of that master with so much facility, that he was not only much esteemed for his talents, but also greatly beloved and honoured by the Florentines for his many other excellent qualities. Hereupon, he conceived a wish to make himself known in his native city, hoping there to enjoy the fruit of his labours; he therefore returned to Venice. After giving proof of his ability by various works, both in distemper and fresco, he was commissioned by the Signory to paint one of the walls of their Hall of Council; and this undertaking he completed so admirably, and in so majestic a style,^[4] that he would have received high rewards, had he been treated according to his deserts. But the emulation, or rather the envy, of other artists, and the favour shewn to certain foreign masters by some of the Venetian nobles, caused the matter to go differently. Thus oppressed and discouraged, the poor Antonio took the wiser part, and, leaving his native city, returned to Florence, firmly resolved to see Venice no more, but to consider Florence as his country. Fixing himself, therefore, in that cify, he there painted the story of Christ calling Peter and Andrew from their nets, with Zebedee and his sons, in one of the smaller arches of the cloister of Santo Spirito. He also depicted, beneath the arcades adorned by Stefano,^[5] the story of Christ performing the miracle of the loaves and fishes. This work Antonio executed with infinite care and devotion, as may clearly be seen by the figure of Christ, the expression of whose countenance, with his whole aspect, declares obviously the compassion that he feels for the multitude, and manifests the ardour of that charity with which he dispenses bread to the people. The feeling displayed by one of the Apostles, also, is very beautiful; he is distributing the bread from a basket, his movements and gestures finely expressing the warmth of his zeal and good-will. From this work, the artist may learn ever to paint his figures in such a manner that they shall seem to speak, for otherwise they are but slightly prized. This admirable faculty of giving life to his figures, was again exhibited by Antonio on the fagade of the church, in a small picture representing the Fall of Manna, and which he painted with so much care, and finished so admirably, that it may be truly called most excellent. He likewise painted stories from the life of San Stefano, on the predella of the high altar, in the church of San Stefano at Ponte Vecchio; and these, too, he completed with so much care and love, that figures more graceful or more beautiful could not possibly be seen, even though they were painted in miniature.^[6] At Sant’ Antonio,^[7] moreover, near the bridge of the Carraja, this master painted the arch over the door, which has been destroyed in our own days, by Monsignor Picasoli, Bishop of Pistoja, who caused the whole church to be totally demolished, because it interrupted the view from his palace. But, indeed, if the bishop had not done this, we should still be now deprived of the work, the late flood of 1557 having carried away two arches on that side, as we have before related, together with the end of the bridge whereon the above-named church of Sant’ Antonio was erected.

