that supported the roof of the church, the half of a globe in the shape
of an empty bowl, or rather, of a barber's basin, with the rim
downwards; this half-globe was made of thin and light planks fastened to
a star of iron which radiated round the curve of the said half-globe,
and these planks narrowed towards the point of equilibrium in the
centre, where there was a great ring of iron round which there radiated
the iron star that secured the planks of the half-globe. The whole mass
was upheld by a stout beam of pine-wood, well shod with iron, which lay
across the timbers of the roof; and to this beam was fastened the ring
that sustained and balanced the half-globe, which from the ground truly
appeared like a Heaven. At the foot of the inner edge it had certain
wooden brackets, large enough for one person to stand on and no more,
and at the height of one braccio there was also an iron fastening,
likewise on the inner edge; on each of these brackets there was placed a
boy about twelve years old, who was girt round with the iron fastening
one braccio and a half high, in such wise that he could not have fallen
down even if he had wanted to. These boys, who were twelve in all, were
placed on the brackets, as it has been said, and dressed like angels,
with gilded wings and hair made of gold thread; and when it was time
they took one another by the hand and waved their arms, so that they
appeared to be dancing, and the rather as the half-globe was ever moving
and turning round. Within it, above the heads of the angels, were three
circles or garlands of lights, contained in certain little lamps that
could not be overturned. From the ground these lights appeared like
stars, and the brackets, being covered with cotton-wool, appeared like
clouds. From the aforesaid ring there issued a very stout bar of iron,
which had at the end another ring, to which there was fastened a thin
rope reaching to the ground, as it will be told later. The said stout
bar of iron had eight arms, spreading out in an arc large enough to fill
the space within the hollow half-globe, and at the end of each arm there
was a stand about the size of a trencher; on each stand was a boy about
nine years old, well secured by an iron soldered on to the upper part of
the arm, but loosely enough to allow him to turn in every direction.
These eight angels, supported by the said iron, were lowered from the
space within the half-globe by means of a small windlass that was
unwound little by little, to a depth of eight braccia below the level of
the square beams that support the roof, in such a manner that they were
seen without concealing the view of the angels who were round the inner
edge of the half-globe. In the midst of this cluster of eight
angels--for so was it rightly called--was a mandorla of copper, hollow
within, wherein were many holes showing certain little lamps fixed on
iron bars in the form of tubes; which lamps, on the touching of a spring
which could be pressed down, were all hidden within the mandorla of
copper, whereas, when the spring was not pressed down, all the lamps
could be seen alight through some holes therein. When the cluster of
angels had reached its place, this mandorla, which was fastened to the
aforesaid little rope, was lowered very gradually by the unwinding of
the rope with another little windlass, and arrived at the platform where
the Representation took place; and on this platform, precisely on the
spot where the mandorla was to rest, there was a raised place in the
shape of a throne with four steps, in the centre of which there was a
hole wherein the iron point of the mandorla stood upright. Below the
said throne was a man who, when the mandorla had reached its place, made
it fast with a bolt without being seen, so that it stood firmly on its
base. Within the mandorla was a youth about fifteen years of age in the
guise of an angel, girt round the middle with an iron, and secured by a
bolt to the foot of the mandorla in a manner that he could not fall; and
to the end that he might be able to kneel, the said iron was divided
into three parts, whereof one part entered readily into another as he
knelt. Thus, when the cluster of angels had descended and the mandorla
was resting on the throne, the man who fixed the mandorla with the bolt
also unbolted the iron that supported the angel; whereupon he issued
forth and walked across the platform, and, having come to where the
Virgin was, saluted her and made the Annunciation. He then returned into
the mandorla, and the lights, which had gone out on his issuing forth,
being rekindled, the iron that supported him was once more bolted by the
man who was concealed below, the bolt that held the mandorla firm was
removed, and it was drawn up again; while the singing of the angels in
the cluster, and of those in the Heaven, who kept circling round, made
it appear truly a Paradise, and the rather because, in addition to the
said choir of angels and to the cluster, there was a God the Father on
the outer edge of the globe, surrounded by angels similar to those named
above and supported by irons, in such wise that the Heaven, the God the
Father, the cluster, and the mandorla, with innumerable lights and very
sweet music, truly represented Paradise. In addition to this, in order
to be able to open and close that Heaven, Filippo had made two great
doors, each five braccia both in length and breadth, which had rollers
of iron, or rather, of copper, in certain grooves running horizontally;
and these grooves were oiled in a manner that when a thin rope, which
was on either side, was pulled by means of a little windlass, any one
could open or close the Heaven at his pleasure, the two parts of the
door coming together or drawing apart horizontally along the grooves.
