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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
ITHACA, N.
JOHN
M.
Y. 14853
OUN
LIBRARY
NA5613.B3T"""''"'"'"-"'"^^ ''!'|«
"'Ijedral builders; the story of a gr
3 1924 008 738 340
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No.
M.3.......
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
THE
CATHEDRAL BUILDERS A GREAT MASONIC GUILD
THE STORT OF
BY LEADER SCOTT Honorary Member of the Accademia '
Author '
Handbook
of
'
The
dalle Belle Arti,' Florence
Renaissance of Art in
of Sculpture,'
'
Italy,'
Echoes of Old Florence,'
With Eighty
etc.
Illustrations
LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND COMPANY LIMPTED St.
Sunstan's 1|ous(
Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, 1899
E.C.
Richard Clay & Sons, Limi^ted, London & Bungay.
^
PROEM In most histories of Italian art
we
are conscious of a
vast hiatus of several centuries, between the ancient classic art of
Rome
—which was
Empire ceased
in its
decadence when the Western
in the fifth century after Christ
—and
that
early rise of art in the twelfth century which led to the
Renaissance. is generally supposed to be a time when Art was utterly dead and buried, its corpse in Byzantine dress lying embalmed in its tomb at Ravenna. But all death is nothing but the germ of new life. Art was not a corpse, it was only a seed, laid in Italian soil to germinate, and it bore several plants before the great reflowering
This hiatus
period of the Renaissance.
The seed sown by the Classic schools formed the link between them and the Renaissance, just as the Romance Languages of Provence and Languedoc form the link between the dying out of the classic Latin and the rise of modern languages. Now where are we In language
we
to look for this link
find
it
just
.''
between the
Roman and
Gallic Empires.
In Art
Lombardy
it
seems
—where
to be on that borderland Magistri Comacini, a mediaeval
also
the
Guild of Liberi Muratori{^r&&ix\a&or&), kept alive in their
through
traditions the seed of classic art, slowly training
it
Romanesque forms up
to the full
to the Gothic,
and hence
PROEM
VI
Renaissance.
It
writers Proven9al or
influence
spread in
think
if
coincidence
Romance
is
style, for
France even before
it
that
styled
this
by
the Gothic
expanded so
Germany.
gloriously in I
a significant
in Art, like the link-languages,
obscure link
many
is
we
shall find that
study these obscure Comacine Masters
we
they form a firm, perfect, and consistent link
between the old and the new, filling completely that ugly gap in the History of Art. So fully that all the different Italian styles, whose names are legion being LombardByzantine at Ravenna and Venice, Romanesque at Pisa and Lucca, Lombard-Gothic at Milan, Norman-Saracen in Sicily and the south, are nothing more than the different developments in differing climates and ages, of the art of
—
—
one powerful guild of sculptor-builders, who nursed the seed of Roman art on the border-land of the falling Roman Empire, and spread the growth in far-off countries.
We
was architecturally good in Italy during the dark centuries between 500 and 1200 a.d. was due to the Comacine Masters, or to their influence. To them can be traced the building of those fine Lombard Basilicas of S. Ambrogio at Milan, Theodolinda's church at Monza, S. Fedele at Como, San Michele at Pavia, and San Vitale at Ravenna as well as the florid cathedrals of Pisa, shall see that all that
;
Lucca, Milan, Arezzo, Brescia,
etc. Their hand was in the grand Basilicas of S. Agnese, S. Lorenzo, S. Clemente, and others in Rome, and in the wondrous cloisters and aisles of Monreale and Palermo.
Through them
architecture and sculpture
into foreign lands, France, Spain,
were carried Germany, and England,
and there developed into new and varied styles according to the exigencies of the climate, and the tone of the people.
The
flat roofs, horizontal architraves, and low arches of the Romanesque, which suited a warm climate, gradually changed as they went northward into the pointed
arches
PROEM
vii
and sharp gables of the Gothic the steep sloping lines being a necessity in a land where snow and rain were ;
frequent.
But however the architecture developed in after times, was the Comacine Masters who carried the classic germs and planted them in foreign soils it was the brethren of the Libert Muratori who, from their head-quarters at Como, were sent by Gregory the Great to England with it
;
Saint Augustine, to build churches for his converts
by Gregory II. to Germany with Boniface on a similar mission; and were by Charlemagne taken to France to build his church at Aix-la-Chapelle, the prototype of French Gothic. How and why such a powerful and influential guild seemed to spring from a little island in Lake Como, and
how
;
their world-wide reputation grew, the following scraps
of history, borrowed from
many an
ancient source,
will, I
hope, explain. It is
so
strange that Art historians hitherto have of the Comacine Masters.
little
I
made
do not think that
Cattaneo mentions them at
all. Hope, although divining a universal Masonic Guild, enlarges on all their work as Lombard Fergusson disposes of them in a single unimportant sentence and Symonds is not much more dif;
;
fuse
;
early
while Marchese Ricci gives them the credit of the
Lombard work and no more.
I
was
led at length to
a closer study of them by the two ponderous tomes on the Maestri Comacini^ by Professor Merzario, who has got together a huge amount of material from old writers, old deeds, and old stones.
Merzario
is
But valuable as the material
is,
bewildering in his redundancy, confusing in his
arrangement, and not sufficiently clear in his deductions, his ^
di
Professor Giuseppe Merzario.
Milk
duecento
Agnelli, of
12 frcs.)
2,
Via
anni, S.
600
I Maestri
— 1800.
Margherita, Milan.
Comacini.
Published in
Two
Storia ArHstica
1893 by Giacomo
vols., large octavo.
(Price
PROEM
viii
chief aim being to show how many famous artists came from Lombardy. I wrote to ask Signor Merzario if I might associate his name with mine in preparing a work for the English public, in which his research would furnish me with so much that is valuable to the history of art, but to my regret I found he
had died since the book was written, so I never received his permission though his publisher was vety kind in permitting me to use the book as a chief work of reference. With Merzario I have collated many other recognized authorities on architecture and archaeology, besides archivial docuI have tried to make some ments, and old chronicles. slight chronological arrangement, and some intelligible lists The reof the names of the Masters at different eras. searches of the great archivist Milanesi in his Documenti per la Storia dell' Arte Senese, and Cesare Guasti in his lately published collection of documents relating to the building of the DuomO of Florence, have been of immense service in throwing a light on the organization of the Lodges and their government. All that Signor Merzario dimly guessed from the more fragmentary earlier records of Parma, Modena, and Verona, shines out clear and welldefined under the fuller light of these later records, and ;
many a dark saying of the older times. thanks for much kind assistance in supplying me
helps us to read
My
with facts or authorities, are due to the Rev. Canonico Pietro Tonarelli of Parma cathedral the Rev. Vincenzo ;
Rossi, Priore of Settignano
Leader of Florence Miles Barnes,
;
;
and to
Commendatore John Temple
my
brother, the Rev. William
Rector of Monkton,
"English link"
for
me.
who
has written the
Acknowledgments are
also
due
Signor Alinari and Signor Brogi of Florence, and to Signor Ongania of Venice, for permitting the use of their to
photographs as
illustrations.
CONTENTS PAGE
PROEM
V
BOOK
I
ROMANO-LOMBARD ARCHITECTS
....
CHAP. I.
II.
III.
IV.
V. VI.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS CIVIL ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS COMACINE ORNAMENTATION IN THE LOMBARD ERA COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE IN THE TROUBLOUS TIMES .
BOOK
... .
3 .
.
.
3
.
6o 7
9° Io8
II
FIRST FOREIGN EMIGRATIONS OF THE COMACINES
III.
THE NORMAN LINK THE GERMAN LINK THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
IV.
THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND
I.
11.
121
133 (a SUGGESTION), BY
THE
REV. W. MILES BARNES
BOOK
139 .
.
.
.
l6l
III
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTS I.
II.
IIL
TRANSITION PERIOD
17^
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK THE TUSCAN LINK. I. PISA
192
2.
IV.
V.
LUCCA AND PISTOJA
2o6 .
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION CIVIL ARCHITECTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE ERA
.
.
.
.225 242
.
.
.
.
256
CONTENTS
X
BOOK ITALIAN-GOTHIC, I.
II.
III.
IV.
THE THE THE THE
265
AND ORVIETO LODGES
282
SIENA
FLORENTINE LODGE
308
MILAN LODGE
2.
VI.
AND RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTS
SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
1.
V.
IV PAGE
CHAP.
THE COMACINES UNDER THE VISCONTI THE CERTOSA OF PAVIA
THE VENETIAN LINK THE ROMAN LODGE
345 .
.
.
349 372
383
400
EPILOGUE
423
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
427
INDEX
429
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Cloister of S.
John Lateran, Rome
Frontispiece
Comacine Panel from the Church of San Clemente, Rome Frescoes in the Subterranean Church of San Clemente,
Rome
9 10
Rome
Church of Sta. Costanza,
Door
To face page
12
of the Church of S. Marcello at
Capua
13
Ancient Sculpture in Monza Cathedral
38
Comacine Capital
44
in
San Zeno, Verona
Basilica of S. Frediano at
Lucca
50
Fa9ade of San Michele
Favia
52
at
Tracing of an old print of the Tosinghi Palace, a mediaeval building once in Florence, with Laubia
Tower of SS. Giovanni
on the
e Paolo,
......
front
Rome
Byzantine Altar in the Church of S. Ambrc^io, Milan
Door of the Church of San Michele, Pavia at S.
Sculpture from Sant' Abbondio, Pulpit in the
Door
Ambrogio, Milan
78
.
....
of a Chapel in S. Prassede,
Marco
now
90 in S. Giacorao, Venice
.
in
102
San Zeno, Verona, emblematizing Man
clinging to
no
Christ (the Palm)
Capital in the Atrium oi S. Ambrogio, Milan
The West Door,
St.
Bartholomew, Smithfield
South Side of the Choir,
St.
Interior
.... ....
Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield
Palazzo del Popolo and Palazzo Comunale, Todi Fiesole Cathedral.
90 96
Comacine Capitals Exterior of San Piero a Grado, Pisa
Comacine Capital
82
88
Rome
dei Precipazi,
80 82
Como
Church of S. Ambrogio, Milan
Pluteus from S.
64 74
Fresco in the Spanish Chapel, S. Maria Novella, Florence
Comacine Knot on a panel
60
.
112
122 124 136 14s
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS S. Clemente, Rome. Interior showing ancient Tower of S. ApoUinare Nuovo, Ravenna
Tower S.
.... ....
Milan
of S. Satyrus.
ApoUinare in Classe, Ravenna
Door of the Church of S. Zeno
Tofacepag
screen
Verona
at
Baptistery at Parma, designed by Benedetto da Antelamo
Fa9ade of Ferrara Cathedral
Church of
Tomb
of
....
Padua
S. Antonio,
Can
Signorio degli Scaligeri at Verona
Interior of Pisa Cathedral
Pulpit in the Church of S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoj
Church of
S. Michele,
.... .... ....
Lucca
Cathedral of Lucca (San Martino)
.
Pulpit in Church of S. Bartolommeo, Pistoja
Church of S. Andrea, Pistoja
Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoja Church of
S. Maria,
Door of S. Giusto
Ancona
Lucca Door of the Cathedral of Beneventum Baptismal Font in Church of S. Frediano, Lucca at
Pilaster of the
.
Pulpit in the
Church of Groppoli near
Pistoja
Pulpit in Siena Cathedral
The
Riccardi Palace, built for Lorenzo dei Medici
Tomb of Mastino
II. degli Scaligeri, at
Capital of a Column in the Ducal Doorway of the Municipal Palace
Palazzo Pubblico at Perugia
Court of the Bargello, Florence
Tower of Palazzo Vecchio
Verona
.
.
Palace, Venice at Perugia
....
at Florence
Eighth-century Wall Decoration in Subterranean Church of S. Clemente,
Rome Frescoes of the eighth century in the
Subterranean
Church of
S.
Clemente, Rome, with portraits of the Patron Beno di Rapizo and his
Family
Interior of
Church of San Piero a Grado near
Pisa, with Frescoes of the
ninth century
Figures from paintings in Assisi by Magister Giunta of Pisa
Fresco at S. Gimignano
...
Front of Siena Cathedral
Door
in Orvieto Cathedral
Monument
to Cardinal de Braye
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
Shrine in
........
Or San Michele, Florence
Small Cloister of the Certosa of Pavia
.
.
...
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Marble
Work on
the
Xlll
Roof of Milan Cathedral
To face
Capital in Milan Cathedral
364
366
North Door of Como Cathedral, sculptured by Tommaso Rodari Renaissance Front of the Church of the Certosa at Pavia
368
.
378
.
Fagade of Monza Cathedral
380
The Cathedral and Broletta at Como The Ca d'Oro, Venice Ducal Palace at Venice. The side built by
382 388 the Buoni Family
390
.
Court of the Ducal Palace at Venice
Apse of the Church of SS. Giovanni Basilica of S. Va.Ao fum-i
Pulpit in
Church of
inlaid in
Candelabrum
S.
k
mura,
392 e Paolo
on the Coelian
Hill,
Rome
Rome
Cesareo in Palatio, Rome.
Mediaeval Sculpture
Mosaic in S. Paolo at
.
Rome
.
404 406
.
.
.
.
408 412
BOOK
I
ROMANO-LOMBARD ARCHITECTS
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS CHAPTER
I
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS In looking back to the great church-building
era,
i. e.
to
the centuries between iioo and 1500, do not the questions arise in one's mind, " How did all these great and noble
up simultaneously in all countries and all and "How comes it that in all cases they were
buildings spring
climates
? "
similar to each other at similar times
when the
In the twelfth century,
" ?
Italian buildings,
such
Bergamo, Como, etc., were built with round arches, the German Domkirchen at Bonn, Mayence, Treves, Lubeck, Freiburg, etc. the French churches at Aix, Tournus, Caen, Dijon, etc. and the as the churches at Verona,
;
;
English cathedrals at Canterbury,
Chichester, St.
those — the —were not only round-arched, but had an almost
Bartholomew's in London
same time
Bristol,
identical style,
and that
in fact, all
style
In the thirteenth century, with the round in
temporaneously
Italy,
the
built at
was Lombard.
when pointed arches mingled same mixture is found con-
in all the other countries.
Again in the fourteenth century, when Cologne, and Magdeburg cathedrals were built in
Stras-
burg,
Gothic arose
;
in
then those of Westminster, York, Salisbury,
England
;
the
Domes
of
Milan,
Assisi,
pure etc.,
and
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
4
and the churches of Beauvais, Laon, These all came, almost simulFrance. sister buildings with one impronto on
Florence in Italy
and Rouen taneously,
them
in
like
;
all.
Is
likely
it
that
many
single
architects
same
ideas at the
countries would have had the
in
different
same time ?
Could any single architect, indeed, have designed every detail of even one of those marvellous complex buildings ? or have executed or modelled one-tenth of the wealth of sculpture lavished on one of those glorious cathedrals ? I
think not.
The
existence of one of these churches argues a plurality
of workers under one governing influence
the existence of
;
them
all argues a huge universal brotherhood of architects and sculptors with different branches in each country, and the same aims, technique, knowledge and principles permeating through all, while each conforms in detail to local influences and national taste. If we once realize that such a Guild must have existed,' and that under the united hands of the grand brotherhood, the great age of church-building was endowed with monuments which have been the glory of all ages, then much that has been obscure in Art History becomes clear and what was before a marvel is now shown to be a natural ;
result.
There
another point also to be considered. The great age of church-building flourished at a time when other arts and commerce were but just beginning. Whence, out of the dark ages, sprang the skill and knowledge to build such fine and scuplturesque edifices, when other is
trades were in their infancy, scarcely organized It is
civic
indeed a subject of wonder
men
and communal
life
?
early period of the rise of find
and
how
Art were
almost in the dark ages,
the artists of the
trained.
who were
Here we
the most splen-
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS
s
did architects, and at the same time sculptors, painters, and
even poets. How, for instance, did Giotto, a boy taken from the sheep-folds^ learn to be a painter, sculptor, and architect of such rank that the city of Florence chose him to be the builder of the Campanile? Did he learn it
from
all
Cimabue's frescoes, and half Byzantine and how did he prove to the city that he was a
tavole ?
old
We
find him written in the archives as Magister Giotto, consequently he must have passed qualified architect
?
through the school and laborerium of some guild where every branch of the arts was taught, and have graduated in
it
as a master.
All these things will
we
follow
up the
become more and more clear as Comacine Guild from the
traces of the
which Roman art hybernated during the dark winter of the Middle Ages, through the grub state chrysalis state, in
Lombard
of the the
period, to the glorious
winged
flights of
Gothic of the Renaissance.
full
And
first as to the chrysalis, at little Como. The origin name Comacine Masters has caused a great deal of argument amongst Italian writers new and old. Some
of the
merely a place-name referring to the island of Comacina, in Lake Lario or Como others take a wider
think
it
;
means not only the city of Como, the province, which was once a Roman colony of
significance,
but
all
and say
it
great extension.
Others again, among
suggest that
not a place-name at
it
is
whom
all,
is
Grotius,
but comes from
the Teutonic word Gemachin or house-builders.
As
the
Longobards afterwards called them in Italian Maestri Casarii, which means the same thing, there is perhaps something to be said for this hypothesis. The first to draw attention to the name Magistri Comacini, was the erudite Muratori, that searcher out of ancient MSS., who unearthed from the archives an edict, dated November 22, 643, signed by King Rotharis, in which
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
6
Coma-
are included two clauses treating of the Magistri
and
cini
The two
their colleagues.
clauses,
Nos. 143 and
144, out of the 388 inscribed in crabbed Latin, are, anglicized, to the following intent
when
If the Of the Magister Comacinus. "Art. 143. shall have (colleagues) colliganti his Comacine Master with contracted to restore or build the house of any person
whatsoever, the contract for payment being made, and it chances that some one shall die by the fall of the said house, or any material or stones from
house
it,
the owner of the said
not be cited by the Magister Comacinus or his
shall
brethren to compensate them for homicide or injury
cause having for their
own gain
;
be-
contracted for the payment
of the building, they must sustain the risks and injuries thereof."^
"Art.
Of
144.
the engaging or hiring oi Magistri.
If any person has engaged or hired one or more of the Comacine Masters to design a work {conduxerit ad operam
dictandam), or to daily assist his palace or a house, and
workmen
is
stone shall
not considered responsible
kill
in
killed, ;
but
the owner of if
him
a pole or a
or injure any extraneous person, the Master
builder shall not bear the blame, but the person shall
building a
should happen that by reason of
some Comacine should be
the house the house
it
who
hired
make compensation."^
V
^
" Si Magister Comacinus,
cum
aliquem per ipsam libet
damnum
domum
fieri,
Magister Comacinus
non
cum
suis, domum ad restaurandum, de mercede susceperit, et contigerit
coUegis
vel fabricandum super se placito finito
aut materiam, aut lapide lapso moti, aut quodrequiratur
domino, cuius
domus
fuerit, nisi
consortibus suis ipsum homicidium aut
damnum
componat, qui postquam fabulam firmatam de mercede pro suo lucro susciperit, non immerito sustinet damnum." ^
" Si quis Magister
Comacinum unum
aut plures rogaverit, aut con-
operam dictandum, aut solatium diumum praestandum inter suos servos ad domum aut casam faciendam et contigerit per ipsam casam, aliquem ex ipsis Comacinis mori non requiratur ab ipso, cuius casa duxerit ad
est.
Nam
si
cadens arbor, aut lapis ex ipsa fabrica, et occiderit aliquem
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS These laws prove
that
seventh
the
in
century
7
the
Magistri Comacini were a compact and powerful guild, capable of asserting their rights, and that the guild was properly organized, having degrees of different ranks that the higher orders were entitled Magistri, and could " design " or " undertake " a work i. e. act as architects and that the colligantes worked under, or with, them. In ;
;
;
a powerful organization altogether
fact,
so solid, that
it
But when and how did
Was
—
so powerful and speaks of a very ancient foundation. it
originate
;
?
a surviving branch of the Roman Collegium ? a decadent group of Byzantine artists stranded in Italy ? or was it of older Eastern origin ? clever logician could it
A
prove
it
to be
all
three.
For the Roman
he could base his arguments on the Latin nomenclature of officials, and the Latin form of theory,
the churches.
For the Byzantine
he would have the style of and the assertions of German writers, such as Miiller, and Stieglitz, For the ancient Eastern theory, he might plead their Hebrew and Oriental symbolism.
certain
theory,
ornamentations,
We will take the Byzantine theory
first.
"
Miiller {Archaeo-
From
Constantinople 224) says that as the centre of mechanical skill, a knowledge of art radiated to distant countries, corporations of builders of Grecian birth logie
der Kunst,
p.
:
were permitted to exercise a
judicial
government among
themselves according to the laws of the country to which
History of time the Architecture, records a tradition Lombards were in possession of Northern Italy, i. e. from they
owed
allegiance;"
and
Stieglitz, in his
that
the sixth to the eighth century, extraneum, aut quodlibet sed
ille
Rotharis
at
the
the Byzantine builders
damnum fecerit, non reputetur culpa damnum sustineat." From the
qui conduxit, ipsum
—edited by Troyes.
—
magistro,
Edict of
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
8
formed themselves into guilds and associations, and that on account of having received from the Popes the privilege of living according to their own laws and ordinances, they were called Freemasons.^
and Latin writers, however, Greek artists at a later period have been sculptors, who, rebelling Italian
place the advent of these
they are supposed to the
against
;
Icorioclasm
strict
of
Leo,
the
Isaurian
—
came over to Italy where art was more 741 and joined the Collegia there. But at this time most of the chief Longobardic churches were already built by the Comacine Masters, and were Roman in form, mediaeval in ornamentation, and full of Herr Stieglitz must have pre-datedhis ancient symbolism. Besides this I can find no sign in Italian buildtradition. ings, or writers about them, of any lasting Byzantine influence. Indeed pure Byzantine architecture in Italy seems sporadic and isolated, not only in regard to site, but 718
A.D. to
free,
regard to time.
in
a
little
tine
;
work
The Ravenna
in Venice, is all
Rome,
mosaics, a few in
one can
call
and the influence never spread
absolutely Byzan-
The Comacine
far.
ornamentation indeed has qualities utterly distinct in in some of its forms allied to Byzantine.
though
possible that
spirit,
It
is
some of these Eastern exiles joined the Comais quite enough in the communications
cine Guild, but there
of
Como
with the Greeks, to account for their having im-
much as they did of Byzantine style. Some of the Bishops who were rulers of Como before and after Lombard times were Greeks notably Amantius the fourth, who was translated there from Thessalonica, and his sucbibed as
;
cessor,
S.
Abbondio.
Also
through
the
Patriarch
of
whose jurisdiction they were brought later, the guild was put into contact with the Greek sculptors then at Venice, Grado, and Ravenna. Aquileja, under
^ Stieglitz, Geschichie der Baukunst, 1827, pp. 423, 424. Hope's Historical Essay on Architecture, 1835, pp. 229 237.
—
See also
CoMACiNE Panel from the Church of San Clemente, Rome. The Lattice-viork is made of «. .SINGLE strand INTERLACED. Date, 6th CENTURY. [To ace page g.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS
9
We will leave the Oriental theory aside as too vague and depending as it does on a few Oriental symbols, and certain forms of decoration, and will look nearer home even to Rome, with which a connection may certainly be found, and that in a form visible to our modern eyes. Rome is almost as full of remains of what is now styled traditional for proof,
—
Comacine architecture, as it is of classic and pagan ruins, and they are nearly as deeply buried. Go where you will, and in the vestibules or crypts of churches, now of gaudy Renaissance style, you will find the sign and seal of the ancient guild. Investigate any church which has a Lombard tower and they are many and you will discover that the hands which built that many-windowed tower have left their mark on the church. In that wonderful third-century basilica, which was discovered beneath the thirteenthcentury one of S. Clemente in the almost subterranean basilica of S. Agnese fuori le mura ; in the vestibule of the in Santa Maria in Cosmedin florid modern SS. Apostoli and various other buildings, are wonderful old slabs of marble with complicated Comacine knots on them. Our illustration is from a slab in San Clemente, which was evidently from the buried church, though used as a panel in the parapet of
—
—
;
;
the existing choir.
marble, which, cord, twined
if
A
;
marvellous piece of basket-work in
studied, will be found
and intertwined.
An
composed of a single
almost identical panel
is
preserved in the wall of the staircase to S. Agnese, another has just been found reversed, and the back of
it
used for
the thirteenth-century mosaic decoration of the pulpit in S.
Maria
Then
in
Cosmedin.
in the later
Lombard churches
of S. Lorenzo in
one now mostly minus
Lucina, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, S. John Lateran,
may
see the crouching Comacine lions,
etc.,
and shoved under square door-lintels, or built into walls, where they remain to tell of the ancient builders whose sign and seal they were. their pillars,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
lo
And
here and there
we
get a name.
In the vestibule of the SS. ApostoU
is
a red marble
on the base of which in Gothic letters is the name BASSALECTI. Beneath it is an old inscription, " Opus magister Bassalecti Marmorari Romano sec, XIII." This same Magister's name, spelt Vassalecti, has lately been discovered inscribed on the capitals of some columns in lion,
the nave of S. John Lateran. In the under church of S. Clemente, an ancient fresco of this.
Here we
see a veritable KomSin Magister directing his men.
He stands
the eighth century takes us further back than
may men in
in magisterial toga (and surely one
descry a masonic
the moving of a apron beneath it!), directing his simplicity of the primiwith the naive and column, marble Albertel tive artist each man's name is written beside him. and Cosmaris are dragging up the column with a rope, the
sons of Pute,
who
are possibly novices, are helping them,
while Carvoncelle
These men are is
all
is
lifting
from behind with a
it
lever.
in short jerkins, but the master, Sisinius,
standing in his toga, directing them with outstretched
hand.
Here
is
Roman Collegium embalmed we may see him and his men at
the Magister of a
and preserved for us, that work as they were in the early centuries after Christ. We know that Masonic Collegia were still existing in Rome in the time of Constantine and Theodosius we know that Constantine built the ba"feilica of S. Agnese, afterwards restored by Pope Symmachus also those of S. Lorenzo at least the round-arched part of it enlarged by Galla Placidia in the fifth century S. Paolo fuori le Mura, and ;
;
—
;
other ancient churches.
We
see from remains recently
brought to light, that these were originally of the exact plan of the churches built "in the Roman manner" at Hexham and York in England, and of the Ravenna churches, and S. Pietro in
Grado
at Pisa, also nearly
contemporary.
We
Frescoes in the Subterranean Church of San Clemente, Rome. Upper line, Byzantine, 4TH century; under ones, Comacine, 8th century. [To face page
lo.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS further realize that
ii
of these were identical in style with
all
the finer specimens of
Lombard
some
building
centuries
later. There is only the natural decline of art which would have taken place in the century or two of barbarian invasion, between the two epochs, but the traditionary forms, methods, etc., are all reproduced in the Lombard-Comacine
Compare the fourth-century door of the church Capua with the eighth-century one of S. Michele at Pavia, and you will find precisely the same style of art. Compare the Roman capitals of the church of Santa
churches.
of S. Marcello at
Costanza, built by Constantine, with the capitals in any
Comaicine church up to 1200, and you
will see the
same
mixture of Ionic and a species of Corinthian with upstanding volutes.
Some
of the Comacine buildings have these
upright volutes plain instead of foliaged.
but
I
The effect is
rude,
think these plainer capitals were not a sign of
incapacity
in
the architects of the guild,
richly ornate ones
on the same building.
stock design of the inferior masters,
for
It
one sees
was only the
when funds
did not
allow of payment for richer work.
may be
That architects of the same guild worked in Rome and in Ravenna in the early centuries after Christ (2) that though the architects were Roman, the decorators up to the fourth century were chiefly Byzantine, or had imbibed that style as their paintings show (3) that in the time when Rome lay a heap of Therefore
it
inferred: (i)
;
;
ruins under the barbarians, the Collegium, or a Collegium^ I know not which, fled to independent Como and there in after centuries they were employed by the Longobards, and ;
ended in again becoming a powerful guild. Hope, the author of an historical Essay on Architecture, had a keen prevision of this guild, although he had no documents or archives, but only the testimony of old After sketching the stones and buildings to prove it. formation of the Roman Collegia, and the employment of
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
12
their
members
as Christian architects
under the early Popes,
he says "that a number of these, finding their work in Rome gone in the times of invasion, banded together to do such work in other parts of the world." He seems to think that the nucleus of this union was Lombardy, where the superiority of the architecture, under the Lombard kings, was such that the term Magistri Comacini became almost a generic name for architects. He says that builders and sculptors formed a single grand fraternity, whose scope was to find work outside Italy. Indeed distance and obstacles were nothing to them they travelled to England under Augus;
Germany with St. Boniface, to France with Charlemagne, and again to Germany with their brother magister, Albertus Magnus they went to the east under the Eastern Emperors, to the south under the Lombard Dukes, and in fact are found everywhere through many centuries. The tine, to
;
Popes, one after another, gave them privileges. builders
may be
the interest of the Popes, in aries
Indeed the
considered an army of artisans working in all
places
who preceded them had prepared
where the mission-
the ground for them.
Diplomas and papal bulls confirmed to the guild the had obtained under their national sovereigns,
privileges they
and besides guaranteed their safety in every Catholic country which they visited for the scope of their association. They assumed the right to depend wholly and solely on the Pope, which absolved them from the observance of all local laws and statutes, royal edicts, and municipal regulations, and released them from servitude, as well as all other obligations imposed on the people of the country. They had not only the power of fixing their own honorarium, but the exclusive right of regulating in their
own
lodges everything that
their own internal government. Those diplomas and bulls prohibited any other artist, extraneous to the g^ild, from establishing any kind of competition with
appertained to
them.
.
.
.
Encouraged by such a
special protection, the
Church of Sta. Costanza, Rome.
Built in the 4Th century.
{From a photograph by
Alznarz.)
[See Pixge ir-
Door of the Church of
S.
Marcello at Capua, 4TH century.
[From a photograph by Aimayi'.)
[To/ace page
11 or 13,
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS Romans
in
particularly
great numbers
when they were
entered the
13
Masonic Guild,
destined to accompany the
by the Pope to countries hitherto unvisited by them. The Greeks also did not delay to take part. The Exarchate of Ravenna, first detached from the Greek Empire by the power of the Lombard princes, had by King Pepin been given to the Popes. The commercial relations and communications of all kinds maintained with Constantinople by the many cities of Northern Italy, daily attracted many Greeks to this city finally, the political turbulence of Constantinople, and chiefly the fanaticism of the Iconoclasts, continued to associate Greek artists with Italy, and many of these were received in the lodges, whose number constantly increased. As civilization became more diffused, the inhabitants of northern countries, French, Germans, Belgians, and English, were admitted to form part of these guilds. Without this concession they would probably have had to fear a perilous competition, encouraged by the sovereigns of other countries. These corporations were always in league with the Church, which in those times of war and constant struggle, of military service and feudal slavery, was the only asylum for those who wished to cultivate the arts of peace. Theremissionaries sent
.
.
.
;
.
.
.
we
fore
see
ecclesiastics
of high
rank, abbots, prelates,
bishops, exalting the respect in which the Freemasons were held,
by joining the guild as members.
They gave
designs
for their own churches, overlooked the building, and employed their own monks in the manual labour. Such is broadly the substance of Hope's account of It shows remarkable insight, the great Lombard Guild. for when he wrote, the documentary evidences which have It also explains prelately been collected were wanting.^ cisely the close connection with monks and the Church, 1
See Hope's Historical Essay on Architecture, 3rd edition, 1840, chap, 203 216.
xxi. pp.
—
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
14
which appears for the
In
Greek all
in all the story of the guild,
it
accounts
we
see that
influence in the ornamentation.
the course of the history of building
each country or province had to obtain this
and
Collegium at Rome,
as Villani says
its
all
architects from
the cities of Italy
and were obliged to apply to the Grand Master of the whole guild. Thus the early Popes had to beg architects for Rome from the Lombard kings Pope Adrian had to apply to Charlemagne for builders and so on up to the time when all the church-building Communes had to seek architects from some existing lodge. Giovanni Villani shows us the intimate connection of did,
;
;
the
Roman
Collegium with Florence.
He
says that after
Caesar had destroyed Fiesole he wished to build another city to this.
be called Cesaria, but the Senate would not permit The Senate, however, gave his Generals Macrinus,
Cneus Pompey, and Martius equal power to build, and between them they founded Florence, bringing the water from Monte Morello by an aqueduct. Villani says the Magistri came from Rome for all these works. That was in the days when the great masonic company had their Grand Lodge in Rome, before the martyrdom of the Albinus,
Santi Quattro, afterwards their patron saints. In Chapter XLII. Villani relates how when the citizens of Florence wished to build a temple to Mars, they sent to the Senate of
Rome
to
beg that they would supply the
most capable and clever Magistri that Rome could furnish. This was done,^ and the Baptistery was erected in its first
form.
Again whilst Charlemagne and Pope Adrian were employing the Comacines to rebuild the ruins of Rome, we find from Villani (lib. iii. chap, i) that Charlemagne *
E mandaro
maestri, e piti
al
sottili
Sioria di G. Villani.
Senate di Roma, che mandassi loro (subtle)
che fossero in
Libro primo, cap.
xlii.
Roma
:
i
piii sofficienti
e cosi fu
fatto.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS sent
some Romans with
"all
15
the masters there were in
Rome vennero con quanti maestri n'avea in Roma per piu tosto murarla) to fortify Florence, which had appealed to him for succour against the Fiesolans. In this manner, " (e
says Villani, " the Magistri
began to rebuild our noble
As to
the
who came
city of Florence."
early as the fifth century Cassiodorus
work of the Comacines when
" public architects "
company
—and
their " airy
Magister
is
—the
Romans
with the
seems
to refer
writing about the
very expression implies a public
admiring the grand
edifices with columns, slight as canes," he adds, " to be called
Italian
an honour to be coveted,
stands for great
skill."
for the
word always
^
This brings us to the question of the Latin nomenclature. No really qualified Comacine architect is ever mentioned either in sculptured inscription, parchment deed, or in the registers of the lodges, without the prefix Magister, a title
which Cassiodorus,
for one, respected.
It
was not a term
indiscriminately to all builders, like murarius and we find that the subordinate ranks of stone-cutters or masons were called by the generic name of operarius. I
applied
take
it
that the word, as
applied to the higher rank
of
the same value as the
of
Comacine Master in the old trade guilds of London, Guild, has
the
i. e.
title
one who
has passed through the lower rank of the schools and laborerium, and has by his completed education risen to the stage of perfection, when he may teach others. Morrona^ gives the same definition. Judging from ancient inscriptions and documents, he says that " operator
(Latin operarius)
while Magister
commands. 1
is
used
signifies
When
for
one who works materially who designs and
the architect
a Magister carries out his
Cassiodorus, Variorum, Lib. VI. Epist.
vi.
Ad
own
designs,
Prefectum Urbis
Be
Architecta Publicorum. 2
Morrona, Pisa
"
illustrata nelU
Arti del Disegno,
p. 160.
Pisa, 1812.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i6
he
said to be operator ipse magister, as in the case of
is
Magister Rainaldus, who designed and sculptured the fagade of the
Duomo
at Pisa.
In warlike times such as the Middle Ages, the only
means by which artisans could protect their interests was by mutual protection, and hence the necessity and origin of Trade Guilds in general. The Masonic one appears to have been a universal fraternity with an earlier origin ;
indeed
many
of their symbols point to a very ancient Eastern
and
derivation,
it
probable
is
it
was the prototype of
all
other guilds.
began writing this chapter a curious chance has brought into my hands an old Italian book on the institutions, rites, and ceremonies of the order of FreeOf course the anonymous writer begins with masons.^ Adoniram, the architect of Solomon's Temple, who had so Since
I
many workmen
very
to pay, that not. being able to dis-
them by name, he divided them into three different classes, novices, operatori, and magistri, and to each class gave a secret set of signs and passwords, so that from these It their fees could be easily fixed, and imposture avoided. is interesting to know that precisely the same divisions and classes existed in the Roman Collegium and the Comacine Guild and that, as in Solomon's time, the great symbols of the order were the endless knot, or Solomon's knot, and tinguish
—
the " Lion of Judah."
Our author goes on masonry,
to tell of the
gives Oliver Cromwell, of revival
!
second revival of Freeand he
in its present entirely spiritual significance,
The
rites
all
people, the credit of this
and ceremonies he describes are the
greatest tissue of mediaeval superstition, child's play, blood-
curdling oaths, and mysterious secrecy with '
Instituzioni, riti e
Libert Muratori. saglia.
Con
— In
nothing to
ceremonie dell' ordine 'de'
Francs-Ma(onSy ossia
MDCCLXXXVIII,
presso Leonardo Bas-
Venezia
Licenza de' Superior!.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS conceal, that can be imagined.
without a figment of reality
;
17
All the signs of masonry
every moral thing masquerades
under an architectural aspect, in that " Temple made without hands" which is figured by a Freemasons' lodge in these days. But the significant point is that all these names and masonic emblems point to something real which
some long-past time, and, as far as regards the organization and nomenclature, we find the whole thing in its vital and actual working form in the Comacine Guild. Our nameless Italian who reveals all the Masonic secrets, existed at
tells
us that every lodge has three divisions, one for the
novices, one for the operatori or working brethren, and one
meeting or recreation room and no lodge can be established without a minimum of two masters. Now wherever we find the Comacines at work,
for the masters, besides a
;
that
we
find the threefold organization of schola or school for
the novices, laborerium for the operatori, and the Opera or Fabbrica for the Masters of Administration.
The anonymous one tells us that there is a Gran Maestro or Arch-magister at the head of the whole order, a Capo Maestro or chief Master at the head of each lodge. Every lodge must besides be provided with two or four Soprastanti, a treasurer, and a secretary-general, This is precisely what we find in the besides accountants. Lodges. As we follow them of Comacine organization the through the centuries we shall see it appearing in city after city, at first dimly shadowed where documents are wanting, but at last fully revealed by the books of the treasurers and Soprastanti themselves, in Siena, Florence, and Milan.
Thus, though there is no certain proof that the Comacines were the veritable stock from which the pseudoFreemasonry of the present day sprang, we may at least admit that they were a link between the classic Collegia and all other art and trade guilds of the Middle Ages. They
were
called
Freemasons because they were builders of a
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i8
privileged class, absolved from taxes and servitude, and free
The term was
to travel about in times of feudal bondage.
Findel applied to them both in England and Germany. quotes two old English MSS., one of 12 12, where the words " sculptores lapidum liberorum " are in close conjunction with coementari,
which
Latin form for
the oldest
is
builder and another dated 1396, where occurs the phrase " latomos vocatos fremaceons." In the rolls of the building ;
of Exeter and Canterbury cathedrals the word
Freimur
is
and no better proof can be given of the way the came into England. The Italian term muratori went into Germany with the Comacine
frequent,
early Masonic guild liberi
who
Masters,
built
Lombard
before Gothic ones were known Teutonized as Freimur into England.^
city,
^
The
Charter Richard
II. for
many a German
buildings in
thence
;
it
passed
the year 1396, quoted in the Masonic " 341 Concessimus archiepiscopo
—
Magazine (1882), has the following entry
Cantuar, quod, viginti et quatuor lathomos vocatus et
quatuor lathomos vocatos
at
Canterbury
building
is
cities,
universal guild,
.
.
.
capere
the same thing as at Milan, and
—
^the
.
ffre .
all
.
—the underlings who VI.,
Maceons et viginti Here then
possit."
other ancient cathedral-
e. of the great and them have not the same rank and 1444, says in queer mixed parlance
master builders are Freemasons,
The Act Henry
privilege.
ligiers
i.
assist
c. 12,
— " Les gagez ascun frank mason ou maister Carpenter nexcede pas par &
le
im rough mason and mesne Carpenter ... Ill d. par le jour." Here we recognize the same distinction of grades between the master who has matriculated and the mason of lower grade. It is interesting also to note that the master carpenter is equally a Freemason as well as the master builder. In Italy the same peculiarity is noticeable; the magister lignamine, whose work was to make scaffoldings and roofs, is a member of the Maestranze, just as much as the magister lapidorum, and yet a master in wood is never a stonemason. The members seem to have been grounded in all the branches, but only graduated in one of them. The author of the article " Freemason " in the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, seems to be perplexed over the expression "maestre mason de franche peer"
jour IIIJ d. (denari) ovesque mangier
(" master
Latin
mason of
magister
.
.
.
but this is merely the equivalent of the from Saxum vivum, free-stone, which distinction to an architect, who was magistei
free-stone ")
lapidus vivum,
merely means a sculptor, in inzignorum.
boier
;
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS Cesare Cantu {Storia di Como, vol. i. describes the Guild " Our Como architects certainly gave the
p.
19
440) thus
name
to the
Masonic companies, which, I believe, had their origin at this time, though some claim to derive them from Solomon. These were called together in the Loggie (hence Lodge) by a grand-master to treat of affairs common to the order, and confer superior degrees on others. The chief Lodge had other dependencies, and all members were instructed in their duties to the Society, and taught to to accept novices,
direct every action to the glory of the Lord and His worship to live faithful to God and the Government to lend themselves to the public good and fraternal charity. In the dark times which were slowly becoming enlightened, they communicated to each other ideas on architecture, ;
;
buildings, stone-cutting, the choice of materials taste
design.
in
symbols.
Strength, force, and
Bishops, princes,
men
and good beauty were their
of high rank
who
studied
architecture fraternized with them, but the mixture of so
many
different classes
Freemasons.
when
The
the science
changed
in
time the
spirit
of the
fell
original forms of building into the
were lost hands and caprice of venal
artisans."
We
way in which the Comacines spread wherever they went. When they began building in any new place, they generally founded a lodge there, which comprised a laborerium and school. Thus we find one under the Antellami family in Parma before 1200, and not long after one in Modena under the same masters from Campione. The lodge is clearly defined at Orvieto shall see the
fraternity
At one
era in
Lombard
times a law was
made
used in building, except by royal persons
that
—which
no marble was accounts for
to be
all
the
Lombard churches being .sculptured in Saxum vivum, or free-stone. There may have been a similar custom in England where marble was scarce.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
20
Lucca there was a laborerium before the At Milan year looo. In 1332 it had obtained privileges. there was evidently another, for on February 3, 1383, the archbishop invites the architects Fratelli (brethren), and others who understand the work, to inspect the models for
and Siena.
In
words evidently refer to a Masonic brotherhood, as does the term Opera Magiestatem so often met with in old documents. In the Marches of Ancona is a sepulchre inscribed to the fratres Comacini, and in the Abruzzi are chapels dedicated by them. In Rome it is recorded that they met These patron in the church of SS. Quattro Coronati. saints of the guild, the four holy crowned ones (Santi Quattro Coronati), strike me as having a peculiar signifithe
cathedral
;
now
these
We
cance in regard to their origin. the persecutions under Nicostratus, brothers, or
Claudius,
more
who were famous
likely
are told that during
Diocletian, four brethren,
Castorio,
for their skill
Superian^
(either
same Collegium), in building and sculpture, the pagan Emperor. " We
members
refused to exercise their art for
and
named
of the
cannot," they said, "build a temple
for false
gods, nor
shape images in wood .or stone to ensnare the souls of others." They were all martyred in different ways one :
scourged, one shut up and tortured in an iron case, one
thrown into the sea the other was decapitated. Their relics were in the time of St. Leo placed in four urns, and deposited in the crypt of the church, which was built to their honour, in the time of Honorius, by the Comacines then in Rome. It has always been the especial church of the guild, and their meeting-place. They had an altar dedicated to the same saints at Siena, and another at ;
^ There were other five martyrs of the Masonic guild, whose names have been given as Carpoferus, Severus, Severanus, Victorianus, and Symphorian. I have taken the four " Coronati " from the statutes of the Venetian Arte.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS Venice.
We find from
21
the statutes of the Sienese guild as
late as the fourteenth century, that th&fite of the
"Quattro"
was kept in a special manner by the Masonic guild. All the C\mrch.fites are classed together as days when no work is to be done, but the day of the SS. Quattro has two laws all to itself, and is kept with peculiar ceremonies.^ On the altar of this church on Mount Aventine are silver busts of the four Magister martyrs and on the wall is an ancient inscription, as follows ;
BEATVS LEO IIII PAPA PARITER SVB HOC SACRO ALTR RECDENS COLLOCAVI CORPOR SCO MR CLMTlll NICOSTI SEMPRONI CAST ET SIMP ET HII FRM SEVERI SEVERIANI CARPOFORI ET VICTO RINI AA.RII AVDIFAX CABBACV FELICISSIMffl €T AGAPITO YPPOLT O^De CV SVA FAML NVO X ET Villi ACQVILINI ET PRISCI ARSEI AQ^I'NI NARCISI ET MARCELLI NI FELICIS SIMETRII CANDI DAE ATO PAVLINyE ANASTASII ET FELICIS APOLLIONIS ET BENEDICTI VENANTII ATO FELICIS DIOGENIS ET LI BERALIS FESTI ET MARCELLI ATO SVPERANTII PVDENTIASe et benedicti felicis et beic dicti necn capita SANCTO PROTI SCEO CECILIA € sci alexandri scio xisti ET sci SEBASTIAN: ATQ sacratissime virginis praxedis et alia mvlta CORPORA SANCTORVM QVORVM NOMINA DeO SVNT COGNITA 1
Mrs. Jameson finds the Santi Quattro illustrated in a predella in In one scene they are kneeling before the Emperor
Perugia Academy.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
22
frm and fASil aright, would imply that members of each of the three grades of the Roman Masonic guild, Magister, Fratres, and Famuli (apprentices), were martyred together, If
interpret the abbreviations MR.
