He resumed work in Florence during 1520 and executed the
Faith and
Charity in the cloister of the Scalzo. These were succeeded by the
Dance of the Daughter of Herodias, the
Beheading of the Baptist, the
Presentation of His Head to Herod, an
Allegory of Hope, the
Apparition of the Angel to Zacharias (1523) and the monochrome
Visitation. This last was painted in the autumn of 1524, after Andrea had returned from Luco in
Mugello, whence an outbreak of
bubonic plague in Florence had driven him and his family. In 1525, he returned to paint in the Annunziata cloister the
Madonna del Sacco, a
lunette named after a sack against which
Joseph is represented propped. In this painting the generous virgin's gown and her gaze indicate his influence on the early style of pupil
Pontormo. In 1523, Andrea painted a copy of the portrait group of
Pope Leo X by
Raphael; this copy is now in the
Museo di Capodimonte in
Naples, while the original remains at the
Pitti Palace. The Raphael painting was owned by
Ottaviano de' Medici, and requested by
Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of
Mantua. Unwilling to part with the original, Ottaviano retained Andrea to produce a copy, which he passed to the Duke as the original. The imitation was so faithful that even
Giulio Romano, who had himself manipulated the original to some extent, was completely fooled; and, on showing the copy years afterwards to Vasari, who knew the truth, he could be convinced that it was not genuine only when a private mark on the canvas was pointed out to him by Vasari. Andrea's final work at the Scalzo was the
Nativity of the Baptist (1526). In the following year he completed his last important painting, a
Last Supper at
San Salvi (now an inner suburb of Florence), in which all the characters appear to be portraits. The church is now the
Museo del Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto. A number of his paintings were considered to be self-portraits. Formerly, a
Portrait of a Young Man in the
National Gallery, London was believed to be a self-portrait, as was the
Portrait of Becuccio Bicchieraio in
National Gallery of Scotland, but now both are known not to be self-portraits. There is a self-portrait at
Alnwick Castle, a young man about twenty years of age with his elbow on a table. Another youthful portrait is in the
Uffizi Gallery and the
Pitti Palace contains more than one.
Madonna of the Harpies '', 1517 The
Madonna of the Harpies is a depiction of the Virgin and Child on a pedestal, flanked by two saints (
Bonaventure or
Francis and
John the Evangelist), and at her feet, two
cherubs. The pedestal is decorated with a relief depicting some feminine figures interpreted as
harpies and thus gave rise, in English, to the name of the painting. Originally completed in 1517 for the convent of San Francesco dei Macci, the altarpiece now resides in the
Uffizi. In an Italy crowded with Madonnas, it would be easy to overlook this work; however, this commonly copied scheme also lends itself to comparison of his style with that of his contemporaries. The figures have a
Leonardo-like aura, and the stable pyramid of their composition provides a unified structure. In some ways, his rigid adherence is more classical than Leonardo's but less so than
Fra Bartolomeo's representations of the Holy Family. == Personal life ==