And these two doors, made thus, served for two purposes: when they were
moved, being heavy, they made a noise like thunder; and when they were
closed, they formed a platform for the apparelling of the angels and
for the making of the other preparations which it was necessary to carry
out within. These engines, made thus, together with many others, were
invented by Filippo, although others maintain that they had been
invented long before. However this may be, it was well to speak of them,
seeing that they have gone completely out of use.
But to return to Filippo himself; his renown and his name had grown so
great that he was sent for from far distant places by all who wished to
erect buildings, in their desire to have designs and models by the hand
of so great a man; and to this end the most powerful means and
friendships were employed. Wherefore the Marquis of Mantua, among
others, desiring to have him, wrote with great insistence to the
Signoria of Florence, by whom he was sent to that city, where he gave
designs for dykes on the Po and certain other works according to the
pleasure of that Prince, who treated him very lovingly, being wont to
say that Florence was as worthy to have Filippo as a citizen as he was
to have so noble and beautiful a city for his birthplace. In Pisa,
likewise, Count Francesco Sforza and Niccolo da Pisa, being surpassed by
him in the making of certain fortifications, commended him in his
presence, saying that if every State possessed a man like Filippo it
would be possible to live in security without arms. In Florence, also,
Filippo gave the design for the house of the Barbadori, near the tower
of the Rossi in the Borgo San Jacopo, but it was not put into execution;
and he also made the design for the house of the Giuntini on the Piazza
d'Ognissanti, on the Arno. Afterwards, the Captains of the Guelph party
in Florence, wishing to build an edifice containing a hall and an
audience-chamber for that body, gave the commission to Francesco della
Luna, who began the work, and he had already raised it to the height of
ten braccia above the ground, making many errors therein, when it was
put into the hands of Filippo, who brought the said palace to that
magnificent form which we see. In this work he had to compete with the
said Francesco, who was favoured by many. Even so did he spend his whole
life, competing now with one man and now with another; for many were
ever making war against him and harassing him, and very often seeking to
gain honour for themselves with his designs, so that he was reduced in
the end to showing nothing and trusting no one. The hall of this palace
is no longer used by the said Captains of the Guelphs, because the flood
of the year 1557 did so great damage to the papers of the Monte, that
the Lord Duke Cosimo, for the greater security of the said papers, which
are of the greatest importance, removed them to the said hall together
with the institution itself. And to the end that the old staircase of
this palace might serve for the said body of Captains--who gave up that
hall in favour of the Monte and retired to another part of that
palace--Giorgio Vasari was commissioned by his Excellency to make the
very commodious staircase that now ascends to the said hall of the
Monte. In like manner, from a design by the same man there was made a
coffer-work ceiling which was placed, after the plans of Filippo, on
certain fluted pillars of grey-stone.
One year the Lenten sermons in S. Spirito had been preached by Maestro
Francesco Zoppo, who was then very dear to the people of Florence, and
he had strongly recommended the claims of that convent, of the school
for youths, and particularly of the church, which had been burnt down
about that time. Whereupon the chief men of that quarter, Lorenzo
Ridolfi, Bartolommeo Corbinelli, Neri di Gino Capponi, and Goro di
Stagio Dati, with very many other citizens, obtained an order from the
Signoria for the rebuilding of the Church of S. Spirito, and made Stoldo
Frescobaldi provveditore. This man, by reason of the interest that he
had in the old church, the principal chapel and the high-altar of which
belonged to his house, took very great pains therewith; nay, at the
beginning, before the money had been collected from the taxes imposed on
the owners of burial-places and chapels, he spent many thousands of
crowns of his own, for which he was repaid.
