Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Jacopo di Casentino
THE PAINTER JACOPO DI CASENTINO.
[Flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century.]
The fame of Giotto, the renown attached to his works, and to those of his disciples, having for several years been much bruited abroad, many persons, desirous of acquiring honour and riches by the art of painting, and incited to study by nature and inclination, began to labour for the amelioration of the art, most of them being firmly persuaded that by their efforts the attainments of Giotto, Taddeo, and all the other painters, would be far surpassed. Among these was a certain Jacopo di Casentino, who belonged, as we find recorded, to the family of Messer CristoforoLandino, of Prato Yecchio, and was sent by a monk of Casentino, who was intendant of Sasso della Yernia, to acquire the art of painting under Taddeo Gaddi, when that master was working in the convent so called. In this vocation Jacopo succeeded so well, that in the course of a few years, having accompanied Taddeo to Florence, where he executed many works in company with Giovanni da Milano, for the service of their common master, he was appointed to paint the tabernacle of the Madonna in the Mercato Yecchio, with the altar-piece, in distemper. The oratory which stands at the corner of the piazza of San Niccolo, on the Via del Cocomero, was also painted by Jacopo di Casentino, but both these works were restored a few years since by a master greatly inferior to Jacopo. The tabernacle at Santo Nofri (Sant’ Onofrio?) belonging to the Guild of Dyers, and situated at the corner of the wall of their garden, opposite to San Giuseppe,[1] was also decorated by Jacopo di Casentino. In the meantime the vaulted arches of Orsanmicliele were in process of construction on the twelve columns, a low rustic roof being placed over them, that the building, which was to serve as the granary of the commune, might be proceeded with so soon as should be possible. Jacopo di Casentino was selected as a person well versed in such matters, to decorate the arches with figures of the patriarchs, certain of the prophets, and the heads of the tribes, sixteen figures in all, beside the various ornaments. This work he executed on a ground of ultramarine, but it is now nearly ruined. On the walls beneath, and on the pilasters, he then painted numerous miracles performed by the Madonna, with other pictures, which are recognized by their manner.[2]
Having completed this undertaking, Jacopo returned to Casentino, whence, after producing many works in Prato Vecchio, Poppi, and other places in that valley, he repaired to Arezzo. This city was then under its own government, with a council of sixty citizens, chosen from the most esteemed and richest, to whose care the whole administration of public affairs was committed. Here Jacopo depicted a story from the life of St. Martin,[3] in the principal chapel of the cathedral; and in the Duomo Vecchio, which is now destroyed, he painted various pictures, among which, in the principal ehapel, was the portrait of Pope Innocent IV. In the church of St. Bartholomew, moreover, this master painted on the wall the pictures above the high altar, with the chapel of St. Mary of the Snows, a work executed for the chapter-house belonging to the canons of the deanery.[4] For the ancient confraternity of San Giovanni di Peducci, also, Jacopo di Casentino painted numerous stories from the life of that saint, but these works have been covered with whitewash. He decorated the chapel of San Cristofano in the church of San Domenico, in like manner, taking for his subject the Beato Masuolo liberating from prison a merchant of the Fei family, by whom the chapel was erected. This Beato Masuolo, who was a prophet, had predicted many misfortunes while he was yet alive, to the people of Arezzo. In the church of St. Augustine, also, Jacopo painted stories in fresco from the life of San Lorenzo, in the chapel and at the altar of the Nardi family, a work in which he displayed an admirable method and extraordinary facility.
This master gave his attention to architecture likewise, and, by order of the sixty citizens forming the council above named, he reconducted the water which rises at the foot of the hill of Pori, three hundred braccia from Arezzo, beneath the walls and into the city. In the time of the Romans this water had been originally brought in for the service of the theatre, of which we still see some vestiges; and from this edifice, which was on the heights where the fortress now is, the water was led to the amphitheatre of the same city, which was in the plain. All these buildings and aqueducts were ruined and destroyed by the Goths. This water, then, having been again brought in beneath the wails, as we have said, by Jacopo di Casentino, that master constructed the fountain then called the Guizianelli, but now, by a corruption of the name, the Yiniziana fountain. This work endured from 1354 to 1527, and no longer, partly because, in the pestilence of that period, and in the war succeeding it, many of the citizens turned the water aside at different points to their own gardens, and for other private uses, but principally from the fact that Jacopo had not carried it sufficiently deep beneath the earth. From these causes the fountain is not now in the state that it should be.
