Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Giovanni Antonio Sogliani

by Giorgio Vasari

 

THE FLORENTINE PAINTER, GIOVANNI ANTONIO SOGLIANI.

[born 1492—died 1544.]

It may often be remarked, both in the sciences and' in the more exalted and -ingenious of the manual arts, that those men who are of a melancholy temperament, are more assiduous in their studies, and support the tedium of their labours with greater patience, than do those of a more lively disposition, wherefore it most commonly happens that the first-mentioned are found to become distinguished above their fellows and usually render themselves most excellent in their vocation.

An instance of this was seen in the Florentine painter, Giovanni Antonio Sogliano, who was so cold of aspect, and of so dejected a countenance, that he seemed to be Melancholy itself. So great an influence had this affection over him, that he gave few thoughts to any subject beyond the domain of art, with the exception of the cares which he took for his family; and to these he devoted his attention with anxious solicitude, although possessed of all that ho required for the convenience of life. Sogliano practised the art of painting with Lorenzo di Credi during four and twenty years, dwelling with his master, ever rendering him the utmost honour, and careful to serve him constantly in every manner and on all occasions. Having in that time made himself a very good painter, Giovan Antonio afterwards proved himself a most faithful disciple of Lorenzo, and was the close imitator of the latter in all his works. An example of what is here said may be seen in his first pictures, which are in the chapel of the Osservanza, situate on the height of San Miniato, outside the city of Florence, where he painted a copy of that which his master had executed for the Nuns of Santa Chiara.^[1] This represents the Nativity of our Lord, and is in no wise inferior to the work of Lorenzo himself.

After Sogliani had at length separated himself from his master, he painted a picture in oil for the Guild of the Vintners; this work represents San Martino in his episcopal robes; it w^as painted for the church of San Michele-inOrto, and the artist obtained for it the reputation of being a very good master. Giovan Antonio held the works and the manner of Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco in the highest veneration; he therefore earnestly sought to approach that master in the manner of his colouring. In a picture which Sogliani sketched, but did not finish, because it failed to satisfy him, we have proof that he did indeed take great pains to imitate Fra Bartolommeo. This picture Giovan Antonio kept in his house while he lived, as considering it useless; but after his death it was sold as old merchandise to Sinibaldo Gaddi, who caused it to be finished by Santi Titi del Borgo, who was then but a youth; and that being done, Sinibaldo then placed it in a chapel which he had in the church of San Domenico, at Fiesole.^[2] In this work are seen the Magi adoring the Infant Christ, who is in the lap of the Virgin Mother; and in one corner of the picture is the portrait of Sogliani himself, a tolerably exact resemblance.

He afterwards painted a picture for Madonna Alfonsina, wife of Piero de’ Medici, which was placed, in fulfilment of a vow, on the altar of the chapel of the Martyrs, in the church of the Camaldoli, at Florence. The subject of this painting is the Crucifixion of Sant’ Arcadio, who is seen on his cross, with other martyrs, who bear their crosses in their arms. Two of these figures are partially draped, the others are nude, and are kneeling on the earth, still bearing their crosses; in the heavens above are angels in the form of little children, holding palms in their hands. This picture, which was executed with infinite care, gives evidence of much judgment in the colouring, the heads also, which are full of animation, evince considerable ability. It was fixed in the abovenamed church of Camaldoli, but at the siege of Florence, that monastery being taken from those Eremite fathers, who had worthily celebrated the divine offices in its church, and being afterwards given to the nuns of San Giovanni, who belong to the Order of the Knights of Jerusalem, was ultimately destroyed; when the picture above described was placed by order of the Signor Duke Cosimo in a chapel which belongs to the Medici family in the church of San Lorenzo, he considering it to be a work which may be accounted among the best of those performed by Sogliani.^[3]

Ey the same master is a Last Supper, painted in oil for the nuns of the Crocetta; this also was highly extolled at the time. So2;liani likewise decorated a Tabernacle in Fresco for Taddeo Taddei; this is in the Via de’ Ginori, and exhibits a Crucifix, with Our Lady and San Giovanni at the foot thereof, and Angels in the air above, who are weeping with an expression of deep sorrow. It has been deservedly commended, and is very well executed for a work in fresco,^[4] There is another Crucifix by this master in the refectory of the Abbey of the Black Friars at Florence; angels are flying around this also, and the grief they suffer is expressed with much grace; beneath is Our Lady, with San Giovanni, San Benedetto, Santa Scholastica, and other figures.^[5] For the nuns of the Spirito Santo, whose abode is on the ascent of San Giorgio, Sogliani painted two pictures which are now in their Church; the one represents San Francesco, the other Santa Elisabetta, Queen of Hungary, who was a sister of that Order.^[6]

