The first great painter in encaustic, of whose works lengthened
descriptions have been handed down, was Polygnotus. He painted his
celebrated “Triumph of Miltiades and the Victors of Marathon,” by public
desire; and such was the admiration in which it was held, that the
Athenians offered to reward the artist with whatever he might desire.
Polygnotus nobly declined asking anything; upon which the Amphictionic
Council proclaimed that he should be maintained at the public expense
wherever he went. Such was the homage of a whole nation! What, then,
shall we say to the sentiments of the narrow-minded prelate, who
declared that a pin-maker was a more valuable member of society than
Raphael!
“COLUMBUS AND THE EGG” ANTICIPATED.
Brunelleschi was the discoverer of the mode of erecting cupolas, which
had been lost since the time of the Romans. Vasari relates a similar
anecdote of him to that recorded of Columbus; though this has
unquestionably the merit of being the first, since it occurred before
the birth of Columbus. Brunelleschi died in 1446; Columbus was born in
1442.
A council of the most learned men of the day, from various parts of the
world, was summoned to consult and show plans for the erection of a
cupola, like that of the Pantheon at Rome. Brunelleschi refused to show
his model, it being upon the most simple principles, but proposed that
the man who could make an egg stand upright on a marble base should be
the architect. The foreigners and artists agreeing to this, but failing
in their attempts, desired Brunelleschi to do it himself; upon which he
took the egg, and with a gentle tap broke the end, and placed it on the
slab. The learned men unanimously protested that any one else could do
the same; to which the architect replied, with a smile, that had they
seen his model, they could as easily have known how to build a cupola.
The work then devolved upon him, but a want of confidence existing among
the operatives and citizens, they pronounced the undertaking to be too
great for one man; and arranged that Lorenzo Ghiberti, an artist of
great repute at that time, should be co-architect with him.
Brunelleschi’s anger and mortification were so great on hearing this
decision, that he destroyed, in the space of half an hour, models and
designs that had cost him years of labour, and would have quitted
Florence but for the persuasions of Donatello. It is almost unnecessary
to add, that the cupola was completed with perfect success by
Brunelleschi; since St. Peter’s, at Rome, and our own St. Paul’s, were
formed upon the model of his dome at Florence.
By the way, some of the wise men of the day proposed that a centre
column should support the dome; others, that a huge mound of earth (with
quatrini scattered among it) should be raised in the form of a cupola,
the brick or stone wall built upon it. When finished, an order was to be
issued, allowing the people to possess themselves of what money they
might find in the rubbish; the mound would thus be easily removed, and
the cupola be left clear!