Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning (Explanation)

 

Andrea del Sarto

by Robert Browning

(Explanation) 

Andrea Del Sarto is infatuated with his beautiful wife, Lucrezia, who, however, does not love him and is unfaithful to him. One evening in the year 1525, the Florentine painter sits by the side of his wife in his studio. She has quarreled with him for the last twelve years, ever since they were married, but now Andrea requests her not to quarrel with him, at least, for one evening. She must have patience with him for a short while. He will do whatever she wishes him to do. At his request, she sits by him and turns her face towards him. But does her face also bring her heart towards him? Andrea does not hope for any such good fortune. He knows that she looks towards him only in compliance with his request, but her heart is with her lover waiting outside. If only she would sit with him that evening and not quarrel with him, he would paint the picture which her friend’s (lover’s) friend wants him to paint. He will paint according to his directions; at the time fixed by him, and accept the payment he likes to make for the painting. Whatever money he gets, he will shut it in her small hand. Andrea is sure that she will give her hand into his, at least to take the money. Will she give her hand into his with love? As Lucrezia looks towards him, probably with some displeasure, the painter hastens to assure her that he would definitely satisfy her lover’s friend, even if she does not love to him. But he would paint for him tomorrow. That evening he would prefer to enjoy her company.

Andrea tells his wife that he is too tired that evening to paint the picture which her friend’s friend wants him to paint. He will definitely do so tomorrow. Often, he is much more tired than she imagines. That evening he is even more tired than usual. He requests to let him sit by her side for half an hour with her hands in his. He would prefer to sit by the window and look out through it at the city of Fiesole at a distance of three miles. Married people often sit together in this way. He has never been able to enjoy the calm and peace of married life. They have always quarreled. But if he enjoys it for that one evening, it is possible he will feel relaxed and refreshed, and, therefore, he will be able to work with greater will and enthusiasm next morning.

Andrea requests his wife, Lucrezia, to sit with him for just half an hour with her hand in his. Her soft and delicate hand curls in his hand as a woman curls on the bare breast of the man she loves. Her hand thus is likened to a soft and delicate woman and his own to the breast of the man she loves. Andrea further asks her not to consider the time she passes in his company as wasted. If she keeps looking at him as she is looking at the moment, she would form an excellent model for the five pictures he has to paint, and in this way much money would be saved. Infatuated with her, he says that she looks most beautiful, graceful and fascinating like a serpent. The phrase, “serpenting beauty”, is an inspiration of genius, for it brings out the graceful beauty of her delicate curves, as well as her sinister influence on her husband. She must remain sitting there, coiled in that graceful way. Her ears are so perfect, so beautiful, that it appears to him an act of cruelty that they should have been punctured even to put those beautiful ear-rings in. Her beauty is so sweet and perfect that he cannot describe it in words.

Her face is as beautiful and fascinating as the Moon. And like the Moon, it is looked on by everybody and called his, and like the Moon it, too, smiles on everybody. But just as the Moon belongs to no one, in the same way she, too, belongs to no one, not even to her husband. Not only is she his Moon, but also of everybody else. Even then he loves her dearly. At this compliment, Lucrezia smiles. Andrea in raptures exclaims that at the moment she looks a perfect model for a picture. Her smile would inspire him in the picture he paints next.

Andrea describes the autumn ‘greyness’, and, ‘twilight’ which has overtaken his life and his art. ‘Grey’ is a colour between white and black and, ‘Autumn’ is a season between summer and winter. A ‘silvery’ colour is a greyish white colour. Autumn greyness has overtaken his life as well as his art. His life is neither rapturously happy nor unbearably gloomy. Similarly, his art too has neither the bright colours of happiness nor the black of absolute despair. It has the dull colours of twilight suggestive neither of the brightness of day nor the darkness of night. The picture which he will now paint, and which will represent them sitting together, will have a silvery grey colour all over. It would be colorless and dull like his life. It would not have the bright colours of the morning and the evening, but there would be toning down of colours as at the time of dusk. There was a time when she was proud of him, but the dullness of twilight has fallen on it, too, and her pride in him is no more now. As far as he is concerned, autumn has fallen on everything about his life and his art. His youth, his art, his hopes, have all been subdued to the dull, sober colours of the city of Fiesole at the time of twilight, seen at a distance through the window. Inspiration is necessary for great art; as he has failed to receive that inspiration he can paint pictures which are only technically perfect, but which are soulless and so fail to rise to the heights of great art. His art is a twilight art having neither the ecstatic brightness of great art nor the unrelieved gloom of failure and despair. In order further to explain his point, the painter calls the attention of his wife to the twilight landscape visible through the window. There is the chapel from whose tower comes the sound of the ringing of a bell. Within its walls, crowded close together, are to be seen a number of trees. They can even see the last monk returning to the convent from the garden. It is autumn season and so the days are growing shorter and shorter. Just as the uniform autumn greyness colour everything in the landscape outside, in the same way his life and his art have all become uniformly grey.

