Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/654

 598 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE criticism is based, and it is to him that the reader should still turn for the spirit, the gossip, and the relish of the age, while only the masterpieces themselves do justice to the genius of the artists. We may also catch something of the feeling of the times from the racy, if somewhat incred- ible, autobiography of the self-confessed genius, goldsmith, sculptor, musician, and desperado, Benvenuto Cellini. Both he and Vasari were Florentines of the sixteenth century as Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Giotto, and Brunelleschi had been Florentines two hundred years before. It was not un- fitting that the gifted city where the first sparks of the Ital- ian Renaissance were struck should also be the spot where the last ashes of the movement were collected. It is to be remembered, however, that Vasari sometimes overem- phasizes the importance of his fellow Florentines. The artists impress us favorably compared to the des- pots and humanists. They were devoted to their art where Ch the despots were intent on power and where the of the art- humanists were solicitous for their own fame. While so many despots disregarded moral con- siderations, few of the artists were afflicted with what is sometimes called the artistic temperament. Many were • affable, generous, and kindly, or frugal, honest, and in- dustrious. Even Vasari does not always do them justice. Fra Lippo Lippi, whom he depicts as a jovial spendthrift and libertine, seems not to have fallen in love until he was fifty, and to have made great sacrifices of his own comfort in order to provide for his nieces. It is also doubtful if Andrea del Sarto was an embezzler. Andrea del Castagno has been shown to have died several years before the man whom he was said to have assassinated. Perugino, instead of being a miser and atheist, "figures in the original docu- ments as a generous giver, bestowing his time and labor upon religious confraternities for little or no pay." The artists were natural where the humanists seem sentimental and affected. While the humanists imitated the writings of classical antiquity, the artists experimented and worked out new methods. The humanists were scholars; the artists