Gherardo Stamina, Painter of Florence.
Certainly those who travel far from home to dwell in other parts very frequently do so to the advantage of their temperament, for by seeing divers customs abroad, even if they be of rather an extraordinary nature, they learn to be reasonable, kind and patient with considerably greater ease than they would have done had they remained at home. Indeed those who desire to refine men in their worldly conversation need no other fire and no better cement than this, because those who are naturally rough become gentle, and the gentle become even more gracious. Gherardo di Jacopo Stamina, painter of Florence, though rather hasty than good-natured, being very hard and rough in his dealings, did more harm by this to himself than to his friends, and it would have been even worse for him had he not remained a long time in Spain, where he learned to be gentle and courteous, for he there became so changed from his former nature that when he returned to Florence a very large number of those who had mortally hated him before his departure, received him with very great friendliness and continued to cherish a great affection for him, so gentle and courteous had he become. Gherardo was born in Florence in the year 1354, and as he grew up and was naturally bent to the art of designing, he was put with Antonio da Vinezia to learn to design and to paint. In the space of many years he not only learned the art and practice of colours, but had shown his ability by some things produced in a good style; accordingly he left Antonio and began to work on his own account. In the chapel of the Castellani at S. Croce, which was given to him to paint by Michaele di Vanno, an honoured citizen of that family, he did in fresco many stories of St Anthony the abbot and of St Nicholas the bishop, in such a good style that they attracted the attention of certain Spaniards then staying in Florence on business, and ultimately led to his being invited to Spain to their king, who saw and received him very gladly, there being at that time a great lack of good painters in that country. Nor was it a difficult matter to induce Gherardo to leave his country, for as he had had hard words with some men after the affair of the Ciompi and the appointment of Michele di Lando as gonfaloniere, he was in considerable danger of his life. Accordingly he went to Spain and did many things for the king there, and became rich and honoured by the great rewards which he earned for his labours. At length becoming desirous of showing himself to his friends in his improved estate, he returned home and was warmly welcomed and received in a very friendly manner by all his fellow-citizens. It was not long before he was employed to paint the chapel of St Jerome in the Carmine, where he did many stories of that saint, and in the story of Paul, Eustace and Jerome he represented some of the Spanish habits of the day with very happy invention and an abundance of fashions and ideas in the attitudes of the figures. Among other things, in a scene where St Jerome is receiving his earliest instruction, he represented a master who has caused one boy to mount upon the back of another and strikes him with the whip in such a manner that the poor child is twisting his legs with pain and appears to be crying out and trying to bite the ear of the boy who is holding him. The whole is executed with much grace and lightness, and Gherardo appears to have delighted in these touches of nature. In like manner, when St Jerome, being at the point of death, is making his will, he has hit off some friars in a delightful and realistic manner, for some are writing, others listening attentively and looking about, observing all the words of their master with great earnestness. This work won Stamina much fame and a high rank among artists, and his courteous and mild manners gave him a great reputation, so that his name was famous throughout Tuscany and indeed in all Italy. Being at this time invited to Pisa to paint the chapter-house of S. Niccola in that city, he sent in his place Antonio Vite of Pistoia, because he did not wish to leave Florence. Antonio, who had learned Stamina's style under him, did the Passion of Jesus Christ there, completing it in its present form in the year 1403, to the great delight of the Pisans. Afterwards, it is said, he finished the chapel of the Pugliesi; and as the works which he did there at S. Girolamo greatly pleased the Florentines, because he had expressed in a lively manner many gestures and attitudes which had not been attempted by any painters before his time, the Commune of Florence in the year that Gabriel Maria, lord of Pisa, sold that city to the Florentines for 200,000 scudi (after Giovanni Gambacorta had stood a siege of thirteen months, although even he at length agreed to the sale), employed Stamina to paint on a wall of the Palazzo di parte Guelfa, St Denis the bishop, with two angels, and below it an accurate representation of the city of Pisa. In the execution of this he displayed such diligence in every detail, especially in the colouring in fresco, that notwithstanding the action of air and water and a northern aspect, the picture has always remained in excellent condition, and even now it has all the appearance of having been newly painted, an achievement worthy of high praise. Gherardo having by this and other works acquired a great reputation and much renown both at home and abroad, death, the envious enemy of virtuous deeds, cut off at the height of his powers the great promise of much better things than the world had yet seen from him; and having come to his end unexpectedly in the forty-ninth year of his age, he was buried with much pomp in the church of S. Jacopo sopra Arno.