I
this inscription
their remains placed in this
and
some
proto-martyrs.
church with the
The Magistri were
relics of
afterwards canon-
and the four I have named became the patron saints S. Carpophorus was held in special veneration in Como, of which place he was probably a native, or else a Greek member of the Comacine Lodge there. ized,
of the guild.
The
other side of the inscription chronicles the restora-
which was ruined and broken down, in the time of Pope Paschalis Secundus, a.d. iiii, in the fourth tion of the altar
Indiction.
The church
of the SS. Quattro has remains of a fine
In the wall of the atrium
atrium or portico. of intreccio.
The
and mura.
preserved,
fuori
le
original
is
The
with
gallery
for
that
the
a fragment
church
form of the
identical
is
of
S.
women
is
well
Agnese, is
well
preserved.
The seems
crowned martyrs and to specify the
especial veneration for the four
to point to their
Roman
origin,
why the remnant of the particular Collegium to which they belonged fled from Rome, and took refuge reason
in
the safe
little
republic of
only the Goths and Vandals
Como, so from
that
whom
it
they
was not fled.
It
explains also the intense religion in their work, and rules with their implements in their hands.
In another they are bound to four
columns and tortured. In a third they are in an iron cage and being thrown into the sea. In their own church they are represented as lying in one sarcophagus with crowns on their heads. In sculpture they also occur on the facades of several early churches ; on the Arco di S. Agostino, and lastly on Or San Michele at Florence, where Nanni di Banco had so much trouble in squeezing the four of them into one niche, that Donatello had to help him. These sculptures were placed by the Arte of masons and stone-cutters, and they naturally chose their patron saints.
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS the very
principles of
first
23
which were to respect God's
name, and do all to His glory. It need not excite wonder that any guild should have fled from Rome in these centuries. This was the time that Gregory the Great, painted so graphically in his
Homily of Ezechiel, preached at Rome. Everywhere see we mourning, hear we laments cities,
passionate "
;
strongholds, villages are devastated
the earth is a desert. busy peasants are in the fields, few people in the cities, and these last relics of human kind daily suffer new wounds. There is no end to the scourging of God's judgment. We see some carried into slavery, others ;
No
.
.
.
cruelly mutilated,
brethren,
must look
and yet more
to us in
for
wounds, and not
If
life ?
Rome, once Queen of the
it
is
for
oh
my
dear to us
we
What
killed.
left
is
still
joy,
pleasures.
world, to what
is
Behold
she reduced
.-'
prostrated by the sorrows and desolation of her citizens,
by the
fierceness of her enemies
and frequent
ruin,
the
Here prophecy against Samaria has been fulfilled in her. no longer have we a senate the people are perished, save Rome is empty, and has the few who still suffer daily. barely escaped the flames her buildings are thrown down. ." ^ The fate of Nineveh is already upon her The Longobard invaders were more merciful than the Goths, for not long after their rule was over, another Pope wrote to Pepin " Erat sanae hoc mirabile in regno ;
;
.
.
—
Longobardorum,
nulla
erat
violenta
nulla
struebantur
aliquem iniuste angariabat, nemo spoliabat. Non erat furta, non latrocinia, unusquisque quodlibebat securus sine timore pergebat." Histor. Franc. Scrip. Tom. insidiae.
Nemo
III. cap. xvi.
Whatever the moving cause, the fact remains that in the Middle Ages the Comacine Masters had a nucleus on that strong
little 1
fortified island
Gregor. Ejiist.
Tom.
of Comacina, which, to-
III. Epist. iv. an. 755.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
24
stood against the Lombards in the sixth century for twenty years before being subjugated; and in the twelfth, held its own independence for a quarter
Como
gether with
itself,
Lombard League, which
of a century against Milan and the it
refused to join.
When
Longobards became their rulers, and privileges. The guild remained had been before, and in this freedom its power
at length the
they respected their art as
free
it
must have increased fast. The Masters worked liberally for their new lords, but it was as paid architects, not as serfs. As a proof we may cite an edict signed by King Luitprand on February 28, It is entitled Memoratorio, and is published by 713. Troya in his Codex Diplomaticus Longobardus. the
of the Magistri Comacini: Capit.
CLvii.
qui usque ad clauserit et
—
De
Mercede Comacinorum
De Sala. " Si sala fecerit, etc." De Muro. " Si vero murum
i.
Capit.
CLViii.
CLix.
are
of the seven clauses, referring to the payments
titles
Capit.
Here
the prices of every kind of building.
It fixes
fecerit
ii.
pedem unum
opera gallica
sit
fecerit
grossus
...
si
.
.
arcum
cum axes
.
volserit, etc."
De annonam Comacinorum. Capit. iv. De opera. iii.
romanense
CLX. Similiter
si
fecerit,
sic
repotet sicut
gallica opera.
Capit. V.
De
Caminata.
CLXi, Capit. vi.
Si
CLXii.
columnas CLXiii.
vii.
marmorariis.
marmoreas fecerit de pedes quaternos aut quinos
quis
fecerit
Capit.
De
De
Capit.
axes
.
et
.
.
.
si
.
.
furnum. viii.
De
Puteum.
Si quis
puteum
fecerit
ad pedes centum.^ ^
Pietro Giannone, an exile from Naples, contemporary of Muratori,
was the
among
first
to mention
this
Memoratorio, which he said he had seen
the precious codices of the
monks
at
Cava
dei Tirreni
j
that
it
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS
25
The Longobard rule explains why the Comacine Masters of the thirteenth century were
the
architecture
In the same
magne was
known
of that time as the
way they were
called
as Lombards,
"Lombard
and
style."
Franchi when Charle-
and Tedeschi when the German dynasty conquered North Italy if indeed the words artefici Franchi do not merely signify Freemasons, which I strongly suspect is the true meaning. their
king
;
;
To
understand the connection of this guild of architects with little Como we must glance backwards at the state of that province under the Romans, when it was a colony
by a
ruled
prefect.
Junius
these rulers, and Pliny the
time
Como was ;
a gymnasium
It
this
had
in
whose
ruins were found near S.
for the
games, which was near the
present church of Santa Chiara.
speaks of the Arena of
city.
one of
At
later one.
a large and flourishing
Caesar's time a theatre
Fedele
Brutus himself was
Younger a
Como
A document
as then
still
dated
existing.
1
500
The
campus martius was at S. Carpoforo, where several Roman This valuable inscriptions, urns, and medals were found. collection of Latin inscriptions, found in and about Como, proves the successive rule of emperors, prefects, military have records tribunes, naval prefects, Decurions, etc.
We
also of Senators, Decemviri, and other municipal magistrates. The inscriptions also show that there were temples to
Manes, the Dea Mater, Silvanus, .^sculapius. Mars, Diana, Hygeia, and even I sis. Some Cippi are dedicated to Mercury and Hercules and one found near S. Maria di Nullate was inscribed by Jove,
Neptune,
the
Dea Bona,
the
order of the Comacines to Fortuna Obsequente, "for the To this day a Prato Pagano health of the citizens." contained 152 laws, seven of which were added specially for the Comacine Masters.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
26
(pagan with
field) exists
Pliny's
Roman to
have
near Como.
testimony, go
to
All these proofs, together
show
that
Como was
in
times an important centre, and as such was likely its own Collegia or trade guilds, to one of which
probably Pliny's builder, Mustio, belonged, and to which the
Roman Pliny the
refugees naturally fled as brethren.
Younger
at that time lived at
delightful villa, Comedia.
Como,
in his
In his grounds, on a high
hill,
were the ruins of the temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, and he determined to restore this temple, as devotees flocked there during the Ides of September, and had no refuge from sun or rain.^ His letter to " Mustio," a Comacine architect, gives the commission for this restoration, and after explaining the form he wished the design to take, he concludes " At least unless you think of something better, you, whose art can always overcome difficulFor Pliny, fresh from Rome, to give ties of position." such praise to an architect at Como, shows that even at
—
good masters existed there. Another letter of Pliny's (Lib. X. Epist. xlii.) speaks of the villa of his friend Caninus Rufus, on the same lake, with its beautiful porticoes and baths, etc., and of the many other villas, palaces, temples, forums, etc., which embellished Como and its neighbourhood. Catullus lived here when the poet Caecilius, whose works have now perished, invited him to leave the hills of Como, and the shores of Lario, to join him in Verona. Pliny seems to confirm the existence of guilds,^ as he that time
speaks of the institution of a Collegium of iron-workers,
who wished
be patented by the Emperor, but Trajan
to
refused to form factions
new
which might
Mommsen,
in 1
2
guilds,
for fear of the Hetcsrice or
infiltrate into
his
work De
them. Collegiis
See Epistola ad Mustio, 39, Lib. X. Epist. xliii.
lib. ix.
et
Sodalitiis
THE GUILD OF THE COMACINE MASTERS Romanorum, says allowed to
27
that under the emperors no guild
was
except by special laws,
yet
hold meetings,
though new companies were not to be formed, the existing ones of architects and artisans were permitted to continue after public liberty was lost. Several documents prove that the chief scope of these unions was to promote the interests of their art, to provide mutual assistance in the time of need, to succour the sick and poor, and to bury the dead.
The
trade guilds in London, the
the town clubs kept up in England all
Arii till
and seem to be
in Florence,
lately,
survivals of these ancient classical societies.
Besides the Builders' Society, times, a nautical guild.
C.
to
An
Como
inscription
is
had,
in
Roman
extant, dedicated
by the Collegium nautarum This guild sent twenty ships of war to
Messius Fortunatus
Comensium. Venice in Barbarossa's time. But besides having privileged societies, Como and its Comacine islands were a privileged territory, and might almost have been called a republic. We have, it is true, no documentary evidence of this dating back to pre-Longobardic times, but as Otho. in 962
^
confirmed the islands
in
former privileges granted by his predecessors on the Imperial throne, we may fairly suppose the privileges dated
all
from times far anterior to himself. This is an anglicized version of his decree, which was granted on the petition of the Empress Adelaide "In the name of the Holy and indivisible Trinity, If we incline Otho, by the will of God, august Emperor. to the
demands of our
faithful people,
much more should
lend our ear to the prayers of our beloved consort. Know then, all ye faithful subjects of the Holy Church of
we
God, present and 1
Muratori,
p. 526.
future, that the
august Empress Adelaide,
Navus Thesaurus veterum
Inscriptorum, Vol.
I.
chap.
vii.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
28
our wife,
invokes our
we Coma-
clemency, that for her sake
receive under our protection the inhabitants of the
known as Menasie and we confirm all the privileges which they have enjoyed under our predecessors, and under ourselves before we were anointed Emperor, viz. they shall not be called on for military service, nor have arbergario (taxes on roads and bridges), nor pay curatura (tax on beasts), terratico (tax on land), ripatico (on ships), or the decimazione (tax on householders) of our kingdom, neither shall they be cine islands, and surrounding places (su),
obliged to serve in our councils, except the general assembly at Milan, this
we
which they
concede,
etc.
shall attend three times
a year.
Given on the 8th before the calends
of September, in the year of the Incarnation 962, the reign of the most pious Otho."
The liberty
is
year of
Indiction V. in Como.
confirmed by the history of
Up
I.
certain Imperial
Comacina
He
Como
in the time
to the middle of the sixth century a
Governor of
named Francione, own state taken, fled when Alboin invaded
Insubria,
who had seen Rome sacked and Italy.
first
hypothesis that this decree refers to a long-existing
of Justinian
to
All
his
as a free place of refuge
helped the Comacines to hold out against the
barbarians for more than twenty years, and so secure was the place considered that the island was by Narses and others
made
the depositary of infinite treasures.
multitudes of
even
this
fell
Romans had taken into the
With him
refuge there, but finally
hands of the Longobards. We Istria, and after a six
are told that Autharis subjugated
months' siege, possessed himself of the very strongly tified island
of Comacina on the lake of
for-
Como, where he
found immense treasures, doubtless part of the traditional wealth amassed by Narses, and which as well as private property
had been deposited here
for security
the neighbouring peoples.^ 1
Antiq. Long. Mil.
Tom.
I.
chap.
i.
much
p. 17.
by
LONGOBARD KINGS 568.
Alboin conquers Italy ; he was poisoned by his wife Rosamund for compelling her to drink out of her father's skull.
573.
Cleoph
575.
Autharis (poisoned).
(assassinated).
591.
Agilulf.
615.
Adaloald.
625.
Ariold.
636.
Rotharis.
He
was poisoned.
He
married Ariold's widow, and published a code
of laws 652.
Rodoald
653. 661.
Aribert (uncle).
662.
Grimoald,
671.
Bertharis (re-established).
(son), assassinated.
Bertharis
and Godebert (sons) ; dethroned by Duke of Beneventum.
686.
Cunibert (son).
700.
Luitbert
701.
Ragimbert.
;
dethroned by
701.
Aribert II. (son).
712.
Ansprand
712.
Luitprand (son)
744.
Hildebrand (nephew), deposed.
elected.
Duke
;
a great prince, favourite of the Church.
of Friuli, elected, but afterwards
744.
Ratchis,
749.
Astolfo (brother).
756.
Desiderius, quarrelled with
magne
to Italy.
put an end to the
He
Pope Adrian, who
became a monk. invited Charle-
defeated and dethroned Desiderius, and
Lombard kingdom.
CHAPTER
II
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
LONGOBARD MASTERS
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
32
Adda
to
the
add Emilia, and
this
later,
—and
conquered Milan. To Ravenna and Tuscany, and the
Ligurian Sea,
Lombard kingdom was complete. From this kingdom depended the
first
Friuli, Spoleto,
and Beneventum.
three
The
last
dukedoms of was added in
— — cried
like Canute, he the time of Autharis (575 rode into the sea at Reggio in Calabria, and touching the
591) when,
" These alone shall be the waves with his lance, boundary of the Longobards."^ This Autharis married Theodolinda, a Christian. He was an Arian, but by her means he became Catholic. After his death, in 590, she chose Agilulf,
who
reigned with her
twenty-five years.^
Paulus Diaconus gives the following very pretty account of Theodolinda's two betrothals " It was expedient for Autharis, the
Lombards, to take a Garibald,
King of
young King of the and an ambassador was sent to
wife,
Bavaria, to propose an alliance with his
daughter
Theodolinda.
one of the
suite,
Autharis
disguised
himself
as
with the object of seeing beforehand what
was like. She was sent for by her father and bidden to hand some wine to the guests. Having served the ambassador first, she handed the cup to Autharis, and in giving him the serviette after drinking, he managed to press her hand. The princess blushed, and told the incident to
his bride
her nurse,
who
manner assured her that he or he would not have dared
in a prophetic
must be the king
himself,
to touch her. "
Soon
on the Franks invading Bavaria, Theodowhere Autharis met her near Verona, and the marriage was solemnized on the Ides of May, A.D. 589. after,
linda with her brother fled to Italy,
1
Antiq. Long. Mil. vol.
'
Their daughter Gundeberg had a similar life
and then Rotharis.
i. ;
Dissertationi, p. 17. ;
she married
first
Ariold,
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
33
" Amongst the guests were Agilulf, Duke of Turin, and with him a youth of his suite, son of an augur in a, sudden storm a tree near them was struck by lightning, on which the ;
young augur
said to Agilulf—'
to-day will shortly
wed
you.'
The
bride
who has
arrived
Agilulf was so angry at what
seemed a disrespect to the king and queen, that he threatened to cut off his page's head, who replied I may die, but I cannot change destiny.' And truly, when a few years after Autharis was poisoned at Pavia, Theodolinda's people were so attached to her, that they offered her the kingdom if she would elect a Longobard as husband. " Destiny had decreed that she should choose Agilulf. The same ceremony of offering him a cup of wine was gone through, and he kissed her hand as she gave it. The queen blushing said He who has a right to the mouth need not kiss the hand.' So Agilulf knew that he was her chosen
—
—
'
'
king. "
She was a
and a favourite disciple of Gregory the Great. Her good life and prayers were able to convert Agilulf to orthodox Christianity, for like many Longobards of the time he had fallen into the Arian heresy. In gratitude for this she vowed a church to St. John Baptist, and a Christian,
miraculous voice inspired her as to the
Modoecia,
site at
oppidum moguntiaci.' It was under these Christianized invaders that the Comacine Masters became active and influential builders again, and it is here that the actual history of the guild or
'
begins. It is
apparent that what are called Lombard buildings
could not have been the work of the Longobards themselves.
Symonds
realized
question as to
wrote — ^
is
"
The
wAo
built the
but had not solved the
Lombard
difficult in
when he Lombard style,
churches,
question of the genesis of the
one of the most '
this difficulty,
Italian art history,
Symonds, Renaissance of Art, Fine Arts, chap.
I
ii.
D
would
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
34
not willingly be understood to speak of
Lombard
architec-
ture in any sense different from that in which it is usual to speak of Norman. To suppose that either the Lombards or the Normans had a style of their own, prior to their occupation of districts from the monuments of which they learned rudely to use the decayed Roman manner, would be
Yet
incorrect.
it
seems impossible to deny that both
Normans and Lombards,
in
adapting antecedent models,
added something of their own, specific to themselves as The Lombard, like the Norman, or the Rhenish Romanesque, is the first stage in the progressive
northerners.
mediaeval architecture of It
very
its
own
district."
appears possible, however, that the Longobards had to do with the architecture of their era except as
little
patrons.
Was
there ever a stone
Lombard building known
out of Italy before Alboin and his hordes crossed the Alps
?
or even in Italy during the reigns of Alboin and Cleoph, their first kings
?
But there were older buildings of precisely the same Italy and in Como itself, dating from the time when the Bishops ruled, long before the Longobards came. There were the churches of S. Abbondio and S. Fedele. The latter was built in Abbondio's own time, about 440 489, and first dedicated to S, Euphemia, It was rebuilt later by the Comacines under the Longobards, but its form was not changed. The former, said to have been built by the Bishop Amantius, was first dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, whose relics he placed here. These two are certainly the oldest churches existing in Como. Amantius the Byzantine ordained S. Abbondio, who was a Macedonian, as his successor, and he too became ertiinent in his time, and is still venerated as a patron Saint in all the Milanese district. Pope Leo sent him to Constyle, in
—
stantinople
as
his
Legate,
Anastasius, and also deputed
to
him
interview to
the
Patriarch
form the Council with
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS Eusebius,
at Milan.
The Greek
may be accounted
ornamentation
35
touch in the
Lombard
by Greek
sculptors
for
assisting the Italian builders in the time of these Eastern
bishops.
civilization of Italy
began
to tell
refined their minds, that they
:
commenced
and revived the fading
Arts,
—
it was only when the on them, and Christianity
But, to return to the Longobards
to patronize the
traditions of the builders'
guild into practice, for the glorification of their religious
"Little by little," says Muratori, "the barbarous Longobards became more polished {andavano disrugginendo) by taking the customs and rites of the Italians. Many of them were converted from Arianism to Catholicism, and they vied with the Italians in piety and liberality towards the Church of God, building both Hospices and zeal.
Monasteries."
^
The Comacine Masters were undoubtedly the only architects employed by them, so we are sure that in the Lombard churches of this era, we see the Comacine work of the
first
or
Roman- Lombard
style.
Theodolinda were the first orthodox indeed Theodolinda, who was baptized by Christians Gregory the Great, and formed a special friendship with To them is him, became a shining light in the Church. Autharis and :
probably due the honour of inaugurating the Renaissance of Comacine art. Autharis, though an Arian, first employed the Masters of the guild to build a church and monastery
Farfa on the banks of the Adda, not far from Monza. They have long been ruined, but ancient writers quote them
at
and rich works of architecture. Next, Theodolinda and her second husband, Agilulf, the succeeding king, built the cathedral at Monza, which they resolved should be worthy of the new creed. This cathedral was the prototype as fine
of
all
the
Lombard 1
churches.
Annali
d! Italia, torn. iv. pp. 38, 39.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
36
Before proceeding further
it
may be
well to define pre-
cisely the difference between Eastern and Western forms in these centuries, while they were as yet distinct. As we have said, the Basilica was the type of Roman or Western architecture, a type which passed afterwards to the East, where the cupola was added to it. The Comacine Guild, being a survival of the Roman Collegiuni, had of course Roman traditions, and took naturally this Roman type of the Basilica,^ which form
they adapted to the uses of the Christian Church, while its ornamentation was suited to the taste of the Longobards.
The
Basilica, as Vitruvius explains
was a room where But when, were allowed their it,
the ruler and his delegates administered justice. after
Christians
persecutions,
the
the
churches,
Basilica
well
so
the needs of
supplied
Christian worship, that either the ancient ones were used as
new
same form so that by the fourth century the word Basilica was understood to mean a church remarkable for its size, and of a set form and grandeur, with a raised tribune. The Basilicse of Constantine were all dedicated to Saints St. Peter, St. Paul, Beato Marcellino. The Sessorian Basilica was begun in 330, to hold the relics of the Cross, discovered by the Empress Helena. From the time of the edict of Theodosius, however. Christian architecture took a new and independent character and this was when the Basilica became amplified and beautified. The Oriental churches, on the other hand, were derived churches, or
buildings were erected in the
;
—
;
from the antique synagogue, in which concentric forms, •
The
first
Roman
Basilica
was constructed in 231
Fortius Cato, and was called the Basilica Portia. built one, called the Fulvia, in
179
B.C.
;
B.C., by Marcus Marcus Fulvis Nobilior
Titus Sempronius, 169 B.C.
Then
followed a long line of these religio-judicial buildings, up to the Basilica Julia of Augustus, 29 B.C., A.D. 100.
—
and ending with the Ulpian
Ricci, Arch, Ital. chap.
ii.
Basilica of Trajan,
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS either circular or polygonal, predominated.
37
In their later
development four equal arms were added, and here we get the Greek Cross, in the centre of which arose the dome. In the Romanesque, or Comacine style of the ninth to the fourteenth centuries, the form becomes more com-
We
plicated.
have,
apse for the choir or centre
;
3.
the transepts
the elongated nave
5.
;
the sanctuary or presbytery
i.
;
;
4. 6.
;
the
2.
the normal square the aisles
;
the
7.
atrium or portico. In in
Theodolinda's time, however, church architecture
Lombardy was wholly and
purely
influences of mediaeval Christianity.
construction of the "
expression.
first
Roman, with the
Ricci tells us that the
churches followed a symbolical
Hermeneutic symbolism required that the
apse or choir should face the
east, so that the faithful
while
praying had that part before them.'
A
very usual form was the
many specimens
still
tri-apsidal church, of
which
S. Pietro a Grado, near Pisa,
exist.
a beautiful specimen of this. Around the apse of a Lombard church was a portico where the penitents and catechumens might stand, who were not yet admitted to the altar. On high were loggie is
(galleries) " for the virgins
and women."
The
tribune
was
elevated and often ornamented with a railing, the crypt or
being beneath
confessional
memory
it.
of the early Christians,
The
crypt
signified
when subterranean
a
cata-
combs formed the church of the faithful. The altar was tomb of a martyr, in fulfilment of the text " I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they generally the
held
"
(Rev.
Where
vi. 9).
not been altered, as in the parts
Lombard church has Monza church, all these
the original form of the
may be
still
seen.
first
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
38
We
are expressly told
of her church at Monza,
by Ricci/
that for the building
Queen Theodolinda
availed herself
of those Magistri Comacini, who, as Rotharis describes
them
in his
laws 143 and 144, were qualified architects and
builders.
seems that even though all Italy was subjugated by the Longobards, the Magistri Comacini retained their freedom and privileges. They became Longobard citizens, but were not serfs they retained their power of making free contracts, and receiving a fair price for their work, and were even entitled to hold and dispose of landed It
;
property.^
Therefore of
spirit
it
was by a
servitude,
that
free contract,
Comacines
the
and not
in
any
undertook
the
building of Theodolinda's church. It is difficult
what the church was in Theoform was altered in the twelfth and
to imagine
dolinda's time, as
its
fourteenth centuries.
Ricci says that the antique
Monza
Basilica terminated at what is now the first octagon column, on which rest the remains of the primitive fagade. Four columns supported the arched tribune, and the high altar was raised above the level of the church. In front was the
atrium, supported by porticoes, and he thinks that the sculptures in the present facade are the old ones.
Cattaneo, the Italian authority on
Lombard
architecture,
does not believe in the present existence of even this of Theodolinda's
church, and in
disclaims also the sculpture on
it,
disclaiming the
of the cross to St, John the Baptist, and are Dell' Architettura in Italia, vol.
i.
facade,
one over the diadem
especially the
the door, where Agilulf and Theodolinda offer
1
much
shown
as
p. 174.
A
document, dated 739, in the archives of Monte Amiata, speaks of a certain Maestro Comacino, named Rodpert, who sold to Opportuno for 30 gold solidi, his property at Toscanella (then a Longobardic territory), 2
consisting of a house
and vineyard, a
cloister, cistern, land, etc.
SS!*'^;*^-''
Ancient Sculpture in Monza Cathedral.
\Seepage
39.
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
39
wearing crowns, which the early Lombard kings did not
The
do.^
figures have,
twelfth century,
when
it
later
true, the entire style of the
is
Comacines restored the church.
Cattaneo thinks that the only sculpture which can safely be dated from Theodolinda's own time, is a stone which might
have been an altar frontal, on which is a rude relief of a wheel circle, emblem of Eternity, flanked by two crosses with the letters alpha and omega hanging to the arms of them.
It
is
a significant fact that the Alpha
precise form of the
is
in
the
Freemason symbol of the compasses,
and in the wheel-like circle one sees the beginning of that symbol of Eternity, the unbroken line with neither end nor beginning, which the Comacines in after centuries developed into such wonderful intrecci (interlaced work).
The
by way of enriching the relief, the artist has covered the crosses and circles with drillholes. Now this is a most interesting link, connecting the debased Roman art with this beginning of the Christian art in the West (the early Ravenna sculptors do not count, On examining any of the being imported from the East). late Roman cameos, or intagli, or even their stone sculpture, after the fall of classical art in Hadrian's time, one may sculpture
is
extremely rude
way
perceive the
in
;
which the
drill
is
constantly
made use
of instead of the chisel.
So
these Comacine artists began with the only style of
had been educated up to, and though retaining old traditions they had fallen out of practice, during a century or two, while invaders ravaged their country, and had to begin again with low art, litde skill, and unused imaginaart they
tion. skill
But with the new
impulse
given
to
art,
their
increased, they gained a wider range of imagination,
greater breadth of design, going on century by century, as we shall trace, from the first solid, heavy, little structures, to
1
Cattaneo,
LArchitettura in Italia,
p. 46.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
40
Romanesque
the airy lightness of the florid
—the
marriage
of East and West.
Another chiesa graziosissima, said to have been founded by Theodolinda, was that of Santa Maria del Tiglio, near Gravedona, on the left bank of Lake Como, which Muratori says was already ancient in 823,
when
the old chronicler
Francorum, Aimoninus describes it {Aimoninus It has been much altered since that time, but as iv. 3). "When one reflects that it was the Prof. Merzario writes work of a thousand years ago, and when one considers the de Gestis
—
lightness of design, the elegance of the arches, windows,
columns, and colonnettes, one must perforce confess that
epoch Art was blossoming in the territory of Como, under the hands of the Maestri Comacini." Theodolinda also founded the monastery of Monte Barro, near Galbiate the church of S. Salvatore in Barzano, a little mountain church at Besano above Viggiu
even
at that
;
Varenna and the church, baptistery, above it in which latter it is said she died. Queen Theodolinda was accustomed to spend the hot months of summer on the banks of the lake, and a part
that of S. Martino at
and
;
castle of Perleda
;
of the road near Perleda Castle (the Queen's road), in too,
memory
is
still
called Via
King
of her.
Regina
Cunibert,
loved the banks of Como.
There
is
always some pretty, graceful reason in Theo-
dolinda's church-building, very different to the reasons of
many
Theirs were too often sin-offerings,
of the kings.
built in remorse, but hers built in love.
For
were generally thank-offerings,
which met her second
instance, the church at Lomella,
memory of having first husband Agilulf there. Theodolinda also built a church to S. Julia at Bonate, near Val San Martino, in the diocese of Bergamo but in she erected in
;
these days not
much
sign
is left
of
Antichitd, Long. Mil. (Dissertation
it.
The
L, p.
author of the
120) says that
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
41
Mario Lupo has published the plan and section of the church in his Codice diplomatico {T. I., p. 204), together with another, still more magnificent, of almost the same date.
It is
Tommaso, and stands near the Lemine in the same diocese. " This
dedicated to S.
Brembo,
river
at
church," says the exists (in 1792),
monk who
and
wrote the Antichita,
etc., still
of circular form, with inferior and
is
superior porticati in the interior, recalling the design of
the
church of
ancient
S.
Vitale
at
Lupo
Ravenna."
" admirable temple,
even in its ruin as an whose equal, whether for size, solidity, or elegance, can scarcely be found in Lombardy. Its perimeter," he says, \ " may be traced among the thorns and briars of the surrounding woods, and its form and size may thus be perdescribes
it
The
ceived.
ruins confirm the assertion of the splendour
of buildings in
Queen Theodolinda's
time,
and show that
in
the beginning of the seventh century architecture was not so rude as has been supposed, and that besides solidity of structure, parts,
it
preserved a just proportion and harmony of
excepting perhaps in the
extreme lightness
and
inequality of the columns."
We
read
linda's palace,
much with
in ancient authors of its
Queen Theodo-
paintings on the walls, representing
Alboin and his wild hordes of Longobards, with their many-coloured garments, loose hosen, and long beards. can believe that these paintings were as rude and mediaeval as their sculpture, whether they were done by
We
savage Longobards or decayed Romano-Comacine artists. They prove, however, that painting was one of the branches of art in the guild.
King Agilulf also employed the architects but a more military style of architecture to build ;
in
and bridges.
The
it
was
—
castles
castle of Branigola dates
from his reign,
as does the fine bridge over the Brembo, and another over the Breggia, between Cernobbio and Borgovico, near
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
42
Como.
He
accredited with the
also
is
Palazzo della Torre
with
at Turin,
building of the
two octangular
its
and mixed brick and stone solid architecture. In all these works the builders, as in modern times, seem to have sometimes lost their lives. So much so that King Rotharis, a.d. 636, made, as we have seen, special laws on towers,
the subject.
Gundeberg, the daughter of Theodolinda, had a similar fate to her mother in being the wife of two successive kings She also imitated her in church(Ariold and Rotharis). The church of S. Giovanni in Borgo at Pavia, building. was erected by her.^ It is said that after S. Michele this was the finest building of the age. It had a nave and two The apse had the aisles, with a gallery over the arches. external colonnade, and practicable gallery, and the octagonal dome. The fa9ade, as usual, was divided into three parts, and was rich in symbolical friezes. Half-way up the fagade was an ambulatory, on six double arches and small columns, which communicated with the internal galleries for the women. This was reached by two spiral stairways cut in the pilasters of the fagade.
(In reading this
The
in
convex plates
"a
cacabus,"
symbolic
i. e.
reliefs
It
was destroyed
in
is 1
Some
buildings.
saved by a nobleman of Pavia,
.
.
.
intra
Joannis Baptistae construxit.
Don
ticinensem
Galeazzo
Several of the
,
and
Lombard towers
in
Vitali,
and
Here,
built
have
this peculiar
lib.
Rome
in
honorem Beati This must not by Bishop Damiano in
Civitatem
Paul. Diac.
be confounded with the Baptistery which was the same century. 2
1
were, however,
are preserved in his villa between Lodi and Pavia. Gundiberga
a great 81
and carved stones ruthlessly used
modern
the foundation of
ation.
be
inlaid with various
in different-coloured smalto.^
pity that this interesting church
1
to
England.)
lower half of the fagade was of sandstone, the upper
half of brick adorned
its
we seem
Hexham
reading over again the description of
iv.
in
cap. 4.
ornament-
'
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
43
on May 13, 1828, the Signori Sacchi'^ went to see them, and found many valuable specimens of Comacine symbolical art. Here are square slabs which may have been parts of friezes or plutei (panels of marble),
covered with interlaced
work, formed of entwining vines, or even serpents
;
some-
times a simple cord in mystic and continuous knots, precisely similar to the
ones recently discovered in S. Agnese
and S. Clemente at Rome. There were several capitals of columns and pilasters with significant grotesques, such as a man between two lions a maze of vines with a satyr in them, possibly an emblem of Christianity which constrains and civilizes even the wildest natures two armed warriors on horseback meeting in battle, figuring the Church militant. (There is a similar capital in S. Stefano at Pavia.) In one, two hippogriffs meet at the angles in another, two dragons with tails intertwined are biting a man between them placed at the angle. (The same emblem of the strife with sin is represented in S. Pietro of the "golden roof") One is a curious symbol which would seem to be a remnant of paganism, and represents the fish goddess of Eastern religions. A woman, with only a fig-leaf for dress, has a She holds the two ends of this double tail instead of legs. ;
;
;
dual
tail,
while serpents coiling into
very mystic conception of Eve.
it
There
suck her breasts is
—
a very remarkable
round mass of stone, with a toothed circle carved on each It is said by Muratori that side, and in the circles a cross. this stone was placed high up over the altar so that all worshippers should behold the cross. singular ancient Pavian custom was connected with Once a year a kind of fair was held there, at this church.
A
which nothing was sold but rings, and no one was allowed It is to buy them except children and unmarried women. thought that the custom was begun by Gundeberg herself 1
70,
Antichith Romantiche tPItalia, da Difendente e Giuseppe Sacchi, p.
1?^
seq.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
44
commemoration of the gift of three rings, one with a pearl, and two with jacinth stones, from Gregory the Great.^ His letter of congratulation to Theodolinda on in
the baptism of her says " he sends
son Adaloald
little
some
is still
existing.
He
her boy, and three rings for
gifts for
her young daughter Gundeberg."
Possibly the gift of the
Pope was placed in the treasury of the church, and commemorated at first by the sale of blessed amulets in the form of The rings, but which afterwards degenerated into a fair. custom lasted
Longobards
;
1669.
till
Industries of
all
kinds seem to have flourished under the
Rome and
and the Popes of
other sovereigns
Lombard artificers. A letter from Duke of Lombardy, dated 596, asks him Gregory to Arichi, to send workmen and oxen to Brescia, to cut down and cart to Rome some trees for beams in the church of SS. Peter and Paul, promising him in return a dono che non sarci
made
frequent use of
indegno di voi (a
gift
not unworthy of you).^
In A.D. 600, Cacanus,
King of the Avari (Huns), sent to and workmen to build the
Agilulf for marine architects
boats with which Cacanus took a certain island in Thrace.^
As
for the
Comacine Masters
at
home, they had plenty
of church-building.
The
seventh and eighth centuries were times of great
devotion to the Church, and consequently a great churchbuilding era.
King Luitprand
realized this so strongly
added to the laws of Rotharis, a clause permitting make legacies to the Church pro remedio animcB sucb ; a law, by the way, which was not always that he
his subjects to
healthy in
its
action
to indulge in crimes ^
et
Felice
;
for
albula.
—Gregor.
Paulus Diaconus, Sto. Longo.
3
Ibid.
21.
tres
Epist.
2
iv.
permitted the evil-disposed
during their lifetime, and then, by
quoque meae sorori ejus
unum cum
it
annulos
ad
Teod.
lib. iv.
transiiiisi
lib. xiv.
cap. 20.
due cum
jacintis,
iCoMACiNE Capital in San Zeno, Vekona.
Dragons, interlaced.
[Sx pa^e
43.
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS defrauding
natural
their
heirs
of
their
45
inheritance,
to
secure, as they believed, their souls against eternal punish-
by leaving
ment,
funds
for
building
a
church
or
a
monastery.
The still
will of
Eriprand,
extant, with
Maggiore, and Sergius
I.
S.
Duke
of Cremona, dated 685,
is
a legacy to the churches of S. Maria Michele in Borgo, of that city. Pope
restored the Basilica of Ostia, and founded S.
Via Lata, giving them rich gifts, and Pope John endowed S. Maria in Trastevere.^ ,11. Bertharis and Godebert, sons of Aribert, were in 661 dethroned by Grimoald, Duke of Beneventum but Maria
in
repaired and
;
being re-established in 671, recalled his wife Rodelinda and son Cunibert from Beneventum, where they had been taken as hostages, and in sign of gratitude for Bertharis
founded the church of S. Agatha al Monte at Pavia,^ while his wife Rodelinda founded that of S. Maria
their release,
Bertharis dedicated his fuori le mura in the same city. church to S. Agatha because on the eve of S. Agatha's day he was miraculously saved from being assassinated by Grimoald, his deposer. On the fa9ade of the church is in-
"Pertharitus Longobardorum
scribed, S.
Rex Templum hoc
Agathae Virg. et Mart, dicavit anno Christi DCXXVII." The church had the usual " three naves," and the fa9ade
As in Ages it menaced ruin, the central nave had to be supported by large external buttresses and internal arches, faced the west.
It
has since been turned round.
the Middle
one of which may be seen above the present doorway it once formed the entrance to the choir. When the nave was restored some of the old Lombard capitals were discovered ;
under the brickwork. They show the same style as those at S. Michele, and S. Pietro in Ciel d'oro at Pavia, and have One has two lions very all the marks of Comacine work. 1
Ricci, Architettura d' Italia, Vol. I. ch.
^
PaulDiae. Lib. V.
ch. xxxiv.
viii.
p. 221.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
46
where one head On another is a human figure, his hands serves for both. holding two dragons which he has conquered, but whose A fine mediaeval allegory of man's tails still coil round him. well carved.
They meet
at the corner,
struggle with sin.
Rodelinda's round church, S. Maria foris portam (now no more), became better known as S. Maria delle pertiche (of the poles), because a royal cemetery was there in
which many Lombard kings and nobles were buried, and according to the usage of the nation the graves were marked by wooden poles, on the top of each of which was perched a wooden dove (emblem of the soul), looking towards the place where the person had died or been killed.^
We may account for its circular shape by
the fact that
it
was more a ceremonial church, than one for ordinary worship. In it Hildebrand was crowned, or rather received the regal wand of office. It had an interior ambulatory, an arched round it under the roof in true Lombard style. This colonnade was much used in circular churches to Some of the assist the want of space on great occasions.^ columns were fluted, and appear to have been adapted from an earlier Roman edifice. Two of them, shortened and with the fluting planed down, now adorn the gate of Pavia towards Milan. The foundation of this church has been colonnade
all
by Cattaneo
This cannot be, for in 736, ten years before Ratchis was king, Luitprand became very ill, and the Longobards met in the church of S. Maria delle pertiche, and proclaimed Hildebrand as his successor. attributed
To
to Ratchis.
7^2) is attributed the foundation of the church of S. Salvatore, outside Porta Marengo at Pavia, Aribert
II.
(701
where, says Malaspina, 1
Antiq. Long. Milanesi,
may be Tom.
I.
Dissertation
There is a very good instance of which was also a cerenaonial church. °
noted a great improvement i.
p.
46.
this in the Baptistery at Florence,
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS in style in the acute arches,
47
and more regular and elegant
proportions.
The
Basilica of S.
Pietro de
Dom
Brescia dated
in
from about this time, though it was built independently of Longobardic royal patronage, being a thank-offering by Bishop Anastasius for the triumph of the Church over
Duomo was
Arianism.
This was destroyed when the new
built in the
seventeenth century, but ancient writers
tell
us
had all the true Lombard symbolism of form. The choir was on the west, facing east it had the triple nave and triple apse, and the usual inequality of the columns, some of which are large, others small some long, others short, these last being lengthened, some by white marble, others by dark. I do not understand the significance of this diversity of column which may be seen in all the Comacine it
;
;
churches of this era. If
we cannot
see S.
Pietro de
Dom, we may
see in
Brescia a church equally old, the Rotonda of Santa Maria
Maggiore, which the chroniclers say was begun by the Brescian Duke Marqward, and finished by his son Frodward, with the assistance of King Grimoald, about 665. The plan of the church centric
circles,
whose arches
the
is
very interesting
;
there are two con-
formed by eight pilasters, and form the front of the This is all that can be judged as
inner one
sustain the dome,
usual ambulatory above.
belonging to the seventh-century church.
The
tribune
and the upper parts are later, and the crypt is earlier, being, it is believed, the remains of an early Christian church of S. Filastrio, though some claim it as Roman. Cunibert is next on the list of Longobardic churchHe built a church to St. George as a votive builders. offering after his escape from the attempt
691 by
Duke
to dethrone
him
two
named Aldone and Gransone.
citizens
in
Alachi,
of St. George was attached a
cloister for
which was made of Brescia, and
To
the church
monks, the
first
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
48
Longobardic monastery founded
in the diocese of Milan.
Documents and diplomas, dated 784 and 901, prove the existence of both buildings
till
the latter date, but a deed
of sale in 998 only speaks of the church, which
still
existed
in 1792,
On
the king's triumphal return to Pavia, he erected at
the door of S. Giovanni, a grand
who had
lost
his life for him,
tomb to the by dressing
priest Zeno, in
the
royal
armour and rushing from the king's tent into the battle. In A.D. 700 Cunibert descended to Lucca, which had then become a Longobardic town, and interested himself in the building of a church to the three saints, Stephen, Laurence, and Vincent it afterwards became S. Fredianus. The actual patron may not have been Cunibert himself, but his majordomo Faulus, who probably was his vicegerent there. Two ancient deeds in the adjoining monastery of St. Vincent and S. Fredianus, dated respectively 685 and 686, prove that Faulus restored and richly endowed the monastery, and that Bishop Felix afterwards conceded to the Abbot Babbinus and his monks, a diploma confirming the munificence of Faulus. The monastery was, so say the chroniclers, originally built by S. Frediano, Bishop of Lucca, in the sixth century, and that, when the first unconverted Longobards came down and drove him out and destroyed his 'cathedral, he fled for some years, but on his return he built another church outside the town with a monastery attached. In this he availed himself of the sculptured stones and columns of the ancient Roman amphitheatre, erected in Lucca by Vibius in the time of Trajan. This was the monastery which was restored by Faulus. When the bones of S. Fredianus were removed to it, in the time of the Bishop Giovanni II., the church became known as S. Fredianus. The church built in Cunibert's time was not by any means the fine building we see now, though, as in Monza, the form of the old ;
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS building
may be
been traced
perceived.
The
in the course of
old
church,
if
ancient apse which has
some
smaller than the present one, and
excavations,
it is
in
ancient
MSS.
is
a
fifth
conjectured that the
turned the same way, would have ended
near where the present pulpit stands portico
49
front
of
it
which
;
and there was a
mentioned
is
in
some
The church was certainly differently orientalized, following the symbolic formula that the choir should face the east for the excavations disclosed part of the columns of ;
the nave, buried under the present presbytery at the back.
The
were retraced in front of was proved that the wall was not
circular walls of the choir
the present
altar,
and
it
continued where the semi-circle of the apse opens if
the church had been in the
same
direction
it
;
whereas
now
takes,
the walls would have been continued to the length of the nave.
Cav. Cordero di S. Quintino, in his Disamine su di alcu-
draw attention to the reversed plan of the old church, which the recent He states that it was in the excavations have proved. form of a Latin cross, had a nave, and four aisles and that its choir was at the west end, facing transepts It is a misfortune that its east, its fagade on the east. origin cannot be precisely proved, as the archives of S. Fredianus must have been burned in 1 596, when the convent, with other houses, was set on fire, even if they had survived the former sacking and burning of the Ghibellines, under Uguccione della Faggiola in 13 14. Next comes Hie gloriosissimus Rex, Luitprand, who, we are told, built many Basilicae in honour of Christ, in He was to the places where he had his residences. Lombard art what Lorenzo de' Medici was to that of the Luitprand was a great employer of our Renaissance. Comacine Masters, and very probably found them expensive ni monumenti Lucchesi, 1815, was the
;
first
to
THE CATHEDRAL BUH^DERS
50
luxuries, for, as
we
next chapter, he was
shall see in the
obliged to legislate to
He
fix their prices.
even gave the
length of his royal foot, as a guide to measurement. Luitprand's foot was said to have been an extra long
and
one,
yet, after great discussions
among
writers,
it
has
been agreed that Luitprand's foot, and the Roman one used before it, were of the same length Very little, which is at all authentic, remains to us of at length
!
Luitprand's churches.
golden
roof),
at
S.