Having told Lucrezia of the ‘greyness’ of his own art and life, Andrea indulges in some reflection on human life. He takes refuge in a weak, fatalistic philosophy. Man seems to be free, but in reality, he has no freedom of will. He is helpless like a prisoner fettered in chains. Man is entirely in the hands of God; he cannot do anything himself. He holds God responsible for all his suffering and unhappiness. He cannot do nothing but obey the will of God and act accordingly.

He then changes the subject and invites Lucrezia to look attentively at the various pictures in the room. Probably, Lucrezia has been listening to him with such scant attention that Andrea asks her to be more attentive to him, and look in the direction he points out. He asks her to turn her head and look at the pictures hanging behind them at the walls of the studio. He then draws her attention to the picture, second from the door. It is a perfect painting, one which should serve as a model for others. Every painter should paint like this and in no other way. Then there is the famous portrait of Virgin Mary. He can assert that his pictures are technically faultless, and that none can find fault with it. He can paint such a portrait quite easily, as if it were a mere sketch done by the pencil. What he knows and what he feels deeply, he can express easily and faultlessly. As far as technical perfection is concerned, he is second to none. Lucrezia can herself form an idea of his technical perfection as a painter from the praises of the high official of the church who visited them last week. And equally high were the praises of the people when he was in France. His technical perfection has always been admired.

Painting now is quite easy for him. He works effortlessly and can still achieve technical perfection. There is no need for him any longer to draw rough sketches, or to study his models carefully. The time when he had to labour hard is now long past. His technical skill is such that he can paint without effort and achieve a perfection which others dream of achieving all their lives, and still fail, despite all their hard labour and striving. They take pains, but still fall far short of perfection. Within their own city of Florence, there are many such painters who fail to achieve technical excellence, despite all the pains they take. The important point is that though other painters are far inferior to him in technical skill, their works are better and greater in another way. Their works are a judgment on his own; by comparison with them his own inferiority is brought out. Their work may be technically imperfect, but still, it is higher than his own as their soul is lighted by divine inspiration, but he himself lacks such inspiration. Their brains may be confused, troubled, and dull, they may lack his own skill, but still, they are greater than he, for their art is an expression of their divine visions. No doubt, he is a perfect craftsman, one who can paint without any faltering and hesitation, but he lacks deep emotions and high aspirations of the true artist. In this, he is inferior to others who are much lesser craftsmen. Their technical limitations pull their work downwards, but then they have divine visions, as if they have entered the very gates of heaven, entrance to which is always denied to him. They do enter heaven; they do have divine visions; it is another matter that they cannot express their visions perfectly. They have their moments of ecstasy and rapture. On the other hand, he has a passionless soul which is not at all affected by the praise or blame of others. He paints for his own satisfaction and not that of others, and he knows fully well what he is doing. Suppose somebody comes to his studio, points to his painting of Morello, the well-known mountain peak near Florence, and begins criticizing it for its wrong outline, and mistaken colours. He will not be moved at all by his criticism. Both praise and blame leave him cold and unmoved. Just as the mountain is not moved by what others say of it, so also, he remains unmoved by the views of others. His art has achieved perfection and that is his tragedy. A man’s ideals should always elude his grasp. They should always remain beyond his reach. If he succeeds in realizing his aspirations, he would have nothing left to hope for from heaven. Life in heaven will have no meaning for him. Moreover, perfection of achievement results in complacency, and, “divine discontent, is essential for advancement or progress. “The silver-grey,” of autumn has overtaken his art. It is technically perfect, but it fails to rise to the heights of great art. It lacks the fire of emotion and inspiration. It does not burn with artistic frenzy. It is a static, unprogressive art, expressing his own content at his technical perfection. He aimed low, achieved what he aimed at, and so his art suffers from his complacency. His technical skill has been so much the worse for his art. He is fully aware of the limitations of his own art, and also knows how those limitations can be made good.

