also pursuing their exercise with excellence, and to this the works of
all ages bear witness for the close observer, because these two arts are
truly sisters, born at one and the same time, and fostered and governed
by one and the same soul. This is seen in Andrea Pisano, who, practising
sculpture in the time of Giotto, made so great improvement in this art,
that both in practice and in theory he was esteemed the greatest man
that the Tuscans had had up to his times in this profession, and above
all in casting in bronze. Wherefore his works were honoured and rewarded
in such a manner by all who knew him, and above all by the Florentines,
that it was no hardship to him to change country, relatives, property
and friends. He received much assistance from the difficulties
experienced in sculpture by the masters who had lived before him, whose
sculptures were so uncouth and worthless that whosoever saw them in
comparison with those of this man judged the last a miracle. And that
these early works were rude, witness is borne, as it has been said
elsewhere, by some that are over the principal door of S. Paolo in
Florence and some in stone that are in the Church of Ognissanti, which
are so made that they move those who view them rather to laughter than
to any marvel or pleasure. And it is certain that the art of sculpture
can recover itself much better, in the event of the essence of statuary
being lost (since men have the living and the natural model, which is
wholly rounded, as that art requires), than can the art of painting; it
being not so easy and simple to recover the beautiful outlines and the
good manner, in order to bring the art to the light, for these are the
elements that produce majesty, beauty, grace and adornment in the works
that the painters make. In one respect fortune was favourable to the
labours of Andrea, because there had been brought to Pisa, as it has
been said elsewhere, by means of the many victories that the Pisans had
at sea, many antiquities and sarcophagi that are still round the Duomo
and the Campo Santo, and these brought him such great assistance and
gave him such great light as could not be obtained by Giotto, for the
reason that the ancient paintings had not been preserved as much as the
sculptures. And although statues are often destroyed by fires and by the
ruin and fury of war, and buried or transported to diverse places,
nevertheless it is easy for the experienced to recognize the difference
in the manner of all countries; as, for example, the Egyptian is slender
and lengthy in its figures, the Greek is scientific and shows much study
in the nudes, while the heads have almost all the same expression, and
the most ancient Tuscan is laboured in the hair and somewhat uncouth.
That of the Romans (I call Romans, for the most part, those who, after
the subjugation of Greece, betook themselves to Rome, whither all that
there was of the good and of the beautiful in the world was
carried)--that, I say, is so beautiful, by reason of the expressions,
the attitudes, and the movements both of the nude and of the draped
figures, that it may be said that they wrested the beautiful from all
the other provinces and moulded it into one single manner, to the end
that it might be, as it is, the best--nay, the most divine of all.
All these beautiful manners and arts being spent in the time of Andrea,
that alone was in use which had been brought by the Goths and by the
uncivilized Greeks into Tuscany. Wherefore he, having studied the new
method of design of Giotto and those few antiquities that were known to
him, refined in great part the grossness of so miserable a manner with
his judgment, in such wise that he began to work better and to give much
greater beauty to statuary than any other had yet done in that art up to
his times. Therefore, his genius and his good skill and dexterity
becoming known, he was assisted by many in his country, and while still
young he was commissioned to make for S. Maria a Ponte some little
figures in marble, which brought him so good a name that he was sought
out with very great insistence to come to work in Florence for the
Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, which, after a beginning had been
made with the facade containing the three doors, was suffering from a
dearth of masters to make the scenes that Giotto had designed for the
beginning of the said fabric. Andrea, then, betook himself to Florence,
for the service of the said Office of Works. And because the Florentines
desired at that time to gain the friendship and love of Pope Boniface
VIII, who was then Supreme Pontiff of the Church of God, they wished
that, before anything else, Andrea should make a portrait in marble of
the said Pontiff, from the life. Wherefore, putting his hand to this
work, he did not rest until he had finished the figure of the Pope, with
a S. Peter and a S. Paul who are one on either side of him; which three
figures were placed in the facade of S. Maria del Fiore, where they
still are. Andrea then made certain little figures of prophets for the
middle door of the said church, in some shrines or rather niches, from
which it is seen that he had brought great betterment to the art, and
that he was in advance, both in excellence and design, of all those who
had worked up to then on the said fabric. Wherefore it was resolved that
all the works of importance should be given to him to do, and not to
others; and so, no long time after, he was commissioned to make the four
statues of the principal Doctors of the Church, S. Jerome, S. Ambrose,
S. Augustine, and S. Gregory. And these being finished and acquiring for
him favour and fame with the Wardens of Works--nay, with the whole
city--he was commissioned to make two other figures in marble of the
same size, which were S. Stephen and S. Laurence, now standing in the
said facade of S. Maria del Fiore, at the outermost corners. By the hand
of Andrea, likewise, is the Madonna in marble, three braccia and a half
high, with the Child in her arms, which stands on the altar of the
little Church of the Company of the Misericordia, on the Piazza di S.
