Chap. XII. ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO. 303 he entered upon his apprenticeship. 1 His path in life was not strewed with flowers. Andrea tells us, in 1430, that it was true, he possessed a hut and two small pieces of land in his father’s village, but he was poor, very poor; had in Florence neither bed nor board nor lodging, and no wordly substance; and that he had been recently discharged from the Hospitals of S. Maria Nuova and the Pinzocheri, after four months illness. 2 He lived to paint in after years, in one of the refuges which had sheltered him, and to make for himself a name as a man of energy and talent. A few years before his death, he owned a house in the Via de’ Fibbiai at Florence and led an orderly married life. 3 Some pretend that in his youth he was bound appren tice to Masaccio; 4 others, that he only studied Masaccio’s manner. 5 His style tells us that he was a realistic imit ator of common nature; that he was not a pupil of Ma saccio, Masolino, or Angelico; but that he may have issued from the school which produced Paolo Uccelli and Pesel- lino. Incorrect in drawing, he still possessed style; and the quality of his power was akin to that of Uccelli. The frescos of the Casa Pandolfini at Legnaia, and the equestrian picture of Niccola di Tolentino, which is the last of his productions, would alone prove this. Yet these works also show that Andrea del Castagno was a realist of a lower nature than Uccelli. His mode of drawing reveals a bold hurtling decision; his draperies have a sculptural character; and his perspective is not without science. The peculiar vigour which distinguished Donat ello seems to have existed in the coarser frame of Andrea; and a natural inclination might well unite two men, such as they were, in the bonds of friendship. Vasari seems to have been exactly in the truth when he described Andrea as “gagliardissimo.” 6 The action of his figures the name of his mother. Giornale Stor. ub. sup. 1 Vas. Vol. IV. p. 140. 2 Giorn al e S tor. ub. s up. p.2. 3 Ibid. p. 2. 4 Baldinucoi, ub. sup. V. 329. 5 Lanzi, nb. sup. I. 80. 6 Vas. Vol. IV. p. 141.
