Vatican hill, and from what can be seen of them they appear to have
been in a fairly good style, but since they were destroyed by other
popes, and especially by Nicholas V., who pulled down and rebuilt the
greater part of the palace, I will say no more about them, except
that a part of them may be seen in the great round tower, and a part
in the old sacristy of St Peter's. This Innocent III., who wore the
tiara for nineteen years, took great delight in architecture, and
erected many buildings in Rome, notably the tower of the Conti, so
called after the name of his family, from designs by Marchionne, an
architect and sculptor of Arezzo. In the year that Innocent died this
artist completed the Pieve of Arezzo, as well as the campanile. He
adorned the front of the church with three rows of columns, one above
the other, in great variety, not only in the shape of the capitals
and bases, but even in the shafts, some being heavy, others slender,
some bound together in pairs, others in fours. In like manner some
are covered with representations of the vine, while others are made
to become supporting figures, variously carved. He further introduced
many animals of different kinds, which carry the weight of the
columns on their backs, the whole exhibiting the strangest and most
extravagant fantasies imaginable, not only altogether removed from
the excellent antique order, but opposed to all good and reasonable
proportion. Yet in spite of all this, anyone who will justly consider
the matter will see that he was making strenuous efforts to do well,
and possibly he imagined that he had discovered the way in this
manner of work and in this wondrous variety. The same artist carved a
rather large God the Father, with certain angels in half-relief in
the arch over the door of that church in a rude style, together with
the twelve months of the year, adding underneath his name, cut in
round letters, as was customary, and the date, 1216. It is said that
Marchionne also erected for Pope Innocent the old building and church
of the hospital of S. Spirito in Sassia, in the Borgo Vecchio at
Rome, where some part of the old work may still be seen. Indeed the
old church remained standing to our own day, when It was restored in
the modern style, with more ornament and design, by Pope Paul III.
of the house of the Farnese. In S. Maria Maggiore, also in Rome, he
made the marble chapel, which contains the manger of Jesus Christ, in
which he placed a portrait of Pope Honorius III., drawn from life. He
also made that Pope's tomb, decorating it with ornaments which were
somewhat better than, and very different from, the style then
prevalent throughout Italy. At the same time also Marchionne made the
lateral door of S. Pietro at Bologna, which truly was a very great
work for those times, because of the number of sculptures which are
seen in it, such as lions in relief, which sustain columns, with men
and other animals, also bearing burdens. In the arch above he made
the twelve months in relief, with varied fancies, each month with its
zodiacal sign, a work which must have been considered marvellous in
those times.
About the same time the order of the friars minors of St Francis was
established, which, after it had been confirmed by Pope Innocent
III., increased the general devoutness and the number of friars, not
only in Italy, but in every part of the world, to such an extent,
that there was scarcely a city of note which did not build churches
and convents for them at very great cost, each one according to its
ability. Thus brother Elias, who was superior of that order at
Assisi, founded a church, dedicated to Our Lady in that place, two
years before the death of St Francis, while the saint, as general of
the order, was away preaching. After the death of St Francis all
Christendom crowded to visit the body of a man, who, both in life and
in death, was known to have been so much beloved of God. As every man
did alms to the saint according to his ability, it was determined
that the church begun by friar Elias should be made much larger and
more magnificent. But since there was a scarcity of good architects,
and as the work demanded an excellent one, it being necessary to
erect the building on a very high hill, round the base of which runs
a torrent called Tescio, a German master named Jacopo was brought to
Assisi after much deliberation, as being the best man who was then to
