only had the knowledge, but also found those who kept him
continually employed, and that always on great and magnificent
works. Of him it is related that while Antonio Pollaiuolo was in
Rome, working at the tombs of bronze that are in S. Pietro, there
came to his house a young lad, his relative, whose proper name was
Simone, and who had fled from Florence on account of some brawl.
This Simone, having worked with a master in woodwork, and being much
inclined to the art of architecture, began to observe the beautiful
antiquities of that city, and, delighting in them, went about
measuring them with the greatest diligence. And, going on with this,
he had not been long in Rome before he showed that he had made much
proficience, both in taking measurements and in carrying one or two
things into execution.
Thereupon he conceived the idea of returning to Florence, and
departed from Rome; and on arriving in his native city, having
become a passing good master of words, he described the marvels of
Rome and of other places with such accuracy, that from that time
onwards he was called Il Cronaca, every man thinking that he was
truly a chronicle of information in his discourse. Now he had become
such that he was held to be the most excellent of the modern
architects in the city of Florence, seeing that he had good judgment
in choosing sites, and showed that he had an intellect more lofty
than that of many others who were engaged in that profession; for it
was evident from his works how good an imitator he was of
antiquities, and how closely he had observed the rules of Vitruvius
and the works of Filippo di Ser Brunellesco.
[Illustration: DETAIL OF CORNICE
(_After_ Simone [Il Cronaca], _Florence: Palazzo Strozzi_)
_Alinari_]
There was then in Florence that Filippo Strozzi who is now called
"the elder," to distinguish him from his son; and he, being very
rich, wished to leave to his native city and to his children, among
other memorials of himself, one in the form of a beautiful palace.
Wherefore Benedetto da Maiano, having been called upon by him for
this purpose, made him a model entirely isolated, which was
afterwards put into execution, although not in all its extent, as
will be related below, for some of his neighbours would not give up
their houses to accommodate him. Benedetto began the palace,
therefore, in the best way that he could, and brought the outer
shell almost to completion before the death of Filippo: which outer
shell is in the Rustic Order, with varying degrees of rustication,
as may be seen, since the boss-covered part from the first range of
windows downwards, together with the doors, is very much Rustic, and
the part from the first range of windows to the second is much less
Rustic. Now it happened that at the very moment when Benedetto
was leaving Florence, Cronaca returned from Rome; whereupon, Simone
being presented to Filippo, the latter was so pleased with the model
that he made for the courtyard and for the great cornice which goes
round the outer side of the palace, that, having recognized the
excellence of his intellect, he decided that thenceforward the whole
work should pass through his hands, and availed himself of his
services ever afterwards. Cronaca, then, in addition to the
beautiful exterior in the Tuscan Order, made at the top a very
magnificent Corinthian cornice, which serves to complete the roof;
and half of it is seen finished at the present day, with such
extraordinary grace that nothing could be added to it, nor could
anything more beautiful be desired. This cornice was taken by
Cronaca, who copied it in Rome with exact measurements, from an
ancient one that is to be found at Spoglia Cristo, which is held to
be the most beautiful among the many that are in that city; although
it is true that it was enlarged by Cronaca to the proportions
required by the palace, to the end that it might make a suitable
finish, and might also complete the roof of that palace by means of
its projection. Thus, then, the genius of Cronaca was able to make
use of the works of others and to transform them almost into his
own; which does not succeed with many, since the difficulty lies not
in merely having drawings and copies of beautiful things, but in
accommodating them to the purpose which they have to serve, with
grace, true measurement, proportion, and fitness. But just as much
as this cornice of Cronaca's was and always will be extolled, so was
that one censured which was made for the Palace of the Bartolini in
the same city by Baccio d' Agnolo, who, seeking to imitate Cronaca,
placed over a small façade, delicate in detail, a great ancient
cornice copied with the exact measurements from the frontispiece of
Monte Cavallo; which resulted in such ugliness, from his not having
known how to adapt it with judgment, that it could not look worse,
for it seems like an enormous cap on a small head. It is not enough
for craftsmen, when they have executed their works, to excuse
themselves, as many do, by saying that they were taken with exact
measurements from the antique and copied from good masters, seeing
that good judgment and the eye play a greater part in all such
matters than measuring with compasses. Cronaca, then, executed half
of the said cornice with great art right round that palace, together
with dentils and ovoli, and finished it completely on two sides,
counterpoising the stones in such a way, in order that they might
turn out well bound and balanced, that there is no better masonry to
be seen, nor any carried to perfection with more diligence. In like
manner, all the other stones are so well put together, and with so
high a finish, that the whole does not appear to be of masonry, but
rather all of one piece. And to the end that everything might be in
keeping, he caused beautiful pieces of iron-work to be made for all
parts of the palace, as adornments for it, and the lanterns that are
at the corners, which were all executed with supreme diligence by
Niccolò Grosso, called Il Caparra, a smith of Florence. In those
marvellous lanterns may be seen cornices, columns, capitals, and
brackets of iron, fixed together with wonderful craftsmanship; nor
has any modern ever executed in iron works so large and so
difficult, and with such knowledge and mastery.