Andrea now draws the attention of Lucrezia to a painting done by the famous Renaissance artist, Rafael, who was born at Urbino and who died young, only five years ago. The picture is not the original work of Rafael but a copy of it sent to him by his pupil George Vasari who understands how the greatness of that picture was achieved. Raphael poured his whole soul into his pictures so that even Popes and Kings may see it and admire it. He was an inspired artist, he aimed high, his soul reached heaven itself, and he and his art were both inspired by his divine visions. He poured his soul into his art, and then refilled it by divine visions. He had vision and inspiration, but he did not have the technical skill to express those visions with perfection. The picture is technically wrong. For example, the arm is wrongly put and then there is another fault in its outline. But it is only the body of the picture which is defective; its soul is perfectly right. There is nothing wrong with it. Even a child can understand the meaning of the picture, for the vision of Rafael was clear and vivid. He can easily correct the technical faults of Rafael, but the activity of Rafael’s soul, his vision and inspiration, his emotional range, etc., are beyond his reach. That is his tragedy.

Andrea now proceeds to explain to Lucrezia the cause of this failure. It is she who is responsible for his failure. Had she wanted she could have inspired him, and then his art would not have lacked emotion and passion. Inspired by her, he could easily have put soul into his art, and then they together would have risen to the heights which Rafael attained. So great is Andrew’s infatuation with his wife, he is so much afraid of offending her, that noticing a look of displeasure, a frown, on her face, he at once apologizes. She gave him all that he had asked for, and much more several times over than he deserved. The real fault lies with him, for had he asked for more, perhaps, she would have given more. Still, he has a pathetic consciousness of what his wife’s incompatibility has cost him in fame and recognition. There is, no doubt, that she is perfectly beautiful. She has a beautiful face, beautiful eyes, and a beautiful mouth. She has sweet melodious voice, a serpenting beauty, which ensnares him, and holds him captive as birds are held captive by the melody of the bird catcher’s pipe. There can be no doubt that physically she is perfect, but lacks beauty of spirit. Her soul is not great enough to inspire him, as other women inspire their husbands.

She looked at his art purely from the utilitarian point of view. She cared for it merely as a source of earning money. Had she urged him to paint not for money, but for future name and fame, and to rise to the same heights as Michael Angelo and Raphael attained, and that all three of them should equally enjoy fame, glory and heavenly bliss, certainly he would have equaled their artistic achievements. It seems quite possible that inspired by her he would have done so. But she failed him and that is the tragedy of his life. But one should not complain, for they are all in the hands of God. Everything happens as He ordains. Man is not a free agent. He is merely an instrument of His will.

For a while, Andrea complains that his failure as an artist has been caused by the incompatibility of his wife. She cared only for money, and looked at his art from a purely utilitarian point of view. But the very next moment he realizes his mistake, and the truth dawns upon him. True inspiration comes from within the soul of the artist himself; it is the artist’s own inner urge which makes him sacrifice present gain for future fame and glory. No amount of external stimulus can be of much good in this respect. So, he was wrong in blaming his wife, and holding her responsible for his own failure. Rafael and Angelo could achieve perfection, they could put soul into their work, but they had no wives to inspire them and urge them on. The combination of will and ability is rare, with the result that they are all half men, having either the will, the desire, or the power and capacity. With their limited resources and incomplete powers, they, the half men, struggle somehow or the other to achieve their ends. In the end, God judges the actions of man and rewards and punishes accordingly as man has performed his duty or has failed in this respect. Everything is in the hands of God, and it is useless to complain or worry.

