* * * * *
[Illustration: _Alinari_
TOMB OF CARDINAL BRANCACCI
NAPLES]
[Sidenote: The Brancacci Tomb.]
The Church of Sant' Angelo a Nilo at Naples contains the monument of
Cardinal Brancacci, one of the most impressive tombs of this period.
The scheme is a modification of the Coscia tomb. Instead of the three
Virtues in niches at the base, there are three larger allegorical
figures, which are free standing caryatides below the sarcophagus.
They are allegorical figures, perhaps Fates, and correspond with the
two somewhat similar statues at Montepulciano. The Cardinal's effigy
lies upon the stone coffin, the face of which has a bas-relief between
heraldic shields. Two angels stand above the recumbent figure, holding
back the curtain which extends upwards to the next storey, surrounding
a deep lunette in which there is a Madonna between two Saints. Here
the monument should have ended, but it is surmounted by an ogival
arch, flanked by two trumpeting children and with a central medallion
of God the Father. This topmost tier may have been a subsequent
addition. It overweights the whole monument, introduces a discordant
architectural motive, and is decorated by inferior sculpture. The
Madonna in the lunette is also poor, and the curtain looks as if it
were made of lead. But the lower portion of the tomb compensates for
the faults above. The caryatides, the bas-relief of the Assumption,
the Cardinal himself and the mourning angels above him, are all superb
in their different ways. Michelozzo may have been responsible for the
architecture, and Pagno di Lapo for the upper reliefs. Donatello
himself made the priceless relief of the Assumption, also the effigy,
and the two attendants standing above it. The entire tomb is marble:
it was made at Pisa,[95] close to the inexhaustible quarries which,
being near to the sea, made transport easy and cheap. From the time of
Strabo, the _marmor Lunense_ had been carried thence to every port of
the Peninsula.[96] Michelozzo took the tomb to Naples, and perhaps
added the final touches: not, indeed, that the carving is quite
complete, the Cardinal's ear, for instance, being rough-hewn.
Brancacci lies to the left, wearing a mitre on his head, which is
raised on a pillow. The chiselling of the face is masterly. The
features are shown in painful restless repose. The eyes are sunken and
half closed: the lips are drawn, the brow contracted, and the throat
shows all the tendons and veins which one notices in the Habbakuk, but
which are here relaxed and uncontrolled. It is a death-mask: a grim
and instantaneous likeness of the supreme moment, when the agony may
have passed away, but not without leaving indelible traces of the
crisis. The two angels look down on the dead prelate. They hold back
the curtain which would conceal the effigy, thus inviting the
spectator into the privacy of the tomb. In some ways these two angels
are among the noblest creations of the master. They are comparatively
small, their position is subordinate, and they have been repaired by a
clumsy journeyman. Yet they have a majestic solemnity. They are calm
impersonal mourners--not shrouded like the bowed figures which bear
the effigy of the Sénéchal of Burgundy.[97] They stand upright, simply
posed and simply clad guardian angels, absorbed by watching the dead.
The three large figures which support the sarcophagus are by
Michelozzo, and are intimately related to the Aragazzi caryatides.
That on the right has a Burgundian look. They form a striking group,
and their merits are not appreciated as they should be owing to the
excellence of the sculpture immediately above them.
[Footnote 95: Donatello worked there for eighteen months. See
documents in Centofanti, p. 4, &c.]
[Footnote 96: "_... Lapides albi et discolores ad coeruleum vergente
specie._" Strabo, "Geog.," 1807 ed., I. v. p. 314.]
[Footnote 97: Louvre, No. 216. Tomb of Philippe Pot, circa 1480.]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Stiacciato.]
The Assumption of the Virgin occupies the central position of the
tomb. It is a small panel. The Virgin is seated in a folding-chair
which is familiar in fifteenth-century art. Surrounding her are angels
supporting the clouds which make an oval halo round her, a _mandorla_.
