You are a fictional Florentine artist living in the time of Vasari and you
are determined to write an autobiographical essay that provides a realistic
portrait of your life. In this essay, address your training, status in the city,
how you work with patrons and professional organizations, your artistic
influences and views on Northern European material culture. How does
the society in which you live help to shape your artistic output?
As now an established artist of Florence, I am preparing this essay as a portrait of my life. From my humbled beginnings in Padua, my fortune found under apprenticeship of none other than Lorenzo Ghiberti, to my first major work and my many esteemed commissions thereafter. My work has been greatly influenced by my rigorous training with Ghiberti, my guild Compagnia di San Luca
, as well as the greatest classical artists from whose works I have studied also. I would like to highlight my greatest project completed to date which has come from the patronage of Piero I de' Medici.
When I was only 7 years old, I traveled to Florence to begin labouring in exchange for training. This time as an apprentice gave me the experience I needed to become a journeyman in my chosen craft of sculpting. My studying and training with Ghiberti was quite onerous, but it provided me with the skills I needed, and for those I was willing to endure. When I completed my masterpiece and joined Compagnia di San Luca I was intrigued by the complexity of economics of our trade, and yet thankful that this regulatory body was here to protect us craftsmen. I was provided with further training in areas, and took advantage of these to hone my skills even further. No more than after my entry into the guild, I decided to compete for the commission of a new cathedral's door panels, just as Ghiberti had done before me. Perhaps it was his experience in this area that translated into my training and aided me in the competition, because it was unanimously decided that my art should adorn the cathedral doors!
Though this was a huge accomplishment, especially for such a young person, it paled in comparison to my most celebrated work for The Chapel of Princes in the Mausoleum of the Medici Family. This prestigious commission gave me a status among artists I could have never dreamed for. Though artists in the day were already quite well-respected and revered, I felt a great deal more distinguished after the completion of my decoration of the Chapel of Princes. Italian society, and Florentine society especially, had a large hand in my flourishing career.
I am inclined right now to pursue a wider variety of compositions, and have begun studying architecture, mathematics, and botany through the factions of my guild. I have also began participating in dissections of the human body in an attempt to gain knowledge on the figures that I create in marble and in paint. Though I have studied anatomy thoroughly, my colleagues tell me that there is still much to be learned from the direct exploration of the human body. These dissections are not prohibited, but they are also not completely allowed either.
Over the course of my life so far here in Florence, I am fortunate for the rulers of the city, who propagate our society`s interest in artistic work and revere artistry in so many public forms. I am thankful also for the training I`ve recieved under Ghiberti, and the other masters of the Compagnia di San Luca. The future for me will hold many more opportunities, in sculpting and painting, but also through polymathy.
Vasari's map of Florence
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