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This celebrated painter of the Florentine school was born in 1487 (or perhaps 1486), by Agnolo, a tailor (sarto), hence the surname. There were four other children. The family, though of no distinction, can be traced back into the 14th century.
Since 1677
Andrea del Sarto has been constantly attributed the surname Vannucchi -according to some modern writers without any authority. The true name was the long one above recalled, following one of the Florentine naming conventions.
In 1494 Andrea was put to work under a goldsmith, an occupation
Andrea del Sarto disliked. He took to drawing from his master's models, and was soon transferred to a skilful woodcarver and inferior painter named Gian Barile, with whom
Andrea del Sarto remained until 1498. Barile, though a coarse-grained man enough, would not stand in the way of the advancement of his promising pupil, so
Andrea del Sarto recommended him to
Piero di Cosimo as draughtsman and colourist. Piero retained Andrea for some years, allowing him to study from the famous cartoons of
Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo.html.
Sarto Andrea Delexecuted them in a few months, being endowed by nature with remarkable readiness and certainty of hand and unhesitating firmness in Andrea del Sarto painting, although in the general mould of his mind
he was timid and diffident. The subjects are the saint sharing his cloak with a leper, cursing some gamblers, and restoring a girl possessed with a devil. The second and third paintings excel the first, and are impulsive and able performances. These Andrea del Sarto paintings met with merited applause, and gained for their author the pre-eminent title "Andrea del Sarto senza errori" (Andrew the unerring) - the correctness of the contours being particularly admired. After these subjects, the painter proceeded with two others - the death of S. Filippo and the children cured by touching his garment, - all the five Andrea del Sarto paintings being completed before the close of 1510.
The youth of twenty-three was already in technique about the best fresco-painter of central Italy, barely
rivaled by Raphael, who was the elder by four years.
By 1514 he had finished his last two frescoes in the
court of the Servites, than which none of Andrea del Sarto paintings was more admired - the "Nativity of the Virgin," which shows the influence of Leonardo, Domenico Ghirlandajo and Fra Bartolommeo, in effective fusion, and the "Procession of the Magi," intended as an amplification of a work by Alessio Baldovinetti; in this fresco is a portrait of Andrea himself.
Andrea del Sarto also executed at some date a much-praised head of Christ over the high altar. By November 1515
Andrea del Sarto had finished at the Scalzo the allegory of Justice, and the "Baptist preaching in the desert", followed in 1517 by "John baptizing," and other subjects.
Among more renowned Andrea del Sarto paintings not already specified are the following:
The Virgin and Child, with St Francis and St John the Evangelist and two angels, now in the Uffizi, painted for the church of S. Francesco in Florence; this is termed the "Madonna di S. Francesco," or "Madonna
delle Arpie," from certain figures of harpies which are decoratively introduced, and is rated as Andrea del Sarto masterpiece in oil-painting.
The altar-piece in the Uffizi, painted for the monastery of S. Gallo, the "Fathers disputing on the doctrine of the Trinity"--SS. Augustine, Dominic, Francis, Lawrence, Sebastian and Mary Magdalene--a very energetic
work. Both these pictures are comparatively early--towards 1517. *The
"Charity" now in the Louvre (perhaps the only painting which Andrea del Sarto executed while in France).
The "Pieta," in the Belvedere of Vienna; this painting, as well as the "Charity," shows a strong Michelangelesque influence.
At Poggio a Caiano a celebrated fresco (1521) representing Julius Caesar receiving tribute, various figures bringing animals from foreign lands--a striking perspective arrangement; it was left unfinished by Andrea and was completed by Alessandro Allori.
Two very remarkable paintings (1523) containing various incidents in the life of the
patriarch Joseph, executed for the Borgherini family.
In the Pitti Gallery two separate compositions of the "Assumption of the Virgin," also a fine "Pieta."
In the Madrid museum (Museo del Prado) the "Virgin and Child," with Joseph, Elizabeth, the infant Baptist and an Archangel.
In the Louvre the "Holy Family," the Baptist pointing upwards.
In Berlin a portrait of his wife.
In Panshanger a fine portrait named "Laura."
The second picture in the National Gallery ascribed to Andrea, a "Holy Family," is by some critics regarded as the painting rather of one of his
scholars--we hardly know why.
A very noticeable incident in the life of
Andrea del Sarto
relates to the copy, which he produced in 1523, of the portrait group of Pope Leo X by Raphael; it is now in the Naples Museum, the
original being in the Pitti Gallery.
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Toperfect Group