[Illustration: IRON LINK-HOLDER
(_After_ Niccolò Grosso. _Florence: Palazzo Strozzi_)
_Alinari_]
Niccolò Grosso was an eccentric and self-willed person, claiming
justice for himself and giving it to others, and never covetous of
what was not his own. He would never give anyone credit in the
payment of his works, and always insisted on having his
earnest-money. For this reason Lorenzo de' Medici called him Il
Caparra,[28] and he was known to many others by that name. He had a
sign fixed over his shop, wherein were books burning; wherefore,
when one asked for time to make his payment, he would say, "I cannot
give it, for my books are burning, and I can enter no more debtors
in them." He was commissioned by the honourable Captains of the
Guelph party to make a pair of andirons, which, when he had finished
them, were sent for several times. But he kept saying, "On this
anvil do I sweat and labour, and on it will I have my money paid
down." Whereupon they sent to him once more for the work, with a
message that he should come for his money, for he would straightway
be paid; but he, still obstinate, answered that they must first
bring the money. The provveditore, therefore, knowing that the
Captains wished to see the work, fell into a rage, and sent to him
saying that he had received half the money, and that when he
had dispatched the andirons, he would pay him the rest. On which
account Caparra, recognizing that this was true, gave one of the
andirons to the messenger, saying: "Take them this one, for it is
theirs; and if it pleases them, bring me the rest of the money, and
I will hand over the other; but at present it is mine." The
officials, seeing the marvellous work that he had put into it, sent
the money to his shop; and he sent them the other andiron. It is
related, also, that Lorenzo de' Medici resolved to have some pieces
of iron-work made, to be sent abroad as presents, in order that the
excellence of Caparra might be made known. He went, therefore, to
his shop, and happened to find him working at some things for
certain poor people, from whom he had received part of the price as
earnest-money. On Lorenzo making his request, Niccolò would in no
way promise to serve him before having satisfied the others, saying
that they had come to his shop before Lorenzo, and that he valued
their money as much as his. To the same master some young men of the
city brought a design, from which he was to make for them an iron
instrument for breaking and forcing open other irons by means of a
screw, but he absolutely refused to serve them; nay, he upbraided
them, and said: "Nothing will induce me to serve you in such a
matter; for these things are nothing but thieves' tools, or
instruments for abducting and dishonouring young girls. Such things
are not for me, I tell you, nor for you, who seem to me to be honest
men." And they, perceiving that Caparra would not do their will,
asked him who there was in Florence who might serve them; whereupon,
flying into a rage, he drove them away with a torrent of abuse. He
would never work for Jews, and was wont, indeed, to say that their
money was putrid and stinking. He was a good man and a religious,
but whimsical in brain and obstinate: and he would never leave
Florence, for all the offers that were made to him, but lived and
died in that city. Of him I have thought it right to make this
record, because he was truly unique in his craft, and has never had
and never will have an equal, as may be seen best from the iron-work
and the beautiful lanterns of the Palace of the Strozzi.
