work of Orsanmichele and refounded the piers of the Loggia, building
them with stone dressed and well shaped, whereas before they had been
made of bricks, without, however, altering the design that Arnolfo left,
with directions that there should be made over the Loggia a palace with
two vaults for storing the provisions of grain that the people and
Commune of Florence used to make. To the end that this work might be
finished, the Guild of Porta S. Maria, to which the charge of the fabric
had been given, ordained that there should be paid thereunto the tax of
the square of the grain-market and some other taxes of very small
importance. But what was far more important, it was well ordained with
the best counsel that each of the Guilds of Florence should make one
pier by itself, with the Patron Saint of the Guild in a niche therein,
and that every year, on the festival of each Saint the Consuls of that
Guild should go to church to make offering, and should hold there the
whole of that day the standard with their insignia, but that the
offering, none the less, should be to the Madonna for the succour of the
needy poor. And because, during the great flood of the year 1333, the
waters had swept away the parapets of the Ponte Rubaconte, thrown down
the Castle of Altafronte, left nothing of the Ponte Vecchio but the two
piers in the middle, and completely ruined the Ponte a S. Trinita except
one pier that remained all shattered, as well as half the Ponte alla
Carraia, bursting also the weir of Ognissanti, those who then ruled the
city determined no longer to allow the dwellers on the other side of the
Arno to have to return to their homes with so great inconvenience as was
caused by their having to cross in boats. Wherefore, having sent for
Taddeo Gaddi, for the reason that Giotto his master had gone to Milan,
they caused him to make the model and design of the Ponte Vecchio,
giving him instructions that he should have it brought to completion as
strong and as beautiful as might be possible; and he, sparing neither
cost nor labour, made it with such strength in the piers and with such
magnificence in the arches, all of stone squared with the chisel, that
it supports to-day twenty-two shops on either side, which make in all
forty-four, with great profit to the Commune, which drew from them eight
hundred florins yearly in rents. The extent of the arches from one side
to the other is thirty-two braccia, that of the street in the middle is
sixteen braccia, and that of the shops on either side eight braccia. For
this work, which cost sixty thousand florins of gold, not only did
Taddeo then deserve infinite praise, but even to-day he is more than
ever commended for it, for the reason that, besides many other floods,
it was not moved in the year 1557, on September 13, by that which threw
down the Ponte a S. Trinita and two arches of that of the Carraia, and
shattered in great part the Rubaconte, together with much other
destruction that is very well known. And truly there is no man of
judgment who can fail to be amazed, not to say marvel, considering that
the said Ponte Vecchio in so great an emergency could sustain unmoved
the onset of the waters and of the beams and the wreckage made above,
and that with so great firmness.
At the same time Taddeo directed the founding of the Ponte a S. Trinita,
which was finished less happily in the year 1346, at the cost of twenty
thousand florins of gold; I say less happily, because, not having been
made like the Ponte Vecchio, it was entirely ruined by the said flood of
the year 1557. In like manner, under the direction of Taddeo there was
made at the said time the wall of the Costa a S. Gregorio, with piles
driven in below, including two piers of the bridge in order to gain
additional ground for the city on the side of the Piazza de' Mozzi, and
to make use of it, as they did, to make the mills that are there.
While all these works were being made by the direction and design of
Taddeo, seeing that he did not therefore stop painting, he decorated the
Tribunal of the Mercanzia Vecchia, wherein, with poetical invention, he
represented the Tribunal of Six (which is the number of the chief men of
that judicial body), who are standing watching the tongue being torn
from Falsehood by Truth, who is clothed with a veil over the nude, while
Falsehood is draped in black; with these verses below:
LA PURA VERITA, PER UBBIDIRE
ALLA SANTA GIUSTIZIA, CHE NON TARDA,
CAVA LA LINGUA ALLA FALSA BUGIARDA.
And below the scene are these verses:
TADDEO DIPINSE QUESTO BEL RIGESTRO;
DISCEPOL FU DI GIOTTO IL BUON MAESTRO.
