Andrea del Sarto

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) was born Andrea d'Agnolo in Florence, the son of a tailor, which gave him his name, and made his career there. According to Vasari he trained with Piero di Cosimo and then Raffaellino del Garbo, and early on he shared a studio with his friend Franciabigio. His frescoes in the forecourt of Santissima Annunziata, painted between 1509 and 1514, were admired for the correctness of their contours and earned him the name Andrea senza errori, Andrea without fault. He worked for years on the frescoes of the Scalzo cloister, and his last important painting was the Last Supper at San Salvi. In 1518 he went to France at the invitation of Francis I, but soon returned. Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino were among those who first followed his style, and Vasari was his pupil. He died of plague in Florence, and after his death his reputation was eclipsed by Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. Here: Madonna of the Harpies, the altarpiece of 1517 for the convent of San Francesco dei Macci, named for the figures on the Virgin's pedestal.