The cloud, curiously enough, is very heavy, yielding to the touch, and
upheld by the flying angels, whose hands press their way into it, and
bear their burden with manifest effort. There is none of the limpid
atmosphere which Perugino secured in painting, and Ghiberti in
sculpture. But, on the other hand, the air is full of drama, presaging
an event for which Donatello thought a placid sky unsuitable. There
are seven angels in all; the lowest, upon whose head the Virgin rests
her foot, is half Blake and half Michael Angelo. But there are many
other busy little cherubs swimming, climbing, and flying amidst the
interstices of cloudland. The Virgin herself, draped in easy-flowing
material, has folded her hands, and awaits her entry to Paradise. Her
face is the picture of anxiety and apprehension. The Assumption is
carved in the lowest possible relief, called _stiacciato_. The word
means depressed or flattened. It is the word with which Condivi
describes the appearance of Michael Angelo's nose after it had been
broken--it was "_un poco stiacciato; non per natura_," but by the blow
of a certain Torrigiano, "_huomo bestiale e superbo_."[98] Donatello
was fond of this method of work. We have a fine example in London,[99]
and his most successful use of _stiacciato_ is on the Roman Tabernacle
made a few years after the Brancacci relief. Donatello did not invent
this style. It had been used in classical times, though scarcely to
the extent of Donatello, who drew in the marble. The Assyrians also
used this low-relief; we find the system fully understood in what are
perhaps the most spirited hunting scenes in the world.[100] In these
we also notice the square and rectangular undercutting similar to that
in many of Donatello's reliefs. Another specimen of this very
low-relief is found in Mr. Quincy Shaw's marble panel of the Virgin
and Child seated among clouds and surrounded by _putti_. This has been
attributed to Donatello on good authority,[101] though it must be
remarked that the cherubs' faces show poverty of invention which might
suggest the hand of a weaker man. Moreover, the cherubs have halos,
which is a later development, and quite contrary to Donatello's early
practice. But the relief is an interesting composition, and if by
Donatello, may be regarded as the parent of a group which attained
popularity. M. Gustave Dreyfus has a smaller marble variant of great
charm, made by Desiderio. A stucco panel treated in much the same
manner is preserved at Berlin. The Earl of Wemyss has an early version
in _repoussé_ silver of high technical merit. From this point of view
nothing is more instructive than a Madonna and Child at Milan.[102] It
is probably the work of Pierino da Vinci, and is a thin oval slab of
marble carved on either side. One side is unfinished, and is most
valuable as showing the facility with which the sharp graving tools
were employed to incise the marble. The composition bears a
resemblance to the reliefs just mentioned, and the pose of the two
heads is Donatellesque, but the Child is elongated and ill-drawn.
Again, from a technical point of view, a medallion portrait of the
late Lord Lytton shows that artists of our own day have used
_stiacciato_ with perfect confidence and success.[103] Donatello was
not always quite consistent in its employment. In the Entombment at
Padua it is combined with high-relief. He, no doubt, acted
deliberately; that is to say, he did not sketch a hand in
_stiacciato_, because he had forgotten to provide for it in deeper
relief. But the result is that the quality of the different planes is
lost, and there are discrepancies in the relative values of distance.
The final outcome of _stiacciato_ is the art of the medallist. It is
said that Donatello made a medal, but nobody has determined which it
is. Michelozzo certainly made one of Bentivoglio, about 1445.[104]
This admirable art, which reached its perfection during Donatello's
lifetime, owes something of its progress to the pioneer of
_stiacciato_.
[Footnote 98: "Vita di Michael Angelo," Rome, 1553, p. 49.]
[Footnote 99: Victoria and Albert Museum, Charge to Peter. See p. 95.]
[Footnote 100: British Museum, Assyrian Saloon, Nos. 63-6.]
[Footnote 101: Bode, "Florentiner Bildhauer," p. 119.]
[Footnote 102: In the Museo Archeologico in the Castello, unnumbered.]
[Footnote 103: By Alfred Gilbert, R.A., belonging to the present Earl
of Lytton.]
[Footnote 104: See Armand, "Les Médailleurs Italiens," 1887, iii. p.
3.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Alinari_
TOMB PLATE OF BISHOP PECCI
SIENA CATHEDRAL]
[Sidenote: Tombs of Pecci, Crivelli, and Others.]
The tomb of Giovanni de' Medici in San Lorenzo is interesting, and has
been ascribed to Donatello. There is no documentary authority for this
attribution, and on stylistic grounds it is untenable.[105] It is a
detached tomb, so common elsewhere, but of singular rarity in Italy.
