Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/vasari1851bd4/0068
60
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
tiano to Rome; nay, knowing how helpful and favourable
that city, as the common country of all distinguished men,
had ever proved herself towards such, he went thither more
than willingly. Having arrived in Rome accordingly,
Ag ostino set him instantly to work, and the first thing which
he did was to paint the small arches above the Loggia, which
looks into the garden of Agostino’s palace in the Trastevere,
where the whole of the vaulting had been decorated by
Baldassare of Siena. In these arches, Sebastiano painted
many poesies,* or fanciful subjects, in the manner which he
had brought with him from Venice, and which were very
different from the works usually produced in Rome by the
distinguished painters of that time.
After this work, Raffaello having executed a story of
Galatea in that place, Agostino desired that Sebastiano
should paint a Polyphemus in fresco beside it and here,
impelled by a spirit of rivalry with Baldassare of Siena, and
afterwards with Raphael, he did his very utmost to distin-
guish himself. He likewise executed certain works in oil,
and of these, seeing that he had obtained from Giorgione a
certain mode of colouring which was tolerably soft, much
account was made at Rome. While Sebastiano was thus
producing these pictures in Rome, Raffaello da Urbino had
risen into great credit as a painter, and his friends and
adherents maintained that his works were more strictly in
accordance with the rules of art than those of Michael
Agnolo, affirming that they were graceful in colouring, of
beautiful invention, admirable in expression, and of charac-
teristic design; while those of Michael Agnolo, it was
averred, had none of these qualities with the exception of
the design. For these reasons, Raphael was judged by those
who thus opined, to be fully equal, if not superior, to
Michelagnolo in painting generally, and was considered by
the same to be decidedly superior to him as regarded
colouring in particular. These ideas, promulgated by many
* As our author calls every work having an historical character, a story,
so he calls those taken, from the poets or works of pure fancy, a poesy.—
Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
-j- The Polyphemus of Fra Sebastiano has perished, and another has
been fabricated in its place by some painter who was but “ one of a
dozen.”—Bottari.
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
tiano to Rome; nay, knowing how helpful and favourable
that city, as the common country of all distinguished men,
had ever proved herself towards such, he went thither more
than willingly. Having arrived in Rome accordingly,
Ag ostino set him instantly to work, and the first thing which
he did was to paint the small arches above the Loggia, which
looks into the garden of Agostino’s palace in the Trastevere,
where the whole of the vaulting had been decorated by
Baldassare of Siena. In these arches, Sebastiano painted
many poesies,* or fanciful subjects, in the manner which he
had brought with him from Venice, and which were very
different from the works usually produced in Rome by the
distinguished painters of that time.
After this work, Raffaello having executed a story of
Galatea in that place, Agostino desired that Sebastiano
should paint a Polyphemus in fresco beside it and here,
impelled by a spirit of rivalry with Baldassare of Siena, and
afterwards with Raphael, he did his very utmost to distin-
guish himself. He likewise executed certain works in oil,
and of these, seeing that he had obtained from Giorgione a
certain mode of colouring which was tolerably soft, much
account was made at Rome. While Sebastiano was thus
producing these pictures in Rome, Raffaello da Urbino had
risen into great credit as a painter, and his friends and
adherents maintained that his works were more strictly in
accordance with the rules of art than those of Michael
Agnolo, affirming that they were graceful in colouring, of
beautiful invention, admirable in expression, and of charac-
teristic design; while those of Michael Agnolo, it was
averred, had none of these qualities with the exception of
the design. For these reasons, Raphael was judged by those
who thus opined, to be fully equal, if not superior, to
Michelagnolo in painting generally, and was considered by
the same to be decidedly superior to him as regarded
colouring in particular. These ideas, promulgated by many
* As our author calls every work having an historical character, a story,
so he calls those taken, from the poets or works of pure fancy, a poesy.—
Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
-j- The Polyphemus of Fra Sebastiano has perished, and another has
been fabricated in its place by some painter who was but “ one of a
dozen.”—Bottari.