particularly the bronze pulpits of S. Lorenzo, which were afterwards
finished in great part by him, and brought to the state in which they
are seen in the said church.
I will not forbear to say that the most learned and very reverend Don
Vincenzo Borghini, of whom mention has been made above with regard to
some other matter, has collected into a large book innumerable drawings
by excellent painters and sculptors, both ancient and modern; and on the
ornamental borders of two leaves opposite to each other, which contain
drawings by the hand of Donato and of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, he has
written, with much judgment, these two Greek epigrams; on Donato's,
"[Greek: e Donatos Bonarhrotizei]," and on Michelagnolo's, "[Greek: e
Bonarhrotos Donatizei]"; which mean in Latin, "Aut Donatus Bonarrotum
exprimit et refert; aut Bonarrotus Donatum," and in our own tongue,
"Either the spirit of Donato works in Buonarroto, or that of Buonarroto
began by working in Donato."
MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI
LIFE OF MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE
If every man who lives in this world were to realize that he may have to
live when he is no longer able to work, there would not be so many
reduced to begging in their old age for that which they consumed without
any restraint in their youth, when their large and abundant gains,
blinding their true judgment, made them spend more than was necessary
and much more than was expedient. For, seeing how coldly a man is looked
upon who has fallen from wealth to poverty, every man should
strive--honestly, however, and maintaining the proper mean--to avoid
having to beg in his old age. And whosoever will act like
Michelozzo--who did not imitate his master Donato in this respect,
although he did in his virtues--will live honourably all the course of
his life, and will not be forced in his last years to go about miserably
hunting for the wherewithal to live.
Now Michelozzo applied himself in his youth to sculpture under
Donatello, and also to design; and although he realized their
difficulties, nevertheless he went on ever practising so diligently with
clay, with wax, and with marble, that he ever showed ability and great
talent in the works that he made afterwards. There was one art in which
he surpassed many and even his own self, for, after Brunellesco, he was
held to be the most methodical architect of his times, and the one who
was best able to arrange and contrive palaces, convents, and houses for
human habitation, and who designed them with the greatest judgment, as
will be told in the proper place. Of this man Donatello availed himself
for many years, because he was very well practised in working marble and
in the business of casting in bronze; of which we have proof in a tomb
in S. Giovanni at Florence (which was made by Donatello, as it has been
said, for Pope Giovanni Coscia), since the greater part was executed by
Michelozzo; and there we can see a very beautiful marble statue by his
hand, two braccia and a half in height, representing Faith (in company
with one of Hope and one of Charity made by Donatello, of the same
size), which does not suffer by comparison with the others. Moreover,
above the door of the sacristy and the Office of Works, opposite to S.
Giovanni, Michelozzo made a little S. John in full-relief, wrought with
diligence, which was much extolled.
Michelozzo was so intimate with Cosimo de' Medici that the latter,
recognizing his genius, caused him to make the model for the house and
palace at the corner of the Via Larga, beside S. Giovannino; for he
thought that the one made by Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, as it has been
said, was too sumptuous and magnificent, and more likely to stir up envy
among his fellow-citizens than to confer grandeur or adornment on the
city, or bring comfort to himself. Wherefore, being pleased with the
model that Michelozzo had made, he had the building brought to
completion under his direction in the manner that we see at the present
day, with all the beautiful and useful arrangements and graceful
adornments that are seen therein, which have majesty and grandeur in
their simplicity; and Michelozzo deserves all the greater praise in that
this was the first palace which was built in that city on modern lines,
and which was divided up into rooms both useful and most beautiful. The
cellars are excavated to more than half their depth underground, namely,
four braccia below, with three above for the sake of light; and there
are also wine-cellars and store-rooms. On the ground-floor there are two
courtyards with magnificent loggie, on which open saloons, chambers,
antechambers, studies, closets, stove-rooms, kitchens, wells, and
staircases both secret and public, all most convenient. On each floor
there are apartments with accommodation for a whole family, with all the
conveniences that are proper not only to a private citizen, such as
Cosimo then was, but even to the most splendid and most honourable of
Kings; wherefore in our own times Kings, Emperors, Popes, and all the
most illustrious Princes of Europe have been comfortably lodged there,
to the infinite credit both of the magnificence of Cosimo and of the
excellent ability of Michelozzo in architecture.
