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S A R T 0. 
SARTHE, or Sarte, a department in the north-west of 
France, comprising the greater part of the ancient province 
of Maine, and bounded by the departments of the Orne, the 
Loir and Cher, and the Mayenne. It is nearly of a circular 
form, has a superficial extent of 2430 square miles, and a 
population of 410,000. The surface is level, except in the 
north-west part, where there are some small hills. The soil 
is very different in different parts, though lime and sand seem 
to predominate. Luxuriant fields of corn are often found 
almost contiguous to barren and neglected heaths. The 
principal rivers in this department are the Sarthe, the Loir, 
the Huine. The climate is mild, and the air healthy. The 
productions are corn, flax, hemp, vines, and various fruits. 
Here are also some iron mines and marble quarries. Of corn, 
the department does not always produce enough for the 
consumption of the inhabitants, but exports largely of wine 
and fruit. Grazing is likewise followed to a considerable 
extent. The principal manufactures are of hardware, paper, 
woollens, and leather. The department belongs to the 
diocese of Le Mans, and the jurisdiction of the cour roi/ale 
of Angers. It is divided into four arrondissements, Le Mans 
(the capital), La Fleche, Mamers, and St. Calais. 
SARTI (Giuseppe), an Italian composer, bom at Faenza, 
in 1730. 
We shall give a list of his principal works for the use of 
curious collectors, as it is said they are well worth seeking, 
“ being composed in so elegant, natural, and pleasing a style, 
as is not likely to be soon out of fashion.” 
For the church, 1. A miserere, accompanied only by a 
tenor and violoncello in solo parts, and ripieno violini in the 
chorusses. 2. A motet, conjitebor tibi, a 6. Soprano and 
contralto in these solo verses. 3. A gloria , in nine parts, 
for the Russian or Greek church. 
For the theatre, twenty-six operas. See their names in 
Gerber, t. ii. p. 390. 
Chamber music printed. Symphonies in nine parts, at 
Leipsig, 1758. Three sonatas for the harpsichord, with a 
flute accompaniment, Amsterdam. Three sonatas, in London, 
1769. Giulio Sabino characteristica, Vienna, 1787. 
SARTILLY, a small town of France, in Normandy, 
department of La Manche, with 1000 inhabitants; 4 miles 
north-west of Avranches. 
SARTINE ISLANDS, a cluster of islands in the North 
Pacific Ocean, so named by Perouse. Lat. 50. 56. N. long. 
129. 18. W. 
SARTIVANA, a small town in the east of the continental 
Sardinian states, district of Lumello; 25 miles west-by-south 
of Pavia. 
SARTO (Andrea del), the cognomen of a painter of very 
considerable celebrity, whose real name w'as Andrea Vanuc- 
chi. He %vas a native of Florence, the son of a taylor, from 
whence he obtained the appellation of del Sarto. He was born 
in 1488, and having exhibited at an early age a propensity for 
engraving, he was placed with a goldsmith to learn the art of 
drawing on plate. Here he was noticed by a painter called 
Giovanni Barile, an artist, but little known, with whom he 
studied for three years, and then entered the school of Pietro 
Cosimo. His greatest acquirements, however, were obtained 
by studying the works of Massaccio and II Ghirlandaio ; and 
afterwards the cartoons of Michael Angelo and Lionardo da 
Vinci; upon the style of the latter of whom he ultimately 
built his own. But his progress was not marked by any 
degree of extraordinary brilliancy or rapidity; being rather 
the effect of sobriety of judgment, and continued practice, 
than of that intuitive and active principle by which his great 
teachers were urged forwards in their career. 
On leaving the school of Cosimo, he formed an intimacy 
with Francesco Bigio; and as there existed a great degree 
of similarity in their tempers and minds, they agreed to dwell 
together. They painted many works in conjunction, in the 
churches and convents at Florence, and obtained consider¬ 
able reputation. The designs he made for the series of pictures 
he was engaged to paint in the church of the Scalzi, or bare¬ 
footed Carmelites at Florence, are preserved in the Palazzo 
Vol. XXII. No. 1532. 