be found. After he had examined the site and understood the wishes of
the friars, who held a chapter general at Assisi for the purpose, he
designed a most beautiful church and convent, making it in three
stories. One of these was underground, while the two others served as
churches, the lower one to be a vestibule with a portico of
considerable size about it, the other as the church proper. The
ascent from the first to the second was managed by means of a very
convenient arrangement of steps, which encircled the chapel and which
were divided into two flights for the sake of greater comfort,
leading up to the second church. He built this in the form of the
letter T, making it five times as long as it was broad, dividing one
nave from the other by great stone pillars, uniting them with stout
arches, between which he set up the vaulting. This truly monumental
work then was carried out from such plans in every detail, except
that he did not use the Cross vaulting on the walls between the body
of the church and the principal chapel, but employed barrel vaulting
for the sake of greater strength. He afterwards placed the altar
before the principal chapel of the lower church, and when this was
finished he deposited the body of St Francis beneath, after a most
solemn translation. And because the tomb of the glorious saint is in
the first or lower church, where no one ever goes, and which has its
doors walled up, there is a magnificent iron railing about the altar,
richly adorned with marble and mosaic which permits the tomb to be
seen. On one side of the building were erected two sacristies and a
lofty campanile, five times as high as it is broad. Above it there
was originally a lofty spire of eight sides, but it was removed
because it threatened to fall down. The work was brought to a
conclusion in the space of four years and no more by the ability of
Master Jacopo the German, and by the industry of friar Elias. After
the friar's death twelve strong towers were erected about the lower
church in order that the vast erection should never be destroyed; in
each of these is a spiral staircase ascending from the ground to the
summit. In the course of time, moreover, several chapels were added
and other rich ornaments, of which it is not necessary to speak
further, as enough has been said about the matter for the present,
especially as it is in the power of every one to see how much that is
useful, ornamental, and beautiful has been added to this beginning of
Master Jacopo, by popes, cardinals, princes, and many other great
persons of all Europe.
And now to return to Master Jacopo. By means of this work he acquired
such renown throughout Italy that he was invited to Florence by the
government of the city, and was afterwards received there with the
utmost goodwill. But the Florentines, in accordance with a custom of
abbreviating names which they practised then as they do now, called
him not Jacopo, but Lapo, all his life, for he settled permanently in
that city with all his family. And although at divers times he went
away to erect a number of buildings in Tuscany his residence was
always at Florence. As examples of such buildings I may cite the
palace of the Poppi at Casentino which he built for the count there,
who had married the beautiful Gualdrada, with the Casentino as her
dower; the Vescovado for the Aretines, and the Palazzo Vecchio of the
lords of Pietramela. It was at Florence that he laid the piles of the
ponte alla Carraia, then called the ponte Nuovo, in 1218, and
finished them in two years. A short while afterwards it was completed
in wood, as was then the custom. In the year 1221 he prepared plans
for the church of S. Salvadore del Vescovado which was begun under
his direction, as was the church of S. Michele on the piazza Padella
where there are some sculptures in the style of those days. He next
designed a system of drainage for the city, raised the piazza S.
Giovanni, and in the time of M. Rubaconte da Mandella of Milan,
constructed the bridge which still bears his name. It was he who
discovered the useful method of paving the streets with stone, when
they had previously been paved only with bricks. He designed the
existing Podesta palace, which was originally built for the
_amziani_, and finally, after he had designed the tomb of the Emperor
Frederick for the abbey of Monreale in Sicily, by the order of
Manfred, he died, leaving Arnolfo, his son, heir to his ability, no
leas than to his fortune.