Taddeo received a commission for some works in fresco in Arezzo, which
he carried to the greatest perfection in company with his disciple
Giovanni da Milano. Of these we still see one in the Company of the Holy
Spirit, a scene on the wall over the high-altar, containing the Passion
of Christ, with many horses, and the Thieves on the Cross, a work held
very beautiful by reason of the thought that he showed in placing Him on
the Cross. Therein are some figures with vivid expressions which show
the rage of the Jews, some pulling Him by the legs with a rope, others
offering the sponge, and others in various attitudes, such as the
Longinus who is piercing His side, and the three soldiers who are
gambling for His raiment, in the faces of whom there is seen hope and
fear as they throw the dice. The first of these, in armour, is standing
in an uncomfortable attitude awaiting his turn, and shows himself so
eager to throw that he appears not to be feeling the discomfort; the
other, raising his eyebrows, with his mouth and with his eyes wide open,
is watching the dice, in suspicion, as it were, of fraud, and shows
clearly to anyone who studies him the desire and the wish that he has to
win. The third, who is throwing the dice, having spread the garment on
the ground, appears to be announcing with a grin his intention of
casting them. In like manner, throughout the walls of the church are
seen some stories of S. John the Evangelist, and throughout the city
other works made by Taddeo, which are recognized as being by his hand by
anyone who has judgment in art. In the Vescovado, also, behind the
high-altar, there are still seen some stories of S. John the Baptist,
which are wrought with such marvellous manner and design that they cause
him to be held in admiration. In the Chapel of S. Sebastiano in S.
Agostino, beside the sacristy, he made the stories of that martyr, and a
Disputation of Christ with the Doctors, so well wrought and finished
that it is a miracle to see the beauty in the changing colours of
various sorts and the grace in the pigments of these works, which are
finished to perfection.
[Illustration: TADDEO GADDI: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
(_Florence: Accademia 107. Panel_)]
In the Church of the Sasso della Vernia in the Casentino he painted the
chapel wherein S. Francis received the Stigmata, assisted in the minor
details by Jacopo di Casentino, who became his disciple by reason of
this visit. This work finished, he returned to Florence together with
Giovanni, the Milanese, and there, both within the city and without,
they made very many panels and pictures of importance; and in process of
time he gained so much, turning all into capital, that he laid the
foundation of the wealth and the nobility of his family, being ever held
a prudent and far-sighted man.
He also painted the Chapter-house in S. Maria Novella, being
commissioned by the Prior of the place, who suggested the subject to
him. It is true, indeed, that by reason of the work being large and of
there being unveiled, at that time when the bridges were being made, the
Chapter-house of S. Spirito, to the very great fame of Simone Memmi, who
had painted it, there came to the said Prior a desire to call Simone to
the half of this work; wherefore, having discussed the whole matter with
Taddeo, he found him well contented therewith, for the reason that he
had a surpassing love for Simone, because he had been his
fellow-disciple under Giotto and ever his loving friend and companion.
Oh! minds truly noble! seeing that without emulation, ambition, or envy,
ye loved one another like brothers, each rejoicing as much in the honour
and profit of his friend as in his own! The work was divided, therefore,
and three walls were given to Simone, as I said in his Life, and Taddeo
had the left-hand wall and the whole vaulting, which was divided by him
into four sections or quarters in accordance with the form of the
vaulting itself. In the first he made the Resurrection of Christ,
wherein it appears that he wished to attempt to make the splendour of
the Glorified Body give forth light, as we perceive in a city and in
some mountainous crags; but he did not follow this up in the figures and
in the rest, doubting, perchance, that he was not able to carry it out
by reason of the difficulty that he recognized therein. In the second
section he made Jesus Christ delivering S. Peter from shipwreck, wherein
the Apostles who are manning the boat are certainly very beautiful; and
among other things, one who is fishing with a line on the shore of the
sea (a subject already used by Giotto in the mosaics of the Navicella in
S. Pietro) is depicted with very great and vivid feeling. In the third
he painted the Ascension of Christ, and in the fourth the coming of the
Holy Spirit, where there are seen many beautiful attitudes in the
figures of the Jews who are seeking to gain entrance through the door.
