few works he did produce obtained him the name of a good sculptor, and as he was a citizen of Florence, he was also entrusted with many public offices in his native city in these, as in all other matters, Nanni comported himself after the manner of a just and prudent man, and was therefore much beloved. He died of pleurisy in 1430, and in the forty-seventh of his age.* year THE FLORENTINE SCULPTOR LUCA DELLA ROBBIA. [BORN 1400-DIED 1481.] THE Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia, was born in the year 1388,† in the house of his forefathers, which is situated near the church of San Barnaba, in Florence. He was there carefully reared and educated until he could not only read and write, but, according to the custom of most Florentines, had learned to cast accounts so far as he was likely to require them. Afterwards he was placed by his father to learn the art of the goldsmith with Leonardo di Ser Giovanni, who was then held to be the best master in Florence for that vocation. Luca therefore having learned to draw and to model in wax, from this Leonardo, found his confidence increase, and set himself to attempt certain works in marble and bronze. these also he succeeded tolerably well, and this caused him altogether to abandon his trade of a goldsmith and give himelegant than those known to be by Nanni usually are, as well as by the fact that Baldinucci found no mention of this performance in a manuscript of the Strozzi collection, wherein the works of Nanni are enumerated.-Ibid. In * In the first edition, is added, " And was honourably entombed in the church of Santa Croce", with the following epitaph: "Sculptor eram excellens claris natalibus ortus Me prohibit de me dicere plura pudor." † Documents relating to the property of the family, enable us to correct the error of Vasari in respect to the year of Luca della Robbia's birth. From these it results that he was born in 1400. See Gaye, Carteggio Inedito, etc., vol. i, p. 182-186.-Ed. Flor. 1846-9. The house inhabited by the Della Robbia family, and where Luca was born, was in the Via Sant'Egidio. The street in which the family afterwards dwelt (Via Guelfa) is still called the Via dei Robbia.-Ibid. self up entirely to sculpture, insomuch that he did nothing but work with his chisel all day, and by night he practised himself in drawing; and this he did with so much zeal, that when his feet were often frozen with cold in the night-time, he kept them in a basket of shavings to warm them, that he might not be compelled to discontinue his drawings. Nor am I in the least astonished at this, since no man ever becomes distinguished in any art whatsoever who does not early begin to acquire the power of supporting heat, cold, hunger, thirst, and other discomforts; wherefore those persons deceive themselves altogether who suppose that while taking their ease and surrounded by all the enjoyments of the world, they may still attain to honourable distinction-for it is not by sleeping, but by waking, watching and labouring continually, that proficiency is attained and reputation acquired. Luca had scarcely completed his fifteenth year, when he was taken with other young sculptors to Rimini, for the purpose of preparing certain marble ornaments and figures for Sigismondo di Pandolfo Malatesti, lord of that city, who was then building a chapel in the church of San Francesco, and erecting a sepulchre for his wife, who had recently died. In this work Luca della Robbia gave a creditable specimen of his abilities, in some bassi-rilievi, which are still to be seen there, but he was soon recalled to Florence by the wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore, and there executed five small historical representations for the campanile of that cathedral. These are placed on that side of the tower which is turned towards the church, and where, according to the design of Giotto, they were required to fill the space beside those delineating the arts and sciences previously executed, as we have said, by Andrea Pisano. In the first relief, Luca pourtrayed San Donato teaching grammar; in the second are Plato and Aristotle, who represent philosophy; in the third is a figure playing the lute, for music; in the fourth, a statue of Ptolemy, to signify astronomy; and in the fifth, Euclid, for geometry. These rilievi, whether for correctness of design, grace of composition, or beauty of execution, greatly surpass the two completed, as we have before said. by Giotto, and of which one represents painting, by a figure of Apelles, occupied in * Baldinucci declares Luca della Robbia t have acquired his art from Lorenzo Ghiberti. the exercise of his art; the other Phidias working with his kisel, to represent sculpture. The superintendants beforementioned, therefore, who, in addition to the merits of Luca, had a further motive in the persuasions of Messer Vieri dei Medici, a great and popular citizen of that day, by whom Luca was much beloved, commissioned him in the year 1405* to prepare the marble ornaments of the rgan which the wardens were then causing to be constructed on a very grand scale, to be placed over the door of the sacristy in the above-named cathedral. In the prose cution of this work, Luca executed certain stories for the basement, which represent the choristers, who are singing, in different attitudes: to the execution of these he gave such earnest attention and succeeded so well, that although the figures are sixteen braccia from the ground, the spectator can nevertheless distinguish the inflation of throat in the singers, and the action of the leader, as he beats the measure with his hands, with all the varied modes of playing on different instruments, the choral songs, the dances, and other pleasures connected with music, which are there delineated by the artist. On the grand cornice of this work, Luca erected two figures of gilded metal: these represent two angels entirely nude, and finished with great skill, as indeed is the whole