I say probably, because the excellence of his colouring in the Titian manner, would lead me rather to include him among the Venetian artists. There are three of his half-length figures, together with his name, and the date of 1616, reported as being in the possession of a gentleman in Portugal; where he resided, most likely, a longer period than in Italy.
We have already noticed some Tuscans who acquired distinction in the inferior branches of painting; such as Veltroni, Constantino de' Servi, Zucchi, and Alberti: Antonio Tempesti, of Florence, a scholar both of Titi and Stradano, was among the first to acquire a celebrated name in Italy for landscapes and for battles. He practised engraving on copper, prepared cartoons for tapestry, and gave scope to his genius in the most fanciful inventions in grotesque and ornamental work. He surpassed his master in spirit, and was inferior to none, not even to the Venetians. In a Letter on Painting by the Marquis Giustiniani,[211] he is adduced as an example of great spirit in design, a gift conferred by nature, and not to be acquired by art. He attempted few things on a large scale, and was not so successful as in small pictures. The Marquis Niccolini, the Order of the Nunziata, and several Florentine families, possess some of his battles painted on alabaster, in which he appears the precursor of Borgognone, who is said to have studied him attentively. He most frequently painted in fresco, as at Caprarola, in the Este Villa at Tivoli, and in many parts of Rome, from the time of Gregory XIII. Most of the historical pictures in the Vatican gallery are the work of his hands; the figures are a palm and a half high, and display astonishing variety and spirit, accompanied by beautiful architecture and landscapes, with every species of decoration. He is not, however, very correct; and his tints are sometimes too much inclined to a brownish hue; but all such faults are pardonable in him, as being occasioned by that pictoric fury which inspired him, that fancy which hurried him from earth, and conducted him through novel and sublime regions, unattempted by the vulgar herd of artists.
[181] "All painters seem to worship him as their great master, prince, and god of design." It is thus Monsig. Claudio Tolomei writes in a letter to Apollonio Filareto, towards the end of the fifth book. Such is the opinion of the artists of the Leonine age, whatever may be the judgment passed in the age of Pius VI.
[182] Baldinucci, tom. ix. p. 35.
[183] He executed a picture of S. Sigismund for the church of S. Lorenzo, at the desire of the noble family of Martelli, which delighted the Duke Cosmo. This picture ought to be removed from the altar, for the tints are fading.
[184] We learn from Pliny, that Filosseno Eretrio, celeritatem præceptoris (Nicomachi) secutus breviores etiamnum quasdam picturæ vias, et compendiarias invenit. (Lib. xxxv. cap. 36.) We perceive, however, from the context, that his pictures were no less perfect on that account; and I believe that those compendious means were more particularly connected with the mechanism of the art.
[185] See Lettere Pittoriche, tom. ii. let. 2.
[186] Bald. tom. ix. p. 35.
[187] See his "Description of the preparations for the marriage of the Prince D. Francesco, of Tuscany." It is inserted in volume xi. of the ed. of Siena, which we frequently allude to.
[188] "Treatises by the Cav. Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect of Arezzo, upon the designs painted by him at Florence, in the palace of their Serene Highnesses, &c.; together with the design of the painting commenced by him in the cupola." It is a posthumous work, supplied by his nephew Giorgio Vasari, who published it in 1588 at Florence. It was republished at Arezzo in 1762, in 4to.
[189] He had been well imbued with literature at Arezzo, and, when a youth at Florence, "he spent two hours every day along with Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, under their master Pierio." Vasari nella Vita del Salviati.
[190] See Lett. Pittoriche, tom. iii. lett. 104.
[191] Bottari adduces an authentic document of this in his Preface, page 6.
[192] In the Dedicatory Letter to Cosmo I., prefixed to second edit.
[193] See Lett. Pittor. tom. iii. let. 226.
[194] It is founded also on Vasari's remark, in his Life of Frate: "There is likewise a portrait by F. Gio. da Fiesole, whose life we have given, which is in the part of the Beati;" which cannot, observes Bottari, apply to any other except D. Silvano Razzi, author of the "Vite dei S. S. e Beati Toscani;" among which is found that of B. Giovanni. But this indication would be little; or at least it is not all. The document which clearly reveals the fact, has been pointed out to me by the polite attention of Sig. Luigi de Poirot, Secretary to the Royal Finances; and this is in the "Vite de' SS. e BB. dell' ordine de' Frati Predicatori di Serafino Razzi Domenicano," published after the death of Vasari, in Florence, 1577. In these, treating of works in the fine arts in S. Domenico at Bologna, he adds; "we cannot give a particular account of these histories, but whoever is desirous of it may consult the whole, in the Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, written, for the most part, by D. Silvano Razzi, my brother, for the Cav. Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo, his very intimate friend." After such information, we must suppose that Vasari, having communicated his materials to this monk, received from him a great number of Lives, that boast such elegant prefaces and fine reflections; but that he here and there retouched them; adding things either from haste or inadvertency, not well connected with the context, or repeated elsewhere. And in this way we may account for the many inconsistencies to be met with in a number of Lives, very finely written, but containing passages that do not appear to come from the same pen, and frequently make the author contradict himself.
[195] It is to be observed that Bottari wrote principally to mark the changes that the works described by Vasari had undergone during 200 years. In regard to the emendations pointed out by us, he declares in the Preface, that he could not undertake them for want of time, health, books, and most of all, inclination. However, we are indebted for not a few to him, and also to P. Guglielmo, though not equally so in every school. Both are writers of merit; the former by his citations from printed works, the second for his information of MSS. and unedited authors.
[196] Tom. vii. p. 249.
[197] Vide Taia Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 11. Zuccaro did not so readily pardon Vasari, whose work he noted with severity: as did also one of the three Caracci. Lett. Pittor. tom. iv. lett. 210.
[198] Tom. viii. p. 203.
[199] P. 117.
[200] Tom. viii. p. 123.