While the aqueduct was in progress Jacopo did not discontinue his paintings, but executed various works in the palace, which was then in the old citadel, but is now entirely destroyed. His subjects were taken from the lives of the bishop Guido and of Piero Sacconi, men who, whether in peace or war, had done great and highly estimated services to the city. He also painted the life of St. Matthew, beneath the organ of the capitular church, with other works in considerable numbers. While thus executing various designs in different parts of the city, Jacopo di Casentino instructed Spinello of Arezzo in the principles of his art, as he had himself been instructed in them by Agnolo, and as Spinello afterwards taught them to Bernardo Daddi, who, labouring constantly in his native city, adorned it with very beautiful works in painting; for which cause, and on account of his many excellent qualities, he was much esteemed by his fellow citizens, who confided to him several offices of trust in the magistracy, and employed him in other public affairs. The paintings of Bernardo were numerous, and highly prized; those in the chapels of San Lorenzo and San Stefano, in the church of Santa Croce, which belong to the families of Pulci and Berardi, were among the number, with many other pictures in different parts of the city. Bernardo also executed certain frescoes over the gate which opens on the road leading to Florence. This master ultimately died laden with years, and received honourable interment in Santa Felicita in the year 1380.
But to return to Jacopo di Casentino. In addition to what is here said, we may remark that in his day, that is, in the year 1350, the Company and Brotherhood of painters took its rise. And it happened on this wise: the masters of that period, as well those attached to the old Byzantine manner as those who adopted the new method of Cimabue, meeting together in considerable numbers, and reflecting that the arts of design had regained their existence in Tuscany, nay, rather, in Florence itself, resolved to establish a society, which they called by the name of St. Luke the Evangelist, and placed under the protection of that saint; and this they did partly that they might the more effectually render thanks and praise to God in his temple for that revival of their art, and in part, also, that they might occasionally assemble, the better to provide for the succour, whether spiritual or temporal, of such as should need their aid, a custom still in use among many of the Florentine guilds and fraternities, but which was formerly much more extensively prevalent than it now is.
The first oratory of this society was the principal chapel of the hospital of Santa Maria Novella, which had been made over to them by the Portinari family; and the first governors of the brotherhood, who had the title of captains, were six, besides two counsellors, and two treasurers; all which may be seen in the ancient book of the Company which was then commenced, and the first chapter of which begins thus:—“ These ordinances and regulations were determined on and established by good and discreet men exercising the art of painters in the city of Florence, and at the time of Lapo Gucci, painter, Vanni Cinuzzi, painter, Corsino Buonaiuti, painter, Pasquino Cenni, painter, Segna d’Antignano, painter, Bernardo Daddi, and Jacopo di Casentino, painters, were the counsellors, Consiglio Gherardi and Domenico Pucci, painters, the treasurers.”
The society being established in this manner, Jacopo di Casentino, with the consent of the captains and other members, prepared the altar-piece of their chapel, choosing for his subject the evangelist St. Luke, who is painting a picture of the Virgin. In the predella are the men of the society on one side, and on the other the women, all kneeling.[5] From these beginnings, sometimes assembling together and sometimes not, the Company of painters has continued until it has arrived at its present condition, as is narrated in the new canons of the same, approved by that benignant protector of the arts of design, our most illustrious lord, Duke Cosmo. At length, laden with years, and worn with many labours, Jacopo returned to Casentino, and died at Prato Vecchio, in his eightieth year; he was buried by his kindred and friends in Sant’ Agnolo, an abbey belonging to the order of Camaldoli, and close to Prato Vecchio. His portrait, by the hand of Spinello, was in the Duomo Vecchio, in an Adoration of the Magi;[6] and in our book will be found a specimen of his manner in drawing[7].
- ↑ This tabernacle, also, was afterwards restored, and by a worse master than either of the others.—Ed. Flor. 1832.
- ↑ Slight traces only of these works now exist.
- ↑ The Roman edition of 1759, and even that of Florence published in 1832-38, affirm that this picture was in existence at those dates, although by no means in good condition; but the latest Florentine edition—that of 1846-49 —declares it to have perished.
- ↑ On this façade, and in the angle to the right of the spectator, is a Dead Christ, with St. John and the Virgin in half-length figures. This is the only painting by Jacopo di Casentino now remaining in Arezzo.— Ed. Flor. 1846 -49.
- ↑ This work is no longer to be found. —Ed. Flor. 1832.
- ↑ The portrait and picture perished with the cathedral, in the year 1561.—Ed. Rom. 1750.
- ↑ In the first edition of Vasari, is the following epitaph on Jacopo di
Casentino:—
“ Pingere me docuit Gaddus, componere plura
Apte pingendo corpora doctus eram:
Prompta manus fuit; et pictum est in pariete tantum
A me: servat opus nulla tabella meum.”
Bottari.