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Giorgio Vasari
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects
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Giorgio Vasari |
The Lives of the Artists |
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see collection:
Giorgione
Fra Sebastiano del Piombo
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Giorgione and Fra Sebastiano del Pombio
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Giorgione
Judith
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At the same time that Florence was acquiring such fame by the
works of Lionardo, Venice received no little honour by the talents
and excellence of one of its citizens, who far surpassed the Bellini,
who were held in such esteem, and every other who had up to that
time painted in their city. This was Giorgio, born at Castelfranco
in the Trevisan in the year I478, afterwards called Giorgione, from
his fine person and the greatness of his soul, for he, though of low
birth, was all his life distinguished for his gentle manners. He was
brought up in Venice, and sang and played so divinely that he was
often invited to musical entertainments, and received by noble
persons. He gave himself, however, to drawing, and was so favoured
by nature that he, falling in love with her beauty, would never use
anything in his works which he had not drawn from life; so that he
acquired the reputation not only of having surpassed Gentile and
Giovanni Bellini, but of having equalled those who worked in
Tuscany, and were the authors of the modern manner. Giorgione had
seen some things of Lionardo's worked with great depth of shadow but
blended and softened, and this manner pleased him so much that all
his life he used it and imitated it when painting in oil.
It was in 1504 that a great fire destroyed the German Exchange
near the bridge of the Rialto, consuming all the merchandise, to the
very great loss of the merchants. The Signory of Venice ordered that
it should be rebuilt, and it was speedily completed, with greater
accommodation and magnificence and beauty; and the fame of Giorgione
having by this time grown great, it was decided by those in
authority that he should paint it in fresco according to his own
fancy, provided he displayed his utmost powers, and made an
excellent work of it, for it was in the best situation, and the
finest view of the whole city. Giorgione, setting to work, thought
only how he could design figures that would best display his art;
and in fact there is no story in it, nor does it represent the story
of any person, ancient or modern. I for my part have never
understood it, nor ~ave I ever found anybody who did; for here is a
woman and there a man, in certain attitudes, one with the head of a
lion near him, and the other with an angel in the guise of Cupid. In
short, his figures look well together, and there are heads very well
drawn and coloured, and all he did was evidently from life, and not
in imitation of any manner.
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Giorgione
Sleeping Venus
c. 1510 |
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There is a story that Giorgione was talking to some sculptors at
the time that Andrea Verrocchio was making his bronze horse, and
they contended that because sculpture showed in one figure different
sides, and could be seen all round, it surpassed painting, which
only showed one part. Giorgione argued that a picture could show all
sorts of views of a man at one glance, without his having to walk
round it, and he undertook to show in one picture the back and the
front and the two sides of one single figure, a thing which puzzled
them; but he did it in this way. He painted a man, turning his back
to the spectators, and having at his feet some smooth water, in
which the front view was reflected; on one side of him was a
polished corslet which he had taken off, on which was plainly
reflected his left profile, while on the other hand was a mirror, in
which might be clearly seen his other side--a fanciful conceit which
was highly admired.
He made many portraits of different Italian princes, and painted
from life Caterina, Queen of Cyprus. But while he was expecting
still to add to his honours and those of his country, he fell ill of
the plague, in the year 1511, and at the age of thirtyfour passed to
another life, to the infinite grief of his many friends and with
damage to the world who lost him. Nevertheless there remained his
two excellent pupils, Sebastiano Veniziano del Piombo and Titian,
who not only equalled him but greatly surpassed him. Sebastiano's
first profession was not painting but music, which made him very
acceptable to the nobles of Venice, with whom he lived on intimate
terms. But when still young, desiring to learn painting, he studied
first with Giovanni Bellini, who was then an old man, and
afterwards, when Giorgione had introduced a more modern manner, he
left Bellini and joined Giorgione, and stayed with him until he had
acquired his style so accurately that many who have no great
knowledge of art mistake his works for Giorgione's.
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Giorgione
Adoration of the Shepherds
1505-10
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington
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A rich merchant of Sienna, Agostino Chigi, hearing of his fame,
sought to persuade him to go to Rome, being pleased not only with
his painting but also with his music and his agreeable conversation.
It was not hard to persuade Bastiano to go, for he knew that that
city had always been the protector of men of genius. So when he was
come to Rome Agostino set him to work, and he did some things in
Agostino's palace in the style that he had brought from Venice, very
different from that which the best painters in Rome employed.
Afterwards, Raffaello having painted the story of Galatea in the
same place, Bastiano painted by the side of It a Polyphemus. He also
painted some things in oil, and having learnt a soft style of
colouring from Giorgione, he obtained by them a great reputation.