The pupils of Gherardo were Masolino da Panicale, who was at first an excellent goldsmith and then a painter, and some others whom it is not necessary to mention, as they did not possess any remarkable talent.
The portrait of Gherardo occurs in the story of St Jerome, mentioned above; he is one of the figures who are standing about the dying saint, represented in profile with a hood about his head and a mantle buttoned about him. In our book are some designs of Gherardo done with the pen on parchment, which are of considerable excellence.
Lippo, Painter of Florence.
Invention has been, and always will be considered the true mother of architecture, painting and poetry, as well as of all the superior arts and of all the marvels produced by man. By its aid artists develop their ideas, caprices and fancies, and are able to display more variety, for all those who work at these honourable professions always seek after a laudable diversity, and possess the power of delicate flattery and of tactful criticism. Lippo, then, painter of Florence, who was as varied and choice in his inventions as his works were really unfortunate and his life short, was born at Florence about the year of grace 1354; and although he took up the art of painting somewhat late, when he was already a man, yet he was so far assisted by natural inclination and by his fine talents that he soon distinguished himself brilliantly. He first painted in Florence and in S. Benedetto, a large and fine monastery outside the gate of the Pinti belonging to the Camaldoline order, now destroyed; he did a number a figures which were considered very beautiful, particularly the whole of a chapel, which affords an example of how close study quickly leads to great performances in anyone who honestly takes pains with the desire for fame. Being invited to Arezzo from Florence, he did for the chapel of the Magi in the church of S. Antonio a large scene in fresco in which they are adoring Christ; and in the Vescovado he did the chapel of St James and St Christopher for the family of the Ubertini. All these things were very fine, for the invention displayed in the composition of scenes and in the colouring. He was the first who began, as it were, to play with his figures, and to awaken the minds of those who came after him, a thing which had never been done before, only attempted. After he had done many things in Bologna and a meritorious picture at Pistoia, he returned to Florence, where he painted the chapel of the Beccuti in S. Maria Maggiore in the year 1383 with scenes from the life of St John the evangelist. Following on from this chapel, which is beside the principal one, on the left hand, six scenes from the life of this saint are represented along the wall, by the same hand. Their composition is excellent and they are well arranged, one scene in particular being very vivid, namely, that in which St John causes St Dionisius the Areopagite to put his vest on some dead men, who come to life again in the name of Jesus Christ, to the great wonderment of some who are present who can hardly believe their own eyes. The foreshortening of some of the dead figures shows great art and proves that Lippo was conscious of some of the difficulties of his profession and endeavoured to some extent to overcome them. It was Lippo also who painted the wings of the tabernacle of the church of S. Giovanni, where are Andrea's angels and his St John, in relief, doing some stories of St John the Baptist in tempera, with great diligence. Being very fond of working in mosaic, he did some in that church over the door leading towards the Misericordia, between the windows, which was considered very beautiful and the best work in mosaic produced in that place with them. In the same church he further repaired some mosaics which had been damaged. Outside Florence, in S. Giovanni fra l'Arcora, without the gate leading to Faenza, he painted a number of figures in fresco beside Buffalmacco's Crucifixion, which was considered very beautiful by all who saw them. In certain small hospitals near the Fænza gate and in S. Antonio inside that gate near the hospital, he did some poor men, in fresco, in some varied styles and attitudes, very beautifully executed, and in the cloister within he made, with beautiful and new invention, the vision of St Anthony of the deceits of the world, and next to that the desires and appetites of men, who are drawn hither and thither to divers things of this world, the whole of the work being executed with much consideration and judgment. Lippo also did mosaic work in many places of Italy, and in the Guelph quarter at Florence he made a figure with a glass head, while Pisa contains a number of his productions. Yet in spite of all this he must be considered a really unfortunate man, since at the present time the greater part of his works have disappeared, having been destroyed in the siege of Florence, and also because his career was terminated