Pietro
Pavia, which
^
in
Ciel d'oro (of the
was consecrated by Pope
Zacharias in 743, is now a mere modern church, containing nothing but the round form of its apse to speak of its
This golden roof must refer to some mosaics originally in the tribune, and is, I believe, the first instance of mosaics being used in a Lombard church. It was built " by the Christian king, for the better reverence of the sacred remains of that great light of the church, St. Augustine, which were placed here by him." The corpse of the saint was redeemed from the Saracens in Sardinia in 743, and the relics remained in S. Pietro for ten centuries.^ Luitprand's church, we are told, was symmetrical and graceful (grazioso). The fagade was of the usual Lombard form, with a rather flat gable, and galleries beneath the eaves it had narrow, round-arched windows, and a cross over the central one, cut deep in the stone, as we see in S. Michele in Pavia.
antiquity.
;
The
finest existing
church of the Longobardic times
is
—
1 This was said to have been built by Agilulf, 591 615, and rebuilt by Luitprand. It was again restored in 1152, when Pope Innocent II.
reconsecrated
it.
In the fifteenth century the fine mausoleum, known as the Arco di S. Agostino, was erected over them by a later Comacine Master, Bonino da Campiglione. In the eighteenth century the church, having fallen into ^
was turned into a hay store for the army, and the Arco was, in into the modern church of Gesti, where it remained till placed in the cathedral, where it now is. disuse,
1786,
moved
S. Feediano at Lucca, 7th century. (From a photograph bv Brogi.)
Basilica of
[See page 49.
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS the Basilica of S. Michele at
Pa via, which
is
51
intact,
still
and may be taken as the culminating point of the first Lombard style. It has all the distinctive marks of Comacine work at the period. There is the Roman form of the Latin cross with nave and two aisles divided by clustered columns supporting round arches. The walls above the central nave terminate in a sculptured string course, and that a clerestory, the double Lombard arches of which are divided by marble colonnettes with sculptured "capitals. The central nave terminates in a semi-circular apse, surrounded with pilasters and arches beneath it is a crypt supported on two rows of columns whose capitals are covered with bizarre sculptures. The crypt is now entered by steps beneath the ones leading to the tribune,
over
;
had two entrances at the sides of the tribune as in the crypt at Torcello, and that of San Zeno Another at Verona, which are also of the seventh century. but originally
particularity
is
it
in the inequality of the aisles, the left wall
tending to the right, the right transept being longer and left. This is not, we are told, an accident,
larger than the
but one of the
many
symbolical forms used by the
Coma-
Cordero and Vitet both refer to it. The latter "Souvent le plan de I'^glise penche de gauche d says droite. Cette inclination est attribute, comme on sait, au pieux d^sirs d'imiter la position du Sauveur expirant sur la As a whole the interior is grand and imposing, croix."^ cines.
—
now, retains the general plan of the Some parts have been restored in the original church. fifteenth century, especially the four principal piers which sustain the central arch, but by the difference in the work
and as
and
it
stands
in the sculptures
we may
easily distinguish the
A
added
Latin inscription in the apse, without date, proves that the great central arch of the roof and that of the There was choir were renewed by Bartolommeo Negri.
parts.
1
Mtudes sur Phistoire de Part,
vol.
ii.
p. 157.
Paris, 1864.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
52
who was canon in 1496, but the would point to an earlier epitaph antique style of the
a Bartolommeo Negri restorer of the
the same set especially
as
same name (we all know how families keep of Christian names for centuries in Italy), the painting in the apse
Andrino d'Edesia,
who
is
attributed
Some
lived about 1330.
to
interest-
ing relics in the church are the circular slabs of black and
green marble, now in the floor of the nave. Tradition, confirmed by Padre Romualdo, says that these were the stones on which the dais was placed for the coronation of
Lombard
the
kings.
Just as the interior of S. Michele at Pavia perfect existing
example of the
is
the most
form reduced by
classical
the Comacines to Christian use and symbolism, so
is
the
fa9ade as perfect a specimen of their mediaeval-oriental decoration at this time as illustration of
We
give an
it.
The Comacines their fagade
can be found.
at this era
were perfectly sincere and
was always a true face
The
to the church.
eaves with the airy gallery of colonnettes beneath them followed the exact line of the low-pitched roof.
only
when they became
eclectic,
and
their style got
was mixed
It
and over-florid, that the false fronts such as we see at Lucca came in. The inward division of nave and aisle is faithfully marked on the outside by piers or pilasters. S.
Michele has four pilasters dividing
portions, each
one supplied with
its
it
into the
three
round-arched door.
In the fifteenth century the central windows were altered and a large ugly round orifice was placed above the three Lombard ones. But in 1861 they had the good taste to open the original windows, indications of whose masonry were visible in the wall, and to add the cross, deep cut in the stone, which was a distinctive feature in facades of this era. Indeed the church may be taken as a type, in all
its
aspects, of the
Romano- Lombard
building.
The
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
53
most remarkable part is perhaps its ornamentation, which Besides the is unique and fanciful to the highest degree. carvings on door and window, the whole fagade is striped with lines of sculptured stones, a queer mixture of angels, saints, and monsters, that seems a nightmare dream of mediaeval superstitions, but are really a mystic shall speak more fully of this in the I Bible in stone. chapter on Lombard ornamentation. We must now turn for a few moments to its history, on
demons,
which great uncertainty S. Michele at Pavia was
rests.
Some
authors say that
built by Constantine the Great as a thank-offering for the aid given him by that Saint but it is possible in his victory over the Franks in 325 they may have confused this church with the one which Sozomenus asserts that Constantine erected to St. Michael on the banks of the Hellespont. Other writers, of whom Malaspina is one, claim it as an Ostrogoth foundation ;
others
again,
finding
suspicion
a
of Arianism
in
the
sculpture of the Annunciation on the south side of the church, assign it to Agilulf before his conversion from
Arianism dei
e
;
while Gabriel Rosa, author of Storia dei feudi
comuni
in
Lombardia,
attributes
it
King
to
Grimoald.
This
last,
however,
Diaconus' curious
stories.
Paulus
disproved by one of
is
He
says " that in a.d. 661,
King
by the usurper Grimoald, was saved by his faithful servant Unulphus, who, throwing over his royal master's shoulders a blanket and a bearskin, drove him with ill words out of the palace, making believe Bertharis being in peril of his
life
he was a drunken slave. Having thus eluded the guards, who were in Grimoald's pay, and put the king in safety,
Unulphus the
till 1
cap.
fled for refuge
to the Basilica of St. Michael,
new king pardoned
him."
^
Paulus Diaconus Warnefridi, Chron. de iii.
The church gestis
is
again
Langobardorum, Lib. V.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
54
mentioned by Paulus Diaconus when he relates how in 737, when Luitprand judged Pemmonis, Duke of Friuli, and other noble Longobards accused of sacrilege against Callistus, Patriarch of Aquileja, one of them named
Ersemar fled for refuge to the Basilica of St. Michael. Again in 774 a certain Trinidius, agent of King Desiderius, left
a house near the
" Basilica beatissimi
P6
at
Gravenate, as a legacy to the
Archangel! Michaelis intra civitatem
Ticinensum pro anima sua." All these things go to prove that the church existed before Luitprand's_; time, and that it
was
especially venerated. St.
Michael, being a warlike saint, was the Longobards'
favourite object of reverence.
When
Alachi tried to depose
King Cunibert, he suddenly and mysteriously refused to fight the king, because he saw a vision of St. Michael standing beside him
;
then Alachi
knew
the battle would
go against himself if he hazarded it. When the Longobards went forth to war, they carried the effigy of St. Michael before them on their standard. It was also impressed on their coins with the inscription 5. C. S. Mahel^ or sometimes Mihail, spelling in those days not being at
all
a fixed quantity.
But
to return to our church-building king, Luitprand.
He
erected the monastery of S. Abbondio at Bercela in
the mountains, and one dedicated to S. Anastasia, near his
suburban
this villa
who had
villa called
Cortelona (Corte di Alona).
In
he had a private chapel, he being the first prince daily mass said by priests in his own house.^
He had a favourite doctor named Gunduald, who, assisted by Luitprand's royal munificence, founded the monasteries of Palazzolo and Pitiliano near Lucca. At his intercession Luitprand, by a diploma dated 742, gave Magister Piccone, Gunduald's architect, lands in Sabine, which shows the value Luitprand set on the arts, and this Magister especially. 1
Antiq. Long. Mil.
Tom.
I.
Dissertation
i.
p. 68.
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS Astolfo, a later king,
was an equally
liberal
S5
patron of
he gave the revenues of the church of S. Pietro at Pavia to Auripert, a painter whom he greatly esteemed. Astolfo built the monastery of Nonantola, of which some parts still remain, proving its fine architecture. He seems to have been very unscrupulous in his avidity for relics an anonymous MS. at Salerno, speaking of his fierceness and audacity, says that, "having taken many bodies of saints from the neighbourhood of Rome, he had them removed to Pavia." ^ The same old chronicler does him the justice to say that " he built both churches and monasteries which he very largely endowed." Next followed Ratchis, who on his brother Astolfo's death came out of the convent to which he had retired His reign was of the shortest on abdicating in 749. he soon went back to his convent, for Pope Stephen HI. wrote commanding him not to oppose the election of Desiderius, who had been Duke of Friuli and was high in
the arts
;
favour with the Pope.
Desiderius was a liberal patron to the Comacine Guild,
Of the first built monasteries, churches, and palaces. we may record the convent for nuns near Milan, known as La Maggiore, or the Greater. Its foundation by Desiderius
and
is
mentioned
Abbot of
S.
in
a diploma dated
a.d.
Ambrogio, who was
1002 in favour of the
in that
year appointed
guardian to the nuns. At Brescia, of which town Desiderius was a native, he built the monastery near Leno, known as the Monasterio Leonense, and the still more famous spiritual
one of Santa Giulia for nuns, which he founded in 766. Desiderius and his wife Ansa endowed this convent with landed property which spread over all the Lombard kingdom. It was first called S. Salvatore, but when the remains of Santa Giulia were brought from Corsica and placed here, 1
"Prese
molti
trasportare a Pavia."
corpi de'
santi
dai
contorni
di
Roma,
fatti
poi
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
56
Abbess was Desiderius' own daughter, Anselberga, who took the vows here. Says " its opulence and the number of holy the old chronicler virgins who have lived within its walls render it one of the it
was re-dedicated
to her.
Its first
—
most
illustrious
convents in Italy."
Signor Odorici has exemplified the church in its Lombard form to have been quadrilateral, divided by two peristyles of eight columns each, into a nave and two aisles (or three The arches are a tutto naves, as Italian architects say).
and support walls bordered with a There was originally a semi-circular apse or tribune, which was probably flanked by two smaller ones. The white marble columns are, or were, of different proportions, the capitals being sculptured, some in marble and some in arenaria} The mixture of Roman and Byzantine types in these is taken by Ricci ^ to be a proof of its really dating from the time of Desiderius, when the two styles got confused. Some (semi-circular),
sesto
simple string course.
capitals are entirely of Byzantine design, others imitate the
Corinthian.
dom
On
one
is
a mediaeval sculpture of the martyr-
of Santa Giulia, on another
Ansa.
is
the effigy of
Queen
These two are doubtless Comacine work of the
eighth century.
Up
on the slope of Monte Civate near Lake Annone, an hour's climb from the village of Civate, is an ancient Lombard church dedicated to St. Peter, which is almost intact.
have been built as a thank-offering by His son Adelgiso was chasing a wild mountain, and suddenly became blind. The
It is said to
King Desiderius. boar on this father
vowed
he recovered, a church to St. Peter on the spot, Adelgiso soon after recovered
that
should be built
if
seems probable that the sandstone capitals alone belonged to the and the marble ones to the eleventh-century restoration. There is now a modern church built over the old crypt. * Deir Anhitettura in Italia, viii. 257. ^ It
first
eighth-century church,
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
57
and Desiderius was faithful to his oath. An ancient MS. said to be contemporary,^ minutely describes his eyesight,
the ceremonies,
when
the king with
all
his royal
pageantry
came up the mountain to lay the first stone. The plan is similar to most other Lombard churches of its era. A great flight
which
of twenty-seven steps leads up to the portico, beneath is the principal door. This, however, does not lead
immediately to the church, but to a covered atrium, on the which are sculptured in relief, hippogriffs
lateral walls of
tails, i.e. threefold mysteries. The entrance into the nave has two spiral columns,^ an unusual form for the Comacines of that era. There is a great peculiarity in the
with triple
position of the altar, which is a low table without a reredos, standing on the tribune, to which five steps give access. The palio faces the choir, so that the priest when celebrat-
ing would confront the people, and
would be a question ing the
face
the
east.^
It
for archaeologists whether, consider-
reverse orientalizing of
Lombard
churches,
in
comparison to later ones, the front of the raised tribune was not the usual position of their altars. This is the only church which seems enough intact, to judge by. The altar was placed beneath a canopy supported on four slight '
See Sacchi, Antichiia Romantiche d'Italia, p. 98.
^
Ricci
(DeW
Architettura, etc.) tells us the spiral
anciently used in Asia, return from the East.
and
Under
that
and
in these
The
column was very
did not adopt
the later Caesars
into disuse in the rest of Italy. ings,
Rome
it
it
became
Hadrian's it
fell
some buildof the East, we have a
Byzantines used
two early Longobardic imitations
till
usual, but it
in
curious masonic link with the ancient traditions of Solomon's Temple, which
Josephus tells us was adorned with spiral columns. It may be that they were old Roman columns carried up the mountain from some ruin, but I should rather take them as one of the first instances of the use of the spiral column by the Comacines, a form to which they were devoted in later times.
There are endless instances of
spiral colonnettes
on the fagades of
Romanesque churches of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. ^ I speak of the time when Signer Difendente Sacchi visited the church in 1828, before writing his work.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
58
whose sculptured
columns,
bas-reliefs
of
the
show the
symbolic
The canopy
has rude
capitals
animals of the four Evangelists.
Saviour and apostles,
the crucifixion
There are remains of similar altars at Corneto Tarquinii in the^ south, and at S. Piero in Grado near Pisa. The rest of the building is entirely unadorned, excepting by some carved capitals of columns and
resurrection.
in the crypt.
The
church-building days of
He
King Desiderius were now
he had strengthened on the throne by alliances with the all-powerful Charlemagne of France, whose brother Carloman married Desiderius' daughter Gilberga and some historians assert that his son Adelchi espoused Gisla, the sister of Charlemagne. Here we have the link connecting the Comacine Masters under the Lombard rule, with Charlemagne, through whose patronage they spread northward, developing the Gothic architecture. Politically the link was not a strong one. In 770, Charlemagne having been menaced by Pope Stephen HL, the protector of Desiderius, revenged himself by causing Carloman to repudiate Gilberga and send her back to her father with her two sons. Carloman died in 771, and Pope Stephen HL did not live long after him, for in 772 Charlemagne; entered into a league with the new Pope Adrian L to dispossess Desiderius of his kingdom. This unkind scheme was by Pope Adrian dignified by the
drawing his
to
a close.
thought
seat
;
name of a " restitution to the Holy See." The famous unequal fight at Pavia, between Desiderius and the multitudinous hosts of France, is well known. Desiderius was vanquished, and the Longobardic supremacy of two centuries was over, Charlemagne vaunted himself in having released Italy from the Longobardic yoke, but whether his own yoke were lighter is an open question. In any case there was no " restitution to the Holy See." The Lombard cities were
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
59
no more given to the Pope by Charlemagne, than they had
been by Desiderius.
Rex Francorum
et
On the contrary, he crowned himself Longobardorum, and his son Pepin
same title. With him begins the next Comacine art.
inherited the
era in the development of
CHAPTER CIVIL
III
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
Ecclesiastical as was the work of the guild, the Comacine of Lombard times was nevertheless a fine civil He worked as willingly for the prince in palacearchitect. building and for the country in fortification, as for the Church in building monasteries and cathedrals. Indeed war of all sorts bore such a large proportion in the life of the Middle Ages that the fortress was of more importance than the home. In civil architecture the Magistri Comacini of the seventh and eighth centuries followed much the same style as in their ecclesiastical buildings, of course adapting it
to
In the
different uses.
its
Lombard
palace
we
find
on the upper floor the usual double-light windows, with the two round arches and dividing column enclosed in a larger arch of masonry.
We
also find the inevitable
the roof.
In
with colonnettes,
Lombard
cornice beneath
instead of a complete gallery
civil buildings,
becomes a row of brackets with The windows of the lower
this
carvings in the corbel heads. floor are
square orifices barred with iron, for defence in
warlike times.
The
walls are either of the solid
work opus romanum,
or the great smoothly
the opus gallicum.
In
Lombardy
former, as clay for bricks
is
hewn
there are
easily attainable.
brick-
stones of
more of the In Tuscany
and southward the buildings are more frequently of stone. 60
TosiNGHORUM Palatium Florentiae celeberrimum in Foro Veteri situm lapide dolato columnisque marmoreis extructum gui turris adjacens ulnar. 130 proceritate erigebatur.
Tracing of an old print of the Tosinghi Pa[.ace, a medieval building once WITH Laubia on the front.
in Florence, [See page 6i,
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS The
Florentine Bargello, though
6i
a very fine specimen of this work, in the older portions of wall, where the smooth-cut stones fit solidly together. If the building required an inner courtyard it was of the same Lombard style as their churches
convex
—showing
later, offers
the round arch, and the
capital, often sculptured.
The
municipal palace only came in with the
Communes
In Longobardic times, the only buildings that had any pretensions to architecture were the palaces of the dukes or kings. Luitprand's palace in Milan, which fell after iioo.
into
disuse after
the
tenth
century,
is
as
graphically
described by old chroniclers and in legal documents in the
Monza had been by Paulus Diaconus. Before the days of the Communes, when the Brolio or Broletta, and the Palazzo Pubblico were as yet unknown, the palace of the ruling prince was the hall of justice, the nearest Basilica being the public meeting-place. King Luitprand's palace was styled in his time Curtis ducati. In Charlemagne's reign it was Curti domum Imperatoris in other parchments Curtis Mediolanensis. Across the front ran an open gallery, called Laubia^ formed, as were the galleries of the Comacine churches, of a row of arches on colonnettes. Here the placiti were held, and sentences pronounced, as in the regal and imperial public buildings, The the populace being assembled in the street below. served the ringhiera of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence archives of St. Ambrose, as Theodolinda's at
same purpose
The houses,
in
Communal
Loggia, which is
times.
such a feature in all old Italian In its the natural descendant of the Laubia. is
private aspect, as part of a citizen's house, the Loggia was
the place where the master of the house received
his
friends.
An
ancient '
MS. by Landolfo
tells
us that the space
Probably the root of our word Lobby.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
62
Luitprand's palace was not very wide.
occupied by
It
St. Ambrose to the church Monacos (now no more), and the road leading to it was known as Strada de Civite Duce. That King Desiderius also employed the Masonic guild
extended from the monastery of of St. Protasius ad
seems implied Gemignano. Certain it
in civil as well as ecclesiastical architecture
by the
tradition of his palace at S.
that a solid mediaeval building with decidedly
is
Lombard
windows and Lombard arches under the machicolations, exists at S. Gemignano, but whether it was really built by and for Desiderius, I leave wiser antiquaries to judge.
The style is that of the times. As a rule, Lombard houses had
small rooms.
This
seems to have applied even to royal and public buildings, as mentioned above, all public meetings had to be held
for,
in
a church, or in
its
ante-portal.
When
Desiderius con-
voked a Diet at Pavia, each prince or bishop was assigned a house which had a church or oratory near, in which he could meet his committee. The different methods and processes of house-building are very plainly enumerated in the laws of Luitprand, of which we have given the headings on a previous page. It would seem that since the reign of Agilulf, the Masters of the Guild had become overbearing, and by Luitprand's time required to have special legislation to limit their prices.
Luitprand's code of laws regulated the strength of
the external walls of a building, in regard to the different height, construction,
Art,
1
60 speaks
Roman mode, and romanense
and
si
(Roman work
material.
of two different
the Gallic style.
fecerit,
sic
repotet
It
constructions,
begins
sicut
the —"Similiter
gallica
opera."
be accounted of equal value to Gallic work.) This distinction of terms has caused great argumentation among commentators. Prof. Merzario ' says '
shall
/ Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
i.
p. 50.
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS "
that
two
terms cannot
national
apply
to
63
any small
and he takes them to mean the round arch, in which most Lombard churches are built, and the Gothic with the pointed arches. As, however, Charlemagne's church, the father of the
distinction of masonry,"
Roman
style with the
Gothic,
was not yet
more
built in Luitprand's time,
inclined to take the opinion of
Troya,
who
interpret the
we
should be
Marchese Ricci and
phrase opus gallicum to
the style which they say was introduced into
mean
Ravenna by
Theodoric and his Goths, and which they brought from Gaul. It was the most solid style imaginable, seemingly a remnant of Cyclopean building if so it was not Gallic at all, but came from the Pelasgi through the Etruscans, and so was a natural sequence of Italian architecture the Etruscans ;
;
having taught the Romans. It consisted of hewn stones of large size and perfect fitness, still further strengthened " Mirum opus manu gothica, et quadris with cement. lapidibus,"
was
it
said of the builders of S.
Oveno
at
Rouen. If this definition be admitted, then the other term opus romanum would mean building with flat bricks, which was equally practised by the Comacines, especially in
Lombardy. Luitprand's laws speak of the
asse, tavolati^
or scindule
(Longobardic term) by which the houses were internally divided, and of a cheap species of house-building called by the Gauls pise, probably from the same root as pigiato According to that method, the walls (pressed together). were composed of masses of earth pressed, and then bound
The same method is together so as to form a solid mass. peasants still used in Africa and Spain, and in Italy by the in the subalpine regions near Alessandria (Piedmont). In si
Clause
arcum
II.,
volserit,
where they use the term cannot refer to vaulted roofs, which
De Muro, it
were then unknown, but to the slight arch of the window '
The words
asse
and tavok
for planks of
wood
still
survive in Italy.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
64
or door in the thickness of the wall, often only a sloping off
The roofs were supported on wooden beams, and the laws determine the size and value of these, according to whether they are scapitozzati or capitozzati,
of stones.
hewn or carved. They also decide the quality of the wood for beams or planking, and the cost of roofing in regard to the number of wooden slabs or tiles required in
i.
e.
a raised roof.
Thus any Longobard who wished
to build himself a
house, might consult the laws of Luitprand, and count the cost beforehand.
These laws walls of a city.
of
work
builder
;
for
shall
also decide the strength of the defensive
Law
IV. gives the trade price of this sort
those built in massa, for
or
every sixty feet be
per maxa, the paid in
adds—
solidum
unum Ricci " This per maxa is the same construction which the Greeks and Romans styled implectans, i. e. conglomerate." They had several kinds of walls, some of brick, others (one soldo, a gold coin).
with a base of stone (nella base a Milan, which have lasted
till
the walls of
now.
Luitprand assigns different
Thus
sassi), like
money
for different kinds of
Magistri Comacini were paid wall, sometimes solidum vestitum, a distinction of soldi which has puzzled commentators very much some opining that vestitum refers to a coin on which the emperor is represented as regally clad, and others that it means a copper coin plated {vestito) with work.
solidum
unum
at times the for
every foot of
;
gold.
We
were much used as ornamentation in building. This style was, as we have said, called " a cacabus." Broken vases were adopted in the foundation of large buildings and houses others, which probably were not perfect enough for household use, were built into the walls and put as ornaments between the find also that terra-cotta vases
;
Tower of
SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, i2th century. (Frimi
a photograph by
Alinari.)
[page 65.
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS The tower
arches.
of S. Giovanni e Paolo at
65
Rome and
the church of S. Eustorgio at Milan are good instances of this style.
Here we have another link with ancient Rome. Promis amphora found in the walls of an imperial edifice in Aosta. At the fountain of Egeria, near the Porta Tiburtina in Rome, the walls are full of amphorae and
instances an
oil-jars.
On
the whole
Masonic laws show that the principal scope of the Longobardic architecture was to make strong and lasting buildings. The building of convents were frequent commissions of the Comacines, and in these, as in their churches, they had a set form. A solid framework of walls either of hewn stone, in the Gallic manner, or of brick in the Roman style, and a few beams and planks, were the simple elements of which a convent was composed. But of course a Comacine could not make any building without his slight columns and arches, and here he disposed This, too, was a heritage from of them in his cloister. these
Rome, recalling the atrium. A Lombard or Romanesque cloister is a delight. Here you have a square court more or less spacious, containing a picturesque well in
classic
the centre, surrounded by a colonnade of small columns generally in couples, resting on a low wall and supporting a
row of arches. It was usually on the sunny cloister here are the Comacine poured out his imagination
roof on a that
;
fancifully-sculptured capitals, pillars of every variety of form
grotesque gargoyles between the arches, and Hope^ instances as the often delicate tracery above them.
and
style,
more rude and
early style of
Lombard
cloisters,
those of
San
Lorenzo at Rome and Santa Sabina and San Stefano at Bologna, and as models of the more splendid style those of 1
Hope, Storia delV Architetttira, chap.
xxv. p. 179, 180.
F
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
66
John Lateran, which are resplendent with porphyry, serpentine, and gold enamel, inlaid in the marble and those of S. Zeno of Verona of every tint of marble which the Euganean hills can afford. For the interior arrangements of a Longobardic monastery we will take Padre Ricci's account of the first plan of Monte Cassino which Petronax "It had on the Brescian engaged the Comacines to build. S.
;
the ground floor a Sala anciently called caminata, because
The upper
was divided by wooden partitions into cells and other rooms requisite in a Although at that time houses only had cenobitic life. Monte Cassino one floor, monasteries generally had two. the fire-place
was
there.
floor
boasted of three storeys, the upper one being only used for
keeping fodder and
stores.
As
the chief aim was solidity
of building, great attention was paid to the proportionate thickness of the outer walls.
The
laws determined the
adequate value of these, which were generally of the thickfeet. The inner walls were cum axe clauserit.' This mode of separation by wooden
ness of five
—
'
of planks or assi
si
usual in convents, though
it
partitions
is still
has gone out of use in houses.
The
convents of S. Marco and S. Salvi at Florence both
show
this style of division for the cells.
The windows were made of wood.
protected by abietarii or cancelli (gratings)
A strong point in Lombard building was the fortress, which the Magistri were past masters in erecting. Their castles and forts and city walls stand to this day solid and up commandingly in all directions all the mediaeval cities bristled with them the tower was, in fact, a weapon of war. On these, too, they set their seal the pillared Lombard window becoming larger and more airy as the tower rises into the air, and the crowning strong, with towers standing
— —
;
cornice of bracketed or pillared archlets.^ 1
See the
illustration
perfect specimen of
of the church of
Lombard
tower.
S.
Frediano, on page 48, for a
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
6-j
Their towers seem to have been of two forms, ecclesiand civil. The ecclesiastical bell-tower, square with a straight unbroken line, with neither buttress nor projection till the summit, where the bracket-supported arches expand astic
Sometimes each storey had a
like a flower.
with smaller arches beneath
The windows,
string course,
as in the tower at Prato.
it,
we have
said, had a fixed rule they grow larger and more airy as they ascend. You go up from a mere orifice on the first floor to a one-arched window on the second, a two-arched on the
too, as
;
are smaller below, and
even four-arched one near the summit. were their solidity as a means of defence, and their height as a means of vigilance they appear to be chiefly circular, offering no corners, but a curved surface from which missiles could easily glance off. The windows were narrow outside, expanding wider within. If there were a double-light window, it would be on the very high storeys, out of arrow aim. Nearly third, to a three or
The
characteristics of civil towers at this time
;
all
the ancient fortresses have round towers, but
very few church towers that are
so,
I
know
of
except the one at Classe
near Ravenna.
Before the thirteenth century, neither brackets nor prowere used, and the tower rose in a single
jecting cornices
from base to battlement, so that projectiles fell It was later that architects discovered the straight down. straight line
value
of
these too
projecting
the
baluardo.
As
to
battlements,
came from the antique; Babylon and Nineveh
show proofs of them, and Homer speaks of the battlemented Muratori^ derives the Italian towers of Asia and Greece. term merlo, from mirare (to take aim), the battlements being made for the shelter of the archers, and their convenience in shooting. When fire-arms came in, the need of battlemented towers ceased. The principal Longobardic military towers remaining to our day, are, the tower of the ruined fortress of Baradello, 1
Ant. med.
aevi,
Tom.
I.
chap.
ii.
p.
158.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
68
which dominates the road
to Camerlata,
Como,
mutilated, in the wall of
and the towers, now
one of which, erected on
arches, forms the gate of the city towards Camerlata,
The
ninth-century sculptures on the altar at S.
Ambrogio
prove that the Longobards had towers above their city gates. The author of the Ant. Longob. Milanesi (Dissert, iii.
p. 193) says that the ancient
gates of Milan, before the
enlargement of the walls, were of
They were
towers over them.
this
construction with
furnished with heavy
wooden
doors covered with iron, which were suspended on chains,
and
slid
down
in
ing the entrance
grooves
—a
in the wall, thus
seventh book, describes the gates the same construction Tivoli,
;
some
and Pompeii prove the
completely clos-
Livy, in his twenty-
portcullis, in fact.
Rome
of
as being of
existing examples at fact.
A famous
Rome,
gate in the
time of the Longobards was the one chronicled by Paulus Diaconus, which
King Bertharis (671
Magistri to erect beside his palace
named
the
Porta
Palatinense,
—686)
in
caused the
Pavia.
and was,
says
It
was
Paulus
an admirable work (opera mirifica). Some antique documents quoted by Passano,^ prove that this gateway was furnished with bronze gates. ^ Diaconus,
Some writers think that the battlemented fortress came from the East, because ancient specimens of it are found there. In reading an Italian translation of Procopius, Degli edifici di Giustiniano Imperatore, I was struck by the many slight expressions which seem to prove
Byzantium Italy. Procopius says that Justinian made a new style of fortress with towers all round the walls with stairs in the towers, and galleries {baluards) round them with holes that Justinian brought his fortress-builders into
from
;
1
De' real palazzi, ch.
^
That the Longobards were
i.
par. 4.
Italian artificers in their pay,
either metal-workers themselves, or
we know from
had
the specimens preserved in
Monza Cathedral, and especially the crown of Agilulf, of which Antichita Longobardka Milanesi gives an illustration.
the
ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE LONGOBARDS in
them
Pirgo
to
throw down stones, and that it was called because in the Latin tongue, fortresses are
castello,
styled castelli.
an
69
Now
this description
is
precisely that of
such as the Comacines knew how to build, and built for centuries all over Italy. If it came from the East in ancient times, why was it specified by Procopius Italian fortress,
as a
new
style there
had they no name
The
?
—and
origin
if its
were Eastern, why
but had to take the Latin one ? Bishop of Salisbury, in a letter in the Salisbury for
it,
Diocesan Gazette {^i^:^ 1898), speaks of an inscription of the twelfth century, preserved in the museum at Jaffa, which is in
memory
of Magister Filipus,
King of England
who came over with the who had built a portion
(Richard), and
of the wall " from gate to gate
"
evidently Magister Filipus from the English Masonic Lodge, fraternized and worked with his brethren of the Roman and Eastern Lodges. Again, on p. 21, Procopius speaks of a town or vil:
now known
as Eufratisia, but which was once Comagene, because there were Romans as well as Persians living there. Romans, of course, meant subjects
lage
called
of the Italian Empire, but the
name Comagene
is
certainly
suggestive of those Italians being the Comacine builders
who made
Then
the castles.
Procopius's description of the
rebuilding of the church of Santa Sofia it,
interesting to a student of
— passage translated runs thus being
thus burned,
was,
is,
to say the least of
Lombard architecture. " The church then (Sta
at
that
time,
The Sofia)
ruined
entirely
But Justinian, a long while after, rebuilt it in such a form that if any one in older times could have foreseen it, he would have prayed God that the old church might be completely destroyed, so that it may be rebuilt as it now is. Therefore the Emperor sent to as
many
as there
were
in all
call artificers
all
masters,
the universal world.
Anthemius Trallianus, the head machinist, learned in
and
architect,
And
was a great
kinds of machinery, not only that
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
70
own
knew, and he and organize perfectly the had the power to working of all things necessary to building, and to the ordering and executing of his own designs and inventions. And Isidore, another Milesian, was also a master of The church then, was so marvellously made machinery. it seems supernatural that it was a beautiful thing to see their own eyes, and incredible to those who behold it with of his
time, but in all that the ancients
regulate
;
to those
who only hear
seems to touch the sky.
of .
.
it,
.
because
The
it
so high that
is
towards the rising sun, but where the secret are performed, edifice is
it is
built in this
which those of
to say half a circle
planted beneath
it
face of the church looks
manner.
offices to
It is
God
a half-round
which there are columns
this profession call Hemiciclo, .
.
.
and
in this
Here we have a decided
its floor."
with raised tribune and semi-circular apse
Basilica
both the form have been imported as a new " The golden dome appears suspended thing from Italy. from heaven, so light are the columns supporting it that it seems to be in the air. One can never arrive at understanding how it was built {apprendere rarteficio), but one goes away astonished at one's inability to enough admire
and nomenclature seem
.
;
to
.
.
such a work."
Does not
this
seem an argument
for the universality of
the Masonic Brotherhood, even in Byzantine days are certainly Italian
artists,
Italian
basilican
?
Here
forms, and
among the Greeks working at Sta Sofia. And here too are Lombard galleries and windows with an Eastern touch added. Which way did the influence Italian
nomenclature,
Was
come mark
of the
tion
from
?
this the origin of that characteristic
Lombard Italy to
style in Italy
?
—or was
Byzantium, where
seems duly astonished by to solve. There is much
it ?
It is
it
Eastern an importa-
Procopius at least
a question for experts
for the archaeologist to
finding the true pedigree of architecture.
do yet
in
CHAPTER
IV
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION IN THE LOMBARD ERA
The Comacine
Masters were distinctly sculptor-architects, and their ornamentation was an essential part of their buildings. Yet, to them, sculpture was by no means mere ornament. It was not a mere breaking up of a plain surface, as a beautifying
and niches
for
symmetry.
effect
nor a setting of statues
;
was an eloquent part of a
It
primitive language of religion and
had a meaning
tracery
;
every
The
art.
very smallest
every rudely carved
leaf,
animal spoke in mystic language of some great truth in
was a language as yet artistically unformed, man had more articles of creed than he could express in words, and his hand like his mind was religion.
But
it
because the mediseyal as yet unpractised.
Thus it came that, as we have were much given to symbolism.
The heads
said, the
Comacine Masters
old Italian writers class this symbolism under two
—the ermetica (hermeneutic
symbolism of form or number
;
.''),
and
which they define as orfica (orphic), that of
Under the
head would fall we have referred; the form of the windows, which were doublelighted, and emblematized the two lights of the law and the gospel the rounded apse, emblem of the head of Christ figures or representations.
first
the symbolical plan of their churches to which
;
the
threefold
nave shadowing 71
forth
the
Trinity;
the
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
72
octagonal form of the baptisteries, which
Ambrose^
St.
number 8, etc. come all those mystic
says was emblematical of the mystic
Under the head
of orphic would
signs of circle and triangle
;
mysterious Solomon's knot
of sacred monograms, and the ;
—that
and endless
intricate
variety of the single unbroken line of unity,
the manifold ways of the power of the one neither beginning nor end.
curious possible and
the Comacine
It
would
also include
impossible animals
work of
earlier
— emblem
God who
that
of
has the
all
abound
in
Longobardic times all the and the figurative ;
emblematic figures of angels and saints
;
Bible stories of the later Masters. It
has been said by Ruskin that the queer monsters sculp-
Longobard churches, such as Sant' Agostino at Milan, San Fedele at Como, and San Michele at Pavia, were the savage imaginings of the lately civilized tured on the early
Longobards, as seen through the medium of the sculptors
employed by them. This is, however, proved not to be the case animal symbolism was in those days an outward sign of Christianity, which, in a time when there was no literature, was to the unlettered masses a mystical religion represented to their minds in signs and parables. Christ Himself used this parabolic style of teaching. And it was even more than that, it was a sign of an older Bible lore among the Hebrews, and other ancient peoples. As in ;
—
many
early
Christian
Europe) we
ceremonies in
can trace
paganism, so in the East
Hebrew
the
the
remains of
we may
West the
{i. e.
old
in
Latin
trace signs of the older
faith.
Speaking of the Longobardic mixtures of labyrinths, chimeree, dragons, lions, and a hundred other things, which at first sight do not seem to be connected with Christianity, Marchese Ricci asks " If these queer mixtures were only
—
the effect of the architects' caprice, ^
whence came the
Sancti Ambrosii, Comment, in S. Luc. Lib. V. cap.
vi.
first
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION impulse to such caprice
?
Not from
classic
73
Rome
certainly.
Not from the Goths and Longobards, because they being barbarians had to employ Italian artists."^
The
theory
propounded by Pietro Selvatico, in an article in the Rivista is suggestive of a reply to this question. He supposes that the Byzantines originally took their symbolism from the Hebrews, and from the traditions of Solomon's Temple, which are also shared by the Phoenicians ^ and that this animal symbolism changed its character in the East, owing to the restrictions imposed by the Emperor Leo and
Europea,
;
his successors, but that in freer Italy
it still
flourished.
It
to say whether the Comacines took their ornamentation direct from the Byzantines at Ravenna in the early centuries after Christ, or whether they got it by
is difficult
longer tradition, from that same Eastern source from which the Byzantines took theirs.
It is true that
Como had more
who was a Greek,^ and that when it fell government of the Patriarch of Aquileja, the under the Comacines were employed by him in Venice, Grado, and Torcello, etc., where they would have seen a good deal of Byzantine work but their earliest employment at Torcello was in the seventh century, and we have seen them using their chisels for Theodolinda long before that time. The Byzantine ornamentation became conventional after 726 A.D., when the Emperor Leo III. (the Isaurian) pro-
than one bishop
;
mulgated his iconoclastic edict in the Eastern Empire. Some Greeks had begun to feel that, under the appearance of Christianity, they were only keeping up the ancient They were taunted by the Hebrews and paganism. Mussulmen, who, inspired by the Koran, had a great hatred 1
Deir Architettura
2
Would
in Italia, cap.
this at all explain the
p. 245.
in Ireland,
and
in Scandi-
where there was very early intercourse with the Phoenicians ? Amantius, the fourth Bishop of Como, was translated from the See of
navia, 3
viii.
Runic knot
Thessalonica to that of Como.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
74
This sect found a champion in Leo III., who the Arabs, and shared their prehad lived He convoked a council, prohibited iudices against idols. images, and proscribed all reverence and use of them either A figure of the Christ over his own public or private. of images.
much among
palace
fell
the
victim to his iconoclastic destruction.
first
who would not bow to this decree fled to and put themselves under the protection of Pope Gregory II. From this time the eastern Byzantine architectural ornamentation was entirely confined to linear and In pure Byzantine geometric design, and vegetable forms. work one sees no dragons or fighting monsters, only The sculptors took to conventional doves and scrolls. imitating woven stuffs, and Oriental patterns in marble, and Several Greeks Italy,
to twining their capitals with conventional leaves, but the
had gone out of
life
their
work
;
it
was
set
all
and
precise,
but dead.
The
Italian architect, not
being under the power of the
edict of Leo, continued to carve his mythic animals, his
hand at the first His figures were disproportionate and mediaeval in form, what could one expect from a man of the Middle Ages just reawakening but they were full of fire and life. to the conception of art ? Their mystic beasts were horrible as any nightmare could conceive them they were indeed conceived in the darkness of that night of superstition, ignorance, and fierce strife. Their angels were grotesque, not from want of imagination, but from want of models of form and propor-
symbolic birds and
fishes,
rude revival of the
human
and even
tried his
figure in sculpture.
—
—
;
tion
;
their
their
men
are
full
of
all
kinds of expression, with
heads too large and their limbs too short
;
but their
attitudes are lively, their faces grotesquely keen.
As a proof
of this distinctive style, compare the Byzan-
tine altar of S.
Ambrogio
the Comacine pulpit of the
at Milan, here illustrated, with
same church.
(See page 88.)
Byzantine Altar
in
the Church
op' S.
Ambrogio, Milan.
i^ag-e 74.
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION
75
So many students of architecture roughly class as Byzantine every kind of intricate decorative work of the centuries before the Renaissance but I think that, except;
some instances in Venice and Ravenna (and not all the work of the era there), most of the Italian ornamental ing in
is Comacine, and not Byzantine. Certainly if a sly-faced you see lamb, or a placid lion with rolling eyes, peering out from beneath the abacus of a column, or a
sculpture
perky bird
up
lifting
its
claw over a vase, with an extremely
lively expression of eagerness, that
though
it
work
is
not Byzantine,
may be surrounded and mixed
with the most
intricate possible
weaving of
lines or foliage.
However,
I
leave the question of derivation of style to wiser students
than myself, and return to the Comacine Masters and their symbolism. It seems impossible that the Comacine sculptures on Michele could have come through the Byzantine. It is true they show rude and unskilled technical execution, but
S.
they have intense
spirit, belief, life,
and spontaneity.
The
Magistri must have got their ornamentation as they did their architecture from an older source, and a traditional one. It came down like their Freemasonry from ancient Eastern builders through pagan Rome, and ages of mystic religions such as Gnostic and other deistic forms, till it became
—
incorporated in Christianity.
"define
Christian
symbolism
"We as
might," says the
Sacchi,^
representation
of
mysteries and religious truths by means of forms, cyphers,
and determinate images." misteri e verita religiose,
{La rappresentazione di dogmi, per mezzo di forme, cifre ed
immagini determinate!) An older and more authoritative testimony is given by Dionysius the Areopagite, the associate of St. Paul, by whom he was consecrated. In his De angelica sen celestt Hierarchia, Epistola ad Timotheum Ephcssics civitatis 1
Antichita Romanticfie d' Italia, Vol.
I.
capo
iv. p.
138.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
76
episcopum, he writes
—"
necessary to teach the mind as
It is
by means of material figures and formal compositions, so that by comparing the most
to the spiritual hierarchies,
we may
sacred forms in our minds,
raise before
us the
and unpictured beings and similitudes on high." says elsewhere, " ascendere per formas veritatim."
spiritual
As he
Again he writes and to
difficult
show
epistle
to Titus
enigmas,
forth mystic
to
is
it
—
"
Only by means of
and divine
Timotheus,
St.
occult
given to the fathers of science In the second — writes " We must
truths."
Dionysius
^
from ascetic facts by means of imaginative forms, and we should not marvel as do the unknowing, if for this end are chosen many-footed beings, or creatures with many heads if we figure bovine images, or lions, or flying creatures with three-fold eagles with curved beaks raise ourselves
;
;
wings, celestial irradiations, wheel-like forms, vario-tinted
armed
and every kind of sacred and formal symbol which has come down to us by tradition."
horses, the
Sagittarius,
St. Nilus, too, writes to
think
it
memory
Olimpiodorus
an honourable thing that
— "You
me
if I
you erect temples to the
of martyrs as well as to that of the
who
ask
among
Redeemer
and have borne witness to the gospel. You also ask whether it would be wise to decorate the walls on the right and left with animal figures, so that we may see hares (conies) and goats, and every kind ot beast flying away, while men and dogs follow them up. Whether it would be well to represent fish and fishermen throwing the line or the net whether on the calcareous stone shall be well-carved effigies of all kinds of animals, and ornamental friezes and representations of birds, beasts, and serpents of divers generations ? " St. Nilus says later those martyrs
whose pains and
are
certainly
the
saints,
sufferings
;
^
" Sophise patres, per
qusedam occulta
et
audacia enigmata, manifestant
divinam, et misticam et inviam immundis veritatum." de Theologia Simbolua, Epistola
I.
ad Titum Pontificem.
— Sancti
Dionisii,
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION that he quite agrees with
all
these things
;
so
^^
if
the Fathers
we need not heed Mr.
of the Church respected them,
Ruskin's
diatribes.
—
Nilus lived in the time of John XVI., 985 996, nearly 900 years after Dionysius, but this extract from his St.
shows that Christian symbolism had not altered in all those centuries, and the church he describes is no more or less than a Comacine church of that era. The chase is figured forth on the fagades of S. Michele and S. Stefano at Pavia, and S. Zeno at Verona, The huntsman and his dogs are generally used as emblems of the faithful Christian letter
driving out heresies.^
The fisherman
symbolizes the priest-
hood, fishing for souls out of the ocean of beautiful
example of
this
myth
There
sin.
is
a
in the fresco of the ship
(the ark of the Church)
on the roof of the Spanish chapel at Santa Maria Novella in Florence, where the fisherman is casting his line from the bank. Seen through the medium of these early lights, we no longer look on the facade of S. Michele as Ruskin does, as a sign of savage atrocity, but every line of the time-worn sculptured friezes stands out as full of meaning as an Egyptian hieroglyphic, to one who can interpret it. On the angle to the left we have the army of the Church militant, figured as armed soldiers, whose horses trample some quadrupeds underfoot symbol the vanquishing of sins. Above this a frieze of four animals first, a lion second, too much broken to be decipherable, but from the context it is probably a man-headed creature third, a bull Here we have the four beasts fourth, a winged creature.