In the year 1433, when Cosimo was driven into exile, Michelozzo, who
loved him very greatly and was most faithful to him, accompanied him of
his own free will to Venice and insisted on remaining with him all the
time that he stayed there; and in that city, besides many designs and
models that he made for private dwellings and public buildings and
decorations for the friends of Cosimo and for many gentlemen, he built,
at the command and expense of Cosimo, the library of the Monastery of S.
Giorgio Maggiore, a seat of the Black Friars of S. Justina; and this was
not only finished with regard to walls, book-shelves, wood-work, and
other adornments, but was also filled with many books. Such was the
occupation and amusement of Cosimo during that exile, from which he was
recalled to his country in the year 1434; whereupon he returned almost
in triumph, and Michelozzo with him. Now, while Michelozzo was in
Florence, the Palazzo Pubblico della Signoria began to threaten to
collapse, for some columns in the courtyard were giving way, either
because there was too much weight pressing on them, or because their
foundations were weak and awry, or even perchance because they were made
of pieces badly joined and put together. Whatever may have been the
reason, the matter was put into the hands of Michelozzo, who accepted
the undertaking willingly, because he had provided against a similar
peril near S. Barnaba in Venice, in the following manner. A gentleman
had a house that was in danger of falling down, and he entrusted the
matter to Michelozzo; wherefore he--according to what Michelagnolo
Buonarroti once told me--caused a column to be made in secret, and
prepared a number of props; and hiding everything in a boat, into which
he entered together with some builders, in one night he propped up the
house and replaced the column. Michelozzo, therefore, emboldened by this
experience, averted the danger from the palace, doing honour both to
himself and to those by whose favour he had received such a charge; and
he refounded and rebuilt the columns in the manner wherein they stand
to-day. First he made a stout framework of props and thick beams
standing upright to support the centres of the arches, made of
nut-wood, and upholding the vaulting, so that this came to support
equally the weight that was previously borne by the columns; then,
little by little removing those that were made of pieces badly joined
together, he replaced them with others made of pieces and wrought with
diligence, in such a manner that the building did not suffer in any way
and has never moved a hair's breadth. And in order that his columns
might be known from the others, he made some of them at the corners with
eight sides, with capitals that have the foliage carved in the modern
fashion, and some round; and all are very easily distinguished from the
old columns that Arnolfo made formerly. Afterwards, by the advice of
Michelozzo, it was ordained by those who then governed the city that the
arches of those columns should be unburdened and relieved of the weight
of the walls that rested upon them; that the whole courtyard should be
rebuilt from the arches upwards, with a row of windows in modern
fashion, similar to those that he had made for Cosimo in the courtyard
of the Palace of the Medici; and that designs in rustic-work should be
carved on the walls, for the reception of those golden lilies that are
still seen there at the present day. All this Michelozzo did with great
promptitude; and on the second tier, directly above the windows of the
said courtyard, he made some round windows (so as to have them different
from the aforesaid windows), to give light to the rooms on that floor,
which are over those of the first floor, where there is now the Sala de'
Dugento. The third floor, where the Signori and the Gonfalonier lived,
he made more ornate, and on the side towards S. Piero Scheraggio he
arranged a series of apartments for the Signori, who had previously
slept all together in one and the same room. These apartments consisted
of eight for the Signori and a larger one for the Gonfalonier, and they
all opened on a corridor which had windows overlooking the courtyard.