Giovanni in Florence; which was a work much praised in those times, and
above all because he accompanied it with two angels, one on either side,
each two braccia and a half high. Round this work there has been made in
our own day a frame of wood, very well wrought by Maestro Antonio,
called Il Carota; and below, a predella full of most beautiful figures
coloured in oil by Ridolfo, son of Domenico Ghirlandajo. In like
manner, that half-length Madonna in marble that is over the side door of
the same Misericordia, in the facade of the Cialdonai, is by the hand of
Andrea, and it was much praised, because he imitated therein the good
ancient manner, contrary to his wont, which was ever far distant from
it, as some drawings testify that are in our book, wrought by his hand,
wherein are drawn all the stories of the Apocalypse.
Now, seeing that Andrea had applied himself in his youth to the study of
architecture, there came occasion for him to be employed in this by the
Commune of Florence; for Arnolfo being dead and Giotto absent, he was
commissioned to make the design of the Castle of Scarperia, which is in
the Mugello, at the foot of the mountains. Some say, although I would
not indeed vouch for it as true, that Andrea stayed a year in Venice,
and there wrought, in sculpture, some little figures in marble that are
in the facade of S. Marco, and that at the time of Messer Piero
Gradenigo, Doge of that Republic, he made the design of the Arsenal; but
seeing that I know nothing about it save that which I find to have been
written by some without authority, I leave each one to think in his own
way about this matter. Andrea having returned from Venice to Florence,
the city, fearful of the coming of the Emperor, caused a part of the
walls to be raised with lime post-haste to the height of eight braccia,
employing in this Andrea, in that portion that is between San Gallo and
the Porta al Prato; and in other places he made bastions, stockades, and
other ramparts of earth and of wood, very strong.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
SALOME AND THE BEHEADING OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST
(_Details, after_ Andrea Pisano, _from the Gates of the Baptistery,
Florence_)]
Now because, three years before, he had shown himself to his own great
credit to be an able man in the casting of bronze, having sent to the
Pope in Avignon, by means of Giotto, his very great friend, who was then
staying at that Court, a very beautiful cross cast in bronze, he was
commissioned to complete in bronze one of the doors of the Church of S.
Giovanni, for which Giotto had already made a very beautiful design;
this was given to him, I say, to complete, by reason of his having been
judged, among so many who had worked up to then, the most able, the most
practised and the most judicious master not only of Tuscany but of
all Italy. Wherefore, putting his hand to this, with a mind determined
not to consent to spare either time, or labour, or diligence in
executing a work of so great importance, fortune was so propitious to
him in the casting, for those times when the secrets were not known that
are known to-day, that within the space of twenty-two years he brought
it to that perfection which is seen; and what is more, he also made
during that same time not only the shrine of the high-altar of S.