Arnolfo, by whose talents architecture was no less improved than
painting had been by Cimabue, was born in the year 1232, and was
thirty-two years of age at his father's death. He was at that time
held in very great esteem, because, not only had he learned all that
his father had to teach, but had studied design under Cimabue in
order to make use of it in sculpture, so that he was reputed the best
architect in Tuscany. Thus not only did the Florentines found, under
his direction, the last circuit of the walls of their city in the
year 1284, but they also built, after his design, the loggia and
pillars of Or San Michele, where grain is sold, constructing it of
brick with a simple roof above. It was also in conformity with his
advice that when the cliff of the Magnoli fell, on the slope of S,
Giorgio above S. Lucia in the via dei Bardi, a public decree was
issued the same year that no walls or edifices should ever more be
erected in that place seeing that they would always be in danger
owing to the undermining of the rock by water. That this is true has
been seen in our day in the fall of many buildings and fine houses of
the aristocracy. The year after, 1285, he founded the loggia and
piazza of the priors, and in the Bödia of Florence he constructed the
principal chapel and those on either side of it, restoring both the
church and choir, which had originally been built on a much smaller
scale by Count Ugo, the founder. For the cardinal Giovanni degli
Orsini, papal legate in Tuscany, he built the campanile of that
church, which woo some praise among the works of those times, but it
did not receive its stone finishing until after the year 1303. His
next work was the foundation, in 1294, of the church of S, Croce,
where the friars minors are. Arnolfo designed the nave and side
aisles of this church on such a large scale that he was unable to
vault the space under the roof owing to the great distances, so with
much judgment he made arches from pillar to pillar, and on these he
placed the roof with stone gutters along the top of the arches to
carry off the water, inclined at such an angle that the roof should
be safe, as it is, from the danger of damp. This thing was so novel
and ingenious that it well deserves the consideration of our day. He
next prepared plans for the first cloisters of the old convent of
that church, and shortly after he removed from the outside of the
church of S. Giovanni all the arches and tombs of marble and stone
which were there and put a part of them behind the campanile in the
façade of the Canonical Palace, beside the oratory of S. Zanobi, when
he proceeded to incrust all the eight sides of the exterior of the
church with black Prato marble, removing the rough stone which was
originally used with the antique marbles.
In the meantime the Florentines were desirous of erecting buildings
in Valdarno above the castle of S. Giovanni and Castelfranco for the
convenience of the city and for the supply of victuals to their
markets. Arnolfo prepared the plan for this in the year 1295, and
gave such general satisfaction, as indeed he had in his other works,
that he was awarded the citizenship of Florence.
After these things the Florentines took counsel together, as Giovanni
Villani relates in his History, to build a principal church for their
city, and to make it so grand and magnificent that nothing larger or
finer could be desired by the industry and power of man; and thus
Arnolfo prepared the plans for the church of S. Maria del Fiore, a
building which it is impossible to praise too highly. He provided
that the exterior should be entirely incrusted with polished marble,
with all the cornices, pillars, columns, carvings of leaves, figures,
and other things which may be seen to-day, and which were brought
very near completion, although not quite. But the most marvellous
circumstance of all in this undertaking was the care and judgment
with which he made the foundations, for in clearing the site, which
is a very fine one, other small churches and houses about S. Reparata
were involved beside that edifice itself. He made the foundations of
this great structure both broad and deep, filling them with good
materials, such as gravel and lime, with large stones at the bottom,
so that they have been able without difficulty to bear the weight of
the huge dome with which Filippo di Ser Brunellesco vaulted the
church, as may be seen to-day. The excellence of this initial work
was such that the place is still called Lungo i Fondamenti (beside
the foundations). The laying of the foundations and the initiation of
so great a church was celebrated with much ceremony. The first stone
was laid on the day of the Nativity of Our Lady 1298 by the cardinal
legate of the Pope, in the presence not only of many bishops and of
all the clergy, but also of the podesta, captains, priors, and other
magistrates of the city, and indeed of all the people of Florence,
the church being called S. Maria del Fiore. Now, as it was estimated
that the expenses of this work would be very heavy, as they
afterwards proved to be, a tax of four deniers the pound was imposed
at the chamber of the commune on everything exported from the city,
as well as a tax of two soldi per head yearly. In addition to this,
the Pope and the legate offered the most liberal indulgences to those
who would contribute alms towards the work. I must not omit to
mention, however, that besides the broad foundations of 15 braccia
deep, buttresses were, with great foresight, placed at each angle of
the eight sides, and it was the presence of these which encouraged
Brunellesco to impose a much greater weight there than Arnolfo had
originally contemplated.
It is said that when Arnolfo began the two first lateral doors of S.