—
:
— ;
1
A
very pretty later instance of this
myth
is
;
in the fresco of the
Spanish chapel in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, where the Dominican monks are figured as the " dogs of the Lord " {domini canes a mediaeval
—
pun), fighting
and overwhelming the
heretical paterini
literally fought with in the streets of Florence.
emblem
of fidelity— the hare treated alone
of unchastity
;
when
is
whom
The dog
is
the
generally used as an
in the chase, as unfaithfulness.
monks
always used as
emblem
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
78
of the Apocalypse,
—emblems of
the Evangelists.
And
"
beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle" (Rev. iv. 7). The connection between the two friezes is evident. First, the Church militant clad in the whole armour of God, and the second
the
first
calf,
emblematizing the shield of the Gospel. In the next compartment of the facade, that on the of the door,
we have
from
flying
left
the chase of a deer and other animals
which we have explained above
fierce dogs,
over this a frieze of vine-leaves.
Here, again, the connec-
The
tion of thought is apparent.
vine figures Christ, the
only true refuge from heresy.
High up on each an olive-leaf
side of this left door
in its claw
—symbol
Church bringing
of the
In the centre between these
peace.
is
a peacock with
is
the bishop with his
—the visible dispenser
robes and pastoral staff
On
the Church.
we go
pine-cones
tail
she
;
;
is
woman
a in
:
here
is
man
a hippogriff with
with six breasts, carrying two
a long robe with large sleeves, and ;
;
and
;
holy
;
man head ;
;
whom
a sphinx to
two
who
man
presents a
branch of a
little
much
of Christianity
pine-cones
is
and one which
in spite of St.
is
man
marvel-
Dionysius
of Eastern traditions long before Christ, as itself.
The many-breasted woman
the ancient mother goddess,
Cupra, according to the age and clime
image
A
places their claws on his head.
lous frieze indeed,
speaks as
a
hippogriffs, seated opposite each other with a
in the centre
old
of peace in
above the door,
is
two sphinxes, on each of which a rides, and whispers in their ears a dragon with wings bird's feet, on its neck a child a priest with vase of water and an asperge, who is blessing some people a (Zohak) between two winged serpents which bite his
veiled as an Egyptian
tree
which
frieze,
mythic animals
into the
the three-fold
the fourth
turned to
new
uses,
;
I sis,
here
I
with the
Cybele, or
take
it
the
and she figures Eve, the
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION The two
primitive mother.
79
sphinxes are obscure, but
they would seem to emblematize man wresting the secrets of knowledge of good and evil from the mystery of the
Adam
unknown, as when
and Eve ate the apple
;
the
dragon, always emblem of sin or the devil, ridden by a child, is a fine symbol of the child Christ, the seed of Eve,
who
should overcome
Then comes
sin.
the purification
by benediction, as shadowing Abel's accepted sacrifice, and the serpent-fanged remorse of Cain, as shown in Zohak. "
There where the narrowing chasm
Rose
loftier in
the
hill
Stood Zohak, wretched man, condemned to keep His cave of punishment. His was the frequent scream
Which when
far off the
prowling jackal heard,
He
howled in terror back. For from his shoulders grew Two snakes of monster size Which ever at his head
Aimed
their rapacious teeth.
He, in eternal
conflict, oft
would
seize
Their swelling necks, and in his giant grasp Bruise them, and rend their flesh with bloody nails
And howl for
agony,
Feeling the pangs he gave, for of himself Co-sentient and inseparable parts
The snaky
torturers grew."
^
SouTHEV, Thalaba
the Destroyer.
Next the man giving the branch to the sphinx must shadow the reconciliation of man with God, and the hippogriffs
the
final
redemption of man.
combination of horse and eagle. sius says,
was
mission
if
us, is 1
I
;
hippogriff
is
a
horse, as St. Diony-
symbol of evangelical resignation and sub-
white,
a high and
am
The
The
it
sheds divine
light.
The
;
Hindoo lady, that Zohak, so graphically emblem of remorse, is from an ancient Persian
informed, by a literary
described by Southey as the
he tells and agile
eagle,
regal bird, potent, keen, sober
egend, and not of Indian origin.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
8o
the winged horse consequently stands for man's upward
heaven through submission
flight to
to
God.
In the
fifth
the Christian virtues of strength, fortitude, sobriety,
frieze,
and obedience are symboHzed by bulls and horses. Around the door are sculptures of the same kind of emblems with vines entwining which teach that all manly strength must be used for Christ.
—
In the central portion are more
friezes, all
the war between between man's earthly nature and his
the struggle between good and evil
angels and
heavenly
demons
;
symbolizing
;
soul.
Here
men
and struggling with and serpents winged angels riding on heavenly horses over the door the grand central idea, St. Michael triumphant over the dragon-serpent, the favourite hero and great example of those days. On the other side of the church we seem to get the symbolism of the New Testament. Here, mixed still with the dragons and hippogrififs of the time, we can see are
fighting dragons,
;
;
the Virgin with the Divine Child at her breast.
On
the capitals of the north door, round the corner,
are the entirely Christian
emblems of the man, the lamb,
a winged eagle, and two doves pecking at a vase, in which are heavenly flowers.
In the lunette, Christ
is
giving to
St. Paul on one side a roll of parchment, and on the other hand entrusting the keys to St. Peter under it are the words Ordino Rex istos super omnia Regna Magistros. ;
:
The jects
;
capitals in the church are carved with similar subone has the emblems of the evangelists another Adam ;
and Eve with the tree of knowledge on one side, and a figure offering a lamb on the other. On one are griffins at the corners, and Longobards with long vests, beard, and long hair, crouching between them on another, a virgin martyr bearing the palm. The fourth column on the left has a curious scene of a man dying, and an angel and a ;
Door of the Church of San Michele,
Pavia.
l^ag-£ 80.
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION demon
fighting for his soul, which has
form of a nude child. sacrifice of Isaac, and Daniel
Two
in the
So we
8i
come out of him show the
pilasters
in the lions' den.
he was at that time, the Comacine Master of the seventh and eighth centuries, even though his execution were low, had a high meaning in his
As
work. to
be
see, that mediaeval as
to the rudeness of the handling, there
We see the
said.
years' exposure to
this
is
more than a thousand the atmosphere, and the sculptures are work
after
not in durable marble, but in sandstone, which has a habit of getting
edges decayed, so we may fairly suppose the when the ornamentations were fresh.
its
cutting looked clearer
The form
of both animals
always
naturally
was,
and
entirely
men
is,
however, and
seems
which
mediaeval,
synonymous with clumsy.
The
use of marble ceased for some centuries with the
Roman Empire.
Theodosius had made a law, forbidding any one below the rank of a senator to erect a building of marble, or valuable macigna ; thus the Christian buildings after the fifth century were generally of humble fall
of the
sandstone
who
;
and
this continued
till
the time of St. Nilus,
friend that "in arenaria he
tells his
may
effigy
every
kind of animal, which will be a delightful spectacle " (dilettoso spettacolo di veduta).
building, as
it
was
with
of the sculptor
ations
was a stone peculiarly adapted to and yielded to all the imagin-
It
easily cut,
very
little
labour.
I
have
given an especially lengthy description of the facade of S. Michele, because it embodies all the special marks of the ornamentation of the era.
stance
The church ;
of S.
Comacine under the Longobardic Fedele at
Como
is
here, too, the capitals of the columns,
water vase, which
symbolism.
The
is
held up by a dragon, are
left
another
in-
and the holy full
of orphic
door has an architrave with obtuse
angles bearing a chimerical figure, half human, half serpent
—the gnostic
symbol of Wisdom.
Serpents and dragons
G
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
82
entwine on the
and emblematize the Church's power
lintels,
to overcome.
In studying the scrolls and geometrical decoration of the
Comacines, one immediately perceives that the intreccio, I think or interlaced work, is one of their special marks. church find any or sacred edifice, it would be difficult to
Comacine work under the Longobards, it were, by some curious interlaced
or even altar of the
which
is
not signed, as
knot or meander, formed of a single tortuous line. As far as I can find from my own observations, there is
this
mazes
;
His
covered.
well
finished
between the Byzantine and Comacine
difference
the Byzantine worked for
and
knots
and
effect,
scrolls
to get a surface
are
beautifully
clearly cut with geometrical precision, but the
line is not continuous
;
it is
a pretty pattern repeated over
and over, but has no suggestion of meaning. The Comacine, on the contrary, believed in his mystic knot to him it was, as I have said, a sign of the inscrutable and infinite ways of God, whose nature is unity. The ;
traditional
name
of these interlacings
among
Italians is
" Solomon's knot."
have seen a tiny ancient Lombard church, in the mountains of the Apuan Alps, built before the tenth century, of large blocks of stone, fitted and dovetailed into each other with a precision almost Etruscan. High up in I
the northern wall
is
a single carved stone some three feet
long, representing a rude
peasant what
it
interlaced knot.^
We
asked a
was.
"
Oh, it's an ancient girigogolo," said he, by which I presume he meant hieroglyphic. On going to a higher fount and asking the priest, we got the information that it was a " Solomon's knot," and ^
The
stone
is
evidently a remnant of the ancient architrave of the
has been replaced by two modern slabs, and the arch
fa9ade, where
it
above
with masonry.
filled in
CoMACiNE Knot on a panel at
THE WHOLE.
S.
Ambrogio, Milan.
One strand forms
From Cattaneo's "Architettura."
lSeepa£-eS3.
Como, sth century. (The Sculpture from Sant' Abbondio, STRAND.) [5«/>«f« 84. CIRCLE AND CENTRE A SINGLE
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION
83
were found on nearly all the very ancient churches. supposed it had some meaning and thought it expressed eternity, as the knots had no end and no beginning. The Italian philologist, Sebastian Ciampi, such
that
intrecci
He
gives these interlacings a very ancient origin.
"
We
may
observe," he writes, "in the sculpture of the so-called bar-
barous ages on capitals, or carved stones, that they used
engrave serpents interlaced with curious convolutions. On the wall too they sculptured that labyrinth of line which
to
is
believed to be the Gordian knot, and other similar orna-
ments to which Italians give the generic name of meandri. I do not think that all these representations were merely adapted for ornament, but that they had some mystic meaning. am not prepared to say whether our foreI fathers received such emblems from the Northern people who so frequently peregrinated in Italy, or from the Asiatic This is certain, the use of such ornamentation is extremely antique, and we find it adopted by the Persians, and see it in Turkish money, and carpets, and other works of Oriental art." ^ Ciampi goes on to find the root of these knot and the Comacine intreccio, Runic emblems, both the countries.
in the
Cabirus of the ancient Orientals.
It is
possible that
worship of the Druids and other Northern nations, was in some way descended from the same root. In any case they were transmitted to the the
ancient
serpent
Longobardic Comacines through the early Christian Collegia of Rome, as we see by the plutei in San Clemente, S. Agnese, etc., and by the beautiful single-cord interweavings on the door of a chapel in S. Prassede. There is a marvellous knot sculptured on a marble panel of the ninth century from S. Ambrogio Milan, which Cattaneo has illustrated.^ The whole square is filled with 1
Anglicized from Bigeri Thorlacii et Sebastian! Ciampi.
trimalium gentium antiquitatibus, 2
et Uteris runicis,"
Architettura d' Italia, Fig. 119, p. 201.
—
''
De
septen-
Epistolcs Mediolani.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
84
complicated interweavings of a single strand, forming cate loops and circles, the spaces between which are
with the Christian emblems, the rose, the
lily,
intri-
filled
and the
from San Marco dei Precipazi at Venice, but now over the altar at S. Giacomo, is dated 829 A.D., and is covered with what seems at first sight a geometric pattern of circles and diamonds, but if analyzed will be found a single strand interwoven in the most mysterious and beautiful manner. It seems that the
heart.
Another pluteus,
parapet of the tribune in
originally
all
these early Basilicas was the
by the Roman architect of the third and fourth centuries, and the Comacine of the eighth and ninth, to set their secret and mysterious signs upon, and to mark their belief in God as showing infinity in place chosen especially
unity. It is
very curious to notice in the churches which the
guild restored in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, and their sign changed,
when their tenets had altered, how they themselves removed these
old stones, but yet
being careful not to destroy them, they turned them and sculptured
them again on the other
side.
In the excava-
Rome many of the intrecci have back of panels of Comatesque pulpits, frontals, or used as paving-stones before
tions or restorations in
come
to light at the
recarved into altar the
altar.
Some of may be seen was
the earlier and less intricate forms of knots in the
church of S. Abbondio at Como, which
built in the fifth century
Some
and again
rebuilt in the ninth.
excavations in the last century revealed the founda-
and also brought to light a number of sculptured stones which had been turned face downwards to form the pavement. We give illustrations from two of these which have the Comacine signs plainly written on them, and show even in this early and simple form the reverence for the line of unity. Cattaneo thinks
tions of the fifth-century church,
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION
85
may have formed
they
the front of the gallery above the nave in the eighth-century building.
In the
museum
of Verona
is
a precious fragment of
Comacine work dating from Luitprand's time. It was a which agister Ursus was commissioned to
M
ciborium
make
for the
church of S. Giorgio di Valpolicella.
It is
especially valuable as the first dated piece of sculpture of
the
Longobardic
Comacine
era,
and the
interlaced work.
signed specimen of
first
The columns which remain
a round arch, covered with sculptured intrecci. now the two halves of the arch do not match, so it must be conjectured that the ciborium had four columns, and that the halves of the arch were originally on support
As
it
stands
different sides of the erection.
The
intrecci are beautiful
and varied, displaying the unbroken continuity of the curved line which marks the Comacine work of the eighth to the twelfth centuries.
The
capitals are curious
form and not at all classical. Beneath the capitals of the two columns are the following inscriptions in in
and dog Latin. One runs "in nomine dni. lESU XRISTI DE DONIS SANCTI lUHANNES BAPTISTE. EDIFICATUS EST HANC CIVORIUM SUB TEMPORE DOMNO NOSTRO LIOPRANDO REGE, ET VB PATERNO DOMNICO EPESCOPO, ET COSTODES EIUS, VIDALIANO ET TANCOL, PRESBITERIS, ET REFOL GASTALDO, rough
letters
GONDELME INDIGNUS DIACONUS SCRIPSI." And the Other " URSUS MAGESTER CUM DISCEPOLIS SUIS, IVVINTINO ET IVVIANO EDIFICAVET HANC CIVORIUM, VERGONDUS TEODAL FOSCARI." ^
The
date of Bishop Dominic's death coincides with Luitprand's accession to the throne, so we may safely say
Ursus Magister fecit is ancient altar recently an also engraved in the same style on discovered in the abbey church of Ferentillo near Spoleto. It is known that Luitprand went to Spoleto in 739, and In any case this installed Hilderic in the Dukedom. Magister Ursus worked in 712.
'
Cattaneo, L' Architettura in Italia,
p. 79.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
86 inscription
of priceless value to our argument that the
is
Comacine Guild which worked for the Lombard kings was really the same guild that built the latter Romanesque and Here we get the exact Gothic cathedrals and palaces. organization which becomes so familiar to us in the later Ursus or Orso proves his lodges whose archives are kept. Magister by having disciples under him. of title the right to " The work is done in the time of Our Lord Luitprand and our Father the Bishop,"
who
are the presidents
lodge, just as in later lodges the
or
body of
there
is
citizens
is
there is even the notary to the in Tuscany unworthy scribe Gondelmus. ;
The work cella, that
(Grand Master).
styled the Gastaldo instead of capo
maestro as
it
is
so far inferior to the ciborium at Valpoli-
would seem
earlier hand. ture,
The very Lombard lodges till the centuries, when the head of the
fifteenth
Venetian laborerium guild, the
Then
kept up in the
is
and
fourteenth
influential citizen
are presidents of the Opera.
Refol, the Gastaldo
same term
more
of the
The
to be, as Cattaneo remarks,
ornamentation
is
by an
not a finished sculp-
but only rudely cut into the surface of the stone, like
first sketch. Possibly the remuneration offered by the employer was not liberal enough to encourage Orso to put any elaborate work into the altar, or he might have blocked out the work, and left it unfinished either by reason of
a
death, or absence.
Another famous work of that time was one which Luitprand himself caused to be sculptured by Magister Giovanni, of the Comacine Guild. It was the covering for
tomb of S. Cumianus in the monastery of Bobbio. It will be remembered that Agilulf and Theodolinda gave shelter to the Irish Saint Columbanus, and assisted him to found the convent of Bobbio. One of the monks there, another Irishman, named Cumianus, was afterwards canonized, and Luitprand built his tomb. We are told it was the
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION covered
with
precious
marbles,
87
which would seem to
indicate something in the style which the Cosmati after-
wards made so famous.
The tomb of Theodata at Pavia is a fine specimen of Comacine-Longobardic sculpture. It is now to be seen in the cortile of the Palazzo Malaspina with some other old sarcophagi. This has been called a Byzantine work, but the extreme vitality and expression in the hippogriffs and the Solomon's knots which sign it, mark the work as Comacine besides, we are told by the most early authors that the Longobards never employed Greek artists. There is the usual mixture of Christianity and Mediaevalism in the sculptures on the top of the tomb. Winged griffins with serpent tails prance on each side of a vine, from which Fishes are in the corner, and an serpents' heads look out. interlaced border, whose spaces are filled with grapes and ;
mystic
entirely Christian
;
and
a vase with a cross in
mark even
if
it,
for a Byzantine design
his
as
circles, frames,
here,
it
were, the design.
The
side
is
the peacocks which drink out of
were
less lively,
it
might almost pass
but the Comacine Magister has set
;
in his
knots with neither end nor
and roses of Sharon and has told us in his mystic language that Theodata was a TheChristian, and though tempted, clung to the cross. odata, a noble Roman dame, was one of the ladies of honour to Ermelind, King Cunibert's Anglo-Saxon beginning, his concentric
circles,
;
wife.^
One day Ermelind
incautiously described the exquisite
whom
she had seen in the bath, and He brutally ruined the greatly inflamed his imagination. her up in a shut afterwards lovely Theodata, and
beauty of
this lady,
monastery, probably that of
had
built.
This took place
St.
Agatha, which his father
in a.d.
720.
The
beautiful
^ Ermelind was from England, which suggests a very early intercourse between the Lombards and Britain.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
88
tomb was but a poor atonement which had spoiled her
The
Ambrogio
pulpit in S.
for
the coarse
cruelty
life.
at
specimen of sixth-century work.
Milan
is
a really fine
supported on ten
It is
Comacine variety of columns: some round, some shapes some longer, some shorter the difference in hexagonal height being made up by the capitals and pedestals being more or less high. One, which is peculiarly short, and whose capital is carved in complicated Solomon's knots, has
Here
columns.
they are
all
is
sizes
the true
and
all
;
;
;
a lion placed as abacus.
know
of,
This
is
the earliest instance
I
of the use of the lion of Judah, in connection with
the pillar (Christ).
Here the
lion rests
on the column and
supports the arches, instead of being the root of the pillar as
it
became
in the later
Romanesque
The
style.
are surrounded with intricate scrolls and interlaced
some of them
clearly copied
arches
work
from Byzantine designs.
The
spaces between the arches are enriched with allegorical subjects.
In one, the
emblems of the
apostles
;
in another,
a choir of angels, very mediaeval and heavy-headed
;
in
winged archangel. At the corner is a man in Lombard dress, holding two animals, one in each hand. It is peculiarly suggestive of the Etruscan deity with the two leopards, which is so frequently seen on the black Chiusi vases, and confirms more than ever, the tendency in mediseval Christians to cling to ancient pagan forms, giving them a new Christian significance. The frieze above the arches which forms the base of the marble panels of the Ambone, is peculiarly Comacine. Here are all the mystic animals, representing the powers of evil dragons, wolves, etc., bound together in a knotted scroll of one continuous vine-branch, here and there training into foliage. Reading the ornamentation by the light of mediaeval symbolism, the whole thing gives us lessons appropriate to a pulpit. It
another, a
;
tells
us that Christ the
pillar
—
of the Church, descended
Pulpit in the Church of
S.
Ambrogio, Milan, 6th century.
{FrOTn a photograph by Brogi.')
\See pageiZ.
COMACINE ORNAMENTATION
89
from David the Hon of Judah, is the foundation of all Gospel that angels and saints sing the glory of God and ;
;
that Christ the vine can bind and subdue the powers of
The
fine early Christian
necessarily connected with
of Stilicho, with
tomb beneath the It
it.
how much
pulpit
is
evil.
not
has been called the tomb
reason
I
am
not prepared to
must date from the early part of the fifth say. century, as it was on October 8, 405, that Stilicho marched up to Fiesole from Florence to his victory over Radagaisus The Florentines had but just been converted the Goth, The sculpture, though to Christianity at that time. If so
it
Christian in subject, has
many signs
of debased
Roman style
mingled with much of the mediaeval. S.
There is a similar pulpit at Toscanella, in the church of Maria Maggiore, a three-naved Lombard church with
the choir facing east.
form used before
The
pulpit,
a.d. iooo, is
which
is
of the square
supported on four columns,
and has sculptured parapets and arches, on which are various interlaced designs of marvellous intricacy.^ ^
Cattaneo,
U Architettura in Italia, p.
167.
CHAPTER V COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE
MASTERS OF THE CARLOVINGIAN ERA I.
O
Door of a Chapel
Pluteus fkom
fS in S. Phassbdb,
\See
S.
Marco
dei Phecipazi,
IN S. GiAcoMo, Venice.
Rome. page
83.
now
[See pagei^.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE and he
91
certainly did not interfere with the
freedom and Comacines or Liberi Muratori. In fact he ratified the Lombard code (the laws of Rotharis and Luitprand), only adding a few others which are known as
privileges of the
CapUolari,
They do
not,
however, refer specially to our Magistri,
The older laws still held Comacines, and they went on building their Basilican churches, which were at the same time classic in
but to jurisprudence in general.
good
for the
and
form, solid in style,
—
a curious and characteristic mixture. But Charlemagne certainly patronized the Comacines, and not only employed them himself, but sent
them
fanciful in decoration
to restore
Roman
churches for Pope
Adrian, and to fortify Florence,
The early Carlovingian churches in Italy have so much analogy with the Longobardic ones, that it is very difficult distinguish
to
precisely
to
which era certain
churches
belong.
Rumhor
instances the Florentine Basilica of S. Sche-
which was much used as a meeting-place for civil councils in the early days of the Republic. This is usually said to have been a Carlovingian church but either it was pure Lombard, as the barbarous name Scheraggio implies, or else Charlemagne employed the Lombard architects.^ Padre Richa, who saw the ruins of it, gives a design of the church, which was the usual Lombard form, three naves, the central one wide, and an apse to each. The columns and capitals were from some Roman building. raggio,
;
The in ripa
architecture
entirely similar to that of S. Paolo
d'Arno, close to Pisa, which has also been styled
Carlovingian. 1
was
The
chronicle of the
monk Marco,
written
In 141 o, when the street was enlarged, it was half destroyed, and the The last remains were in 1561 incorporated in the off.
south aisle cut Uffizi
by Cosimo
I.,
when
the gallery was
seen in the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio.
built.
Some
capitals
may be
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
92
1287, preserved in the archives of Vallombrosa, shows
ill
that although the guide-books date S. Scheraggio as twelfth-
century architecture because a papal bull of that time refers to the name, it belonged to the Vallombrosian monks long
having been given to them by Countess Beatrice 1073,^ and was probably founded in the ninth century.
before, in
We
must not omit to mention the most interesting of Comacine churches, that of San Donato in Polenta, where Dante worshipped, and near which Paolo and Francesca lived. It was built in the eighth century, and is mentioned in a document of 976. It is of the usual triple-apsed form. The columns have diverse capitals, some square, some diminished, ornamented with foliage and interlaced work some have grotesque figures, and animals in low relief, with a rude technique. Here are men like monkeys, hippogriffs, sea monsters, etc. It has been graphically described in Sapphic verse by Carducci, as follows ;
To
that gaunt Byzantine there crucified,
Whose hollow eyes gaze from his The faithful pray for blessings on
And
livid face.
their Lord,^
glory to
Rome.
From every capital dread shapes obtrude And memories bring of ancient sculpturing hands Whose works show visions weird, and horrors from The dreadful North. The Falls
eastern gleam from pallid altar lamps
on degenerate inhuman forms.
Writhing around in many-coiled embrace
Like thingsof Hell.
Rude monsters spew above
the kneeling flock.
Behind the very font, crouching beast Red-haired and horned, and demonlike
Doth gaze and 1
See Marchese Ricci, DelF Architettura in
302. 342. 2
The
family of Polenta, their feudal lords.
grin.
Italia, Vol.
L
ch. ix. pp.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE The
93
original runs thus Al bizantino
Ne
gli
crocefisso, atroce
occhi bianchi livida magrezza,
Chieser mercfe de
I'alta stirpe
Gloria di
Da
i
A le
Sogni
la
forme intruse
capitelli orride
memorie
e de
Roma.
di scapelli argivi,
efferati e
spasimi del bieco Settentrione.
Imbestiati degeneratamente
Ne
I'Oriente, al guizzo
Lampade,
de
le fioca
in turpi abbracciamenti attorti,
Zolfo ed inferno. Goffi sputavan su la prosternata
Gregge Picciol
di dietro al battistero un comuto diavolo guardava :
E
fulvo
subsannava.
This church, so full of poetic and historic interest, was going to be destroyed, but the priest, Don Luigi Zattini, appealed to the Inspector of Monuments for the province of Forli, who had recourse to the Deputazione Storica Romagnola. Efforts were made to save it, and instead of being pulled down, it is now only to be restored, which may be as fatal. The castle of Guido da Polenta, husband of Francesca da Rimini and brother of Paolo, is now ruined, but a cypress on a plateau of the grounds is lately
still
called Francesca's cypress. It
many
was about
this era that the
emigrations,
Comacines began
and spread throughout
their
The
Italy.
church-building Longobards, being subjugated themselves,
had no longer the power to employ them, so this large guild had to look further afield for their work. Hitherto they seem to have been almost exclusively employed in the Lombard kingdom and its dukedoms, except the few who went to England and Germany in the seventh century. But Charlemagne had a wider rule in Italy and ;
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
94
good
was needed
architecture
in other parts.
Some
docu-
ments quoted by Professor Merzario^ not only prove these travelling days of the Magistin, but connect them with many of the finest and most interesting churches in Central and South Italy. One is a deed of gift for the weekly distribution of bread and wine to the poor at Lucca in 805. It
begins
— " Ego
homo
Natalis,
transpadanus,
magister
Ecclesiam in honori
casarius, Christo auxiliante, sedificavi
hanc civitatem " "I, Natalis, a man from beyond the P6, being a master builder, by Christ's help have constructed within this city, a church in honour of God, of Mary, and of the blessed apostle Peter." ^ Here we see the Comacine Master settled as leading architect in Lucca, far from his native land beyond the P6, and so flourishing that he can dispense large charities. He seems to have done some public works too there was a canal called the Fossa Natale, which ran through the city, and had a bridge over it. There must have been
Dei
et Marise et B. Petri Apostoli, intra
;
others of the guild at the
in
Lucca,
before
Natalis,
working
churches of S. Frediano and S. Michele.
The
latter
building was not long prior to the era of
Magister Natalis. It was founded in 764 by the Lombard Teutprandus or lutprand, and his wife Gumbranda. It coincides with S. Frediano in its plan of the Latin cross. Here, however, we find no Roman capitals, as in S. Frediano, but the twelve columns which sustain the arches of the nave are of rough white marble, from the neighbouring mountains of Carrara. They are of the same size upward, not narrowed
The
at the top.
capitals are of
somewhat composite
The
with a leaning to Orientalism.
nave have simple arches a 1
2
I Maestri This
is
Comacini, Vol.
I.
eight columns in the
sesto intero (semi-circular) springch.
probably the church of
or rather Italian Gothic, front was
Longobard named Somualdo
order,
ii.
p. 77.
S. Pietro
added
Somaldi, to which a Lombard,
in
1
203.
in the eighth century,
It
was founded by a
and restored
in 11 99.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE
95
ing from them the four which support the tribune are heightened by piers of a Gothic form, flanked by pilasters, which raise the arch over the central nave. This seems to be the first instance of an attempt to render the sanctuary of the high altar more grand and majestic than the rest of ;
The
the building.
fa9ade
is of quite a different epoch, and has nothing to do with the interior. It was the work of Guidectus in 11 88, who also built the cathedral of Lucca.
The windows show
same divergence of
the
Frediano they are large and narrow and Neo-Gothic. S.
The
document
other
An
significance.
is
ancient
classical,
less
in
decisive,
mediseval
In
style.
Michele
S.
but
has
Memoriale,
—
in
its
the
monastery of Pontida,^ has the following entry " Guglielmo de Longhi di Adraria built the church of San Giacomo di Pontida, employing Magister Johanne de Menazio et multis aliis de episcopatu comensi." This was finished in 1301, and was consequently later than the building of S.
the
Zeno
same monastery
which another MS. in a fact, which the chronicler
at Pontida, of
relates
says happened avanti il mille (before the year 1000). "
A
master very famous in the art of building,
who
came de regione juxta lacum cumanum (from the region about Lake Como), met with robbers at Cisano, as he returned from Verona to his native place. The which Master being struck with terror, recommended himself, calling with all his heart on the blessed Zeno, and made a vow that if the saint brought him safe and sound out of '
'
would build a church in his honour. As soon as he had spoken the words, the horse on which he was mounted took fright and galloped away, so that the Thus he escaped safely robbers could no more harm him. with all his belongings ('pote scampare sano con tutte le that deadly peril, he
sue cose'),
and 1
returning the following year with
A place between
Lecco and
Brescia.
his
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
96
workmen, he began the building of the church of S. Zeno at Valle Ponzia (now Eontida), the people of the neighbourhood lending him aid, both in money and in labour." We may be excused for jumping at conclusions if we opine that as he was returning from Verona after a long Probably it was at sojourn, he had been employed there. particularly as he felt he had a the church of S. Zeno special claim on the help of that saint. There is very little left of the first church of S. Zeno at Verona (which was rebuilt entirely in the twelfth century), except the curious mausoleum in the crypt, which Our Comacine who is supposed to be King Pepin's tomb. escaped the brigands may possibly have made that, as the Or he might have era (before the year looo) corresponds. been working at the church which Bishop Lothaire, aided by Bertrada, mother of Charlemagne, built 780 a.d., and dedicated to S. Maria Matricolare, and which the Bishop ;
Ratoldo (802 little
—840)
remains now,
century, but
some
Of
chose as the cathedral. it
having been rebuilt
indications
found in the excavations
made
of the old
in
this, too,
the twelfth
building were
At the depth
in 1884.
of
two metres, in the Lombard cloister adjoining it, a mosaic pavement was discovered with a design of foliage, animals, and inscriptions. There was also a fallen column, which they were able to stand on its own base with its capital. Cattaneo thinks that these are the remains of Lothaire's church, as the capital of the column
eighth century.
It
rudely Corinthian, instead of the in S.
is
undoubtedly of the
has a rigid abacus, and the form
is
with solid straight leaves curled back,
usual acanthus.
The same
style
is
seen
Salvatore of Brescia, and S. Maria in Cosmedin in
Rome, both Comacine works. Another Carlovingian church
in
Verona
Lorenzo, said to have been founded by *
Cattaneo, Architettura Italiana,
p.
is
that of S.
Pepin.
175.
Some
THWSO
.
CoMACip^E Capitals.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE interesting bits of
way
primitive architecture remain, and are
relics.
in
women's
At
its
There is, for instance, a the wall, which led to different
precious
little spiral stair-
divisions of the
gallery.^
this era
a change in the form of windows
they were narrowed and heightened, a towards the Gothic form.
observed
;
In Carlovingian times the Comacines
Rome. Adrian
97
Cattaneo
^
may be
first
step
worked much in Pope
says that there exist letters from
to Charlemagne,
begging him to send architects some works in Rome. Now these Magistri could be no other than the Comacine Guild of Lombardy, who with the Longobards had lately become subjects of Charlemagne, and were without doubt the finest builders in Italy, if not monopolists of the art. The buildings which they designed and erected in Rome at that time were the churches of S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, S. Saba on Mount Aventine, and the residence of the Patriarch near S. John Lateran. The door of a chapel in S. Prassede with its Comacine intrecci is a standing proof of their work there in I.
{Magisiri) from the north of Italy, to execute
the ninth century.
Anastasius,
the
librarian,
gives
an
account
of the
rebuilding of the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin,^
says that Adrian found (sub
ruinis positam)
it
He
absolutely beneath a pile of ruins
of a former temple to
Proserpine, which literally
hung over
it.
As
Ceres and this
mass of
There is a similar stairway in the church of S. Agnese fuori le mura, at Rome, which though originally said to have been founded by ConIt stantine, is not of Greek form, but preserves a perfect Basilican plan. was enlarged by Pope Symmachus in the fifth century, and he, it is known, employed Italian artists. The spiral stairway {cochlea) is also mentioned 1
at
Hexham
in
England.
2
L' Architettura in Italia, ch.
8
Anastasii, Bibliotfiecarii VitcB
Sculttores
Rerum
Italicum, tom.
iii.
p. 143.
Romanorum Pontificum—in
Muratori,
iii.
H
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
98
ruin prevented the enlargement of the entirely demolished
The
people." Basilica
"by
new
church,
it
was
and by the labours of the new and spacious
fire,
space being cleared, a
was erected
" a fundamentis tres
absides, in ea
constituens."
The writer mentions new in Rome.
form with three apses as however, seen that in the north of Italy the Comacines had been, for the past century or two, building Basilican churches on precisely this plan. In fact the three round apses had become one Cattaneo argues of the special marks of their churches. being
came from the
that the form
churches of the
Simeon
St.
fifth
have,
East, as
some of the Syrian
century and the great
Basilica
Stylites at Kaiat Senian, erected in 500,
signs of the absolutely
this
We
of
have
Whether these were of the result of some early
same conformation.
Oriental origin,
or
emigration of the liberi muratori, archaeologists must judge.
The two rows aisles,
have
of columns which divide the nave from the
solid piers of
three columns
;
masonry interposed between each
these are elongated above the colonnade to
support the roof, and strengthen the upper gallery.^ It is
evident that the Comacines availed themselves of
work the columns are of all species some smooth, some with antique Corinthian capitals, others of Comacine work. One is of the same form as those we have described in S. Maria old material in this
and
styles,
some
Matricolare at Verona, ^
S.
;
fluted,
with
solid
volutes,
placed
per-
Prassede in Rome, which was standing in the time of Pope
Symmachus, when
in
477 he held a synod there, has the same peculiarity. between every two columns, and are
The elongated
piers are here placed
transverse,
the greater width across the church.
i. e.
Before this time the
roofs were always
formed of gable-shaped frames of wood, erected on beams resting on the side walls, but Ricci sees in this the first advance towards the arched roof. We may see the next step in the old Lombard church at Tournus in France, where a succession of arches are thrown across the nave from the piers.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE pendicularly, instead of the graceful acanthus. capital
is
seen in S. Agnese fuori
There
le
99
The same
mura.
Maria in Cosmedin a very interesting fragment of the Comacine decoration of the time when Adrian I. was the patron of the guild. It is a bit of cornice, formed of a little colonnade of round arches beneath it an inscription in a curious early style, the letters It runs all sizes and shapes. is
in S.
"DE don is DI ET SCE m GENETRICIS MARI^, TEMPORIBUS DONI ADRIANI PAPE EGO GREGORIUS." I
have
seen
restorations.
A
another
fragment
during
the
recent
on a marble slab in one of had been reversed and inlaid on the
fine intreccio
the pulpits, which
other side in thirteenth-century mosaic.
The
church of S. Saba on Mount Aventine, which was
under Adrian
also built
I.,
has every mark of Comacine
work, especially in the mediaeval and unclassic form of
Probably the supply of ancient capitals fell short after the building of the other churches, and the builders had to supply them with their own chisels. They made a rude imitation of the Ionic form, as far from the classic grace of the original, as their plain hard volutes were from capitals.
the elegance of the Corinthian.
A
seems to have been placed by the Comacine Guild in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, which was contemporary to this. The capitals of the same form are much more clearly and firmly cut, and in a better style of ornamentation. Here too are the Comacine lions, now built better
artist
under the square lintels of the door. Of the Comacine work in the house of the Patriarch near S. John
into the wall
the papal residence of those times, not much remains to show the hand of the Comacines, except the sculptures on the well in the cloister, the parapet of Lateran,
which
is
i.
e.
adorned with two zones of
reliefs,
divided by an
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
loo
The under one consists of alternate band. and rude palms, the upper is a row of round arches, adorned with upstanding volutes, like vine-tendrils under one arch is a dove with grapes in his beak, and in the There are also two sculptured stones in the other a cross. same cloister, one showing various interlaced patterns, the other a cross formed by weavings of the continued line, enriched in the groundwork of foliage. One of the most interesting churches of the Carlovingian era is that of San Pietro in Grado near Pisa. In the Middle Ages this was a great shrine for pilgrimages, being, it is said, built on the spot on which St. Peter first set foot in Italy. {Gradus a step.) Legend (supported by the assertion of a certain Archbishop Visconti, who preached in Pisa in the thirteenth century) says that the Apostle Peter was driven ashore at that spot, and having made an altar he began to baptize giving his disciples interlaced
crosses
;
—
—
commands
to build a church there.
was like is not known 600 and 800 A.D., and A.D. TOGO. There is a this building and that
What
the
first
church
the present one was built between
;
was decorated with frescoes before great similarity in structure between of S. Apollinare in
Ravenna
;
they
are both of similar brick masonry, and three-apsed, and
same proportion
the aisles are in about the
height of the nave.
The
to the greater
proportions of the short round
arches on the tall classic columns of the interior are extremely similar, as is the scheme of ornamentation, with the difference that at Ravenna the medium is mosaic, and at S. Pietro a
Grado
it
is
fresco.
The
line
of Bishops
Ravenna is reproduced at Popes in medallions, ending with Leo 795, which would probably mark the era of the
in the spring of the arches in
Grado by a III.,
line of
foundation of the church.^ *
later.
Thetower, which
is in
a
later
Lombard
style,
was
rebuilt
two centuries
COMAaNES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE San
loi
however, has one very great peculiarity. It has no facade, but is built with the usuEil Lombard three apses at one end, and a single semi-circular tribune at the other. is
Pietro,
The
only door
is
at
The
the side.
priest,
who
and learned in its history, peculiar form the builders wished to
naturally proud of his church,
told us that
by
this
represent a ship, and pointing out the great square pilasters
columns at the fourth arch from the he showed how the raised poop of a vessel was expressed by the greater height and width of the four Certainly the narrowing effect arches at the west end. being towards the chancel instead of the reverse, is most that break the line of
west,
remarkable.
was
I
not,
however, convinced by his symbolism, and
where columns stretched across a tribune, three arches with fluted now turned into an organ-loft, I felt convinced that the Either the ancient present form was not the original. altar once stood at the west end, and the church, like realizing the greater proportions of the west end,
many Lombard
had formerly faced the opposite way or else the semi-circular tribune, which seems to be of later work, has been added by restorers, to cover so
ones,
;
in the three
arches of the ancient fagade.
the large solid pilasters in the nave
That, in
fact,
marked the ancient
side of
interior, and the four arches on the other To support the first them formed the narthex.
theory,
is
wall of the
stands
the fact that the altar called
now
isolated in that west end,
the form of an ancient
Lombard
St.
Peter's
altar
and the canopy in
ciborium stands on four
carved in stone in very early style. The opposite theory of the narthex having been at that end, may on its side be confirmed by one of the frescoes, the
columns above
it,
but two on the south wall, which represents the church Here the artist has, itself as it was prior to a.d. iooo. last
with a curious mediaeval disregard
of
perspective and
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
102
represented both ends of the church in one we see plainly the three apses with their here view, and marble perpendicular ribs on one side, and the fa9ade of large arches with a row of smaller ones across the building possibility,
above them on the
other.
I
leave the question of this
puzzling west tribune to wiser judges than myself, and trust that some new Fergusson, Hope, or Street may
some day discover the
truth.
The columns of the nave are all Roman temple to Ceres
of antique marble,
the ruins of a
at Pisa
of cipollino, others Oriental granite, one
The
sical,
some
are
of fluted white
and clasthough a few show the hand of the early Comacine
Greek marble. in
is
;
straight
their
capitals are mostly antique
The
upstanding volutes.
the Magistri in making use of old material
ingenuity of is
shown
in
the various devices by which these columns are adapted.
Where
they are too short the base is raised on two where too small for the massive pillar, a wide
pedestals
abacus
is
;
One made long enough
placed on the top to support the arch.
of the columns which support the altar
is
by a base made of an antique carved capital reversed beneath it. We have a distinct sign of the Comacines in a stone let into the wall near the door, and which evidently formed part of the ancient architrave. It is carved in an I shall speak in the chapter on intricate interlaced knot. Comacine painting, of the frescoes in the nave, which are unique of their kind, and of deep interest to the Art historian.
These churches of the Carlovingian era in Italy cannot be documentally proved to have been at all connected with Charlemagne himself, except that he sent the Magistri Comacini to Rome, at Pope Adrian's request. The same cannot be said of the great church of Aix-la-Chapelle, with which his name must be for ever united, but which is certainly not entirely unconnected with this
Lombard
Guild.
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE Where
history gives no precise information,
authors, ancient this
and modern,
important work,
it
is
fail
103
and where
to fix the precise era of
of course impossible to say
who
was the architect. We can only judge by the style, and by inferences drawn from previous works of the same style. First, as to the few facts we are able to gain Eginbertus, a Lombard, the biographer of Charlemagne, in his De vita et gestis Caroli Magni, Capit. 26, tells us that Charlemagne " built the Basilica of Aquisgrana of wonderful beauty, and adorned it with much gold, silver lamps, and with gates and doors of bronze. For this construction, not being able elsewhere to find columns and marble, he provided that they should be brought from Rome and Ravenna." This fact, of a want of proper material in France, would seem to imply that skilled workmen to build in stone must have been imported with the material. It is difficult, or indeed impossible, to prove that French workmen were equal to the occasion, by showing other contemporary works in France. Any churches they may have then had, have long since perished, for at that date they were usually built of wood another argument that France could not have :
;
supplied accomplished architects in stone.
Some
say the church was designed by Ansige, Abbot
of Fontanelles,
Eginbertus,
as
does not claim see
others give the his it
Lombard name
it,
is
to
—there
is
Eginhard, or
spelt
for himself in his writing,
;
but as he
—indeed,
we
he speaks quite imno documentary evidence Speaking dispassionately, it
from the above extract
personally of
credit
that
certainly
to prove this assertion. would be strange for a man of letters, private secretary to a great king, to suddenly develop into a full-fledged architect. It is much more likely that as he was a Lombard,
he was interested in employing the builders whom all his countrymen had employed for centuries. D'Agincourt, who had a good deal of amour propre, and would, if he
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
104
give glory to
could, always
— 139)
France, says
(vol.
i.
p.
27,
" It is natural to believe that the Italian architects
brought with him, designed the him in France, on the lines of
whom Charlemagne had buildings they
those of their
made own
for
Architecture, writes of
it
—"
Lombard
Dartein, in his
country." If
we
inspect the octagonal
half-domes which terminate the centre of the cross in S. Fedele at Como, we see that they reproduce the rotunda
The form
of Aix-la-Chapelle.
of the shafts, the outline of
the wall, and the disposition of the collateral vaults are alike in both
edifices.
The
similarity is so great as to
prove imitation, especially as other churches in the district
The
remind one of churches
fact
in the territory of
of similitude is significant,
likely that the imitation
or S. Eufemia as
was
it
but
is
Como."
not more
it
was the other way? first called, was built
Rhone
S. Fedele, in S.
Ab-
bondio's time, a.d. 440, before the era of the Longobards,
and we are
told
is
the only
church of that time which
rounded would then go to prove what has been an hypothesis, that Charlemagne really brought builders as well as marble from Italy, and that the Magistri Comacini were those builders. The church has also been compared to S. Vitale at Ravenna, but the Comacines were accustomed to build circular churches, such as the Rotunda at Brescia, and others. They were generally used as baptisteries or mausoleums in fact were ceremonial churches. Aix-la Chapelle was designed as the tomb of Charlemagne, and here the builders mingled the rotunda of the retains
apse.
its
The
original architecture, especially in the similarity
;
ceremonial church
with the basilica for worship.
The
workmanship is much more rude than that of S. Vitale, where Greek artists were employed. It is easy to distinguish the parts added by the Comacines, from the classical and Byzantine imported adornments furnished by the spoils of
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE Rome and
The
Ravenna.
