Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Simon and Lippo Memmi

by Giorgio Vasari

 

SIMON AND LIPPO MEMMI,^[1] PAINTERS, OF SIENA

[born 1285?—died 1344.] [born...—died 1357.]

Most truly may those men be called happy who are by nature disposed to the cultivation of the arts, for not only may they derive great honour and profit therefrom in their

lives, but what is more important, they secure never-dying fame. Still more fortunate are they who to such dispositions add a character and manners calculated to render them acceptable to all men; but happy above all men is he (I am here alluding to artists) who, with natural talent cultivated by education, with a noble disposition and refinement of manners, possesses also the advantage of living at the same time with any renowned author, from whom, in return for some little portrait, or similar expression of artistic courtesy, he obtains the reward of being once mentioned in his writings, thereby-securing to himself eternal honour and fame. This advantage is above all to be desired by those who practise the arts of design, and most especially by the painter, since his work, lying simply on the surface, and being dependent on colours which cannot endure, may not hope for that perpetuity which is secured to the sculptor by his bronze and marble, as it is to the architect by the durability of his erections. Great, then, was the good fortune of Simon, in that he lived at the same time with Messer Francesco Petrarca, and that he further chanced to meet that love-devoted poet at the court of Avignon. For Petrarch, being desirous of possessing the image of his Madonna Laura from the hand of Maestro Simon, and having received it, beautiful as he could imagine or desire, at once immortalized the memory of the painter in two sonnets, one of which begins thus:—^[2]

“ Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso
  Con gli altri, che ebber fama di quell’arte”;

and the second commences as follows:^[3]

“ Quando giunse a Simon l’alto concetto,
  Ch’a mio nome gli pose in man lo stile.”