If the judgment of God is exactly in proportion to one’s merits, then it means that he should surely be rewarded in heaven, and duly compensated for his lack of recognition in this world. Here he has been somewhat underrated, and has been poor, and he has been despised by the people over a long period of time. To tell the truth, he does not go out of his house in the day time, for he is afraid of meeting any of the French lords, who might be on a visit to Florence. Often when they come across him in the streets, they avert their faces in disgust, look to the other side and ignore him. This show of contempt is preferable to the disparaging comments they sometimes make as they pass by him. He embezzled the money which the French King had given him to purchase some portraits for him in Florence. To please his wife, he built a palatial residence for her with that money. The Fontainebleau, with his pictures. The one year he passed there was the happiest period of his life, the period when he enjoyed the maximum of success, fame, and happiness. During these days, he was inspired, like Raphael himself. Often it seemed to him that his inspiration was lifting him up from the earth. He felt the same exaltation for a while, as Raphael felt every day. The kind and sympathetic looks of the great monarch inspired him, and he felt glorified for the time being. Andrea then recalls the various gestures and movements of the king. He remembers how the king would bend over him as he painted, with one finger in his beard or on his lips, and his arms round his neck and shoulders. As the king watched him painting, he could hear the jingle of his golden chain quite close to his ear, and could also feel his breath on his face. He was proud of the favours shown to him by the King. There were happy days indeed. All the courtiers, would stand round the king, looking at his work with the same regard and consideration as the King himself. The French nobles had such frank eyes and they looked at his work with such abundant enthusiasm, that he was encouraged and inspired and kept steadily working, without feeling any fatigue at all. He hoped that on his return home he would get his highest reward, the reward he valued most of all, in the form of the love and appreciation of his wife. It was this hope, more than the enthusiasm and appreciation of the French king, which kept him steadily at his work. Andrea tells his wife that the days which he passed in France, in the company of King Francis I, were the happiest days of his life. If she, Lucrezia, had not grown impatient at his long stay in France and called him back home, he would have stayed there for some time more and achieved fame and recognition like Rafael and Angelo. Perhaps, at this, Lucrezia is displeased and he notices a frown on her face. So, he at once remarks that what is past is dead and gone and it is no use regretting it. As a matter of fact, at that time he himself felt that it would be right and proper for him to return home. He instinctively felt that it would be better for him to go home to his beloved wife. Life in France was growing too full of glory and splendour to suit him. In order to explain his point, he compares himself to a bat. A bat is weak-eyed, and his eyes are blinded by the dazzling light of the sun. It feels comfortable only within the four walls of a farmhouse which forms its world. In the same way, he could not bear the glory, the splendour of the life, at the French court. This life did not suit him, and it was right and proper that it ended. She called him and he returned to her.

Andrea tells Lucrezia that he would like to paint her beautiful face with her golden hair, as sweet and charming as she looks at the moment. She was his, and this was all he wanted; her love was a sufficient compensation for him for his failure as an artist. He then proceeds to compare his own work and that of Raphael in the presence of his wife, and thus brings out his comparative superiority. The comparison reveals clearly that he is more fortunate and luckier than Raphael. That was the time when young Rafael was painting in Rome to decorate the palace, most probably of Pope, so that all Rome may see his paintings. At that time, he was really inspired and exultant. He was widely praised, and so was getting a little proud. It was in those days that Angelo told Raphael that there was a certain poor, mean and worthless fellow (Andrea himself) going about the streets of Rome. Nobody cared for him at the time, but he, if he were encouraged and inspired by Popes and Kings as Rafael had been, and was set to work to devise and paint pictures, would bring sweat to his face. Andrea points out to Lucrezia his technical superiority as a painter, even over great and reputed painters like Raphael. Pointing to the arm of Raphael’s portrait of Virgin Mary, he tells her that the arm has been painted wrongly. Before the world, he dares not point out the fault of Rafael, so great is his name and popularity, but he can tell his wife without any fear. In order to show her where the arm is defective, he takes a piece of chalk and corrects it. But in a tone of bitter grief, he continues that the technical imperfections of Rafael do not matter much, because the soul of his portraits is always right, while his, Andrea’s portraits lack soul, despite their technical perfection.

He does not care very much for what others say of him or what he (Angelo) said of him. He cares only for love, and for a place in her heart. Perhaps, at this point, Lucrezia interrupts him to inquire whom “he said”, refers to. At this Andrea feels much hurt, for her question shows that she has already forgotten about the words of Angelo which he had overheard. It is an important matter for him, for it reveals his greatness as an artist, but it seems, his wife cares little for it. Lucrezia smiles, and her smile is a sufficient compensation to Andrea for his failure as an artist. The hour which he has passed in her company would always be cherished and remembered by him. At this, Lucrezia smiles again. Feeling amply rewarded by her smiles, he tells her to understand clearly that if she would sit with him in that way every night and smile at him, he would be inspired and would be able to paint better pictures. Then he would earn more, and so would be in a position to give her more money.

