DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0376
322 ANDREA DEL SARTO [i486.
may still be seen in the great hall. This bright and
animated, but curiously modern composition, was left
unfinished, owing to the Pope’s death, and only com-
pleted sixty years later by the painter Allori. Andrea
then returned to his work in the Scalzo cloisters, and
continued the series at intervals, until it was com-
pleted in 1526.
In 1523, Andrea was one of the masters employed
by Piero Francesco Borgherini to decorate the furniture
of a chamber in his palace in the Borgo Apostoli, for
the marriage of his son Francesco with Margherita
Acciaiuoli. The two panels of the story of Joseph
which formed Andrea’s share in the work, are painted
with his usual care and skill, and their rich colour
and fine atmosphere produce a highly decorative
effect. Granacci, Bacchiacca, and Andrea’s own pupil
Pontormo were associated with him in this task, and
by their care the richly-carved bedstead, chests, and
arm-chairs of walnut were all adorned with paintings of
the same story. During the siege of Florence in 1529,
Francis the First’s agent, Giovanni Battista della Palla,
obtained leave from the Signoria to strip the beautiful
chamber of its treasures, and send them to his master.
But when he entered the Borgherini Palace, Margherita
herself met him on the threshold and bade him begone,
telling him that the furniture he wished to carry off
had been ordered by her husband’s father for her
wedding, and that rather than part from a single stick,
she would shed the last drop of her blood. The terri-
fied agent retired in dismay, and was soon afterwards
thrown into prison and put to death as a traitor.
“ Thus,” writes Vasari, “ did this brave woman, by her
heroic courage and firmness, keep these treasures of
may still be seen in the great hall. This bright and
animated, but curiously modern composition, was left
unfinished, owing to the Pope’s death, and only com-
pleted sixty years later by the painter Allori. Andrea
then returned to his work in the Scalzo cloisters, and
continued the series at intervals, until it was com-
pleted in 1526.
In 1523, Andrea was one of the masters employed
by Piero Francesco Borgherini to decorate the furniture
of a chamber in his palace in the Borgo Apostoli, for
the marriage of his son Francesco with Margherita
Acciaiuoli. The two panels of the story of Joseph
which formed Andrea’s share in the work, are painted
with his usual care and skill, and their rich colour
and fine atmosphere produce a highly decorative
effect. Granacci, Bacchiacca, and Andrea’s own pupil
Pontormo were associated with him in this task, and
by their care the richly-carved bedstead, chests, and
arm-chairs of walnut were all adorned with paintings of
the same story. During the siege of Florence in 1529,
Francis the First’s agent, Giovanni Battista della Palla,
obtained leave from the Signoria to strip the beautiful
chamber of its treasures, and send them to his master.
But when he entered the Borgherini Palace, Margherita
herself met him on the threshold and bade him begone,
telling him that the furniture he wished to carry off
had been ordered by her husband’s father for her
wedding, and that rather than part from a single stick,
she would shed the last drop of her blood. The terri-
fied agent retired in dismay, and was soon afterwards
thrown into prison and put to death as a traitor.
“ Thus,” writes Vasari, “ did this brave woman, by her
heroic courage and firmness, keep these treasures of