For the Rucellai family Alberti also made, in a similar style, a chapel in San Pancrazio which rests on great architraves supported by two columns and two pilasters piercing the wall of the church below; this was a difficult but sound piece of work and one of the best that Alberti ever did. In the middle of the chapel is a marble tomb of an elongated oval shape and resembling, as is written on it, the sepulchre of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.
About that time Ludovico Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, determined that he would have the tribune of the principal chapel of the Servite church of the Annunziata in Florence built after Alberti’s plans and model. So he demolished a square chapel standing at the head of the church (which was old and small, and adorned in the ancient style) and built the new tribune in its place. This is a very ingenious and difficult structure, taking the form of a circular temple with a ring of nine chapels on the circumference which opened off like niches; this meant that the entrance arches over the pilasters of these chapels, which ornament the walls, have to adapt themselves to the concave shape of the tribune as a whole, curving – as it does – in a different plane. In turn, this means that if you look sideways at the entrance arches they seem to lean forward and they look awkward (as indeed they are) even though the rules have been observed and it is a very difficult feat to perform. It is true that Leon Battista would have been better advised not to try it, in spite of its difficulty, because it is not a good thing in either small or large works, and it can never be made to succeed. In large things, such as the very big entrance arch to the tribune from the nave, it is splendid from the nave, but on the inner side, where it has to follow the curve of the tribune wall, it appears to lean and looks extremely clumsy. Perhaps Alberti would not have done this if his practical experience of architecture had matched his theoretical knowledge. Another man would have avoided the difficulty and been content to construct a graceful and more beautiful building. The work is otherwise in itself very fine, ingenious, and intricate, and Alberti showed great courage for his time in raising the tribune in the way that he did.
Ludovico then brought Alberti to Mantua itself, where he made for him a model for the church of Sant’Andrea and several other things. Travelling from Mantua to Padua one can see also various churches built after Alberti’s style. Many of Alberti’s designs and models were used by Silvestro Fancelli, a Florentine architect and sculptor of some talent,1 who following Alberti’s wishes executed with judgement and painstaking diligence all the works that he undertook in Florence. For his work in Mantua Alberti employed a Florentine called Luca Fancelli, who subsequently settled in that city and died there, leaving his name, according to Filarete, to the Luchi family, which is still there today. Alberti was extremely fortunate to have friends who understood him and who were able and willing to serve him, because architects cannot always stand over their work, and it is a great help if they can find someone to execute it faithfully and lovingly; and I (if anyone) know the truth of this from personal experience.
In painting Alberti achieved nothing of any great importance or beauty. The very few paintings of his that are extant are far from perfect, but this is not surprising since he devoted himself more to his studies than to draughtsmanship. All the same he expressed his ideas very ably in his drawings, as can be seen from some sketches of his in our own book, showing the bridge of Sant’Angelo and the covering that he designed for it in the form of a loggia to give protection from the sun in summer and the rain and wind in winter. He was commissioned to do the work by Pope Nicholas, who had intended to carry out many similar projects throughout Rome but was prevented by his death. There is a work by Alberti in a little chapel dedicated to Our Lady on the abutment on the Ponte alla Carraia in Florence, namely, an altar-predella containing three little scenes with some perspectives which he described (with his pen) much better than he painted them with his brush. Again in Florence, in the house of the Palla Rucellai family, there is Alberti’s self-portrait which he did with the help of a mirror, and a panel with fairly large figures in chiaroscuro. He also painted a picture of Venice, in perspective, showing St Mark’s, although the figures were done by other artists; and this is one of the best of his paintings that we have.
Leon Battista was an admirable citizen, a man of culture who was the friend of talented men and very open and courteous with everyone; and he always lived honourably and like the gentleman he was. Finally, having reached a good old age, in tranquillity and contentment he left for a better life, leaving behind him a most honourable name and reputation.