On the wall below are the Seven Sciences, with their names and with
those figures below them that are appropriate to each. Grammar, in the
guise of a woman, with a door, teaching a child, has the writer Donato
seated below her. After Grammar follows Rhetoric, and at her feet is a
figure that has two hands on books, while it draws a third hand from
below its mantle and holds it to its mouth. Logic has the serpent in her
hand below a veil, and at her feet Zeno of Elea, who is reading.
Arithmetic is holding the tables of the abacus, and below her is sitting
Abraham, its inventor. Music has the musical instruments, and below her
is sitting Tubal-Cain, who is beating with two hammers on an anvil and
is standing with his ears intent on that sound. Geometry has the square
and the compasses, and below, Euclid. Astrology has the celestial globe
in her hands, and below her feet, Atlas. In the other part are sitting
seven Theological Sciences, and each has below her that estate or
condition of man that is most appropriate to her--Pope, Emperor, King,
Cardinals, Dukes, Bishops, Marquises, and others; and in the face of the
Pope is the portrait of Clement V. In the middle and highest place is S.
Thomas Aquinas, who was adorned with all the said sciences, holding
below his feet some heretics--Arius, Sabellius, and Averroes; and round
him are Moses, Paul, John the Evangelist, and some other figures, that
have above them the four Cardinal Virtues and the three Theological,
with an infinity of other details depicted by Taddeo with no little
design and grace, insomuch that it can be said to have been the best
conceived as well as the best preserved of all his works.
In the same S. Maria Novella, over the tramezzo[17] of the church, he
also made a S. Jerome robed as a Cardinal, having such a devotion for
that Saint that he chose him as the protector of his house; and below
this, after the death of Taddeo, his son caused a tomb to be made for
their descendants, covered with a slab of marble bearing the arms of the
Gaddi. For these descendants, by reason of the excellence of Taddeo and
of their merits, Cardinal Jerome has obtained from God most honourable
offices in the Church--Clerkships of the Chamber, Bishoprics,
Cardinalates, Provostships, and Knighthoods, all most honourable; and
all these descendants of Taddeo, of whatsoever degree, have ever
esteemed and favoured the beautiful intellects inclined to the matters
of sculpture and painting, and have given them assistance with every
effort.
Finally, having come to the age of fifty and being smitten with a most
violent fever, Taddeo passed from this life in the year 1350, leaving
his son Agnolo and Giovanni to apply themselves to painting,
recommending them to Jacopo di Casentino for ways of life and to
Giovanni da Milano for instruction in the art. After the death of Taddeo
this Giovanni, besides many other works, made a panel which was placed
on the altar of S. Gherardo da Villamagna in S. Croce, fourteen years
after he had been left without his master, and likewise the panel of the
high-altar of Ognissanti, where the Frati Umiliati had their seat, which
was held very beautiful, and the tribune of the high-altar at Assisi,
wherein he made a Crucifix, with Our Lady and S. Chiara, and stories of
Our Lady on the walls and sides. Afterwards he betook himself to Milan,
where he wrought many works in distemper and in fresco, and there
finally he died.
Taddeo, then, adhered constantly to the manner of Giotto, but did not
better it much save in the colouring, which he made fresher and more
vivacious than that of Giotto, the latter having applied himself so
ardently to improving the other departments and difficulties of this
art, that although he gave attention to this, he could not, however,
attain to the privilege of doing it, whereas Taddeo, having seen that
which Giotto had made easy and having learnt it, had time to add
something and to improve the colouring.
Taddeo was buried by Agnolo and Giovanni, his sons, in the first
cloister of S. Croce, in that tomb which he had made for Gaddo his
father, and he was much honoured with verses by the men of culture of
that time, as a man who had been greatly deserving for his ways of life
and for having brought to completion with beautiful design, besides his
pictures, many buildings of great convenience to his city, and besides
what has been mentioned, for having carried out with solicitude and
diligence the construction of the Campanile of S. Maria del Fiore, from
the design left by Giotto his master; which campanile was built in such
a manner that stones could not be put together with more diligence, nor
could a more beautiful tower be made, with regard either to ornament, or
cost, or design. The epitaph that was made for Taddeo was this that is
to be read here:
HOC UNO DICI POTERAT FLORENTIA FELIX
VIVENTE; AT CERTA EST NON POTUISSE MORI.
