of thirteen months, and had ultimately been persuaded to consent to the sale), the commune of Florence caused Gherardo Starnina to paint a picture in commemoration of that event. Accordingly, on the façade of the palace belonging to the Guelphic party, Starnina depicted St. Dionysius[1] the bishop, and two angels, with the city of Pisa—a faithful portrait—beneath. This work the master executed with so much care in every part, more particularly as to the colouring in fresco, that in despite of the air, the rains, and the unfavourable exposure of a northern aspect, that picture remains in good preservation to the present time; it has ever been considered worthy of the highest praise, and is still so considered, because the colours retain their freshness and beauty as perfectly as if but just painted.[2] By these and other works Gherardo Starnina had attained to the summit of honour, both in his own country and others, when envious death, ever the enemy of great deeds, cut him off in the most successful period of his labours, thereby destroying the confident hope of many still better things, wrhich the world had promised itself from his hand. Gherardo unexpectedly attained the end of his career at the age of forty-nine,[3] and was buried with most honourable obsequies in the church of San Jacopo-sopra-Arno.[4] The disciples of Starnina were Masolino da Panicale, who was first an excellent goldsmith and afterwards a painter; and
- ↑ Because the acquisition of Pisa by Florence was made on the festival of that saint—that is, on the 9th of October. — Ed. Flor. 1832-38.
- ↑ Some vestiges of this work still remain.—Ibid. 1846 -49.
- ↑ Baldinucci also declares Gherardo to have died at this age, assigning 1403 as the year of his death; but in that case he could not have painted the pictures which took their origin from the occurrence of 1406. Kicha and Bottari suspect that, instead of “aged forty-nine”, it should be fifty-nine. In the first edition of Yasari, the death of Starnina is placed in 1408.— Ibid. 1832 -38.
- ↑ In Vasari’s first edition, appears the following epitaph on Gherardo,
but it would seem to be a composition of even more modern times than
some of those previously cited as written on other masters. The Roman, Sienese, and other editions of Yasari, declare this epitaph supposititious:—
“Gerardo Starninæ Florentino summæ inventioni et elegantiæ pictori. Hujus pulcherrimis operibus Hispaniæ maximum decus et dignitatem adeptæ viventem maximis honoribus et ornamentis auxerunt et fatis functum egregiis verisque laudibus merito semper concelebrarunt.”— Bottari, Della Valle, etc.
