VERROCCmO
365
VERROCCHIO
rorchio. Somo autliorilios liold that he frequented
the studios of Donatello and Baldovinetti, but in any
case the impress of liis early odueation with a gold-
smith is strongly evident in his work. He always re-
tained a very keen taste for delieate rhasing, which
taste is especially manifested in the equestrian statue
of CoUeoni, wherein the horse's head and the harness
are chased like a piece of jewellery. He excelled in
depicting the charms of children and womanly grace.
Xevertlicless he was not married, but Uved in the
household of a married sister, who had many children.
Although favoured with the friendship of Lorenzo de'
Medici, honoured with important commissions, and
reputed the greatest artist of his time, he seems never
to have known the favours of fort une. His art, which
often shone with a radiantly smiling beauty, seems to
have been the reflection of a happy and cheerful life.
He was both painter and sculp-
toi , but chiefly the latter.
His chief sculptural works were: the tomb of Piero and Giovanni de" Medici, in the Church of San Lorenzo, in marble and bronze, withoul religious emblem. His "David " in bronze was in the national museum (the Bargello), Flor- ence. The "Child holding a floli)hin", in bronze, made to
- i(li:iii a fountain of the Villa
Medici at Careggi, is in the fourtyard of the Palazzo Vec- chio at Florence. These three norks were ordered from Vei- rocchio by Lorenzo the Mag- nificent. In the terra-cot t a "Madonna" made for the hospital of Santa Maria Novella "supreme distinction of thought is united to the most scrupulous abservation of nature" (A. Michel). The marble bust of the "Flower-girl" is in the Bargello. The silver bas-relief Df the "Decollation of St. John the Baptist", which adorned the altar of the baptistery of ?an Giovanni, is preserved in the cathedral museum (Opera del Duomo), Florence. The marble monument ?rected in memory of Cardinal Forttegiierra in the [■athedral of Pistoia was designed by Verrocchio but pxecuted by his pupils.
His two masterpieces, both in bronze, were the "In- credulity of St. Thomas" (1483) and the "Colleone" (1479-88). The first group, wherein the artist has touchingly represented Christ urging the doubting .■\postIe to put his hand in His pierced Side, was or- dered by the Council of Merchants and placed out- side the Church of San Michele, in a beautiful niche made by Donatello. But Verrocchio erred in making so muchof thedraperies, for this exaggerated realism Ereatly distracts the attention from a subject so pa- thetic in itself. The second work was the splendid equestrian statue which the Republic of Venice ordered to honour thememory of the celebrated fojirfoHif re, Bar- folommeo Colleoni of Bergamo, who had commanded the Wnetian troops. While casting it Verrocchio was seized with a chill, which ended fatally. The statue was completed by the Venetian Alessandro Leopardi, who had the audacity to sign a work of which he had only finished the ca-sting and perfected the details. The statue w;is not erected until 1495; it is still to be seen on the Piazza dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. .Assuredly, "we have a right to say that this eques- trian statue is the finest in the world" (J. Burckhardt).
Only two paintings can with certaintv be assigned
made for the Convent of San Salvi at the gates of
Florence, and which is now at the Academy of Fine
Arts in the same city; and the "Madonna" of the
Duomo of Pistoia, long ascribed to Lorenzo di Credi,
on the word of Vasari, but which a document pub-
lished by Signor Chiti assigns to Verrocchio. The
"Baptism" (c. 1470) is an oil painting, at that time
still a great novelty in Florence. .Accordingly, it
shows traces of grouping and experiment. Its differ-
ent parts are of unequal value, which led \'asari to as-
sert boldly that the angel respectfully guarding the
garments of Christ is by Leonardo da Vinci. It is
more perfect than the other figures in the picture.
The "Baptism" marked an epoch in the history of
Italian painting, because the accuracy of design and
the refinement of the model were an innovation
whereby Verrocchio broke with the school of the fres-
coists, less correct and broader
in execution. But these tec^h-
nical studies, so evident espe-
cially in the angular figure of
St. John Baptist, explain whj'
A'asari called Verrocchio's man-
ner "alquanto dura e cru-
detta". The perfection of the
landscape which forms the back-
ground of the picture foreshad-
ows modern art, because "for
the first time the artist gives
attentive observance to the
study of values, the gradation
of colours, especially to the
unity of the figures with the
environment" (M. Raymond).
Tlie ".soiTicwhat rough and
crude" manner disappears in
the "Madonna" of Pistoia.
This delightful composition
rc])re,sents the Blessed Virgin
between St. John the Baptist
and St. Zeno. supporting the
Infant Jesus Who lifts His little
hand to ble.ss.
Critics do not agree with re- gard to the other pictures as- cribed to Verrocchio; neverthe- less he may be unhesitatingly credited with the beautiful "Annunciation" at the Uffizi, and the graceful "Madonna with the Carnation", in the Old Pinacothek at Munich. The authorship of the Madonnas at the museums of Berlin and London is disputed. Verrocchio was pvr- haps the greatest artist of the second half of the fifteenth century. On the boundary of two ages, be- tween the old Florentine school, about to disappear, and the School of the Renaissance in cour.se of forma- tion, he was not, like the masters of preceding periods, a Christian artist, because he rejected the purpose of placing art at the service of a moral and religious idea; he was not as yet an artist of the Renaissance neglect- ing the soul to study the body, for he did not attempt to imitate anticpiity; instead of drawing his insjiira- tion from the statues which he has bequeathed to us, and of becoming exclu.sively enamoured of the iilastic beauty of con^oreal forms, he preferred to oliserve living nature, and like his predecessors continued to subordinate form to the expression of the feelings of the soul, but, more skilful than they, he succeeded in perfecting his methods of expression, because his drawing is more correct and his modelling more scien- tific.
Hence Verrocchio's powerful influence over paint- ing; his studio was the centre of resistance to the invasion of antifpie influence; and his pupils Lorenzo di Credi, Perugino, and Leonardo da Vinci continued to spread the doctrine of the Florentine School. This
Verrocchio
Uffizi Gallery
to Verrocchio, the "Baptism of Christ, which was doctrine may be summarized as follows: art should be
