Back to Index to Vasari's Lives
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.
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.
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.
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.
Source. These texts were at http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~pfitz/ART/REN/VASARI.HTM,but
vanished from the net, and so they have been restored here.
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors &
architects, by Giorgio Vasari: newly tr. by Gaston du C. de Vere. With five hundred
illustraiions, London, Macmillan and & The Medici society, 1912-15.
Other translations include:
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. The lives of the painters, sculptors and architects. London, J. M. Dent; New York, Dutton [1949-50]).
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors,
and architects. Abridged from the translation by Gaston DuC. DeVere. Edited, with an
introd., by Robert N. Linscott. New York, Modern Library [1959].
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the artists. Selected and translated by
E.L. Seeley. Introd. by Alfred Werner. (New York, Noonday Press, [1965, c1957]).
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the artists; a selection translated by
George Bull. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Eng. : Penguin Books, 1987.
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. The lives of the artists; translated with an
introduction and notes by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. (Oxford ; New
York : Oxford University Press, 1991.).
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
Electronic fotmat © Paul Halsall, May 2019
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University.
Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 3 May 2024 [CV]