105
were not left entirely free in their designs, but had to conform to a more northern climate and different national taste the windows were narrowed and elongated, and the pitch of the roof raised to a sharper angle. As Pliny had said to Mustio, his Comacine architect, seven centuries before " You Magistri always know how to overcome difficulties of position," and Charlemagne's architects, in an equal degree, studied both climate and position. The further we go south or east the roofs have a tendency to flatten, the further we go north they have a tendency to rise into sharper gables. The Italians
;
—
cause
much
is this,
I
take
it
—a
climatic one.
rain or snow, the sloping roof
is
Where
a necessity
there ;
is
there-
fore this first indication of pointed architecture, as adaptable climate, makes Charlemagne's church an between the Romano- Lombard and Gothic in the north just as Romano- Lombard stands between the If Ansige sugclassic and Romanesque in the south. gested these modifications to the Italian builders, he had a wider office in the history of art than he knew for Aix-laChapelle became the root from which the French and German so-called Gothic sprang improved in the first instance under the hands of the Franchi-Muratori, who in the succeeding generations were called to work on churches in both countries. After all, the first step was but a slight one, being more a raising and narrowing of the
to the northern
interesting link :
;
;
round arch than the innovation of the pointed one. It might stand better as a first indication of the stilted
Norman arch. Of the civil
architecture
of the Carlovingian era
we
have very few instances remaining. The Emperor Charlemagne built no especial palace for himself, but used that of Luitprand at Milan, which in Charlemagne's time was
known tells
as Curtis dormtm imperatoris.
us that he fortified Verona.
He
An says
old chronicler
—
" In the time
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
io6
when King Pepin was invaded
still
young,
he caused Verona to be round, with towers and moats
fortified,
its
Huns
or Avars
When Charlemagne heard
Italy.
the city to
the
of their approach and walls erected all
and with pali fissi
;
fortified
very foundations, leaving there his son Pepin,"
Forty-eight towers rise from these walls, of which eight are
very high, the others well raised above the walls.
must have been what the old writer quaintly
These
called pali
fissi.
A
diploma of Ludovic
dated 814, proves that the It is in favour
II.,
walls of Piacenza also date from this era.
of his wife Analberg, giving her permission to incorporate
a part of the walls into a monastery.
own
authority,
we add
to the
runs
It
— "Of our
monastery and give in perand external, of the said
petuity, all the steccato, internal
wall
of the
ments, as
city,
much
postern gate
which
is
;
from
the
foundations
to
the
battle-
as extends from Porta Milano to the next
and not only
this,
but also the
made
(rubble)
found round the walls and ante-walls, and the same
of the towers, gates, and posterns."
The
much connected with Carlovinthey came in when the Church ruled, and became the fashion. The first hospices were
use of hospices
gian times pilgrimages
;
is
S. Anselmo founded one for Agro Mutinense. The council of Aquisgrana (Aix-la-Chapelle) made decrees as to the establishment of hospices, and Charlemagne made laws on in
monasteries.
In
752
pilgrims at Nonantola, in
the subject, " ut in omni regno nostro, neque pauper peri-
grinus hospitia denegare audeant."
To
the ordinary fine
Pepin II. added sixty soldi more if the person were a pilgrim. One who denied food and shelter to a pilgrim was fined three soldi. These humane provisions, like all such, soon became abused so many nonreligious people travelled on pilgrims' privileges, that at the end of Charlemagne's reign it was found necessary for homicide, killed
;
COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE
107
to provide real pilgrims with a Tessera trattoria to prove their authenticity.
Among
the earHest hospices might be mentioned the
leper hospital
Apollinare's
Roman
founded
and
time,
lady Fabiola for
near Ravenna in S. Rome, founded by the destitute or abandoned sick and
in
Classis
one
in
In 785 a certain Datheus, arch-priest at Milan, founded an exonodochio (home for destitute children), and poor.
Queen Amalasunta in the sixth century.
a foundling hospital at Ravenna, Charlemagne commanded that there
built
should be a place in the peristyle of the churches for the reception of foundlings.
a later building,
is
The Loggia
del Bigallo,
though
a beautiful specimen of such a peristyle.
CHAPTER IN
After Italy,
VI
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
the Carlovingian dynasty had withdrawn from
the country had two or three centuries of troublous
times, in which very few people thought of church-building, and if the Comacine Masters found work in their own land, it was more the building of castles and strongholds in their most solid opera gallica, than the sculpturing of saints or the rearing of gorgeous basilicse.
After the Carlovingians
which held the
came the House of Berengarius,
Italian throne
from 888
to the intervention
Otho I. of Germany in 951. During this time there was always a military fermentation going on Duke Guido of Spoleto fighting Berengarius Arnolph and his son Sventebald fighting Guido the Hungarians overrunning and sacking Italy on the north, where there were battles at Brenta, Garigliano, Firenzuola, and bloodshed generally till the murder of Berengarius, Nor were things more peaceful in the south. Between A.D. 924 and 950 the Saracens invaded Sicily, and having established themselves there, assaulted Rome, and marched on towards the Alps. In Central Italy the Dukes of Burgundy, Provence, and of
;
;
;
Bavaria were found contesting with Lothaire for the suc-
At Germany and
cession.
length,
in
scattered
951,
them 108
came
down from
restoring
comparative
Otho all,
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
IN
peace for a time, though an arbitrary one
109
but
;
did not
it
last long.
Next came
superstitious
by
fears
the
;
poor
battered
succumbed entirely to the moral subjugator, superstition. They were firmly persuaded that the year 1000 should be the end of the world, and every activity, public and private, was paralyzed. It was only after that era had passed, and found Italy still existing, that new life began to stir in its demoralized
Italians,
Of
inhabitants.
were holy wars the
in
first
tecture,
hutnan
fierce
course, fighting
still
foes,
continued, but these
—the Crusades, of which Urban Then
1096.
which
is
II.
preached
the art of sculpturesque archi-
the handmaid of religious enthusiasm,
began to revive, and the Comacine Masters again had palmy days. But they had not been entirely idle during these warProf. Merzario says
like times.
^
" In this darkness which extended over
all Italy,
only
making a bright spark in vast the Italian necropolis. It was from the Magistri Comacini. Their respective names are unknown, their one small lamp remained
alight,
works unspecialized, but the breath of their spirit might be felt all through those centuries, and their name individual
collectively is legion.
works of
art
We
may
safely say that of all the
between a.d. 800 and 1000, the greater and due to that brotherhood always faithful and of the Magistri Comacini. The authority and
—
better part are
often secret
—
judgment of learned men
Here
Prof.
justify the assertion."
Merzario quotes several
of these
uomim
Quatremal de Quincy, in his Dictionary of Architecture, who, under the heading " Comacine," remarks that " to these men, who were both designers and executors, architects, sculptors, and mosaicists, may be attributed the renaissance of art, and its propagation in the dottissimi.
First,
^
Maestri Comacini, Vol.
I.
cap.
ii.
p. 79.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
no
southern countries, where Certain
it
is
we owe
that
antique ages was
it
marched with
Christianity.
to them, that the heritage of
it
and
not entirely lost,
it
only by their
is
and imitation that the art of building was kept producing works which we still admire, and which
tradition alive,
become
when we think
surprising
of all science in those
Hope, taking
of the utter ignorance
dark ages."
Our English
writer,
Lombards,
credits
their later appellative of
Lombardy with being the cradle of the associations of Freemasons, " who were," he says, " the first after Roman times to enrich architecture with a complete and wellordinated system, which dominated wherever the
Church extended
its
to those of the Mediterranean."
nesses,
Latin
influence from the shores of the Baltic
We
^
omit the wit-
will
Kugler of Germany and Ramee of France, and
take the
great authority, Fietro Selvatico.*
Italian
He
Europe, from the seventh to the thirteenth century, consisted of a combination of Byzantine and Roman elements, but in the ninth century a third notes that art
in
element mingled, which had original, as to constitute
goes on to say, " was the tecture, as
it
pitched roofs,
is
called,
its
in
Lombard
which
circular
is
much
that
was
" This," he
style.
or Comacine archi-
by its lowrounded on columns,
distinguished
arches,
which assimilate to the Greek and gained a certain systematic unity of the ninth century."
so
itself
an independent
Roman after
styles.
the
first
This half
have ignored all the Comacine architecture under the Longobards, who were certainly the nurses of the guild, and takes it up just when it was freeing itself from the bonds of superstitious tradition, i. e. the transition between RomanLombard and Romanesque. Prof.
Selvatico seems
^
Hope, Storia deW
^
Storia estetico-eritica della arti del disegno, Lezione
to
Architettura, ch. xxii. p. 159 (Italian translation). iv.
CoMACiNE Capital
in
San Zeno, Verona, emblematizing
Man
clinging to Chkist (the Palm). \_page III.
IN
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
in
No
doubt the genealogy of the style was this. First, the Comacines continued Roman traditions as the Romans continued Etruscan ones; next, they orientalized their style
by
their connection with the
the influx of
Greek
East through Aquileia, and Later came a
exiles into the guild.
through the Saracens into the South, and the Italian-Gothic was born. different influence
The Comacine
art of the
magne may be judged by
interregnum after Charlechurch of S. Zeno at
the
Verona. This had been rebuilt in 8io by King Pepin, whose palace was in Verona. His church fell a prey to the devastation dealt by the Huns in 924, and Bishop Rothair restored it in the tenth century, the Emperor Otho the First furnishing the funds. There was a third restoration in 1 1 39, when the present front and portico were added. The general form of Otho's church still remains, and shows the usual " three naves " (emblematical of the Trinity), and the circular arches supported by alternate columns and pilasters.
The
roof, as in all the older
Lombard
churches,
not recorded whence
was of wood, and Otho obtained his architects, but though no names are Later restorations written, the Comacine mark is there. have wiped out most of the old signs, but they have left us some capitals on the columns and the reliefs on the arches not vaulted.
It is
leading into the crypt under the tribune.
columns are here
illustrated.
In one
figures clinging to palm-branches,
who carved other
is
it
symbolized
man
may be
Two
of the
seen
human
by which the
M agister
clinging to Christ.
The
a veritable Comacine knot, formed of mystic winged
creatures, with their serpent tails entwined.
On
the arches
of the crypt are a wealth of mediaeval imaginings, mystic beasts. Christian symbols, scriptural characters and ancient myths, all mingled together as only a Freemason of the
Middle Ages could mingle them. Otho's architects were certainly Magistri of our guild, and probably our friend
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
112
from Pontida, who called on brigands, was one of them. It is
Zeno
S.
to save
him from the
undeniable that later Comacines put the elegant
facade to the church in 1139,
when Magistri Nicolaus and
Guglielmus carved the wonderful porch with its columns resting on lions, and its very mediaeval reliefs, in which we see Theodoric, King of the Goths, going straight to the devil in the guise of a wild huntsman.
On
the architraves
are allegorical reliefs of the twelve months. is
^
^it
not of the era
we are now
discussing,
and we
But
this front
shall
mention
again.
A
work which is indubitably of the ninth century, and the marks of the time, is the atrium of S. Ambrogio at Milan, which was a commission to Magister Adam of the Comacines, by Anspert of Bissone, who was has
all
Archbishop of Milan from 868 to 881. The atrium of a church was anciently used for the catechumens, as they were not admitted into the body of the church till they The atrium of S. Ambrogio is a square were baptized. space surrounded by a portico composed of columns supThe proportions are so fine and porting round arches. majestic that it is looked on as the best mediaeval edifice existing in foliage,
Lombard
style.
The
capitals are
composed of
strange ornaments, and groups of grotesque animals
and monsters rudely sculptured and yet with the imperfect chiselling there is such a freedom of design and wealth of imagination as you find in no Byzantine work, however precise its execution. We give an illustration of one of its capitals. The Comacine intreccio is there, but floriated and luxurious. The significance of these sculptures, though unintelligible to us, is believed to be the occult and conventional art language of the Comacines or Freemasons. On the doorway, among the foliage and symbolic animals, one may still read the name of " Adam Magister." Another very important church of the ninth century is ;
I
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
IN
113
the cathedral of Grado, near Venice, which had been
first
—
built between 571 586, seemingly by Byzantine artists, though they also used old classical capitals from former
buildings.
The
plan of this Basilica in
its
older form
shows very clearly the leaning to one side which we have said was a symbol of Christ's head being turned in pain on
Here not only the left aisle reaches higher up than the right, but the wall of the fagade slopes considerably. In the ninth century Fortunato, Patriarch of Grado, the Cross.
who
lived about 828, sent for artefici
FranchP
to restore
the Baptistery of S. Giovanni on the island
which was the metropolis of maritime Venice. Now what were these It is clear they could not have been artefici Franchi? French, for Charlemagne himself had to get builders from Lombardy, his own country not having as yet enough skill in masonry. It is natural to suppose they were the guild from Cisalpine Gaul, which though composed of Italians had been styled " Lombards " while under the Lombard kings, and may have been " Franchi" while the Carlovingian kings ruled. They were known as " Tedeschi" when later they were under the protection of the German emperors, It is still a a term which puzzled old Vasari greatly. interpretation would not be the question whether the real literal one. Free-masons, who may well have been recalled from France where they were at work.
The wording
of a phrase in the will of the Patriarch
where he says "feci venire inagisiros de Francia," shows plainly that he referred to architects belonging to a guild in which the higher orders were called Fortunato,
Magistri.
Grado, the Lombards were Their evidently employed in other Venetian churches. of Murano, Duomo in the evident very be style is said to
Having begun
1
delle
The Act Arti
exists
to
still,
work
and
is
at
quoted in Sagredo's work. Sulk
Edijkative in Venezia, p. 28.
consorterie
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
114
they did, and whether they worked with other architects, will, I suppose, never be
how much
but
Eastern or
precisely known.
A
curious
little
church of this epoch
is
existing in almost
form at a village called Abadia, near Sesto Maggiore. It has a crypt and a portico, on Lake Calende The crypt is supported on three naves and three apses.^ round arches and small thin columns, the roof is of wood. The portico has three arcades resting on columns and pilasters with capitals of Lombard- Byzantine style. its
original
We
find the guild at
work not only
the south of Italy at this epoch.
One
ings in South Italy with which the
connected,
is
in the north,
but in
of the famous build-
Comacine Masters were
the celebrated monastery of
Monte Cassino
This monastery had been built in the first by a Brescian named Petronax, who made a pilgrimage to Rome to see Pope Gregory II. The Pope urged Petronax to go to Monte Cassino where St. Benedict was buried. He went and there was inspired to found a with
its
church.
instance
monastery.
By the beginning of the eleventh century much ruined by the Saracens and others, and abbot, in 1066, decided to restore
it.
He was
this
had been
Desiderius
its
of the race of
Lombard Dukes of Beneventum, was a friend of Pope Gregory VII., and became his successor on the papal throne the
under the name of Victor III. Desiring that his church should be a very " majestic temple," he sent to call artificers from Amalfi and from Lombardy.'' Among the Italians was a certain Andrea, from Serra di Falco, near Como, a fine worker in metal, who, with his disciples, made the bronze doors. * The same form is shown in the contemporary church of St. Victor at Arsago near Milan. * Conductis protinus peritissimis artificibus turn amalphitanis, quam
lombardis.
Cronaca Sacri monasterii Cassinensis, auctore Leone Cardinali
Episcopo, Lib. III. cap.
xxviii.
IN
Some
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
interesting baptisteries
seems
to
have had a
significance,
set form
that figure
were erected
The
century by the Comacines.
115 in the tenth
baptistery at this time
—the octagon
and a mystical
;
being highly symbolical of the
formed by a conjunction of three
Trinity, being
In the earlier days of the
Romano- Lombard
triangles. style,
the
had only a small arcade, or row of brackets supporting arches round the outer wall beneath the roof, and a practicable gallery round the interior. Of this shape was the Florentine Baptistery, that of Como and baptistery generally
many
others.
When
the later Comacines worked
Romanesque with
little
A
florid
Baptisteries were often covered rows of colonnettes like those of Pisa,
the
style,
galleries or
Parma, Lucca,
more
in
etc.
specimen of Lombard work of about 1000 a.d., or a little later, which shows the approach towards a more Gothic style, may be seen in the cloister of Voltorre, a little walled town on Lake Varese. The cloister of Voltorre is thus
fine
described
Lombard
—
"
building
The beauty
of
singular.
The
is
this
eleventh-century
four sides are formed
of porticoes which sustain the upper storey.
The
porticoes
open court are formed on one side of small graceful arches in brick, with friezes and reliefs sustained by elegant colonnettes, some round and some octangular, with capitals of various forms. On two other sides the colonnettes are smaller and shorter, but still graceful they terminate in varied and bizarre capitals surmounted by a kind of bracket on which the large stones of the upper building rest. Among the sculptures of the little columns on the left as one enters the court, is incised in mediaeval characters and facing the
;
abbreviations
the following
Dom. Ersatii
de Livurno.'"
Lanfrancus magister filius Livurno most probably stands '
So our few miles from Voltorre. master Lanfranco Ersatti, having graduated in the Comacine for Ligurno, a place a
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
ii6
Guild, set himself to embellish his native place.
Magister Lanfranco designed the
Duomo
was the work of
as will be seen hereafter,
In 1099
of Modena, which, centuries,
he
being followed by a long series of architects.
Then came more troublous times for the Comacines in own country. From 1 1 18 to 1 127 a.d. the republic of Como was at fierce war with the Milanese. A long poem their
by a Comacine poet, quoted by Muratori, describes the workmen and artisans fighting in the streets in their working dress, and wielding any tool or weapon they could find. The masons and builders worked as sappers and miners, dug the trenches, built up barricades, and destroyed the enemy's houses and castles. One of these brave citizens, named Giovanni Buono, is especially mentioned by the ancient poet, and he is peculiarly connected with the Comacine Masters as the first of a long line of Magisters of the Buono
He forms a tangible link between the half-traditional Comacines of Lombard times, and the more clearly defined family.
guild of the
From
Romanesque epoch.
Gothic period their identity
is
traceable
that to the Italian
by documents.
A
warlike bishop, Guidone, was the leader of the Comacines, but after three years' war he fell ill, and on his death-bed
prophesied the
fall
of his fatherland.
The Comacines were indeed at the end of their resources, they were exhausted of means, of food, and of warriors and ;
under the power of the Milanese, becoming a tributary state. But it was not till Milan had called in the aid of several other cities that brave after several victories at length fell
Como succumbed
on August 27, 1127. She was not enslaved even then, and must have retained her little
political
freedom,
for
to her
we
find
her siding with Frederic
Barbarossa in 1167, against the whole Lombard League, to cost, for she was a great sufferer in the battle of
her
Legnano on
May
29,
Barbarossa tried to
11 76.
make some compensation, by ceding
IN to
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES
Como the castles Como mint
of the
of Baradello and Olona.
117
A
coin exists,
of that time, with an eagle and Imp.
Federicus on one side, and
Cumanus populus on
the other.
Frederic had reason to cultivate the Comaschi, for they sent
200 ships to the Venetian war for him. An edict of Barbarossa's in 11 59, and another dated 1175, shows that he allowed the Comacines to rebuild their walls and city at that date, civitatem in cineres collapsam funditos re
cavimus
nos.
The tower The round tower
This occupied them a long time.
towards Milan bears the date of 1192. that of 1250.
(sdifi-
There were eight gates
in these
new
walls.
BOOK FIRST
II
FOREIGN EMIGRATIONS OF THE COMACINES
CHAPTER
I
THE NORMAN LINK
The great building guild of the Middle Ages had another connection with France, independently of Charlemagne, and one which perhaps left a more lasting impression on the nation than the church of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was through the Normans, who held a prominent place in the history of Romanesque art, some authors giving them the credit of its introduction into Italy. This may be, but between the tenth and twelfth centuries architecture and sculpture underwent so many transformations and became mingled with so many different elements that its history is most difficult to disentangle. There was a maze of different influences brought together in Sicily, such as Norman, solid and heavy, from the north Byzantine, set and precise, from the east Saracenic, warm and fanciful, from the south all mingling together in the temples of Monreale and Palermo, where I think we may add a fourth and Italian element, in the Comacines or Lombards. ;
—
The tecture
first
consideration
first arise ?
Was
it
is
:
How
Norman archiDid the Normans
did the
indigenous
?
about the tenth and eleventh centuries suddenly begin building round-arched and pillared churches from their own inner consciousness
.''
—
for all histories assure us there
were
no stone Norman-arched buildings before the tenth century, and that by 1 1 50 the pointed style had already begun to supersede it. All the great and typical examples are 121
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
122
crowded into the last fifty years of the eleventh century, at which time the Norman dukes were very powerful. It was a time of enterprise and excitement of all kinds, not the least of them being the rage for church-building, awakened by the early missionaries. Some light may be thrown on the way the round arch following bits of old first got into Normandy, by the Norman chroniclesj which show that a very important event took place in the history of the Comacines at the end of the tenth century, connecting them in a remarkable and suggestive manner with the rise of Norman architecture. We find from old chronicles that S. Guillaume, Abbot of S. Benigne in Dijon, was a Lombard, born in 961 on the island of Santa Giulia, in Lago di Orta, part of Lago Maggiore. He was the son of a certain Roberto, Lord of Volpiano Otho the Great himself had been his godfather at the time when he besieged the island, and took prisoner Willa, wife of King Berengarius. Guillaume (William) was, as his friend and biographer, Glabrius Rodolphus, tells us, " of a keen intellect, and well instructed in the liberal arts." In his youth he travelled much in Italy, and was often at Venice, where he formed a close friendship with Orso Orseolo, Patriarch of Aquileja. The Patriarch Orso was at that time engaged in the restoration of the church of Torcello, one of the gems of architecture of the age while his brother, the Doge Otho Orseolo was pressing forward the works of S. Marco at Venice. It was here probably that S. Guillaume was interested in the Masonic guild, and recognizing its power as an aid to ;
;
would have joined it. He founded the famous monastery of S. Benigno di Fruttuaria in Piedmont, and towards the end of the tenth century he went to France mission work,
with the venerable Abbot of Cluny here he decided to build a monastery to S. Benigne in Dijon, which he him;
self designed.
But
to effect his design
he had to send
to
9^
S
S
THE NORMAN LINK Italy,
his
own
country, for
masters of divers chronicler goes
wisdom
"many
people,
123
men
of
letters,
and others full of science."^ The say that Guillaume displayed much
arts^
on
to
in bringing these masters (magistri conducendo) to
superintend the work {ipsum opus dictando).
These two
phrases are identical with those of Article 145 in the Edict of Rotharis, and I think might be equivalent to a proof
who built S. Benigne at Dijon were indeed Comacine Guild. The chroniclers further tell us that the Abbot Guillaume was invited to Normandy by Duke Richard II., to "found monasteries and erect buildings." The very phrase implies his connection with, and command of architects. He at first refused, because he had heard that the Dukes of Normandy were barbarous and truculent, and more likely to deface than to erect sacred temples but afterwards he decided to go. He stayed there twenty years, founding forty monasteries, and restoring old ones, which were in those days chiefly built of wood. "He had many of his Italian monks trained to continue the work he had begun. These propagated such love and taste for art in those rude and bold Normans, that stone buildings multiplied there, and when William of Normandy conquered England, the style passed over with him." Hope, whose judgment is unerring on all subjects connected with He says^ that some time the Lombard style, confirms this. before the style came into England, Normandy had given remarkable models of a tutto-sesto (round-arched) or Lombard style, and that the same precedence is noticeable that the Italians
of the
;
the pointed or composite style.
in
owe 1
to the
Normans
"Coeperunt ex sua
Aliqui lyteris bene eruditi alii
—
scientia prsediti
;
the erection of patria,
hoc
quorum
ars et
Chi-on. S. Benigni Divion, quoted 2
Thomas Hope,
Storia
est Italia, multi
aliqui diversorum
:
deW
Indeed, the English
many
fine edifices of
ad eum convenire.
operum magisterio edocti
ingenium huic loco profuit plurimum." by D' Archery in Spicikgio, vol. ii. p. 384.
Architeitura, ch. xxxviii. p. 263.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
124
both kinds.
name of Norman to the gave it to Lombard ones, and
Thus some gave
the
Gothic buildings and others it was imagined that the pointed arch came originally from
Normandy.
And
yet
Normandy was one
of pointed architecture in the south.
pedigree of
As an Norman
its
of the stations
pilgrimage towards us from
and convincing proof of this from the Lombard, we may give
illustration
style
Norman churches, that of St. one The Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield, London. original nave has vanished, but the tribune remains, divested, it is true, of the two great piers in front of the The semi-circle of the apse, which were removed in 1410. apse has, however, been replaced in the old style and, with its pillared arches and ambulatory, harmonizes well with the ancient part, now the nave, which is perfectly The ambulatories below, and the women's Lombard. gallery, such as we find in St. Agnes at Rome, and many Comacine churches, both have a distinctly Italian origin. of our oldest so-called
;
Even
the stilted arches in the choir only
outline like magnified
Lombard windows.
seem
in their
The masonry
the true Comacine style, great square-cut blocks of stone, smoothed and fitted with exact precision while the windows of the triforium are clearly a four-light development of the two-light Lombard window, divided by its small column the very form of the column is identical, though it lacks the sculpture. Probably the Italian artists were few, and English assistants not yet trained. The clerestory was a reflex of a later style, being added in 14 10, to replace the so-called Norman one, which no doubt had the usual round-arched windows with a column in the centre. Indeed, I think it would be worth the while of archaeologists to find out whether the whole church were not originally built by Italian architects, as Rahere, its founder, was in Rome on a pilgrimage, when he fell very ill of fever, and vowed to build a hospital if he recovered. He soon after had a is
;
;
H
C5
THE NORMAN LINK
125
who instructed him to return to London, and build a church in the suburbs of Smithfield. He founded both the church and hospital of St. Bartholomew in about 11 23. There seems to me to be such a difference between this church and other more heavy Norman contemporary buildings, that it might be suspected Rahere followed the older example of St. Wilfrid and St. Benedict Biscop, and brought over the Comacines with him. I cannot agree with Mr. Fergusson in his assertion that the members of the early Freemason guilds were only masons, and never designed the works entrusted to them, but always worked under the guidance of some siiperior person, whether he were a bishop or abbot, or an accomplished layman. Certainly the architects who worked for the Longobards must also have sometimes given the design, or what do the words opus didando mean in the Edict of Rotharis.'' Surely Theodolinda could not have been architect enough to draw the plan for Monza. Nor do I think that the word Magistro in the masonic or any other art guild, applied to mere masons or underlings, but to those who were so far masters of their craft as to direct The bishop or others, and make a working plan for them. abbot, or educated layman, might have formed his own idea about the style he wished his building to take, and have made a sketch of it but the practical working plan
vision of St. Bartholomew,
;
would have been drawn by the Magister, who directed
workmen It is
or colligantes to put
it
his
into execution.
monks of Dijon and other Dominicans, members of
true that
many ecclesiastics were,
like the
Guillaume at the Masonic guilds, and were accordingly versed in the In that case the monk, when he science of architecture. became bishop or abbot, might furnish a plan, and very Fra Sisto and Fra Ristori built Santa Maria often did so. S.
Florence; but they were connected with the Florentine lodge, so their doing so would certainly be no
Novella
in
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
126
proof that the Masters of the guild could not have done equally well themselves.
That the
oldest churches in
Normandy have a
great
Lombard buildings is evident on examination. See the Lombard-shaped windows in the towers of St. Stephen's at Caen the exterior of the circular apse of St. Nicholas, Caen, which still keeps its original hexagonal form, with pilasters like slight columns running from ground to roof at each division, and a colonnade surrounding it of
affinity to
;
perfect
Lombard double-arched
in the centre of each.
The
local
form, with a small pillar
{See Fergusson's Architecture.)
Norman developments
defined in this building
;
the usual
are
little
equally
Lombard
beneath the roof has given way to large, deep,
well
gallery
circular-
headed windows, and the roof has taken the high pitch natural to the climate. Both of these are climatic distinctions the northerner aiming at more light, the southerner ;
trying to shut out the sun
:
the
damp
climate, of course,
necessitated the sloping roof.
Now, before the Normans came back to Italy they had made Italian architecture their own, and impressed on it their own character, rugged and robust, and it was so South Italy with which they have been accredited, that I think this theory will have to be revised. The arts were certainly not influenced in Sicily by the first Norman invasion in 1058 under different to the buildings in
Roger I., son of Tancred, he being entirely a bellicose and rough warrior. It was when the Normans had taken root there, had become more softened, and had formed a settled government; in fact, after Roger 11. had been crowned King of Apulia and Sicily in 1130, that they began to give their minds to artistic architecture. This was a century and a half after Abbot Guillaume took his countrymen over to build at Dijon. The first stone of the Duomo of Cefalii was laid in 1131, and the royal palace
THE NORMAN LINK
127
of Palermo begun during the next year.
Under Roger's
successors the fine churches of Martorana, and the cathedral of
Monreale
in 11 72, the cathedral of
and the palace of Cuba arose. An Lumia, is very enthusiastic over the reale
— "that
visigoth
(sic)
art
Palermo {1185),
La Duomo of Monwhich had in Normandy Italian writer,
erected the cathedrals of Rouen, Bayeux,
etc.,
multiplied
Monreale the ogival forms which had been known and
in
practised in Sicily since the sixth century,^ and took
its
upward flight in towers and bold spires. In the mosaics and decorations the majestic Arabic art espoused Byzantine and Christian types. The varied and multiplex association has impressed on these works an impront both singular and stupendous. The columns show the ruins of pagan classicism, the incredible profusion of marbles, verd-antique, and porphyry speak of a rich and florid political state while the solemn mystery of those sublime arcades, profound lines and symbolic forms the dim religious light, the ecstatic figures of prophets and saints with the gigantic Christ over the altar offering benediction to men, all shadow forth the mediaeval idea of Christianity full and ingenuous faith, ;
;
—
by conquest." Then he goes on grandiloquently to say "The names of the builders are unknown to us, and we need not trouble to seek them a generation and era is here with all its soul made visible, with all its vigorous and fruitful activity." But if we cannot find the names it would at least be vivified
—
:
interesting to
tecture
know whether
Norman-Siculo
the
archi-
were entirely the work of the Normans or
not.
Gravina, Boito, and other Italian writers think that the
Normans took a earlier
^
The
century.
similar position in Sicily to that of the
Longobards
in the north,
i.
e.
that they
Saracens invaded Sicily in 832; the author must
were the
mean
the ninth
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
128
patrons,
and employed the
whom
artists
they found in
Sicily.
Merzario,^ giving as his
brings forward as a suggestive
Guild.
fact,
Amari,^
that precisely at the
was a large emigraSicily of members of the Lombard or Comacine Amari thinks that the feudal government of the
time of the tion into
Norman
Michele
authority
Normans
occupation, there
at that time did not allow their subjects to emi-
grate from land to land (excepting of course their armies for
purposes of conquest), while in North Italy feudalism
was going
movement
out,
" accounts for
came
and with the establishment of republics the was freer. "This," he says, the so-called colonies of Lombards, which
of the inhabitants
to Sicily at that time, but of which, unfortunately,
we
have no reliable historical evidence." These Lombardo-Siculan colonies, however, have been clearly traced by an Italian writer, Lionardo Vigo, in his Monografia critica delle colonie Lombardo sicule} He has proved that there were four Lombard colonies in Sicily. That the first went down with Ardoin and Mania, between I002, when, on Otho's death, Ardoin was elected King of Italy, and his retirement to S. Benigno in 1013 after his long struggle with Henry II. The second was during
Norman
the
conquest of Sicily in 1061
the century,
at
Emperor
the third later in
the time of the union of the
and Swabian dynasties the
;
Frederic,
;
Norman
and the fourth about 1 1 88 under this colony was led by Addo di
—
Camerana.
The
two colonies left no lasting traces in the founded the town of Maniace, and the planted a settled colony which has left its mark, not first
island, but the third last
only in
the
language, but in the
'
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
^
Storia dei
Mussulmani di
Sicilia,
^
chap.
iii.
many Lombard
place-
p. 121.
Vol. III. chap.
See Archivio Siorico Siciliano, Nuova
serie.
i.
p. 222, et seq.
Anno
ix.
1884.
THE NORMAN LINK Thus
names.
there are in Sicily villages ^
Gagliano, Novara, Palazzolo, Scopello,
territory.
holy brethren), the
"^'"ed
Carona,
Paderno, Piazza, Sala, and
names of older places in the Another name, " Sanfratelli " (the
of which are
all
Comacine
129
Lombard
is
very suggestive of the patron saints of
Guild, the "Quattro Incoronati."
It is in
precisely that Signer Vigo finds a special which has no affinity with Sicilian, or central Italian, and which he describes as a "hybrid, bastard language a decayed Longobardic, only intelligible to those who use it a frightful jargon and perfectly satanic tongue." In the same volume of the Archivio Storico Siciliano is another collection of documents, regarding an episode of the war between the Latin and Catalonian factions at Palermo in the time of Ludovico of Aragon, about 1349. It shows in a list of volunteers, several names of Magistri
this
district
language,
;
;
be familiar to us. Here is Magister Nicolao Mancusio, Magister Guillelmo, Magister Nicolao de Meraviglia, Magister Chicco, Magister Juliano Guzu, Magister Roberto de Juncta (Giunta), Magister Vitalis, both from the Pisan lodge, Julianus Cuccio, Salvo di Pietro, etc. We find that Benedictus de Siri, a Lombard, was paid for
which seem
to
twenty soldiers for ten days. the payments
made we
during the siege,
Again on July
to those
who
find Magister
31
,
1
among
349,
fought to defend Vicari
Vanni
di Bologna,
Paulo
de Boni, Magister Gaddi, Magister Benedicto de Lencio (Lenzo near Como), and Johanni de Gentile, and various others, all mixed up with ordinary folks who have no magic Master before their names. This seems to imply that the Lombard colony at that time had been long be nationalized, and that they furnished men for the war like any other citizens. In some cases the payments are made to the heirs of Magister Johanne or Vitale, thus proving them to have This was a privilege become ;^ossessed of property.
enough
in Sicily to
|
K
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
130
accorded to the Comacine Masters even in feudal times, when
From the example of Magister Rodpert, the Longobard who sold his land at Toscanella many centuries before, we judge that when the Comacine remained long in a place, he made use of his earnings to buy land. Indeed in those days when no banks other classes were bound and enslaved.
existed, landed property
was the only secure
disposition for
And
having bought his house and vineyards, it was but natural that he should name the estate after his own wealth.
native place in Lombardy. It is
gratifying to find these direct proofs of the con-
stant presence of the
Lombard Masters
the whole
Norman and Swabian
so much.
It
accounts for the so-called
in Sicily during It
accounts for
Norman
architecture
dynasties.
having so much more affinity to Italian forms than to French- Norman and it accounts for the Saracenic cast which Lombard architecture took after that era. The in Sicily
;
influence
was a
lasting one,
and showed
itself in all
the
subsequent work of the guild, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Was said to
this influence
have caused
imbibed by the Normans who are
it ?
Evidently not.
Was Norman architecture proper,
in the
north of Europe,
immediately changed ? Not at all. It remained the same through all the Norman rule from Robert Guiscard to the line. It was not till the thirteenth century that the elegant pointed Gothic found its way into England fall
of the
but not through
Normandy
—and
took the place of the
solid round-arched, short-pillared buildings
introduced by
William the Conqueror. We have seen that this roundarched style was first taught the Normans by the Italian builders
whom
the
Abbot Guillaume brought northward
with him.
But the Lombard influence
France was not confined to Normandy nor to Aix-la-Chapelle. Hope, the English in
THE NORMAN LINK authority on
Lombard
131
who spent eight years many a sign of Lombard
architecture,
studying European churches, finds
handiwork on French
At Tournus
soil.
thus describes
it
—
rudeness both of separated
from
" Its
its
antiquity
an abbey
is
church of extremely interesting Lombard form.
Fergusson^
manifested by the
is
The nave
design and execution.
the aisles by plain cylindrical
is
columns
without bases, the capitals of which are joined by circular arches at the height of the vaults of the aisle. From the
dwarf columns supporting arches thrown across the nave. From one of these arches to another is thrown a tunnel vault which runs the cross way of the capitals
rise
building, being in fact a series of arches like those of a
bridge extending the whole length of the nave." Here we have, I believe, the first step towards the vaulted roof of the later Gothic buildings. is
by Fergusson
said
Then with
its
era in
there
is
The church
of
Ainay
at Lyons,
to be very similar to this.
the cathedral of
octagonal cupola, and
Romano- Lombard
style.
its
Avignon
in
Provence,
porch of Charlemagne's
It is
not unlikely that the
Proven9al churches were built by Italian architects, for Avignon was closely connected with the Papacy at that earliest
and the Popes as we know were the especial patrons of the Masonic guild. In the church of S. Trophime at Aries we have distinct signs of the Comacines, in the lion-supported columns of the central porch, and the frieze of sculpture above. There are time,
three richly-sculptured porches
;
the central door
is
divided in
two like a Lombard window, by a slight column which rests on kneeling figures, and has angels carved in the capital. The richly ornate architrave has lions on each side of it. The church at Cruas in Provence has three apses with Lombard archlets round them all. Its dome is surrounded by a colonnade, and a superimposed round turret with ^
Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture,
p.
652.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
132
Lombard windows.
The tower has
the usual double-arched
windows.
Provence shows some beautiful specimens of Italian cloisters, at Aix, at Aries, and at Fontifroide. The latter has a row of arches supported by double Golumns of elegant slightness, and with foliaged capitals of varied form and great freedom of design. Fergusson says that the freedom
and boldness are unrivalled. The cloister at Elne is still more varied and unique the capitals mix up Egyptian, classic, and mediaeval art in a manner truly unique. As for towers, those left in Provence show a distinctly Lombard style. The tower at Puissalicon near Beziers is perfect in every particular, with its pillared Lombard windows increasing in width and lightness as they ascend. From Provence, ihe land of the Popes, the Comacines penetrated further into France. The church of S. Croix at Bordeaux, attributed to William the Good, Duke of Aquitaine, ;
who
died in 877, has its round-arched porch, decorated with a profusion of Comacine intrecci of intertwined vines and ;
spiral pilasters
grouped
at the angles.
fagade of the cathedral of finest
Lombard one
San
existing.
Hope
quotes the
Angoul^me, There are numerous
Pietro at
as the files
of
round arches, on elegant little columns, statues in niches, and arabesques. The nave is divided into three portions, each with a cupola. In this we see another step forward towards the vaulted roof. At Tournus the arches are simply thrown across the three divisions of the nave here they are arched into the shape of a dome. The tower is entirely Lombard in form. There are Lombard churches at Poictiers, Puy, Auxerre, Caen, Poissy, Gompiegne, etc., in all of which the style is perfectly rich bas-reliefs, friezes,
;
distinct
from the Norman, as
also from the later Gothic.
it
was then developed
;
and
CHAPTER
II
THE GERMAN LINK
The
heading of
this chapter implies
impugn the claims of the Teutons
nothing that can
to the perfecting of the
which claims are undoubtedly fair. It only Gothic architecture was not an invention of the Germans, so much as a national development of some earlier form and, like all developments, must have had some link connecting it with that earlier source. Was the Comacine Guild that link ? Legends and traditions pointing to it are many, but, as usual, absolute proofs are few. Some proofs might be found if, with a clue in one's hand, search could be made among the archives of the German cities in which round-arched Lombard-style churches were built before the pointed Gothic and comGothic
style,
implies that the pointed
;
posite style certain
came
Some German
in.
traditions, which,
unfamiliarity with
language,
the
savant should
sift
out
from want of authorities and I
am
not able to do.
These are Firstly
:
That
Boniface came to Italy before proceed-
St.
ing on his mission to
Gregory sent with
Germany
A.r).
715,
and that Pope and
gave him him a large following of monks, versed
II.
of building, and of lay brethren assist them.^
Augustine and 1
in
his credentials, instructions, etc.,
This St.
is
who were
in the art
also architects, to
the precise method
in
which
St.
Benedict Biscop were equipped and sent
See the Letters of Pope Gregory 133
II.,
and Life of
St.
Boniface.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
134
to their missions
in
England, and S.
What
Normandy.
bishopric in
Guillaume
resulted in
to
his
England from
the missions of St. Augustine, St. Wilfrid, and St. Benedict?
The
cathedral
the abbeys
of Canterbury,
—
of
Hexham,
Lombard He built Normandy ? etc., also in pure Lombard style, not in the heavier Norman by which the natives followed it. So in Germany we hear that among the bishoprics founded by St. Boniface were Cologne, Worms, Lindisfarne and others
What
all
distinctly
Guillaume do the churches of Caen, Dijon,
and
did
buildings.
S.
in
Spires,^ precisely the cities
which have remains of the
Lombard style. There are many other German churches, now fine Gothic buildings, whose crypts and portals show remains of older round-arched earliest
churches
in
buildings.
Secondly
It
:
is
necessary
to
discover
the
precise
connection of the Emperors Charlemagne, Otho, and the
German monarchs who
in Lombardy, Whether, as they employed part of their kingdom, they did not also
successively ruled
with the Masonic guild there.
them in the Italian employ them across the Alps. Thirdly
:
To
find out whether,
when Albertus Magnus
went back to Cologne from Padua, he had not become a Magister in the Masonic guild, as many monks were, and whether he propagated the tenets of the brotherhood in Germany. Certain proof exists that he designed the choir of the if nothing more. He also wrote a book Liber Constructionum Alberti, which afterwards became the handbook for Gothic work. It is probable that this was in great part borrowed from an earlier Italian work on the construction of churches, named L'Arcano Magistero. This, however, was a secret book of the guild, and was kept most strictly in the hands of the
cathedral there,
entitled
^
Milman, Latin Christianity, Vol.
II.
chap.
v. p.
302,
Book IV.
THE GERMAN LINK
135
Magistri themselves. Kiigler relates that in 1090 a citizen of Utrecht killed a bishop, who had taken L'Arcano Magistero away from his son who was an architect. I am opinion
strongly of
connected
with
the
Magnus was much
Albertus
that
importation
Freemasons
of
into
Germany. Fourthly
To
discover whether
where great buildings went on for many years, there remains any trace of the same threefold Masonic organization, which we find in the Italian cathedral-building towns and whether the administration thereof was jointly managed by the Magistri or head architects, and the patrons or civic authorities of the city in which the buildings were :
the
in
cities
;
carried on.
All these things can only be verified, in case the works of contemporary chroniclers
still
exist, or if there
remain
any traces of archives of so early a date. As far as style in building goes to prove anything, the Lombards certainly preceded the native Gothic architects Hope enumerates several churches, such as in Germany. those at Spires, Worms, Zurich, and several old ones at Cologne, built before or about the Garlovingian era, which
have every sign of Lombard influence. The Gross Munster of Zurich was begun thank-offering of the Italy,
the
and
climatic
Lombard with
its
its
Emperor Otho
for
in
966 as a
his victories
in
plan, arches, windows, towers (excepting only
addition
style.
The
of
the
pointed
double columns and
are
all
in
very
Italian,
sculptured capitals.
Now,
cloister adjoining its
roofs) it
is
Otho granted a special charter to the Masonic guild of Lombardy, it is natural to suppose that when he wanted a church built, he would employ this valuable class of his new subjects. At Basle we have a distinct sign of the Comacine Masters in the intrecci and other symbols
as
sculptured round the Gallus-pforte of the cathedral, while
the;
136
in the crypt are
cathedral builders
two carved
the columns of the door.
lions
which were once beneath
They were removed
in the re-
storation of the cathedral, after the earthquake of 1356.
These lions are precisely the counterparts of those in the doorways of Modena and Verona. But it is at Cologne, the city of Albertus Magnus, that the Lombard style is unCan one look at the three apses of the mistakable. of churches the Apostles and of St. Martin, with the round arches encircling them, and little pillared galleries above, or at the double-arched windows in the towers, without at once recalling the Romanesque churches of Lucca, Arezzo, and Pisa, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ? ^ Santa Maria del Campidoglio at Cologne, which was founded by Plectrude, wife of Pepin, has the same Lombard galleries running round the apses, and Cunibert's church in its western door shows not only pure Comacine sculpture, but thie characteristic lion of Judah between the column and the arch. S. Andrea and S. Pantaleone, both founded in 954 by Bishop Bruno, brother of Otho the Great, were in the same style. This group of buildings all in one city, and all founded under the Emperors who ruled in Italy, surely suggest that when Charlemagne took over the builders for Aix-la-Chapelle, they as usual left their school
and laborerium there, and that Otho and their turn had not far to go for architects. If their
churches are not enough, the
his successors in
civil
architecture of
Lombard influence Compare the windows and style of the
Ger-
that epoch also affords proof of
in
many.
ancient
which Fergusson illustrates, any Lombard building whatsoever,
dwelling-house at Cologne p.
590, with those of
from the Palace of King Desiderius in the eighth century to the Bargello of Florence in the thirteenth, and you will find
them
identical.
the high gabled roof 1
See
The
only
German
Again, compare
innovation
St. Elizabeth's
illustrations in Fergusson, pp. 578, 579.
is
in
home,
Palazzo del Popolo and Palazzo Comunale, Todi.