Taddeo was very resolute in draughtsmanship, as it may be seen in our
book, wherein is drawn by his hand the scene that he wrought in the
Chapel of S. Andrea, in S. Croce at Florence.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 16: See note on p. 57.]
[Footnote 17: See note on p. 57.]
ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA
LIFE OF ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA,
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT, OF FLORENCE
Rarely is a man of parts excellent in one pursuit without being able
easily to learn any other, and above all any one of those that are akin
to his original profession, and proceed, as it were, from one and the
same source, as did the Florentine Orcagna, who was painter, sculptor,
architect, and poet, as it will be told below. Born in Florence, he
began while still a child to give attention to sculpture under Andrea
Pisano, and pursued it for some years; then, being desirous to become
abundant in invention in order to make lovely historical compositions,
he applied himself with so great study to drawing, assisted by nature,
who wished to make him universal, that having tried his hand at painting
with colours both in distemper and in fresco, even as one thing leads to
another, he succeeded so well with the assistance of Bernardo Orcagna,
his brother, that this Bernardo took him in company with himself to
paint the life of Our Lady in the principal chapel of S. Maria Novella,
which then belonged to the family of the Ricci. This work, when
finished, was held very beautiful, although, by reason of the neglect of
those who afterwards had charge of it, not many years passed before, the
roof becoming ruined, it was spoilt by the rains and thereby brought to
the condition wherein it is to-day, as it will be told in the proper
place. It is enough for the present to say that Domenico Ghirlandajo,
who repainted it, availed himself greatly of the invention put into it
by Orcagna, who also painted in fresco in the same church the Chapel of
the Strozzi, which is near to the door of the sacristy and of the
belfry, in company with Bernardo, his brother. In this chapel, to which
one ascends by a staircase of stone, he painted on one wall the glory of
Paradise, with all the Saints and with various costumes and head-dresses
of those times. On the other wall he made Hell, with the abysses,
centres, and other things described by Dante, of whom Andrea was an
ardent student. In the Church of the Servites in the same city he
painted in fresco, also with Bernardo, the Chapel of the family of
Cresci; with a Coronation of Our Lady on a very large panel in S. Pietro
Maggiore, and a panel in S. Romeo, close to the side-door. In like
manner, he and his brother Bernardo painted the outer facade of S.
Apollinare, with so great diligence that the colours in that exposed
place have been preserved marvellously vivid and beautiful up to our own
day.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
CHRIST WITH THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED
(_Detail from the_ "Paradise," _after the fresco by_ Bernardo di Cione
Orcagna. _Florence: S. Maria Novella_)]
Moved by the fame of these works of Orcagna, which were much praised,
the men who at that time were governing Pisa had him summoned to work on
a portion of one wall in the Campo Santo of that city, even as Giotto
and Buffalmacco had done before. Wherefore, putting his hand to this,
Andrea painted a Universal Judgment, with some fanciful inventions of
his own, on the wall facing towards the Duomo, beside the Passion of
Christ made by Buffalmacco; and making the first scene on the corner, he
represented therein all the degrees of lords temporal wrapped in the
pleasures of this world, placing them seated in a flowery meadow and
under the shade of many orange-trees, which make a most delicious grove
and have some Cupids in their branches above; and these Cupids, flying
round and over many young women (all portraits from the life, as it
seems clear, of noble ladies and dames of those times, who, by reason of
the long lapse of time, are not recognized), are making a show of
shooting at the hearts of these young women, who have beside them young
men and nobles who are standing listening to music and song and watching
the amorous dances of youths and maidens, who are sweetly taking joy in
their loves. Among these nobles Orcagna portrayed Castruccio, Lord of
Lucca, as a youth of most beautiful aspect, with a blue cap wound round
his head and with a hawk on his wrist, and near him other nobles of that
age, of whom we know not who they are. In short, in that first part, in