LIFE OF FRA FILIPPO LIPPI
Florentine painter, c. 1406–69
FRA FILIPPO DI TOMMASO LIPPI, a Carmelite, was born in Florence, in a street called Ardiglione, below the Canto alla Cucilia and behind the Carmelite Convent. The death of his father left him, at the age of two, a sad and solitary orphan, since his mother had died not long after he was born. He was put under the care of his aunt, Mona Lapaccia, Tommaso’s sister, but she found it a struggle to bring him up and, when she could no longer manage, sent him, at the age of eight, to be a friar in the Carmelite Convent. At the convent he showed himself dexterous and ingenious in any work he had to do with his hands, but equally dull and incapable of learning when it came to his books; so he never spent any time studying his letters, which he regarded with great distaste. The boy (who was called by his secular name, Filippo) was placed with the other novices in the charge of the master teaching grammar to see what he could learn; but instead of studying he spent all his time scrawling pictures on his own books and those of others, and so eventually the prior decided to give him every chance and opportunity of learning to paint.
At that time the chapel of the Carmine had been freshly painted by Masaccio and its great beauty attracted Fra Filippo so much that he used to go every day in his spare time and practise in company with many other young artists who were always drawing there. He showed himself so superior to the rest in skill and knowledge that it was held for certain that one day he would do marvellous things; indeed, it was a miracle how many fine works he did produce before his maturity, while he was still in his salad days. Before very long he did a painting in terra verde in the cloister, near to Masaccio’s Consecration, of a pope approving the Rule of the Carmelites, and he executed various frescoes on walls in many parts of the church, notably a St John the Baptist with some scenes from his life. His work improved every day and he came to understand Masaccio’s style so well that his own pictures resembled those of Masaccio, and it was often said that Masaccio’s soul had entered into his body. On a pilaster in the church, near the organ, he did a painting of St Marziale which bore comparison with Masaccio’s work and which made his reputation. Then, in response to the praises he heard from all sides, at the age of seventeen he boldly threw off his friar’s habit.
Now one day he happened to be enjoying himself with some of his friends in a little boat on the sea off the March of Ancona when they were all seized by the Moorish galleys that were scouring those parts, taken captive to Barbary, and put in chains. He stayed in this wretched condition for eighteen months. But one day when the opportunity presented itself he took it into his head to do a portrait of his master, with whom he was very familiar, and using a piece of dead coal from the fire he drew him on a white wall, full length in his Moorish costume. The other slaves reported this to his master, and since neither drawing nor painting were known in those parts everyone was astounded by what he had accomplished and he was, as a result, freed from the chains in which he had been kept so long. It was a glorious thing for the art of painting that it caused someone with the lawful authority to condemn and punish to do the opposite, giving his slave affection and liberty in the place of torture and death.
So, after he had done some painting in colour for his master, Fra Filippo was brought safely to Naples where for King Alfonso, then duke of Calabria, he painted a panel in tempera for the castle chapel, where the guardroom is now. He then determined to return to Florence, where he stayed for se
veral months, executing a very beautiful altarpiece for the nuns of Sant’Ambrogio. This won him the affection of Cosimo de’ Medici who became a close friend of his.
Fra Filippo also did a panel picture for the chapter-house of Santa Croce and another, which was placed in the chapel in the house of the Medici, showing the Nativity of Christ. As well as this, for the wife of Cosimo de’ Medici he painted a panel picture of the Nativity of Christ with St John the Baptist, which was to be placed in the hermitage of Camaldoli in one of the hermits’ cells dedicated to St John the Baptist which she had had built as an act of devotion. And he painted some little scenes that Cosimo sent as a gift to Pope Eugene IV, the Venetian. This work won Fra Filippo the favour of the Pope himself.
