Lives of the Artists

by Giorgio Vasari

  On the other side, on the same line, Lorenzo showed Jesus Christ bound to the column, his face somewhat contorted from the pain of the scourging, in an attitude of compassion and contrasted with the Jews who are beating him with terrible expressions of rage and hatred. Next we see Christ being led before Pilate, who washes his hands and condemns him to the Cross. Over the Agony in the Garden, on the other side, in the last line of scenes, Christ is shown carrying the cross and going to his death, led by a band of soldiers who are forcibly dragging him along with rough gestures; and we see the tears and the lamentations of the two Marys, just as if we were eye-witnesses. Beside this scene he did the Crucifixion of Christ, showing Our Lady and St John the Evangelist sitting on the ground, desolate and outraged. On the other side of the door there follows the Resurrection: the guards have been stunned by the thunder and look as if they are dead and Christ ascends into heaven in a state of glory that Lorenzo’s skill has perfectly expressed in the beauty of his body. In the last space we see the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, whose expectant attitudes are marvellously portrayed.

  So Lorenzo brought this work to its finished perfection; and no bronze could ever have had more labour or time expended on it. The limbs of the nude figures are extremely beautiful in every detail, and the draperies (although they still have something of the old-fashioned manner of Giotto’s time) have a general air suggesting the style of the moderns and producing in figures of that size an impression of exquisite grace. The composition of each scene is so well ordered and arranged that Lorenzo more than justified the praise which Filippo had given him before he started. He won full recognition from his fellow citizens and was enthusiastically praised by them and by all other artists, both native and foreign. With the surrounding ornamentation of festoons of fruits and animals (also in bronze) the work cost twenty-two thousand florins; and the bronze doors themselves weighed thirty-four thousand pounds.

  After the doors had been finished and Lorenzo acclaimed for what he had achieved, the consuls of the Merchants Guild considered that they had been very well served, and they decided to commission from him a bronze statue, nine feet high, to commemorate St John the Baptist, for one of the niches in the pilasters outside Orsanmichele belonging to the cloth-dressers. Lorenzo worked on this continuously until it was finished. It has always been very highly regarded, and Lorenzo put his own name on the hem of the robe. The statue, which was put in position in 1414, shows the beginning of the good modern style, in the head, in one of the arms which looks like living flesh, in the hands, and in the whole pose of the figure. Lorenzo was, indeed, the first to imitate the works of the ancient Romans, which he studied very carefully (as must everyone who wants to do good work). On the frontal of the shrine he tried his hand at a mosaic, completing a half-length figure of one of the prophets.

  By now Lorenzo’s reputation as the most resourceful artist in bronze casts had spread through all Italy and beyond. As a result, after Jacopo della Fonte, Vecchietto of Siena, and Donatello had made some bronze scenes and figures to adorn the baptismal font of the church of San Giovanni, for the Signoria of Siena, the people of Siena, who had seen Lorenzo’s work in Florence, reached an agreement with him that he should make for them two additional scenes from the life of St John the Baptist. One of these scenes, containing a large number of figures, both nude and richly draped, showed John baptizing Christ; the other, the time when John was seized and taken before Herod. In this work Lorenzo surpassed the others, winning unstinted praise from the Sienese themselves and from all who have seen it.

  In Florence, the directors of the Mint had to put up a statue in one of the niches around Orsanmichele, facing the Wool Guild. It was to be a St Matthew, the same height as the St John mentioned earlier. So they allocated the work to Lorenzo, who did it perfectly and, since it was more modern in style, received for it far more praise than he had for the St John. This statue prompted the consuls of the Wool Guild to commission from him a bronze figure for the niche next to the one with the St John, of the same size as the other two. It was to be of their patron, St Stephen. Lorenzo finished this work, imparting a very fine polish to the bronze, and it gave no less satisfaction than his previous works.

  At that time Leonardo Dati, the general of the Friars Preachers, wanted to have his own public memorial put up in Santa Maria Novella, where he had taken his vows. So he commissioned from Lorenzo a bronze tomb, with an effigy of himself lying on top; this was so much admired that Lorenzo was then asked to make a memorial in Santa Croce for Lodovico degli Albizzi and another for Niccolò Valori.1 Subsequently, Cosimo and Lorenzo de’ Medici, wanting to honour the bodies and relics of the three martyrs, Protus, Hyacinthus, and Nemesius, had them brought from the Casentino, where for many years they had been held in scant respect, and had a bronze reliquary made by Lorenzo, in the middle of which are two angels in low relief, holding an olive wreath encircling the names of the martyrs. They had the relics deposited in the urn, which was then placed in the church of the monastery of the Angeli at Florence, with the following words carved below in marble, on the side facing the monks’ church:

  Clarissimi viri Cosmas et Laurentius fratres, neglectas studio ac fidelissima pietate, suis sumptibus aereis loculis condendas colendasque curarunt.1

  And on the outside, where the little church faces the street, are these words, cut in the marble under a coat-of-arms with the balls:

  Hic condita sunt corpora sanctorum Christi martyrum Prothi et Hyacinthi, et Nemesii. Ann. Dom. MCCCCXXVIII.2

  This work was very successful and it persuaded the wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore to commission a bronze reliquary and memorial for St Zenobius, bishop of Florence.

