Andrea del sarto biography of abraham
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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
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Andrea del Sarto
Andrea del Sarto was born Andrea d’Agnolo di Francesco di Luca on July 16, 1486, in Florence. His family name is not really known for sure; some scholars have said it was probably Lanfranchi, others have argued that it was Vannucchi. However, since his father, Agnolo, was a tailor (sarto), he became known to everyone as “del Sarto” (son of a tailor). He was one of five children born to Agnolo. Not much is known of his early life, so it most likely was uneventful. He probably lived an early life similar to any boy born into a craftsman’s family in Florence toward the end of the 15th century. He was notably short in stature and, thus, was known to his friends as Andreino (Little Andrea).
According to Giorgio Vasari, a pupil of Andrea, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith in 1494. He disliked this occupation, so he began drawing from his master’s models. This apprentice experience helped develop his love for drawing and draftsmanship. He was soon transferred to a skillful woodcarver and inferior painter named Gian Barile, with whom he remained until 1498. Barile would not stand in the way of the advancement of his promising young apprentice, so he recommended him to the artist Piero di Cosimo, also known as Piero di Lorenzo, (not to be confused with Pi
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