Now, after the matter had been discussed, Filippo was sent for and asked
to make a model with all the features, both useful and honourable, that
might be possible and suitable to a Christian church. Whereupon he urged
strongly that the ground-plan of that edifice should be turned right
round, because he greatly desired that the square should extend to the
bank of the Arno, to the end that all those who passed that way from
Genoa, from the Riviera, from the Lunigiana, and from the districts of
Pisa and Lucca, might see the magnificence of that building. But since
certain citizens objected, refusing to have their houses pulled down,
the desire of Filippo did not take effect. He made the model of the
church, therefore, with that of the habitation of the monks, in the form
wherein it stands to-day. The length of the church was one hundred and
sixty-one braccia, and the width fifty-four braccia, and it was so well
planned, both in the ordering of the columns and in the rest of the
ornaments, that it would be impossible to make a work richer, more
lovely, or more graceful than that one. And in truth, but for the
malevolence of those who are ever spoiling the beautiful beginnings of
any work in order to appear to have more understanding than others, this
would now be the most perfect church in Christendom; and even as it
stands it is more lovely and better designed than any other, although it
has not been carried out according to the model, as may be seen from
certain parts begun on the outside, wherein the design observed within
has not been followed, as it appears from the model that the doors and
the borders round the windows were meant to do. There are some errors,
attributed to him, about which I will be silent, for it is believed that
if he had completed the building he would not have endured them, seeing
that he had brought all his work to perfection with so much judgment,
discrimination, intellect, and art; and this work likewise established
him as a genius truly divine.
Filippo was very humorous in his discourse and very acute in repartee,
as he showed when he wished to hit at Lorenzo Ghiberti, who had bought a
farm on Monte Morello, called Lepriano, on which he spent twice as much
as he gained by way of income, so that he grew weary of this and sold
it. Some one asked Filippo what was the best thing that Lorenzo had ever
done, thinking perchance, by reason of the enmity between them, that he
would criticize Lorenzo; and he replied, "The selling of Lepriano."
Finally, having now grown very old--he was sixty-nine years of age--he
passed to a better life on April 16, in the year 1446, after having
exhausted himself greatly in making the works that enabled him to win an
honoured name on earth and to obtain a place of repose in Heaven. His
death caused infinite grief to his country, which recognized and
esteemed him much more when dead than it had done when he was alive;
and he was buried with the most honourable obsequies and distinctions in
S. Maria del Fiore, although his burial-place was in S. Marco, under the
pulpit opposite to the door, where there is a coat of arms with two
fig-leaves and certain green waves on a field of gold, because his
family came from the district of Ferrara, that is, from Ficaruolo, a
township on the Po, as it is shown by the leaves, which denote the
place, and by the waves, which signify the river. He was mourned by
innumerable brother-craftsmen, and particularly by the poorer among
them, whom he was ever helping. Thus then, living the life of a
Christian, he left to the world the sweet savour of his goodness and of
his noble talents. It seems to me that it can be said for him that from
the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans to our own there has been no
rarer or more excellent master than Filippo; and he is all the more
worthy of praise because in his times the German manner was held in
veneration throughout all Italy and practised by the old craftsmen, as
it may be seen in innumerable edifices. He recovered the ancient
mouldings and restored the Tuscan, Corinthian, Doric and Ionic Orders to
their original forms. He had a disciple from Borgo a Buggiano, called Il
Buggiano, who made the lavatory of the Sacristy of S. Reparata, with
certain boys who pour out water; and he made a head of his master in
marble, taken from the life, which was placed after the death of Filippo
in S. Maria del Fiore, beside the door on the right hand as one enters
the church, where there is also the following epitaph, placed there by
public decree in order to honour him after his death, even as he had
honoured his country when alive:
D.S.