  Lorenzo decorated the front of this tomb (which was seven feet in length and two feet high) with a scene showing St Zenobius restoring to life a child left in his care which had died while its mother was on pilgrimage. In a second scene another child, killed by a wagon, is brought back to life by St Zenobius, as well as one of the servants sent by St Ambrose who had been left for dead on the Alps: the second servant is shown stricken with grief in the presence of the saint who is filled with pity and saying: ‘He is only sleeping, go and you will find him alive.’

  In the background are six little angels holding a garland of elm leaves within which there is an inscription in memory and praise of the saint. Lorenzo executed this work with great skill and craftsmanship, and it was deeply admired for its beauty.

  Lorenzo was continuing to add to his reputation and carrying out innumerable commissions in bronze, silver, and gold, when there fell into the hands of Giovanni de’ Medici a large cornelian engraved in intaglio with a scene showing the flaying of Marsyas at Apollo’s command. It was said that it had once served as the Emperor Nero’s seal. Because of the stone’s weight and size, and the marvellous engraving, it was a very rare thing and Giovanni gave it to Lorenzo with instructions to mount it in gold. After many months’work Lorenzo finally completed the setting, producing a carving that was no less perfect than the beautiful intaglio of the stone itself. This led to his being commissioned many similar works in gold and silver, which have been lost to us. He also made a splendid gold clasp, with figures in full relief and precious jewels, for the cope of Pope Martin, for whom, as well, he made a marvellous mitre chased with gold leaves and with many small figures in full relief which were thought very beautiful. This work, besides enhancing Lorenzo’s reputation, proved very profitable for him because of the Pope’s generosity. Then in 1439 Pope Eugene came to Florence, where he held a Council in the hope of uniting the Greek and Latin Churches. He saw and liked Lorenzo’s work, and he was no less pleased by Lorenzo himself, and he ordered from him a gold mitre weighing fifteen pounds and containing pearls weighing five and a half pounds, which including the jewels were valued at thirty thousand gold ducats. They say that this mitre contained six pearls as big as hazel-nuts, and if we go by a later drawing it is impossible to imagine anything more beautiful and curious than the s
ettings of the jewels and the great variety of putti and other figures which served as so many varied and graceful adornments. For making the mitre, apart from the first payment, Lorenzo received countless favours from the Pope both for himself and his friends.

  The quality and excellence of Lorenzo’s work had brought so much credit to the city of Florence that the consuls of the Merchants Guild decided to commission from him the third door for San Giovanni, which was also to be of bronze. On their instructions in style and execution Lorenzo had matched his first door, including the ornamentation that surrounds the figures and covers the framework on both sides, with Andrea Pisano’s. But having seen how far Lorenzo had surpassed him, the consuls determined to remove Andrea’s door, which was in the centre, and put it opposite the Misericordia. Lorenzo, they decided, should make his new door for the middle; and confident that he would put into it all his energy and talent they left themselves in his hands, saying that he should do just what he wanted and make the door as rich, ornate, perfect, and beautiful as he possibly could. Nor was he to worry about time or money in making sure that, just as he had surpassed all other sculptors so far, now he should surpass himself.

  So bringing to the task all his skill and knowledge Lorenzo started to make the door. He divided it into ten panels, five on each side, with the spaces enclosing the scenes measuring about two and a half feet. All the way round in the ornamentation of the framework surrounding the scenes there are niches with figures in almost full relief; there are twenty upright figures, all extremely beautiful, such as the nude Samson with his arm round a column and holding a jaw-bone which is as perfect as any bronze or marble Hercules made by the ancients. Equally fine is a figure of Joshua who is in the act of speaking to his army. And there are several prophets and sibyls dressed in different kinds of draperies and with varied arrangements of their heads, hair, and other adornments. In addition, there are four figures reclining in the niches in the transverse borders, and at the corners of the scenes there are circles containing the heads of women, youths, and old men, to the number of twenty-four.1 Among these, in the middle of the door near where he inscribed his name, Lorenzo portrayed his father, Bartoluccio; and the younger man’s head is that of Lorenzo himself. Besides the heads, he adorned the borders with a wonderful variety of foliage, mouldings, and other ornamentation.

  The scenes are taken from the Old Testament. The first shows the creation of Adam and of Eve his wife, and we can see from the perfect form and execution of these figures how, very felicitously, Lorenzo intended them to be the finest he had ever done, since Adam and Eve had been the most beautiful creatures made by God. In the same scene they eat the apple and are driven out of Paradise: as they feel the first effects of sin they are conscious of their shame and cover themselves with their hands, and we see their remorse as they are expelled from Paradise by the angel. In the second space are Adam and Eve with their young children, Cain and Abel. We see Abel’s sacrifice of the first fruits and Cain’s inferior offering; and Cain’s gestures express the envy he feels towards his brother, whose own attitude conveys his love of God. An extraordinarily beautiful detail of this scene shows Cain ploughing the earth with a pair of oxen, realistically dragging the plough with the yoke; and just as impressive is the detail showing Cain murdering Abel as he watches his flock. Cain appears pitiless and cruel as he clubs his brother to death, and the very bronze used for the dead limbs of Abel’s beautiful body itself falls limp. The figure of God is shown in the distance, in low relief, asking Cain what he has done with Abel: four incidents being combined to form one picture.

