Vasari: Marvels of Art, Part 1
Vasari is full of stories about paintings so realistic that birds try to land on the depicted tree or outstretched falconer's hand (Vol. II, pp. 29 - 30), and murals that dogs try to attack and end up fatally smashing their heads against (Vol. II, p. 46), among others. He doesn't seem to realize that these urban legends are all just retellings of the story of Zeuxis.
Fortunately, Vasari also has stories of real prodigies of art that he's actually seen for himself...
1. Vol. I, p. 811, Baldassare Peruzzi: [Titian's oeil gets tromped:] And I remember that when I took the Chevalier Tiziano, a most excellent and honoured painter, to see that work [a hallway with trompe-l'oeil columns painted on either side to make it look wider], he would by no means believe that it was painted, until he had changed his point of view, when he was struck with amazement.
2. Vol. I, p. 844, Andrea del Sarto: [The Medici get Andrea del Sarto to copy a picture of Rafael's that the Duke of Mantua asked for:] And so, after they had hidden the picture of Andrea, in a similar frame, [they sent it] to Mantua; at which the Duke was completely satisfied, and above all because the painter Giulio Romano, a disciple of Rafaello, had praised it, failing to detect the trick. This Giulio would always have been of the same opinion, and would have believed it to be by the hand of Raffaello, but for the arrival in Mantua of Giorgio Vasari, who, having been as it were the adoptive child of Messer Ottaviano [de' Medici], and having seen Andrea [del Sarto] at work on that picture, revealed the truth. For Giulio making much of Vasari, and showing him, after many antiquities and paintings, that picture of Raffaello's, as the best work that was there, Giorgio said to him, "A beautiful work it is, but in no way by the hand of Raffaello." "What?" answered Giulio. "Should I not know it, when I recognize the very strokes that I made with my own brush?" "You have forgotten them," said Giorgio, "for this picture is by the hand of Andrea del Sarto; and to prove it, there is a sign (to which he pointed) that was made in Florence, because when the two were together they could not be distinguished." Hearing this, Giulio had the picture turned round, and saw the mark; at which he shrugged his shoulders and said these words, "I value it no less than if it were by the hand of Raffaello -- nay, even more, for it is something out of the course of nature that a man of excellence should imitate the manner of another so well ..."
3. Vol. I, p. 935, Francesco Mazzuoli: [Take that, Escher!] And in doing this, perceiving the bizarre effects produced by the roundness of the mirror, which twists the beams of a ceiling into strange curves, and makes the doors and other parts of buildings recede in an extraordinary manner, the idea came to him to amuse himself by counterfeiting everything. Thereupon he had a ball of wood made by a turner, and, dividing it in half so as to make it the same in size and shape as the mirror, set to work to counterfeit on it with supreme art all that he saw in the glass, and particularly his own self, which he did with such lifelike reality as could not be imagined or believed. Now everything that is near the mirror is magnified, and all that is at a distance is diminished, and thus he made the hand engaged in drawing somewhat large, as the mirror showed it ... [I]n it was seen the lustre of the glass, the reflection of every detail, and the lights and shadows, all so true and natural, that nothing more could have been looked for from the brain of man.
4. Vol. II, p. 66, Valerio Vicentino and others: After Matteo [dal Nassaro] had learned from these two masters all that they knew, it chanced that there fell into his hands a beautiful piece of green jasper, marked with red spots, as the good pieces are; and he engraved in it a Deposition from the Cross with such diligence, that he made the wounds come in those parts of the jasper that were spotted with the colour of blood, which caused that work to be a very rare one...
5. Vol. II, p. 227 - 8, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [The first 3D topographical map ever?] Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations were being made for the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement VII, wishing to study the exact site of the city and to consider in what manner and in what places his forces could be distributed to the best advantage, ordained that a plan should be made secretly, with all the country for a mile around it - the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks, houses, churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets within, together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the other defences. The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di Lorenzo della Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and a very fine astrologer, but above all a most excellent master in taking ground-plans. This Benvenuto chose [the sculptor] Tribolo as his companion, and that with great judgment, for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested that this plan, for the better consideration of the height of the mountains, the depth of the low-lying parts, and all other particulars, should be made in relief ... [T]hey made it of cork, for the sake of lightness ... [B]eing made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and smuggled out of Florence in some bales of wool ... to the Pope, who made use of it continually during the siege of Florence, keeping it in his chamber, and seeing from one day to another, from letters and despatches, where and how the army was quartered, where skirmishes took place, and, in short, all the incidents, arguments, and discussions that occurred during that siege; all greatly to his satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and marvellous work.
6. Vol. II, p. 239, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [Describing a garden-labyrinth in a country villa of the Medici that allows for wet-bodice contests:] After which, taking the waters of the Arno and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level of the labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes ... he filled that whole pavement with very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by turning a key to drench all those who came near to see the fountain. Nor is one able to escape either quickly or with ease ...
7. Vol. II, p. 242, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [Same villa:] [I]n a little lawn without the garden, Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table of marble with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which, through a pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of water ... These pipes mount upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the ivy, that nothing is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or off ... in order to drench anyone at pleasure with various instruments of copper, not to mention that with the same instruments one can cause the water to produce various sounds and whistlings.
8. Vol. II, p. 837, Leone Lioni of Arezzo, and other Sculptors and Architects: Thus, not long after he became known to his Majesty [Charles V], he made a statue of that Emperor in bronze, larger than life and in the round, which he then furnished with a very delicate suit of armour formed of two very thin shells, which can be put on and taken off with ease, and all wrought with such grace, that whoever sees the statue when covered does not notice it and can scarcely believe that it is nude below, and when it is nude no one would believe without difficulty that it could ever be so well clad in armour.
