trions Salviati, by wliom the fine works in painting, left to her by Messer Ottaviano, are preserved and valued as they merit, and who in like manner esteems and seeks to retain as her own, the friends who were those of her husband.
Another picture by Andrea, is one almost exactly like that of the Charity above named, which he painted for Giovanni Borgherini; it represents the Madonna with the Divine Child, to whom an infant St. John, presents a globe, to signify the world, and a very beautiful head of Joseph.[1]
Now it happened that Paolo da Terra Rossa had seen the sketch for the picture of Abraham about to sacrifice his son, and, being a friend to all painters, he desired to possess a work by the hand of its author; he therefore requested a copy of that painting from Andrea, who complied with much willingness, and performed his part in such a manner, that the copy in its minuteness is by no means •inferior to the large original. Greatly pleased with what he had obtained, Paolo inquired the price that he might pay for it, fully expecting that the picture would cost him what it was indeed worth; but Andrea demanded only such a wretched sum, that Paolo felt almost ashamed, and, shrugging his shoulders, paid him all he required.[2] This work was afterwards sent by Paolo to Naples, and is there considered the best and most admirable picture in the place.
During the siege of Florence, certain leaders of the troops had fled the city, with the funds entrusted to them for the payment of their men: wherefore Andrea was called on to paint the effigies, not of these persons only, but of certain other citizens who had departed to join the enemy, on the palace of the Signoria, and on the open Piazza. He accepted the office accordingly, and said that he would do as was required, but, that he might not obtain the appellation of Andrea has been engraved, but not with any great success, by
- ↑ We have no information respecting this work. Baldinucci remarks that many of the oil paintings executed by Andrea for the Florentine citizens, had in his day begun to disappear from the city, having been sent into foreign lands, where they were sold for very large sums.
- ↑ A most lame and impotent conclusion indeed, and one for which we would fain apologize to the reader, who was doubtless expecting to hear that at least this Paolo had “paid him double the amount,” rather than the miserable “all ” that he had required.
Picchianti. There is a replica in the Brignole-Sale Palace in Genoa.
