The Borgherini Enigma - Theartofpainting.be

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The Borgherini Enigma Page: 30 / 179On the way, the two friends of Bachiacca and Granacci kept talking to Pierfrancesco so thathe would not faint. Andrea proved to be Andrea di Roberto di Francesco di Luca and since hisfather was a tailor, everybody called him Andrea del Sarto. He was a master painter oftwenty-six years old. Jacopo’s name was Jacopo Carrucci, but since he was born at Pontormonear Empoli, he was called Jacopo da Pontormo. Pontormo was a student of Andrea del Sartosince about a year, and he was only eighteen years old. Andrea del Sarto presented his friend.Pontormo was a very gifted boy, who had already worked with Leonardo da Vinci, MariottoAlbertinelli and Piero di Cosimo, and now with him, Andrea del Sarto.Andrea del Sarto was a serious young man. He spoke almost all the way, alone, for Jacopobarely said a word, to keep Pierfrancesco’s mind away from his wound.Andrea was tall and well built, though a little overweight. He had a nice and full face, redcheeks, brown piercing eyes that testified to his intelligence, the beginning of a double chin, asmall but long nose, and a rather sensuous mouth with thick lips. He was a kind man andPierfrancesco could tell he liked to enjoy life.Jacopo was stocky and his face was very sunburnt, and seemed too wrinkled and scarred forsuch a young man. Jacopo was an orphan, who had had a hard time until his talent forpainting had been discovered. He was a very nervous youth. He showed an odd, innocent lookin his grey eyes. He didn’t say much, but his eyes darted constantly around, as if they neededto imprint every special feature in his mind, and everything around seemed to be special forJacopo Pontormo. The eyes reacted to the least movement of the environment.Jacopo had a bright, angular face, thin lips, and a broad nose with prominent nostrils. Withouta word, he bound a cloth around Pierfrancesco’s upper arm, which stopped the bleeding. Thenhe drew Pierfrancesco’s sleeve over the wound so that the people would not notice thatanything had happened. He walked close to Pierfrancesco’s side, supporting him, and hid thewound.They soon arrived at Andrea’s workshop. Andrea occupied these rooms with another painter,with his friend Franciabigio, actually Francesco di Cristofano Bigi, but called Franciabigio.Franciabigio’s master, Mariotto Albertinelli, had abandoned seven years earlier the art ofpainting and since Andrea del Sarto could not tolerate any longer the oddities of his eldermaster, Piero di Cosimo, Andrea and Franciabigio decided to hire a studio together and workas independent masters. Franciabigio was currently out of Florence, however.Andrea del Sarto washed away the blood on Pierfrancesco’s arm. A little later, JacopoPontormo brought a physician in, and the man indeed said he had to stitch Pierfrancesco’swound.Before that, Andrea and Jacopo poured into Pierfrancesco half a bottle of grappa, a strongbrandy of grapes, a mountain brandy. Pierfrancesco almost fainted from the drink even beforethe doctor started his work, and he sang all through the stitching, while cursing and shoutingfrom pain between the words. He endured the ordeal to the end. Then, the painters led him toFranciabigio’s bed and Pierfrancesco fell asleep almost immediately.Pierfrancesco awoke in the evening. He went to the main room of the workshop, where hefound the four painters finishing the rest of the grappa and a few more bottles of Chianti wine.‘Margherita is fine,’ Granacci started. ‘We brought her home. We didn’t find any relatives ofher near the Duomo. The Palazzo Acciaiuoli also was practically empty, so there was notmuch of a stir. Margherita sent a servant to warn her father that she was well, and at home.She said she would explain later to her father what had happened.’Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009
The Borgherini Enigma Page: 31 / 179Granacci was thinking. ‘It is strange,’ he said, ‘those Neapolitans came back for you,Pierfrancesco. They might have sought revenge on Francesco or on me for having beatenthem up in the tavern, but they came back for you! Why would they do that for?’‘I have not the slightest idea,’ Pierfrancesco replied. ‘They asked me what I knew, but I hadno clue as to what they wanted. They also knew that Margherita was an Acciaiuoli, thoughshe had arrived in Florence only a few weeks ago. She told me she had lived in her countrycastle until recently. The Spanish leader said the Acciaiuoli and the Borgherini had finallycome together. What did they mean by that? That man also spoke of monks!’Bachiacca opened his arms. ‘It is an enigma, the Borgherini enigma,’ he said. He slung hiscup of wine against one he pushed in Pierfrancesco’s hands. ‘Let’s drink to that!’Pierfrancesco could do with some wine, for his head was sore and his stomach empty. Hiswound throbbed. He bit on his teeth. He did not want to show how much he was in pain to hisfriends.Pierfrancesco was aware that Andrea del Sarto and Jacopo da Pontormo were studying him.So he looked innocently around in the workshop. The room was as large as Bachiacca’s,almost a hall. There were large windows on one side and the other walls were almost entirelycovered with cupboards of all sizes and types. On a table lay tens of sheets of paper withdrawings.‘Andrea and Jacopo try out compositions many times before they start to paint,’ Granacciexplained.Pierfrancesco admitted, ‘I don’t know much about paintings. How does one distinguish agood painting from a bad one?’His question triggered an animated discussion.‘When people throng at your door asking you to paint something for them, anything, then youare a great painter and you make great paintings,’ answered Bachiacca immediately. ‘Andwhen the people banging at your door are cardinals and popes and kings and emperors, thenyou are Michelangelo Buonarroti or Tiziano Vecellio or Raffaello Sanzio or some such man.Alas, I have to beg people to let me paint something.’Andrea del Sarto laughed. ‘That is a good criterion, Bachiacca! I also never seem to havecommissioners thronging at my door. They wait until I starve and then they get the lowestpossible price out of me, simply because I need the money to buy bread and cheese. We arepoor artists, really!’He drank, and continued, ‘nevertheless, a painting, Pierfrancesco, should have a harmoniousand original design in lines and surfaces. Design is the secret of paintings, as it is fordrawings. A painting is only a drawing filled in with colours, so we draw first and then paint.Form is the first thing to seek in an object! Form is made of lines. Vertical lines havemasculine power; horizontal lines have feminine tranquillity, and oblique lines bringrestlessness in a picture, so they should usually be avoided. People like symmetry andrepeating patterns, however small. Perspective should be right, as Piero della Francesca taughtus, as one sees it, but not too pronounced either. The surfaces formed by the lines should bebalanced against each other, the more so when they are coloured. The colours must be fittingto the subject. Never put green next to blue or to yellow. Avoid bright red next to blue. Thehues must correspond: either contrast firmly or be of the same tone, bright or dark, but thennot contrast. Yellow goes well with blue, green with orange or red, violet with crimson, whitewith black. I prefer the softer hues. Leonardo da Vinci showed us how hues can flow intoeach other, like the morning fog softens the transitions. There should be a mood in the coloursCopyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009
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