Above this he made another series of commodious rooms for the household
of the Palace, in one of which, used to-day as the Treasury, there is a
portrait by the hand of Giotto of Charles, Duke of Calabria, son of King
Robert, kneeling before a Madonna. There, also, he made apartments for
the bailiffs, ushers, trumpeters, musicians, pipers, mace-bearers,
court-servants, and heralds, with all the other apartments that are
required in such a palace. On the upper part of the gallery, moreover,
he made a stone cornice that went right round the courtyard, and beside
it a water-cistern that was filled by the rains, to make some artificial
fountains play at certain times. Michelozzo also directed the
restoration of the chapel wherein Mass is heard, and beside it many
rooms, with very rich ceilings painted with golden lilies on a ground of
blue. He had other ceilings made both for the upper and the lower rooms
of the Palace, covering up all the old ceilings that had been made
before in the ancient manner. In short, he gave it all the perfection
that was demanded by so great a building; and he contrived to convey the
water from the wells right up to the highest floor, to which it could be
drawn up by means of a wheel more easily than was usual. One thing alone
the genius of Michelozzo could not remedy, namely, the public staircase,
because it was badly conceived from the beginning, badly situated,
awkwardly built, steep, and without lights, while from the first floor
upwards the steps were of wood. He laboured to such purpose, however,
that he made a flight of round steps at the entrance of the courtyard,
and a door with pilasters of hard-stone and most beautiful capitals
carved by his hand, besides a well-designed cornice with a double
architrave, in the frieze of which he placed all the arms of the
Commune. And what is more, he made the whole staircase of hard-stone up
to the floor where the Signori lived, fortifying it at the top and
half-way up with a portcullis at each point, in case of tumults; and at
the head of the staircase he made a door which was called the
"catena,"[23] beside which there was ever standing an usher, who opened
or closed it according as he was commanded by those in authority. He
strengthened the tower of the campanile, which had cracked by reason of
the weight of that part which stands out over space on corbels on the
side towards the Piazza, with very stout bands of iron. Finally, he
improved and restored that Palace so greatly, that he was therefore
commended by the whole city and made, besides other rewards, a member of
the College, which is one of the most honourable magistracies in
Florence. And if it should appear to anyone that I have perchance
spoken at greater length about this building than was needful, I deserve
to be excused, because--after having shown in the Life of Arnolfo, in
connection with its original erection, which was in the year 1298, that
it was built out of the square and wholly wanting in reasonable
proportion, with unequal columns in the courtyard, arches both large and
small, inconvenient stairs, and rooms awry and badly proportioned--it
was necessary for me to show also to what condition it was brought by
the intellect and judgment of Michelozzo; although even he did not
arrange it in such a manner that it could be inhabited comfortably,
without very great inconvenience and discomfort. Finally, when the Lord
Duke Cosimo came to occupy it in the year 1538, his Excellency began to
bring it into better form; but since those architects who served the
Duke for many years in that work were never able to grasp or to carry
out his conception, he determined to see whether he could effect the
restoration without spoiling the old part, in which there was no little
of the good; giving better order, convenience, and proportion, according
to the plan that he had in mind, to the awkward and inconvenient stairs
and apartments.
[Footnote 23: Chain.]
Sending to Rome, therefore, for Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect of
Arezzo, who was working for Pope Julius III, he commissioned him not
only to put in order the rooms that he had caused to be begun in the
upper part of the side opposite to the Corn Market, which were out of
the straight with regard to the ground-plan, but also to consider
whether the interior of the Palace could not, without spoiling the work
already done, be brought to such a form that it might be possible to go
all over it, from one part to another and from one apartment to another,
by means of staircases both secret and public, with an ascent as easy as
possible. Thereupon, while the said rooms, already begun, were being
adorned with gilded ceilings and scenes painted in oil, and with
pictures in fresco on the walls, and others were being wrought in
stucco, Giorgio took a tracing of the ground-plan right round the whole
of the Palace, both the new part and the old; and then, having arranged
with no small labour and study for the execution of all that he intended
to do, he began to bring it little by little into a good form, and to
unite, almost without spoiling any of the work already done, the
disconnected rooms, which previously varied in height even on the same
floor, some being high and others low. But in order that the Duke might
see the design of the whole, in the space of six months he had made a
well-proportioned wooden model of the whole of that pile, which has the
form and extent rather of a fortress than of a palace. According to this
model, which gained the approval of the Duke, the building was united
and many commodious rooms were made, as well as convenient staircases,
both public and secret, which give access to all the floors; and in this
manner a burden was removed from the halls, which were formerly like
public streets, for it had been impossible to ascend to the upper floors
without passing through them. The whole was magnificently adorned with
varied and diverse pictures, and finally the roof of the Great Hall was
raised twelve braccia above its former height; insomuch that if Arnolfo,
Michelozzo, and the others who laboured on the building from its first
foundation onwards, were to return to life, they would not recognize
it--nay, they would believe that it was not theirs but a new erection
and a different edifice.
