which was founded in the year 1294,* by Fra Guittone d'Arezzo, who belonged to the order (military as well as religious) of the Virgin Mother of Jesus, or, as the monks of that order are vulgarly called, the Joyous Friars (Frati Gaudenti). In his earliest years Lorenzo devoted himself with so much zeal to the arts of design and painting, that he was afterwards deservedly enumerated among the best of the age in that vocation. The first works of this painter-monk, who adhered to the manner of Taddeo Gaddi and his disciples,† were executed in his own monastery of the Angeli, where, in addition to many other pictures, he painted that of the High Altar, which is still to be seen in their church, and was finished, as we learn from letters written on the lower part of the framework, in the year 1413, when it was placed where it still remains. Don Lorenzo then painted a Coronation of the Virgin in a picture which was in the monastery of San Benedetto, outside the gate of Pinti. This monastery likewise belonged to the order of the Camaldolines, and wis destroyed at the siege of Florence, in 1529. He had also previously selected the same subject for the picture of his own church of the Angeli. The picture painted for San Benedetto is now in the first cloister of the aforesaid monastery of the Angeli, in the chapel of the Alberti, on the right hand § * Del Migliore gives the date of the contract for the foundation of this monastery, 14th January 1295. See Firenze Illustrata, p. 326. 66 "And was a very laborious man," adds the first edition of Vasari, as we still see proved by the infinite number of books, adorned with miniatures by his hand, yet remaining in the monastery of the Angeli and in the hermitage of Camaldoli, and by the many pictures in distemper, also by Don Lorenzo, preserved in the same places."-Schorn. This picture was removed towards the end of the sixteenth century, to make way for that of Alessandro Allori, which still occupies the place. It was then lost sight of, and accounted lost; but in the year 1840, while making an artistic pilgrimage in the Val d'Elsa, we had ourselves the good fortune to discover this picture, banished to the church of the abbey of San Piero at Cerreto, near Certaldo, which abbey had been united to the monastery of the Angeli by Pope John XXIII, in the year 1414. We have to remark, however, that at the moment of our discovery, the learned Prussian, Dr. Gaye, was announcing to the public, without our knowledge, that he also had discovered this important work. Sec Carteggio Inedito di Artisti, etc., vol. ii, p. 433.-Ed. Flor. 1846. § A picture painted at the same period with that described in the preceding note, but much smaller, was also discovered by us in a chapel of the suppressed Adelmi abbey, situated at no great distance from that of Cerretc, and which also once belonged to the Camaldoline monks of Florence.--Ibid. At the same time, or perhaps at an earlier period, this master painted, in fresco, the chapel of the Ardinghelli, in the church of Santa Trinità, in Florence, together with the altar-piece, which was highly celebrated at the time. Here he executed the portraits of Dante and Petrarch, both from nature. In San Pietro Maggiore he painted the chapel of the Fioraventi,* with an altar-piece for one of the chapels of San Piero Scheraggio,+ and the chapel of the Bartolini family, in the church of the Trinity. In San Jacopo-sopra-Arno there is also a picture by Lorenzo, admirably painted, and finished with extreme diligence, according to the manner of those times. In the Certosa, outside of Florence, our clerical artist gave further proof of his ability and experience in art, and in San Michele, at Pisa, a monastery of his own order, he painted several pictures, which have considerable merit. § In the church of the Hermits (Romiti), in Florence, which also belongs to the Camaldolines, Don Lorenzo painted a Crucifixion, on panel, among other pictures, with a St. John, which were held to be very fine works. This church of the Romiti is now ruined, *Of the two last-mentioned works nothing is now known.-Montani. †The altar-piece of San Piero Scheraggio has been removed, and its fate is unknown; but an undoubted work of Lorenzo the Monk, in the highest preservation, was seen by ourselves in November of last year, in the subterranean oratory of the church of Monte Oliveto, near Florence. It is divided into three compartments, in the manner of a triptych. In the central division is the Virgin enthroned, with the Divine Child standing on her knees upright, and in the act of benediction; behind the throne are two angels in adoration; and in the remaining compartments are St. John the Baptist, St. Bartholomew, St. Thaddeus, and St. Benedict. In the three tabernacles above are the Redeemer in the centre one, with the announcing Angels, and the Virgin receiving the Annunciation, in the other two. Beneath the Madonna are written the following words:- 66 AVE GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM. AN. D. MCCCCX." This picture was pointed out to us by Signor Luca Bourbon del Monte, and by his advice has now been more suitably placed in the sacristy.-Ed. Flor. 1846. Of this work, as a whole, nothing positive is now known; but there are three fragments in the sacristy, which certainly made part of it. The subjects of these are Christ Crucified, with two Angels, who catch the precious blood flowing from the transfixed hands. St. John the Baptist and the Virgin Mother, are also represented, both evincing the most profound grief.—Ibid. § These works, with those of the Certosa, have perished.—Ibid. together with the monastery, and has left no other memory than its name, which is still retained, that part of the city beyond the Arno being called the Camaldoli, from that holy place. Finally, having fallen sick of a grievous imposthume,* from which he suffered during several months, Don Lorenzo died, at the age of fifty-five, and was honourably interred by his brethren the monks, as his virtues well merited, in the chapter-house of their subterranean monastery. Experience has sufficiently proved that from one sole germ, the genius and industry of men, aided by the influences of time, will frequently elicit many fruits, and thus it happened in the aforesaid monastery of the Angeli, of which the monks were ever remarkable for their attainments in the arts of design and painting.