For it may be truly said that these Sonnets, and the mention made of the painter in the fifth book of Petrarch’s familiar letters, and in the epistle beginning “Non sum nescius,” have given more lustre to the poor life of Maestro Simon, than it has received, or ever will receive, from all his works.^[4] . These are indeed rapidly perishing, and must finally be lost, while the works of Petrarch shall survive to all eternity Simon Memmi of Siena was nevertheless an excellent painter, highly distinguished in his day, and greatly esteemed at the court of the Pope. In so much that, after the death of his master Giotto, whom he had accompanied to Rome, at the time when the latter executed the Navicella in mosaic and other works, he attained high credit for his successful imitation of that artist’s manner. This was more particularly exemplified in the execution of a Virgin in the portico of St. Peter, and in that of two figures, representing St. Peter and St. Paul,^[5] on the wall between the arches of the portico on the outer side, and near the bronze Pine.^[6] Especial praise has been given to the portrait of a sacristan of St. Peter’s, whom Simon has depicted in this work hurriedly kindling lamps before the saints, and the merit of the whole caused the artist to be summoned, with very pressing instances, to the court of Avignon, where he produced so many good pictures, both in fresco and distemper, that his works justified the name by which he had been preceded. Having then returned to Siena in high estimation, and being much favoured on that account, he was appointed by the Signoria to paint one of the halls of their Palace in fresco, the subject being a Virgin, with many figures around her, all which Simon executed admirably well, to his great honour and profit. And to prove that he could do no less in distemper than in fresco, he painted a picture^[7] in the same Palace, which caused his being appointed to paint two others in the cathedral,^[8] with a third picture of the Virgin holding the Child in her arms, over the door of the superintendent’s room in that church.^[9] The attitude of this figure is very beautiful, and the angels which support a standard and hover around the Virgin while they turn their eyes towards certain saints who stand below, display much grace, and infinitely increase the beauty of the work. When all this was completed, Simon was invited to Florence by the General of the Augustines, where he painted the chapterhouse of Santo Spirito, evincing wonderful powers of invention and admirable judgment in his figures and horses, more particularly in representing the Crucifixion, a work of which every part has been executed with mature consideration and extreme grace of manner. In this painting the thieves on the cross are seen expiring, the soul of the repentant thief being joyfully borne to heaven by the angels, while that of the impenitent departs, accompanied by devils, and roughly dragged by these demons to the torments of hell. Equal powers of invention and similar judgment are evinced by this master in the attitudes of other angels standing around the crucifix, and their grief is eloquently expressed by their bitter weeping, but remarkable above all is the manner in which these spirits seem visibly to cleave the air, while, turning almost in a circle, they still sustain the movement of their flight. We should indeed have much more satisfactory proof of the excellence of Simon in that work, had it not, in addition to the injuries received from time, been further spoiled by the monks of the convent in the year 1560: for these fathers, unable to use the chapterhouse on account of its humidity, constructed an arch to replace some worm-eaten wood-work, in doing which they ruined what little yet remained of this master’s paintings. About the same time Simon painted a picture of the Virgin with St. Luke and other saints, in distemper; this is now in the chapel of the Gondi in Santa Maria Novella, and bears the name of the master.^[10] He also painted three of the walls of the chapter-house of Santa Maria Novella, a very successful work. On the first wall, over the door of entrance, he depicted the Life of San Domenico; and on that which follows towards the church, he represented the Brethren of the Dominican order contending against the heretics,^[11] whom Simon has described under the form of wolves assaulting a dock of sheep, which is defended by numerous dogs, spotted with black and white; by these dogs the wolves are repulsed and slain. There are besides other heretics, who having been convinced in disputation with the faithful, confess their errors, and tear their books. The souls of these pass the gates of Paradise, within which are seen many small figures, employed in various occupations. In heaven, the glory of the Saints and of Jesus Christ is given to view, while all mundane pleasures and vain delights remain in the world below, being represented by human forms, but especially by those of women seated. Among these is Madonna Laura, the lady of Petrarch, taken from life; she is clothed in green, with a little flame of fire between her throat and breast.