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Andrea del Sarto, true name '''Andrea d'Agnolo di Francesco di Luca di Paolo del Migliore''', (c. 1487 - 1531 ) was a painter of the Italian Renaissance . Early life and training Andrea was born in some have attributed the surname Vannucchi with little documentation. By 1494 Andrea apprenticed to a Goldsmith , and then to a skillful Woodcarver and inferior painter named Gian Barile, with whom he remained until 1498 . According to Vasari, he then apprenticed to Piero Di Cosimo , and later with Raffaellino Del Garbo (Carli). Andrea and an elder friend Franciabigio decided to open a joint studio at a lodging together in the Piazza del Grano. Their first partnership may have been the "Baptism of Christ," for the Florentine Compagnia Dello Scalzo , the beginning of a monochrome fresco series. Soon afterwards the partnership was dissolved. Frescoes at SS Anunziata in Florence From he painted an ''Annunciation'' in the Monastery of S. Gallo and a Marriage of Saint Catherine (Dresden). By he had finished at the Scalzo the allegory of Justice, and the ''Baptist preaching in the desert'', followed in 1517 by ''John Baptizing'', and other subjects. Visit to France Before the end of 1516 a ''Pietà '' of his composition, and afterwards a Madonna, were sent to the French court. They led to invitation of Sarto to come to the court of François I in 1518 . He journeyed to Paris towards June of that year, along with his pupil Andrea Squarzzella , leaving his wife in Florence. Lucrezia, however, wrote urging his return to Italy. The king assented, but only on the understanding that his absence from France was to be short; and he entrusted Andrea with a sum of money to be expended in purchasing works of art for his royal patron. The temptation of having a goodly sum encouraged its expenditure in building a house for himself in Florence. This necessarily brought him in conflict with Francis, who refused to be reingratiated again with Andrea. No serious punishment, however, and apparently befell Andrea. Later works in Florence In 1520 he resumed work in Florence, and executed the ''Faith'' and ''Charity'' (Caritas) in the Cloister of the Scalzo. These were succeeded by the ''Dance of the Daughter of Herodias '', the "Beheading of the Baptist," the "Presentation of his head to Herod ," an allegory of Hope, the "Apparition of the Angel to Zacharias " ( 1523 ), and the monochrome of the Visitation. This last was painted in the autumn of 1524 , after Andrea had returned from Luco in Mugello , to where an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in Florence had driven him and his family. In 1525 he returned to paint in the Annunziata cloister, the ''Madonna del Sacco'', a Lunette named after a sack against which Joseph is represented propped {Link without Title} . In this painting the generous virgin's gown and her gaze indicate his influence of the early style of pupil Pontormo. His final work at the Scalzo was the ''Birth of the Baptist'' ( 1526 ). In the following year he completed at S. Salvi, near Florence, a celebrated "Last Supper," in which all the personages seem to be portraits. It is the last monumental work of importance which Andrea del Sarto lived to execute. He died in 1531 in Florence. ''Madonna of the Harpies'' Perhaps the best known painting by Andrea del Sarto is '' Madonna Of The Harpies '', a depiction of the Virgin and child on a pedestal, flanked by angels and two saints (Bonaventure or Francis; and John the Evangelist). Originally completed in 1517 for the convent of San Francesco dei Macci, the altarpiece is displayed in a privileged location in the Uffizi. In an Italy swamped with a tsunami of Madonnas, it would be easy to overlook this work; however, this commonly copied scheme also lends itself to comparison of his style with painters of his century. The figures have a Da Vinci -like aura, and their geometric settlement as a stable pyramid provides a common structure. In some ways, his rigid adherence is more classical than Da Vinci's but less so than Fra Bartolomeo 's representations of the Holy Family, but there is an elegance that is lacking in the more sculptural paintings of other contemporaries. Details of personal life He fell in love with Lucrezia (del Fede), wife of a hatter named Carlo of . He caught the malady, struggled against it with little or no tending from his wife, who held aloof, and he died, no one knowing much about it at the moment, on the 22nd of January 1531 , at the comparatively early age of forty-three. He was buried unceremoniously in the church of the Servites. His wife survived her husband forty years. A number paintings are attributed as self-portraits. One is in London , in the National Gallery , an admirable half-figure, purchased in 1862 . Another is at Alnwick Castle, a young man about twenty years, with his elbow on a table. Another youthful portrait is in the Uffizi Gallery , and the Pitti Palace contains more than one. A very noticeable incident in the life of Andrea del Sarto relates to the copy, which he produced in 1523 , of the portrait group of Pope Leo X by Raphael; now in the Naples Museum, the original remains at the Pitti. This painting was requested by Federico II Gonzaga , duke of Mantua from Ottaviano De' Medici . Unwilling to part with it, Ottaviano had Andrea to make the copy, and passed it to the duke as the original. So deceptive was the imitation that even Giulio Romano , who had himself manipulated the original to some extent, was completely fooled; and, on showing the supposed Raphael years afterwards to Vasari, who knew the facts, he could only be undeceived when, a private mark on the canvas was named to him by Vasari and brought under his eye. Critical assessment and legacy It was Michelangelo who had introduced Vasari in 1524 to Andrea's studio. He is said to have thought very highly of Andrea's powers. Of those who initially followed his style in Florence, the most prominent would have been Jacopo Pontormo . ''In the Britannica account of del Sarto, the narrative of Crowe and Cavalcaselle, supplemented by Vasari, Lanzi and others followed. There are biographies by Biadi (1829), by von Reumont (1831), by Baumann (1878), and by Guinness (1899).'' Partial anthology of works
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