The darkness has increased and the stars have appeared in the sky. Mount Morello is no longer visible. The city walls can be seen only in the light which the watchmen have lighted at their cry, ‘Ki-ou’, can now be heard. Therefore, Andrea asks Lucrezia to come away from the window into their house which he had built to please her with money of the French king. He prays that may King Francis pardon him for misappropriating his money. He has been sufficiently punished by his own conscience. When at night his eyes are tired as a result of having worked for long hours, and he looks up at the walls of the house, it seems to him that they have become golden. He sees each brick distinctly, and it seems to him that they are plastered with gold instead of cement.

Andrea wants Lucrezia to sit with him for some time more but she says that her cousin, who is in reality her lover, is waiting outside and so she must go. Reluctantly, Andrea agrees to her leaving him, since he wants to see her alone and not in his company. She wants more money; perhaps, she needs it to pay the debts which her cousin has incurred in gambling. He will purchase her smiles with all that he can earn through his art. As long as he can work, as long as his powers are intact, he will go on working, and purchasing her smiles with what he earns. Only, he pleads with her once again, she should sit with him for the remaining part of the evening and bestow on him her charming smiles. She calls it merely a waste of time, but it refreshes him and enables him to work with greater energy the next morning. In one last effort to make her interested in his art, he tells her that evening he would like to imagine how well he would paint now, if he were invited once again by the French King to work at his court, even if it were to paint only one picture. He would paint a portrait of Virgin Mary, but this time he would not paint it with her, Lucrezia, as his model. He would like it very much that she should sit with him as he works, and hear the great Michael Angelo praise his art. Andrea asks Lucrezia, if she is willing to sit with him for the rest of the evening. She can meet and satisfy her friend tomorrow. If she would give him her company for that evening, he would be relaxed and refreshed and would be able to paint quite easily the picture which her friend wants for his art-gallery. He would be able to complete that picture off hand, quite easily. Andrea then shows her by his gestures how easily he would paint that picture tomorrow. If he hesitates to pay the full amount required to pay off the debts of her lover, he would paint one or two more pictures for him. In this way, he would get sufficient amount to clear the gambling debts of her friend. He would also earn the thirteen silver coins she needs to buy a frill for her dress.

Andrea tells Lucrezia that at least that evening he is quite satisfied and serene, as serene and calm as a man should be in old age. He has no regrets, and no desire to change the past, even if the past could be changed. The best part of his life is already over, and he has no desire to change it. No doubt he has been guilty of some crimes in the past. For example, he did a great wrong to king Francis. He misappropriated his money, but he was tempted by her to do so, and he built the house with that money at her request and in order to satisfy her. He has been guilty of another sin also, but there is justification for that too. He allowed his parents to die in poverty. But then it must be remembered that he was not rich and whatever he earned, he earned it with the sweat of his brow. Secondly, each one must bear his lot. Thirdly, it must be remembered that his parents were born poor, they lived poor and, therefore, it was but natural that they died poor. Poverty was their lot; why should he be blamed for that. He himself has worked hard in his life, and has not been paid his due. He often received insufficient payment. This has been his misfortune, and he has to bear it. He might not be a good son, but let those, who are considered good son, work hard like him and paint two hundred pictures.

Andrea then expresses his satisfaction at the way in which she has sat with him and loved him that evening. That is sufficient for him; he does not require anything more. He is fully satisfied. He adds that, perhaps, in heaven he would get one more chance to paint a picture and thus show his worth and skill as an artist. It is just possible that God may desire the four walls of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, mentioned in the Bible, to be decorated with pictures. He will find that in His Heaven there are four great painters, Leonardo, Rafael, Angelo and Andrea. He would ask each of them to decorate one of the walls. The other three would have no wives, while he himself would still have Lucrezia as his wife. His infatuation for her would drag him down in heaven as well. The cousin’s whistle is again heard, perhaps more insistent and urgent than before. So, Andrea allows his wife to go to him.