QUANTUM PHILIPPUS ARCHITECTUS ARTE DAEDALEA VALUERIT, CUM HUJUS
CELEBERRIMI TEMPLI MIRA TESTUDO, TUM PLURES ALIAE DIVINO INGENIO
AB EO ADINVENTAE MACHINAE DOCUMENTO ESSE POSSUNT; QUAPROPTER
OB EXIMIAS SUI ANIMI DOTES SINGULARESQUE VIRTUTES XV KAL. MAIAS
ANNO MCCCCXLVI EJUS B.M. CORPUS HAC HUMO SUPPOSITA GRATA PATRIA
SEPELIRI JUSSIT.
To do him even greater honour, others have gone so far as to add these
two other inscriptions:
PHILIPPO BRUNELLESCO ANTIQUAE ARCHITECTURAE INSTAURATORI S.P. Q.F.
CIVI SUO BENE MERENTI.
Giovan Battista Strozzi made the second:
TAL SOPRA SASSO SASSO
DI GIRO IN GIRO ETERNAMENTE IO STRUSSI;
CHE COSI PASSO PASSO
ALTO GIRANDO AL CIEL MI RICONDUSSI.
Other disciples of Filippo were Domenico dal Lago di Lugano; Geremia da
Cremona, who worked very well in bronze, together with a Sclavonian who
made many works in Venice; Simone, who died at Vicovaro while executing
a great work for the Count of Tagliacozzo, after having made the Madonna
in Orsanmichele for the Guild of the Apothecaries; Antonio and Niccolo,
both Florentines, who, working in metal at Ferrara, made a horse of
bronze for Duke Borso in the year 1461; and many others, of whom it
would take too long to make particular mention. Filippo was unfortunate
in certain respects, for, besides the fact that he ever had some one to
contend with, some of his buildings were not completed in his time and
are still unfinished. To mention only one, it was a great pity that the
Monks of the Angeli, as it has been said, could not finish the temple
begun by him, since, after they had spent on the portion that is now
seen more than three thousand crowns, drawn partly from the Guild of
Merchants and partly from the Monte, where their money was kept, the
capital was squandered and the building remained, as it still remains,
unfinished. Wherefore, as it was said in the life of Niccolo da Uzzano,
if a man desires to leave such memorials behind him, let him do it for
himself the while that he lives, and let him not put his trust in
anyone; and what has been said of this edifice could be said of
many others designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
DONATO
LIFE OF DONATO
[_DONATELLO_]
SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
Donato, who was called Donatello by his relatives and wrote his name
thus on some of his works, was born in Florence in the year 1403.
Devoting himself to the arts of design, he was not only a very rare
sculptor and a marvellous statuary, but also a practised worker in
stucco, an able master of perspective, and greatly esteemed as an
architect; and his works showed so great grace, design, and excellence,
that they were held to approach more nearly to the marvellous works of
the ancient Greeks and Romans than those of any other craftsman
whatsoever. Wherefore it is with good reason that he is ranked as the
first who made a good use of the invention of scenes in low-relief,
which he wrought so well that it is recognized from the thought, the
facility, and the mastery that he showed therein, that he had a true
understanding of them, making them with a beauty far beyond the
ordinary; for not only did no craftsman in this period ever surpass him,
but no one even in our own age has equalled him.
Donatello was brought up from his early childhood in the house of
Ruberto Martelli, where, by his good qualities and by his zealous
talent, he won the affection not only of Martelli himself but of all
that noble family. As a youth he wrought many things, which were not
held in great account, by reason of their number; but what made him
known for what he was and gave him a name was an Annunciation in
grey-stone, which was placed close to the altar of the Chapel of the
Cavalcanti, in the Church of S. Croce in Florence. For this he made an
ornament composed in the grotesque manner, with a base of varied
intertwined work and a decoration of quadrantal shape, adding six boys
bearing certain festoons, who appear to be holding one another securely
with their arms in their fear of the height. But the greatest genius
and art that he showed was in the figure of the Virgin, who, alarmed by
the unexpected apparition of the Angel, is making a most becoming
reverence with a sweet and timid movement of her person, turning with
most beautiful grace towards him who is saluting her, in a manner that
there are seen in her countenance that humility and gratitude which are
due to one who presents an unexpected gift, and the more when the gift
is a great one. Besides this, Donato showed a masterly flow of curves
and folds in the draperies of that Madonna and of the Angel,
demonstrating with the suggestion of the nude forms below how he was
seeking to recover the beauty of the ancients, which had lain hidden for
so many years; and he displayed so great facility and art in this work,
that nothing more could be desired, in fact, with regard to design,
judgment, and mastery in handling the chisel.
