Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 05 (of 10): Andrea da Fiesole to Lorenzo Lotto

In Short

This biographical compilation traces the lives, ambitions, and artistic outputs of High Renaissance Italian masters spanning from Andrea Ferrucci to Lorenzo Lotto. Through a chronological series of painter and sculptor profiles, the narrative details the creation of altarpieces, frescoes, tombs, and architectural marvels. It portrays an era of intense creative rivalry, shifting papal patronage, and personal triumphs or tragedies. The work has endured because it serves as the foundational art-historical account of Renaissance masters, offering intimate personal details, technical assessments, and a vivid picture of sixteenth-century Italian artistic culture directly from a practicing contemporary.

The Story

The chronicle opens with sculptors and painters like Andrea da Fiesole and Timoteo da Urbino, who establish reputations through meticulous religious works, such as detailed altarpieces depicting the Annunciation or delicate stone carvings. Masters move between Florence, Rome, and smaller Italian courts, securing commissions for tombs, palace decorations, and devotional panels. Early successes show artists mastering perspective, light, and anatomical precision, establishing high standards for their peers and winning the favor of aristocratic patrons like the Dukes of Urbino.

As the narrative progresses, the focus shifts to Rome and Florence, where artists face complex commissions and competitive political environments. Benedetto da Rovezzano executes intricate marble tombs with delicate low-relief carvings, while Lorenzetto incorporates ancient Roman sarcophagi and fragments into modern architectural designs, sparking a broader movement across Rome to restore mutilated antiquities. Meanwhile, painters like Andrea del Sarto demonstrate extraordinary facility with color and fresco, producing masterworks for Florentine cloisters and royal villas. Yet, human vulnerabilities and historical turbulence constantly interrupt artistic triumph. Andrea’s work on the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano grinds to a halt due to the death of Pope Leo, and later, the horrors of the siege of Florence and the plague claim his life under lonely circumstances.

In its later stages, the volume follows artists who navigate financial distress, professional envy, and tragic ends. Baldassarre Peruzzi achieves renown in architecture and painting but ends his days in poverty and illness, suspected by some to have been poisoned by a jealous rival seeking his salary. In Bologna, a group of rival painters allows arrogant pride to derail their pursuit of perfection, whereas Girolamo da Treviso finds initial disappointment at home only to secure great wealth as an military engineer for King Henry in England—before being cut in half by a cannonball during a siege. The journey concludes with Venetian and Northern Italian masters like Pordenone, Parmigianino, Palma Vecchio, and Lorenzo Lotto, who push the boundaries of night-lighting effects, illusionistic foreshortening, and expressive portraits, cementing an artistic legacy that outlasts the fragility of their individual lives.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Artists like Andrea da Fiesole and Timoteo da Urbino build early reputations through diligent work on religious altarpieces and courtly decorations. Their mastery of naturalistic detail and classical motifs earns them steady salaries and patron favor.

Restoring classical grace Sculptors and architects begin integrating ancient Roman fragments directly into contemporary buildings and public works. Lorenzetto restores maimed antique statues, establishing a fashion across Rome for revitalizing ancient art.

Flourishing amidst rivalry Andrea del Sarto and his contemporaries compete for prestigious commissions in Florence, painting soft, lifelike frescoes. Despite brilliance in color and design, sudden political shifts and the deaths of papal patrons repeatedly halt major projects.

Tragedy and sudden ends Disaster and sudden illness stalk prominent masters. Baldassarre Peruzzi dies impoverished amid rumors of poisoning, while Andrea del Sarto succumbs isolated during a plague outbreak following the siege of Florence.

Fortune beyond boundaries Rejection at home drives masters like Girolamo da Treviso to seek service abroad, where he transforms into a royal engineer in England. His newfound wealth is cut short when a cannonball strikes him down in battle.

Venetian light and mastery Northern masters like Pordenone, Parma, and Lorenzo Lotto captivate Venice with dramatic foreshortening, striking night lighting, and expressive portraiture. Their inventive compositions complete a brilliant era of regional mastery.

The People

• Andrea del Sarto: A Florentine painter of exceptional talent known for his soft coloring and vivacious fresco technique. Driven by a desire to advance his craft step by step, he struggles with interrupted commissions, bad fortune, and personal isolation during the plague, ultimately dying without improper care.
• Baldassarre Peruzzi: A brilliant Senese architect and painter who achieves great mastery in Roman projects. He wants only to provide for his family and practice his art without reproach, but ends up weighed down by poverty, dying under suspicious circumstances while holding a court salary.
• Lorenzetto: A sculptor and architect commissioned to execute works for Raphael’s tomb and papal bridges. He seeks to harmonize classical antiquity with modern design by restoring broken ancient sculptures, altering how Roman patrons collect and display art.
• Girolamo da Treviso: An ambitious artist who flees Bologna after being passed over for an important hospital painting. He transforms his career by serving King Henry in England as a military engineer, achieving great wealth before dying violently on the battlefield.

In Its Own Voice

"...seeing that, besides foliage, carved emblems of death, and figures, he made therein with basanite, in low-relief, a canopy in imitation of black cloth, with so much grace and such beautiful finish and lustre, that the stone appears to be exquisite black satin rather than basanite."

Vasari praises the incredible craftsmanship of Benedetto da Rovezzano’s marble tomb for Piero Soderini.

"...and finding no remedy for his illness, and being without much attention--for his wife, from fear of the plague, kept as far away from him as she could--he died, so it is said, almost without a soul being aware of it..."

The author records the quiet, tragic death of painter Andrea del Sarto during the plague in Florence.

"...and considering that he had been wronged, not long afterwards he departed from Bologna. And thus the envy of others raised him to such a height of prosperity as he had never thought of..."

Girolamo da Treviso's bitter disappointment in an artistic competition unexpectedly leads to his lucrative English career.

What It's Really About

Beneath the catalog of altarpieces, tombs, and frescoes lies an extended argument about the nature of artistic progress and human vulnerability. The text explores how true mastery requires humility, steady application, and direct engagement with classical models, warning against the deadening effects of arrogant rivalry. It constantly contrasts the permanence of a great work of art with the fragile, chaotic lives of the people who make it. Princes die, wars erupt, plagues sweep through cities, and jealous competitors plot downfalls; yet the craft itself advances as each generation learns from the triumphs and failures of the last.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to art history enthusiasts, travelers, and anyone captivated by the Renaissance who wants an authentic, primary-source view of its creators. Reading it feels like walking through a sixteenth-century workshop accompanied by an opinionated, knowledgeable insider who knows every rumor, patron, and technical trick behind the masterpieces.

The prose carries a direct, conversational energy that balances technical praise of brushwork and stone carving with dramatic personal anecdotes. Readers must navigate historical archaic spellings, lengthy inventories of religious works, and dense lists of long-forgotten secondary figures. Yet these difficulties are far outweighed by the vivid reality of the portraits. What remains with you is a profound appreciation for how hard-won these timeless masterworks were, created by real human beings navigating sudden poverty, war, disease, and the fickle whims of fortune.