^[12] In this work, Simon also depicted the Church of Christ, guarded by the pope, the emperor, kings, cardinals, bishops, and all Christian princes, among whom is Messer Francesco Petrarca, beside a knight of Rhodes, and also drawn from the life. This portrait Simon added, to enhance by his works the fame of the writer who had made his own name immortal. The Universal Church is represented by that of Santa Maria del Fiore, not as it is in the present day, but as Simon had drawn it from the model and design which the architect Arnolfo had left to be the guide of those who were to continue the work after him, but which models having been lost, as we have said before,^[13] by the carelessness of the intendents of Santa Maria del Fiore, we should now retain no memorial of that fabric, if Simon had not left it thus pourtrayed in this work. On the third wall, which is that where the altar stands, the artist represented the Crucifixion of Christ, who is first seen issuing from the city of Jerusalem bearing his Cross, and followed by a vast crowd of people. He proceeds to Mount Calvary, where, having arrived, he is seen raised on the Cross between the two thieves, with the different circumstances which form the usual accompaniment of this event. I refrain from minute description of the crowd of horses, the attendants casting lots on the vestments of Christ, the resurrection of the holy fathers, and all the other valued accessories, which resemble those of the best modern artists rather than such as are commonly found among the painters of Simon’s day.^[14] He occupied the entire extent of the wall with his picture, and disposed the different events of his composition, with admirable judgment, on the declivity of a mountain, not dividing the several periods of his story by ornaments placed between each, as the other old masters did, and indeed as many moderns do, insomuch that the earth stands on the air four or five times in a picture, examples of which may be seen in the principal chapel of this same church of Santa Maria Novella, or in the Campo Santo of Pisa, where Simon himself, executing many works in fresco, was compelled against his judgment to make such divisions, since they had been made by the other masters who had laboured in that place, as for example by Giotto and Buonamico his master,^[15] who had commenced their stories with this ill-considered method of arrangement. Less in error then, than those by whose example he was misled, Simon adhered to their practice in the Campo Santo, where he painted a Virgin in fresco within the building and over the principal door; she is borne to heaven by a choir of angels, who sound their instruments and sing with so much animation, that all the various gestures proper to musicians playing and singing are to be seen in these figures; some bend the ear to the sound, others open their mouths in divers forms, raise their eyes to heaven, inflate their throats, puff out their cheeks, exhibit, in short, all the movements usual among musicians.^[16] Beneath this Assumption, Simon painted stories from the life of St. Banieri of Pisa, in three pictures. The first represents the saint as a youth playing on the Psaltery, while young girls, with graceful forms and beautiful countenances, richly adorned in the costume and head-dresses of that time, are dancing to the music.^[17] Ranieri, having been reproved for this sin, is next seen with his head bent down, tears on his cheeks, and his eyes red with weeping, in deep repentance of his error, whilst the Almighty appearing in the air, surrounded by celestial light, seems extending his pardon to the penitent. In the second picture, Ranieri, about to embark on shipboard, divides his possessions among the poor; he has a crowd of lame beggars, women and children, around him, all eager to press forward, and displaying extreme animation both in imploring aid and returning thanks. The saint is again seen in the same picture receiving the garb of a pilgrim in the Temple, where he stands before an image of the Virgin, who, surrounded by angels, promises Ranieri that at Pisa he shall find repose in her bosom. All these figures are full of life, and the expression of the heads is beautiful.^[18] In the third picture, Simon has painted the saint returned after seven years absence from beyond the seas. He has passed thrice forty days in the Holy Land, and is now standing in the choir attending Divine service; a number of singing boys are near; the saint is here tempted by the devil, but the fiend is driven away by the firm determination not to offend the laws of God, which is manifested in Ranieri. who is aided by a figure which Simon meant to represent Constancy.^[19] The old adversary is thus compelled to depart, not only in confusion, but great fear; he covers his face with his hands, bows down his head, and steals off with shrinking form, exclaiming, as is seen by the writing which proceeds from his mouth, “ I can do no more.” Finallv, Ranieri is once more seen in this picture, when, kneeling on Mount Tabor, he miraculously beholds Christ with Moses and Elias. These, and many other parts of this work, which I will not further describe, prove that Simon possessed great power of imagination, and was well versed in the best methods of composing his groups, in accordance with the manner of those days. When these pictures were finished, the master painted two others in distemper for the same city. In these he was assisted by Lippo Memmi, his brother, who had also helped him to paint the chapter-house of Santa Maria Novella, as well as other works. The latter artist did not attain to the excellence of Simon, but nevertheless imitated his manner to the best of his ability, and painted numerous frescoes in the church of Santa Croce at Florence.^[20] He also executed the picture of the high altar in the church of Santa Caterina at Pisa for the preaching friars,^[21] and in San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, besides many good frescoes. Lippo Memmi painted the picture in distemper which is now on the high altar. The subject of this work is the Virgin, with St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John the Baptist, and other Saints, and on this Lippo placed his name. After finishing these pictures, Lippo executed one in distemper, for the brothers of St. Augustine, in St. Gimignano, whereby he acquired so great a name that he was called on to send a picture to Arezzo, for the bishop Guido de’ Tarlati; this work, which comprised three half-figures, is now in the chapel of St. Gregory,^[22] in the episcopal church.

