insomuch that it has secured the highest commendations for the master, not from his own times only, but from ours also. In the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, Paolo Uccello painted a horse in “terra-verde”; this was executed to the memory of Giovanni Acuto, an Englishman, and Leader of the Florentines, who died in 1393. This horse is of extraordinary magnitude, and is considered extremely beautiful; on its back is the figure of the English commander, painted from nature, in chiaro-scuro. The picture is ten braccia in height, and is in the centre of one of the walls of the church,[1] where Paolo also drew, in perspective, a large sarcophagus, supposed to contain the corpse of the captain: on this he placed the figure of Acuto in armour, and on horseback.[2] This work was then thought, and continues to be considered, one of great beauty of its kind;[3] and if Paolo had not made the horse move his legs on one side only, which horses do not naturally do, since they would fall if they did (which happened, perhaps, because the artist was not accustomed to ride, or to see so much of horses as of other animals), the work would indeed have been perfect. The proportions of the horse, which, as has been observed, is of immense size, are extremely beautiful. On the basement are inscribed the following letters:—
pauli uccelli opus.
At the same time, and in the same church, he painted, in varied colours, the dial-plate which is over the principal door on the inside of the church, with the four heads, in
- ↑ This picture was transferred to canvas in the year 1842, and placed within the church.—Ed. Flor. 1849.
- ↑ Gaye, i, 536, cites a decree of the 22nd August 1393, by which the wardens of Santa Reparata are permitted to construct, within one year from that date, a monument, decorated with marble figures and stones of price, for the sepulchre of Giovanni Hawkwood or Acuto; but this decree does not appear to have been carried into effect. A second proposal, of similar kind, referred to by Baldinucci, seems also to have fallen to the ground; but there are other documents, from which we learn, that “the horse and figure of Messer Giovanni Aguto. made by Paolo Uccello, were to be effaced, because the horse is not painted as it should be, and that the said Paolo shall paint anew the said Giovanni Aguto and the horse.” (Baldinucci.) See also Ammirato, lib. xvi, p. 844. Whether the picture now seen be the first or a second, is not certainly known.
- ↑ The same may be said even now.—Ed. Flor. 1832-8, and 1849.