In the same church, below the tramezzo,[20] and beside the scene painted
by Taddeo Gaddi, he made a Crucifix of wood with extraordinary care; and
when he had finished this, thinking that he had made a very rare work,
he showed it to Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, who was very much his
friend, wishing to have his opinion. Filippo, whom the words of Donato
had led to expect something much better, smiled slightly on seeing it.
Donato, perceiving this, besought him by all the friendship between them
to tell him his opinion; whereupon Filippo, who was most obliging,
replied that it appeared to him that Donato had placed a ploughman on
the Cross, and not a body like that of Jesus Christ, which was most
delicate and in all its parts the most perfect human form that was ever
born. Donato, hearing himself censured, and that more sharply than he
expected, whereas he was hoping to be praised, replied, "If it were as
easy to make this figure as to judge it, my Christ would appear to thee
to be Christ and not a ploughman; take wood, therefore, and try to make
one thyself." Filippo, without another word, returned home and set to
work to make a Crucifix, without letting anyone know; and seeking to
surpass Donato in order not to confound his own judgment, after many
months he brought it to the height of perfection. This done, he
invited Donato one morning to dine with him, and Donato accepted the
invitation. Whereupon, as they were going together to the house of
Filippo, they came to the Mercato Vecchio, where Filippo bought some
things and gave them to Donato, saying, "Do thou go with these things to
the house and wait for me there, I am coming in a moment." Donato,
therefore, entering the house and going into the hall, saw the Crucifix
of Filippo, placed in a good light; and stopping short to study it, he
found it so perfectly finished, that, being overcome and full of
amazement, like one distraught, he spread out his hands, which were
holding up his apron; whereupon the eggs, the cheese, and all the other
things fell to the ground, and everything was broken to pieces. But he
was still marvelling and standing like one possessed, when Filippo came
up and said with a laugh, "What is thy intention, Donato, and what are
we to have for dinner, now that thou hast upset everything?" "For my
part," answered Donato, "I have had my share for this morning: if thou
must have thine, take it. But enough; it is thy work to make Christ and
mine to make ploughmen."
[Footnote 20: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
[Illustration: POGGIO BRACCIOLINI
(_After_ Donatello. _Florence: Duomo_)
_Alinari_]
In the Church of S. Giovanni in the same city Donato made a tomb for
Pope Giovanni Coscia, who had been deposed from the Pontificate by the
Council of Constance. This tomb he was commissioned to make by Cosimo
de' Medici, who was very much the friend of the said Coscia. He wrought
therein with his own hand the figure of the dead man in gilded bronze,
together with the marble statues of Hope and Charity that are there; and
his pupil Michelozzo made the figure of Faith. In the same church,
opposite to this work, there is a wooden figure by the hand of Donato of
S. Mary Magdalene in Penitence, very beautiful and excellently wrought,
showing her wasted away by her fastings and abstinence, insomuch that it
displays in all its parts an admirable perfection of anatomical
knowledge. On a column of granite in the Mercato Vecchio there is a
figure of Abundance in hard grey-stone by the hand of Donato, standing
quite by itself, so well wrought that it is consummately praised by
craftsmen and by all good judges of art. The column on which this statue
is placed was formerly in S. Giovanni, where there are the others of
granite supporting the gallery within; it was removed and its place was
taken by a fluted column, on which, in the middle of that temple, there
once stood the statue of Mars which was taken away when the Florentines
were converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. The same man, while still a
youth, made a figure of the Prophet Daniel in marble for the facade of
S. Maria del Fiore, and afterwards one of S. John the Evangelist seated,
four braccia high, and clothed in a simple garment: which figure is much
extolled. On one corner of the same place, on the side that faces
towards the Via del Cocomero, there is an old man between two columns,