At the time when Simon Memmi was painting in Florence, there was a certain cousin of his, an ingenious architect, called Neroccio, who undertook to make the great bell of the commune of Florence ring, although no man had been able to make it sound for seventeen years. Twelve men were required to move it; but Neroccio balanced this great bell so nicely, that two men then sufficed for that purpose, and being once set going, one man could keep it at its full sound, although it weighs more than six thousand pounds.

For this, besides the honour, Neroccio received a reward of three hundred gold florins, which was a large sum in those days.

But to return to our two Sienese painters, the Memmi. In addition to the works above described, Lippo executed a painting in distemper after the design of Simon, which was taken to Pistoja, and placed on the high altar of the church of San Francesco; this was considered a very fine work. Finally the two brothers returned to Siena, their native city, when Simon commenced a work of vast extent; this was a picture over the great gate of Camollia, representing the coronation of the Virgin, with an extraordinary number of figures, but he left it unfinished, being seized with heavy sickness, overcome by which, he departed from this life in the year 1345,^[23] to the great grief of the whole city, and more especially of his brother Lippo, who gave him honourable interment in San Francesco.

Lippo Memmi afterwards completed several works that Simon had begun. Among others was a Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, for the high altar of San Niccola in Ancona, in painting which Lippo imitated one that Simon had entirely completed for the chapter-house of Santo Spirito in Florence. And this is a work which merits a longer life than is likely to be granted to it, many fine attitudes and much animation being displayed in the figures both of soldiers and horses, the varied gestures of the former eloquently expressing their astonishment, and the perplexity of their doubts as to whether He whom they have just crucified were the Son of God^[24] or not. In the lower church of San Francesco in Assisi, Lippo Memmi likewise finished some figures which Simon had begun for the altar of St. Elizabeth, wdiich is close beside the door of entrance into the chapels. These were the Virgin with St. Louis king of France, and other saints, in all eight figures, half-lengths onljq but well drawn and extremely well coloured. In the great refectory of the convent of San Francesco, moreover, and on the upper part of the walls, Simon had commenced several small pictures, as also a crucifix in the manner of a tree of the Cross,^[25] but all were left unfinished, or rather merely designed, being traced with the pencil in a red colour on the wall, as may still be seen, and this mode of proceeding was the only cartoon which our old masters (for the greater rapidity in the execution of their frescoes) were wont to make. They first distributed the different portions of the work over the wall, tracing all they desired to do with the pencil, after a small design which served them as a guide, and enlarging each part to the proportions required, as they proceeded. And as the work here in question is seen to have been thus treated, so many others in various places have been executed in like manner, and when the colour in certain cases has scaled off, the red outlines are still discerned remaining on the wall. But to return to Lippo. This artist drew tolerably well, as may be seen in our book, where there is a hermit reading with the legs crossed, by his hand. He survived Simon twelve years, executing many paintings for all parts of Italy, more particularly two pictures for the church of Santa Croce in Florence.^[26] There is a considerable resemblance in the manner of these two brothers, but they may be distinguished by the circumstance that Simon inscribed his name at the foot of his works in this manner, Simonis Memmi Senensis opus”;^[27] and Lippo, omitting his baptismal name, and caring little for the rudeness of his Latinity, as follows: “ Ous Memmi de Senis me fecit”.^[28] On the facade of the chapter-house of Santa Maria Novella, besides the portraits of Petrarch and Laura, of which we have before spoken, Simon Memmi depicted those of Cimabue, of Lapo the architect, and of Arnolfo his son, and finally that of himself. The pope who appears in this story, is the portrait of Benedict XI^[29] of Treviso, a brother of the order of Preaching Friars, whose likeness had long before been brought to Simon by Giotto his master, when the latter returned from the court of that pontiff, who held his state in Avignon. In the same picture is the portrait of Cardinal Niccola da Prato, which Simon has placed beside that of the Pope, Cardinal Niccola being in Florence at the time, in the capacity of papal legate, as we are informed by Giovanni Villani in liis history. On the tomb of Simon was placed the following epitaph: Simoni Memmio pictorum omnium omnis cetatis celcberrimo, vixit arm. 60, mens. 2, d. 3. It will be seen by the specimens preserved in our book that Simon was not particularly excellent in design, but nature had well endowed him with inventive power, and he delighted in drawing from the life; in this respect he was considered so much the best master of his time, that Signor Pandolfo Malatesti despatched him to Avignon for the purpose of painting Messer Francesco Petrarca, at the request of whom Simon Memmi, so greatly to his own honour, then executed the portrait of Madonna Laura.^[30]

