Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/476

468 abandoned was beset on the contrary with all those disadvantages: the object of the calling he had left, Mariotto would remark, was to imitate flesh and blood, whereas that which he had adopted made both blood and flesh; here again as he declared, he found himself daily receiving praises for his good wine, while in his old occupation, he was perpetually criticised, and hourly compelled to listen to the blame bestowed on his performances.

But in a short time his newly chosen employment became more intolerable than his early profession had been. Disgusted by the debasement of the avocation he had adopted, Mariotto resumed his painting, and executed numerous pictures of all kinds in the houses of the Florentine citizens. He received a commission for three small pictures, from Giovanni Maria Benintendi, and on the elevation of Leo X. to the chair of St. Peter, he painted a circular picture in oil for the house of Medici, which was long suspended over the gate of their palace. In this work he depicted the arms of the Medici, accompanied by the figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity.

For the brotherhood of San Zanobi, which has its abode near the Chapter House of Santa Maria del Fiore, Mariotto undertook to execute a picture of the Annunciation, but this he did not bring to a conclusion without a vast amount of labour. He had caused the light to be arranged in the precise manner suited to his work, which he desired to execute on the spot, to the end that he might impart to each separate portion of the picture its due effect; increasing or diminishing, as the distance of each figure might demand; and giving to every part its required amount of light. Mariotto was persuaded that paintings are worthy of estimation only in proportion as they combine relief and force with softness; he knew that the figures could not stand forth from the plane surface without shadows, but if these are too dark the work is rendered indistinct, and if too faint the picture is found to be wanting in force; he would fain have secured the perfection of softness for his painting, together with a certain something

• Vasari has not mentioned the subjects of these works; it therefore becomes very difficult to distinguish or trace them.—Ed. Flor., 1838.

+ On the precise spot where the picture was to be suspended, that is to say.—Ibid.