more akin to the ancient manner than any other work that there is to be
seen by the hand of Donato, the head revealing the thoughts that length
of years brings to those who are exhausted by time and labour. Within
the said church, likewise, he made the ornament for the organ, which
stands over the door of the old sacristy, with those figures so boldly
sketched, as it has been said, that they appear to the eye to have
actual life and movement. Wherefore it may be said of this man that he
worked as much with his judgment as with his hands, seeing that many
things are wrought which appear beautiful in the rooms where they are
made, and afterwards, on being taken thence and set in another place, in
a different light or at a greater height, present a different
appearance, and turn out the contrary to what they appeared; whereas
Donato made his figures in such a manner, that in the room where he was
working they did not appear half as good as they turned out to be in the
positions where they were placed. For the new sacristy of the same
church he made the design for those boys who uphold the festoons that go
round the frieze, and likewise the design for the figures that were
wrought in the glass of the round window which is below the cupola,
namely, that one which contains the Coronation of Our Lady; which design
is greatly superior to those of the other round windows, as it is
clearly evident. For S. Michele in Orto in the said city he wrought the
marble statue of S. Peter which is to be seen there, a most masterly and
admirable figure, for the Guild of Butchers; and for the Guild of
Linen-manufacturers he wrought the figure of S. Mark the Evangelist,
which, after being commissioned to make it in company with Filippo
Brunelleschi, he finished by himself with the consent of Filippo.
This figure was wrought by Donato with so great judgment that its
excellence was not recognized, while it stood on the ground, by those
who had no judgment, and the Consuls of that Guild were inclined to
refuse to have it put into place; whereupon Donato besought them to let
him set it on high, saying that he wished to work on it and to show them
a different figure as the result. His request being granted, he covered
it up for a fortnight, and then uncovered it without having otherwise
touched it, filling everyone with wonder.
[Illustration: JUDITH
(_After the bronze by_ Donatello. _Florence: Loggia dei Lanzi_)
_Alinari_]
For the Guild of Armourers he made a most spirited figure of S. George
in armour, in the head of which there may be seen the beauty of youth,
courage and valour in arms, and a proud and terrible ardour; and there
is a marvellous suggestion of life bursting out of the stone. It is
certain that no modern figure in marble has yet shown such vivacity and
such spirit as nature and art produced in this one by means of the hand
of Donato. In the base that supports the shrine enclosing that figure he
wrought in marble the story of the Saint killing the Dragon, in
low-relief, wherein there is a horse that is much esteemed and greatly
extolled; and in the frontal he made a half-length figure of God the
Father in low-relief. Opposite to the church of the said oratory he
wrought the marble shrine for the Mercatanzia, following the ancient
Order known as Corinthian, and departing entirely from the German
manner; this shrine was meant to contain two statues, but he refused to
make them because he could not come to an agreement about the price.
After his death these figures were made in bronze by Andrea del
Verrocchio, as it will be told. For the main front of the Campanile of
S. Maria del Fiore he wrought four figures in marble, five braccia in
height, of which the two in the middle are portrayed from life, one
being Francesco Soderini as a youth, and the other Giovanni di Barduccio
Cherichini, now called Il Zuccone.[21] The latter was held to be a very
rare work and the most beautiful that Donato ever made, and when he
wished to take an oath that would command belief he was wont to say, "By
the faith that I place in my Zuccone"; and the while that he was working
on it, he would keep gazing at it and saying, "Speak, speak, plague
take thee, speak!" Over the door of the campanile, on the side facing
the Canon's house, he made Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, with
another Prophet: and these figures were placed between two other
statues.
[Footnote 21: _I.e._, Bald-head.]