Maestro Gallo as Argus

SOURCE: Notes in the History of Art, 31, 1 (2011) © Norman E. Land MAESTROGALLO AS ARGUS Norman E. Land

Becauseeveryone makes a mistake from time to time, it is unsurprisingto find that errorsare an importanttopic in Renaissance literatureaboutartists,especiallyin Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists (Florence, 1568).For example,in the prefaceto Part Two of the Lives, Vasarisaysthat in writing aboutillustriousartists,he imitatesthe great historiansof the past,who not only extolled the achievementsof their subjects,but also touchedon their erors.r True to form, Vasari calls attention in several vite to mistakes madeby artists.In the prefaceto Part Three, Vasari returns to the topic when he introducesthe goldenageof modernart, that period we now call "High Renaissance." He looks back on the painters of the late fifteenth century and agreesthat their works, which do not meet the new artistic standards,were,nevertheless, for the most part, well drawn and without "errors."2 Vasari echoesGiovanniBoccaccio'sobseryationin Decameron(6.5) concerningthose artists who worked before Giotto. They made "errors" becausethey wished to delight the eyesof the ignorantratherthan to pleasethe mind of the knowledgeable.For Boccaccio, errorsare an importantfeatureof the history of art: previousgenerationsmademistakes; currentgeniusavoidsthem. In this respect, Vasariis more understandingand forgiving. As with Vasariand Boccaccio,errorsare often treated as a serious matter, but they are also a sourceof jokes. One such joke appearsin the Facetie et motti arguti di

alcuni eccellentissimiingegni et nobilissimi signori (Florence: 1548) of the poet and translator Lodovico Domenichi (15151564).Domenichi was the first to publish the so-calledDetti Piacevole,which is part of the Facetie and contains a little-known anecdoteabout a mistakemadeby an artist namedMino: The sculptorMino, workingon a statueof SaintPaul for PopePaul,madeit so thin that he ruinedit. On hearing[aboutthe sculpture,] thepopewasangry;andtelling MesserLeonBattistaAlberti of it, the said messerrepliedthat Mino hadnot madean error;that this was the bestthing he had ever done.3

This joke owes its humor to a play on the word facere, which can mean either "to make" or "to do." Alberti respondsto the pope's angry complaint by saying that the work is the best that Mino has ever made and that ruining it-thus making it unfit to be seen-is not an error; it is the best thing the sculptorhas ever done. Among Domenichi'sfacetie is an overlooked tale about a conversationbetweena medical doctor and an anonymouspainter concerningerrorsin their respectivearts.As the story goes,the doctorbelittledthe work of the painter,who was excellentat what he did, saying that it was of little value. The irate painter,who was a simpleman, wanted to get even with the doctor and began a tirade againstall in his profession,making

then-commonaccusations:fearing no punishment,doctors kill people; and a young doctor fills the cemeterywith corpses.The doctor facetiouslyrebuttedthe painter,saying, "Well spoken.Moestro,your discipline is much betteroff thanours,becausethe excellenceand the effors of your art areknown in the light of day.And just as the works of your artarc understoodand seenin daylight, so are those who are cured by us. But regardingerrors,we havebeenmuch more favoredby Fortune,becausesheremovesthem from sightandburiesthem underthe earth."a Just as the excellenceof a painter's work can be seenin the light of day, so, too, can the successof a physician's art. But a painter'seffors remainevervisible, while a physician'smistakesare quickly buried. Anton FrancescoDoni (1513-1574), Domenichi'scontemporaryalsoprovidesa humorous story about artistic effors in his La Zucca(Venice:1551): MaestroGalloof SanMiniato,painter,was alwaysblamingandaccusing of infiniteerrors the picturesthat he saw; once he conin the companyof many painters, descended, to show to one of his friendsa panel by his hand: and looking at it with pleasure,he found little that was amissin it and turning to the painters,he said: "What do you say of it?" They, knowing that it was his [i.e., Gallo's] natureto opposeeverything,began to reprovethe painting detail by detail. The friend saidthat the fother]paintershad seen

his errors,but he hadnot seenthem [i.e., theonesin hisownpicture]ashehadin the caseof otherpaintings.The painterrethatit wasnot a big deal,because sponded heviewedhisownworkwith onlytwo eyes; but whenviewingthe paintingsof others, hewasanArgus.s Part of the humor of this tale is that Maestro Gallo, who seems as proud as a rooster (gallo) and perhapsa little bird-brained, in good humanisticfashion,compareshimself to the mythicalArgus, god of many eyes. There is also a moral to the story.Maestro Gallo is, in effect,accusedof hypocrisy,and, in response,he admitsthat in examininghis own works, he employsonly two eyesand finds few errors; but when viewing the works of other painters,he is like Argus and finds numerous errors. In this context, we may readonebit of Leonardoda Vinci's advice about artistic errors as a comment on Maestro Gallo and others like him: "We clearlyknow that errorsarerecognizedmore in other works than in your own; and often reproving the small elrors of others,you are ignorantof your own largeones."6 The moral of Doni's story-and of Leonardo's advice-runs even deeper,for it echoesa verse in the Gospel of Matthew (7:4), where Christ asks, "How wilt thou say to thy brother,Let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and,behold,a beamis in thine own eve?"

NOTES I . Giorgio Vasari,Le vite de' piir eccellentipittori, scultori, ed architettori: nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568, ed. RosannaBettarini and Paola Barocchi, 6 vols. (Florence:Sansoni,1966-1987),III, p. 3. 2 . Ibid .,IY,p.7 .

3. I have used the text in Lodovico Domenichi, Facetie,motti e burle (Yenice: 1574),pp. 102-103. Unless otherwise noted, all translationsare my own. Domenichi (p. 103) also recordsa well-known anecdote about Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello: "Similar

was the witty reply of Donatello, who, when asked what the best thing was that the sculptor Lorenzo di Bartolucciohad evermade,answered,'Selling Lepriano, becausethat was the one of his villas that producedthe leastfruit.' " 4. I haveusedthe text in Domenichi, pp.201-202.

5. I have usedthe text in Anton FrancescoDoni, La , . 138. Z u c c a . . . ( V e n i c e :1 5 8 9 ) p 6. I have usedthe Italian text in TheLiterary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, ed. Jean Paul Richter, 2 vols. ( L o n d o n :S a m p s o nL o w , 1 8 8 3 ) ,l , p . 2 6 5 , n o . 5 3 0 .