The other day I came across a painting by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) and was reminded of how much I like his work. There is something about the way he painted fabric and his use of a particular red that I react to emotionally. As well, he painted such interesting expressions on characters that might, in the hands of contemporaries, not show as much expression. You’ll see an example below of what I mean.

In a book I borrowed to reacquaint myself with his work, I came across a subject that he painted three times – Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Issac. In previous blog posts, I have occasionally talked about the changes an artist sometimes needs to make as a painting progresses. These three paintings are a great example of these types of changes.

 

As part of a commission given to del Sarto by Giovambattista della Palla (for two paintings for the French king), Andrea del Sarto painted Sacrifice of Issac, an oil painting now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. It is unfinished and gives us a great view into the process used by del Sarto. Let’s have a look.

 

 

Look at the area around the angel – you can see that del Sarto had originally positioned the angel much closer to Abraham with his legs right behind Abraham while his right hand overlapped Abraham’s shoulder.

 

As the notes in the Cleveland Museum of Art point out, the donkey on the right is barely sketched in much less painted. This gives us a clue to Andrea del Sarto’s working method, of how he progressed through a painting, for instance, some parts are painted while others are not ie. he didn’t paint everything all at once.

 

This large painting, unfinished (why I wonder – was del Sarto so unhappy with it that he decided to start over?), was the first of the three paintings Andrea del Sarto did on the theme of Abraham’s sacrifice. Going by the large size, the painting in Dresden was probably the second version, and meant for the French King. (By the way, the King apparently never did received the painting due to the fact that del Sarto died of the bubonic plate in 1530 soon after the completion of the painting. He was only 44 years old.)

 

Let’s have a look at the two other versions.

 

 

It’s rather fun to review all three and pick out the differences. For instance #2 and #3 have a tree on the right where #1 has none. In #2 and #3, Issac has more of a look of terror than the acceptance seen in #1. In #2 and #3, the left side of the painting is visually blocked off and darkened, a definite compositional improvement!

There are soooooo many differences. Look the paintings over and let me know what you notice!!

 

 

 

I wanted to share a couple of my favourite paintings by Andrea del Sarto with you. The first was done in 1517 when the artist was about 33 years old. The second was done near the end of his life around the same time he was painting the Sacrifice of Issac.

 

Completed when del Sarto was the leading painter in Florence, the identity of the sitter in this wonderful painting is unknown. At one time considered a self-portrait, at other times to be Giovan Battista Puccinia, a patron of del Sarto (but now rejected as Puccinia would have been 54 at the time of painting making him too old), it’s now currently thought that perhaps the sitter was Paolo da Terrarossa (another patron of del Sarto) whose family was involved in the making of bricks. (Interestingly, it was apparently Paolo de Terrarossa who commissioned the Prado version of the Sacrifice of Issac 10+ years after this portrait was completed.)

Part of the problem of identification is the uncertainty as to what the sitter is holding – is it a book, a piece of stone to be carved or is it indeed a brick? Any thoughts?

 

 

 

Don’t you just love the expression on Christ’s face?? There is so much I love about this painting – the different fabrics, the skin, the colours, the delicate indication of halos (where is Christ’s halo?), the conglomeration of hands, the setting, the way Joseph looks out at us, the smiling and innocent baby Jesus. Click here to read more about this painting on the Met’s website (click on the Catalogue Entry).

 

Here’s the book that inspired this blog:

 

 

So, that was a taste of the paintings of Andrea del Sarto. I hope it whet your appetite for more. Were  you aware of del Sarto’s work before this post? I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

Thanks for reading. I do hope you’ll share this blog post with anyone you think might enjoy it.

 

Until next time,

~ Gail

 

 

PS. I am in La Manzanilla Mexico for a couple of weeks. Just finished a tango week-long workshop 🙂

And now onto a week of painting…