Rinuccini. The subjects are taken from the life of St. John 
the Baptist. In these the gradual progress he made in his 
art is extremely observable, and prepared him for the success¬ 
ful prosecution of his next labour, the Life of St. Filippo 
Benizi, in ten pictures, for the church of the Servi. There 
his cultivated taste exhibited itself in a more vigorous stretch 
of imagination ; and those pictures are considered as among 
his most excellent productions. 
Although thus occupied, and in high renown at Florence, 
yet the reputation then acquired by Raphael excited him to 
visit Rome, where, on his arrival, Vasari says, “ that on 
seeing those works which had been the object of his journey, 
despair of ever being able to rival them affected his timid 
disposition so much, that he made haste to leave the city, and 
returned to Florence.” This story, however, appears scarcely 
credible in its full extent, since in many of his works he evi¬ 
dently appears to have imitated the style of Raphael, which 
he hardly could so well have done, if he had not taken some 
time to study his works and principles. After his return from 
Rome he finished three pictures for the monastery of the 
Servi; the subjects of which were, the Birth of the Virgin, 
the Descent of the Holy Ghost, and the Last Supper. Of 
the beauty of the latter work, Sanzi relates this remarkable 
occurrence: “ that at the siege of Florence, in 1529, some 
soldiers who attacked the suburb in which the convent was 
situated, and had destroyed the church and part of the mo¬ 
nastery, on coming to the refectory, where this picture was 
placed, they were so struck with its perfection, that they de¬ 
sisted from their work of ruin as in a subsequent period, 
other mercenaries paid instinctive respect to the power of art, 
in preserving the works of Parmeggiano, at Rome; and as 
Demetrius Poliorcetes had done at Rhodes, to the labours of 
Protogenes. 
Of Andrea’s power in imitating the work of another, and 
no less skilful a hand than that of Raphael, Vasari mentions 
a very remarkable instance. Raphael had painted, for the 
Cardinal Julio de Medici, the portrait of Leo X. between 
those of that prelate and Cardinal Rossi, in which the dra¬ 
pery and back-ground were painted by Julio Romano. Fre¬ 
derick, second duke of Mantua, passing through Florence to 
Rome, requested Clement VII. to make him a present of it; 
when the pope ordered it to be sent to him. Unwilling to 
deprive Florence of so great a work of art as that picture, 
Ottavia de Medici employed A. del Sarto to make a copy 
of it, which w'as sent to the Duke of Mantua at the time 
when Julio Romano was in his service; and such was the 
spirit and exactness of the copy, that even Julio himself never 
suspected the deception, till he was informed of it by Vasari, 
who shew’ed him del Sarto’s private mark. 
The fame of Andrea reached the ears of Francis I. of 
France, who, desirous of embellishing his country by the 
works of ingenious artists, commissioned him to paint him a 
picture ; and he sent that monarch a dead Christ, with the 
Virgin, and John, Mary Magdalen, and other figures, which 
is now in the gallery of the Louvre. In consequence he was 
invited by the king to the court of France, and being then 
in penurious circumstances, owing to the troubled state of 
the country, he gladly accepted so flattering a testimonial 
of his merits. He was received there with great respect and 
distinction. The king was pleased with him as a man and 
an artist; loaded him with attentions; and for a portrait of 
the dauphin paid him three hundred crowns in gold. He 
painted a picture of Charity, now in the Louvre, for his ma¬ 
jesty, and a great number of works for the nobles about the 
court; so that he wanted nothing conducive to happiness, 
as far as esteem, affluence, and honours could gratify him. 
In the midst of this prosperity, while he was painting a por¬ 
trait of the queen-mother, and before he had completed it, 
he received, unfortunately for him, letters from his wife, 
pressing him to return to Florence. To indulge her wishes, 
lie obtained the king’s leave to go, promising to return in a 
few months with his family, and settle in France. The mo¬ 
narch confided in his integrity; and not only made him 
several presents with royal liberality, but also entrusted him 
8 L with 