in a very tragic manner; for being a quarrelsome man and liking turmoil belter than quiet, he happened one morning to say some very insulting words to an opponent at the tribunal of the Mercanzia, and that evening as he was returning home, he was dogged by this man and stabbed in the breast with a knife, so that in a few days he perished miserably. His paintings were produced about 1410. There flourished at Bologna in Lippo's time another painter whose name was also Lippo Dalmasi, who was a worthy man, and among other things he painted a Madonna in the year 1407, which may still be seen in S. Petronio at Bologna and which is held in great veneration. He also painted in fresco the tympanum above the door of S. Procolo, and in the church of S. Francesco in the tribune of the high altar, he made a large Christ, half length, and a St Peter and a St Paul, in a very graceful style. Under these works may be seen his name written in large letters. He also designed very fairly, as may be seen in our book, and he afterwards taught the art to M. Galante da Bologna, who afterwards designed much better than he, as may be seen in the same book in a portrait of a figure dressed in a short coat with wide open sleeves.
Don Lorenzo, Monk of the Angeli of Florence, Painter.
I believe that it is a great joy to a good and religious person to find some honourable employment for their hands whether it be letters, music, painting or other liberal and mechanical arts which involve no reproach but are on the contrary useful and helpful to other men, for after the divine offices the time may be passed with the pleasure taken in the easy labours of peaceful exercises. To these advantages we may add that not only is such a monk esteemed and valued by others during his life-time, except by such as are envious and malignant, but he is honoured by all men after his death, for his works and the good name which he has left behind him. Indeed whoever spends his time in this manner, lives in quiet contemplation without any danger from those ambitious stirrings which are almost always to be seen among the idle and slothful, who are usually ignorant, to their shame and hurt. If it should happen that a man of ability acting thus is slandered by the malicious, the power of virtue is such that time will reestablish his reputation and bury the malignity of the evil disposed, while the man of ability will remain distinguished and illustrious in the centuries which succeed. Thus Don Lorenzo, painter of Florence, being a monk of the order of the Camaldolines in the monastery of the Angeli (founded in 1294 by Fra Giuttone of Arezzo of the order of the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ, or of the Rejoicing friars as the monks of that order were commonly called), devoted so much time in his early years to design and to painting, that he was afterwards deservedly numbered among the best men of his age in that profession. The first works of this painter monk, who adopted the style of Taddeo Gaddi and his school, were in the monastery of the Angeli, where besides many of the things he painted the high altar picture, which may still be seen in their church. When completed it was placed there in the year 1413 as may be seen by the letters written at the bottom of the frame. He also painted a picture for the monastery of S. Benedetto of the same order of the Camaldoli, outside the Pinti gate, destroyed at the siege of Florence in 1529. It represented the Coronation of Our Lady and resembled the one he had previously done for the church of the Angeli. It is now in the first cloister of the monastery of the Angeli, on the right hand side in the chapel of the Alberti. At the same time, and possibly before, he painted in fresco the chapel and altar picture of the Ardinghelli in S. Trinita, Florence, which was then much admired, and into this he introduced portraits of Dante and Petrarch. In S. Piero Maggiore he painted the chapel of the Fioravanti and in a chapel of S. Piero Scheraggio he did the altar picture, while in the church of S. Trinita he further painted the chapel of the Bartolini. In S. Jacopo sopra Arno a picture by his hand may still be seen, executed with infinite diligence, after the manner of the time. Also in the Certosa outside Florence he painted some things with considerable skill, and in S. Michele at Pisa, a monastery of his own order, he did some very fair pictures. In Florence, in the church of the Romiti (Hermits), which also belonged to the Camaldolines, and which is now in ruins as well as the monastery, leaving nothing but its name Camaldoli to that part beyond the Arno, he did a crucifix on a panel, besides many other things, and a St John, which were considered very beautiful. At last he fell sick of a cruel abscess, and after lingering for many months he died at the age of fifty-five, and was honourably buried by the monks in the chapter-house of their monastery as his virtues demanded.
