PLATE V.—BOTTICELLI(1444–1510)FLORENTINE SCHOOLNo. 1297.—GIOVANNA DEGLI ALBIZZI AND THE THREE GRACES(Giovanna Albizzi et les Trois Grâces ou les Vertus)
PLATE V.—BOTTICELLI(1444–1510)FLORENTINE SCHOOLNo. 1297.—GIOVANNA DEGLI ALBIZZI AND THE THREE GRACES(Giovanna Albizzi et les Trois Grâces ou les Vertus)
To the right Giovanna, a young woman in a red-brown dress, wearing a white veil on her golden hair and a necklace of pearls round her neck, advances towards four lovely maidens clad in delicately-tinted robes. She holds in her outstretched hands a white linen cloth into which the four maidens throw flowers symbolic of the Virtues.Fresco painting detached from the wall.7 ft. 3 in. × 9 ft. 4 in. (2·12 × 2·84.)
To the right Giovanna, a young woman in a red-brown dress, wearing a white veil on her golden hair and a necklace of pearls round her neck, advances towards four lovely maidens clad in delicately-tinted robes. She holds in her outstretched hands a white linen cloth into which the four maidens throw flowers symbolic of the Virtues.
Fresco painting detached from the wall.
7 ft. 3 in. × 9 ft. 4 in. (2·12 × 2·84.)
TheMadonna and Child and St. John(No. 1296), which was formerly put forward by one critic as a “work of Botticelli’s early years, but showing collaboration,” and which is still catalogued as being by the master himself, is now generally recognised as a school picture only. The background is formed by cypresses and rosebushes. The circular panel (No. 1295), which is still credited officially to Sandro, is only a copy of theMadonna of the Magnificatnow in the Uffizi at Florence (No. 1267Bis).
Authenticity cannot be claimed for theFragment of a Predella(No. 1300), containing the figures of St. Peter Martyr, the Virgin, St. Elizabeth, Christ and the Magdalene, David, St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. John the Baptist. TheScene from the History of Virginia(No. 1662aor No. 1662Bis), a cassone front, and thePortrait of a Young Man(No. 1663), which was purchased in 1882 for £600, are catalogued as being by an unknown Florentine painter. These have, however, been included by Mr. Berenson among the numerous pictures painted by the nameless imitator of Botticelli, whom the eminent critic has identified under the significant name of “Amico di Sandro,”i.e.“The friend of Sandro Botticelli.” TheMadonna and Child adored by Angels(No. 1300a), bequeathed by the Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild, is regarded by the same high authority as a copy by Jacopo del Sellaio (1442?–1493), a pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi and an imitator of Botticelli, of a lost picture by “Amico di Sandro.” The unbeautifulVenus(No. 1299) from the Cardinal Fesch and Campana collections (which is very similar to a picture (No. 916) in the National Gallery), theEsther crowned by Ahasuerus(No. 1643a), and theSt. Jerome(No. 1658), must also be included among the mediocre works of Sellaio. In the same group of Florentine painters is placed Francesco Botticini (1446–1497), who worked under and was influenced by Cosimo Rosselli (1437?–1507);the Virgin in Glory between the Magdalene and St. Bernard(No. 1482) is by Botticini although placed under the name of Rosselli in the Catalogue. Many pictures by Botticini pass in public galleries under the more illustrious name of Botticelli.
From Cosimo Rosselli we naturally pass to his pupil Piero di Cosimo (1462–1521), who derived great pleasure from the painting of such scenes from classic fable as enabled him to depict grotesque monsters, strange animals, and fantastic costume. At first sight it might be assumed that theNuptials of Thetis and Peleus(No. 1416aand No. 1416b) were from his brush; but although these two panels pass under his name in the Catalogue, they are, as we have seen, by “Alunno di Domenico.” Piero is represented in the Louvre exclusively by religious pictures, the most imposing of which is theCoronation of the Virgin, with St. Jerome, St. Francis, St. Bonaventura, and St. Louis of Toulouse(No. 1416). An unpleasingMadonna(No. 1662) has long ago been assigned to Piero di Cosimo, who is also the author of aSt. John the Baptist as a Child(No. 1274), which is labelled with the name of Uccello. The two last pictures hang in the Long Gallery on either side of the door leading into Room VII.
The authorities catalogue as the work of Raffaelino del Garbo (1466–1524) the largeCoronation of the Virgin, with St. Benedict, St. Salvi, St. John Gualberto, and St. Bernard degli Uberti(No. 1303), which is in reality the centre part of a large altarpiece by Raffaelle dei Carli (1470–1526?), who worked with Garbo and his group.
The great French Museum does not possess one of the only three easel paintings which are now assigned by the safest critics to Michelangelo (1475–1564), who as a painter is best known for his fresco paintings in Rome. This collection is, however,fortunate enough to own the two sculptures of theSlaves, represented as fettered and overcome by grief at the death of Pope Juliusii., for whose tomb they were intended.
By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence had become the æsthetic capital of Italy, and painters innumerable were plying their trade within her walls. As they worked in close contact and unconsciously reflected the influences which beset them on every side, it becomes increasingly difficult to assign to any given artist the execution of certain works. The task becomes even more difficult, and indeed thankless, when one is brought face to face with such a composite picture as theMadonna and Child, St. Jerome and St. Zenobius(No. 1114), which is officially ascribed to Albertinelli (1474–1515). The leading authority on Italian art has given it as his opinion that this large canvas, which is inscribed:
MARIOCTI DEBERTINELLIS OPUSĀ. D̄. M̊. DVI,
was “begun by Filippino Lippi, who laid in the St. Jerome, while Albertinelli was assisted by Bugiardini in the execution of the rest, especially in the child and landscape.” Albertinelli was the intimate friend of Fra Bartolommeo, whose partner he eventually became. When it is remembered that Albertinelli worked in the studio of Cosimo Rosselli with Piero di Cosimo, who was the master of Fra Bartolommeo and had some influence on Filippino Lippi, it will be recognised that it is only the discerning critic of wide experience and consummateflairthat can detect the hand of various painters in a composite picture of this kind, as Mr. Berenson has done.
