Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Dedication to First Edition (1550)
DEDICATION TO COSMO DE’ MEDICI.
[to the edition of 1550].
TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST EXCELLENT SIGNOR COSMO DE’ MEDICI, DUKE OF FLORENCE, MY MOST REVERED LORD.
Impelled by your own natural magnanimity, and following the example of your illustrious progenitors, your Excellency has never ceased to favour and exalt every kind of talent, wheresoever it may be found, more particularly do you protect the arts of design; and since your gracious disposition towards those who exercise these arts, with your knowledge of, and pleasure in, their best and rarest works, is fully manifest, I have thought that this labour which I have undertaken—of writing the lives, describing the works, and setting forth the various relations of those who, when art had become extinct, first revived, and then gradually conducted her to that degree of beauty and majesty wherein we now see her, would not be other than pleasing to your Excellency.
And since almost all these masters were Tuscans, the greater part of them your own Florentines, many of whom were aided and encouraged by your illustrious ancestors with every sort of honour and reward, it may be truly affirmed that the arts were recalled to life in your own States—nay, in your own most fortunate house. Thus is the world indebted to your ancestors for the recovery of these noble arts, by which it is both ennobled and embellished.
Reflecting, therefore, on the gratitude which this age—the arts and their masters—owe alike to your ancestors, and to yourself, as the heir of their virtues, and their patronage of these professions,—reflecting also on what I owe them in my own person, whether as subject or servant, and for what I have learned from them. Brought up under the Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici, and under Alexander, your predecessor, and deeply honouring the memory of the magnanimous Ottaviano de’ Medici, by whom I was supported, befriended, and sheltered while he lived; for all these reasons, and because the greatness of your high fortune will largely contribute to the advantage of this work, and from your intimate acquaintance with its subject, the extent of its utility, with the care and industry bestowed on its execution, can be so fully appreciated by none as by your Excellency—it appears to me that I cannot suitably dedicate this work to any other than your Excellency, under the protection of whose most honoured name I desire that it may reach the hands of men.
Deign, then, to accept, to favour, and—if your exalted occupations permit—sometimes to read my book, having regard to the nature of the matters treated therein, and to the uprightness of my intention: for my object has not been to acquire praise as a writer; but rather, as an artist, to celebrate the industry, and revive the memory, of those who, having adorned and given life to these professions, do not merit that their names and works should remain the prey of death and oblivion, as they have hitherto been. I have, besides, thought that the example of so many able men, with the various notices, of divers kinds, collected by my labours in this book, might be of no small advantage to those who study the arts, and would gratify all others who have taste for, and pleasure in them. And I have laboured to execute the whole with that accuracy and good faith demanded in the relation of historical facts committed to writing. But if my fashion of writing—being uncultivated and simple, as I am wont to speak—is not worthy of your Excellency’s ear, or of the merits of so many men of illustrious ability—pardon me as to them—that the pen of a Draftsman, such as they were themselves, has not availed to give them a clearer outline or more effective shadows; and as to yourself, it shall suffice me if your Excellency will deign to look favourably on my simple work, remembering that the necessity I am in of providing myself with the daily necessaries of life, has not allowed me time for other studies than those of the pencil. Nor even in these have I yet attained to that point at which I now hope to arrive, now, when fortune promises to favour me so far, that, with more credit to myself, and more satisfaction to others, I may be able to express my thoughts, whatever they may be, to the world, as well with my pencil as my pen. For, in addition to the aid and protection which I may hope from your Excellency as my liege lord, and as the protector of poor artists, it has pleased the Divine goodness to elect the most holy and most blessed Julius III to be his vicar upon earth—a pontiff who acknowledges and loves every kind of excellence, more especially in these most noble and difficult arts; and from whose exalted liberality I expect indemnification for the many years I have consumed, and the heavy labours I have endured, up to this time, without any fruit whatever. And not only I, who have devoted myself in perpetual servitude to his Holiness, but all the ingenious artists of this age, may equally expect honour, reward, and opportunity to exercise their art; so that I rejoice already in the thought that these arts will reach the supreme point of their perfection during his reign, and Rome be adorned by so many and such excellent artists, that, counting with them those of Florence, daily called into activity by your Excellency, we may hope that they who shall come after us will have to write a fourth part to my work, enriched by other performances and other masters than those here described, in the company of whom I continually make every effort to be not among the last.
Meanwhile, I am content that your Excellency have some hope of me, and a better opinion of me than you probably, without any fault of mine, have hitherto held, entreating that your Excellency will not suffer me to be injured, in your estimation, by the malignant assertions of others, while my life and works prove the contrary of their reports. And now, with the earnest desire ever to serve and honour your Excellency, I dedicate this my rude labour, as I have devoted myself and all that I have, to your service, entreating that you will not disdain to take it under your protection, or that you will at least regard the devotion of him who offers it I recommend myself to your gracious consideration, and humbly kissing your hands, am your Excellency’s most obedient servant,