DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0035
BIOGRAPHY
T3
three—we see that the greater part of the execution
was left to him. All the subsequent paintings of
Antonio show his hand in greater or less degree, and we
know that Piero aided him also in his sculptured work,
for example in the Tombs of the Popes in S. Pietro.
Taking into account the difference of years between the
brothers, and the vast difference of ability, it seems
probable that, while working as an independent Master
with his own bottega and assistants, Piero was also in
the pay of his brother, and that Antonio, preoccupied
with his goldsmith’s work, deputed to him the greater
part of the execution of the paintings for which he was
commissioned, and employed him as his assistant in the
more mechanical parts of his sculpture.
The position held by Antonio among the Florentine
artists was perhaps higher even than that of Verrocchio,
for he certainly took the lead in the so-called realistic
school which had eclipsed so completely the decorative
art of the preceding generation. He was fortunate, as
Vasari remarks, in living at a time of financial prosperity,
which allowed costly public and private works to be
undertaken. He received numerous commissions
throughout his life from the Council of the Mercatanzia,
which, as guardian of S. Maria del Fiore and the
principal churches of Florence, held the most honour-
able post among ecclesiastics and burgesses. The time
at which Antonio started his bottega in the Vaccher-
eccia was a busy one for the goldsmiths, for the church
treasures were being overhauled and replaced by costlier’
works. The Reliquaries were found too simple for so
T3
three—we see that the greater part of the execution
was left to him. All the subsequent paintings of
Antonio show his hand in greater or less degree, and we
know that Piero aided him also in his sculptured work,
for example in the Tombs of the Popes in S. Pietro.
Taking into account the difference of years between the
brothers, and the vast difference of ability, it seems
probable that, while working as an independent Master
with his own bottega and assistants, Piero was also in
the pay of his brother, and that Antonio, preoccupied
with his goldsmith’s work, deputed to him the greater
part of the execution of the paintings for which he was
commissioned, and employed him as his assistant in the
more mechanical parts of his sculpture.
The position held by Antonio among the Florentine
artists was perhaps higher even than that of Verrocchio,
for he certainly took the lead in the so-called realistic
school which had eclipsed so completely the decorative
art of the preceding generation. He was fortunate, as
Vasari remarks, in living at a time of financial prosperity,
which allowed costly public and private works to be
undertaken. He received numerous commissions
throughout his life from the Council of the Mercatanzia,
which, as guardian of S. Maria del Fiore and the
principal churches of Florence, held the most honour-
able post among ecclesiastics and burgesses. The time
at which Antonio started his bottega in the Vaccher-
eccia was a busy one for the goldsmiths, for the church
treasures were being overhauled and replaced by costlier’
works. The Reliquaries were found too simple for so