by his disciples. To these delineations, being, as they are, extremely rude, without art or design, and having nothing in them but the Greek manner of those days, I cannot give positive praise, yet they merit some commendation, when we consider the manner prevailing in those times, with the imperfect state in which the art of painting then was ; the work is, besides, carefully done, every piece of the Mosaic being well and firmly fixed. Moreover, the latter portions of this work are better, or, to speak more precisely, less badly done than the earlier parts ; although the whole, if compared with works of the present day, is better calculated to excite ridicule than admiration or pleasure. Andrea ultimately, and to his great credit, produced the Christ, seven braccia high, which is still to be seen above the principal chapel of the same building : this he completed alone, and without the aid of Apollonius. These works rendered him famous throughout Italy : he was reputed an excellent artist in his own country, and was highly honoured and rewarded. The good fortune of Andrea was really great—to be born in an age which, doing all things in the rudest manner, could value so highly the works of an artist who really merited so little, not to say nothing.[1] The same thing occurred to Brother Jacopo da Turrita,[2] of the order of St. Francis, for he, having executed the Mosaics of the small choir,[3] behind the altar of the same church of St. John, received very rich rewards, although the work was by no means commendable ; he was even despatched to Rome
- ↑ This is one of those passages of his “Lives” in which Vasari betrays the taste prevailing in his time, with his own prejudiced and contradictory manner of judging the works of art which he calls “old,” in contradistinction to “antique.” But in our days the contempt of the academicians for the works of the elder masters is no longer acceded to ; oven the first attempts of the reviving arts are respected and studied, since all are beginning to perceive, that in the most essential qualities of art,—thought and feeling,—even the works of those times are better calculated to awaken admiration and reverence than ridicule.—Ed. Flor. 1846.
- ↑ See Lanzi, History of Painting, vol. i, p. 49, et seq.
- ↑ The small choir, which Vasari here calls “ Scarsella,” was added to the building in the year 1200, and bears the name of the author of the mosaics, in the following verses, with the date 1225 :—
“ Sancti Francisci frater fuit hoc operatus
Jacobus in tali prce cunctis arte probatus.”This is the Jacopo da Turrita of Vasari. — See further, Lanzi, History of Painting, ut supra.