{See Pages
j'^t
and -zsi-
THE GERMAN LINK
137
the Castle on the Wartburg, with the ancient
Communal
Palace at Todi, or at Perugia, or other Lombard building of the twelfth century, and its genesis will at once be seen.^ Ferd.
author of the fine monograph on the Cathedral of Strasburg, confirms the presence of Italian Pitou,
Germany, not only in the time of the Carlovingians and the line of Otho, but also in the later times of the Swabian dynasty. He says, when speaking of the builders in
works at Strasburg, that " colonies of artisans, chiefly sent from Lombardy and other parts, where church - building was prevalent, accompanied the monks and ecclesiastics
who had
directed the work. all
These
spiritual leaders,
however,
the glory of the buildings up to about the end of
the twelfth century,
when
These beyond the Rhine, to the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula, and even penetrated to the forests and lands of Sarmatia and Scythia." There seems little doubt that the German lodges founded by the Comacine emigrations took root, and became in time entirely national. Traditions are many, and most of them point back to Italy. For instance, legend says a brotherof hood stone-carvers existed in Spires and Bamberg from the time when those cathedrals were begun. Others say that Albertus Magnus on his return from Padua formed the first Masonic association in Germany, making special laws and obtaining especial privileges for the immense number of builders he collected to put into execution his cathedral at Cologne.^ Again, L'Abbd de Grandidier, writing to a lady in November 1778, tells her that he has discovered an ancient document three centuries old, which shows that the much-boasted society of the Freemasons is nothing but a servile imitation of an ancient and humble confraternity of real builders whose seat was anciently in
Lombard
ogival architecture arose.
colonies pushed on
1
See
2
Merzario,
illustrations in 'Fexgnsson's
I Maestri
JIandbook of Architecture,^^. 589, 590
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
x. p.
282.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
138
Hope, however, says that the Strasburg lodge, which was the earHest acknowledged German one, was first recognized by a legal act executed at Ratisbon in 1458, and that the Emperor Maximilian ratified and confirmed the act by a diploma given at Strasburg in 1498. Strasburg.
My
theory
is
this,
that in their early emigrations the
Comacine Masters founded the usual lodges that the Germans entered their schools and became masters in their turn that in the end the German interest outweighed the foreign element in the brotherhood, and the Germans, wishing to nationalize an art which they had so greatly developed, split off from the universal Masonic Association, ;
;
as
the Sienese
century,
builders
and formed a
did in Siena in the fourteenth
distinct national
branch
:
decisive break probably took place at Strasburg,
that this
and that
other lodges followed suit and nationalized themselves in
No
doubt some German searcher into archives may arise, who will do for Cologne and Strasburg what Milanesi has done for Siena, and Cesare Guasti for Florence, and so throw light on the complicated organization of their turn.
and sculptors which banded build the multiplex and grand
patrons, architects, builders,
together under one rule, to old cathedrals.
CHAPTER
III
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
(a SUGGESTION)
BY THE REV. W. MILES BARNES
Wherever
Romans
the
established Collegia;
was incomplete
;
planted
without
its
the Collegium
colonies, there they
colleges
Roman
was an element
society-
essential to
Roman life. The Collegium was
a corporation or guild of persons associated in support of a common object there were ;
colleges of artists, of architects, builders, well
as
associated with
colleges
the
and
artisans, as
administration and
government, with religion and law. The Collegium consisted of Collegce or sodales (fellows, as we should term them), with a president who was styled " Magister" the Collegium was recognized by the ;
which
State,
members were
confirmed
for the
regulations
government of
made by
evidence that
Roman
its
There
first
fabrorum
in
Britain in the reign of
Roman emperor
This chapter was written by
my
to
whom
the island
brother in England, with different
sources of information to the ItaUan ones used by myself.
reach
me
the
till
first
half of
my work
was complete, and
gratifying to find our different sources of study
conclusions.
I
is
Collegia were established in Britain
conquest by the Romans, and there was
certainly a Collegium
Claudius, the
the
their body, provided they
conformity with the laws of the land.
in
shortly after
^
the
have altered no
fact or
had led
argument in
139
It did it
not
was very
to almost identical
either.
(Leader Scott.)
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
I40
was
Under
subject.
the direction of the
Roman
college,
the Britons as builders reached a high degree of excellence
"so that when the cities of the empire of fortresses on the Rhine were destroyed, Constantius Chlorus, a.d. 298, sent to Britain for and employed British architects in repairing and re-edifying
in their craft,
Gaul and the
them"
{ArcheBologia, vol.
ix. p.
100).
Mr. Coote affirms that Collegia existed here after the final departure of the Romans from the island, and that the
Saxons found them here, and did not interfere with them. Now if Collegia fabrorum, which certainly existed in Britain throughout the Roman occupation, were still in existence during the Saxon occupation, it needs explanation why the earliest missionaries to the Saxons had to bring or to send abroad for workmen to build churches.
On
the
Continent the barbarians
who overran
Italy
dreaded the influence of the Collegia, and vigorously supprohibiting them everywhere under the hardest penalties under such circumstances we. can under-
pressed them,
;
stand that the societies in
Rome
could
scarcely escape
observation, and we shall be prepared to hear that the college of architects and builders in that city removed from thence and took refuge elsewhere. According to tradition they settled at or near Comum, where in mediaeval times, under the title of Comacine Masters, they gained fame as architects, and their services were in much request throughout the Continent and beyond it. Had the barbarians, however, treated the Roman colleges with the same indifference as the Saxons are reputed to have shown towards them in England, all guilds of artists and artisans must, for a time at least, have ceased to exist, or have removed from Rome, where there was no longer any
appreciation of It is
art,
true there
or is
demand
for their services.
no documentary evidence to prove
the continuous existence of the Collegia from
Roman
to
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
141
mediseval times, or to show that the Roman college, which removed to Comum, was identical with the Comacine Guild which emerged from the darkness which shrouds the of those early times ;—there is, however, such evidence as can be derived from the similarity of the institutions, in their aims and constitutions. In the latter history
even the title of Magister was retained, though the use of the term was no longer limited to the president of the body, every competent and fully instructed member of the society was admitted to the order of Magistri} possibly because these members formed the governing body and the president became a Grand Master. The members generally were called Libert muratori Freemasons because they were not subject to the sumptuary and other laws which regulated the work and pay of ordinary workmen.^ Comum, which possessed all the privileges of a Roman municipium, stood at the head of Lacus Larii the Lake of Como on the northern shores of which, from Como to the island of Comacina, P. Strabo and C. Scipio settled Greek colonies, which Julius Csesar added to and consolidated. The names of villages on these shores of the Comum lake are still some guide to its extent and limits. institution
—
—
—
—
was made the chief seat of the colony. After the fall of the Empire, this Romano-Greek colony seems to have withstood the attacks of the barbarians, and
"
independence for a long time. At the time of the invasion of Italy by the Longobards, the whole of the northern end of the lake was in the hands of the imperial
preserved
its
was not
until the year 586 that hands of the Longobard the island of Comacina King Autharis, though the lake and country northwards of the island seem to have still continued under imperial rule. The country around Comum, therefore, remained in com-
(Byzantine) party, and
it
fell
1
See chapter
i.,
Merzario,
into the
/ Maestri
Comacini.
^
Ibid.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
142
much
progress in art was not possible, become altogether degenerate. The Greek influence was evidently strong in the colony. Even the bishop in the latter end of the fifth century was
parative quiet, and there at least
it
if
did not
a Greek, for S. Abbondio,
who
died Bishop of
Comum
in
489, had previously held the bishopric of Thessalonica possibly other bishops of that diocese were of the
same
would be surprising if the Roman archiwhich took refuge there, had been altogether unaffected by it, particularly as the Romans derived their knowledge of architecture as well as of art from the Greeks, and Greek architecture was at all times treated by the great Roman architects with respect, as we learn from Vitruvius besides, with the fall of the Empire, all progress in Roman art had ceased, and Byzantium was the quarter to which men looked for instruction in Christian and secular art.^ It could only be that the work of a Roman society of architects in the midst of a Greek colony would show marked traces of Byzantine influence, and none the less because in all probability there were Byzantine societies nationality
:
it
tectural college,
;
of a similar kind beside
it.
Miiller says, after the fall of Rome, Constantinople was regarded as the centre of mechanical and artistic skill, and a knowledge of art radiated from it to distant countries.^
Let us turn our attention ^
now
to Britain.
The
Italian
Care must be taken not to confuse the signification of the word
To the ancient Roman, Greek archiwould mean the classic style of the Parthenon, etc. ; to the mediaeval Italian, Greek art and architecture meant simply Byzantine, an Greek, as used in two different eras.
tecture
(Leader Scott.) "According to Miiller {Archmologie derKunst) corporations of builders of Grecian birth were allowed to settle in foreign countries, and to exercise a judicial government among themselves according to the laws of the country to which they owed allegiance; the principle was recognized by entirely different thing. ^
all
the legal codes of Europe, from the
fall
of
Rome
to late in the thirteenth
Such associations of builders were introduced Europe during the reigns of Theodoric and Theodosius."
century.
into
southern
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE chroniclists relate that
the
monk Augustine
Pope Gregory
in a.d.
to convert the British,
143
598 sent over and with him
several of the fraternity of Libert muratori (Freemasons),
so that
the
converts might speedily be provided with
churches, oratories, and monasteries
;
also that Augustine,
despatched the priest Lorenzo and the monk back to Rome with a letter to Pope Gregory, begging him to send more architects and workmen, which he did.^ We shall presently see, that although Bede does not say in so many words that Augustine was accompanied by architects and builders, yet that is the only inference which can be drawn from his words, and from Pope 604,
in
Pietro
Gregory's instructions to Mellitus.
was a common practice in medieeval times for missionaries, whether bishops or monks, to have in their train builders and stone-cutters, and they themselves were often skilful architects. St. Hugh of Lincoln was not the only bishop who could plan a church, instruct the workmen, and It
handle a hod.^
Even female
saints appear to
have included
in
their
who were capable of building churches, though the followers of St. Modwen,* who, on landing in England from Ireland about a.d. 500, left her attendants to erect a church at Streneshalen, near the Arderne forest, while she went to visit the king, may have been only capable of building in wattle-work or in wood, "of retinue, persons
hewn oak covered with reed," Bede (iii. 25) describes Scots," as "a church of stone," that amongst the Britons
(iii.
4)
;
still
"after the
manner of the
the church of Lindisfarne material it
is
not being usual
one instance among
^ Prof. Merzario, in his Maestri Comacini, Vol. I. cap. ii. pp. 87, 88, gives as his reference for this Bede's EcclesiasHccB Historite gentis Anglorum
libri quinque,
ecc."
"Vita
S.
Benedicti Biscopi Abbatis Vuiremuthensis primi
(L. S.)
2
"Vita Sancti Hugonis Episcopi Lincolniensis."
3
" Vita S.
Moduenn»
virginis Hibernicse."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
144
many, of the prevalence of the custom whether priests, monks, or nuns, to take their missionary journeys
and
to
for missionaries, in their train
workmen experienced
employ them where necessary
on
in building,
to build churches for
their converts.
Professor Merzario states, on the authority of ancient
and builders sent were Liberi Now, the members of the Comacine Society muratori. were known and are described in ancient MSS. under that besides, what other guild would Gregory be likely to title were there invite to send members to join the mission ? indeed any other building guilds existing at the time,
MSS.,
that the architects
;
—
except the Byzantine societies. that
It is certainly
not probable
Gregory would have invited Greek
members with the Roman
etairia to send mission, to build churches " after
Roman manner," which is what the first builders in Saxon England did, and in preference to builders belonging to a society which was of Roman origin, and held all the the
traditions of the
Roman
school of architecture.
But without the record of the Italian chroniclists it would have been clear to any careful reader that architects accompanied Augustine, and other early as well as the late missionaries to England. The first evidence will be found in Bede (i. 26), where it is stated that after King Ethelbert had been converted to the faith, the missioners built churches and repaired old Romano- British churches in places
And
whither they came, for their converts to worship again
(i.
30),
Gregory
destroy the idol temples, but
and put Gregory
altars in
if
instructs
in.
Mellitus not to
well built to cleanse
them
them, and convert them into churches.
he decided on this course after mature which shows that Gregory knew that many of the old Roman temples were still in use, and that Mellitus had with him architects who were qualified to carry states that
deliberation
;
out the necessary repairs to them.
FiESOLE Cathedral.
Interior.
{To /ace page 145-
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
145
Again, in 601, Pope Gregory sent Paulinus and others to assist vessels,
Augustine ornaments
in his
work, and by them he sent sacred
for the
Now
church, and vestments.
experienced architects and builders to build churches for the converts were as necessary as the ornaments wherewith to furnish them,
and
it is
fair to
conclude that this essential
had not been overlooked, and that there were with those who brought the ornaments, men competent to erect the churches to place them in. Indeed it seems possible that Paulinus himself may have graduated in the Comacine school of architecture it is a curious fact that he is spoken of under the title of Magister} the title given to fullyinstructed members of that order, and we know that many monks were amongst the enrolled members of the Comacine ;
body.
The
strongest
evidence,
of
course,
evidence of his work as a builder little
of that remains
—though the
;
would
be
the
unfortunately very
little
we know about
it
was of that order, The Whalley or he had Comacine Masters with him. cross which is attributed to him is ornamented with that peculiar convoluted ornament which is found in early Comacine work and he was certainly a great builder of churches, of the precise type which the Comacines would Bede relates that he built in have built at that time. Lincoln a stone church of beautiful workmanship, in which is
consistent with the fact that either he
;
he consecrated Honorius, Bishop of Canterbury, place of Justus.
The
" beautiful workmanship
"
in
the
implies an
Bede who thus describes it was a competent witness, and in all probability he knew the church, which was in his time roofless. Again, King Edwin under the direction of Paulinus built a " large and noble church of stone" at York (ii. 14). At this time the Comaexperienced architect.
cine builders '
had not begun
Montalembert, / Monaci
to build in the style which dell'
Occidente, p. 152.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
146
was afterwards known as the Lombard or Romanesque style, and of which indeed they were the authors, and this church seems to have been an ItaHan Basilican church with an atrium at the west end as was customary in churches of the period little
;
atrium being built round the
this particular
wooden oratory which Edwin had put up when under
the instruction of the bishop, before his baptism, the oratory
being
in the
The
midst of the open court.
Basilican church of the period has been so often
described that
it
description of
it.
two
will not It
aisles separated
be necessary to give a detailed
generally consisted of a nave, with
from the nave by arcades
;
at
(sometimes at both) the building terminated in
one end an apse,
was raised this raised floor in later the nave and was protected by a railing.-' The altar was in the centre of the string of the arc of the apse, and round the arc were seats for the of which the floor
times projected
;
into
clergy, the bishop's throne being in the centre, in the place
which would be occupied
in a
Roman
heathen Basilica by
Beneath the raised floor of the in which the body or relics of the saint to whom the church was dedicated were deposited. Plans of several Saxon crypts still remaining in England will be found in Mr. Micklethwaite's valuable paper in the Archceological Journal, New Series, vol, iii. No. 4. At a little later period a further change was made on the floor of the nave from the chancel westward a space was divided off by a low screen, in each side of which was a bema or pulpit from which the Gospel and Epistle were read, and the services sung by the Canonical the presiding magistrate.
apse was the confessio or crypt,
;
;
A very complete screen of a little earlier date Augustine jjiay still be seen in the church of San Clemente, Rome the ancient church from which it
singers.^
than
St.
;
*
^
See Plate, Interior of Fiesole cathedral. Cone. Laodic.^
c.
15.
I
s
o
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE was removed
14;
underneath the present church westward of the church was the atrium, an open court surrounded by a colonnade the atrium seems to have been used in some British churches for the canons, who had cells round it. is
;
;
Cadoc early in the sixth century built a church in Lancarvan monastery, which monastery he rebuilt each St.
;
canons had a residence in atrio^ the residence being probably a cell with a door opening into the atrium, such as may still be observed in some old of the
thirty-six
monastic cloisters on the Continent.
There
is
evidence
of an atrium at the west end of Brixworth church, and
construction
the
of
the
basements
of
the
towers
at
Mary, Deerhurst, at Monkswearmouth, and Barton-onH umber, seems to show that there was a similar construction at the west end of those churches. The church of S. Ambrogio, Milan, possesses an atrium built by the Comacines, but it is of much later date, and would therefore afford a general idea of an early Saxon St.
church atrium only
in plan.
Though we have
little
ornament of the early Saxon
mainly limited to the ornament-
and that on early Christian crosses and fonts, it is clearly of the The convoluted ornasame character as Comacine work. ment on Paulinus' cross at Whalley has been noticed similar work may be seen on the Kirkdale cross, Bewcastle and Ruthwell crosses, Crowle and Yarm crosses, and others On the Bewcastle and Ruthwell in England and Ireland. crosses there are stiff flower convolutions with birds and Collingham cross has interlacing beasts on the branches.
period,
little
is
ation
;
monsters, and on others are panels sculptured in repreSome of sentation of Scripture subjects and characters. these crosses are decorated with another and very mark-
worthy ornament, consisting of bands of interlaced work. These bands are sometimes of a single strand, but more 1
Passio S. Cadoci.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
148
frequently of three strands.
An
interlaced
ornament of
kind was found on the Corinthian base of a column
church of S. Prassede
in
On
Rome.
comparing these
this
in the
inter-
laced patterns and convolutions with the carving on the
ambo
in the Basilica of S. Ambrogio, Milan, which is Comacine work, it will be seen how nearly they correspond whilst the ornaments and sculptured figures in the fagade and round the portals of the doors of S. Michele, Pavia, an early Lombard church of the eighth century, show treatment similar to Saxon work. It appears to me
possible
that
fagade
this
has
been
rebuilt
about the twelfth century, but there can be
presumably little
doubt
that the carvings as well as a considerable portion of the
church
itself
All the
are of the earlier date.^ crosses above-mentioned
bear Runic inscrip-
upon them, but on examination it will be seen that by another hand, and of ruder workmanship than the carving of the crosses. Sometimes they are little more than scratches, and in one, namely, the Yarm cross, a panel was evidently left by the carver for the inscription, which was afterwards cut upon it, but being too small, the last two lines had to be compressed to be got into the space. In the Kirkdale and Lancaster crosses, the runes are certainly inferior in workmanship, and they seem to have been an afterthought. The borders on which they are cut do not appear as if they were originally intended to bear them. tions
these inscriptions are generally
The by the
date of the fragment of the inscription,
if
it
Yarm
cross
is
fixed
has been correctly read, being
dedicated to Bishop Trumberht, Bishop of
Hexham, who
lived towards the close of the seventh century.
The ornament on Saxon would require ^
See Chapter
illustrations II.,
"
fonts,
not being so well known,
beyond the scope of
The Comacines under
proves Mr. Barnes' conjectures to be true.
this article,
the Longobards," which
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE upon them
remarks may, however, be in early Italian and in Toller Fratrum to render
One
intelligible.
149
instance
given of the similarity of ornament
Saxon
carving.
Both the Saxon font
church, Dorset, and the well-head (of
the eighth century) at the office of the Ministry of Agriculture,
Rome, are decorated with
Interlacing bands in
precisely similar patterns.
three strands, bordered by a cable
moulding, encircle the top of each.
MSS.
be found in Saxon
Museum
British
Similar ornament will
of the eighth century in the
Library, as in Evangelia Sacra Nero,
d. 4.
Besides the ornament on the ancient crosses and fonts, which clearly belongs to the Saxon period, there are in our churches fragments of ornament which in all probability are of that era.
The
angel carved in stone, built into the north wall
of Steepleton church, near Dorchester, part of the
tympanum
may have formed Saxon church. bent upward from
of the doorway of the
Floating angels with their robes and legs
the knee, precisely similar in treatment to the Steepleton angel,
may be seen
British
my
Museum.
I
Saxon MSS. in the have examined them, but have mislaid
in illuminations in
references to the press-marks.
of the Bargello at Florence
is
And
in
the
Museum
a small antique carving of
Christ in Glory (a vesica piscis enclosing the whole figure), and angels of this form and attitude surrounding it with curiously
drawn symbols of the
four
evangelists.
The
angels in the east wall of Bradford-on-Avon church are of
a similar character.
This seems to be an instance of Byzantine ornament The convoluted and the Italian builders. basket-work ornament may also have been derived from adopted by the
same
source.
and intrecciatura on Barnack church tower are rude imitations of Comacine work. Wherever the Comacines established themselves they
The
stiff
foliage
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
ISO
founded lodges
to each lodge a schola
;
and a laboreriunt
were attached, where the members received instruction and training in the several branches of their craft. The Comacines who settled with Augustine in the royal city of Canterbury, must have established according to their custom a lodge and a schola in that city, for there Wilfrid some seventy years later sent for architects and builders {ccementarii) to renew the Cathedral Church of York which had been built by Paulinus, but possibly through increase of population was now inadequate. The plan of the ancient church has been traced it was Basilican in form, with aisles and an apse.^ ;
Wilfrid, Bishop of still
who was
a Saxon thane
and Jarrow. the
York
a young man, sent to
for forty-three years, was, while
Rome
as a
afterwards
Abbot
of
to Biscop,
Wearmouth
There, says Bede, he spent some months in
study of ecclesiastical matters.
he remained
companion
in
Gaul
for three years.
On his way home When he returned
to Britain at the expiration of that time.
him land and the monastery
of
King Alfred gave
Ripon where he
built
a
spacious church, which excited universal astonishment and admiration though not so large as the church he afterwards built at Hexham, it was a noble building. The ;
apse with
its
altar
was
at the
west end, and underneath its passages still exists.
the apse was a confessio, which with
The round-headed
arches within the church were supby lofty columns of polished stone. But beautiful as this church was, that at Hexham exceeded it. Eddius Stephanus, precentor of York, the biographer of Wilfrid, and Richard of Hexham, give por^ted
(lib. v. 1488) describes the appointments of the Saxon church which were on a scale of great magnificence. There were two altars covered with plates of gold and silver, and a profusion of gems the tapestries were of the richest, and the walls of the sanctuary were adorned 1
Alcuin
at York,
;
with foreign paintings.
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
151
enthusiastic descriptions of
it which accord exactly with what we know the Comacine church of the period to have
been.^
From them we learn
that St. Andrews, Hexham, built by was a Basilican church, and in one respect at least it was similar to Ripon the apse was at the west end, and beneath it was a crypt with passages around it the crypt Wilfrid,
;
;
with
passages
its
is still
to be seen.
The
proportions of the
church were however nobler and the details richer. The walls were covered with square stones of divers colours and polished
the columns were also of polished stone
;
capitals of the columns, arches, 1
;
the
and vault of apse, and space
Description of the church built in the monastery of Hexham by Saint 674—680. See the Appendix to the " Life of St. Wilfrid " in
Wilfrid,
Montalembert's fine work on The Saints of the West. " Igitur profunditatem ipsius ecclesiae criptis et oratoriis subterraneis viarum anfractibus inferius cum magna industria fundavit.
et
" Parietes autem quadratis et bene politis colurapnis suffultos et tribus
immensae longitudinis et altitudinis erexit. Ipsos etiam columpnarum quibus sustentantur et arcum sanctuarii, historiis
tabulatis distiijctos et capitella
et ymaginibus et variis coelaturarum figuris ex lapide prominentibus et picturarum et colorum grata varietate mirabilique decore decoravit. Ipsum quoque corpus ecclesiae appentitiis et porticibus nardique circumdixit quae,
miro atque
inexplicibili artificio, per parietes et cocleas inferius et superius
In
distinxit.
ipsis
vero cocleis, et super ipsas, ascensoria ex lapide, et
modo sursum, modo deorsum, innumera hominum multitudo ibi ipsum corpus ecclesiae circumdare possit, cum a nemine tamen
deambulatoria, et varies viarum anfractus, artificiosissime ita
existere et infra in
machinari
fecit,
ut
eo existentium videri queat.
et inferius,
Oratoriaque
quam
plurima, superius
secretissima e pulcherrima, in ipsis porticibis cautela constituit, in quibus
diligentia
et
genitricis
semperque Virginis Mariae,
et
altaria
Sancti
in
cum maxima
honore Beatae Dei
Michaelis
Archangeli,
sanctique Johannis Baptistae et sanctorum Apostolorum, Martyrum, Confessorum, atque Virginum, fecit.
Unde
cula, supererainent.
tudinis
muro
cum eorum
apparatibus, honestissime praeparari
quaedam illorum ut turjes et propugnaAtrium quoque templi magnae spissitudinis et forti-
etiam, usque hodie,
circumvallavit.
Praeter
quem
in alveo lapideo aquaeductus,
—
ad usus officinorum, per mediam villam decurrebat." Richardi, Prions Historia Hagulstadensis Ecclesiae., c. iii., Ap. Twysden, Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores
decern., et
Raine's Priory of Hexham,
p. 2.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
IS2
over the apse-arch were decorated with sculptures and histories (i. e. with paintings representing sacred scenes) all very splendid and very beautiful, according to Eddius. regards the sculptures, the examples we have of Saxon sculptures show them to have been generally vigorwriter in Archceologia, vol. viii. ous, and often grotesque.
As
A
Hexham
there were at and grotesque The capitals of columns in Saxon as well as in carvings. later times not infrequently bore grotesque ornament for decoration, and it was commonly used for other purposes not even coffins were exempt from decorations of this nature. Reginaldus de Coldingham (de virtutibus S. Cuthberti) describes the double coffin of St. Cuthbert, the inner one being of black oak elaborately carved, the subject of one of p.
174, states that in the vaults of
the time he wrote
many Roman
inscriptions
;
the carvings being a
new
monk
turned into a fox for stealing
cheese.
As
regards their paintings, the Comacines were rather
given to colour
—
it
was
Autharis, that the
one of
in
of S. Maria del Tiglio, built
their
churches,
that
by Theodolinda, wife of King
Emperor Lothaire beheld a
brilliantly
painted picture which adorned the vault of the apse and
represented " Jesus,"
The
The
three kings presenting gifts to the Child
picture
moved
the king to undertake the
restoration of the church.
The Comacines also used frescoes in Theodolinda's Monza in the fifth and sixth centuries. From the foregoing description of Hexham church by
palace at
Eddius Stephanus,
would appear that there were galleries over the aisles to which access was gained by spiral stairways in the wall. Similar galleries and spiral stairway it
still exist in the church of S. Agnese in Rome. In this church between the nave and the aisles there is a double arcade of open arches one above the other the higher arcade on each side forms the front of the galleries above ;
—
Tower of
S.
Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.
\To face page
153.
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE these
is
also a
a clerestory.
The church
153
of S. Lorenzo at Verona,
Comacine church, contains a
spiral stairway in the
women's So far I have
wall which led to the different divisions in the
gallery for the widows, matrons,
and
girls.
not heard of any ancient spiral stairways as
still
existing in
any other than in these Comacine churches.^ These galleries and arcades may be regarded as the original of the triforium.
Eddius
relates
that
there were
bell-towers
also
at
Hexham of surprising height, and this suggests reflections. Hexham was built about a.d. 674, early in the Saxon period, and these tall towers were built wholly at that time. What were they like ? The early Comacine towers were built in several stages
;
the lowest generally had either no windows
slits; the next stage above had single-light windows, plain round-headed and straight-sided, as if cut out of the wall in the stages above the windows were of two or three
or
by colonnettes, the larger number of lights being in the windows of the upper stages in each stage there were commonly four windows, one opening to each
lights divided
;
Wolstan's description of the tower of Winchester answers very nearly to this. He says it conin each were four windows looking sisted of five storeys quarter of the compass.
;
towards the four cardinal points, which were illuminated
every night. of early Latin towers, the round towers ApoUinare nuovo, and S. Apollinare in Classe,
As examples of
S.
Ravenna, and perhaps the square tower of S. Giovanni Take any one of them, Evangelista, may be given. Cut off the that of S. Apollinare nuovo, for instance. eyes, and the above hand the holding upper stages by regard only the lower stages with the single-light windows,
and you have a structure which might be Roman. *
See Chap. V., "Comacines under Charlemagne."
It
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
154
looks very
much
older than the complete tower; and
it is
same with well-known Saxon towers in England, so that some persons have been misled into thinking that the lowest stages with straight-cut single-light windows are much older than the upper portion with double or treble-light windows the
—which does not for they
from that fact, and they have argued and England are older
at all follow, at least not
might be of the same date
;
—
that these lower stages both in Italy
than the upper ones, notwithstanding the improbability that the old builders would place a heavy tower on walls originally
intended to carry only a light roof
The Saxon towers have clearly a Latin or Comacine origin. The walls are usually of stone grouted in the old Roman manner and when Lombard windows, of two or ;
more
lights,
with a column dividing them, are used, they
upper and not in the lower stages. Unfortunately we have no towers of the earliest Saxon period still standing but the resemblance between the later Saxon and the early Italian towers is apparent. The same may be said of the later Comacine towers, S. Satyrus, Milan, for instance {see plate), which Cattaneo assigns to are, as a rule,
in the
;
the ninth century, and regards as the prototype of
towers
;
take
away the
little
Lombard
pensile arch ornament, which
was characteristic of the Comacine style known as Lombard, and you have a tower which might be Saxon. Whilst Wilfrid was engaged in building Hexham, his friend and companion in travel, Biscop, was building the monastery and monastic church of Wearmouth. Biscop was a Saxon thane of Northumberland he became a monk ;
of the monastery of S. Lerino, and, according to
Henry of
Huntingdon, on his return from Rome, King Egfrid gave him sixty hides of land, on which he built the monastery of Wearmouth. Eight years later, the king granted him more land at J arrow, upon which he built a monastery and church. The former was dedicated to St. Peter, the latter to St. Paul.
Tower of
S.
Satyrus, Milan.
\To face page
154.
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE On
155
obtaining possession of the lands at Wearmouth,
Biscop, according to
Bede/
set out for Gaul, to find builders
to build the monastic church,
"juxta
Romanorum
quern
semper amabat morem." It might be asked, If there was at Canterbury a Comacine school of architecture whose special function it was to build on the Roman model, why did not Bishop Benedict send there for architects and masons ? The simple answer is, that Wilfrid had already engaged them for his work at Hexham. Wilfrid was building both a church and monastery there, and evidently had employment for every hand he could obtain.
The
building of
was not till engage workmen
Hexham was commenced
that date that Biscop
it
for
Wearmouth, so
who
was
in
in 674,
and
a position to
that Wilfrid
was
just
consequence had to look elsewhere for his architects, and he set out for Gaul to beforehand with Biscop,
engage them
Now
there.
does not at
it
in
all
follow
that because
Biscop
brought his masons from Gaul, therefore they were not It was as easy to find Comacines in Gaul Comacines. find them settled there at a later as in England.
We
There when they were called artefici Franchi. nothing to show definitely, but there is presumptive
date, is
evidence of a settlement of a guild in Gaul at this time, and it was probably some of the French Comacines that Biscop employed, for Biscop insisted on a church built after
manner, a Basilica; he would have nothing and no builders could build a Basilica better than the
Roman
the else,
successors to the It
»
2
Roman
college of architecture.
°
seems further probable that these Galilean architects
Sermo There
beati Bedae in natale sancti Benedicti Abbatis. is
a
much
easier explanation than this.
Lombardy was
at that
The Comacines appear to have gone time part of Gaul— Cisalpine Gaul. (Leader Scott.) V. Chap. ; see Charlemagne with France to
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
156
were Comacines, from the fact that they followed the practice of the Comacines in establishing a schola at Wearmouth, possibly amongst the monks, for Naitan, King of the Picts, sent to Cedfrid, who succeeded Benedict as abbot, and begged him to send architects to him to build a church in his nation "after the Roman manner," and the abbot complied with his request. Mr. Micklethwaite states that " the doorway under the tower of the church at Monkswearmouth in Durham was doubtless a part of the church which Benedict Biscop erected there in the seventh century in imitation of the Basilicas in
Rome.
The twined serpents with birds' beaks are, as we know from MSS. of that
on the right doorpost age,
of the style."
singularly characteristic
similar design
^
There
on the architrave of an ancient door
in
is
a
San
Clemente, Rome.
The
decoration of the church seems to have been in the
Even glasswho might have been Comacines, were brought from France to make glass for glazing the windows of the
highest style of ecclesiastical art of the age.
makers,
before in
—
monks no glass had ever Saxon times been used in England for windows
church and of the
cells of
the
and even paintings were brought from abroad for the decoration of the walls. Bede, in his sermon on the anniversary of the death of Benedict, states that he imported paintings of holy histories, which should serve not only for the beautification of the church, but for the instruction of
those
who looked upon them
;
vases, vestments,
and other
^ Dr. Raine of Durham believed, on the authority of the Chronicles of Symeon of Durham, that the churches of Monkswearmouth and Jarrow were rebuilt by the monks of Durham after 1075, and that the church of Wearmouth could not have been built on the same site, because in the account of the House at Wearmouth, 1360, the old church is mentioned
incidentally as used for a barn or storehouse (Parker's Introduction)
;
but
by no means improbable that the old doorway was retained and removed to the new church.
allowing that to be the case,
it
is
t5
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE
15;
things necessary for the service of the church, were also
brought from Gaul, and those things which could not be obtained there, were brought "from the country of the
Romans."
The church was pronounced by monkish
writers to be two centuries the grandest and most beautiful church on this side of the Alps even Roman architects admitted that they who saw Hexham church might imagine themfor
;
selves amidst
There
Roman
surroundings.'
one point
is
In
not touched.
in
much
connection with Saxon architecture
of the Saxon building
now
standing
there are projecting ribs of stone in the masonry which are
commonly known under masonry work. front of
in
which
the
occurs
it
name is
The strips seem to be Lombard churches ;
ornamental
similar to the pilasters in the in
more
the latter they are
and are often
in detail,
The
of pilaster strips.
perhaps always late Saxon
in
the form of shafts
occasionally decorated.^
The to
external arcading, as in Bradford-on-Avon, seems
be a modification of
late
Roman work,
followed in various
Norman
forms in Comacine, Lombard, Saxon, and In
its
original form
may be
it
seen on the exterior of
Basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe,
the
external
arcadings
in
the
work.
Ravenna, where
masonry of the walls
noticed both in the walls of the aisles and in
will
be
the walls
of the nave above the aisles, the arcading being carried
on
pilasters built into,
and forming part
of,
the walls
;
the
pilasters with the arcading serving to give rigidity to the 1 " Ibi oediflcia minaci altitudini murorum erecta multi proprio, sed et coementariorum quos ex Roma veriunt allequant ut qui Hagulstadensem fabricam vident, ambitionem romanam se imaginari jurent." Malmesbury,
Dt
Gest. Pontiff. 2
This
is
I. iii.,
f.
155.
a decidedly Comacine form of building.
apses of Italian churches have these perpendicular shafts.
Grado they show (Leader Scott.)
signs of having
been
All the earliest
At
S.
Piero in
originally covered with
marble.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
iS8 walls,
enabling them to resist the outward thrust of the roof
This
as buttresses were intended to do in later times.
church was built about a.d. 300. In Comacine or early
Lombard churches
there was an
arcading on steps in the gable of the west front, the steps giving access to the roof on the outside.
In later
Lombard
churches this arcading became simply an ornamental detail To this type belongs the arcading on to the front.
Brad ford-on- A von church.
In
Norman
churches
it
de-
generated into a corbel table, in which the shafting was omitted,
the
heads of
the
arches
being supported
on
corbels.
The
Byzantine character of some of the ornaments
in
Comacine and Saxon work is accounted for by the fact Comacine order found refuge in a Romano-Greek colony in which the Greek influence was strong, and in all probability there were Byzantine guilds working alongside of it. That there is a trace of Oriental form in it is not surprising, when it is remembered how much communication there was between all parts of the Christian world notwithstanding the difficulties of travelling. Teliau, David, and that the
Paternus journeyed to Jerusalem. they were placed in three ancient
On
arriving at the
stalls in
Temple
the Temple, and
expounding the Scriptures were elected by the people and consecrated bishops ( Vita S. Teliaui Episcopi). Columbanus, an Irish saint, established a monastery amidst the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Bobbio in Italy. St. Cumean, born in 592, obtained possession of a deserted after
church in the same
city, restored it and served it. According to the chronicles of Fontenelle, bishops and clergy, abbots and monks came from all parts, even from Greece and Armenia, to visit Richard Duke of Normandy,
brother-in-law of our
church-builder
ornaments
in
;
the
Saxon King Ethelred and a great character of some of the
Oriental
Oxford cathedral, which Ethelred
rebuilt, j
THE ORIGIN OF SAXON ARCHITECTURE attributed to
the influence of Richard and
visitors, for
Ethelred took refuge in
to avoid the
Danes.
Some Saxons and
left
England
at
the
Oriental
his
Normandy
159
for
a time
Norman Conquest
settled Constantinople, where they built a church themselves and other members of the Saxon colony in
for
there. St.
Germanus when he
then the royal
left
Britain
went
to
Ravenna,
city.
Asser relates that Alfred received embassies daily from Tyrrhenian Sea to the farthest limits of Spain, and that he had seen letters and presents which had been sent to the king by Abel, Patriarch of foreign parts, from the
Jerusalem.
Many may
British
monks, some of whose
and legends
lives
MSS., travelled to the south and east, and all over the known world, and being skilled in architecture, might readily have made copies of ornaments which took their fancy when travelling in Eastern countries, and introduced them on their return. still
be found
in early
Let us restate the argument briefly 1. When Italy was overrun by the barbarians, Collegia were everywhere suppressed. 2.
The
removed 3.
architectural college of
essentially
said to
have
Europe was the Society of Comacine in its constitution, methods, and work was Roman, and seems to have been the survival of
Roman 4.
is
Comum.
In early mediaeval times, one of the most important
Masonic guilds Masters, which this
Rome
from that city to the republic of
Roman
in
college.
Italian chroniclists assert that architects
and masons Italian and
accompanied Augustine to England, and later continental writers of repute adopt that view. 5. Whether this is proved or not, it was customary
for
missionaries to take in their train persons experienced in
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i6o
Augustine did not do so, his practice was an exception to what seems to have been a general rule. Besides, a band of forty monks would have been useless building,
to
and
if
him unless some of them could follow a
useful to the mission, for they
secular calling
were unacquainted with the
and could not act independently. Masonic monks were not uncommon, and there were such monks associated with the Comacine body so that qualified architects were easily found in the ranks of the British language, 6.
;
religious orders.
From
7.
Bede's account of the settlement of Augustine's
mission in Britain,
it
seems
clear that
he must have brought
Masonic architects with him. 8. Gregory would be likely to choose architects for the mission from the Comacine Order, which held the old Roman traditions
and the record of
guild,
he
of building, rather than those of a Byzantine their
work
in
Britain proves that
did;
In Saxon as in the earlier Comacine carvings, there
9.
are frequent representations of fabulous monsters, symbolical birds and beasts, the subjects of some of these carvings being suggested, apparently, by the " Physiologus," which
had a Latin 10.
origin.
In the writings of the Venerable Bede, and Richard,
Prior of Hagustald,
we meet
with phrases and words which
Edict of King Rotharis of 643, and in the Memoratorio of 713 of King Luitprand, which show that are in the
these writers were familiar with certain terms of art used
by the Comacine Masters.^ *
Merzario,
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
ii.
pp. 87
— 89.
CHAPTER
IV
THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND
The
saints or early missionaries
connected with the
were
first
seem
to be as closely
church-building in Ireland as they
Gaul, Normandy, and
England only by some became christianized and built her churches some centuries earlier than England and Normandy. It is my conviction that in casting off the legends connected with saints, we have also cast off much real history belonging to the early missions. Now, the preceding chapter shows that it is precisely to these first in
curious
;
Ireland
circumstance,
we are indebted for the imported archipre- Norman date in England, and presumably
missionaries that tecture of the
also in Ireland.
This architecture has been an enigma and
a stumbling-block to archseologists for ages
;
because while
rejecting everything connected with the saints as legend,
they also reject the only reasonable hypothesis of the genesis of these
first
stone buildings, which sprang up in a
country as yet only accustomed to build in
The Round Towers a greater
Hexham
puzzle
to
or Lindisfarne
all
The
probability.
or earth.
of Ireland, for instance, have formed
than the
antiquaries
—partly
theories in regard to
They have been
O'Brien to the Tuatha De supposed to have built them
churches of
because of their antiquity,
and partly from their unlikeness to any the time.
wood
local buildings of
them are wild beyond
attributed
:
(i)
By Henry
Danaan, a Persian colony which
is
161
for phallic worship.
(2)
M
By
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i62
Vellaney to the Phoenicians, the buildings being afterwards
used by the Druids as fire-towers. (3) By Dr. Lynch, Peter Walsh, Molyneux, etc., to the Danes, as wartowers, Petrie, with clearer arguments, claims
them
as Christian.
In his Prize Essay on the origin and uses of the
Towers
(a.d.
Round
1820) he proves that no buildings except
known
have cement in pre-Christian Ireland. For the Pagans and Druids have left us the great fortresses of Dun ^ngus, and Dun Connor on Aran Mor, and the great sepulchres of Dowth and New Grange, all built without cement and of unhewn stones. Now the Round Towers are of hewn stones closely fitted and
these towers were
cemented,
till
to
they are solid as a rock, standing firm as ever,
They
after their fifteen centuries of existence.
Ireland by the generic
name of "
are called in
cloic-theack," or bell-house,
and are invariably found close to the ruins of a monastery or a church. In some cases, like the one at Clonmacnoise, the church has entirely disappeared, leaving only the graveyard to mark its site, and in the graveyard a veritable Comacine cross It cannot be proved that the towers belong to an earlier age than the churches attached, for we have a witness in the ruins themselves. The masonry of the tower and the remaining walls of the church at Kilmacduagh is identical, as are the later tower and church-porch at Roscrea— 2. e. I
good, solid opus gallicum.
Miss Stokes and the Rev. John Healy uphold the theory^ of their being towers of refuge in warlike times.
They may
well have been used as such,
on account of their strength, and also their proximity to the churches, which were always, in the Middle Ages, inviolable cities of refuge. This, however, does not affect our question as to into Ireland, 1
and whence came
See Article on the
Round Towers
how
the towers
their builders.
in St. Peter' s
Magazine
came
In the
first
May
1898.
for
THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND
163
where can similar towers be found dating from times contemporary ? The answer is decided in Italy. In Ravenna and Lombardy, from the date a.d. 300 to the fifth and sixth centuries and they show just that Eastern touch
place,
:
;
which distinguishes the Byzantine- Roman architecture at Ravenna, and has caused authors to seek the origin of the
Round Towers further east than The next question that arises
Italy. is
What was the point of ? As in England and
:
contact between Ireland and Italy
Normandy we shall, I believe, find it in the first missions. The first Irish missionary was doubtless St. Patrick, a.d. 373 464, who has been taken as the sign and symbol of
—
was not an Irishman by birth. His father was a Christian named Calphurnius, his mother was niece to St. Martin of Tours he was consequently of continental origin. His birthplace was Nempthur near Dumbarton, and while yet a boy he was carried a prisoner to Ireland, and the heathendom there appealed so strongly to his feelings, that after his release he was haunted by visions foretelling his future mission to convert Ireland. Pope Celestin I. gave him his mission in about a.d. 430, and he settled in Armagh, where he laboured more than thirty years convertHe founded ing and baptizing both kings and people. Probably the first worship was schools and built churches. conducted in the open air, where a cross was set up, as by The cross was of the Byzantine the English missionaries. form used at that time in Italy but on its adoption by the northern saint-missionaries it became known in Britain as Celticism. .Yet he
;
;
the
Irish
Forum
at
cross.
Rome,
The is
ancient
Italian
of identical
date.
St, Patrick's influence
of his
followers
style,
one,
once
though of
remained and spread.
in the ministry
Rome which he had made, and
made
the
in
earlier
Many
the pilgrimage to
so great was the fame of
sanctity of these Irish preaching brethren, that they
reverenced in Italy even more than
were
in their native land.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
r64 S.
Fredianus became Bishop of Lucca, and Columban
was Abbot of Bobbio.
It is to
these later missionaries rather
than to St. Patrick himself that
we must
look, as having
introduced Italian or Comacine architecture into Ireland.
That they were addicted
to church-building
is
evident from
at once setting to work wherever they went Fredianus building a church and monastery at Lucca Columban doing the same at Bobbio.
their
And what
employ
architects did they
;
;
S. St.
Surely some
?
members of the Comacine Guild, or their monk colleagues. They had seen them at the court of the Longobardic kings where they tarried and were entertained during their journey to Rome. And seeing the beautiful churches and towers in Italy, all made by the magic hands of this guild, is
it
not most likely that the Pope,
who
patronized the
guild as one of the most practical instruments in christianization,
should have counselled them to take back some
There is, I presume, Magistri with them to Ireland no documentary proof of this, but there are more imperishable witnesses in the works themselves. The only .-•
difference
between the Round
Towers of Ireland and
centuries after Christ
the
those of Italy in the
first five
conical roof, which
due entirely to exigencies of climate.
is
is
The hewing of the square stones, the close-fitting masonry, the Roman cement, the simple arches of the windows with their solidly cut supports, are all
the time It is
when
S. Fredianus
pure Lombard- Roman of
and Columban were
true that with this similarity there
clumsiness of workmanship
in
the
Irish
in Italy,
also a certain
is
towers,
which
suggests that either the Italian architects imported by the Irish missionaries
were the
less skilful
men
of the guild,
what is more probable, they were few, and had to train native and unskilled workmen to assist them but the style they aimed at, and the forms they used, are the early Italian or,
;
ones of from
a.d.