Sogliani also depicted an exceedingly beautiful Banner for the Brotherhood of the Ceppo. This they bear in procession; on the one side thereof is the Visitation of our Lady, and on the other San Niccolo the Bishop,^[7] with two children clothed in the habit of the Flagellants, one of whom holds the book for the Saint, the other bears the three balls of gold.^[8] In a picture painted for the chapel of San Jacopo-sopr’Arno, Sogliani depicted the Trinity, with a large number of angels in the form of children, as also Santa Caterina, San Jacopo, and Santa Maria Maddalena, the latter kneeling. Beside this picture are two figures in fresco, standing upright; they represent San Giovanni and San Girolamo doing penance. In the predella of the work Sogliani caused his scholar, Sandrino del Calzolaio, to paint small stories, which have received considerable praise.

At the upper end of an Oratory, in the Gastello d’Anghiari, this master painted a picture of the Last Supper in oil; the figures in the work here in question are as large as life, and on the walls on each side of it our artist depicted the Saviour washing the feet of his disciples on the one hand, with a servant bringing two vessels of water on the other. This work acquired a great reputation for the master in that place, and very deservedly, seeing that it is a very excellent one. He obtained from it accordingly both honour and advantage.^[9] A picture painted by Sogliani, and representing Judith with the head of Holofernes, was sent into Hungary, as being a work of great beauty, and one which he executed by commission, for Paolo da Terrarossa, was sent by the latter in like manner to Naples. The subject of this last was the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and in it there is the perspective view of the exterior of the Chapter-house of the Pazzi,^[10] which is in the first cloister of Santa Croce.

Sogliani also painted two other pictures in oil, for one of the Bernard! family; these were placed in a chapel of the church of the Osservanza di San Miniato, and present two figures larger than life, San Giovanni Battista that is to say, and Sant’ Antonio of Padua. Between these figures there was to have been anol^er picture, but Giovan Antonio, being dilatory by nature, and one who liked to work at his leisure, delayed the painting so long that the person who had commissioned him to execute it died; this picture, therefore, the subject of which was the Saviour lying dead in the lap of the Virgin Mother, remained unfinished. After these things, and when Perino del Vaga, having left Genoa in anger against the Prince Doria, was labouring in Pisa, where the sculptor Stagio,^[11] of Pietrasanta, had commenced the range of new chapels in marbles, then constructed at the end of the nave of the cathedral, the above-named Perino was commanded to complete the decorations by the addition of paintings, as will be related in his life. The space behind the high altar, and which serves as a sacristy, had in like manner been made ready by the sculptor Stagio; and Perino, with other masters, began to execute the paintings before mentioned, among the marble ornaments. But Perino was recalled to Genoa, when Giovan Antonio was commanded to continue the pictures which were intended for the recess behind the high altar, taking for his subject the Sacrifices described in the Old Testament, in allusion to the Sacrifice of the most Holy Sacrament, which was there placed in the centre of the space above the high altar.

In the first of these pictures, therefore, Sogliani represented the Sacrifice offered by Noah and his sons when they left the Ark; and in the second is the Sacrifice of Cain, with that offered by his brother Abel, all of which were highly commended, but more particularly the Sacrifice of Noah, wherein there are certain heads and portions of figures which are most beautiful. In the picture of Abel there is an admirable landscape executed with great care, and it is besides much admired for the head of Abel, the expression of his countenance being that of the most perfect goodness. The face of Cain is altogether the contrary, it is indeed the countenance of a truly bad man. And now had Sogliani continued the work with spirit and promptitude, the Superintendent of works to the Cathedral, from whom he had received the commission, and who was pleased with his manner of painting, as well as with the excellence of his character, would doubtless have suffered him to complete all the works required for the cathedral. But Giovan Antonio relaxed in his attention, and therefore did not at that time execute more than one picture, in addition to those above described. This he painted in Florence, and it was placed in the chapel which Perino had begun to adorn with paintings, where it gave much satisfaction to the Pisans, and was considered to he exceedingly beautiful.^[12] The subject is Our Lady with San Giovanni Battista, San Giorgio, Santa Maria Maddelena, Santa Margareta, and other saints.