Experience shows that in the course of time many shoots frequently spring from a single germ owing to the diligence and ability of men, and so it was in the monastery of the Angeli, where the monks had always paid considerable attention to painting and design. Don Lorenzo was not the only excellent artist among them, but men distinguished in design flourished there for a long time both before and after him. Thus I cannot possibly pass over in silence one Don Jacopo of Florence, who flourished a long time before D. Lorenzo, because as he was the best and most methodical of monks, so he was the best writer of large letters who has ever existed before or since, not only in Tuscany but in all Europe, as is clearly testified not only by the twenty large choir books which he left in his monastery, the writing in which is most beautiful, the books themselves being perhaps the largest in Italy, but an endless number of other books which may still be found in Rome and in Venice and many other places, notably in S. Michele and S. Mania at Murano, a monastery of the Camaldoline order. By these works the good father has richly deserved the honours accorded to him many years after he had passed to a better life, his celebration in many Latin verses by D. Paolo Orlandini, a very learned monk of the same monastery, as well as the preservation of the right hand which wrote the books, with great veneration in a tabernacle, together with that of another monk, D. Silvestro, who illuminated the same books with no less excellence, when the conditions of the time are taken into consideration, than D. Jacopo had written them. I, who have seen them many times, am lost in astonishment that they should have been executed with such good design and with so much diligence at that time, when all the arts of design were little better than lost, since the works of these monks were executed about the year of grace 1350, or a little before or after, as may be seen in each of the said books. It is reported, and some old men relate that when Pope Leo X. came to Florence he wished to see and closely examine these books, since he remembered having heard them highly praised by the Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici, his father; and that after he had attentively looked through them and admired them as they were all lying open on the choir-desks, he said, "If they were in accordance with the rules of the Roman Church and not of the Camaldolines, I should like some specimens for S. Peter's at Rome, for which I would pay the monks a just price." There were, and perhaps still are, two very fine ones at S. Peter's by the same monks. In the same monastery of the Angeli is a quantity of very ancient embroidery, done in a very fine style, with excellent designs by the fathers of the house while they were in perpetual seclusion, with the title not of monks but of hermits, and who never came out of the monastery as the nuns and monks do in our day. This practice of seclusion lasted until 1470. But to return to D. Lorenzo. He taught Francesco Fiorentino, who, after his death, did the tabernacle which is on the side of S. Maria Novella at the head of the via della Scala leading to the Pope's chamber. He also had another pupil, a Pisan, who painted in the chapel of Rutilio di Ser Baccio Maggiolini, in the church of S. Francesco at Pisa, Our Lady, a St Peter, St John the Baptist, St Francis and St Ranieri, with three scenes of small figures in the predella of the altar. This painting, executed in 1315, was considered meritorious for a work done in tempera. In our book of designs I have the theological virtues done by D. Lorenzo's hand in chiaroscuro, with good design and a beautiful and graceful style, so that they are perhaps better than the designs of any other master of the time. Antonio Vite of Pistoia was a meritorious painter in Lorenzo's time, and is said to have painted, among many other things described in the life of Stamina, in the palace of the Geppo of Prato, the life of Francesco di Marco, who was the founder of that pious place.
Taddeo Bartoli, Painter of Siena.