[Illustration: IRON LANTERN
(_After_ Niccolò Grosso. _Florence: Palazzo Strozzi_)
_Alinari_]
This palace was brought to completion by Cronaca, and adorned with
a very rich courtyard in the Corinthian and Doric Orders, with
ornaments in the form of columns, capitals, cornices, windows, and
doors, all most beautiful. And if it should appear to anyone that
the interior of this palace is not in keeping with the exterior, he
must know that the fault is not Cronaca's, for the reason that he
was forced to adapt his interior to an outer shell begun by others,
and to follow in great measure what had been laid down by those
before him; and it was no small feat for him to have given it such
beauty as it displays. The same answer may be made to any who say
that the ascent of the stairs is not easy, nor correct in
proportion, but too steep and sudden; and likewise, also, to such as
say that the rooms and apartments of the interior in general are out
of keeping, as has been described, with the grandeur and
magnificence of the exterior. Nevertheless this palace will never be
held as other than truly magnificent, and equal to any private
building whatsoever that has been erected in Italy in our own times;
wherefore Cronaca rightly obtained, as he still does, infinite
commendation for this work.
The same master built the Sacristy of S. Spirito in Florence, which
is in the form of an octagonal temple, beautiful in proportions, and
executed with a high finish; and among other things to be seen in
this work are some capitals fashioned by the happy hand of Andrea
dal Monte Sansovino, which are wrought with supreme perfection; and
such, likewise, is the antechamber of that sacristy, which is held
to be very beautiful in invention, although the coffered ceiling, as
will be described, is not well distributed over the columns. The
same Cronaca also erected the Church of S. Francesco dell'
Osservanza on the hill of S. Miniato, without Florence; and likewise
the whole of the Convent of the Servite Friars, which is a highly
extolled work.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF SACRISTY
(_After_ Simone [Il Cronaca]. _Florence: S. Spirito_)
_Alinari_]
At this same time there was about to be built, by the advice of Fra
Girolamo Savonarola, a most famous preacher of that day, the Great
Council Chamber of the Palace of the Signoria in Florence; and for
this opinions were taken from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, although he was a mere lad, Giuliano da San Gallo,
Baccio d' Agnolo, and Simone del Pollaiuolo, called Il Cronaca, who
was the devoted friend and follower of Savonarola. These men, after
many disputes, came to an agreement, and decided that the Hall
should be made in that form which it retained down to our own times,
when, as has been mentioned and will be related yet again in another
place, it was almost rebuilt. The charge of the whole work was given
to Cronaca, as a man of talent and also as the friend of the
aforesaid Fra Girolamo; and he executed it with great promptitude
and diligence, showing the beauty of his genius particularly in the
making of the roof, since the structure is of vast extent in every
direction. He made the tie-beams of the roof-truss, which are
thirty-eight braccia in length from wall to wall, of a number of
timbers well scarfed and fastened together, since it was not
possible to find beams of sufficient size for the purpose; and
whereas the tie-beams of other roof-trusses have only one king-post,
all those of this Hall have three each, a king-post in the middle,
and a queen-post on either side. The rafters are long in proportion,
and so are the struts of each king-post and queen-post; nor must I
omit to say that the struts of the queen-posts, on the side nearest
the wall, thrust against the rafters, and, towards the centre,
against the struts of the king-post. I have thought it right to
describe how this roof-truss is made, because it was constructed
with beautiful design, and I have seen drawings made of it by many
for sending to various places. When these tie-beams, thus contrived,
had been drawn up and placed at intervals of six braccia, and the
roof had been likewise laid down in a very short space of time,
Cronaca attended to the fixing of the ceiling, which was then made
of plain wood and divided into panels, each of which was four
braccia square and surrounded by an ornamental cornice of few
members; and a flat moulding was made of the same width as the
planks, which enclosed the panels and the whole work, with large
bosses at the intersections and the corners of the whole ceiling.