Being invited to Pisa by the intendant of the Campo Santo, on the completion of this work, Antonio there continued the history of the Beato Ranieri, a holy man of that city, which had been commenced by Simon of Siena, and in the completion of which Antonio adhered closely to the designs of that master. In the first part of the work executed by Antonio, is the saint embarking on shipboard to return to Pisa, and accompanied by a large number of persons, all admirably painted. Among these figures is the portrait of Count Gaddo, who had died ten years previously, and that of Neri his uncle, who had been Lord of Pisa. But perhaps the most remarkable of these figures is that of a demoniac: every feature betrays madness; the movements of the body, the glaring eyes, the distorted mouth, displaying its hard-set teeth; all are so truly those of one possessed, that it is not possible to imagine a more animated painting, or one more true to the life.^[8] In another part of the work, and beside that just described, are depicted three figures, standing in the extremity of astonishment at sight of the Beato Ranieri, who causes the devil, in the form of a cat seated on a wine-cask, to appear to a fat innkeeper, who has the air of a jovial companion, but is now timidly imploring the protection of the saint.^[9] This also is an extremely fine work, the attitudes, the draperies, the variety and animated expression of the countenances, all, in short, being admirably felt and treated. Near the principal group, are the maids of the hostelry, and these figures could not possibly be executed with more judgment. Antonio has given them the short, scanty clothing, the rapid movements, and other peculiarities proper to the serving-women of an inn, so that nothing more real could well be imagined.^[10] There is, likewise, a very pleasing picture, representing the canons of the Pisan cathedral receiving San Ranieri at their table: all the figures are good, and the vest ments of the priests, which are entirely different from those now worn, are graceful and beautiful. At the death of the saint, moreover, which is afterwards depicted, the expression of grief in the weeping bystanders is admirably rendered, as are the movements of the angels, who are bearing the soul of the departed to heaven. This last-mentioned group is surrounded by resplendent light; and the whole is a very fine conception.^[11] Nor, in truth, can any one behold without astonishment the priests who bear the body of the saint to the cathedral: they are singing, and in all their attitudes, gestures, and the movement of their persons, represent a company of choristers with extraordinary truth and reality.^[12] In this picture there is said to be the portrait of the Bavarian.^[13] In like manner, the miracles performed by Ranieri, as he was borne to his tomb in the cathedral, and those which he worked after having been laid within the sepulchre, have been delineated by Antonio with infinite care and devotion. The painter has here represented men receiving their sight, the lame restored to the use of their limbs, and those possessed by demons set free, with many other miracles, all expressed with extraordinary animation. But, among all these figures, none surprises more, or merits more attention, than that of one suffering from hydropsia; the haggard visage, the shrivelled lips, the swollen body, all are so lifelike, that the devouring thirst caused by dropsy, and the other characteristics of that malady, could scarcely be more vividly displayed in the living body itself. A ship, which Antonio painted in this picture, was also the cause of great marvel in those times: this vessel, being assailed by a storm, is saved from shipwreck by the saint; the movements of the mariners, with all the proceedings customary on the occurrence of such accidents, being represented with much spirit. Some cast the precious merchandise, which they have procured by so many fatigues, without one thought of its value, to the insatiable deep; others hurry to the different cares required by their bark, which is in danger of being dashed to pieces; all are employed, in short, in various nautical offices, which it would occupy too much time to describe. Let it suffice to say, that the whole is so fine, and all these different actions are performed with so much vivacity, as to render the work a marvel.^[14]

In the same place, and beneath the Lives of the Holy Fathers, painted by Pietro Laurati of Siena, Antonio depicted the body of the Beato Oliverio, and that of the Abate Panunzio,^[15] with various events from their lives, on a sarcophagus which is intended to represent marble. This painting is also extremely well done; indeed, all the works executed by Antonio in the Campo Santo are such, that they have been universally, and with great justice, acknowledged to be the best of all the various productions executed in that place, during so long a series of years, by so many excellent masters.

In addition to the many admirable qualities hitherto attributed to this master, may be further adduced the fact, that he executed his whole work in fresco, and never retouched any portion of it when dry. One consequence of this being, that the colours of his paintings remain fresh and life-like to the present day. And herein they may serve as a lesson to artists, teaching them the great injury done to fresco paintings by retouching them with other colours when they are dry. For we find it proved, beyond a doubt, that the pictures, so retouched, acquire a look of age, and are yet deprived of all the purifying effects of time; for being thus covered with colours which have a different body from those beneath, and which are tempered with gums, astragacanth, or eggs, glue, and other matters of similar character, which cloud and tarnish the colours below, the lapse of time and the action of the air are prevented from exercising their purifying influence over that which is really worked in fresco on the wet stucco, as they would have done, if these colours had not been afterwards laid on dry. After having completed this undertaking, for which, as indeed worthy of all praise, he was honourably rewarded by the Pisans, Antonio returned to Florence, where he painted a tabernacle^[16] at Nuovoli, outside the gate leading to Prato, for Giovanni degli Agli. The subjects are a Dead Christ, the Adoration of the Magi, with numerous figures, and a Last Judgment; all extremely beautiful. He was afterwards invited to the Certosa, where he painted the picture of the high altar for the family of the Acciaiuoli, who had built that convent. This work was consumed by fire in our own day, in consequence of the carelessness of a sexton, who, having left the thurible full of embers suspended to the altar, caused the picture to be burnt. The altar was then reconstructed by the monks, entirely of marble, as we now see it. In the same place, and on a wardrobe or press in the same chapel, Antonio painted a transfiguration of Christ, in fresco, which is very beautiful.^[17]