so far as the space permitted and his art demanded, he painted all the
delights of the world with exceeding great grace. In the other part of
the same scene he represented on a high mountain the life of those who,
drawn by repentance for their sins and by the desire to be saved,
have fled from the world to that mountain, which is all full of saintly
hermits who are serving the Lord, busy in diverse pursuits with most
vivacious expressions. Some, reading and praying, are shown all intent
on contemplation, and others, labouring in order to gain their
livelihood, are exercising themselves in various forms of action. There
is seen here among others a hermit who is milking a goat, who could not
be more active or more lifelike in appearance than he is. Below there is
S. Macarius showing to three Kings, who are riding with their ladies and
their retinue and going to the chase, human misery in the form of three
Kings who are lying dead but not wholly corrupted in a tomb, which is
being contemplated with attention by the living Kings in diverse and
beautiful attitudes full of wonder, and it appears as if they are
reflecting with pity for their own selves that they have in a short time
to become such. In one of these Kings on horseback Andrea portrayed
Uguccione della Faggiuola of Arezzo, in a figure which is holding its
nose with one hand in order not to feel the stench of the dead and
corrupted Kings. In the middle of this scene is Death, who, flying
through the air and draped in black, is showing that she has cut off
with her scythe the lives of many, who are lying on the ground, of all
sorts and conditions, poor and rich, halt and whole, young and old, male
and female, and in short a good number of every age and sex. And because
he knew that the people of Pisa took pleasure in the invention of
Buffalmacco, who gave speech to the figures of Bruno in S. Paolo a Ripa
d'Arno, making some letters issue from their mouths, Orcagna filled this
whole work of his with such writings, whereof the greater part, being
eaten away by time, cannot be understood. To certain old men, then, he
gives these words:
DACCHE PROSPERITADE CI HA LASCIATI,
O MORTE, MEDICINA D' OGNI PENA,
DEH VIENI A DARNE OMAI L' ULTIMA CENA!
with other words that cannot be understood, and verses likewise in
ancient manner, composed, as I have discovered, by Orcagna himself, who
gave attention to poetry and to making a sonnet or two. Round these dead
bodies are some devils who are tearing their souls from their mouths,
and are carrying them to certain pits full of fire, which are on the
summit of a very high mountain. Over against these are angels who are
likewise taking the souls from the mouths of others of these dead
people, who have belonged to the good, and are flying with them to
Paradise. And in this scene there is a scroll, held by two angels,
wherein are these words:
ISCHERMO DI SAVERE E DI RICCHEZZA,
DI NOBILTADE ANCORA E DI PRODEZZA,
VALE NIENTE A I COLPI DI COSTEI;
with some other words that are difficult to understand. Next, below
this, in the border of this scene, are nine angels who are holding
legends both Italian and Latin in some suitable scrolls, put into that
place below because above they were like to spoil the scene, and not to
include them in the work seemed wrong to their author, who considered
them very beautiful; and it may be that they were to the taste of that
age. The greater part is omitted by us, in order not to weary others
with such things, which are not pertinent and little pleasing, not to
mention that the greater part of these inscriptions being effaced, the
remainder is little less than fragmentary. After these works, in making
the Judgment, Orcagna set Jesus Christ on high above the clouds in the
midst of His twelve Apostles, judging the quick and the dead; showing on
one side, with beautiful art and very vividly, the sorrowful expressions
of the damned who are being dragged weeping by furious demons to Hell,
and, on the other, the joy and the jubilation of the good, whom a body
of angels guided by the Archangel Michael are leading as the elect, all
rejoicing, to the right, where are the blessed. And it is truly a pity
that for lack of writers, in so great a multitude of men of the robe,
chevaliers, and other lords, that are clearly depicted and portrayed
there from the life, there should be not one, or only very few, of whom
we know the names or who they were; although it is said that a Pope who
is seen there is Innocent IV, friend[18] of Manfredi.
[Illustration: ANDREA DI CIONE ORCAGNA: CHRIST ENTHRONED
(_Florence: S. Maria Novella, Strozzi Chapel. Fresco_)]