And although the end walls of this Hall, one on either side, were
eight braccia out of the square, they did not make up their minds,
as they might have done, to thicken the walls so as to make it
square, but carried them up to the roof just as they were, making
three large windows on each of those end walls. But when the whole
was finished, the Hall, on account of its extraordinary size, turned
out to be too dark, and also stunted and wanting in height in
relation to its great length and breadth; in short, almost wholly
out of proportion. They sought, therefore, but with little success,
to improve it by making two windows in the middle of the eastern
side of the Hall, and four on the western side. After this, in order
to give it its final completion, they made on the level of the brick
floor, with great rapidity, being much pressed by the citizens, a
wooden tribune right round the walls of the Hall, three braccia both
in breadth and height, with seats after the manner of a theatre, and
with a balustrade in front; on which tribune all the magistrates of
the city were to sit. In the middle of the eastern side was a more
elevated daïs, on which the Signori sat with the Gonfalonier of
Justice; and on either side of this more prominent place was a door,
one of them leading to the Segreto[29] and the other to the
Specchio.[30] Opposite to this, on the west side, was an altar at
which Mass was read, with a panel by the hand of Fra Bartolommeo, as
has been mentioned; and beside the altar was the pulpit for making
speeches. In the middle of the Hall, then, were benches in rows laid
crossways, for the citizens; while in the centre and at the corners
of the tribune were some gangways with six steps, providing a
convenient ascent for the ushers in the collection of votes. In this
Hall, which was much extolled at that day for its many beautiful
features and the rapidity with which it was erected, time has since
served to reveal such errors as that it is low, dark, gloomy, and
out of the square. Nevertheless Cronaca and the others deserve to be
excused, both on account of the haste with which it was executed at
the desire of the citizens, who intended in time to have it adorned
with pictures and the ceiling overlaid with gold, and because up to
that day there had been no greater hall built in Italy; although
there are others very large, such as that of the Palace of S. Marco
in Rome, that of the Vatican, erected by Pius II and Innocent VIII,
that of the Castle of Naples, that of the Palace of Milan, and those
of Urbino, Venice, and Padua.
After this, to provide an ascent to this Hall, Cronaca, with the
advice of the same masters, made a great staircase six braccia wide
and curving in two flights, richly adorned with grey-stone, and with
Corinthian pilasters and capitals, double cornices, and arches, of
the same stone; and with barrel-shaped vaulting, and windows with
columns of variegated marble and carved marble capitals. But
although this work was much extolled, it would have won even greater
praise if the staircase had not turned out inconvenient and too
steep; for it is a sure fact that it could have been made more
gentle, as has been done in the time of Duke Cosimo, within the same
amount of space and no more, in the new staircase made, opposite to
that of Cronaca, by Giorgio Vasari, which is so gentle in ascent and
so convenient, that going up it is almost like walking on the level.
This has been the work of the aforesaid Lord Duke Cosimo, who, being
a man of most happy genius and most profound judgment both in the
government of his people and in all other things, grudges neither
expense nor anything else in his desire to make all the
fortifications and other buildings, both public and private,
correspond to the greatness of his own mind, and not less beautiful
than useful or less useful than beautiful.
His Excellency, then, reflecting that the body of this Hall is the
largest, the most magnificent, and the most beautiful in all Europe,
has resolved to have it improved in such parts as are defective, and
to have it made in every other part more ornate than any other
structure in Italy, by the design and hand of Giorgio Vasari of
Arezzo. And thus, the walls having been raised twelve braccia above
their former height, in such a manner that the height from the
pavement to the ceiling is thirty-two braccia, the roof-truss made
by Cronaca to support the roof has been restored and replaced on
high after a new arrangement; and the old ceiling, which was simple
and commonplace, and by no means worthy of that Hall, has been
remodelled with a system of compartments of great variety, rich in
mouldings, full of carvings, and all overlaid with gold, together
with thirty-nine painted panels, square, round, and octagonal, the
greater number of which are each nine braccia in extent, and some
even more, and all containing scenes painted in oils, with the
largest figures seven or eight braccia high. In these stories,
commencing with the very beginning, may be seen the rise, the
honours, the victories, and the glorious deeds of the city and
state of Florence, and in particular the wars of Pisa and Siena,