Fortunately, Vasari also has stories of real prodigies of art that he's actually seen for himself...
1. Vol. I, p. 811, Baldassare Peruzzi: [Titian's oeil gets tromped:] And I remember that when I took the Chevalier Tiziano, a most excellent and honoured painter, to see that work [a hallway with trompe-l'oeil columns painted on either side to make it look wider], he would by no means believe that it was painted, until he had changed his point of view, when he was struck with amazement.
2. Vol. I, p. 844, Andrea del Sarto: [The Medici get Andrea del Sarto to copy a picture of Rafael's that the Duke of Mantua asked for:] And so, after they had hidden the picture of Andrea, in a similar frame, [they sent it] to Mantua; at which the Duke was completely satisfied, and above all because the painter Giulio Romano, a disciple of Rafaello, had praised it, failing to detect the trick. This Giulio would always have been of the same opinion, and would have believed it to be by the hand of Raffaello, but for the arrival in Mantua of Giorgio Vasari, who, having been as it were the adoptive child of Messer Ottaviano [de' Medici], and having seen Andrea [del Sarto] at work on that picture, revealed the truth. For Giulio making much of Vasari, and showing him, after many antiquities and paintings, that picture of Raffaello's, as the best work that was there, Giorgio said to him, "A beautiful work it is, but in no way by the hand of Raffaello." "What?" answered Giulio. "Should I not know it, when I recognize the very strokes that I made with my own brush?" "You have forgotten them," said Giorgio, "for this picture is by the hand of Andrea del Sarto; and to prove it, there is a sign (to which he pointed) that was made in Florence, because when the two were together they could not be distinguished." Hearing this, Giulio had the picture turned round, and saw the mark; at which he shrugged his shoulders and said these words, "I value it no less than if it were by the hand of Raffaello -- nay, even more, for it is something out of the course of nature that a man of excellence should imitate the manner of another so well ..."
3. Vol. I, p. 935, Francesco Mazzuoli: [Take that, Escher!] And in doing this, perceiving the bizarre effects produced by the roundness of the mirror, which twists the beams of a ceiling into strange curves, and makes the doors and other parts of buildings recede in an extraordinary manner, the idea came to him to amuse himself by counterfeiting everything. Thereupon he had a ball of wood made by a turner, and, dividing it in half so as to make it the same in size and shape as the mirror, set to work to counterfeit on it with supreme art all that he saw in the glass, and particularly his own self, which he did with such lifelike reality as could not be imagined or believed. Now everything that is near the mirror is magnified, and all that is at a distance is diminished, and thus he made the hand engaged in drawing somewhat large, as the mirror showed it ... [I]n it was seen the lustre of the glass, the reflection of every detail, and the lights and shadows, all so true and natural, that nothing more could have been looked for from the brain of man.
4. Vol. II, p. 66, Valerio Vicentino and others: After Matteo [dal Nassaro] had learned from these two masters all that they knew, it chanced that there fell into his hands a beautiful piece of green jasper, marked with red spots, as the good pieces are; and he engraved in it a Deposition from the Cross with such diligence, that he made the wounds come in those parts of the jasper that were spotted with the colour of blood, which caused that work to be a very rare one...
5. Vol. II, p. 227 - 8, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [The first 3D topographical map ever?] Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations were being made for the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement VII, wishing to study the exact site of the city and to consider in what manner and in what places his forces could be distributed to the best advantage, ordained that a plan should be made secretly, with all the country for a mile around it - the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks, houses, churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets within, together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the other defences. The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di Lorenzo della Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and a very fine astrologer, but above all a most excellent master in taking ground-plans. This Benvenuto chose [the sculptor] Tribolo as his companion, and that with great judgment, for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested that this plan, for the better consideration of the height of the mountains, the depth of the low-lying parts, and all other particulars, should be made in relief ... [T]hey made it of cork, for the sake of lightness ... [B]eing made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and smuggled out of Florence in some bales of wool ... to the Pope, who made use of it continually during the siege of Florence, keeping it in his chamber, and seeing from one day to another, from letters and despatches, where and how the army was quartered, where skirmishes took place, and, in short, all the incidents, arguments, and discussions that occurred during that siege; all greatly to his satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and marvellous work.
6. Vol. II, p. 239, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [Describing a garden-labyrinth in a country villa of the Medici that allows for wet-bodice contests:] After which, taking the waters of the Arno and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level of the labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes ... he filled that whole pavement with very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by turning a key to drench all those who came near to see the fountain. Nor is one able to escape either quickly or with ease ...
7. Vol. II, p. 242, Niccolò, called Tribolo: [Same villa:] [I]n a little lawn without the garden, Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table of marble with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which, through a pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of water ... These pipes mount upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the ivy, that nothing is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or off ... in order to drench anyone at pleasure with various instruments of copper, not to mention that with the same instruments one can cause the water to produce various sounds and whistlings.
8. Vol. II, p. 837, Leone Lioni of Arezzo, and other Sculptors and Architects: Thus, not long after he became known to his Majesty [Charles V], he made a statue of that Emperor in bronze, larger than life and in the round, which he then furnished with a very delicate suit of armour formed of two very thin shells, which can be put on and taken off with ease, and all wrought with such grace, that whoever sees the statue when covered does not notice it and can scarcely believe that it is nude below, and when it is nude no one would believe without difficulty that it could ever be so well clad in armour.