The isolated tomb like this one, like that of Ilaria del Carretto, or
that of Pope Sixtus IV. in St. Peter's, has great advantages over the
tall upright monument _appliqué_ to a church wall. The latter is,
however, the ordinary type of the Renaissance. The free-standing tomb
can be seen from all aspects and lights. Although it must be
smaller--some of the later wall-tombs are fifty feet high--the
sculptor was obliged to keep his entire work well within the range of
vision, and had to rely on plastic art alone for success. Much
admirable sculpture, especially the effigies, has been lost by being
placed too high on some pretentious catafalque in relief against a
wall. The tomb of Giovanni, it is true, though standing in the centre
of the sacristy, is covered by a large marble slab, which is the
priest's table. It throws the tomb into dark shadow and makes it
difficult to see the carving. There are few tombs of important people
upon which so much trouble has been expended with so little result.
Donatello is also said to have made a tomb for the Albizzi, but it has
perished.[106] The tomb of Chellini in San Miniato, which tradition
ascribed to Donatello, is probably the work of Pagno di Lapo. The prim
and priggish Cardinal Accaiuoli in the Certosa of Florence does not
suggest Donatello's hand. Though conscientious and painstaking, the
work is without a spark of energy or conviction. These latter are
slab-tombs, flat plates fastened into the church pavements. We have
two authentic tombs of this character, on both of which Donatello has
signed his name. Had he not done so, we could never have established
his authorship of the marble slab-tomb of Archdeacon Crivelli in the
Church of Ara Coeli at Rome. It has been trampled by the feet of so
many generations, that all the features have been worn away; the
legend is wholly effaced in certain parts, and one corner has had to
be restored (though at some early date). But at best it cannot have
compared with Donatello's similar tomb of Bishop Pecci at Siena, and
one could quote numerous instances of equally good work by nameless
men. There is one close to the Crivelli marble itself, another in the
Pisa Baptistery, two in Santa Croce, and so forth. This kind of tomb
had to undergo rough usage. Everybody walked upon it: the deep relief
made it a receptacle for mud and rubbish. The effigy of the deceased,
as was probably intended by him, was humbled in the dust: _adhesit
pavimento_. The slabs got injured, and were often protected by low
tables with squat legs. Later on the slabs were raised enough to
prevent people standing on them, and thus became like free-standing
tombs; but it only made them more suitable for the sitting
requirements of the congregation. These sunken tombs, in fact, became
a nuisance. Although they were not carved in the very deep relief like
those one sees in Bavaria, they collected the dirt, and a papal brief
was issued to forbid them--_ut in ecclesiis nihil indecens
relinquatur_,[107] and the existing slabs were ordered to be removed.
Irretrievable damage must have resulted from this edict, but
fortunately it was disobeyed in Rome and ignored elsewhere. Nowadays
it has become the custom to place these slabs upright against the
walls, thus preventing further detrition. To Cavaliere D. Gnoli we owe
the preservation of the Crivelli tomb, which was in danger of complete
demolition.[108] By being embedded in a wall instead of lying in a
pavement this kind of monument, while losing its primitive position,
often gains in appearance. Crivelli, for instance, lies within an
architectural niche. His head rests on a pillow, the tassels of which
fall downwards towards his feet. When placed against a wall the need
for a pillow may vanish, but the meaning and use of the niche becomes
apparent, while the tassels no longer defy the laws of gravitation. He
becomes a standing figure at once, and the flying _putti_ above his
head assume a rational pose. It has been suggested that this and
similar tomb-plates were always intended to be placed upright, and
that the delicate ornamentation, of which some traces survive, would
never have been lavished on marble doomed to gradual destruction. No
general rule can be laid down, but undoubtedly most of these slabs
were meant to be recumbent. There are few cases where some
contradiction of _emplacement_ with pose cannot be detected. But two
examples may be noted where the slabs were clearly intended to be
placed in walls. An unnamed bishop at Bologna lies down, while at
either end of the slab an angel _stands_, at right angles to the
recumbent figure, holding a pall or curtain over the dead man.[109]
Signor Bardini also has an analogous marble effigy of a mitred bishop,
about 1430-40, who lies down while a friar stands behind his head.
These slabs were, therefore, obviously made for insertion in a wall,
and they are quite exceptional. The tomb-plate of Bishop Pecci in
Siena Cathedral is less open to objection on the ground of incongruity
between its position and the Bishop's pose. It is made of bronze, and
is set in the tessellated pavement of green, white and mauve marble.
