beyond all doubt, have been without an equal. But there was a certain timidity of mind, a sort of diffidence and want of force in his nature, which rendered it impossible that those evidences of ardour and animation, which are proper to the more exalted character, should ever appear in him; nor did he at any time display one particle of that elevation which, could it but have been added to the advantages wherewith he was endowed, would have rendered him a truly divine painter: wherefore the w^orks of Andrea are wanting in those ornaments of grandeur, richness, and force, which appear so conspicuously in those of many other masters. His figures are nevertheless well drawn, they are entirely free from errors, and perfect in all their proportions, and are for the most part simple and chaste: the expression of his heads is natural and graceful in women and children, while in youths and old men it is full of life and animation. The draperies of this master are beautiful to a marvel, and the nude figures are admirably executed, the drawing is simple, the colouring is most exquisite, nay, it is truly divine.
Andrea was born in Florence, in the year 1488, his father was a tailor, for which cause he was always called Andrea del Sarto[1] by every one. Having attained the age of seven, he was taken from the reading and writing school, to be placed with a goldsmith, and while thus employed, was always more willing to occupy himself with drawing than with the use of the chisel, or of such tools as are used by the goldsmith to work in silver and gold. Now it chanced that Gian Barile, a Florentine painter, but one of a coarse and plebeian taste, had remarked the good manner which the child displayed in drawing, and took him to himself, making him abandon the art of the goldsmith and causing him to give his attention to that of painting. In this, Andrea accordingly began to occupy himself to his very great pleasure, and soon perceived with joy that nature had formed him for that vocation: in a very short space of time, therefore, he was seen to do such things with the colours, that Gian Barile and the other artists of the city, were struck with astonishment. After the lapse of three years, having been very zealous in his studies, he was found
- ↑ Sarto and sartore are the Italian equivalents for “tailor;” the boy was thus called, the tailor’s Andrew.”