Maria del Fiore, he caused some fig leaves to be carved in a frieze,
which were the armorial bearings of his father Lapo, from which it
may be inferred that the family of the Lapi, now among the nobility
of Florence, derives its origin from him. Others say that Filippo di
Ser Brunellesco was also among the descendants of Arnolfo. But I let
this pass for what it is worth, and return to Arnolfo, for there are
some who say that the Lapi originally came from Figaruolo, a castle
situated at the mouth of the Po. I say that for this magnificent
achievement he deserved unstinted praise and an immortal renown,
since he caused the exterior of the building to be incrusted with
marble of various colours, and the interior with hard stone, making
even the most insignificant corners of the building of the same
stone. But, in order that every one may know the proportions of this
marvellous edifice, I will add that from the doorway to the far end
of the chapel of St Zanobi the length is 260 braccia, the breadth at
the transepts is 166 braccia, that of nave and aisles 66. The nave is
72 braccia high, and the aisles 48. The external circumference of the
entire church is 1280 braccia; the cupola, from the ground to the
base of the lantern, is 154 braccia; the lantern, without the ball,
is 36 braccia high, the ball 4 braccia high, and the cross 8 braccia;
the entire cupola, from the ground to the top of the cross, is 202
braccia. But to return to Arnolfo, I say that he was considered so
excellent, and so much confidence was felt in him, that nothing of
importance was discussed without his advice being first asked. Thus
the foundation of the final circuit of the city walls having been
finished that same year by the community of Florence, the
commencement of which was referred to above, and also the gate
towers, and the work being well forward, he began the palace of the
Signori, making it similar in design to that which his father Lapo
had erected for the counts of Poppi. But he was unable to realise the
grand and magnificent conception which he had formed in that
perfection which his art and judgment required, because a piazza had
been made by the dismantling and throwing down of the houses of the
Uberti, rebels against the Florentine people and Ghibellines, and the
blind prejudice of certain persons prevailed against all the
arguments brought forward by Arnolfo to such an extent that he could
not even obtain permission to make the palace square, because the
rulers of the city were most unwilling to allow the building to have
its foundations in the land of the Uberti, and they would rather
suffer the destruction of the south nave of S. Piero Scheraggio than
give him free scope in the space designated. They were also desirous
that he should include and adapt to the palace the tower of the
Fieraboschi, called the Torre della Vacca (Cow Tower), 50 braccia in
height, in which the great bell was hung, together with some houses
bought by the commune for such a building. For these reasons it is no
marvel if the foundations of the palace are awry and out of the
square, as, in order to get the tower in the middle and to make it
stronger, he was obliged to surround it with the walls of the palace.
These were found to be in excellent condition in the year 1561 by
Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect, when he restored the palace in
the time of Duke Cosimo, Thus, as Arnolfo filled the tower with good
materials, it was easy for other masters to erect upon it the lofty
campanile which we see to-day, since he himself finished no more than
the palace in the space of two years. It was in later years that the
building received those improvements to which it owes its present
grandeur and majesty.
After all these things, and many others not less useful than
beautiful, Arnolfo died at the age of seventy, in the year 1300,
about the time when Giovanni Villani began to write the general
history of his times. And since he left S. Maria del Fiore not only
with its foundations laid, but saw three principal apses under the
cupola vaulted in, to his great praise, he deserves the memorial set
up to him in the church on the side opposite the campanile, with
these lines carved in the marble in round letters:--
"Anno millenis centum bis octo nogenis
Venit legatus Roma bonitate donatus
Qui lapidem fixit fundo, simul et benedixit
Praesule Francisco, gestante pontificatum
Istud ab Arnolpho templum fuit aedificatum
Hoc opus insigne decorans Florentia digne
Reginæ coeli construxit mente fideli
Quam tu, Virgo pia, semper defende, Maria,"
I have written the life of Arnolfo with the greatest possible brevity
because, although his works do not nearly approach the perfection of
those of the present time, yet he none the less deserves to be
remembered with affection, since, in the midst of so great darkness,
he pointed out the road to perfection to those who came after him.
The portrait of Arnolfo, by the hand of Giotto, may be seen in S.
Croce, next to the principal chapel, where the friars are mourning
the death of St Francis. He is represented in the foreground as one
of the two men who are talking together. A representation of the
exterior of the church of S. Maria del Fiore, with the dome, by the
hand of Simon of Siena, may be seen in the chapter-house of S. Maria
Novella. It was taken from the actual model of wood which Arnolfo
made. From this representation it is clear that Arnolfo proposed to
begin to vault his space, starting immediately above the first
cornice, whilst Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, desiring to lighten the
weight and make the appearance of the structure more graceful, added
above this the whole of the space which contains the round windows
before he began his vaulting. This matter would be even more obvious
than it is had not the negligence and carelessness of those who had
charge of the works of S. Maria del Fiore in past years allowed
Arnolfo's own model, as well as those of Brunellesco and others, to
be lost.