† Don Lorenzo was not the only excellent master among them; on the contrary, there flourished for a long space of time in that monastery many brethren of merited distinction in art, some of whom preceded him: among them was one whom I can by no means pass over in silence, -a certain Florentine monk called Don Jacopo, who lived long before Don Lorenzo, and was a good and worthy brother of his order, as well as the best writer of large letters that had ever then been known in Tuscany, or indeed in all Europe; nor has his equal been seen even to the present day. And of this we have still proof, not only in the twenty large choral books which he left in his monastery, and which are the most beautiful, as respects the writing, as they are perhaps the largest, to be found in Italy, but also in many other works from his hand, preserved in Rome, Venice, and other cities in different parts of Italy. Some that may be particularly specified are in San Michele and San Mattia di Murano, a monastery of his own order of the Camaldolines. For these his labours this good father well merited the homage paid to him by Don Paolo Orlandini, a learned monk of the same monastery, who wrote a large number of Latin verses to his honour, many years after Don Jacopo had himself passed to a better life. His right hand, moreover, that namely with * Brought on, as was believed, by the attitude demanded by his work, which kept him constantly leaning on his chest. † We have ourselves discovered the works of a Camaldoline monk, hitherto unknown, in the miniatures of the choral books belonging to the church of Santa Croce; the name of this master was Don Simon.Ed. Flor. 1846. which he had produced those admired works, was preserved, with the utmost veneration, in a tabernacle, together with that of another monk called Don Silvestro,* who adorned the same books with miniatures, no less excellent—the knowledge of those times considered-than the writings of Don Jacopo. I have myself often examined these books, and have been astonished at the accuracy of design, and beauty of execution displayed in works of a period when the arts of design were almost wholly lost, for the productions of these monks date from about the year of our salvation 1350, a little more or a little less, as may be seen on any one of the books themselves. It is said, and there are still some old men who remember the fact, that when Pope Leo X came to Florence, he demanded to see these books, which he examined minutely, remembering to have heard them much praised by Lorenzo the Magnificent, his father. It is further related, that after he had considered them attentively, and with great admiration, as they all stood open upon the desks of the choir he remarked, "If these works were according to the Romish Church, and not, as they are, according to the rule and custom of the monastic, and especially the Camaldoline order, we would gladly take certain portions of them (giving the just recompense to the monks) with us to Rome, for the church of San Piero." Two very beautiful books, by the same monks, were indeed formerly in that cathedral, where they probably still remain. There are, moreover, many specimens of ancient embroideries, worked in a very beautiful manner, preserved in the same monastery of the Angeli. These also were done by the ancient fathers of that place, while they were shut up in perpetual seclusion, not bearing the name of monks, but that of hermits, and never coming forth from *This is no fable. In the sacristy of the monastery of the Angeli, we have ourselves seen two hands, with the arms, perfectly well preserved; but it is not easy to say to whom they have belonged, especially as Vasari, in his first edition, attributes them to Don Lorenzo, with these words:"The monks of the Angeli retain his hands as a relic and memorial of him." And they certainly do seem to have belonged to one person, not only because one is the right and the other the left hand, but also from their resemblance in size and form.-Ed. Flor. 1846. † The choral books of the monastery of the Angeli were appropriated to the Mediceo-Laurenziana Library, but almost all were first rapaciously deprived of their miniatures.-Ibid. They are no longer there, nor can their fate be ascertained. their convents any more than do the nuns and sisters of our own days. This close seclusion continued until the year 1470. But to return to Don Lorenzo: that master taught his art to the Florentine, Francesco, who, after his death, painted the Tabernacle at the corner of Santa Maria Novella, at the upper end of the Via della Scala, going towards the hall of the pope. * He had, besides, another disciple, who was a Pisan, and who painted a portrait for the chapel of Rutilio di Ser Baccio Maggiolini, in the church of San Francesco, at Pisa. The subject of this work was a Virgin, with San Piero, San Giovanni Batista, San Francesco, and San Ranieri; and on the predella of the altar were three stories in small figures; it was finished in 1315,† and was held to possess considerable merit for a work in distemper.‡ In my book of drawings I have the Theological Virtues, done in "chiaro-scuro," by Don Lorenzo; they are well drawn, in a beautiful and graceful manner, insomuch that they are perhaps better than the drawings of any other master whatsoever be longing to those times. There was a tolerably good painter who flourished in Don Lorenzo's day, Antonio Vite, of Pistoja, namely, who painted, among other pictures (as we have said in the life of Starnina), various stories in the palace of the Ceppo, at Prato, from the life of Francesco di Marco, founder of that pious place.§ This tabernacle is still to be seen, somewhat injured, it is true, but not so much as to prevent our perceiving the force of design, delicacy of execution, and grace of colouring, exhibited by the painter.-Ed. Flor 1846. †This is obviously an error of the press. Vasari must have written 1415.-Ibid. The church being suppressed, this work has most probably perished. -Montani. § In the first edition of Vasari, the life of Don Lorenzo terminated thus: "Fra Lorenzo was sincerely mourned by the monks of his monastery, who deposited him in their usual sepulchre, etc.; nor was there wanting one who honoured him after his death with the following epitaph: 66 Egregie minio novit Laurentius uti Ornavit manibus qui loca plura suis Nunc pictura facit fama super æthera clarum, Ed. Flor. 1846-49. |