together with an endless number of other things, which it would take
too long to describe. And on each of the side walls there has been
left a convenient space of sixty braccia, in each of which are to be
painted three scenes in keeping with the ceiling and embracing the
space of seven pictures on either side, which represent events from
the wars of Pisa and Siena. These compartments on the walls are so
large, that no greater spaces for the painting of historical
pictures have ever been seen either by the ancients or by the
moderns. And the said compartments are adorned by some vast stone
ornaments which meet at the ends of the Hall, at one side of which,
namely, the northern side, the Lord Duke has caused to be finished a
work begun and carried nearly to completion by Baccio Bandinelli,
that is, a façade filled with columns and pilasters and with niches
containing statues of marble; which space is to serve as a public
audience chamber, as will be related in the proper place. On the
other side, opposite to this, there is to be, in a similar façade
that is being made by the sculptor and architect Ammanati, a
fountain to throw up water in the Hall, with a rich and most
beautiful adornment of columns and statues of marble and bronze. Nor
will I forbear to say that this Hall, in consequence of the roof
having been raised twelve braccia, has gained not only height, but
also an ample supply of windows, since, in addition to the others
that are higher up, in each of those end walls are to be made three
large windows, which will be over the level of a corridor that is to
form a loggia within the Hall and to extend on one side over the
work of Bandinelli, whence there will be revealed a most beautiful
view of the whole Piazza. But of this Hall, and of the other
improvements that have been or are being made in the Palace, there
will be a longer account in another place. This only let me say at
present, that if Cronaca and those other ingenious craftsmen who
gave the design for the Hall could return to life, in my belief they
would not recognize either the Palace, or the Hall, or any other
thing that is there. The Hall, namely, that part which is
rectangular, without counting the works of Bandinelli and Ammanati,
is ninety braccia in length and thirty-eight braccia in breadth.
But returning to Cronaca: in the last years of his life there
entered into his head such a frenzy for the cause of Fra Girolamo
Savonarola, that he would talk of nothing else but that. Living
thus, in the end he died after a passing long illness, at the age of
fifty-five, and was buried honourably in the Church of S. Ambrogio
at Florence, in the year 1509; and after no long space of time the
following epitaph was written for him by Messer Giovan Battista
Strozzi:
CRONACA
VIVO, E MILLE E MILLE ANNI E MILLE ANCORA,
MERCÈ DE' VIVI MIEI PALAZZI E TEMPI,
BELLA ROMA, VIVRÀ L' ALMA MIA FLORA.
Cronaca had a brother called Matteo, who gave himself to sculpture
and worked under the sculptor Antonio Rossellino; but although he
was a man of good and beautiful intelligence, a fine draughtsman,
and well practised in working marble, he left no finished work,
because, being snatched from the world by death at the age of
nineteen, he was not able to accomplish that which was expected from
him by all who knew him.
FOOTNOTE:
[28] Earnest-money.
[29] Room in which the beans used in voting for the
election of magistrates were counted.
[30] Office of those who had charge of the Specchio, the
book in which were inscribed the names of such citizens as were in
arrears with their taxes.
DOMENICO PULIGO
LIFE OF DOMENICO PULIGO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
It is a marvellous and almost incredible thing, that many followers
of the art of painting, through continual practice and handling of
colours, either by an instinct of nature or by the trick of a good
manner, acquired without any draughtsmanship or grounding, carry
their works to such thorough completion, and very often contrive to
make them so good, that, although the craftsmen themselves may be
none of the rarest, their pictures force the world to extol them and
to hold them in supreme veneration. And it has been perceived in the
past from many examples, and in many of our painters, that the most
vivacious and perfect works are produced by those who have a
beautiful manner from nature, although they must exercise it with
continual study and labour; while this gift of nature has such
power, that even if they neglect or abandon the studies of art, and
pay attention to nothing save the mere practice of painting and of
handling colours with a grace infused in them by nature, at the
first glance their works have the appearance of displaying all the
excellent and marvellous qualities that are wont to appear after a
close inspection in the works of those masters whom we hold to be
the best. And that this is true, is demonstrated to us in our own
day by experience, from the works of Domenico Puligo, a painter of
Florence; wherein what has been said above may be clearly recognized
by one who has knowledge of the matters of art.