Technically it is a triumph. Although the surface is considerably
worn, we have the sense of absolute calm and repose--in striking
contrast to the wearied look of Brancacci. The Bishop died on March 1,
1426; a few days previously he wrote his will, while he lay
dying--"_sanus mente licet corpore languens_"--and left careful
instructions as to his burial in an honourable part of the Cathedral
and how the exact cost of his funeral was to be met.[110] In a way the
figure resembles St. Louis, and Donatello probably had the help of
Michelozzo in the casting. The work itself is extremely good, and the
bronze has the rich colour which one finds most frequently in the
smaller provincial towns where time is allowed to create its own
_patina_. Donatello was a bold innovator, and the Tomb of Coscia,
though not the parent of the Renaissance theory of funeral monuments,
had marked influence upon its evolution. From the simple outdoor tombs
placed upon pillars, such as one principally finds north of the
Apennines, there issued a grander idea which culminated in the
monuments of the Scaligers at Verona. But Donatello reverted to the
earlier type of indoor tomb, and from his day the tendency to treat
them as an integral feature of mural and structural decoration
steadily increased. A host of sculptors filled the Tuscan churches
with those memorials which constitute one of their chief attractions.
These men imbued death with its most gentle aspect, concealing the
tragedy and sombre meaning of their work with gay arabesques and the
most living and lovable creations of their fancy. The _putti_, the
bright heraldry, the play of colour, and the opulence of decoration,
often distract one's eye from the effigy of the dead: and he, too, is
often smiling. He may represent the past: the rest of the tomb is
born of the present, and seldom--exception being made for a group of
tombs to which reference will be made later on[111]--seldom is there
much regard for the future. The dead at least are not asked to bury
their dead. They lie in state, surrounded by all that is most young
and blithe in life: it is a death which shows no indifference to the
life which is left behind. With them death is in the midst of life,
not life in the midst of death. Donatello was too severe for the later
Renaissance, and the brilliant sculptors who succeeded him lost
influence in their turn. With the development of sculpture, which
during Michael Angelo's lifetime acquired a technical skill to which
Donatello never aspired, the tomb became a vehicle for ostentation and
display; and there was a reaction towards the harsher symbols of
death. Instead of the quiet mourner who really mourns, we have the
strident and professional weeper--a parody of sorrow. Tier upon tier
these prodigious monuments rise, covering great spaces of wall,
decorated with skulls and skeletons, with Time carrying his scythe,
with negro caryatides, and with apathetic or showy models masquerading
as the cardinal virtues. The effigy itself is often perched up so high
as to be invisible, or sitting in a ridiculous posture. "Princes'
images on their tombs," says Bosola in Webster's play, "do not lie as
they were wont, seeming to pray up to heaven; but with their hands
under their cheeks, as if they had died of toothache."[112] Venice
excelled in this rotund and sweltering sculpture. Yet it cannot be
wholly condemned. Though artificial, theatrical and mundane, its
technical supremacy cannot be denied. The amazing ease with which
these huge monuments are contrived, and the absolute sense of mastery
shown by the sculptor over the material are qualities too rare to be
lightly overlooked. Whatever we may think of the artist, our
admiration is commanded by the craftsman.
[Footnote 105: Wreaths and _putti_ form its decoration, and though
Donatellesque, they are not by Donatello. This was pointed out as
early as 1819. See "Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana," p. 28.]
[Footnote 106: Bocchi, 354.]
[Footnote 107: Bull., "Cum primum," § 6, "_et ut in ecclesiis nihil
indecens relinquatur, iidem provideant, ut capsæ omnes, et deposita,
seu alia cadaverum, conditoria super terram existentia omnino
amoveantur, pro ut alias statutum fuit, et defunctorum corpora in
tumbis profundis, infra terram collocentur_." Bullarium, 1566, vol.
iv., part ii., p. 285. For the whole question of the evolution of
these tombs, see Dr. von Lichtenberg's valuable book, "Das Porträt an
Grabdenkmalen," Strassburg, 1902.]
[Footnote 108: See "Archivio Storico dell' Arte," 1888, p. 24, &c.]
[Footnote 109: In Santo Stefano, Cortile di Pilato.]
[Footnote 110: "Misc. Storica Senese," 1893, p. 30.]
[Footnote 111: See p. 171.]
[Footnote 112: From the Duchess of Malfi, quoted in Symonds' "Fine
Arts," p. 114.]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The Second Visit to Rome.]