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1. See Lanzi, History of Painting, vol. i, p. 278.
2. Sonnet xlix, or, in some editions lvi.
3. Sonnet l, or lvii
4. The commentators do not agree with Vasari in this estimate of Simon Memmi, whom they place among the best painters of his day. But Vasari himself does Simon full justice in the sequel.
5. The figures of St. Peter and St. Paul have perished. That of the Virgin is now in the Grotte Scure.
6. This colossal pine is mentioned by Dante, in the Inferno. It is now at the lower end of the Vatican garden, beneath an alcove erected by Brainante.
7. This picture has long been lost.
8. Of these two pictures, the first, painted in 1331, remained long in the sacristy of the cathedral, but was afterwards cut to pieces; and Della Valle mentions having seen relics of it in the Gallery of the Advocate Mariotti, in Rome. The second, an Annunciation, is now in the Gallery of the Uffizj. It bears the following inscription:—“ Simon Martini et Lippus Memmi de Senis me pinxerunt, a.d. 1333.” This picture does not retain its primitive form. Two other pieces—figures of Sant’ Ansano, and Santa Giulietta, both in the same gallery—also belong to it.
9. This fresco was not over the door of the superintendent’s room in the cathedra], but on the front of the Petrucci palace. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1798.
10. This picture was removed, to make way for a crucifix in wood, by Brunellesco (of which more hereafter); where it now is, cannot be ascertained.
11. These paintings are still well preserved. For the question of their being really by Simon Memmi, see Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. ii, p. 96.
12. Lanzi denies that this picture represents Laura. See vol. i, p. 274.
13. See the life of Arnolfo di Lapo, ante, p. 60.
14. One of the many passages that might be quoted, in reply to the accusation of injustice, and undue severity, against all who were not of his own city, etc., so frequently brought against Vasari.
15. If Vasari here means to call Buonamico the master of Giotto, or of Simon, he was wrong in either case. The phrase is most probably an inadvertence. —Ed. Flor. May not Vasari, who is not always rigidly precise in the arrangement of his words, here mean to say, “ Giotto his master, and Buonamico”?
16. This picture is still in existence, but has, unhappily, been somewhat changed by restorations.
17. This picture has been restored to such an extent, that little of Simon’s work now remains.
18. In this part of the work, the vestments of Ranieri only have been retouched; but the ground has suffered greatly, and the colours are perishing daily.
19. Vasari's memory seems here to be at fault. The scene is laid in Palestine; and there are no boys, neither is there any female figure.
20. Scarcely a trace of these frescoes now remains, nor do we know what has become of the picture.
21. This work also is most probably lost.
22. The chapel has been destroyed. The fate of the picture is unknown.
23. The Necrologia of Siena records that Simon Memmi died at Avignon, in July 1344.
24. These pictures no longer exist.
25. See page 97.
26. These two pictures are lost.
27. Rumohr denies that this inscription is found on the works of Simon. See Ital. Forsch., vol. ii, p. 95.
28. This inscription is now affirmed to indicate a work of Memmo, the father of Simon and Lippo Memmi, and not of Lippo, whose Latinity has been anxiously defended by some of the Italian commentators on our author.
29. The papal court was transferred to Avignon by Clement V, successor to Benedict XI. It was under Benedict XII, who reigned from 1334 to 1342, that Giotto and Simon were at Avignon.
30. Notes to later editions of Vasari enumerate the the following works of Simon M< mmi, in addition to those named by the biographer:—In the church of San Lorenzo, at Naples, is a picture of St. Louis of Avignon, crowning llobert his brother. It is in the eighth chapel of the south aisle. At Orvieto, in the church of the Dominicans, is one divided into five parts; the Madonna is in the midst, with San Pietro and San Dominico on one side, and St. Paul and St. Mary Magdalen on the other. In England, there is a painting of the Virgin with St. Joseph, who reproves the Child Jesus for having left them, when he went to dispute with the doctors in the temple. This (see Waagen’s Art and Artists in England) is in the Liverpool Institution. There is also a picture, undoubtedly Irom the hand of Simon, at Antwerp. This is a tryptich, representing the i Annunciation, the Crucifixion, and the Deposition.