Giorgio Vasari

“ We seldom find a man distinguishing himself in one branch of art, who cannot readily acquire the knowledge of others, more especially of those immediately connected with that to which his attention was first devoted, and which proceed, so to speak, from the same source. We have a case in point exhibited by the Florentine Orgagna, who was at once a painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, as will hereafter appear. Born in Florence, Andrea commenced the study of sculpture while still but a child, under Andrea Pisano, [2] and to this he devoted himself earnestly for some years. ”

“ Around these dead bodies devils are moving; they busily tear the souls of the departed from their mouths, and carry them off to certain fiery gulfs, seen at the summit of a very high mountain: opposite to these devils are angels, who approach others of the dead, which have manifestly belonged to the good, and in like manner, drawing the souls from their mouths, they bear them flying to Paradise. ”

“ On the other side of the same picture is a high mountain, on which Andrea has represented the life of those who, moved by repentance of their sins, and by desire for salvation, have retired from the world to that Solitude, which is occupied by holy hermits, whose days are passed in the service of God, and who are pursuing various occupations, with most animated expression and truth of effect; some, reading or praying, seem wholly intent on a life of contemplation; others, labouring to gain their bread, are actively employed in different ways ”

“ The judge and notary who had acted against him on the same occasion were similarly represented by the painter among the sinners of the Inferno. Near Guardi is Cecco d’Ascoli, [15] a famous magician of that day; and a little above him, towards the centre of the painting, is a hypocritical friar, who issues from a tomb, and seeks furtively to mingle with the good, but is discovered by an angel, who drives him into the midst of the condemned. [16]
Andrea Orgagna had another brother, besides Bernardo, who was called Jacopo, and who devoted himself to sculpture, but with no great success ”

“ The living potentates, in varied and beautiful attitudes, regard this spectacle with serious attention, and one might almost say that they are reflecting with regret on their own liability shortly to become such as those they are looking upon. ”

“ Among the plans then presented by the best masters of the city, the one universally approved was that of Orgagna, and this the commune accepted, as being more extensive, magnificent, and beautiful, than any other. After his design, therefore, according to the determination of the signori and the commune, the grand Loggia of the piazza was commenced, on the foundations laid at the time of the duke of Athens, the building being diligently and carefully constructed of hewn stone. ”

“ Macarius, exhibiting the dead kings, and that of the hermits on the mountain, is omitted. Repeating all the other parts of the Pisan pictures, he executed the Florentine work with improved design and greater care than he had bestowed on that of Pisa, but pursuing a similar plan as to the composition, as well as in the manner, inscriptions, and other accessories; in this respect the only change was in the portraits from life, those of the Florentine picture pourtraying his friends on one side, whom he placed in Paradise, and his enemies on the other, who were stationed in the Inferno. ”

“ And now is it truly to be lamented, that for want of writers to record the names of all that crowd of persons represented—knights, nobles, and other men of distinction, all evidently drawn and figured from the life— scarcely any, or at least but very few, are known, or can be identified: it is true that the pope in this picture is said to be Innocent IV, the friend of Manfredi, [11] but of the other figures very few are authenticated. ”

“ He next, as one effort usually leads to another, made attempts at painting in colours, both in fresco and distemper, wherein he succeeded so well, with the assistance of his brother Bernardo Orgagna, that he was taken by the latter to paint in his company in the church of Santa Maria Novella, where, in the principal chapel, which then belonged to the family of the Ricci, the brothers executed together the life of Our Lady. ”

“ Subsequently, being desirous of enriching his powers of invention and attaining distinction in the composition of historical works, he gave the most diligent attention to the practice of drawing, and herein he was powerfully aided by Nature, which had destined him to universality of attainment. ”

“ Among these may be noted the monastery of the Certosa, in Florence, built at the cost of the noble family of the Acciaiuoli, and more particularly of Messer Niccola, grand seneschal of the king of Naples; with the tomb of the seneschal (on which may be seen his portrait, taken from nature) , and that of his father and one of his sisters, the covering of which is of marble, whereon the portraits of the two personages interred beneath are also very well executed. ”

“ It was the custom of this master to sign himself Andrea di Cione, sculptor, on his paintings; and Andrea di Cione, [23] painter, on his sculptures, desiring that men should be aware of his claims as a sculptor while they were admiring his paintings, and of his talents as a painter while they examined his sculptures. There are numerous pictures in Florence by this artist, some of which are known by the name, as is the painting in San Borneo, before alluded to ”