Satisfied with this work, the Superintendent then commissioned Sogliani to paint three more pictures, which he commenced accordingly, but did not complete them during the life of that Superintendent, whose place Bastiano della Seta was elected to fill. Then the latter, perceiving that the progress made by Sogliani was very slow, gave a commission to the excellent Sienese painter, Domenico Beccafumi,^[13] whom he commanded to paint four pictures for the above-mentioned sacristy, which had been constructed behind the high altar. By that master they were commenced immediately, as will be related in his life, and he executed one picture while other artists proceeded with the others. Continuing his work at leisure, Giovan Antonio then completed the two remaining pictures with infinite care, representing Our Lady, with numerous saints around her, in each of them. Finally, he removed to Pisa, and there undertook a fourth picture, but in this he did not succeed so well as in those previously painted, either because he was becoming old, or because he felt troubled by the competition of Beccafumi, or for some other reason.

But the Superintendent Bastiano, remarking the slowness of this man, and desiring to see the work brought to an end, commissioned Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo to paint the three pictures that still remained; he executed two of them accordingly, those on the front wall and which stand on each side of the door. In that towards the Campo Santo is Our Lady; in her arms she holds the Divine Child, whom Santa Maria is caressing. Santa Cecilia, Sant’ Agostino, San Gioseffo, and San Guido the Hermit, are also represented, all kneeling: in the foreground is a figure of San Girolamo entirely nude, with one of San Luca, and some Children holding a drapery, with others who have flowers in their hands. In the other picture Vasari also painted a Madonna, with the Saviour in her arms, as the Superintendent desired; the Virgin is accompanied by San Jacopo Interciso, San Matteo, the Pontiff, San Silvestro, and San Turpe the Knight. But to the end that he might not repeat the circumstances of the previously painted pictures (although he had greatly varied his work from those of others, and that in many respects), having thus to depict another Madonna, Vasari represented her with the Saviour dead in her arms, and with the Saints around her, as in a Deposition from the Cross; the two Thieves, entirely nude, are fixed on crosses formed of unhewn trunks, raised on the height; around are horses and the executioners, with Joseph, Nicodemus, and the Maries, which Vasari did to satisfy the superintendent, who was determined to have all the Saints whose efiigies had been found among the old dismantled chapels, reinstated among the paintings of the new building, by way of restoring their memory.

One picture was still wanting, and this was painted by 11 Bronzino, who represented a nude figure of Christ with eight Saints therein, and thus were these chapels brought to a conclusion, all which Giovan Antonio might have adorned with his own hands if he had not been so dilatory.

This master had obtained great favour with the Pisans, and after the death of Andrea del Sarto he was commissioned to complete a picture which Andrea had left but j ust sketched for the Brotherhood of San Francesco; this is now in the house of that brotherhood on the Piazza di San Francesco in Pisa:^[14] he also executed a series of designs for hangings to be used in the hall of the Wardens of Works to the Cathedral; wdth many others of similar kind in Florence, this being an occupation in which Giovan Antonio found much pleasure, and these he did for the most part in company with the Florentine painter, Tommaso di Stefano,^[15] who was his friend.

Being summoned by the monks of San Marco in Florence to paint a fresco at the upper end of their refectory, Sogliani desired to depict the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, wherewith our Saviour Christ gave food to five thousand persons, in the work thus proposed to him, and which was to be executed at the cost of a lay brother belonging to the Molletti family, who when in the world had possessed a large patrimony. He had already made the design of his picture, wherein he had begun to depict numerous women and children, with a vast crowd and concourse of persons, when those monks declared that they would not have that story, but required the artist to paint for them simple, familiar, and well-defined figures. To do them pleasure therefore, he depicted a story from the life of San Domenico, who being in the refectory with his monks, and finding that they were without bread, made his prayer to God, when the table was instantly covered with bread brought by two angels in the form of men. In this work Giovan Antonio portrayed many of the monks who were then in the monastery from nature, and these figures appear to be truly alive; this is more especially the case with that of the lay brother of the Molletti family, who is represented as serving at table.^[16]

In the lunette which is over the table the master then depicted San Domenico at the foot of a crucifix, with Our Lady and San Giovanni Evangelista, who are weeping: on one side of the cross stands Santa Caterina of Siena, and on the other is Sant’ Antonino, archbishop of Florence, who was a brother of that order. This work is a fresco of considerable merit, and is painted with great care, but it would have been still more valuable had Sogliani been permitted to execute the subject which he had himself intended to portray, although it is nothing more than justice demands, on the other side, that he who expends his means for a work should be content with the same. Sogliani’s design for the proposed painting of the bread and fishes is now in the possession of Bartolommeo Gondi, who, to say nothing of a large picture which he has from the hand of Giovan Antonio, is likewise in possession of numerous drawings and heads painted on tinted paper from the life by this master, and which he received from the wife of Sogliani after the death of the latter, to whom Bartolommeo had been an intimate friend* We also have ourselves certain drawings by the hand of Giovan Antonio in our book, and these are exceedingly beautiful.