[Illustration: PALAZZO RICCARDI
(_After_ Michelozzo Michelozzi. _Florence_)
_Alinari_]
But let us now return to Michelozzo; the Church of S. Giorgio had just
been given to the Friars of S. Domenico da Fiesole, but they only
remained there from about the middle of July to the end of January, for
Cosimo de' Medici and his brother Lorenzo obtained for them from Pope
Eugenius the Church and Convent of S. Marco, which was previously the
seat of Silvestrine Monks, to whom the said S. Giorgio was given in
exchange. And Cosimo and Lorenzo, being very devoted to religion and to
divine service and worship, ordained that the said Convent of S. Marco
should be rebuilt entirely anew after the design and model of
Michelozzo, and should be made very vast and magnificent, with all the
conveniences that the said friars could possibly desire. This work was
begun in the year 1437, and the first part to be built was that opening
out above the old refectory, opposite to the ducal stables, which Duke
Lorenzo de' Medici formerly caused to be built. In this place twenty
cells were built, the roof was put on, and the wooden furniture was made
for the refectory, the whole being finished in the manner wherein it
still stands to-day. But for some time the work was carried no further,
for they had to wait to see what would be the end of a law-suit that one
Maestro Stefano, General of the said Silvestrines, had brought against
the Friars of S. Marco with regard to that convent. This suit having
concluded in favour of the said Friars of S. Marco, the building was
once more continued. But since the principal chapel, which had been
built by Ser Pino Bonaccorsi, had afterwards come into the hands of a
lady of the Caponsacchi family, and from her to Mariotto Banchi, some
law-suit was fought out over this, and Mariotto, having upheld his
rights and having taken the said chapel from Agnolo della Casa, to whom
the said Silvestrines had given or sold it, presented it to Cosimo de'
Medici, who gave Mariotto 500 crowns in return for it. Later, after
Cosimo had likewise bought from the Company of the Spirito Santo the
site where the choir now stands, the chapel, the tribune, and the choir
were built under the direction of Michelozzo, and completely furnished
in the year 1439. Afterwards the library was made, eighty braccia in
length and eighteen in breadth, and vaulted both above and below, with
sixty-four shelves of cypress wood filled with most beautiful books.
After this the dormitory was finished, being brought to a square shape;
and finally the cloister was completed, together with all the truly
commodious apartments of that convent, which is believed to be the best
designed, the most beautiful, and the most commodious that there is in
Italy, thanks to the talent and industry of Michelozzo, who delivered it
completely finished in the year 1452. It is said that Cosimo spent
36,000 ducats on this fabric, and that while it was building he gave the
monks 366 ducats every year for their maintenance. Of the construction
and consecration of this holy place we read in an inscription on marble
over the door that leads into the sacristy, in the following words:
CUM HOC TEMPLUM MARCO EVANGELISTAE DICATUM MAGNIFICIS SUMPTIBUS
CL. V. COSMI MEDICIS TANDEM ABSOLUTUM ESSET, EUGENIUS QUARTUS
ROMANUS PONTIFEX MAXIMA CARDINALIUM, ARCHIEPISCOPORUM, EPISCOPORUM,
ALIORUMQUE SACERDOTUM FREQUENTIA COMITATUS, ID CELEBERRIMO
EPIPHANIAE DIE, SOLEMNI MORE SERVATO, CONSECRAVIT. TUM
ETIAM QUOTANNIS OMNIBUS, QUI EODEM DIE FESTO ANNUAS STATASQUE
CONSECRATIONIS CEREMONIAS CASTE PIEQUE CELEBRARINT VISERINTVE,
TEMPORIS LUENDIS PECCATIS SUIS DEBITI SEPTEM ANNOS TOTIDEMQUE
QUADRAGESIMAS APOSTOLICA REMISIT AUCTORITATE, A. MCCCCXLII.
