SARTO, ANDREA DEL, whose real name was Van nucchi, a celebrated painter, was the son of a tailor, and was born at Florence in 1488. He studied the elements of his profession under Giovanni Barite, with whom he continued three years. He then entered the school of Pietro Cosimo, where he made great profi ciency by studying the works of Masaccio and Il Ghir landajo, and the cartoons of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci. His first great work was to exe cute for the church of the Scalzi, or barefooted Car melites at Florence, a series of pictures from the life of St. John the Baptist. His next work was ten pic tures for the church of the Servi, representing the life of St. Felippo Benizi, which are regarded as among his best productions.
Upon his return from Rome, where he studied the works of Raphael, he painted the birth of the Virgin, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the last supper, for the monastery of the Servi.
The reputation of our artist was now so great, that Francis T. commissioned from him the picture of the dead Christ, with the Virgin, Ste. which is now in the Louvre. Upon the invitation of that monarch he went to France, where he was received with the greatest distinction, and received 300 crowns in gold for a por trait of the dauphin, He painted many pictures for the French nobility; and for Francis I. he executed
the picture of Charity now in the Louvre. While he was engaged on the portrait of the queen mother, he was urged by his wife to return to Florence. The king not only gave him leave, on condition that he would return in a few months with his family, and settle in France, but also made him liberal presents, and even intrusted him with a large sum of money, in order to purchase statues and pictures for the royal collection. Misled by the profligacy of his wife, he forgot his en gagement to the French monarch, and squandered away the money with which he was intrusted. The poverty into which he thus fell, and the reproofs of his own conscience, brought upon him the greatest distress, and he at last died of the plague in the year 1530, in the 42d year of his age.
The most celebrated picture of Sarto is his Madon na del Sacco, so called from Joseph reclining on a sack of grain. It is considered as little inferior to the production of Raphael. See PAINTING.