TheChrist appearing to the Magdalene(No. 1115), which passes officially as the work of Albertinelli, was most probably an early picture by Fra Bartolommeo (1472–1517), who, having like Botticelli come under the spell of Savonarola, took the vows of a Dominican in July 1500, and temporarily relinquished the professional activity of a painter. The Frate took up his brush again and, while working between 1509 and 1512 as the partner of Albertinelli, achieved the large and imposingHoly Family, with St. Peter, St. Vincent, St. Stephen, and St. Catherine of Siena on the left, and St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Bartholomew on the right(No. 1154). It is signed on the base of the throne, in characteristic manner:
ORATE PRO PICTOREMDXIBARTHOLOME FLOREN̄.OR. PRAE.
Four years later he also completed his Annunciation (No. 1153), which is inscribed:
F. BartoFlorensorispre.1515.
The introduction of St. Paul, St. John the Baptist, and St. Margaret on the left, and St. Mary Magdalene and St. Francis on the right, tends to destroy the full significance of the principal theme. Fra Bartolommeo’s pictures helped to emancipate Raphael from the mannerisms he had acquired from Perugino; they mark a late period in the Renaissance art of Florence. He lived until 1517, when Florentine painting was on the verge of a fast approaching decadence.
Equally influential in the art of this period was Filippino Lippi (1457–1504), whose tendency to over-ornamentation became more advanced in his later years. In his fascinating pictures spiritual significance is at times sacrificed to a love of mere display, the baroque flutterings of his draperies and the air of affectation that he sometimes imparted to his figures. The Louvre exhibits no example of the art of Filippino which in its latest phase shows the early, although unmistakable, signs of decline.
The highly technical skill and mellow colouring of Andrea del Sarto (1486–1531) have long been known in France, where he was invited by Françoisi.For that monarch he executed theCharity(No. 1514), which, having been transferred from panel to canvas by Picault in 1750 when the process was little understood, suffered accordingly. In its present state we can get little idea of the former brilliance of the picture which secured to the “faultily faultless painter” in 1518—the year he arrived in France—a very considerable income. It is inscribed:
ANDREAS SARTUSFLORENTINTUS ME PINXITMDXVIII.
AHoly Family(No 1515), by the same facile painter, has been said by some to portray in the features of the Virgin those of his own infamous wife Lucrezia del Fede. It has been enlarged, and has suffered in the operation. Less authentic are theHoly Family(No. 1516), which is said to bear the inscription:
ANDREA DEL SARTO FLORENTINO FACIEBAT
followed by a monogram, and a lunette of theAnnunciation(No. 1517). ThePortrait of Andrea Fausti, which is given in the Catalogue under the name of Sarto, and described as being thework of a pupil, is held by some critics to have been painted by Franciabigio (1482–1525), who came under the influence of Andrea.
The insignificantPortrait of a Young Man(No. 1506), which since 1709 has passed under the quite fictitious title of thePortrait of Raphael, and is indeed still catalogued under his name, is an ill drawn and badly coloured production. It seems to issue from the influences we have just outlined. Morelli regarded it as the work of Bacchiacca (1494–1557), who churned up reminiscences of Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, and Perugino. Mr. Berenson has tentatively assigned it to Sogliani, who imitated Albertinelli and many other Florentines.
An unattributed FlorentinePortrait of a Young Man(No. 1644), which has been enlarged about three inches all round, had at one time or another been ascribed without much discrimination to Raphael, Giorgione, Sebastiano del Piombo, Francesco Francia, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, and Franciabigio! It is apparently from the hand of Giuliano Bugiardini (1475–1554), a mediocre artist who endeavoured to appropriate all the conflicting influences that he came under. It has long been hung to the left of Raphael’sLa Belle Jardinière.
A Florentine painter of no great accomplishment or originality in the first half of the sixteenth century was Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–1557), who painted thePortrait of an Engraver of Precious Stones(No. 1241) and the largeHoly Family(No. 1240). TheVisitation(No. 1242) is a copy by a pupil of his fresco in the Annunziata, Florence. By another pupil, Agnolo Bronzino (1502–1572), are theChrist and the Magdalene(No. 1183), not now exhibited, and thePortrait of a Sculptor(No. 1184); theHoly Family(No. 1183aor No. 1183b) which was formerly in the Vandeuil collection is only a copy. Giovanni Battista Rosso (1496–1541), who is called Rosso Fiorentino to distinguish him from Francesco Rosso (Il Salviati), came to work at the FrenchCourt about 1530; he painted aPietà(No. 1485), and aChallenge of the Pierides(No. 1486), which are hung among the French pictures.The Portrait of a Musician(No. 1608), by Paolo Zacchia; theMadonna, St. John and St. Stephen(No. 1133), by Michelangelo Anselmi; theDavid overcoming Goliath(No. 1462), a repulsive production painted by Daniele da Volterra (Ricciarelli) on both sides of a large piece of slate; aFlight into Egypt(No. 1209), by Lodovico Cardi (Il Cigoli), and Matteo Rosselli’sTriumph of David(No. 1483), are unworthy of comment. They show unmistakably the characteristics of the Decadence in full operation.