Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Gherardo

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE FLORENTINE MINIATURE PAINTER, GHERARDO.

[born... —was still working in the early years of the sixteenth century.]

Of all the enduring works performed by means of colour there is none better calculated to resist the attacks of air and water than mosaic; and well was this known to the elder Lorenzo de’ Medici,^[1] who, being a man of talent, and one who respected ancient memorials, sought to bring once more into use that art which had, for many years, remained hidden.^[2] Receiving great pleasure from painting and sculpture, he could not fail to have an interest in mosaic also; and perceiving that Gherardo, then a painter of miniatures, and a man of much ingenuity, was inquiring into the difficulties of that art, Lorenzo, as one who constantly assisted those in whom he found the germ of genius, favoured him greatly; wherefore, associating Gherardo with Domenico del Ghirlandajo, he caused him to obtain from the Wardens of the works of Santa Maria del Fiore, a commission to execute decorations for the chapels of the Transepts, and in the first instance that of the Sacrament, where reposes the body of San Zanobi. Thus put forward, Gherardo, exerting the utmost powers of his mind, would, without doubt, have accomplished admirable works in company with Domenico, had not death interposed to prevent him, as we may judge from the commencement made in that chapel, but which remained unfinished.^[3]

Gherardo, in addition to his ability as a mosaic master, was an excellent miniature painter, and executed large figures also in mural paintings. Without the gate of Santa Croce there is a Tabernacle in fresco by his hand, and another within the city of Florence, at the end of the Via Larga, which is highly extolled.^[4] On the front of the church of San Gilio, near Santa Maria Nuova, beneath the story painted by Lorenzo di Bicci, and which represents the Consecration of that church by Pope Martin V., Gherardo executed a fresco, depicting the same Pope conferring the Habit of the Order and many privilege.s, on the Director of the Hospital. In this work there were much fewer figures than would seem to have been required for the due relation of the event, the space being partly occupied by a Tabernacle, within which was a figure of Our Lady; but this has been lately removed by Don Isidore Montaguto, the new Director of the Hospital, who desired to construct a grand entrance to the house at that place, and the remainder of the story has been added by Francesco Brini,^[5] a young Florentine painter. In this admirable fresco Gherardo had produced a work which it would not be possible for the most practised master to equal, but with exceeding labour and great diligence. In the same hospital Gherardo painted the miniatures of numerous books for the church,^[6] with some for Santa Maria del Fiore, and others for Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. These last, on the death of that monarch, with others by the hand of Vante, and the rest of the masters who were working for the Hungarian king in Florence, were paid for and taken by the illustrious Lorenzo de’ Medici, who placed them among those so much celebrated which he was preparing for the library, afterwards erected by Pope Clement VII,^[7] and which the duke Cosimo has now commanded to be published.^[8]

Having thus, from a master in miniatures, become a painter, as we have said, Gherardo, in addition to the works already mentioned, prepared a large cartoon, with figures of great size, for those of the Evangelists, which he was to execute in mosaic, in the chapel of San Zanobi; but before the illustrious Lorenzo de’ Medici had caused him to obtain the commission for that chapel, Gherardo, to prove that he was well versed in the art of working in mosaic, and to show that he could proceed without any associate, had executed a head of San Zanobi, of the size of life, which is still preserved in Santa Maria del Fiore, and is placed on the altar of that saint on days of high solemnity, or sometimes in other places, as a rare and valuable thing.^[9]

While Gherardo was thus occupied, there were brought to Florence certain engravings after the German manner, by Martino^[10] and Albert Durer; w'hen, being much pleased with that kind of engraving, Gherardo himself took the graver in hand, and copied some of those plates most admirably, as may be seen from certain specimens which are in our book, together with various designs by the same artist. Gherardo painted many pictures, which were despatched to distant places; one of these is at Bologna, in the church of San Domenico; it was placed in the chapel of Santa Caterina of Siena, (representing that saint,) and is most beautifully painted.^[11] In San Marco at Florence, this master painted the lunette above the Table of Indulgences with small figures of much grace.^[12] But the more entirely he satisfied others by his works, the less could Gherardo satisfy himself with them, mosaic only excepted, and in this kind of painting he was rather the rival and competitor than the companion or associate of Domenico Ghirlandajo; nay, Gherardo would have become most excellent in that department of art if he had lived longer, since he spared no pains and had made himself master of most of the useful secrets and processes connected therewith.