Niccola and Giovanni Pisani, Sculptors and Architects.
Having discussed the arts of design and painting in dealing with
Cimabue, and that of architecture in the life of Arnolfo Lapo, we now
propose to treat of sculpture, and of the very important
architectural works of Niccola and Giovanni Pisani. Their
achievements in both sculpture and architecture are alike remarkable
for the manner in which they have been conceived as well as for the
style in which they are executed, since to a great extent they
emancipated themselves from the clumsy and ill-proportioned
Byzantine style in both arts, showing more originality in the
treatment of their subjects and arranging their figures in better
postures.
Niccola Pisani was originally associated with some Greek sculptors
who were engaged upon the figures and other ornaments in relief for
the Duomo at Pisa and the church of San Giovanni there. Among the
spoils brought home by the Pisan fleet was a very fine sarcophagus
on which was an admirable representation of the chase of Meleager,
hunting the Calydonian boar. Both the nude and the draped figures of
this composition are executed with much skill, while the design is
perfect. This sarcophagus, on account of its beauty, was afterwards
placed by the Pisans in the façade of the Duomo opposite S, Rocco,
against the principal door on that side. It originally served as a
tombstone for the mother of the Countess Matilda, if we may credit
the inscription cut in the marble:
_Anno Domini MCXVI. Kal. Aug. obiit D. Matilda felisis memoriae
comitissa, quae pro anima genetricis suae D. Beatricis comitissae
venerabilis in hoc tumba honorabili quiescsnts in multis partis
mirificc hanc dotavit ecclesiam, quarum animae requiescent in pace_.
And then follows:
_Anno Domini MCCCIII. sub dignissimo optrario Burgundio Tadi
occasione graduum fiendorum per ipsum circa ecclesiam supradictam
tumba superius notata bis trantlata fuit, nunc de sedibus primis in
ecclesiam, nunc de ecclesia in hunc locum, ut cernitis eccelentem_.
Niccola, considering the excellence of this work, which greatly
delighted him, applied such diligence in imitating that style,
studying carefully both the sarcophagus and other excellent
sculptures on other antique sarcophagi, that before long he was
considered the best sculptor of his time. There was indeed, after
Arnolfo, no other sculptor of repute in Tuscany except Fuccio, a
Florentine architect and sculptor. Fuccio designed S. Maria sopra
Arno at Florence in 1229, putting his name over the door. The marble
tomb of the queen of Cyprus in the church of St Francis of Assisi is
also his work. It contains a number of figures, the principal one
being the queen herself, seated on a lion, as emblematical of her
strength of mind. She had bequeathed a large sum of money for the
completion of these works.
Niccola having proved himself a much greater master than Fuccio, was
summoned to Bologna in 1225 to make a marble tomb for St Domenic
Calagora, founder of the order of the Friars Preachers, then
recently deceased. Having, arranged with those who had charge of the
work, he designed a tomb full of figures, as may be seen at this
day. The task was completed in 1231, and the finished tomb was
greatly praised, it being considered a remarkable work, and the best
piece of sculpture executed up to that time. He further made plans
for the church there and for a great part of the convent. On
returning to Tuscany, he learned that Fuccio had set out from
Florence and was gone to Rome, at the time when the Emperor Frederick
was crowned there by Honorius. From Rome Fuccio accompanied Frederick
to Naples, where he finished the castle of Capoana, now called "la
Vicheria," where all the courts of that kingdom are held. He also
completed the Castel del' Uovo, founding the towers, made the gate on
the side of the River Volturno at Capua, constructed a park near
Gravina for fowling, enclosing it by a wall, and made another at
Amalfi for winter hunting, besides many other things which are
omitted for the sake of brevity.