OTHER PAVEMENT WORK
As far as I have been able to ascertain, there are but three other
examples of Pavement work, similar to that employed in the Siena Duomo.
Mosaic pavements, of course, abound all over Italy, with more or less
elaborate designs, fanciful, historical, or symbolical;[221] but none
of them really resembles this kind of work, which seems to have been
peculiar to the artistic mind of the Sienese. The only other works,
that I can find, that can, in any degree, be allied to it are:
1. The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca.
2. The Pavement of the Piccolomini Chapel at S. Francesco, in Siena.
3. The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico, in
the same town.
Let us take them in order of date.
1. _The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca._
This floor is covered with geometrical patterns in inlay, and was
executed during the Rectorship of Jacopo di Chivizzano (1470–1484).
We know, from several references in the Archives of the “Opera” of
that Cathedral, that it had been commenced before 1475,[222] and
that, among others, Matteo Civitali, the great Lucchese sculptor, was
employed upon some of the designs on it. It principally consists of
merely ornamental friezes and geometrical designs. In the centre of
the Nave, however, there is one picture, to which I would draw special
attention. It represents the _Judgment of Solomon_, and is the work
of one Antonio di Ghino of Siena. It was commissioned, we read,[223]
by a certain Bartolommeo Guarguaglia, and finished in 1477.[224]
The work is of the same kind as that at Siena, but is coarser and
heavier in type. In design it most resembles the work of Domenico di
Bartolo, but there are suggestions in some of the female figures of the
influence,--Botticellesque perhaps,--that produced Matteo di Giovanni’s
_Judith_ and her maid, in the _Relief of Bethulia_. Solomon sits on a
throne, under a sort of pillared loggia, surrounded by courtiers and
attendants, while before him stand the claimants and their infants.
The colouring of the picture, the somewhat brutal force of the
composition, and the plentiful use of vari-coloured marbles, recall
Matteo di Giovanni’s _Massacre of the Innocents_, although that work
was not executed until several years later. Being in the centre of the
nave, and not covered, it has been much injured by time and hard usage.
Of its maker, Antonio di Ghino, we know but little. From a note given
by Milanesi,[225] we gather that, though here called “_da Siena_,” he
really came of Lucchese stock, and was the son of one Ghino di Paolo of
Lucca, a sculptor who lived long in Siena, and died in 1482. Antonio
apparently had a son, who signed the Painters’ Brief in 1533.
2. _The Pavement of the Cappella Piccolominea in S. Francesco._
This chapel, which was originally dedicated to S. Andrew, has recently
been entirely rejuvenated, at the expense of the late Signora Anna
Camaiori Saracini, and re-dedicated to Sta. Anna. There is not,
therefore, at first sight much trace of the original work left. We know
that, in 1504,[226] Lorenzo di Mariano (_Il Marrina_) was employed
by Giacomo Piccolomini, brother of Pope Pius III., to adorn their
family chapel in this church; and, that he not only made an altar, the
decorations around the windows, and the entrance arch to the chapel,
but also laid down four Cardinal Virtues: _Justice_, _Prudence_,
_Fortitude_, and _Temperance_, on the floor.[227] Of all this work,
the various conflagrations, that have destroyed the great church of S.
Francesco, have left only the arch, the coats of arms, the windows, a
small portion of the altar, and the pavement. Restoration, of a too
complete kind, has even further concealed the original nature of what
remained; and one’s first impression on looking at this pavement is
that it is brand-new, so well has Professor Leopoldo Maccari done his
work.[228] The figures, however, on close inspection, show high merit.
They are finely conceived, on the lines of the Sibyls in the Duomo, and
are imposing pieces of work. Lorenzo di Mariano (_Il Marrina_) was one
of the finest sculptors of his time. He was born on the 11th of August,
1476, and was the son of Mariano di Domenico Nanni, a goldsmith. In
1506, he became Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo,[229] where he
had been employed since 1490, under the mastership of Giovanni di
Maestro Stefano. On the 28th of January, in the following year, he
married Elisabetta, daughter of Ser Jacopo Bertini, by whom he had four
sons: by name, Girolamo, Gio.-Battista, Agostino, and Giacomo, who
were goldsmiths; and one daughter, Bartolommea, who married Lattanzio
di Gio. Lotti. He worked a great deal for the various members of the
Piccolomini family; the finest extant piece commissioned by them
remaining, being the doorway of the Libreria in the Duomo. A tabernacle
in the chapel of the Convent of S. Girolamo, and, above all, the
exquisite altar in the church of the Fontegiusta by him, testify that
the admiration, in which he was held, in his day, was not misplaced.
3. _The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico._
Of this work we have no reliable record; but it is clearly of late
date, perhaps made in the sixteenth century, and most probably, as
a sepulchral memorial. We learn from Abate Faluschi,[230] that this
chapel belonged to the Benzi family, and was their burial-place. Hither
was brought the body of the famous Marco, son of Giovanni Benzi and
Nicola Serfucci, who was physician to Niccolo, Marchese d’Este, and
died in Ferrara in 1429. The corpse was buried by his uncle Ugo, son
of Andrea Benzi and Minoccia Pagni, in 1448; and the chapel was built
over the grave by Niccolo Buonsignore Benzi in 1488. The following
inscription, now effaced:--
HIC LAPIS EGREGII MARCI TEGIT OSSA CELEBRIS.
BENZIUS IS LOGICUS, IS MEDICUS-QUE FUIT.
ALTER ERAT SOCRATES MEDICINA MAXIMUS ARTIS.
HIC AVICENNA FUIT, ISQUE GALENUS ERAT.
QUOS IS NON POTUIT CURASSE ... EGROS
HERBIS NE CREDAS ID VALUISSE DEOS.
was placed to the memory of Marco Benzi. We find too, that another
physician, Sozzini Benzi, belonging to the same family, was also
buried here. The decoration of this chapel, by Sodoma, did not take
place until 1526; and it is not improbable, that the floor was
subsequent to that date. So that it may have been the work of the
last of the Pavement Masters, Giovanni Battista Sozzini, spoken of
above. The Sozzinis were a distinguished family, and if the name tells
us anything, may have been related to this very Sozzini Benzi. The
figure of Æsculapius, seated among various wild beasts, would then
have appropriate reference to the merits of these two physicians.
It is strange to find such a classical piece of composition in a
chapel dedicated to Sta. Caterina di Siena, a saint so pre-eminently
ecclesiastical; but it is quite in accordance with the spirit of the
time. Æsculapius, a handsome nude youth, resembling Orpheus or Bacchus,
is seated on a rock in a grove of oaks, laurels, and fruit-trees. In
his right hand he holds a mirror in which is reflected his own face.
To his right, are an unicorn and a wolf: to his left, a leopard and a
lion. Perched on the trees, in various directions, are sundry birds:
owls, vultures, eagles, etc. One vulture, on the right of the principal
figure, is screaming at a monkey, who is eating fruit. On the other
side, another bird is clawing at an over-grown squirrel. Around the
composition is a frieze representing water, on which are swimming swans
and ducks.[231] The composition is good, but the perspective is odd,
and the use of many coloured marbles profuse, and not altogether happy.