300
to 500.
THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND In Cormac's chapel at the
Rock of Cashel we get
165
the
square tower such as later Comacines used from the sixth to the tenth centuries, with the double-arched window of the period
;
and the church beside
it
are the string courses supported
the projecting apse, and
has the same signs. Here by the row of little arches,
the double-light windows, with
only that same northern desideratum
Cormac was an
sloping roof.
was
killed in
Look presume
907
—the high
gable and
early Bishop of Cashel,
who
a.d.
at the shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick,
dates from about the eighth century,
which i. e.
I
the
time of Fredianus, and you will see a fine collection of
Comacine for
intrecci or
the crosses
interlaced
of Ireland, one
work
may
in sculpture.
trace in
As
them the
development of Comacine work, from the early Christian Roman style to the mediaeval Lombard. The beautifully illustrated article in the Studio for Aug. 15, 1898, by J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A., shows the whole line. In the earliest form of Irish cross, i. e. that where the cross and Christian symbols are merely cut into the face of a slab of stone, such as in the cross at Reask, Co. Kerry,
we
see
precisely the primitive style of art shown in the Catacombs. The " Gurmarc " stones have their prototype in the earliest
Longobardic carving, such as the pluteus of Theodolinda's The smaller of the three inscribed first church at Monza. advanced Comacine intreccio enmore circles has an even closed within the circle, while the cross of Honelt at Llantwit Major (Fig. 5) has a splendid Comacine knot such as
one sees on every Longobardic church, placed beneath a very Byzantine geometrical design in which circles, crosses,
and three-fold knots are marvellously intermingled. These are all stones merely incised, and foreshadow the triangles,
predilection of the Irish converts for the symbolism of the time,
the cross
eternity.
The
of Christ within the unending circle of
next development shown by Mr. Romilly
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i66
Allen
is
the upright cross slab at St.
where the cross and the merely
Madoes
and not
circle enclosing the
Here, instead of the
incised.
in Perthshire,
circle are in distinct relief
Greek cross, it has become subordinate, and is placed behind In fact a complete Irish cross in the arms of a Latin cross. But how is it adorned ? with splendid Comacine relief.
—
and
intrecci,
the symbolism so familiar to us in early
all
Here
and the dove Apocalypse below, above, with the four mystic beasts of the two on each side of the stem of the cross and the workmanship and designs are literally identical with those of the sculptures on the fagades of the first church of S. Michele Italian art.
are the
coiled serpent
;
and
at Pavia,
Spoleto,
was
all
Zeno
S.
at
Verona, and that of S. Pietro at
of the fifth and sixth centuries.
rebuilt in 1329,
but the ancient
around the doorway were preserved.) By the ninth and tenth centuries the reached
development.
its full
It
(Spoleto church
Lombard
sculptures
had was no longer a sign on Irish
cross
a slab, but a beautiful upright sculptured cross, with a circle
crowning
human
it
like a halo,
and suggesting the eternity of the
cross of our Saviour.
And
here again the art
There was a cross King Flami at
precisely that of the Italian sculptors.
of earlier date than either
is
the cross of
Clonmacnoise, King's County, a.d. 904, or the cross of Mucreadach at Monasterboice, Co. Louth, a.d. 924, in the
Roman Forum,
of which the shape
to both of them.
Kells has, too,
all
The
and ornaments are similar
Columban at the marks of the Comacine work in the cross of SS. Patrick and
eighthand ninth centuries, as one sees at
it
in the oldest
Como and Verona, at Toscanella and
things being considered,
I
Spoleto.
churches All these
think Irish archseologists would
work up the undoubted connection of the early Irish missionaries with Italy, and the influence their travels there had, not only on the religion, but the art of Ireland. They might discover whether St. Columban, when King do well
to
Door of the Church of
S.
Zeno at Vei;ona.
a.d. 1139.
{See page 166.
THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND
167
Agilulf sheltered him at Pavia, took from the artists then
work at the wondrous front of S. Michele, any ideas which he caused to be reproduced in the crosses placed by him to sanctify the open-air worship of his Irish conor whether he took a few monkish Magistri skilled verts in sculpture from his monastery at Bobbio to carve those very crosses, and to build the first stone churches, that now lie in ruins at the feet of the rugged old towers. at
;
BOOK
III
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTS
CHAPTER
I
TRANSITION PERIOD
THE LODGES OF BERGAMO AND CREMONA I.
172
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS THE ANTELAMI SCHOOL.—PARMA
I.
TRANSITION PERIOD
173
Some make everything begin from Niccolo Pisano, as though he suddenly sprang ancestorless out of the darkness, a full-fledged artist. Some date the rise of art from the Byzantines in Aquileja and Venice others again from the union of the Normans with the Saracens in ;
Sicily.
First, as to Pisa.
There are no records or signs of a
school of art indigenous to Pisa, before the building of the
Duomo
Both Morrona^ and Ridolfi, the historians of the respective cities, have well searched the archives in both Pisa and Lucca, but can find no single reference to any native artist before the Duomo of Pisa was begun, or even of any Pisan who worked at that building as early as All the first architects seem to have the eleventh century. been imported. Morrona asserts that when the cathedral was begun " the most famous Masters (mark the word) there.
from foreign {stranieri) their
work
parts,
to the building."
assembled together to give The word stranieri is used
meaning foreigners, but on his part, affirms Italians from other provinces. that at the beginning, the Maestri di Como were the only ones employed in building the chief churches at Lucca adding that " Many of the works show certain symbols, monsters and foliage, which were always a special characteristic of the Comacines, and a sign of the Freemasonry ^ founded and propagated by them." From this it may be deduced that during the eleventh and twelfth centuries no indigenous Pisan school existed, and that the mediaeval buildings were oi the Lombard type.
by
all
old
Italians not only as
Ridolfi,
—
Certainly the old church of S. Pietro a Grado, three miles
out of Pisa on the Leghorn road, which we have described, is a standing witness to the presence of the Comacines before this era.
It still exists,
1
Pisa illustrata
2
Professor Ridolfi,
nelle
the most perfect specimen
Arti del Disegno.
LArte
in Lucca, p. 74, et seq.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
174
extant of a
Lombard
not an archlet
As
is
tri-apsidal
church.
Not a
shaft,
wanting.
and Venice, Selvatico's ^ theory is that the Friuli people, and those of Aquileja, being driven out in 450 by Attila, fled to Grado (another Grado near Venice), thence spread to Torcello and Murano, and then founded That they built the cathedrals on those islands, Venice. and founded the Veneto-Oriental school. Did this native to Aquileja
school ever exist
?
asks Merzario, seeing that the church
by artefici Franchi, which might mean Freemasons, or French builders, i. e. the Comacines under Charlemagne and that those of Santa Fosca and Murano were, judging by their style, of the same origin ? The church of Torcello was rebuilt in the eleventh century by the Bishop Orso Orseolo, and if it comes into the question at all, would prove that the Lombard school had something to do with it then. In spite of these two of Grado
was
built
;
opposing opinions,
it
is
certain that architecture
took a
distinctive form in Venice but it was a later development which occurred after the twelfth century, and with which the Greeks and Byzantines had little or nothing
certain
;
to do.
champion of the Veneto-Friuli own arguments to own that the Lombard architects had their part in early Venetian architecture, saying " Although the prevalent architecture of Venice from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries consists of Byzantine and Roman elements, yet after a.d. iooo another element mingled with it, which though partly the product of the two, nevertheless had in itself elements so original as to be truly national. This is the art which modern writers style Lombard, which, born first in Lombardy, diffused itself over the greater part of Selvatico, although the
theory,
is
constrained almost in spite of his
—
^
SuU' Architettura e suUa Scultura in Venezia nel medio evo sino Siudi di P. Selvatico, cap. ii. p. 48.
nostri giorni.
ai
TRANSITION PERIOD
175
and then crossing the Alps expanded greatly in Northern Europe." ^ The learned Domenico Salazari is at the head of the Siculo-Norman theory, but the influence of the mingling of Oriental and Saracenic architecture with the Norman and Lombard elements in Sicily are so well known, and so fully acknowledged, that it is useless to go over his prolix
Italy,
arguments. It
goes.
seems to
me
that each party
is
right as far as
Venetian architecture has Oriental elements
in
it it
the Tuscan Renaissance truly dates from Niccolo Pisano,
and the Romanesque style was formed by the marriage of north and south in Sicily but none of their advocates have got hold of the missing link in the development of each special school from the old classical styles. And that missing link, if anywhere, is to be looked for in the Comacines. In the ninth century they went northward, and laid ;
the
seeds of the round-arched
Norman
architecture at
a seed which took root and In the next century they appear to have developed. planted the seed of French Gothic at Aix-la-Chapelle, and of German Gothic at Cologne and Spires, and these grew In the eleventh century they again to be goodly trees. Dijon, under S. Guglielmo
met
;
their brethren of the north in Sicily
together, adding to their
and varied Saracenic style
own
;
and
all
worked
beauties those of the rich
—and the Romanesque
style
was
thus formed.
The Venetian
link dates about
the
same
tunato, the Patriarch of Aquileja, called in the
era.
For-
Comacines
about A.D. 828, and their churches there show a groundwork of form and masonry quite Romano-Lombard, with an
ornamentation of which it is difficult to say whether it be more Byzantine than Comacine, the two being so similar 1
Selvatico, Sioria della Scultura, Lib. II. cap.
ii.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
176
in conception,
work being able.
and the
distinctive
difference in technical
at this distance of time not
Where
the
Byzantines worked
always distinguishin
sandstone, the
sharp edges of their precise cutting would have worn off
during in
many
centuries
;
and where the Comacines worked
marble, their marvellous knots and interlacings
as clean-cut
now
as
may
look
any time-worn Byzantine sculptures. Lombard and Byzantine in Venice
In any case the union of
was the forging of the classic
link connecting Venetian art to the
Roman.
The
part the Comacines had in forging the connecting between the Tuscan Renaissance and the classic Roman, and the artistic pedigree of Niccolo Pisano, who is the first link in that branch of the threefold chain, will be We must now inquire how the traced in a future chapter. first Romano- Lombard style of the Comacines, from the sixth to the tenth centuries, became changed into the florid Romanesque, in which the same guild was building in all parts of Italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. This development was possibly derived from both Northern and Southern sources. The close connection of the Comacine or Lombard architects with the Patriarch of Aquileja in the seventh and eighth centuries brought them in touch with the Greek artists of the earlier period, from whom they learned much, especially in varying the plan of their circular churches, and in richness of ornamentation. Their later emigrations to the southern Lombard dukedoms, and their work in Sicily had a still greater effect on them. It seemed to break up their fixed traditions as a thaw breaks up ice. Before this time, every church must be of a fixed plan every apse round every space of wall headed by a gallery or arched brackets every arch a pure half-circle on colonnettes. But the varied
chain
;
arches of the Oriental-Saracenic style influenced their fancy;
they saw that art lay in variety, and learned that the
TRANSITION PERIOD
177
pointed arch was as strong as the round one, the ogival
The Moorish arch never entirely
arch more graceful.
though they sometimes gave a
their fancy,
curve to their
slight
took
Moorish
stilted arches.
must be remembered that the Magistri of the Comawere no longer of the same calibre as those Those mediaeval men who built for the Longobards. were the products of an age of slavery and degeneration, who, lacking literature, clung to tradition, and could only It
cine Guild
according to the small portion of intellectual light
act
vouchsafed to the Dark Ages.
They put
together, precisely as their forefathers
stone and stone
had taught them.
In form they clung to their ancient teacher, Vitruvius, and for their
ornamentation to their ancient pagan superstitions, Yet, as we have seen,
grafted on a mystical Christianity.
they so
far
improved on
these, as to build several Basilican
churches which might be called grand for the time, though holding close to traditional forms.
still
iooo was a man beginning to feel his intellect; the feudal system was breaking up, republics beginning to be established, schools were opened, and man began to feel himself no longer a vassal bound hand and foot, but a human being who might use his own
The Comacine
intellect for his
own
What wonder commerce freedom
to
after a.d.
pleasure and good.
that the arts began richesto accrue in and increase,
then,
this
joyous
?
And what wonder first
to flourish,
that man's thankfulness for freedom
took the form of building churches for the glory of the
God of The
the free? architects of the
Masonic
toggle (lodges)
who had
held together through the troublous times, became alive with new enthusiasms. They compared their own buildings
with
others,
Vitruvius, to
and instead of varying the principles of suit early Christian demands as heretofore, N
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
178
they passed on to
new and
Instead of solid
freer lines.
and rude strength, elegance of form and aspiring lines gave lightness and beauty. The starting-point of the change was, of course, the adoption of the pointed arch, which at this time began to be substituted for the circular one as giving greater " Curvetur arcus ut strength with greater lightness. According fortior," says an old chronicler of Subiaco. to their method of gradual development the Copiacine Masters did not blindly throw themselves into new forms. They went cautiously, and first tried their acute arches in clerestories, and triforia, over naves supported by the
Lombard arches
old
of sesto intiero, as
A
churches of the Transition period.
we
little
see in several
later they
mixed
the two inextricably, as in Florence cathedral, where the
windows are pointed with Gothic arches round and Roman in form. "
The
early
Lombard
tracery,
the
interior
architecture," said Cesare Cantu,^
order, nor a system, so much as a delirium. Balance and symmetry utterly disregarded, no harmony of composition or taste, shameful neglect in form pro-
"was not an
portion eye,
;
to the
perfect classic design
which
satisfies
the
they substituted incoherent and useless parts, with
frequently
the
defiance of
all
weak placed laws of
statics.
be composed of a base, portions,
more or
support the strong,
to
shaft,
in
—
Columns which used to and capital, in just pro-
supporting a well-adapted architrave or frieze
adorned, and a cornice which only added
less fitly
beauty and strength
—were
nettes, either too short or
exchanged
for
certain colon-
too slight, knotted, spiral, and
grouped so as to torture the eye, and above the
dis-
proportioned and inharmonious abacus of the capitals were placed the arches, which in a good style should rest on the architrave.
In
fine, "^
there
was an endless modanature,
Storia di Como, vol.
i.
p.
537.
TRANSITION PERIOD ribs, reliefs,
179
and windows of elongated form and walls of
extraordinary height."
In spite of Cantu's leanings to the
shows the first indication of the change towards the Gothic, and it only proves that the Comacine Masters did not take up new forms borrowed entire from other nations, but assimilated what they saw in other classic, this tirade
places, gradually developing their style.
To find the origin of the Was it evolved from the forest
.-*
or
was
Indian temple
pointed arch would be
difficult.
arching trees in the
German
from the rich Arabian mosque or ancient or did the Comacines find it, just as they
it
?
acquired their Basilican forms, on Italian
Germany,
it
is
pretty well proved, got the seed of her
glorious Gothic from
than
France or
Italy,
But the pointed arch
right royally.
German
soil ?
Gothic.
It
is
to
is
and nourished
much more
be seen
it
ancient
tomb of Tarquinii, and
in the
Atreus at Mycenae, in an Etruscan tomb at even in the subterranean gallery at Antequere
in
Mexico.^
pointed arches in the Mosque El Haram on Monte Morea date from Caliph Omar's time, between 637 and The Mosque of Amrou, with its curious combination 640.
The
of pointed
The
and horse-shoe arches, dates from 640.
church of
St. Francis at Assisi (1226)
been accepted as the followed
in
first
instance in Italy,
has generally
and
it
was soon
the design for the church of S. Antonio at
Padua five years later but there are two little churches annexed to the monastery of Subiaco on Monte Telaso, which were built, so say the chroniclers, one in a.d. 981, ;
In a work by Luigi Mazara (Temple antkdiluvien dtcouvert dans VUe de Calypso, Paris 1872) there are two engravings of gateways, one a subterranean one at Alatri in Latium, which is said to have been the work of Saturn, and is called the Porta Sanguinaria ; the other of Cyclopean 1
architecture was also in Latium,
Many
and called Porta Acuminata ; both of them
This would carry the invention back to 2000 B.C. of the subterranean aqueducts of Rome have acute arches for
are pointed arches.
purposes of strength.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i8o
the other in 1053, in which
Hope
others acute.^
^
some arches are round and
quotes examples of this mixture of
round and acute arches in the ninth and tenth centuries at Cluny, 1093
which
is in
—
1
1
34; the Abbey of Malmesbury in England, style; St. Mark's at Venice, 976 1071
—
Lombard
Subiaco, 847, and others. " But," as Selvatico
by
instances determined
static reasons,
The Arab used
a system."
to
" these
remarks,^
are
it
isolated
and do not point
pointed arch as a
the
As
decorative principle, as well as for stability.
spread in Europe
;
the style
got modified, some countries keeping
and others changing its proportions. Arab arch became in the eleventh century the germ of the ogival arch, and in the twelfth expanded in the North into the most glorious forms of ecclesiastical Gothic to the ancient type,
So
the
architecture.
The Comacines made florid
style,
change, as
their first steps towards a
more
about the end of the eleventh century.
The
such growths of circumstance, was a First, a little more ornamentation, then a
in
all
gradual one. slight
change
the forms of arches
in
;
next, a less fixed
ground-plan of the churches, a mingling of the Greek cross with the square-walled Basilica. After these slight trials
of
came flights of imagination, and of form and ornamentation that variety
wings,
their
endless variety
;
which could only spring from the ideas of many minds, united in one work. To see the earliest signs of a wider scheme of design we must go to the region of Parma. Here in a little town
Donnino
—the
ancient " Fidentia Julia "
called
Borgo
S.
about
fifteen
miles north of Parma,
1
Seroux, Histoire de
^
Hope, Storia
^
Selvatico,
p. 90.
I' art
far
les
is
monuments,
p.
one of the ii.
finest
Paris.
dell' Architettura, cap. xxxiii.
Sull' architettura
Venezia, 1874.
e
scultura
in
Venezia dal medio evo,
TRANSITION PERIOD early
Romanesque churches
for pilgrimages in the
in Italy,
Middle Ages, as
who was martyred
of S. Domninus,
It it
i8i
was a great place contained the tomb
in the persecutions of
Maximian.
Great miracles were worked at his shrine, and religious fervour rose to such a height in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that the devotees collected money enough to build a church, which they desired should be the finest and most majestic of those times.
The work was finished before 1195. An ancient document shows that the Rettori (civil governors) of Milan, Verona, Mantua, Modena, Brescia, Faenza, Bologna, Reggio, Gravedone, Piacenza, and Padua, with their suites, all met there in that year to form a league against Henry VI., son of Frederic Barbarossa, who seemed likely to carry on the hostility of his father.^ We have no documents to show who was the architect of the fine Basilica of S. Donnino, but as the Comacines had their laborerium at Parma, and as the work is clearly and distinctly Romanesque, we may believe the old authors who say that it arose per lo scarpello dei Comacini? If internal evidence is wanting, the three lion portals of the
ornate fagade bear witness to the hand of the Comacines of the
Romanesque epoch. Another of
their
buildings which
advance, was the cathedral of Trent leading into Germany.
Lombard
style
between
shows a
—the
This had been built in the first 11 24 and 1149, when it was
consecrated by the Patriarch of Aquileja.
Bishop
Federigo
marked
gate of Italy
Manga, Chancellor
of
In 1207 the the
Emperor
Otho IV., formed a design to enlarge and almost rebuild it. He commissioned a Magistro Comacino to superintend the works, as appears from an inscription in Gothic letters '
^
Affb, Storia di See Borgo S.
anonymous
author.
Parma, tomo iii. p. 14. Donnino e suo Santuario,
pp.
59 and 112, by an
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i82
on the tomb of that very Magister. Anglicized it would run "In the year of our Lord 12 12, the last day of February, Master Adam of Arogno, of the diocese and district of Como {Magister Adam de Arognio cumancs diocesis et circuito), began the work of this church and He with his sons and his abbiatici (underconstructed it. and exterior of this church with its interior built the lings) He and his sons lie below in this adjoining parts. Pray for them." sepulchre. Prof. Cipolla, in an article in Arte e Storia di Firenze, quotes a poem written in 1309, in honour of the Duomo of Trent and of the Comacine Master who had achieved so much with his potent and clever hands (Cumani Magistri qui potenti manu non inani complevit). The church has since then undergone several restorations, but in none of them has its plan been materially altered. There is still the octagonal dome, the circular apse at one end of the building, and the narthex at the
—
The
other.
facade
roof,
and has
The
outside of
still
honestly follows the lines of the
rows of pillared galleries across. shows the new tendency to Romanesque more than the fagade does here arches and friezes in horizontal circles around it, take the place of the perpendicular shafts, and the single row of archlets on the its
little
the
apse
;
top.
It
is
more
in the style of the thirteenth
teenth-century Lucca churches.
The
arch
and
of the
four-
north
which we may take as the secret sign of Romanesque Comacine work between the tenth and twelfth centuries, as the intreccio or Solomon's knot had been their mark in the Lombard period. The church of S. Maria Maggiore at Bergamo is a door rests on
lions,
valuable specimen not only of this transition in stage,
its
early
but of the culmination of the Romanesque,
centuries later.
records that
it
An
inscription
was founded
two on the arch of the portico
in the
time of Pope Innocent
TRANSITION PERIOD
183
and King Lothair II., i.e. about 1135, Rogerius being then the Bishop of Bergamo.^ The builder's name is also II.
recorded as
M agister Fredus, probably short for Godfredus.
Magister Fredus Guild
is
not expressly said here to be of the
of Comacines,
Lombard
style,
but as his work was
entirely
in
with a few slight indications of a freer
and as the architects who succeeded him were, as may be proved by documents, Comacine Masters chiefly from Campione, we may fairly make the hypothesis that he too was one of the guild. The little that remains of his work is to be seen in the interior, where the round arch still predominates, and in the exterior walls of the apse, with its crown of arches and colonnettes. The parts due to the later brethren of the guild are the rich ornamentation of the two fagades with their grand and characteristic Comacine porches, and also the Baptistery, It was in 1340 that Giovanni, son of Ugone (Big Hugh) of Campione, a celebre scultore ed architetto, was commissioned to build this Baptistery. According to the fixed laws of the Comacines he made it octagonal the mystic sign of the Trinity, being formed of a threefold triangle. Around it entwine circles of arches and colonnettes, some lines having double columns these reach to the cornice of the roof, which cornice is composed of reliefs allusive to the Sacrament of Baptism. This work finished, Magister Giovanni went to Bellano on the east bank of Lake Como, together with two of his school,
—
;
brotherhood, the Magister Antonio, son of the late Jacopo of Castellazzo
da Peglio
Magister Comolo,
in
the
valley
son of the late
of Intelvi,
and
Magister Gufredo
probably a descendant of the Magister Fredus mentioned " Dicta ecclesia fundata
anno Dominicse Incarnationis millesimo dom Papa Innocentio II., sub Episcopo Rogerio, Regnante Rege Lothario, per Magistrum Fredum." Storia della Citta e Chiha di Bergamo, Tomo III. lib. x. 1
fuit
centesimo III gesimo septimo sub
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i84
above
— of
Asteno, near Porlezza, to rebuild the church
which had been ruined by age and repeated floods.^ This church is in pure Lombard style, and has a facade in black and white marble, with a fine rose window, encircled After this Magister with terra-cotta foliaged decorations. Giovanni of Campione was recalled to Bergamo to adorn the fagades of the church which Fredus had left in a rough
there,
200 years before. These two fa9ades faced north and south. Strange to say, the part opposite the altar has In this new emprise Giovanni brought as his no door. assistants his son Nicolino, a relative named Antonio (probably the one who had worked with him at Bellano), and a certain Giovanni Cattaneo, also from Campione. Giovanni, who was head architect, decided not to renovate the whole south fagade facing the Piazza on which he began first, but to concentrate his ornamentation on a fine vestibule and doorway, to form a species of frontal. The vestibule was finished in 1351, having taken only two years. On the architrave he has himself chronicled it " 1351, m. Johannes de Campillione C. B. (civis Bergomensis) fecit hoc opus." The whole front seems to have taken three years more, as on the base of the horse on which St. Alexander, patron saint of Bergamo, sits, may be read " Filius Ughi de Campillione fecit hoc opus 1355." Good Master John of Campione did not long survive the execution of this masterpiece, for on the north porch is inscribed " 1360. Magister Johannes f q. (filius quondam) Dom. Johannes de Campilio (abrasion) fecit hoc opus state
—
—
.
in Christi
The
.
.
Amen."
nomine. which
is dated burgo Bellano, Magister Johannes filius quondam Magistri Ugonis de Campilione, et Magister Antonius filius quondam Jacobi de Castelatio de Pelo Vallis Intelvi, et Magister Comolus 1
contract,
July 18, 1348
filius
quondam
tres magistri
novae," etc.
is
— "Indictione
preserved in the archives of Bellano,
prima
in
Magistri Gufiredi de Hosteno plebis Porleciae, qui
de muro
et
omnes
lignamine laboraverunt ad laborem Ecclesiae
TRANSITION PERIOD
185
This north porch, though so nearly coeval, shows a much greater advance in style. It is an eloquent proof of how architecture was progressing at this time by the grafting on of different influences.
John the
being older,
father,
kept more closely to his Lombard traditions.
John the
son, being youthful and more open to conviction, took up new ideas. He has kept the Lombard arch in his porch,
the moulding of which
Judah duly support
extremely
is
his pillars, but
with very Gothic tracery, in
Lombard columns of
rich,
he has
trefoil
and the
lions of
filled in
his arch
arches,
and over the
the upper storey of the porch are
arches and decorations decidedly Oriental in appearance.
that
about as good a specimen of the rich chaos of ideas marks a transition stage as one can get, and shows
that
John the younger had been influenced by the Saracen-
It is
Norman
influence in Sicily,
Fergusson, in his Handbook of Architecture, gives an illustration of this porch. evidently
came from a
church of S. Maria work of much merit
The Campione
790, family
p.
race of sculptor-architects, for the
Bergamo
at
contains
a
sculptural
by Ugo da Campione, It is the tomb of Cardinal the father of Giovanni senior. Longhi degli Alessandri, who died at Avignon in 1329. The almost mediaeval artist compares not unfavourably with a very modern master from Como, Vincenzo Velada Ligurnetto,
who
in
for the time,
1855 sculptured the neighbouring tomb
of Donizetti placed near
it.
the valley of the P6 to Cremona, we on a scene of great Comacine industry. There is the Baptistery, dating before a.d. iooo, and the These were both works of the Cathedral begun in 1 100. Lombard Masters; their style is identical, and over the architrave of the great cathedral door may be read in the
Coming down
find
ourselves
Gothic characters used by them
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i86
MCCLXXIIII.
Magister Jacobus Porrata.
da Cumis,
Rotam
refers to the
ably fine one, and mis-spelling of
is
fecit
wheel window, which
not, as
portam
hanc Rotam.
some
(door).
is
a remark-
writers think, an illiterate
The
rose
window
is
prior
one which Jacopo or Lapo, the so-called father of Arnolfo, placed in the fagade of the Duomo of Arezzo, and is even superior to it in richness of design. To Jacobus to the
Porrata
is
also attributed the principal entrance of
Cremona
cathedral, with the statues of the four prophets beside
Over the architrave Lombard galleries,
it.
formed of little were the arch. Below
rises a species of porch,
fringing as
it
are the usual lion-supported pillars, the lions being carved in
fine
red
marble.
The
vestibule above
is
formed of
pointed arches, on each of which a lion crouches to sustain
The Comacine Masters seem to have formed a school and laborerium at Cremona, for among the archives of the Duomo a deed has been found entitled laborerio, of the year 1289. It was drawn up by the notary Degoldo Malatesta on December 12 of that year, and on the part of the Rev"^"- P. Cozzaconte, Bishop of Cremona, and the monk Ubertini, director and treasurer to the works of the Duomo, making a contract with Bonino and Guglielmo da Campione to build a stone stairway on the north of the cathedral towards S. Nicolo, etc. etc. The stairs still exist, with remains of some little turrets which formed part of the design. the finishing loggia.
At Parma we have also precise data, and a name The cathedral was begun in 1059, four years before that of Pisa. It was finished by 1 106, when
carven in stone.
Pope Pasquale
II. consecrated it, the great Countess Matilda being present. In 11 17 a part of it fell in an earthquake, and the Bishop Bernardo apportioned the
Baptistery at Parma.
Designed by Benedetto da Antelamo,
a.d. 1178,
{.Seepage 187.
TRANSITION PERIOD receipts
of
taxes
several
to
the
187
rebuilding.
Frederic
Barbarossa in 1162 confirmed this disposition of the taxes
The laborerium of the and the work was continued. Comacines at Parma was at different times under two of their chief sculptor-architects, Benedetto da Antelamo being master of the lodge in 11 78, and Giovanni Bono of Bissone in 1 28 1. Benedetto sculptured the now ancient pulpit of the cathedral, which was supported on four columns, and to which the relief of the Crucifixion, signed by him, belonged. It is now in the third chapel on the right. He also designed and erected the Baptistery, which, more than any building of the time, shows an originality of idea quite remarkable.
It
is
built
course octagonal, that
rows of
little
is
entirely of white
de regie, and
marble,
and has
left
out the arches entirely,
except in the upper one, substituting a solid entablature for them.
The
of
he has made
pillared galleries, but in these
his colonnettes classical,
is
surrounded by
is
flat
marble
lower part only has a circular
arch in each of the eight sides.
The
arches of the door-
ways are very deep, and richly sculptured. One has four dark marble pillars on each side of the door, of which the The lintels and architrave are richly carved in reliefs. Christ in the lunette, and of north door has a Nativity a story of John the Baptist beneath
it.
The west
portal
shows a realistic Last Judgment above, and on the sides the seven ages of man, and Christ performing the seven
works of mercy. On the south door is the allegory of Death from the mediaeval religious romance of Barlaam and Josaphat. The arches between the doors are filled in with niches containing statues supported on black marble Corinthian columns. All round the building above the base real old
is
a frieze of the
animal myths and symbols, such as the Comacines
of two or three centuries earlier delighted
of the times had
now
in.
The march
substituted actual representations of
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
i88
scriptural subjects, instead of mere
symbols of dark mysteries,
but the Magister could not all at once leave behind him the old emblems which had served his guild for centuries in the
way
The
of ornamentation.
building
is
daring independent thought at a time
was most
when independence
difficult.
Fergusson, however, blames the
He
unique, and shows
false principles of design.
says the four upper storeys are only built to conceal a
dome, which
covered by a
is
wooden
flat
seen from above seems to be a
flat
a pretty solid bell-turret in the centre.
The
forming the upper range are slightly pointed. tery, as well as the pulpit in the
The
roof.
and
tiled roof,
little
it
roof
has
arches
This Baptis-
Duomo, bears
the signature
of the builder and sculptor, and the date 1196. " Bis binis demptis annis de mille ducentis.
Incepit dictus opus hoc sculptor Benedictus."
^
Val d'Antelamo, the native place of Benedictus, is a valley near Lago Maggiore towards Laveno. It seems probable that a branch school or lodge of the Comacines existed here, of which Benedetto was at this €poch at the head,^ and gave the name to his pupils. They must have emigrated like other branches of the guild, for in the ancient statutes of in architecture,
called in
had
to
As the
Genoa we find
called
by the
several mentions of experts
Magistri da Anielamo, who were when any building work
city magistrates,
be valued or judged.^ early as
1
181 in the archives of S. Giorgio, one finds
names Martino and Ottoboni, Magistri Antelami, and as Nov. 27, 1855, a sentence was given at the Collegio Giudici at Genoa by a Maestro Anteramo. The substi-
late as
dei ^
Merzario, / Maestri Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
iv. p.
145.
which mention it in King Luitp rand's time, a.d. 713, and in that of the Emperor Otho, 989. * Arbitrio duorum magistrorum antelami seu fabricorum murariorum eligendorum per magistratus. Quoted by Merzario, Vol. I. chap. iv. p. 168. *
Documents
exist
—
TRANSITION PERIOD tution of r for
1
is
to this
189
day a very common error among
Italians.
In
1
161
a squadron of Masters from
called to renovate the cathedral of Faenza,
ruined.
most
Lombardy was which was much
These Masters accepted, and showed themselves So says an old writer quoted by Merzario,
proficient.
but whether these very clever architects were the same Antelami branch who worked at Parma cannot be decided.^ A later Comacine Master at Parma, whose name has come down to us, is Giovanni Bono of Bissone, a little village between Como and Lugano. The grand vestibule of the principal door of Parma cathedral, with its lion-supported columns, its bands of colonnettes and its rich sculpture, was designed by him. In a Gothic inscription over the door
we learn that the lions were made by Giovanni Bono da Bissone in 1280, at the time when Guido, Niccolao, Bernardino, and Benvenuti worked deciphered by Sig. Pezzana,
in the laborerium."^
This
inscription, for
Pietro Tonarelli,
is
which
am
I
indebted to Canonico
especially valuable, not only in fixing the
epoch of Giovanni Buono da Bissoni's work, but as proof of the organization of the lodge and the brotherhood of its members. The word fratrum certainly implies that the laborerium was in the hands of a guild.
The Canonico
Tonarelli writes in a letter from Parma, that in an estimate in the archives of the Chapter,
dated 1354, the Fabbriceria
was denominated Domus laborerii seu fabrics majoris Ecclesice, and that the administrators were called fratres de Laborerio. In Tuscany they were called Operai, and the office of administrator was the Opera del Duomo. The four names oi\!a.^ fratres, too, have a significance when read .
mo
^
Merzario,
^
Storia di
indictione,
et tpore
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
v. p.
.
.
171.
Parma, torn i. Appendix, p. 43. " In mille ducto octuago p. nona facti fuere leones per Magistrum ianne bonum d. bixono
fratrum guidi, nicolay, bnardini et bevenuti di Laborerio."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
190
have since found thrown on the organization by the archives of the Opere in Siena and Florence. In those lodges one perceives plainly that the administration of the lodge was placed under four persons, of whom two were Masters of the guild, and two were influential persons of the city, i. e. half the council of administration gave the votes of the architects employed, and the other half those of the patrons who employed them. That the same rule held in this earlier lodge at Parma is confirmed by the fact that Niccolao and Benvenuti are found working together with Giovanni Buono at Pistoja in 1270.^ Sometimes a single name stands out among the file of Comacines, and one finds several well-known buildings that have emanated from one mind. Such a Master was Magister Giorgio of Jesi, near Como. His name is graven in the stones of many a church. At Fermo on the Adriatic, a "sumptuous" cathedral was built in 1227; a certain Bartolommeo Mansionarius being the patron. On the left south door was a slab with the inscription " A.D. MCCXXVII Bartolomeus Mansionarius Hoc opus fieri fecit Per Manus Magistri Georgii de Episcopatu Com "... That the mutilated word is Como we prove by a similar inscription on the cathedral at Jesi (the ancient vEsis where the Emperor The Frederick H., grandson of Barbarossa, was born). in the light
I
—
ancient cathedral of S. Septimus, a truly still
exists in
part.
MCCXXXVn
Here the
Lombard building, runs "A.D.
inscription
—
tempore D. Gregorii Papae domini Federici aesini. Magister
Imperatoris, et domini Severini. episcope.
Georgius de
Cumo
Here we get the
civis sesinus fecit
hoc opus."
city as well as the bishopric to
Magister Giorgius belonged.
He
was a
which
citizen of Jesi in
^ This Giambono or Giovanni Buono was, I believe, the founder of the Lodge at Pistoja, or at least Master of it in about 1260. His works in Tuscany are many and important, as will be seen when the Tuscan link is
under consideration.
TRANSITION PERIOD the diocese of
Come, and a
rank of the Comacine Guild.
qualified
In the
191
member little
of the higher
town of Penna
in
the same province, where the church was ruined in an earthquake, an ancient stone was found with the following inscription in old Latin " In the name of God. Amen. This work was commenced in the time of the Priest Gualtieri, and completed in that of the Priest Grazia, by Master George of
—
Jesi
in
the year
1256."
By
these
stones
we
find that
Master George worked in the province of Piceno for thirty years, between Fermo, Jesi, and Penna. To him is attributed the ancient communal palace of Jesi which was rebuilt in the fifteenth century by other Comacine Masters.
CHAPTER
II
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK
THE CAMPIONESE SCHOOL AT MODENA 105°
Magister Ersati di
Li-
gorno 1099
M.
Lanfranco, son
of
Ersati
1130
M. Guglielmo or elmo M. Ambroxius,
Vigil-
Chief architect at Modena in His son Ubertino 1099. forms a link with Padua, where he worked at the church of S. Antonio in 1263. Sculptors
on
the faQades of Ferrara cathe-
Modena and
his son
drals.
M. Nicolaus
Assist in the fagade of Ferrara
12th century
M. Meo di Cecco, and M. Antonio di Frix of
1209
M. Anselmo da Campi-
There was a Marco di Frixone da Campione at Milan a century later in 1300, probably a descendant cathedral.
Como .
one 1244
M. Ottaccio^ Sons of Anselmo da Campione,
M.Alberto
lo.
^
who
was
also called
Anselmo
II.
M. Jacopo
12.
Tedesco. M. Arrigo, son of M. Ottaccio
13-
1322
M. Enrico, grandson of M. Arrigo
192
of this one.
Sculptured the porch of Modena cathedral; was chief architect in 1181.
The
office of head architect was made hereditary in the
family.
Jacopo is supposed to be the Tedesco, reputed Jacopo father of Arnolfo.
Arrigo was head architect in 1244. Built the tower and sculptured the pulpit at Modena.
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK
193
At Modena,
which was once a prosperous Roman and then an independent commune, we find a most interesting family of Comacines, who for more than two centuries worked at the cathedral there, son succeeding father, and nephews following their uncles as architects. The building of a worthy church was the first thought of the newly-made commune in 1099. In Muratori's copy of the Acts of the translation of the body of S. Gemignano to Modena, we read "So then, in the year 1099, the inhabitants of the said city began to demand where they could find an architect for such a work, a builder for such a church and at length, by the grace of God, a certain man named Lanfranco, a marvellous architect, was found, under the counsels of whom the foundations of the Basilica were
colony,
—
;
laid."i is a name very frequent in Lombardy, but man, probably from his already acquired fame, w^as the same Magister Lanfrancus filius Dom. Ersatii de Livurno
Lanfranco
this
(Ligurno),
who
built the cloister of Voltorre, near
Varese, in the neighbourhood of the Antelami.^
remains that
all
his successors
places near Ligurno.
There
Lake
The
fact
were Comacines, and from is
also a similarity of style
and the older parts of S. Gemignano at Modena, both showing a grafting of Gothic on the Romano- Lombard style. A curious document exists, a kind of contract, quoted by Tiraboschi in his Codice Diplomatico in the Appendix to the historical memobetween the
rials
part
1
cloister at
Voltorre,
of the building of the cathedral, long after Lanfranco's was done. It runs, when Anglicized " In the name
—
"Anno
itaque
MXCIX
ab
tanti operis designator, ubi talis
tandem Dei
incolis prsefatae urbis
quaestum est ubi
structurae edificator invenire posset: et
gratia inventus est vir
quidam nomine Lanfrancus
mirabilis
cujus concilio indicatum est ejus basilicse fundamentum."— From Muratori, quoted by Merzario, I Maestri Comacini, Vol. I. chap. iv. p. 168.
aedificator,
*
See chapter headed "Troublous Times."
O
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
194
of Christ, in the year of His nativity, 1244, in the second
on the day of Mercury (Wednesday), the last of the month of November. It has been recorded that between Ser Alberto, once treasurer to the Opera et Fabbrica, and the late Master Anselmo da Campione in the episcopate of Como (Magistrum Anselmum de Campilione, Episcopatus Cumani), a contract was made, by which the said Magister and his heirs in perpetuo should work at the said church of Modena, and either the said Master, or any other Master, indiction,
every day,
descendant, should receive
his
the days
in
of
May, June,
July,
six
imperials
and August, but
five
imperials only in those of the other months, for their recom-
pense and their work.
Ser Ubaldino, now Administrator
of the said Fabbriceria, seeing and considering that the said stipend or remuneration does not
seem
sufficient according
to the course of these
and succeeding times, has deliberated
and
with
taken
counsel
the
venerable
Bishop Signor
Alberto, and with Ser Giovanni, Archpriest of Modena, at
the instance and petition of Magister Arrigo (Henry), son
who was the son of Anselmo aforeand in the presence of the aforementioned Signori, Bishop, and Archpriest, and of the subscribing witnesses, promises and agrees that to the said Magister Arrigo, for himself and his sons and heirs, and for Magister Alberto and Magister Jacopo, his paternal uncles {patruis suis), and the sons and heirs of the same, shall be given over and above to them, and to their said sons, or successors, who of Magister Ottaccio, said
shall
;
be masters
artis),
in
that
art
[qui magistri fuerint hujus
eight imperials for each day they work, from the
calends of April to the calends of October.
In the days of
the remaining months in which they shall have
worked
at
the will of the Administrator of the building, they should,
and
shall have, only six imperials, receiving nevertheless
their food from the said lodge, not only
on
all
others, as
they have
from
on festal days, but the beginning been
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK And
accustomed to have.
if
at
the will
195
of
the said
Administrator they shall bring other competent Masters the said works, these
necessary to
imperials for each day,
shall
receive
seven
from the said calends of April
to those of October, but in other
months only
five imperials
per diem."
This deed was drawn up in the Canonica of Modena, and duly signed by witnesses. Tracing the predecessors of Arrigo of Campione, father and grandfather, back from 1244, we come very near the time of the first Lanfranco and following his descendants from Arrigo, head architect in 1244, to his grandson, who finished the tower of the Dome,^ and made the marble pulpit ;
in the cathedral in
1322,
we
get a family line of builders
unbroken for nearly two hundred years. There still exists an inscription in bad Latin on the cornice of the pulpit, which says that Tomasino di Giovanni, treasurer of the Fabbriceria, S. Gemignano, had the pulpit carved, and the tower built by Arrigo or Enrico, the Campionese It would sculptor {actibus Henrici sculptoris campionensis).
lasting
be
difficult
now
to assign his
due share
to
each of this long
Marchese which is in pure Romano- Lombard style, with two aisles and a nave. The nave is much higher than the aisles, and is supported on columns with high Corinthian capitals from some
line
of master-builders
Ricci, gives
Roman
ancient
Lombard
;
but the Italian
Lanfranco the credit of the
air to
temple.
critic,
interior,
Lanfranco has given a clumsier
them by a very
large abacus.
The
crypt
supported on sixty columns, the capitals of which are all Lombard, and of endless variety of form and sculpture. In
is
the centre ^
is
the ark (tomb) of S. Gemignano.
This tower, which
Florence,
Bologna
became
in 1325,
is
The
wall
almost as light and elegant as that of Giotto in famous in the wars between Modena and
historically
when
the famous Secchia was hidden there— the subject
of that curious heroi-comic
poem La
Secchia rapita.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
196
of the fagade, with
pillared
little
its
gallery, is
of
also
Lanfranco's time.
The is
porch, with
knotted pillars supported on
its
lions,
adjudged by Ricci to be the work of Anselmo of Cam-
The
pione in 1209.
sculpture on the fa9ade by Nicolaus
and Guglielmo is said century, and probably before
Anselmo put
most naive Bible
from early in the twelfth
to date
belonged
this
to
doorway.
Lanfranco's design
They
are to our eyes
rude sculpture
stories told in
side representing the Creation, the other the far as
Noah.
To
—the
first
one
men
as
contemporary eyes, however, they were
great works, for an old grandiloquent low Latin inscription
on the faqade says
—
quanto sis dignus honore Claret scultura nunc Viligelme tua." "Worthy of honour art thou among sculptors. So shines, O William, spelling
scul tores
Marchese
thy sculpture."
this
" Inter
Ricci,
from the peculiar
Guglielmo, thinks that he might have been
of
a German, but as in the Ferrara inscription he in
the Italian way,
I
think the Viligelme
is
spelt
may be only so common in
one of those queer reversals of consonants illiterate Italians. If a poor Florentine has a son named Arturo, he will surely call him Alturo, or if Alfredo, he will always be Arfledo. In any way we can descry in this artist, as in
many
others of his age, the forerunner of Niccolo
Pisano, and see in the art of Niccol6 only a link in develop-
ment, not a
new
To
art entirely.
Nicolaus and Guglielmo
are also attributed the sculptures in the choir, representing
the Passion.
