The Mentor, No. 28, The Wife in Art
The Mentor
“A wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”
Vol. 1 No. 28
THE WIFE IN ART
LUCREZIA FEDI—
ANDREA DEL SARTO
LUCREZIA BUTI—
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI
HELENA FOURMENT—
RUBENS
SASKIA VAN ULENBURG—
REMBRANDT
MARIA RUTHVEN—
VAN DYCK
ELIZABETH SIDDAL—
ROSSETTI
By GUSTAV KOBBÉ
It may be that he who rides alone rides fastest; and that the manencumbered with wife and family feels his pace slacken and the goalas far away as ever. Andrea (ahn´-dree-ah) del Sarto, in the closinglines of Browning’s poem, utters the same thought. He is addressing hiswife, Lucrezia Fedi, whose extravagant and wayward tastes, many think,ruined his career and prevented his ranking with Leonardo (lay-o-nar´-do),Raphael (rah´-fay-ell), and Angelo (ahn´-jel-o):
LUCREZIA FEDI, BY DEL SARTO
In the Royal Gallery, Berlin.
And so, in that supreme painting contest with his three rivals, hestill is distanced, “because there’s still Lucrezia” (loo-crate´-see-ah). Butnote that he adds, “as I choose.” He hadrather fail with her than triumph without her.
Indeed, my point in mentioning Andreaand Lucrezia is to assert that he rode fasterfor not riding alone; that he was not theequal of the three artists he aspired to rival;and that, if it is sometimes thought he mighthave rivaled them, this is due to the workshe painted under the inspiration of his lovefor Lucrezia. She kept him in a constantstate of impecuniosity and jealousy; but itwas “as I choose.” And well it might havebeen! His art seems to rise to a higherplane from the moment her dark, imperiousbeauty—a new note in religious painting—looksout at us from works like the“Madonna of the Harpies” and the youthfulSaint John. For from her face hepainted the faces not only of women, but also of boys and youths,and always it is her beauty that dominates the picture.
ANDREA DEL SARTO, BY HIMSELF
In the Pitti Gallery, Florence.
INFLUENCE OF THE WIFE
If she, in character the worst kind ofwife a man can have, so inspired her husband,how rare and exquisite must havebeen the in