DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0317
284 VASARI'S ACCOUNT CONSIDERED. [chap, iv.
That Vasari was silent respecting so many of these artists, amounts
only to this; that he did not think their productions called for especial
notice; and it is probable that even Finiguerra himself, notwith-
standing his great excellence in the above-mentioned art, and his pre-
tensions as a draftsman and a sculptor, would have been despatched
with the short eulogium bestowed on him in the Life of Pollajuolo,
(an eulogium which is soon afterwards insidiously made the occasion
of heaping greater honours on Pollajuolo at Maso's expense,) but
for his discovery of Chalcography. Nay, perhaps, but for that
discovery, works of niello, which gave rise to it, would scarcely
have obtained a mention. As for Baccio Baldini, his name but
once appears; and his prints, now so much sought after by collec-
tors, are got rid of in a single line, without a description of even one
of them.
The reason for all this is to be found in the prodigious number of
artists of every denomination, with which all Tuscany, but espe-
cially Florence, abounded, even as early as the commencement of
the fourteenth century; a number so great, that had Vasari mi-
nutely described the works of each individual, his writings must
have been extended to at least four times their present bulk; to say
nothing of the professors of painting, sculpture, and architecture,
who flourished from that period, to the time in which he wrote,
throughout every state of Italy.
Working in niello was, therefore, practised in Florence, and,
perhaps, in most other parts of Italy, long before Maso distin-
guished himself; and it was, we are told, the custom of those who
exercised that art, to take sulphur casts from their engravings, pre-
vious to filling them with the niello,
rity of Lessing (Collectaneen zur Litteratur. for the practice of that art, in his work
torn. xii. article Niellum) that the art of entitled: Diversarum artium schedula. The
working in niello was practised in France as work of Theophilus, he informs us, was
early as the seventh century. He adds, that published, for the first time, by Christian
Theophilus monachus, who lived in the Leiste, after a MS. in the library at Wolfen-
4welfth century, has left detailed instructions buttel.
That Vasari was silent respecting so many of these artists, amounts
only to this; that he did not think their productions called for especial
notice; and it is probable that even Finiguerra himself, notwith-
standing his great excellence in the above-mentioned art, and his pre-
tensions as a draftsman and a sculptor, would have been despatched
with the short eulogium bestowed on him in the Life of Pollajuolo,
(an eulogium which is soon afterwards insidiously made the occasion
of heaping greater honours on Pollajuolo at Maso's expense,) but
for his discovery of Chalcography. Nay, perhaps, but for that
discovery, works of niello, which gave rise to it, would scarcely
have obtained a mention. As for Baccio Baldini, his name but
once appears; and his prints, now so much sought after by collec-
tors, are got rid of in a single line, without a description of even one
of them.
The reason for all this is to be found in the prodigious number of
artists of every denomination, with which all Tuscany, but espe-
cially Florence, abounded, even as early as the commencement of
the fourteenth century; a number so great, that had Vasari mi-
nutely described the works of each individual, his writings must
have been extended to at least four times their present bulk; to say
nothing of the professors of painting, sculpture, and architecture,
who flourished from that period, to the time in which he wrote,
throughout every state of Italy.
Working in niello was, therefore, practised in Florence, and,
perhaps, in most other parts of Italy, long before Maso distin-
guished himself; and it was, we are told, the custom of those who
exercised that art, to take sulphur casts from their engravings, pre-
vious to filling them with the niello,
rity of Lessing (Collectaneen zur Litteratur. for the practice of that art, in his work
torn. xii. article Niellum) that the art of entitled: Diversarum artium schedula. The
working in niello was practised in France as work of Theophilus, he informs us, was
early as the seventh century. He adds, that published, for the first time, by Christian
Theophilus monachus, who lived in the Leiste, after a MS. in the library at Wolfen-
4welfth century, has left detailed instructions buttel.