Background notes for Browing’s ‘Andrea del Sarto’
Context
Andrea del Sarto or ‘Andrea senza errori’ (Andrea the faultless) was a member of the
Florentine School. Born in Gualfonda, Florence in 1487 his father was a ‘sarto’ or tailor.
Del Sarto was employed in a number of roles before he went to work with the
draughtsman and colourist, Piero di Cosimo, under whom he studied the cartoons of
Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo. Del Sarto’s next venture was to open a shop with
his friend, Francia Bigio, but this was short-lived. The Brotherhood of the Servi
employed him from 1509-1514 to paint the Riposo for the cloisters of the Annunziati in
Florence. This church had been created by seven Florentine noblemen who met every
day in a chapel dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They were
famous for their acts of piety, and people would exclaim ‘Guardate I Servi di Maria’
(‘Behold the servants of the Virgin’) when they saw them.
It seemed that although he had the skills and ability to become a great artist, Del Sarto
did not pursue fame and fortune. This may have been a result of falling in love with
Lucrezia Del Fede, whom he married after her first husband died. He painted her in
many of his works of art, but his apprentices
described her as faithless, overbearing and shrewish!
In 1516, he sent a Pietà of his composition, then a
Madonna to the French court of Francis I, who then
asked Del Sarto to come to work in his court in Paris.
Del Sarto agreed and was well-paid for his work, but
Lucrezia wrote urging his return to Italy. Francis
agreed to a short leave of absence, and gave Del
Sarto a sum of money to purchase works of art on
his behalf while he was in Italy. Instead, Del Sarto
spent the money building a house for himself and his
wife in Florence. It does not appear that he was
punished for the theft as he was able to return to
painting in Florence. Among his most famous works
of this time were the cloisters of Lo Scalzo.
Del Sarto’s self-portrait
Del Sarto continued to live in Florence through the
siege of 1529, then the plague which followed. He contracted the disease and died on
22nd January 1531 at the age of 43. It was said that during his illness his wife did not
tend to his needs very well. He was buried in the church at Servi, leaving behind
technically excellent paintings which lacked the artistic imagination necessary to make
them masterpieces.
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Background notes for Browing’s ‘Andrea del Sarto’
The poem
Browning has taken the above facts and mixed them with his thoughts on the life of the
artist. His poem portrays the artist as sad and infinitely pathetic as a result of his
inability to free his full artistic powers. ‘Andrea del Sarto’ is considered to be one of the
greatest art poems ever written, and was thought to have been inspired by a painting in
the Pitti Palace in Florence.
Critics of Del Sarto’s works describe his paintings as ‘faultless but soulless’. The poem
attributes this to the fact that Del Sarto was immoral and infatuated with a faithless
woman who had no real feelings for him. His artistic ability suffered as a result of the
twin entrapments of an unsuitable wife and his own propensity to immoral acts such as
theft.
Del Sarto’s character is questionable; he tolerates his wife’s affairs, steals money from his
royal patron and neglects his parents in their old age. It can be argued that many ‘great’
men have been immoral, but here Browning shows how the evil seed bore fruit after its
kind. The artist’s talent is thwarted by his relationship with his wife. Browning portrays
him as a shadow of a man, who works in a silver grey light rather than the full light of
day. He squanders his chances and Browning shows that he is only a tailor after all.
The comparison of Del Sarto with his contemporary Fra Angelico shows clearly what is
missing from the former. Lucrezia, despicable as she is, is not the cause of her
husband’s failure as an artist. His unsuitable marriage, his treatment of Francis, his
neglect of his parents, paying the gambling debts for his wife’s lover …all these things
tell us the kind of man he was. Browning bares the artist’s soul for the reader in what is
considered to be one of his finest poems.
Notes
 Fiesole is a small, famous Episcopal city situated on a hilltop about three miles west
of Florence.
 Morello is a mountain in the Apennines.
 ‘The Urbinate’ is Raphael, the famous Renaissance painter, who was born in Urbino.
 George Vasari was a painter and author of the Lives of the Most Excellent Italian
Painters, Sculptors and Architects.
 Pathetic/pathos describes a depth of feeling or emotion and is intended to evoke
sorrow or pity in the reader.
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