Sogliani commenced a large picture for Giovanni Serrestori, which was to be placed in the Church of San Francesco dell’ Osservanza, outside the gate of San Miniato; this work contains a vast number of figures, among which there are certain heads of admirable beauty, and perhaps the best ever depicted by this master, but the picture was not completed before the previously-named Giovanni Serrestori died. Nevertheless, as Sogliani had received the whole of his demand for it, he completed the work by degrees, and gave it to Messer Alamanno di Jacopo Salviati, son-in-law and heir of Giovanni Serrestori, by whom it was presented, together with the frame-work by which it was ornamented, to the nuns of San Luca, who placed it over the High Altar of their chapel in the Via di San Gallo.^[17]

Many other works were executed by Giovan Antonio Sogliani, in Florence, some of which are dispersed among the houses of the citizens, while others have been sent into foreign parts, but of these I need make no further mention, seeing that we have already enumerated the principal. Sogliani was a most upright and exceedingly religious man, always occupied with his own affairs, and being ever careful to offer no molestation to any of his brethren in art. One of his disciples was Sandrino del Calzolaio, who painted the Tabernacle which is fixed at the corner of the Murate. At the Hospital of the Temple also, there is a work by Sandrino, representing San Giovanni Battista receiving the poor to shelter, and many more works, which would also have been good ones, would Sandrino del Calzolaio have performed without doubt, had he not died so early, but the death of this artist happened while he was still very young.^[18]

Other disciples of Giovan Antonio Sogliani were Michele, who afterwards studied with Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, whose name he took; Benedetto, who went to France with Antonio Mini,^[19] a disciple of Miclielagnolo Buonarroti, where he performed many admirable works; and lastly, Zanobi di Poggino, by whom a large number of paintings are to be seen in the city of Florence.

Finally, exhausted and in very bad health, having been long suffering from internal disease, Giovan Antonio rendered his soul to God at the age of fifty-two years. Flis death caused deep regret, seeing that he was a man of great rectitude of character; his manner in painting gave much satisfaction, because he imparted to his figures an air of piety and a mildness of expression which please those who care little for the difficult and enterprizing in art, but like modest, easy, mild, and graceful delineations. His body was opened after his death, when three large stones each of the size of an egg were found within him; he would never consent to suffer an operation, nor ever hear it mentioned to him while he lived.^[20]

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1. See ante, pp. 146, 147, note *. “It may be,” suggests a German annotator, “that this copy is the very picture nov so justly admired in the gallery of Berlin.”
2. Where it still remains.
3. This work also is still to be seen in the Church of San Lorenzo.
4. From the Palace of Taddeo Taddei, who was the friend of Raphael, this tabernacle was removed to the hall of the opposite palace. It has suffered greatly by time and restoration. —Ed. Flor. 1832 -8.
5. The refectory is now used as a magazine for merchandize.— Ed. Flor. 1832-8.
6. These pictures have disappeared. They were painted not for the nuns of the Spirito Santo, but for those of San Girolamo.—Ibid.
7. Still to be seen in the possession of the Brotherhood of the Ceppo. —Ibid.
8. For the most probable signification of these balls, see vol. if of the present work, p. 414, note.f:. See also Mrs. Jameson, Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. ii. p, 68.
9. Still in the church of Santa Maria del Fosso, in Anghiari, and considered to be Sogliani’s best work.
10. Built by Filippo Brunellesco, as may be seen in his life, vol. i.
11. Or Anastagio.
12. The paintings, which were executed by Sogliani in the Cathedral of Pisa still exist.
13. The works of Beccafumi, called Mecherino, whose life follows, are also still in existence.
14. This is now in the Cathedral of Pisa.
15. Of Tommaso di Stefano, Vasari has made mention in the life of Lorenzo di Credi. See vol. ii.
16. The pictures executed by this master in the great refectory belonging to the Monks of San Marco are still in existence.—Ed. Flor. 1832 -ii-
17. Still in the Church which is near the Hospital of St. Boniface in the Via San Gallo. In the upper part of the work is the Immaculate Conception,” and beneath are several doctors of the Church, among whom are SS. Augustine, Ambrose, and Bernard, holding a deputation concerning original sin, over the dead body of Adam.
18. The works of these disciples of Sogliani have perished.
19. Borghini, in his Riposo, relates that Antonio received the Leda of Michael Angelo from that master, and that he took it into France, where he sold it to the king.
20. In the first edition we have the addition of the date, mdxliv. namely.