Download Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530)

Andrea del Sarto
(1486–1530)
Biography
Andrea del Sarto (real name Andrea d'Agnolo di
Francesco) was a Florentine painter, called an artist “senza
errori” (“without errors”). His career flourished during
the High Renaissance and early Mannerism.
Between 1494 and 1498 Andrea apprenticed to a
goldsmith, then to a woodcarver and painter Gian Barile,
Piero di Cosimo and Raffaellino dal Garbo. In 1518 he
received an invitation from François I and spend about a year
at the French Court. Soon after his return, his connections
with the Medici family led to the most significant contract of
his career—for part of the decoration of the Villa Medici at
Poggio a Caiano, near Florence. But the project collapsed and
Sarto’s fresco The Tribute Presented to Julius Caesar in
Egypt (1521) is a fragment now incorporated into a much
later decorational scheme.
Throughout his life he was content to work, when it
suited him, for nominal fees, or for no remuneration at all. He
would paint for a carpenter or a king. After the expulsion of the Medici in 1527, he worked for the
republican government of Florence. After the siege of Florence by imperial and papal forces, he
succumbed to a new wave of plague and died in his house in 1530.
Creative works
Angrea del Sarto painted mainly religious works, including both altarpieces and major
cycles of frescoes. His portraits, distinguished by a dreamily poetic quality, are among the most
individual of the High Renaissance. The starting point of Sarto’s career is, probably, the
Miracles of San Filippo Benizzi (1509-10) in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence.
He painted the Birth of the Virgin (1514) and the Madonna del Sacco (1525) for the same
basilica. As a fresco painter he is also known for a monochrome fresco series, depicting the story
of the Baptist (1511-1526). Sarto's style is marked by the interest in effects colour and
atmosphere, as well as by sophisticated informality and natural expression of emotion.
Florentine influence
With two brief exceptions (visits to Rome and France), Sarto’s working life was spent in
Florence. As a young man Andrea and his friend Franciabigio worked in a studio in the Piazza
del Grano, where he created the Baptism of Christ. Andrea's works are of great importance in the
evolution of Florentine painting, especially the Holy Families. His Madonnas are notable for
their softly atmospheric qualities and the richness of their colour, in contrast to the linear
definition and clear, bright hues of artists like Botticelli and Ghirlandaio. The Madonna of the
Harpies (1517), exposed in the Palazzo Pitti, is thought to be the painter’s major contribution to
High Renaissance art. Andrea del Sarto was also an excellent draughtsman; the best collection of
his drawings is in the Uffizi.
Among his pupils and followers were most of the significant Florentine painters of the
first half of the 16th century—Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo, Francesco Salviati, and Giorgio
Vasari —and it is largely through his example that the tradition of Florentine art was transmitted
through to the end of the Renaissance and was able to embrace the stylistic innovations made
about 1500 by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Learn more
History of art // http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/sarto1.html
Encyclopedia Britannica // http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/23896/Andrea-del-Sarto
The Museums
Annunziata.html
of
Florence
//
http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Santissima-
The National Gallery // http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/andrea-del-sarto
Web Gallery of Art // http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/a/andrea/sarto/index.html
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