Artist of the day, March 9, 2020: Andrea del Sarto, an Italian painter (Renaissance) (#937)

Andrea del Sarto (1486 – 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altarpieces, portraitist, draughtsman, and colorist. Though highly regarded during his lifetime as an artist senza errori ("without errors"), his renown was eclipsed after his death by that of his contemporaries, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

Son of the tailor Agnolo di Francesco was formed in the Florentine environment, first working as a goldsmith and then as a painter in the workshop of Piero di Cosimo. Determinant in these early years was his knowledge of the work of Leonardo, Rafael and Fra Bartolommeo. Almost all his work develops it in Florence, where it became a thriving workshop next to Franciabigio.

One of the great Old Masters of the High Renaissance, the Italian painter Andrea del Sarto (real name Andrea d'Agnolo) became the leading artist of the Renaissance in Florence from 1510 onwards, following the departure of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael for Rome. A master of fresco painting - witness his Miracles of San Filippo Benizzi (1509-10), the Birth of the Virgin (1514) and the Madonna del Sacco (1525) - he also produced great altarpiece art, as in the Madonna of the Harpies (1517, Uffizi Gallery) and the Assumption of the Virgin (1526, Palazzo Pitti), as well as portraiture.

Although eclipsed by the likes of Michelangelo and Raphael, Andrea del Sarto ranks among the finest High Renaissance artists, not only for his sense of color and his graceful oils, frescos and drawing but also for his influence on Mannerist artists like Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1556), Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), Francesco Salviati (1510-63) and Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). The latter's scurrilous and inaccurate account of Andrea did much to tarnish the Florentine's posthumous reputation. Apart from a visit to Rome, and a 12-month visit to Paris in 1518-19 to complete several commissions for Francis I, Andrea del Sarto spent nearly all his life in Florence.

Andrea del Sarto (self-portrait)

1510, Untitled

1513, The Madonna and Child with Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist

1514, Portrait of a Woman with a Basket of Spindles

1515-16, The Body of Christ Supported by Three Angels

1517, Madonna delle Arpie

1517, Portrait of a Young Man

1517, Saint John the Baptist

1520-21, The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

1520-30, Young St. John the Baptist

1522,  Untitled

1523, Head Of Saint John

1523, Lamentation

1523, Saint John the Baptist

1523, Study of the Head of a Young Woman

1524, Andrea del Sarto

1525-29, Study of an Infant Praying

1527, The Sacrifice of Isaac

1528, Domenico di Jacopo di Matteo

1528, The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist

1528, Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints (detail)

1528-30, Portrait of a Man

1530, Madonna In Glory With Four Saints

Holy Family

Lamentation of Christ

Madonna Of The Harpies

Pieta with Saints

Portrait Of A Woman In Yellow

Portrait of his wife

Study of Hands

The Annunciation

The Virgin and Child with a Saint and an Angel