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| Andrea del Sarto Portrait of Baccio Bandinelli ca. 1512 oil on canvas Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
Vasari describes the circumstances behind Andrea del Sarto's portrait (above) of his young friend and fellow artist, Baccio Bandinelli (1493-1560)
"Having already acquired a name as a great draughtsman, he [Baccio] was desirous of learning to paint in colors, having a firm belief that he would not only equal Buonarroti, but even greatly surpass him in both fields of art. Now he had executed a cartoon of a Leda, in which Castor and Pollux were issuing from the egg of the swan embraced by her, and he wished to color it in oils, in such a way as to make it appear that the methods of handling the colors and mixing them together in order to make the various tints, with the lights and shades, had not been taught to him by others, but that he had found them by himself, and after pondering how he could do this, he thought of the following expedient. He besought Andrea del Sarto, who was much his friend, that he should paint a portrait of him in oils, flattering himself that he would thereby gain two advantages in accordance with his purpose; one was that he would see the method of mixing the colors, and the other was that the painted picture would remain in his hands, which, having seen it executed and understanding it, would assist him and serve him as a pattern. But Andrea perceived Baccio's intention as he made his request, and was angry at his want of confidence and astuteness, for he would have been willing to show him what he desired, if Baccio had asked him as a friend; wherefore, without making any sign that he had found him out, and refraining from mixing the colors into tints, he placed every sort of color on his palette and mingled them together with the brush, and, taking some now from one and now from another with great dexterity of hand, counterfeited in this way the vivid coloring of Baccio's face. The latter, both through the artfulness of Andrea and because he had to sit still where he was if he wished to be painted, was never able to see or learn anything that he wished: and it was a fine notion of Andrea's, thus at the same time to punish the deceitfulness of his friend and to display with this method of painting, like a well-practiced master, even greater ability and experience in art."
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| Baccio Bandinelli Self-portrait ca. 1530 oil on canvas Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston |
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| Baccio Bandinelli after Michelangelo Drunkenness of Noah 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Académie 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Baccio Bandinelli Tomb design for Leo X and Clement VII 1533-35 drawing Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Baccio Bandinelli Design for a Relief of the Martyrdom of St Lawrence 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Baccio Bandinelli Seated old man in pseudo-antique costume 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| attributed to Baccio Bandinelli Standing Woman 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| Baccio Bandinelli Two women in conversation before a statue of Crouching Venus 16th century drawing British Museum |
"At this time was thrown open to view the cartoon of Michelangelo Buonarroti, full of nude figures, which Michelangelo had executed at the commission of Piero Soderini for the Great Council Chamber, and, as has been related in another place, all the craftsmen flocked together to draw it on account of its excellence. Among these came Baccio, and no long time passed before he outstripped them all, for the reason that he understood nudes, and outlined, shaded, and finished them better than any of the other draughtsmen, among whom were Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea del Sarto, Il Rosso, who was then very young, and Alfonso Berughetta the Spaniard, together with many other famous craftsmen. Baccio frequented the place more than any of the others, and had a counterfeit key; and it happened that, Piero Soderini having been deposed from the government about this time, in the year 1512, and the house of Medici having been restored to power, during the confusion caused in the Palace by the change of government, Baccio entered in secret, all by himself, and tore the cartoon into many pieces. Of which not knowing the reason, some said that Baccio had torn it up in order to have some pieces of the cartoon in his possession for his own convenience, some declared that he wished to deprive the other young men of that advantage, so that they might not be able to profit by it and make themselves a name in art, others said that he was moved to do this by his affection for Leonardo da Vinci, from whom Michelangelo's cartoon had taken much of his reputation, and others, again, perhaps interpreting his action better, attributed it to the hatred which he felt against Michelangelo and afterwards demonstrated as long as he lived. The loss of the cartoon was no light one for the city, and very heavy was the blame that was rightly placed upon Baccio by everyone, as an envious and malicious person."
– from Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, Sulptors and Architects, first published in 1550, translated into English by Gaston du C. de Vere in 1912
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Truncated Warrior 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli St Jerome in Penitence 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Two Figures 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Sleeping Woman 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Four Men with Skeleton 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Two Figures 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli after Michelangelo Prudentia 16th century drawing British Museum |
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| follower of Baccio Bandinelli Two Standing Women with a Child ca. 1518-19 drawing British Museum |