Giovanni, with two angels, one on either side of it, that were held
something very beautiful, but also, after the design of Giotto, those
little figures in marble that act as adornment for the door of the
Campanile of S. Maria del Fiore, and round the same Campanile, in
certain mandorle, the seven planets, the seven virtues, and the seven
works of mercy, little figures in half-relief that were then much
praised. He also made during the same time the three figures, each four
braccia high, that were set up in the niches of the said Campanile,
beneath the windows that face the spot where the Orphans now are--that
is, towards the south; which figures were thought at that time more than
passing good. But to return to where I left off: I say that in the said
bronze door are little scenes in low relief of the life of S. John the
Baptist, that is, from his birth up to his death, wrought happily and
with much diligence. And although it seems to many that in these scenes
there do not appear that beautiful design and that great art which are
now put into figures, yet Andrea deserves nothing but the greatest
praise, in that he was the first to put his hand to the complete
execution of such a work, which afterwards enabled the others who lived
after him to make whatever of the beautiful, of the difficult and of the
good is to be seen at the present day in the other two doors and in the
external ornaments. This work was placed in the middle door of that
church, and stood there until the time when Lorenzo Ghiberti made that
one which is there at the present day; for then it was removed and
placed opposite the Misericordia, where it still stands. I will not
forbear to say that Andrea was assisted in making this door by Nino, his
son, who was afterwards a much better master than his father had been,
and that it was completely finished in the year 1339, that is, not only
made smooth and polished all over, but also gilded by fire; and it is
believed that it was cast in metal by some Venetian masters, very expert
in the founding of metals, and of this there is found record in the
books of the Guild of the Merchants of Calimara, Wardens of the Works of
S. Giovanni.
While the said door was making, Andrea made not only the other works
aforesaid but also many others, and in particular the model of the
Church of S. Giovanni at Pistoia, which was founded in the year 1337. In
that same year, on January 25, in excavating the foundations of this
church, there was found the body of the Blessed Atto, once Bishop of
that city, who had been buried in that place one hundred and
thirty-seven years. The architecture, then, of this church, which is
round, was passing good for those times. In the principal church of the
said city of Pistoia there is also a tomb of marble by the hand of
Andrea, with the body of the sarcophagus full of little figures, and
some larger figures above; in which tomb is laid to rest the body of
Messer Cino d' Angibolgi, Doctor of Laws, and a very famous scholar in
his time, as Messer Francesco Petrarca testifies in that sonnet:
Piangete, donne, e con voi pianga Amore;
and also in the fourth chapter of the _Triumph of Love_, where he says:
Ecco Cin da Pistoia, Guitton d'Arezzo,
Che di non esser primo par ch'ira aggia.
In that tomb there is seen the portrait of Messer Cino himself in
marble, by the hand of Andrea; he is teaching a number of his scholars,
who are round him, with an attitude and manner so beautiful that,
although to-day it might not be prized, in those days it must have been
a marvellous thing.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
THE CREATION OF MAN
(_After a relief, by_ Andrea Pisano, _on the Campanile, Florence_)]
Andrea was also made use of in matters of architecture by Gualtieri,
Duke of Athens and Tyrant of the Florentines, who made him enlarge the
square, and caused him, in order to safeguard himself in his palace, to
secure all the lower windows on the first floor (where to-day is the
Sala de' Dugento) with iron bars, square and very strong. The said Duke
also added, opposite S. Pietro Scheraggio, the walls of rustic work
that are beside the palace, in order to enlarge it; and in the thickness
of the wall he made a secret staircase, in order to ascend and descend
unseen. And at the foot of the said wall of rustic work he made a great
door, which serves to-day for the Customs-house, and above that his
arms, and all with the design and counsel of Andrea; and although these
arms were chiselled out by the Council of Twelve, which took pains to
efface every memorial of that Duke, there remained none the less in the
square shield the form of the lion rampant with two tails, as anyone can
see who examines it with diligence. For the same Duke Andrea built many
towers round the walls of the city, and he not only made a magnificent
beginning for the Porta a S. Friano and brought it to the completion
that is seen, but also made the walls for the vestibules of all the
gates of the city, and the lesser gates for the convenience of the
people. And because the Duke had it in his mind to make a fortress on
the Costa di S. Giorgio, Andrea made the model for it, which afterwards
was not used, for the reason that the work was never given a beginning,
the Duke having been driven out in the year 1343. Nevertheless, there
was effected in great part the desire of that Duke to bring the palace
to the form of a strong castle, because, to that which had been made
originally, he added the great mass which is seen to-day, enclosing
within its circuit the houses of the Filipetri, the tower and the houses
of the Amidei and Mancini, and those of the Bellalberti. And because,
having made a beginning with so great a fabric and with the thick walls
and barbicans, he had not all the material that was essential equally in
readiness, he held back the construction of the Ponte Vecchio, which was
being worked on with all haste as a work of necessity, and availed
himself of the stone hewn and the wood prepared for it, without the
least scruple. And although Taddeo Gaddi was not perhaps inferior in the
matters of architecture to Andrea Pisano, the Duke would not avail
himself of him in these buildings, by reason of his being a Florentine,
but only of Andrea. The same Duke Gualtieri wished to pull down S.
