Andrea del
Sarto

In his youth, his emergence as an artist was influenced by fra Bartolommeo and Leonardo da Vinci and later Michelangelo. Was friends with Raphael, Titian, Franciabigio. Worked in Florence, 1518-1519 worked in France at the invitation of king Francis I. he Returned to Florence in 1519.

The author of a large number of frescoes and easel paintings.

Italian painter of the High Renaissance. Studied with Piero di Cosimo, influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, fra, Bartolommeo, and Michelangelo; worked in Florence, at the end of life became the acknowledged head of the Florentine school of painting. Works Sarto are clear and solemn songs, built on a harmonious balance of complex and large spatial-rhythmic forms.

Poetic inspiration of his painting ("Madonna of the harpies", 1517, Uffizi; a "virgin and child with saints", 1519, the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg; "portrait of a sculptor", national gallery, London) is largely born soft chiaroscuro, enveloping form and combining bright, juicy colors. Sarto later works reflect moments of crisis in the development of Renaissance art. Complicated rhythms, expressive sound of color, the introduction of genre motifs into traditional religious compositions characterize of painting Sarto 1520-ies ("the last supper" in the refectory of the monastery of San Salvi in Florence, 1526-1527). Free the dynamic composition, rapid movement and sharp expressiveness of sharp angles, disturbing, like a burning colour to his last easel paintings ("Sacrifice of Abraham", 1529, Art gallery, Dresden) anticipates Baroque art.

Andrea del Sarto was born in about 1486 in Florence, in the family of a tailor. Actually, the real name of it was d'agnolo, however, has long been the custom to call him "del Sarto", the craft of his father ("sarto" in Italian tailor). The exact date of birth of the painter, the researchers was not identified because there is no record of his baptism nor any other documents related to his infancy.

Andrea's childhood passed in the same way as the childhood of other children of artisans. Quite early, apparently, already at the age of seven, he was sent to be apprenticed to a jeweler in whose workshop he remained for about three years. At this point, and for parents and teachers of the boy became evident his artistic ability and he received custody of the little-known painter Gian Barile. After some time, we already find him in the workshop one of the best masters of Florence, Piero di Cosimo.

How long our hero was in the disciples of Piero di Cosimo is unknown. However, Giorgio Vasari, whose "Biography" a biography of Andrea del Sarto, notes that the teacher loved him for his talent and performance. Therefore, to let them go too soon, he wouldn't. Further, Vasari says that Andrea at some point he wanted to leave, Piero di Cosimo and his intention was voiced by a certain young artist Franciabigio, with whom they spent their free time in the Pontifical hall by redrawing the cartoons of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. "So writes the biographer, when they on this basis, made friends, Andrea once said France that endure the eccentricities of Piero quite decrepit he already could not endure, and that he therefore wants to make a separate workshop. Francia, who was forced to do the same, because his master Mariotto Albertinelli had already gave up painting when he heard the decision of his friend Andrea, said that he needed a workshop, and that to settle them together would be of benefit to both".

As a result, young people rented rooms on the Piazza del Grano and began to work independently. In 1509 Andrea del Sarto received its first major order for the decoration of patio Scalzo (the Barefoot brotherhood volunteers wearing hoods with slits for eyes that accompanied the condemned on death) scenes from the life of John the Baptist. Beginning his work was so brilliant that this time the artist did not lack of orders.

In 1510 approached by a crafty monk, who stood candle in the Church of the Santissima Annunziata, with a proposal to write a few frescoes. At first, Andrea refused, for he already had a lot of trouble with ordering from the backyard Scalzo, however, the monk insisted. Focusing on kindness and ambition of the young artist, he convinced him that the frescoes, located in this frequently visited Florence place, such as Santissima Annunziata, quickly praise of the artist and serve to their welfare. The sleeve of the Minister of the Church was stashed another trump card. The fact that the described time in the relations of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio has been fractured: they were more of rivals than friends. And the monk gracefully played on it, hinting to our hero that if he will not agree to his proposal, the order will be given Franciabigio, and this last one will receive all the benefits associated with it. Against this argument of Andrea del Sarto to resist but could not.

The artist's life gradually developed. He's already made enough money to help his family and himself not to wallow in poverty. With all the mean and selfish he was, being able to settle. Vasari emphasizes that the master never overprice their work. Moreover, "took very little for their labors", trying not for money but for honor.

This relatively carefree existence lasted as long as the painter is not in love with Lucrezia del Fede, a young, recently widowed woman. By marrying her, Andrea del Sarto became (at least according to Vasari) shaped henpecked. Moreover, almost every female character he wrote after his marriage with his wife, but also worked hard with the brush to satisfy her every whim.

But being a short-sighted woman, Lucrezia's own hands destroyed the Foundation on which could be based the welfare of the family. It happened this way. In 1518 king Francis I, who had heard about the considerable talent of Andrea del Sarto, invited him to work in France. At his court he was surrounded by artist all imaginable honors and showered his countless gifts. Stay master in France, it would be fame and a comfortable old age. But one day he received a letter from Lucrezia where she asked him to return home. Painter told the king that he must go to Florence. He swore on the gospel that he would return, bringing with him his wife and most valuable paintings and sculptures. Believing him, Francis let him go and even supplied the money for the trip. Needless to say that he never saw? Upon returning to Florence, Andrea del Sarto was struck by the tears of his wife, who did not want to leave their homeland and go into exile. Pleas wife meant more to him than the vows to the king, and he remained in Florence, and missed the opportunity to gain honor and wealth.

Meanwhile, in Florence, no one expected his return. Customers, believing that he has finally moved to France, gave work, begun by him, other painters (in particular, during the absence of Andrea's two murals in the Courtyard Scalzo managed to write Franciabigio). And although our hero quickly regained his former position, his heart had clenched at the thought of the broken oath.

In 1523 in Florence outbreak of plague. To protect yourself and your family from the plague, all the artist at home "with the children and the household" (his children with him, however, was not available; the only child in the family had a daughter Lucretia from his first marriage, subsequently posing Andrea del Sarto for the "Girl with a book of Petrarch), moved for a time at Mugello. Here he received the order of the sisters of the local convent to write the altar of the image of "Lamentation" (this image called "Pieta", the reader can see in section "gallery"). The nuns, according to Giorgio Vasari, belonged to the artist and his family very affectionately, and by paying good for good, he worked on the requested pattern with great animation and zeal.

When the epidemic was over, Andrea del Sarto returned to Florence and continued the work begun earlier cycles. He had to remember, in particular, and very long his obligation to the monastery of San Salvi, in 1511 applied to the artist with a request to draw a picture on the wall of the refectory of the last supper. This work, remarkable in color, they were finished in 1527, two years after the not less beautiful "Madonna del Sacco".

In recent works of Andrea del Sarto, already feel the breath of imminent death. In a year or two before it he created a surprisingly soulful self-portrait (Vasari writes that initially he wanted to capture his wife, but she refused to pose, and then the master used a prepared paint, writing himself).

He died in 1530, when Florence was once again raging plague. However, most likely, he died from her, and, says the biographer, "whether from fear, or from unreasonable eating the food". On his deathbed, his Andrea del Sarto was deprived of the necessary care, as Lucrezia, still fearing that her husband infected with the plague, trying to stay away from him. When the painter died, the Pets don't even notice it. He was buried by the brothers of the Scalzo in the Church of Santissima Annunziata.