It is said that Fra Filippo was so lustful that he would give anything to enjoy a woman he wanted if he thought he could have his way; and if he couldn’t buy what he wanted, then he would cool his passion by painting her portrait and reasoning with himself. His lust was so violent that when it took hold of him he could never concentrate on his work. And because of this, one time or other when he was doing something for Cosimo de’ Medici in Cosimo’s house, Cosimo had him locked in so that he wouldn’t wander away and waste time. After he had been confined for a few days, Fra Filippo’s amorous or rather his animal desires drove him one night to seize a pair of scissors, make a rope from his bed-sheets and escape through a window to pursue his own pleasures for days on end. When Cosimo discovered that he was gone, he searched for him and eventually got him back to work. And after that he always allowed him to come and go as he liked, having regretted the way he had shut him up before and realizing how dangerous it was for such a madman to be confined. Cosimo determined for the future to keep a hold on him by affection and kindness and, being served all the more readily, he used to say that artists of genius were to be treated with respect, not used as hacks.
For the church of Santa Maria Primerana, on the piazza at Fiesole, Fra Filippo did a panel picture of the Annunciation of Our Lady, finished with wonderful care, in which the figure of the angel is so beautiful that one can hardly doubt it has come from heaven. He did two panel pictures for the Murate, the convent of the enclosed Order of nuns: one for the high altar, showing the Annunciation, and the other over another altar in the same church containing scenes from the lives of SS. Benedict and Bernard. And in the palace of the Signoria he executed a panel picture of the Annunciation which is over one of the doors, and a painting of St Bernard which is over another. For the sacristy of Santo Spirito at Florence he did a panel picture showing Our Lady surrounded by angels and with saints on either side. This is an outstanding work which our leading artists have always held in reverence.
In the chapel of the wardens in San Lorenzo Fra Filippo painted a panel picture again showing the Annunciation, as well as another for the Della Stufa Chapel which was left unfinished. In Santi Apostoli at Florence, for one of the chapels, he painted a panel with various figures, grouped round Our Lady, and in Arezzo he was commissioned by Carlo Marsuppini to paint for the monks of Monte Oliveto the altarpiece for the chapel of St Bernard, showing the Coronation of Our Lady with a number of saints. When he painted this picture (which is still so fresh that it looks as if it has only just been finished) Fra Filippo was told by Carlo to pay special attention to the rendering of the hands, as his work had been adversely criticized in this respect. So from then onwards Filippo always covered the hands he painted with draperies or else used some other technique to escape censure. In this particular work he did a portrait of Carlo Marsuppini from life. Meanwhile, for the nuns of the Annalena at Florence he painted a panel picture showing Christ in the Manger; and there are also some paintings of his in Padua. To Cardinal Barbo at Rome he sent two small scenes with tiny figures which were skilfully executed and very carefully finished: it may be said here, in fact, that his paintings were always done with astonishing grace and finely composed and finished, and, consequently, he has always won the most lavish praise and respect from our artists, both living and dead. So long as his innumerable works are left undamaged by the ravages of time, their qualities will always command the highest respect.
