DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0165
EXTRACTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
97
his Highness seemed to shew a desire to be served quicker than he
expected, or than there was any need of, he would satisfy him by
shewing him the next day one entire wall painted over; when the
painters said this was impossible, he replied that if he did not do it,
they might drive him out of the court as a cheat and a scoundrel.
So Baglione having sent quickly for a plasterer, and ordered him
to plaster the wall, painted it in the following manner. He colored
in grey a broad and plain margin all round the wall, and had the
rest white-washed, and then painted a curtain, to cover up the empty
space, with all its folds, shades, and creases, like one of those
curtains which cover up the stage in a theatre until the time for
reciting the play ; then in one of the upper corners, he painted the
head and hands of a labourer, who seemed to be fastening from the
inside the said curtain to a large nail. When therefore the Duke
and the other painters, being impatient to see what he had done
in so short a time, came into the room, they were quite astonished
at finding that they had been laughed at; but on the other hand
they were surprised at the head and hands which \lere so well
painted, that they proved him to be an excellent painter, whilst
these persons, full of astonishment, did not know what to think
or say, unless that he was making fun of them, which indeed the
Duke seemed to hint. He told his Highness not to doubt but that
in proper time the curtain would be let down and all that was under
it would be shewn, which, with the whole work, would be com-
pleted to his Highness’s satisfaction, and that he had played this
trick to laugh at those other painters, who were so long about their
work, and who completely puzzled themselves with it, which was a
manifest sign that nature had not intended them for that art, and
that therefore the more they labored at it, the less skill they would
have in it ; that painting in fresco demanded quickness and freedom
of hand, without which it was no use attempting it. And he gave
such good reasons for this, that he satisfied his Highness, who could
not help praising Baglione for the jocose, and at the same time wise
manner, which he had adopted for preserving his freedom of hand
and practice, which he knew to be the most valuable part of his art.
Baglione afterwards finished that room in eight days. He soon
after finished the next room, and acquitted himself so well, and gave
so much pleasure not only by his good painting, but also by his good
humour and joviality, that his Highness retained him in his service,
97
his Highness seemed to shew a desire to be served quicker than he
expected, or than there was any need of, he would satisfy him by
shewing him the next day one entire wall painted over; when the
painters said this was impossible, he replied that if he did not do it,
they might drive him out of the court as a cheat and a scoundrel.
So Baglione having sent quickly for a plasterer, and ordered him
to plaster the wall, painted it in the following manner. He colored
in grey a broad and plain margin all round the wall, and had the
rest white-washed, and then painted a curtain, to cover up the empty
space, with all its folds, shades, and creases, like one of those
curtains which cover up the stage in a theatre until the time for
reciting the play ; then in one of the upper corners, he painted the
head and hands of a labourer, who seemed to be fastening from the
inside the said curtain to a large nail. When therefore the Duke
and the other painters, being impatient to see what he had done
in so short a time, came into the room, they were quite astonished
at finding that they had been laughed at; but on the other hand
they were surprised at the head and hands which \lere so well
painted, that they proved him to be an excellent painter, whilst
these persons, full of astonishment, did not know what to think
or say, unless that he was making fun of them, which indeed the
Duke seemed to hint. He told his Highness not to doubt but that
in proper time the curtain would be let down and all that was under
it would be shewn, which, with the whole work, would be com-
pleted to his Highness’s satisfaction, and that he had played this
trick to laugh at those other painters, who were so long about their
work, and who completely puzzled themselves with it, which was a
manifest sign that nature had not intended them for that art, and
that therefore the more they labored at it, the less skill they would
have in it ; that painting in fresco demanded quickness and freedom
of hand, without which it was no use attempting it. And he gave
such good reasons for this, that he satisfied his Highness, who could
not help praising Baglione for the jocose, and at the same time wise
manner, which he had adopted for preserving his freedom of hand
and practice, which he knew to be the most valuable part of his art.
Baglione afterwards finished that room in eight days. He soon
after finished the next room, and acquitted himself so well, and gave
so much pleasure not only by his good painting, but also by his good
humour and joviality, that his Highness retained him in his service,