Some affirm that Attavante, otherwise Vante, a Florentine painter in minature, of whom we have before spoken more than once, was a disciple of Gherardo, as was also Stefano, likewise a Florentine minature painter; but I feel persuaded, from the circumstance of both living at the same time, that Attavante was rather the friend and companion of Gherardo than his disciple. The latter died when considerably advanced in years, leaving all his possessions in art to his disciple, Stefano. And this Stefano, having devoted himself no long time after to architecture, abandoned every thing belonging to illuminating and painting in miniature to the elder Boccardino,^[13] by whom the greater part of the books in the Abbey of Florence were illuminated.^[14] Gherardo departed this life at the age of seventy-three, and his works date about the year of our redemption 1470.^[15]

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1. Vasari must here be understood to mean Lorenzo the Magnificent, not the brother of Cosimo, pater patriae.—Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
2. The practice of mosaic had never fallen out of use in Florence any more than in Venice, Orvieto, and other cities, in all of which the art was exercised with great success. —Masselli.
3. In the following life, that of Ghirlandajo, Vasari describes this work as interrupted by the death of Lorenzo; this happened in 1494. The mosaic was consequently commenced some time previous to that date. (Ed. Flor., 1832-8.) No part of it now remains. —Ibid. 1849.
4. The last-mentioned tabernacle, which is near the Piazza di San Marco, has been much injured and disfigured by re-touching.
5. This Francesco Brini is hut little known. An artist of the same name is enumerated among those of the seventeenth century. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
6. Some of these are still preserved in the Archives of the Institution. Among them is a particularly rich missal.
7. See D’Agincourt, (pi. Ixxix.) One of those executed for Matthias Corvinus, is now in the Library of the Vatican.
8. To be thrown open to the public, that is to say,—Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
9. The custom of placing this work on the altar yearly erected in the centre of the church on the festival of San Zanobi is still continued.— Masselli.
10. Martin Schön, or Schöngauer; commonly called by the Italians, Buon Martino.— See Zani, Enciclopedia Metodica.
11. Now in the Pontifical Gallery in Bologna,
12. This work is lost.
13. Bottari observes that no further notice of Stefano and Boccardino was to be found in his day, but later Italian writers mention two artists of the name, both illuminators or miniaturists. The artist here alluded to by Vasari, was called Giovanni di Giuliano. His name, Avith that of Francesco, his son, will be found in the old book of the painters before cited, under the date 1525.
14. The reader who shall desire minute details on this subject, is referred to Schottky, Pergamentmalereien, &c., des Mittelalters.— Munich, 1833. Shaw and Madden, Coloured Ornaments, &c., London, 1835. Dr. Waagen, Reise. Kunstwerke, &c. See also Bastard's costly Avork on miniature painting, published in Paris, &c. On the suppression of this convent by the French GoA^ernment, the miniatures Avere in many instances cut from the books; in others, books and illuminations Avere destroyed together.
15. It has been generally agreed, among the annotators on our author, to accept these dates as an intimation of the time about Avhich the works ot the master ceased to appear, or sometimes as that of his death; but this cannot here be the case, since the mosaics of the chapel of San Zanobi were not commenced until somewhere about 1490; and the prints of Martin Shon and Albert Diirer did not appear in Italy until the beginning of the sixteenth century. Gherardo must consequently have been living, and even working in the early years of that century. He must therefore have been tlie survivor of Ghirlandajo, Avho died in 1495.