E-text prepared by Roy Brown
THE LIVES OF THE PAINTERS, SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS
by
In Eight Volumes
Vol. One
CIMABUE (1240-1302)
ARNOLFO DI LAPO (1232-1310)
BONANNO (fl. 1174-1186
LAPO (1190-1260)
NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI PISANI fl 1205, 1278, 1250-1328)
ANDREA TAFI (1250-1320)
GADDO GADDI (1259-1333)
MARGARITONE (1210-1293)
GIOTTO (1267-1337)
PUCCIO CAPANNA (fl. 1350)
AGOSTINO AND AGNOLO (fl. 1286-1330)
STEFANO AND UGOLINO (1301-1350, 1260-1339)
PIETRO LAURATI (died c. 1350)
ANDREA PISANO (1270-1348)
BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO (fl. 1311-1351)
AMBRUOGIO LORENZETTI (died c. 1338)
PIETRO CAVALLINI (1259-1334)
SIMONE MARTINI AND LIPPO MEMMI (1285-1344; died 1357)
I am aware that it is commonly held as a fact by most writers thatsculpture, as well as painting, was naturally discovered originallyby the people of Egypt, and also that there are others who attributeto the Chaldeans the first rough carvings of statues and the firstreliefs. In like manner there are those who credit the Greeks withthe invention of the brush and of colouring. But it is my opinionthat design, which is the creative principle in both arts, came intoexistence at the time of the origin of all things. When the Most Highcreated the world and adorned the heavens with shining lights, Hisperfect intellect passing through the limpid air and alighting on thesolid earth, formed man, thus disclosing the first form of sculptureand painting in the charming invention of things. Who will deny thatfrom this man, as from a living example, the ideas of statues andsculpture, and the questions of pose and of outline, first took form;and from the first pictures, whatever they may have been, arose thefirst ideas of grace, unity, and the discordant concords made by theplay of lights and shadows? Thus the first model from which the firstimage of man arose was a lump of earth, and not without reason, forthe Divine Architect of time and of nature, being all perfection,wished to demonstrate, in the imperfection of His materials, whatcould be done to improve them, just as good sculptors and paintersare in the habit of doing, when, by adding additional touches andremoving blemishes, they bring their imperfect sketches to such astate of completion and of perfection as they desire. God alsoendowed man with a bright flesh colour, and the same shades may bedrawn from the earth, which supplies materials to counterfeiteverything which occurs in painting. It is indeed true that it isimpossible to feel absolutely certain as to what steps men took forthe imitation of the beautiful works of Nature in these arts beforethe flood, although it appears, most probable that even then theypractised all manner of painting and sculpture; for Bel, son of theproud Nimrod, about 200 years after the flood, had a statue made,from which idolatry afterwards arose; and his celebrateddaughter-in-law, Semiramis, queen of Babylon, in the building of thatcity, introduced among the ornaments there coloured representationsfrom life of divers kinds of animals, as well as of herself and ofher husband Ninus, with the bronze statues of her father, hermother-in-law, and her great-grandmother, as Diodorus relates,calling them Jove, Juno, and Ops—Greek names, which did not thenexist. It was, perhaps, from these statues that the Chaldeans learnedto make the images of their gods. It is recorded in Genesis how 150years later,