Andrea del Sarto

Andrea del Sarto was known in his lifetime as “Andrea senza errori”, Andrea without errors, and his pictures earn it: calm, perfectly drawn figures, soft modelling and warm, smoky colour. Among Florentine painters he stands out for his interest in colour and atmosphere rather than line alone.

He was born in Florence in 1486, trained first as a goldsmith and then with painters including Piero di Cosimo. Apart from a spell in Paris in 1518 at the invitation of King Francis I, he worked in Florence all his life. His major works include the Madonna of the Harpies, the Nativity of the Virgin frescoes, the Madonna del Sacco and a Last Supper. The Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti hold many of his paintings, and there are others in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum and the Hermitage.

His Assumption of the Virgin altarpieces, which we offer, show his gift for grouping many figures without crowding.