DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0326
CHAP. IV.]
MASO FINIGUERRA.
293
nucci tells us that some of the bassi-relievi of the history of S. John
the baptist, which decorate the magnificent altar of massy silver in
the same church, were executed by him, in competition with An-
tonio Pollaj uolo, the learned Gori* appears to have found no notice
of such a circumstance in the records of the time: and we may,
therefore, conclude that Baldinucci had no other authority than his
own arbitrary construction of the words of Vasari, who, after noticing
a trial of skill between Maso and Antonio, in which, says he, "Antonio
" equalled his rival in diligence, and surpassed him in design," pro-
ceeds to inform us, that Pollaj uolo (not Finiguerra) was, in conse-
quence, employed to execute some of the silver bassi-relievi on the
said altar.
As consistently with the duty of impartiality, we have found it
necessary to record this sentence, apparently so little to the credit
of Maso Finiguerra, we ought not to omit to soften its severity, by
apprising the reader that it would be no difficult task to produce
similar passages, in which Vasari, out of pure zeal for the artist
whose life he is then writing, who, for the time being, commonly
appears the beloved of his heart, has exalted him above his neigh-
bours, of claims at least equal; these last being treated by him
with a like courtesy when it comes to their turn. As a designer
of naked figures, Pollaj uolo probably became, in the end, superior
to Maso; Avhose works, being generally on a small scale, did not
require nor even admit of the display of those anatomical details
upon which the former set so high a value; and which, in the
eyes of a Florentine painter of the middle of the sixteenth century,
such as Vasari was, could not but appear paramount to every other
consideration. But Maso, on the other hand, possessed a delicacy
of feeling to which Pollajuolo was ever a stranger : joined, as has
been before said, to a purity of style, of which too many of the
Florentine artists of the latter part of the fifteenth century lost sight
in the pursuit of frivolous variety and capricious ornament.
* " Thesaurus Veterum Diptycliorum," torn. iii. p. 310, et seq.
MASO FINIGUERRA.
293
nucci tells us that some of the bassi-relievi of the history of S. John
the baptist, which decorate the magnificent altar of massy silver in
the same church, were executed by him, in competition with An-
tonio Pollaj uolo, the learned Gori* appears to have found no notice
of such a circumstance in the records of the time: and we may,
therefore, conclude that Baldinucci had no other authority than his
own arbitrary construction of the words of Vasari, who, after noticing
a trial of skill between Maso and Antonio, in which, says he, "Antonio
" equalled his rival in diligence, and surpassed him in design," pro-
ceeds to inform us, that Pollaj uolo (not Finiguerra) was, in conse-
quence, employed to execute some of the silver bassi-relievi on the
said altar.
As consistently with the duty of impartiality, we have found it
necessary to record this sentence, apparently so little to the credit
of Maso Finiguerra, we ought not to omit to soften its severity, by
apprising the reader that it would be no difficult task to produce
similar passages, in which Vasari, out of pure zeal for the artist
whose life he is then writing, who, for the time being, commonly
appears the beloved of his heart, has exalted him above his neigh-
bours, of claims at least equal; these last being treated by him
with a like courtesy when it comes to their turn. As a designer
of naked figures, Pollaj uolo probably became, in the end, superior
to Maso; Avhose works, being generally on a small scale, did not
require nor even admit of the display of those anatomical details
upon which the former set so high a value; and which, in the
eyes of a Florentine painter of the middle of the sixteenth century,
such as Vasari was, could not but appear paramount to every other
consideration. But Maso, on the other hand, possessed a delicacy
of feeling to which Pollajuolo was ever a stranger : joined, as has
been before said, to a purity of style, of which too many of the
Florentine artists of the latter part of the fifteenth century lost sight
in the pursuit of frivolous variety and capricious ornament.
* " Thesaurus Veterum Diptycliorum," torn. iii. p. 310, et seq.