In like manner, Cosimo erected from the design of Michelozzo the
noviciate of S. Croce in Florence, with the chapel of the same, and the
entrance that leads from the church to the sacristy, to the said
noviciate, and to the staircase of the dormitory. These works are not
inferior in beauty, convenience, and adornment to any building
whatsoever of all those which the truly magnificent Cosimo de' Medici
caused to be erected, or which Michelozzo carried into execution; and
besides other parts, the door that leads from the church to the said
places, which he made of grey-stone, was much extolled in those times by
reason of its novelty and of its beautifully made frontal, for it was
then very little the custom to imitate the good manner of antique work,
as this door does. Cosimo de' Medici also built, with the advice and
design of Michelozzo, the Palace of Cafaggiuolo in Mugello, giving it
the form of a fortress with ditches round it; and he laid out farms,
roads, gardens, fountains with groves round them, fowling-places, and
other appurtenances of a villa, all very splendid; and at a distance of
two miles from the said palace, in a place called the Bosco a' Frati,
with the advice of Michelozzo, he carried out the building of a convent
for the Frati de' Zoccoli of the Order of S. Francis, which is something
very beautiful. At Trebbio, likewise, he made many other improvements
which are still to be seen; and at a distance of two miles from
Florence, also, he built the palatial Villa of Careggi, which was very
rich and magnificent; and thither Michelozzo brought the water for the
fountain that is seen there at the present day. For Giovanni, son of
Cosimo de' Medici, the same master built another magnificent and noble
palace at Fiesole, sinking the foundations for the lower part in the
brow of the hill, at great expense but not without great advantage, for
in that lower part he made vaults, cellars, stables, vat-stores, and
many other beautiful and commodious offices; and above, besides the
chambers, halls, and other ordinary rooms, he made some for books and
certain others for music. In short, Michelozzo showed in this building
how great was his skill in architecture, for, besides what has been
mentioned, it was constructed in such a manner that, although it stands
on that hill, it has never moved a hair's breadth. This palace finished,
he built above it, almost on the summit of the hill, the Church and
Convent of the Friars of S. Girolamo, at the expense of the same man.
The same Michelozzo made the design and model which Cosimo sent to
Jerusalem for the hospice that he caused to be erected there, for the
pilgrims who visit the Sepulchre of Christ. He also sent the design for
six windows in the facade of S. Pietro in Rome, which were made there
afterwards with the arms of Cosimo de' Medici; but three of them were
removed in our own day and replaced by Pope Paul III with others bearing
the arms of the house of Farnese. After this, hearing that there was a
lack of water at S. Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, to the very great
discomfort of the people who go there every year on August 1 to receive
Absolution, Cosimo sent thither Michelozzo, who brought the water of a
spring, which rose half-way up the brow of the hill, to the fountain,
which he covered with a very rich and lovely loggia resting on some
columns made of separate pieces and bearing the arms of Cosimo. Within
the convent, also at the commission of Cosimo, he made many useful
improvements for the friars; and these the magnificent Lorenzo de'
Medici afterwards renewed with more adornment and at greater expense,
besides presenting to that Madonna the image of her in wax which is
still to be seen there. Cosimo also caused the road that leads from the
said Madonna degli Angeli to the city to be paved with bricks; nor did
Michelozzo take his leave of those parts before he had made the design
for the old Citadel of Perugia. Having finally returned to Florence, he
built a house on the Canto de' Tornaquinci for Giovanni Tornabuoni,
similar in almost every way to the palace that he had made for Cosimo,
save that the facade is not in rustic-work and has no cornices above,
but is quite plain.