Our artist had meanwhile been always strongly disposed to the study of natural history, and that of the science of botany in particular, which he had studied in Dioscorides. He took especial pleasure in investigating the nature and properties of plants, and finally, abandoning the practice of painting., he betook himself to the distillation of simples, applying himself earnestly to the acquirement of all particulars respecting them. Thus, from a painter, Antonio became a physician, and exercised this profession during a long time. Finally, being attacked by a disorder of the stomach, or as others say, by disease contracted while attending a patient sick of the plague, Antonio finished the course of his life in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and in the year 1384,^[18] when a grievous pestilence raged in Florence. No less expert as a physician than excellent as a painter, and having made many useful experiments in the latter capacity, Antonio left honourable memorials of his existence in both these arts.^[19] He drew extremely well with the pen, and so admirably in “ chiaro-scuro”, that some drawings in our book, of the works executed by this painter in the cloister of Santo Spirito, are considered the best of that period. The Florentine, Gherardo Stamina, was a disciple of Antonio, whom he imitated closely. Paolo Uccello was also his disciple, and did him no small honour. In the Campo Santo of Pisa, the portrait of Antonio Yiniziano may be seen, painted by his own hand.^[20]

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1. Antonio the Venetian.
2. Baldinucci affirms this painter to have been a Florentine, supporting his opinion by documents found in the Strozzi Library. Fiorillo and Lanzi agree with Baldinucci to a certain extent, but the latter does not consider the question to be satisfactorily decided.
3. Lanzi remarks that this is not very probable, since if Antonio be of the period assigned to him by Vasari, he must have been much older than Agnolo Gaddi. See History of Painting, vol. i, p. 68.
4. Quadri, in his Otto Giorni a Venezia, does not mention these works, and there is reason to fear that they are lost.
5. The works of Antonio and Stefano have alike perished.
6. The altar has been rebuilt, and the painting lost.
7. An oratory built in 1350 by Gheri di Michele. See Gaye, vol. i, p. 501.
8. All this part of the work is totally lost, or injuriously retouched in. different places.
9. The circumstances alluded to in this painting are explained by Kosini, in the Descrizione del Campo Santo, and by Totti, in his Dialogo del Campo Santo Pisano.
10. The Florentine commentators reproach our author for this description, declaring that no such women are to be seen in the picture, and charging him with having imagined their presence; but Vasari very probably described the work after a drawing of Antonio’s, which the painter may have altered to a certain extent in the execution. —Schorn.
11. The portion of this work which exhibits the death of the saint, with that which shews the removal of the body, have suffered greatly. There are, nevertheless, some precious remains still existing, which have been carefully transferred to the drawings of our artists. —Montani.
12. See the Etruria Pittrice (where the lower part of this painting is figured), vol. i, pi. 12.
13. The Emperor Ludovico, the Bavarian, who died in 1347.
14. Almost all the figures in this part of the work are portraits of historical personages, whose names are given in Rosini, Descrizione del Campo Santo.
15. The Beati Onofrio and Panuzio. —Ed. Flor. 1832 -38.
16. No trace of these paintings is now left. — Ed. Flor. 1832.
17. This fresco has likewise perished.—Ed. Flor. 1846-49.
18. “Documents assure us,” say the Florentine commentators, “ that Antonio was painting in the Campo Santo in 1386; he could not, then, have been dead in 1384.—” q. e. d.
19. In the first edition of Yasari, vol. i, p. 202, the following epigram on Antonio appears, under the name of an epitaph:—

    “ Annis qui fueram pictor juvenilibus, artis
    Me medicae reliquo tempore coepit amor.
    Natura invidit dum certo coloribus illi
    Atque hominum multis fata retardo medens
    Id pictus paries Pisis testatur et illi
    Saepe quibus vitae tempora restitui.” —Bottari.

20. Alluding to Vasari’s account of this painter, Lanzi remarks, and with reason, that the life of Antonio gives little proof of that injustice to artists who were not his compatriots, with which Yasari has been so bitterly reproached.— Vol. i, p. 68, English edition.