  In the third picture Lorenzo represented Noah leaving the ark with his wife, his sons and daughters, and his daughters-in-law. He showed all the animals, both the birds and beasts, each one after its kind in as perfect an imitation of nature as art can achieve: the ark is open and the desolation is expressed in low relief casting done in perspective so gracefully that it defies description. As well as this the figures of Noah and his sons are expressed with wonderful realism and vivacity in the incident where he is offering sacrifice, and the rainbow appears as a token of peace between God and him. But superior to all the rest is the scene where Noah is planting the vine and then exposes himself in his drunkenness while his son Ham mocks him. It would be impossible to improve on the representation of the sleeping Noah as he sprawls in drunken abandon, or of the respect and affection shown by the beautiful gestures of his other two sons as they cover him up. In addition, Lorenzo showed the casks and the vines and the implements for wine making, introduced so skilfully and appropriately that they embellish rather than impede the narrative.

  For the fourth scene Lorenzo chose the appearance of the three angels in the vale of Mambre, making them alike and showing the holy old man adoring them with the most appropriate and lifelike expression in his hands and face. Also very effective are the figures of the servants waiting with an ass at the foot of the mountain for Abraham, who has gone to sacrifice his son. The boy kneels naked on an altar and Abraham, with his arm raised, is about to prove his obedience to God when he is prevented by the angel who saves Isaac from death, restraining Abraham with one hand while with the other he points to the ram that is to be sacrificed instead. This is a really beautiful scene, showing, for example, so striking a contrast between Isaac’s slender limbs and the thicker limbs of the servants that every single stroke must have been applied with consummate skill. Lorenzo also surpassed himself in this scene in the way he tackled the buildings, in the incident showing the birth of Isaac, and of Jacob and Esau, and when he showed Esau hunting in obedience to his father and Jacob, on Rebecca’s instructions, offering the roast kid to his father, Isaac, who feels the skin which he is wearing round his neck and gives him his blessing. In this scene there are some beautifully realistic dogs as well as the figures of Jacob, Isaac, and Rebecca, who in Lorenzo’s sculpture evoke the same responses that their actions must have done when they were living.

  With practical experience Lorenzo gained more and more facility and was encouraged to try his hand at more ambitious and difficult subjects. So in the sixth scene he portrayed Joseph being thrown by his brothers into the pit, being sold by them to the merchants, who hand him over to Pharaoh, interpreting the dream of the famine, for which provision is made, and being honoured and rewarded by Pharaoh. Also shown is the time when Jacob sends his sons to buy corn in Egypt and when, recognizing them, Joseph makes them return for his father. For this detail Lorenzo, solving very considerable problems, made a round temple in perspective containing various figures carrying corn and flour as well as an incredibly large number of asses. We are also shown the feast prepared for Joseph’s brothers, and the hiding of the gold cup in Benjamin’s sack, and finding of the cup, and Joseph acknowledging and embracing his brothers.

  The quality of Lorenzo’s discerning mind and the distinction and grace of his work in this branch of sculpture were such that he unfailingly produced figures of outstanding beauty, as in the seventh scene where he featured Mount Sinai with Moses on the summit kneeling in reverence as he receives the commandments from God. Half-way up the mountain Joshua stands waiting, and at the foot the people are shown very realistically, in various poses but all terrified by the thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. Next, Lorenzo applied himself with loving diligence to the eighth scene, representing with very lively figures Joshua going to Jericho, crossing the Jordan, and pitching the twelve tents for the twelve tribes. Most remarkable is the incident, shown in low relief, when the ark is carried in procession round the walls of Jericho which crash down to the sound of the trumpets, allowing the Jews to capture the city; here the casting, perfectly executed, recedes accurately in perspective from the figures in the foreground to the mountains, from the mountains to the city, and from the city to the very low relief of the distant landscape. His skill in casting becoming more perfect every day, Lorenzo then executed the ninth panel which shows the slaying of the giant Goliath and David cutting off his head in a proud, boyi
sh attitude, and the rout of the Philistines by the army of God, and which contains horses and chariots and the other accessories of war. Then in a lively and well considered detail he showed David returning with the head of Goliath in his hand and being met by the people, who are making music and singing. There remained for Lorenzo’s greatest efforts the tenth scene, showing the queen of Sheba visiting Solomon with all her great court, where, with fine effect, he introduced a building shown in perspective, with figures similar to those in the other scenes. Finally, with the tenth scene, he did the ornamentation of the architraves which surround the door, composed of fruits and festoons of the same excellence as all his work.