In Prato near Florence, where he had some relations, Fra Filippo stayed for many months doing a great deal of work in various parts of the district in company with Fra Diamante of the Carmelite convent at Prato, who had been his companion when they were novices together. Subsequently, he was asked by the nuns to paint the altarpiece for the high altar of Santa Margherita, and it was when he was working at this that he one day caught sight of the daughter of Francesco Buti of Florence, who was living there as a novice or ward. Fra Filippo made advances to the girl, who was called Lucrezia and who was very beautiful and graceful, and he succeeded in persuading the nuns to let him use her as a model for the figure of Our Lady in his painting. This opportunity left him even more infatuated, and by various ways and means he managed to steal her from the nuns, taking her away on the very day that she was going to see the exposition of the Girdle of Our Lady, one of the great relics of Prato. This episode disgraced the nuns, and Francesco, the girl’s father, never smiled again. He did all he could to get her back, but either from fear or some other reason she would never leave Fra Filippo; and by him she had a son, Filippo, who became, like his father, a famous and accomplished painter.1
There are two of Fra Filippo’s panel pictures in San Domenico of Prato; and a Madonna in the gallery of the church of San Francesco. It proved possible to move this painting from its original position to where it is now without damaging it by cutting away the wall and giving the section a wooden framework. There is also a little panel by Fra Filippo, over a well in the courtyard of the alms-house of Francesco di Marco, which contains the portrait of Francesco, who was the creator and founder of that pious foundation. And in the parish church at Prato there is a small panel of his, over the side door as one ascends the steps, showing the death of St Bernard, by the touch of whose bier many cripples are being restored to health. In this painting are a number of friars lamenting their dead master; and it is marvellous to see how skilfully and truthfully Fra Filippo has expressed grief and sadness in the attitudes of their heads. The draperies in this picture, namely, the friars’ robes, are shown with a number of very beautiful folds, and their excellent design, colouring, and composition deserve every praise, as do the grace and proportion with which Fra Filippo delicately executed the whole work.
To have some memorial of him, the wardens of the parish church commissioned Fra Filippo to paint the chapel of the high altar; and he fully demonstrated his capabilities in the excellence and artistry of the work as a whole and, in particular, in its marvellous draperies and heads. In these frescoes Fra Filippo made his figures larger than life, thus showing the way to modern artists to achieve the grandeur of the style of our own day. They contain also various figures dressed in clothes which were not contemporary, and by this departure Fra Filippo prompted the artists of that time to abandon the kind of simplicity which, far from reflecting the style of the ancient world, was simply old-fashioned. The work includes scenes from the life of St Stephen, the patron saint of the church, covering the right-hand wall, namely, the Disputation, the Stoning, and the Death of the first martyr. Fra Filippo showed such zeal and fervour in St Stephen’s face as he disputes with the Jews that it is difficult to imagine let alone to describe; and this is to say nothing of the contempt and hatred, and the anger at being vanquished, expressed in the faces and the various attitudes of those Jews. He depicted even more convincingly the fury and brutality of St Stephen’s executioners, who are seizing stones of all sizes, with a fearsome grinding of teeth and with cruel and outrageous gestures. Yet St Stephen stands serene before this terrible onslaught, his face lifted towards heaven, praying with great charity and fervour to the Eternal Father for the very men who are murdering him. These concepts are all extremely fine, and they show other painters how important it is to be able to express new ideas and to convey the emotions. Fra
Filippo was so expert in this respect that one cannot look at the grief-stricken attitudes of those burying St Stephen and the sad and afflicted expressions of some of the mourners without being deeply moved.
On the other side of the chapel he painted scenes from the life of John the Baptist: the Nativity, the Preaching in the Wilderness, the Baptism, the Feast of Herod, and the Beheading. The light of divine inspiration shines from the face of the preacher and the various gestures of the crowd express the joy and sorrow of the men and women held and absorbed by the ministrations of St John. Beauty and goodness are apparent in the Baptism scene; and in the picture of Herod’s banquet we see depicted all the sumptuousness of this occasion, along with the skill of Herodias, the stupor of the guests and the horrified consternation caused when the head is offered on a charger. About the table Fra Filippo painted a great many figures, in very expressive poses, with beautifully executed draperies and expressions. Among them he included a portrait of himself, drawn with a mirror, clothed in the black habit of a priest; and in the scene showing the mourning for St Stephen he showed his pupil, Fra Diamante. (This work was certainly his best for the reasons I have already given and also because in it he made the figures somewhat larger than life; and this prompted those who came after him to paint with more grandeur. Fra Filippo was so highly regarded for his good qualities and his virtuosity that the many blameworthy circumstances in his life were passed over in silence.) He also portrayed in the work I have been discussing Cosimo de’ Medici’s natural son, Carlo, at that time the provost of the church, which received many benefactions from him and his family.
Lives of the Artists Page 23