Cecilia, in order to see from his palace the Strada Romana and the
Mercato Nuovo, and likewise to destroy S. Pietro Scheraggio for his own
convenience, but he had not leave to do this from the Pope; and
meanwhile, as it has been said above, he was driven out by the fury of
the people.
Deservedly then did Andrea gain, by the honourable labours of so many
years, not only very great rewards but also the citizenship; for he was
made a citizen of Florence by the Signoria, and was given offices and
magistracies in the city, and his works were esteemed both while he
lived and after his death, there being found no one who could surpass
him in working, until there came Niccolo Aretino, Jacopo della Quercia
of Siena, Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, and Lorenzo Ghiberti,
who executed the sculptures and other works that they made in such a
manner that people recognized in how great error they had lived up to
that time; for these men recovered with their works that excellence
which had been hidden and little known by men for many and many a year.
The works of Andrea date about the year of our salvation 1340.
Andrea left many disciples; among others, Tommaso Pisano, architect and
sculptor, who finished the Chapel of the Campo Santo and added the
finishing touch to the Campanile of the Duomo--namely, that final part
wherein are the bells. Tommaso is believed to have been the son of
Andrea, this being found written in the panel of the high-altar of S.
Francesco in Pisa, wherein there is, carved in half-relief, a Madonna,
with other Saints made by him, and below these his name and that of his
father.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
MADONNA AND CHILD
(_After_ Nino Pisano. _Orvieto: Museo dell'Opera_)]
Andrea was survived by Nino, his son, who applied himself to sculpture;
and his first work was in S. Maria Novella, where he finished a Madonna
in marble begun by his father, which is within the side door, beside the
Chapel of the Minerbetti. Next, having gone to Pisa, he made in the
Spina a half-length figure in marble of Our Lady, who is suckling an
infant Jesus Christ wrapped in certain delicate draperies. For this
Madonna an ornamental frame of marble was made in the year 1522, by the
agency of Messer Jacopo Corbini, and another frame, much greater and
more beautiful, was made then for another Madonna of marble, which was
of full length and by the hand of the same Nino; in the attitude of
which Madonna the mother is seen handing a rose with much grace to her
Son, who is taking it in a childlike manner, so beautiful that it may
be said that Nino was beginning to rob the stone of its hardness and to
reduce it to the softness of flesh, giving it lustre by means of the
highest polish. This figure is between a S. John and a S. Peter in
marble, the head of the latter being a portrait of Andrea from the life.
Besides this, for an altar in S. Caterina, also in Pisa, Nino made two
statues of marble--that is, a Madonna, and an Angel who is bringing her
the Annunciation, wrought, like his other works, with so great diligence
that it can be said that they are the best that were made in those
times. Below this Madonna receiving the Annunciation Nino carved these
words on the base: ON THE FIRST DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1370; and below the
Angel: THESE FIGURES NINO MADE, THE SON OF ANDREA PISANO. He also made
other works in that city and in Naples, whereof it is not needful to
make mention.
