Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/vasari1851bd4/0361
JACOPO DA PONTORMO.
353
Passion, and the other supporting the sinking head of the
Saviour ; on one side stands St. John the Evangelist, weep-
ing, and with extended arms ; on the other is St. Augustine
in his episcopal robes ; he is supporting himself on his pas-
toral staff, and in an attitude of the deepest sadness, is
contemplating the dead body of the Saviour.* For Messer
Spina, a friend of Giovanni Salviati, our artist painted the
arms of that Giovanni, which Messer Spina desired to have
depicted in the court-yard of his dwelling, and opposite to
the principal door ; Giovanni Salviati, having in those days
been created Cardinal by Pope Leo X., the Cardinal’s red
hat was painted above, with two beautiful boys standing
upright: for a work in fresco this is a very fine one, and, as
being by the hand of Puntormo is highly valued by Messer
Filippo Spina.
Jacopo likewise took part in the decoration of those apart-
ments which, as we have before related, were adorned with
magnificent ornaments, in wood-work as well as painting,
for Pier Francesco Borgherini ; this Puntormo did in com-
petition with other masters,! and, to speak more particularly,
he painted two large coffers, or cabinets, with stories from the
life of Joseph, which he executed in minute figures of incom-
parable beauty.^
But whoever shall desire to see the best work ever per-
formed in his whole life by Jacopo da Puntormo, and who
shall propose to himself to ascertain what the genius of that
master was capable of effecting, whether as regards the
power of invention displayed, the grouping of the figures,
the animation of the heads, or the variety and beauty of the
attitudes, let him examine one angle of those apartments
of the before-mentioned Florentine noble, Borgherini; that on
the left namely as you enter the door, where there is a story
of which the figures are small, although the work itself is of
fair size, and this is indeed of admirable excellence. The
* It was destroyed when the Convent and Church of San Gallo were
demolished in the year 1529, see note, ante, p. 339.
f Andrea del Sarto, Francesco, Ubertino, called 11 Bacchiacca, and II Gra-
nacci namely.
J Two of these stories, and which do indeed merit to be considered beau-
tiful, are now in the Florentine Gallery of the Uffizj, in the larger Hal. of
the Tuscan School. They have been engraved in outline in the Galleria
di Firenze Illustrata.
VOL. IV. A A
353
Passion, and the other supporting the sinking head of the
Saviour ; on one side stands St. John the Evangelist, weep-
ing, and with extended arms ; on the other is St. Augustine
in his episcopal robes ; he is supporting himself on his pas-
toral staff, and in an attitude of the deepest sadness, is
contemplating the dead body of the Saviour.* For Messer
Spina, a friend of Giovanni Salviati, our artist painted the
arms of that Giovanni, which Messer Spina desired to have
depicted in the court-yard of his dwelling, and opposite to
the principal door ; Giovanni Salviati, having in those days
been created Cardinal by Pope Leo X., the Cardinal’s red
hat was painted above, with two beautiful boys standing
upright: for a work in fresco this is a very fine one, and, as
being by the hand of Puntormo is highly valued by Messer
Filippo Spina.
Jacopo likewise took part in the decoration of those apart-
ments which, as we have before related, were adorned with
magnificent ornaments, in wood-work as well as painting,
for Pier Francesco Borgherini ; this Puntormo did in com-
petition with other masters,! and, to speak more particularly,
he painted two large coffers, or cabinets, with stories from the
life of Joseph, which he executed in minute figures of incom-
parable beauty.^
But whoever shall desire to see the best work ever per-
formed in his whole life by Jacopo da Puntormo, and who
shall propose to himself to ascertain what the genius of that
master was capable of effecting, whether as regards the
power of invention displayed, the grouping of the figures,
the animation of the heads, or the variety and beauty of the
attitudes, let him examine one angle of those apartments
of the before-mentioned Florentine noble, Borgherini; that on
the left namely as you enter the door, where there is a story
of which the figures are small, although the work itself is of
fair size, and this is indeed of admirable excellence. The
* It was destroyed when the Convent and Church of San Gallo were
demolished in the year 1529, see note, ante, p. 339.
f Andrea del Sarto, Francesco, Ubertino, called 11 Bacchiacca, and II Gra-
nacci namely.
J Two of these stories, and which do indeed merit to be considered beau-
tiful, are now in the Florentine Gallery of the Uffizj, in the larger Hal. of
the Tuscan School. They have been engraved in outline in the Galleria
di Firenze Illustrata.
VOL. IV. A A