performance, which was held to be one of rare beauty, although Donatello, who afterwards constructed the ornaments of the organ placed opposite to this, displayed much greater judgment and more facility than had been exhibited by Luca in his work, as will be mentioned in its proper place; for Donato completed his work almost entirely from the rough sketches, without delicacy of finish, so that it has a much better effect in the distance than that of Luca, which, although well designed and carefully done, becomes lost to the observer in the distance, from the fineness *This is most probably an error of the press. Rumohr, Ital. Forsch vol. ii, p. 242, believes this work to have been executed before 1438. The date should in that case perhaps be 1435; but the later Florentine editors incline to make it 1445. † This admirable work, divided into ten portions, is now to be seen in the small corridor of modern sculptures of the Royal Gallery of the Uffizj. For certain details respecting other works of this master, preserved in the same gallery, see Antologia di Firenze, tom. iii, and Rumohr, Ital. Forech, ii, 363. of its finish, and is not so readily distinguished by the eye as is that of Donato, which is merely sketched.* And this is a point to which artists should give much consideration, since experience teaches us that whatever is to be looked at from a distance, whether painting, sculpture, or any other work of similar kind, has ever more force and effect when merely a striking and beautiful sketch than when delicately finished; and, besides the effect here attributed to distance, it would appear, also, that the poetic fire of the author frequently acts with most efficiency in a rapid sketch, by which his inspiration is expressed in a few strokes suddenly thrown off in the first ardours of composition: a too anxious care and labour, on the contrary, will often deprive the works of him who never knows when to take his hands from them, of all force and character. He who knows how closely, not only painting, but all the arts of design resemble poetry, knows also that verse proceeding from the poetic furor is the only good and true poesy: in like manner the works of men excellent in the arts of design, are much better when produced by the force of a sudden inspiration, than when they are the result of long beating about, and gradual spinning forth with pains and labour. Whoever has the clear idea of what he desires to produce in his mind, as all ought to have from the first instant, will ever march confidently and with readiness towards the perfection of the work which he proposes to execute. Nevertheless, as all minds are not of the same character, there are, doubtless, some who can only do well when they proceed slowly, but the instances are rare. And, not to confine ourselves to painting, there is a proof of this among poets, as we are told in the practice of the most venerable and most learned Bembo, who laboured in such sort that he would sometimes expend many months, nay, possibly years, if we dare give credit to the words of those who affirm it, in the production of a sonnet. Wherefore, there need be no great matter of astonishment if something similar should occasionally happen to certain of the men engaged in the pursuit of our arts: but the rule is, for * The four parts of this work are also to be found in the above-named corridor. See Cicognara, Storia della Scultura Moderna, where the work of Donatello, as well as that of Luca, is engraved.-Ed. Flor. 1846-9. See also Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. ii, 298. the most part, to the contrary, as we have said above, even though a certain exterior and apparent delicacy of manner (which is often a mere concealment, by industry, of defects in essential qualities) should sometimes obtain the suffrages of the unthinking vulgar more readily than the really good work, which is the product of ability and judgment, though not externally so delicately finished and furbished. But to return to Luca: when he had completed the above named decorations, which gave much satisfaction, he received a commission for the bronze door of the before-mentioned sacristy.* This he divided into ten square compartments or pictures (quadri), five, namely, on each side, and at al the angles where these joined he placed the head of a man by way of ornament, on the border: no two heads were alike some being young, others old, or of middle age; some with the beard, others without; all were varied, in short, and in these different modes every one was beautiful, of its kind, insomuch that the frame-work of that door was most richly adorned. In the compartments themselves, the master represented the Madonna (to begin with the upper part), holding the infant Christ in her arms, in the first square, a group of infinite grace and beauty; with Jesus issuing from the tomb, in that opposite. Beneath these figures, in each of the first four squares, is the statue of an Evangelist, and below the Evangelists are the four doctors of the church, who are all writing, in different attitudes. The whole work is so finely executed, and so delicate, that one clearly perceives how much Luca had profited by having been a goldsmith.t But when, at the conclusion of these works, the master made up the reckoning of what he had received, and compared this with the time he had expended in their production, he perceived that he had made but small gains, and that the labour had been excessive; he determined, therefore, to abandon marble and bronze, resolving to try if he could not derive a more profitable return from some other source. Wherefore, reflecting that it cost but little trouble to work in clay, which is easily managed, and that only one thing was * For many valuable remarks on these works, see Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. vol. ii, p. 290; also ibid. 365, et seq. † See La Metropolitana Fiorentina Illustrata, Florence 1820, for engravings of this work. |