The Mentor, No. 28, The Wife in Art

The Mentor

“A wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”

THE WIFE IN ART

By GUSTAV KOBBÉ

It may be that he who rides alone rides fastest; and that the man encumbered with wife and family feels his pace slacken and the goal as far away as ever. Andrea (ahn´-dree-ah) del Sarto, in the closing lines of Browning’s poem, utters the same thought. He is addressing his wife, 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, he still is distanced, “because there’s still Lucrezia” (loo-crate´-see-ah). But note that he adds, “as I choose.” He had rather fail with her than triumph without her.

Indeed, my point in mentioning Andrea and Lucrezia is to assert that he rode faster for not riding alone; that he was not the equal of the three artists he aspired to rival; and that, if it is sometimes thought he might have rivaled them, this is due to the works he painted under the inspiration of his love for Lucrezia. She kept him in a constant state of impecuniosity and jealousy; but it was “as I choose.” And well it might have been! His art seems to rise to a higher plane from the moment her dark, imperious beauty—a new note in religious painting—looks out at us from works like the “Madonna of the Harpies” and the youthful Saint John. For from her face he painted 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 of wife a man can have, so inspired her husband, how rare and exquisite must have been the influence of Lucrezia Buti (boo´tee) over Fra Filippo Lippi (lip´pee), of Helena Fourment (hel-en-ah fur´-ment) over Rubens (roo-benz), of Maria Ruthven over Van Dyck, of Saskia over Rembrandt, of Elizabeth Siddal over Rossetti! For these women were devoted to their artist-husbands, and were in turn