Andrea died at the age of seventy-five, in the year 1345, and was buried
by Nino in S. Maria del Fiore, with this epitaph:
INGENTI ANDREAS JACET HIC PISANUS IN URNA,
MARMORE QUI POTUIT SPIRANTES DUCERE VULTUS,
ET SIMULACRA DEUM MEDIIS IMPONERE TEMPLIS
EX AERE, EX AURO CANDENTI, ET PULCRO ELEPHANTO.
BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO
LIFE OF BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO,
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
Buonamico di Cristofano, called Buffalmacco, painter of Florence, who
was a disciple of Andrea Tafi, and celebrated for his jokes by Messer
Giovanni Boccaccio in his _Decameron_, was, as is known, a very dear
companion of Bruno and Calandrino, painters equally humorous and gay;
and as may be seen in his works, scattered throughout all Tuscany, he
was a man of passing good judgment in his art of painting. Franco
Sacchetti relates in his three hundred Stories (to begin with the things
that this man did while still youthful), that Buffalmacco lived, while
he was a lad, with Andrea, and that this master of his used to make it a
custom, when the nights were long, to get up before daylight to labour,
and to call the lads to night-work. This being displeasing to Buonamico,
who was made to rise out of his soundest sleep, he began to think of
finding a way whereby Andrea might give up rising so much before
daylight to work, and he succeeded; for having found thirty large
cockroaches, or rather blackbeetles, in a badly swept cellar, with
certain fine and short needles he fixed a little taper on the back of
each of the said cockroaches, and, the hour coming when Andrea was wont
to rise, he lit the tapers and put the animals one by one into the room
of Andrea, through a chink in the door. He, awaking at the very hour
when he was wont to call Buffalmacco, and seeing those little lights,
all full of fear began to tremble and in great terror to recommend
himself under his breath to God, like the old gaffer that he was, and to
say his prayers or psalms; and finally, putting his head below the
bedclothes, he made no attempt for that night to call Buffalmacco, but
stayed as he was, ever trembling with fear, up to daylight. In the
morning, then, having risen, he asked Buonamico if he had seen, as he
had himself, more than a thousand demons; whereupon Buonamico said he
had not, because he had kept his eyes closed, and was marvelling that he
had not been called to night-work. "To night-work!" said Tafo, "I have
had something else to think of besides painting, and I am resolved at
all costs to go and live in another house." The following night,
although Buonamico put only three of them into the said room of Tafo,
none the less, what with terror of the past night and of those few
devils that he saw, he slept not a wink; nay, no sooner was it daylight
than he rushed from the house, meaning never to return, and a great
business it was to make him change his mind. At last Buonamico brought
the parish priest, who consoled him the best that he could. Later, Tafo
and Buonamico discoursing over the affair, Buonamico said: "I have ever
heard tell that the greatest enemies of God are the demons, and that in
consequence they must also be the most capital adversaries of painters;
because, besides that we make them ever most hideous, what is worse, we
never attend to aught else than to making saints, male and female, on
walls and panels, and to making men more devout and more upright
thereby, to the despite of the demons; wherefore, these demons having a
grudge against us for this, as beings that have greater power by night
than by day they come and play us these tricks, and worse tricks will
they play if this use of rising for night-work is not given up
completely." With these and many other speeches Buffalmacco knew so well
how to manage the business, being borne out by what Sir Priest kept
saying, that Tafo gave over rising for night-work, and the devils ceased
going through the house at night with little lights. But Tafo beginning
again, for the love of gain, not many months afterwards, having almost
forgotten all fear, to rise once more to work in the night and to call
Buffalmacco, the cockroaches too began again to wander about; wherefore
he was forced by fear to give up the habit entirely, being above all
advised to do this by the priest. Afterwards this affair, spreading
throughout the city, brought it about that for a time neither Tafo nor
other painters made a practice of rising to work at night. Later, and no
long time after this, Buffalmacco, having become a passing good master,
took leave of Tafo, as the same Franco relates, and began to work for
himself; and he never lacked for something to do.