Raffaello by this time had earned such honour by his paintings
that his friends and adherents said that they were better than
Michael Angelo's, being pleasant in colouring, fine in invention,
excellent in expression, and good in drawing, while Buonarroti's had
none of these qualities but the drawing. And so they said that
Raffaello was at least equal to him in drawing, and surpassed him in
his colour. But Sebastiano was not of these, being a man of
exquisite judgment. So Michael Angelo being drawn towards
Sebastiano, and being pleased with his colouring and graceful style,
took him under his protection, thinking that, if he aided Sebastiano
in his drawing, he could through him contend with those who opposed
him. Sebastiano's paintings being therefore more highly valued
through the praise that Michael Angelo had given them, a gentleman
from Viterbo much favoured by the Pope gave Sebastiano a picture of
a dead Christ to paint for a chapel in San Francesco at Viterbo. But
though Sebastiano carried it out with great diligence, the design
was by Michael Angelo. The work was held by all who saw it to be
most beautiful, and Sebastiano gained great credit by it. And Pier
Francesco Borgherini, a Florentine merchant, having taken a chapel
in S. Piero in Montorio, entrusted the painting of it to Sebastiano,
thinking, as was indeed the case, that Michael Angelo would make the
design. Sebastiano carried it out with great diligence and care, and
thinking he had found a way of painting in oil on a wall, he covered
the plaster with a suitable preparation, and all that part which has
the scourging of Christ he painted in oil. Nor will I conceal that
many think that Michael Angelo not only made a little drawing for
the work, but that the figure of Christ was put in altogether by
him, there being a great difference between that and the other
figures. When Sebastiano had uncovered this work his enemies'
tongues were silenced, and few ventured to attack him. Afterwards,
when Raffaello painted for the Cardinal de' Medici that picture of
the Transfiguration which was placed after his death in S. Piero in
Montorio, Sebastiano painted another picture of the same size, as if
in rivalry, representing the raising of Lazarus, and this also was
worked under the guidance of Michael Angelo, and in some parts from
his drawings. The two pictures when they were finished were
exhibited together, and both received great praise1 for although
Raffaello's works have no equals for grace and beauty, yet none the
less Sebastiano's efforts were universally applauded.
This man had to labour greatly at all his works; they did not
come with the facility that nature and study sometimes give. So in
the chapel of Agostino Chigi, where Raffaello had made the sibyls
and prophets, there was a niche below in which Bastiano undertook to
paint something to surpass Raffaello, and set to work to prepare the
wall; but he left it untouched when he died ten years after.
Sebastiano indeed could draw quickly and easily from life, but it
was just the contrary in subject pictures. Indeed portrait painting
was his true work.
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Fra Sebastiano del Pombio
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
1510
Oil on panel
National Gallery, London
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When Cardinal Giulio de' Medici was made Pope under the name of
Clement VII., he intimated to Sebastiano that he would seek occasion
to favour him. Therefore, upon the death of Fra Mariano Fetti, the
Frate del Piombo, Sebastiano reminded him of his promise, and made
request for the office of the Piombo. And although Giovanni da Udine,
who had served his Holiness long, preferred the same request, the
Pope gave orders that Sebastiano should have the office, on the
agreement to pay to Giovanni a pension of three hundred crowns. So
Sebastiano assumed the habit of a friar, and at the same time his
nature seemed to change; for having wherewith to satisfy his desires
without using his pencil, he let it repose, and made up for his
laborious days by rest and ease. Thus the magnificent liberality of
Clement VII rewarding Sebastiano too highly was the cause that from
a hardworking, industrious man he became slothful and negligent, and
having laboured constantly when he was competing with Raffaello and
his fortune was low, he ceased to work as soon as he had enough. He
had a very good house, which he had built himself, and in this he
lived in the greatest contentment, without any wish to paint. He
used to say that it was just as prudent to live a quiet life as to
be ever struggling restlessly to leave a great name behind. And he
acted according to his words, having always the best wines and
rarest dainties he could get, taking more account of good living
than of art. Being censured by some, who said it was a shame that
now that he had the means of living he worked no more, he answered,
"Now that I have the means of living I do no work, because there are
clever men in the world now, who can do in two months as much as I
used to do in two years, and I think if I live much longer
everything will have been painted; so as these men do so much, it is
a good thing that there should be some who do nothing, that they may
have more to do." And in pleasantries of this kind he would run on,
and indeed there was no better companion than he.
As we have said, Bastiano was much beloved by Michael Angelo, but
when the Pope's chapel was to be painted, where now is Michael
Angelo's Judgment, there was some illfeeling between them. For Fra
Sebastiano had persuaded the Pope to make Michael Angelo paint it in
oil, whereas he would not do it except in fresco. Michael Angelo
therefore saying neither yes or no, the wall was prepared in Fra
Sebastiano's way; Michael Angelo left it untouched for some months,
and when they implored him to begin it, he said at last that he
would not do it except in fresco, for oil painting was an art for
women and lazy people like Fra Sebastiano. So the plaster being
taken down it was prepared for working in fresco, and Michael Angelo
set to work upon it, but never forgot the injury Fra Sebastiano had
done him.
Fra Sebastiano, having brought himself to doing nothing whatever
except the work of his office, and living well, fell sick at last of
a violent fever and died. Art lost little by his death, for he might
have been counted among those whom it had lost from the time he put
on the friar's habit; but many of his friends mourn him still for
his pleasant converse. He had at different times many young men with
him to study art, but to no great profit, for they learnt little
from him but how to live well.
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Fra Sebastiano del Pombio
Christ Carrying the Cross
1535-40
Oil on slate, 157 x 118 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
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see collection:
Giorgione
Fra Sebastiano del Piombo
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