We
We shall
find
them again
see, then, that the family
sculptors
at Ferrara.
of Anselmo, hereditary
and architects of Modena, were certainly the
founders of the great school of the Campionese, which lasted
some
buted nearly schools,
centuries, all
and
to
whose hands may be
the great churches in North Italy.
laborerium,
attri-
The
and fabbricerie of Modena furnish threefold organization, which
another prototype of the
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK
197
becomes so distinct in the Opera of Florence and the Tiraboschi pubLodges of Venice, Siena, and Orvieto. lishes a notarial Act, dated January 7, 1261, which speaks of the laborerium near the Duomo, where the stones for the fabric were carved and that there was a covered way between the church and this building which must not be removed or changed. Gerolamo Calvi, in his Matteo de Campione, architetto e scultore, says that nearly all the architecture and sculpture executed in and around Milan in the thirteenth and ;
fourteenth centuries
He
may be
attributed to the Campionesi.
instances the Sala della
Ragione
at
Padua, with
its
and galLoggia del Consiglio, once the Podesti's palace the church of S. Agostino at Bergamo, built by Ugo da Campione and his son Giovanni, the castle of the Visconti at Pavia, and many others. Campione, though a place of importance in Roman times, and cited in Carlovingian documents, is now only a village on the side of a mountain, near Val d'Intelvi, containing 500 inhabitants, Calvi writes of it that from the earliest
enormous span of roof, its and the Loggia degli
leries,
characteristic arcades
Assi, or
;
times before the renaissance of
art,^
the
men
of
Campione
dedicated themselves to building and sculpture, and diffused themselves throughout the north of Italy, working rudely
but gaining in style and experience till they produced great works worthy of eternal fame. It seems probable that in this school we have a link
at
first,
with Florence.
The Jacopo de Campione, who was men-
tioned in 1244 as uncle of the petitioner Arrigo,
documents as a Campionesi, and other authors to be that famous is
in other
1
is
named
thought by Merzario architect,
Jacopo
il
Calvi, Notizie sulla vita e sulk opere dei principali architetti, pittori e
scultori, etc., vol.
i.
p. 39.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
198
Tedesco
—or the Lombard, who was
for centuries taken with
We
certainty to be the father of Arnolfo.
shall
speak of
his pedigree in another chapter.
The
builders of the
Duomo
of Ferrara were decidedly-
connected with the laborerium at Modena, both lodges originating from the
usual
three
chiselled
Campione
The
school.
fagade has the
perpendicular divisions formed by means of
shafts,
but each division
into three levels, each
Besides these
is
is
divided horizontally
one enriched with Lombard
galleries.
a wealth of ornamentation, figures,
reliefs,
trafori (open work), and foliage of the most fantastic kind.
This and the framework of the church are
all
that remain
of the Comacine work, excepting the vestibule, which has
Four columns resting on four red marble lions support it one of them guards a lamb, and another has a serpent beneath its paw. Here we have still the Comacine mysticism the lion of Judah guarding the Paschal Lamb, and one of the House of Judah crushing the serpent. Over the porch are more sculptures, and an arched vestibule over that a kind of Gothic gable, and above the gable a rose window. The whole speaks elo-
all
on
their signs
it.
;
:
;
quently of
its
kinship with the churches of Verona, Parma,
and Bergamo.
much
built not
Tradition says the interior and fagade were later than
1
103.
The
inscription over the
door runs "
II
mille cento trempta nato.
(Giorgio) consacrato.
Fo
Foquesto templo a Zorzi
Nicolao scultore, e
Ghelmo
fo lo
These are evidently the same Guglielmo and Nicolao who sculptured Lanfranco's front at Modena. Guglielmo was the leading man, and made the design
auctore."
{auctore)
;
Nicolaus chiefly executed
it.
But these two were not the only Comacines employed at a MS. copy of an ancient inscription on some old
Ferrara
reliefs in
;
the front of the church of St. George, records the
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK names of Meo and Antonio of Como. e da Antonio di Frix. da Como." ^
"
199
Da Meo
di
Checco,
Before the middle of the thirteenth century, Padua had become the shrine of a miraculous saint. St. Anthony had
come over from Lisbon in 1220, and founded at Padua a new order of monks, called Minori Conveniuali, under similar rules to the Franciscans. St. Anthony attracted great crowds of people by his preaching and miracles, and at his death in 1231
he was canonized, and
his devotees
The
desired to build a beautiful church over his tomb. first
attempt failed from not having means to pay a good
architect, or
set to
work
competent builders, and to
remedy
thousand
lire
time
the church
all
as
year
a
their mistake.
in
to
the
should
They
assigned four
re-edification,
be
commune
1265 the
such
until
By 1307
completed.
was complete except the cupola, which was added a Vasari attributes the design to
century
later,
Pisano
but his able commentator, Milanesi,
;
his life studying archives, asserts inscription,
tion with
Niccolo
who
lived
all
that neither document,
nor tradition remain to prove Niccolo's connec-
Padua, while the style of the building
unlike the edifices
known
Some documents
to
be
is
utterly
his.
in the archives of
Padua, unearthed by
Padre Gonzali, prove that in 1263, on May 11, there were working in the church as builders, Egidio, son of Magister Gracii; Ubertino,son of Lanfranco; Niccola, son of Giovanni; and Pergandi, son of Ugone of Mantua; and that, in 1264, a Zambono of Como and a Benedetto of Verona, who lived in the district of
Rovina, are recorded as builders.
There
but is no record of the architect who designed the church judging from the Moorish innovations of style it was very probably either planned by the monks, or designed by ;
an abbreviation of Frixones, a name we find two centuries of the same guild, working at Milan cathedral, Marco da Frixone a Campione. Another Frix worked at Ferrara a century later. 1
Frix
later in
an
is
artist
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
200
them.
St.
Anthony was a Portuguese.
On
his
way here
he would have passed through Spain, and may have been He may have even attracted by the Moorish architecture. brought a drawing or two of some many-domed building,
Lombard architects to work Probably some of his monks were like many Franand Dominicans members of the Guild of Free-
and have given them from. ciscans
to the
—
—
masons, and so trained in the science of architecture. In any case, the buildings at Padua are neither true Lombard nor true Gothic, and not even Oriental, but a mixture of
all three.
in the facade,
archlets
;
The Lombard
where the upper part
the lover of the
has partly had his way is full
new Gothic
of galleries and
arches has put his
mark on the lower part of the fa9ade and the monks, who remembered the native land of their saint, have put the the domes, however, were seven domes and minarets ;
;
beyond the Comacines of that time, and were not placed the fifteenth century,
when
it
is
to
till
be imagined that the
Renaissance doorway and various pilasters and adjuncts were added. Altogether, for a church where Como Masters
undoubtedly worked, unlike
their
style.
Anthony of Padua is the most They seem to have taken so little St.
interest in the outlandish plan, that they did not sanctify
by a bit of their That monks architecture,
it
biblical sculpture.
occupy themselves in we have consistent proofs in the monkish at that era really did
and that when they followed this in, and became members of, the great Masonic Guild, is also indicated by the close connection between the Magistri-frati and the secular Magistri. In the transactions of the guild, monks were frequently called into council by the Opera or Fabbriceria ; and they often worked at their churches in conjunction with the secular members.^ In the church of S. Francesco at builders of fine churches
;
branch, they were probably trained
1
See chapter on " The Florentine Lodge."
Church of
S.
Antonio, Padua, 13TH century.
[Seepage
199.
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK
201
Lodi is an interesting old painting, representing S. Bernardino directing a group of monks engaged in building a convent. Beneath it is written " Qualiter in sedificatione monasterii Bernardinus fratres hortatus fuerit." ^ It is through this order at Padua that the link with >
—
Germany became Dominican, born
studies in theology
He came
Bavaria.
Magnus was
Albertus
strengthened, in
and the exact
to
sciences,
Padua
a
for his
which evidently
Merzario says that up to Padua, and wrote a work on
included the science of building.
1223 he taught publicly
in
Perspective.^
Don Vincenzo writes to me,
I
that Albertus
some think
Rossi,
Prior
of Settignano, however,
believe on the authority of Montalembert,
Magnus attended
the university at Padua, and
also that at Pavia, but only as a student.
held a cattedra at Cologne, where St.
was
Thomas
He
of Aquinas
his pupil.^
The name
Magnus is much connected with Germany and soon after his stay in
of Albertus
Freemasonry of Padua we find Comacine Masters working in Germany. Some German savant might work out this clue, and see if
the
;
he did not
start,
or aid in establishing, a lodge at Cologne,
the architectural Maestranze mixed clerical and lay Masonic Guilds) passed over the Alps from Italy, and flourished for
all
authors agree
that
(as the Italians called the
greatly in
northern
Cologne, etc,
cities,
such
as
Strasburg,
Zurich,
etc.
In the twelfth century the beautiful church and monastery of Chiaravalle, near Milan, were erected by the Campionese Lombardi del
^
Artisti
^
I Maestri
Secolo
Comacini, Vol.
XV,
I.
^\ Micheli Caffi.
chap.
iv. p.
161.
Thomas was so proverbial that his Apropos of fellow-students called him the " Bue muto " (the dumb bull). this, Albertus Magnus made his famous witty prophecy " Tomaso may be a dumb bull, but the day will come when his bellowing will be heard ^
The
silence of that learned St.
—
throughout the world."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
202
Masters, on the commission of the noble family of Archinto of Milan.
It is
a fine specimen of Italian Gothic, with the
dome peculiar to that style. The Visconti of Milan were large patrons of Campionese school. The fine castle at Pavia, built in time of Galeazzo
II.,
first
the
Comacine hand. Niccola Sella from Arezzo and
shows by
its
style the
It has been assigned to Bernardo of Venice, but, as Merzario shows, these came to Pavia thirty years after it was finished.
The
the
stone was laid on
March
men
The
1360.
27,
only
archives have been searched in vain to find the architect's
name was so
however, proved that Bonino da Campione Pavia in 1362, working at the Area di S. Agostino, it
:
in
it
is
is,
probable that some of his brethren of the
pionese school were also employed by Galeazzo.
Cam-
Unluckily,
these are so individually sunk in the company, that one rarely gets a prominent name.
Merzario,
quoting
other
writers,
attributes
to
the
Campionesi that sepulchral monument of Beatrice della Scala, now in the church of S. Maria at Milan the mausoleum of Stefano Visconti in S. Eustorgio, and that of Azzo, son of Galeazzo I. but beyond a tradition that Bonino da Campione sculptured the last, there is no positive proof. ^ Great conjectures have been made as to the real author of the Area di Agostino at Pavia. Vasari says " La quale e di mano secondo eke a me pare di Agnolo e Agostino, scultori senesi." His expression, " As it seems to me," is not very decisive proof, truly. Cicognara is not more exact. He " wonders that this most grand and magnificent ;
;
—
work
is
not more famous than
it
is
—and
thinks
the style of the Sienese brothers, but opines
it
it
is
shows more
be by some pupil of theirs, if it is not by Pietro Paolo and Jacobello the Venetians." This is vague with a vengeance. Merzario, however, proves that there are no
likely to
^
Merzario,
/ Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
viii.
p. 243.
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK documents
came
to
show and
to Pavia,
203
that the Sienese brother sculptors ever asserts that the style of the
Area
is
not
at all Venetian.
The less
the
learned Difendente Sacchi
^
brings more logic and
The
imagination to bear on the point.
monument proves
that
it
was begun
inscription
in 1362,
on
placed in
1365, and that the accessory ornamentation
was finished in 1370. The books of the administration show that the sums paid for its construction amounted in all to seventy-two thousand
lire italiane.
As no sum,
I
artist in especial is named as having received this should myself imagine that as usual several Masters ot
worked at it, but that one was capo maestro, and drew the design. Comparing it with the monument of Can della Scala at Verona, which is a certified work of Bonino da Campione, Sacchi argues that he was the designer and the guild
sculptor of this Area.
the arches following the
The
style in both
same curve and
the friezes and ornaments are so
is
semi-Gothic,
resting on columns
much
;
be in some parts identical in design the crown of pyramids and cupolini which finishes the monument on the top, the form alike as to
;
of the pinnacles, and their floriations are
The Area di It
S.
Agostino
has ninety -five statues in
One may
ettes.
is,
more than
similar.
however, the more elaborate.
its
niches, not counting statu-
count nearly three hundred distinct works
(Would not this redunwork of a school rather than one hand ?) Sacchi justly observes that if Can Scaliger confided to Bonino the commission for his monument, it must have been because he had seen proofs of his skill and where could this have been more probable than in the Area at of sculpture in the composition.
dancy prove
it
the
;
Milan
A
?
suggestive proof of the Area di S. Agostino being
the joint 1
work of the Comacine
Guild,
is
suggested by
Difendente Sacchi, L'arca di S. Agostina illustrata,
etc.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
204
Over the colonnade of the Area
Merzario.^
are twelve
but in front of these stand the Quattro Santi
statues,
One
Coronati, the four artist martyrs.
of these
is
sented stooping to examine the base of a pillar
;
repre-
another
T square, and a and holds a scroll on which is written in Gothic letters, Quatuor Coronatorum the fourth is working with hammer and chisel. trying the diminution of a column with the
third measures a reversed capital,
Now
these four saints, being the special patrons of the
Comacine Guild, would have
little
significance to
any other
artists.
The
sepulchre of
was begun
Can Signorio de and on
in his lifetime,
his
Scaliger in Verona
own commission, and
He
died in 1375, so it must date slightly prior to that. Bonino de Campiglione Mediolanensis cost 10,000 gold florins.
name in marble on the frieze. It is a fine specimen of Gothic ornamentation, at the culmination of
has signed his
the Campionese school.
There were
also earlier works of Bonino's at Cremona one a sepulchre to Folchino de Schicci, a jurisconsult, in
the
chapel of St. Catherine
worked with
friezes,
etc.,
in
the
Duomo,
in bas-reliefs.
It is
beautifully
signed in
Gothic characters "
Hoc
sepulcrum
est nobilis et
Egregii militis et juris periti
D
Folchini de Schiciis qui
obiit
Die
anno
D,MCCCLVII
Julii et
heredum
ejus
Temperantia Fortitudo Prudentia Magis. Bonino de Campilione me fee." ^
Justitia,
The
other one
is
the urn for the relics of S.
protector of Cremona. said to
have been very
rich
Merzario,
V. Vairina,
is
and beautifully worked, has
I Maestri Comadni, Vol. I. I Scriptiones Cremonenses
^
^
Omobono,
Unfortunately the urn, which
chap.
viii.
p. 248.
Universa, p. 14, N. 53.
Tomb of Can Signokio degli Scaligeri at Verona.
By Magistek Boning da Campione,
1374.
{See page 204.
THE MODENA-FERRARA LINK
205
been ruined and dispersed. One slab only remains, bearing the inscription, Magister Boninus de Campilione me fecit, with the date, June 25, 1357. So Can Scaliger would have also other famous had monumental works to recommend his choice of Bonino.
CHAPTER
III
THE TUSCAN LINK I.—Pisa
The
very mention of Pisa brings to our minds Niccolo
whose name stands
Pisano,
in
all
histories as
art
fountain-head of that Tuscan development of
art
the
which
But where was Niccolo Pisano this high post of honour ? A great architect and sculptor does not suddenly become famous and obtain important commissions without having led to the
trained and
Renaissance. qualified
some undeniable
for
credentials.
In those mediaeval days, selves
by forming
when
the arts protected them-
into constituted guilds,
no one could
call
himself a Master unless he were trained and qualified in
one of these guilds and had reached the higher grades. trace Niccolo's place in the great chain of the Masonic Guild, we must go back a little, and gather together the threads of information we have been able to glean, as to the expansion of the guild itself, and here the valuable collections of archivial documents made by Sig. Milanesi from the books and archives of the Opera del Duomo at Siena, and by Sig. Cesare Guasti from those of the cathedral
To
at
Florence, will materially assist us.
and putting
By
studying these
and statements together the whole organclear, and our former glimpses into the threefold aspect of the lodges at Modena, Parma, and other ization
facts
becomes
northern
cities
become confirmed. 206
THE TUSCAN LINK
20;
Here in Tuscany we again find the three branches. There is the school where novices were trained in
First
:
the three sister arts
When had as
—painting,
sculpture,
and architecture.
pupils were received from outside the guild, they
to pass a very severe novitiate before being admitted
members
;
but the sons and nephews of Magistri were,
be members by heritage without the The hereditary aspect of the lists of Masters novitiate.^ certainly displays this right of heritage very strongly. The qualified Masters were entitled to take pupils and appren-
we
learn, entitled to
tices
who
in their
own
studied under
studios.
Niccolo
The
large
number
of pupils
Pisano suggests his eminent
position in the guild.
Second There was the laborerium, or great workshop, where all the hewing of stone, carving of columns, cutting up of wood-work was done in fact, the head-quarters of the brethren who had passed the schools, but were not yet Masters.^ graphic sketch from a Masonic laborerium is given by Nanni di Banco, in the relief under the shrine of the Quattro Coronati on Or San Michele at Florence, :
—
A
where the four brethren are all at work. In looking at it, one is reminded of the old story of the block of marble from which Michael Angelo's David was made, which had laid for
many
years in the stores of the Opera del
Duomo
at Florence, it having been once assigned to Agostino di Ducci, who was commissioned in 1464 to make a statue for the front of the Duomo, which was blocked out so badly
that the marble
was taken away from him, and he was
expelled from the laborerium^
Third
:
There was the Opera or
Office of Adminis-
Thomas Hope,
Historical Essay on Architecture, chap. xxi. In the older papers and deeds of Lombard times these were classically called colligantes or fratres ; in the later ones they were Italianized as 1
2
fratelli or brethren. ^
See Tuscan Studies, by Leader
Scott, pp. 18, 19.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
2o8
which formed the link between the guild and its The Freemasons evidently adapted their nomenIn Tuscany clature to the dialect of the part they were in. There the word for this office was Opera (or Works).
tration,
patrons.
was the Opera di S. Jacopo and the Opera del Duomo at
Lombard
In cities of the
Padua,
Milan,
members of number,
etc.,
this
and
are
at Pistoja as early as Pisa,
district,
the
i
lOO
Siena, and Florence.
such as Modena, Parma,
name
is
Fabbriceria.
The
Ruling Council are generally four in called Operai in Tuscany, and
Lombardy. These were elected periodtwo of them being influential citizens, who acted on the part of the patrons, and two from the Masters themselves. Where the lodge was very small there was only one operaio, as in Pistoja, when in 1250 Turrisianus was
Fabbricieri in ically,
overseer [superstans) for a year.
lodge was larger, there were two.
more than
four.
Above
when
the Pistoja
At Milan
there were
Later,
these was the Superiore, a sort
were a reigning Prince, he was usually elected president. In the Opera, all commissions were given, and contracts signed between the city and the Masters, every contract being duly drawn up in legal manner by the notary of the Opera. Here orders were given for the purchase of materials, and estimates considered for the payment of either work or goods. The Opera had to provide the funds for the whole expenses. Usually this was done in the first instance by appropriating to the work the receipts of one or more taxes. In course of time people left legacies, and the Opera had a knack of growing very of president.
If there
rich.
Between the Opera and the laborerium was a rethe Proweditore. Judging from the entries in his private memorandum-book, his responsibilities must have been endless, and his occupations sponsible officer called
multitudinous.
THE TUSCAN LINK
209
There was
also a treasurer, a secretary, and two sometimes called Buon uomini, who acted as arbiters, for purposes of appeal and verification of accounts. The identical form of the lodges in the different cities is a strong argument that the same ruling body governed them all. An argument equally strong is the ubiquity of We find the same man employed in one the members.
Probiviri,
lodge after another, as work required. Unfortunately no documents exist of the early Lombard times, but the archives of the Opere, which in most cities have been faithfully
kept since
the
thirteenth
century,
would,
if
thoroughly examined, prove to be valuable stores from
which to draw a history of the Masonic Guild.
We
will
Sig.
Merzario asserts that no school of
now
return to Pisa. art
Pisa existed there before the building of the
indigenous to
Duomo.
He
might almost have said before the time of Niccolo, for so far was the half-mythical Buschetto from being a Pisan, that the
world has for eight centuries been arguing where
To arrive at Niccolo it is necessary to he came from start from Buschetto. Who was Buschetto ? Whence came !
monumental Latin, says, From Dulichium," and thus the idea was promulgated that he was a Greek. But the inscription (given on next It is a page) on Pisa cathedral says nothing of the kind. flowery eloquence which Cavalier Del Borgo reads as comparing him for genius to Ulysses, Duke of Dulichium, he
?
Vasari, in his ignorance of
"
and
for skill to Daedalus.
Cicognara judges from his name that he was Italian. Most probably Buschetto was a nickname, " little bush," given him either from a shock head of hair, or derived from Buscare, to thrash or
flog.
It is
quite possible, though
the proofs are not very strong, that he
may have been
of
Greek extraction, descended from some of the Byzantine members of the guild of whom we have spoken before.
.THE
2IO
CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
INGENIORU BUSKET.^ JACE...HIC DULICHIO. PREVALUISSE DUCI^ menib' JLIACIS CAUTUS DEDIT ILLE RUINA HUJUS AB ARTE VIRI MENIA MIRA VIDES. .
.
CALLIDITATE SUA NOCUIT DUX INGENIOS UTILIS ISTE FUIT CALLIDITATE SUA. NIGRA DOm' LABERINTUS ERAT TUA DEDALE LAUSE AT SUA busketTi SPLENDIDA TEMPLA PROBANT. N HABET EXPLU NIVEO^ DE MARMORE templu QUOD FIT BUSKETI PRORSUS AB INGENIO. RES SIBI COMISSAS TEMPLI CU LEDERET HOSTIS PROVIDUS arte SUI FORTIOR HOSTE FUIT. MOLISET IMMENSE PELAGI QUAS TRAXIT AB IMO FAMA COLUMNARUM TOLLIT AD ASTRA VIRUM EXPLENDIS A FINE DECEM DE MENSE DIEBUS SEPTEMBRIS GAUDENS DESERIT EXILIUM.
The partisans of the Grecian theory hold much to a MS. said to be now in the archives of the Vatican, but which Milanesi asserts cannot be
found,
—which
Pisans " Buschetum ex Grecia favore
—
says that the
Constantinopolitani
Imperatoris obtinuerunt." Morrona also suspects this to be
be genuine, the Pisans may only have asked for one of the Italian architects who were working in large numbers in the East under the Emperors, and
apocryphal
but even
;
if it
Lombard churches on
building
Oriental ground.
It
was
Monte Cassino, begged Comnenus to send him back some architects, and the Italian sculptor Olinto was among them. only in 1170 that Desiderius, Abbot of
It
may well be
true, as Sig.
existed at Pisa before the ^
Some
^
These two
originally
Merzario says, that no school
Duomo was
very early Latin authors write the
thus
—
name
begun.
But soon
Bruschettus.
which are partly effaced, have been said to read "Busketus iacet hie qui motibus ingeniorum Dulichio lines,
fertur prevaluisse Duci." ^
Dsedalus was called by the ancients the Father of architecture and
He was also the inventor of many mechanical appliances. good prototype of a Comacine Magister.
statuary.
short a
In
THE TUSCAN LINK after
that,
we
certainly
the
find
usual
211
organization
of
laborerium and Opera.
Old authors
us that " the most famous Masters from
tell
foreign parts vied in lending their helf^ to the building of
such an important
edifice,
under the direction of Buschetto."
^
Another old MS.^ records that the " Opera of the Duomo was instituted in 1080, some years after Buschetto was engaged, and that the first operai of the Council were Hildebrand, son of the Judge Uberto, son of Leo, Signoretto
and Buschetto of Dulichium who was architect. of these was Hildebrand, and the others were ministers and officers of the Opera, as may be found in the Archives of the said Opera." ^ Here we have the full The digniorganization of the Comacine House of Works. taries of the city as President, Treasurer, and Ministers, the head architect also a member of the Council of the Opera. Another old writer calls Buschetto capo delta
Alliata,
The head
scuola Pisana.
Andrea da Pisa are fine proofs and brought forth brave artists. Even as late as the sixteenth century, when Sansovino was sculpturing the casing of the Holy House at Loreto, we are told that thirty of the best carvers in stone were sent from Pisa to work under the Capo Maestro, Andrea Niccolo, Giovanni, and
that the school at Pisa flourished
Contucci of
Monte Sansovino.*
Among the Magistriixova. other parts in Buschetto's time, one of the chief was doubtless Rainaldo, who, judging from ^
" Concorsero da straniere parti Maestri piU accreditati a prestare la loro si importante Edifizio, sotto la direzione di Buschetto."
opera in 2
Book signed with
the
number
38, entitled Santuario Pisano, in the
archives of the Riformazione, Firenze. 8 "Ildebrando del Giudice, Uberto Leone, Signoretto Alliata e Buschetto da Dulichio che fu Architetto ; il capo di detti fu Ildebrando e gli altri
furono Ministri e Uffiziali
dell'
Opera,
come
Opera." *
Baldinucci, Dec.
4, sec. 6, p.
292.
si
trova nell' Archivio di detta
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
212
the inscription near the principal door of the fagade, was
not only a working sculptor in the guild, but also a
full-
fledged Master
HOC OPUS EXIMIUM TAM MERUM TAM PRETIOSUM RAINALDUS PRUDENS OPERATOR, ET IPSE MAGISTER COSTITVIT MIRE, SOLLERTER, ET INGENIOSE. :
:
much to be deplored that this inscription bears no we cannot tell whether Rainaldo were chief
It is
date, so that
architect after Buschetto, or
and executed the
front
designing the whole.
suggest both these (2)
;
whether he were only sculptor
Buschetto being architect, and
Here we have
artists as
Italians,
several things to
Their names. with the Opera
(i)
The Comacine form of their institutions, (3) The concourse of Italian Magistri which
at the head.
followed
them
;
but as usual, absolute proof
is
work can throw more
wanting.
on the question. Is the Pisan church Byzantine ? Decidedly not. There are no domes except the central one, which is seen in most Lombard churches no Oriental arches resting on bulging capitals but round arches supported on the identical Romano- Lombard composite capitals one sees in every Let us see
if
their
light
;
;
Italian
church of the time.
wilderness of
Lombard
The
fagade too
is
galleries in every direction.
a very Instead
of following the line of roof, they cover the whole front, one
below another. If Buschetto had brought back from Byzantium an idea of more richness of ornamentation, he certainly
worked
it
out in Italian forms, by merely multi-
till a network was formed This was not confined to him it became a mark of Comacine work for the next two or three centuries, as we may see at Lucca, Ancona, Arezzo, and other places. The style is called Romanesque, and it stands between the heavier Lombard style of the earlier Comacines, and the more finished Italian Gothic of the
plying his
little
pillared galleries
over the whole building.
;
THE TUSCAN LINK later ones, as
shown
in
213
Florence and Milan.
They
are
all,
however, only different developments of the same guild.
The
richness of ornamentation suited the temper of the
Pisans at that time. They were proud of many victories, and had brought back from Majorca, Palermo, and other places, various spoils, such as porphyry colonnettes, rare They desired a particularly grand and marble, etc. etc.^ gorgeous church, and that it should be in a style hitherto unknown. The many antique capitals and columns among the spoils placed at his disposal suggested, of course, arches,
so by
way
of being very original, Buschetto or Rainaldo,
whichever of the two designed
it,
made
his faqade with four
arcades, instead of one, or two, as his brethren in the north
were accustomed to do. The colonnettes in these four galleries are fifty-eight in number, some of rosso antico, others of the black and gold-streaked Luna marble. The two large columns at the central door are also of antique Greek work they are beautifully carved in foliage intertwined the other The four columns are fluted and wreathed with foliage. ;
;
capitals
also are chiefly ancient classic
work
;
there are
The Corinthian and composite ones. Comacine work, and have their usual mixture of animals and hieroglyphic figures. Here, too, are the lions of Judah
remaining capitals are
in juxtaposition
with the
pillars,
but as yet they appear
it, as was the invariable above the pillar custom a century later. The rude figures of saints at the extremities of the roof, both of the aisles and nave, mark the beginning of that revival of the human figure in sculpture, which was the
and not beneath
forerunner of the 1
Among
work of Niccolo
Pisano.
The tower and
these were the two porphyry columns now at the door of the They were taken by the Pisans in 1107 from the
Baptistery in Florence.
Saracens in Majorca, and as they were especially valuable, being miraculous, They were the Florentines claimed them as the spoils of war in 11 17. said to guard people against treachery.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
214
Baptistery are the natural results of the Duomo, the style being identical the same round arches in the foundation, ;
and the same
circles of
Lombard
galleries covering the
super-structures.
Baptistery was built by Magister Diotisalvi, somehave no proofs of his origin, but where about 1 152. his work and title prove him to have graduated in the same
The
We
guild as Buschetto and Rainaldo,^ and
grandsons
in
we
find his son
and
Siena and other lodges.
In the Baptistery, the old mystic octagonal form was
abandoned, and the here
made
circle takes its place.
Diotisalvi has
a perfect bell in tone as well as in form.
It is
may prove by The whole chord exquisite effect. The
the most acoustic building possible, as any one
singing in rotation the notes of a chord.
echoes on for several moments with
August 1152, the first stone being laid in the presence of the Consul Cocco di Tacco Grifi and two of the Operai (members of the administrative council or Opera) named Cinetto Cinetti, and Arrigo Here Cancellieri, were appointed soprastanti (overseers). again we have a distinct connection between the Opera del Duomo and the laborerium. Some of the classic spoils of war were given to Diotisalvi for this building. Several of the capitals on the twenty columns supporting the foundation circle of round arches, are Corinthian and the two pillars at the chief portal are Baptistery was begun in
;
;
beautiful specimens of ancient work, similar to those in the Judge at Pisa in the year 1 2 24, and a Diotimentioned in a deed executed in 1250, in the Port of Pisa. These may have been some of the architect's distant descendants, but we have no clue as to his ancestors. The name would seem to have been a nickname, and not his baptismal one, for in another round church which he built in Pisa, the Knights Templars' church of S. Sepolcro, it is engraved, " Hugius operis Fabricator dstesalvet nominatur." The author of Lettere Senesi derives the name from the motto of the 1
salvi,
There was a
Diotisalvi, a
son of Bentivenga,
Petroni family in Siena.
is
THE TUSCAN LINK Duomo.
fa9ade of the
Between the
215
classic
remains
in-
corporated into the building, and the statues and sculptures which belong to a later century, it is difficult to distinguish
which were the absolute work of Diotisalvi himself. The sculptures on the door-jambs rather mediaeval scenes relating to Christ
and David
— —and the hieroglyphics of the
months were probably his own work. The Baptism of Christ on the architrave, which has the mediaeval expression of baptism by immersion, may be his and if so, it seems to explain how the Greek element got into Niccolo ;
Pisa's
di
showing in the
work, for here in his
work
is
his
signs of the
midst of a rude and early
antecedent of a century,
same leaning
How
style.
when he- was living among classic remains The other three doors have also antique
it
A
to classicism
could he help of sculpture
?
spiral columns Comacine style,
of
Greek marble.
is
the frieze of interlaced foliage over the west entrance.
The second
order
is
fine piece of
a colonnade of
The
sculptured capitals.
work,
in
fifty -eight
arches with
third consists of eighteen pilasters
and twenty windows. Here are seen the lion between the pillar and the arch, various animals and human heads at the spring of the arches, while above each order is a complicated cornice of pyramids, spires, and arabesques, which suggest a Southern or Eastern influence. The interior but of fine solid architecture. Twelve Corinthian columns and four large pilasters support the arches, forming a peristyle round the building a similar gallery is
less ornate,
;
with slight columns runs above it. The columns are not all Three of them are of granite brought of antique marble. from the Isle of Elba, on May 4, 1155, and two from Sardinia, by Cinetti, one of the overseers we have mentioned.^
was placed on October i, 11 56. The some antique, Corinthian, others in capitals are ornate Comacine style with animals and intrecci. On one of the
The
first
pillar
;
1
Morrona, Pisa Illustrata,
vol.
i.
p. 383.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
2i6
engraved
pillars is
—
" Deo-ti-salvi, magister hujus operis."
Morrona thinks the Baptistery shows a Moorish
influence.
whole of the three buildings show This is the Comacines' first great change of style, after their works in the south at Palermo, and the kingdom of Naples. possible, as the
Old writers
call
the style Arabo-Tedesco
brings us to the meaning of the
word Tedesco
and
;
in
this
Italian
architecture at this epoch.
The fallacy that
the Italian Gothic
came from Germany,
must have got into art histories from a misconception of Vasari's term of opprobrium, '' qtiei Tedeschi." He uses it when he speaks of any architecture which is not purely classic, even blaming buildings such as Arnolfo s Florendome, the churches of Assisi, Orvieto, Lucca, tine Pisa, etc.
But the writers who interpret the
German
first
place,
nation,
term as meaning
this
are reasoning on a fallacy.
was there any pointed Gothic
the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries
in
?
In the
Germany
We
before
will just
run
Bruges was begun over the principal Gothic cathedrals. Cologne is modern of the eighteenth and ninteenth in 1358 ;
Lubeck was
Attenburg in 1265 At Freiburg in 1379 older parts are of same Breisgau, the the style as Comacine, while the Gothic parts date from 15 13. Strasburg, the Magdeburg, Gothic parts between 1318 1363. 1439 Before these were built we have at Cologne, S. Gercon's Kirche, with circular arches, date 1227, and S. Pantaleon, centuries ;
;
Dom
Freiburg
built in 1341
Kirche
—
980, but there
is
dral, built in
1
in
;
1484.
;
not a sign of Gothic in either.
15
1
— 1270,
is
Bonn
also round-arched.
cathe-
Coblenz
Mayence, round-arched of the tenth and eleventh centuries (the Gothic side-chapels date from 1260 to 1500). Treves, with round arches, early Romanis
Carlovingian.
esque of the eleventh century the twelfth century
;
some
;
choir, later
Romanesque of
parts which are pointed
were of
THE TUSCAN LINK the thirteenth century.
Hildesheim, a Romanesque Basilica,
built in the eleventh century. is
tripartite,
Worms, 996
on
— 10
the 1
6,
21;
Dom
Comacine
Lombard
Insel at Breslau, 11 70,
and
plan,
style,
very quaint.
with round arches
;
the
architecture are much more modern. proves that the earliest churches were built by Italian Masters, or at least in the Italian style. parts with pointed
This
list
Hope
most of them as Lombard. The Germans themselves expanded the Lombard style into the pointed, which also came up through Italy, its first signs being seen at Assisi, next at Pisa, and then Florence. Milan was a later reflex of the perfected German Gothic, though chiefly executed, as we shall see later, by the hands of Comacine Masters. As I have before remarked, climatic influences greatly Indeed
classes
determine the style of a national architecture.
To
the
sunny south belong the flat roof the shady colonnade the horizontal line and frieze the fountained court the smaller windows and the solid tower. To the north the pointed roof, that snow and rain shall not decay it the solid buttress to resist the greater outward pressure of the high and aspiring sloped roof; the perpendicular tendency in design the larger windows for a less sunny atmosphere and the pointed spire to carry up the general lines. On these lines of fitness the Germans and French perThe fected their style, and imported it into England. differences are great, between this northern Gothic and the Italian Gothic, which is always more or less Romanesque. Now if in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ^ the Germans ;
;
;
;
;
;
;
had not begun to build their glorious pointed minsters, what did Vasari mean by guei Tedeschi ? I will show from his own description.
I
n his chapter called " delH
A rchitettura,"
forming the introduction to his Lives, after discussing the three classical orders, he says (I will translate literally) 1
Vasari, edited
by Milanesi,
vol.
i.
p.
137.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
2i8
"
There
another kind of work which they
is
call
Tedesco
which the ornamentation and proportions are (German), (Modern very different from the ancient or the modern. in Vasari's time would be the Renaissance style of Michael Angelo.) This is not used by good architects of these days, but is shunned by them as monstrous and barbarous. in
Every sign of order is forgotten, it ought rather to be and disorder. In the buildings, which are so many that they have infected the whole world, you see called confusion
the portals adorned with thin columns twisted like a vine,
and so
slight that they could not
the weight.
And
be supposed to support
then on their fagades and other places
made a cursed mass of little tabernacles (archlets) one on the other, with many pyramids and points, and such foliage (here Vasari evidently has his eye on Pisa Baptistery), that it seems impossible how they clung together they
they seem
made
In these works lines,
brackets,
building
;
of paper, rather than of stone or marble. there
and
are
intrecci,
many
protuberances,
broken
quite disproportionate to the
and frequently, by piling one thing on another,
they run up so high that the top of a door touches the roof
(Here Vasari is certainly thinking of the porches of San Zeno at Verona, and the cathedral of Bergamo.) This style was invented by the Goths (does he mean Longobards perhaps ?), who having ruined the buildings, and murdered
made the ones who remained build in this They arched their roofs with acute quarti (vaulted
the architects,
way.
roofs)and
God
filled all Italy
with this cursed style of building.
.
.
.
save any country from coming to such ideas and
orders of architecture, which, being utterly deformed and unlike the beauty of our buildings, do not deserve that
we
should speak any more of them."
Again, in the Proemio delle Vite, when praising the solid buildings of the Goths in Ravenna, especially the
Theodoric, with
its
huge monolithic
roof,
tomb of
he goes on to
THE TUSCAN LINK speak of the Dark Ages
new
arose
— "After
who from
architects,
219
which," he says, "there
barbarous
their
derived the kind of buildings which
we
nation
of to-day
call
which seem ridiculous to us, although to them they may have appeared to be praiseworthy." Here are tirades from the old chronicler of art, who swore by the three classic orders, and worshipped Michael Angelo and the Renaissance style Certainly the flat tedeschi, the
!
pilaster, triangular
pediments, and straight unadorned lines
of that art were as far removed as the poles from the florid
but meaningful sculpture- architecture of the Comacines in
Romanesque
times, or its rich
Norman and Gothic
develop-
ments.
However, we gather
plainly from this, that when Vasari he means merely Lombard. The reason is easy to see. Lombardy and North Italy, down to Lucca, were from about 1 1 70 under the rule of the German Emperors, consequently the Comacines were no longer Lombards, nor French as in the Carlovingian times, calls
a master
Tedesco,
but Germans.
This
is
curiously
emphasized by an episode
When
building of the cathedral at Pisa.
in
the
the Pisans wanted
endow the building fund of the church, they wished to buy some land on the Serchio, near Lucca, to help to form They had, however, to send Gualando Orlandi a revenue. and Aldebrando de' Visconti as ambassadors to Germany to obtain permission from the Emperor Henry IV., that the lands close by Lucca might be ceded to Pisa.^ The tower of Pisa is too well known to need any The joint masters were Bonanno of Pisa, description here. In some authors he is and a very confusing Tedesco. to
called
Guglielmo from inquiry as to how Innspruck comes into the
Giovanni d'Innspruck,
On
Germany. question,
we 1
find
the
in
following
Morrona, Pisa Illustrata,
others
perplexing
vol.
i.
passage in
pp. 142, 143.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
220
Morrona.
After quoting the inscription on the
MCLXXIV
tower,
fundatum mense "We find from ancient documents Agusti," he continues belonging to the Opera, that the building was begun on the vigil of San Lorenzo, and the two above-mentioned architects (Bonanno and Guglielmo) are precisely indicated,
"A,D.
campanile hoc
—
fuit
excepting only that instead of Guglielmo written Giovanni Onnipotente of
Tedesco,
it
is
—a misinterpreta-
Germany
word CEnipons or CEnipontanus, which signifies ^ The italics are my own, and emphawhat Sig. Morrona styles a precise indication The
tion of the
native of Innspruck." size
!
passage
is
an astounding
bit
of unreason, but as neither
Giovanni nor Guglielmo is a German form of name, I do not think this theory need trouble us. Whether the builder were German or Italian, whether named John or William, he only carried out the general design of the two buildings, and made a veil of Lombard archlets all over his leaning tower.
We shall find
both Bonanno and Guglielmo working at
later. The tower was finished much when Andrea di Pisa was Grand Master of the Pisan Lodge the upper circle of arches belongs to his part of the
Orvieto some time later,
;
work.
At
Pisa then we have an artistic sphere which might have produced Niccolo di Pisa, even without the influences of the south. We will, as far as the few inscriptions and documents allow, see who were the members of this Masonic lodge, which had painters before even the rise of the Siena school, and whose building was the earliest model well
for the ^
Romanesque
style.
Morrona, Pisa Illustrata,
vol.
i.
p. 407.
"Si trova in antiche
ture deir Opera, che fu la vigilia di S. Lorenzo
il
scrit-
giorno, in cui fu dato
; e son precisamente indicati i due citati Architetti, non che in vece di Guglielmo Tedesco, si dice Giovanni Onnipotente di Germania per la mala interpetrazione della parola CEnipons, o Oinipontanus,
principio alia fabbrica se
che
significa nativo d'Innspruck."
THE TUSCAN LINK
221
Bonanno, who assisted in the building of the tower, was more famous in the guild for his metal working than for architecture and marble sculpture. The fame of the bronze doors of the Duomo which he cast is now only traditionary, as they were destroyed by the fire on October 25, 1596. The antique inscription has been preserved, and proves that in 11 80 Bonanno cast the doors, which had taken him a year to model, and that a certain "Benedict" was operarius at the
time.-^
Bonanno's successor as a master
in
bronze was a certain
Bartolommeo di Pisa, who was, like Bonanno, sculptor, and metal-worker. He was much patronized by
architect,
the
Emperor
Foggia, and
famous
Frederic, for
made a tomb.
bell-caster
;
whom he built He seems to
there
are
S.
Cosimo
his
name
have been a quoted by
inscriptions
Morrona,^ which have been found on bells tower of Pisa, the bells of the churches of Assisi, S.
the palace at
in the leaning
St.
Francis at
Francesco at Siena, S. Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, and Sometimes at Pisa, S. Michele at Lucca, etc.
stands alone
ingo or Andreotti,
is
;
sometimes one of
his sons, Lotter-
associated with him.
Later
we
find
the sons' names alone in independent works, and then with the distinctive
title
of Magister.
Through this group of Pisan Masters a special connection was established with the south, a link which might account for Pietro, the father of Niccolo, being called Pietro da Apulia, for there certainly was an offshoot of the Pisan
Bonanno of Pisa cast the famous bronze doors of Monreale Bartolommeo was at Foggia lodge in that part.
;
Magister Lotoringus, passed most of his life at Cefalu, where his name appears on a bell dated a.d. 1263.
and
his son,
The Emperor him
in Cefalu, 1
2
Frederic, his
and
father's
patron, nationalized
after ten years of residence, in
Morrona, Pisa Illustrata nelle 2H. Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 106
—
artt, vol.
i.
p. 170.
1242 he
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
222
gave him permission
to take a wife from Castro- Vetere in
Calabria.
Other metal-workers and bell-casters at Pisa were a Nanni, a Pardo Nardi, and others whose names appear I do not know whether inscribed in the twelfth century. Rossi, Angelo whose name with the date ii 73 is on the a sculptured bell once in the church of S. Giovanni in Pisa (now at Villa di Pugnano), was a fellow-pupil or scholar of Bonanno's. His work is less artistic and masterly.
And now
for the
A
sculptors of the lodge.
master of the twelfth century was Biduinus,
who
famous
sculptured
the fa9ade of the ancient church of S. Cassiano, near Pisa,
the building of which was undoubtedly the
Pisan Lodge.
It
is
work of the
a round-arched church of the usual
smooth square-cut blocks of stone, and is externally adorned by pilasters with capitals of varied form and Biduinus' fa9ade has five round arches with a sculpture. double-light simple window above. The capitals and architraves are all carved with the mystic beasts and
large
hippogriffs
belonging to the religion of the day.
architraves
show the
in
Gothic
letters
—
resurrection of Lazarus, and Christ's
On
one of the doors " Hoc opus quod cernis.
entry into Jerusalem.
peregit"; the other bears the date 11 80. of the church
is
The
the inscription
is
Biduinus docte
The whole
style
similar to the Pistoja buildings of that
epoch, and recalls the school of Gruamonte. that Biduinus as well as
Gruamont worked
It is certain
Lucca, for
in
the relief of the architrave of S. Salvatore at Lucca signed " biduvino me fecit hoc opus."
The
is
next great names are Niccolb and Giovanni Pisani,
own lodge, but of the universal when his famous pulpit was sculptured,
the glory not only of their Guild.
Until the time
Niccolo seems to have worked
endowed
it
little
in
Pisa,
though he
with one of his most original designs
—the
bell-
Pulpit in the Church of
S,
Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoja. d'Agnello, T3TH CENTURY.
By Magister Guglielmo [Seepage
223.
THE TUSCAN LINK tower of S.
Niccolo.
influence in his style,
was and any had and
223
From
the evidence of southern probable that his father Pietro whom Frederic called to South Italy, it is
one of the artists that Niccolo passed his novitiate with him there. In case, by the time he wrote Magister before his name he already attained a high rank as sculptor and architect, was chosen for most important works out of Pisa, such as the Area di S. Domenico at Bologna, and the building of the church and convent near it. Niccolo Pisano's work in Florence was almost
exclusively architectural
;
he also
designed the cathedral churches of Arezzo and Cortona. His pupil, Fra Guglielmo, a relative of the Doge dell'
who was
Agnello of Pisa
Area worked in 1293 at the reliefs in the facade of Orvieto, and in 1304 put the Romanesque front to S. Michele in Borgo, in Pisa. The Virgin and Child over the door of the latter is a copy of Niccolo's famous statue. Some authors give him the di S.
Domenico
at
credit of being
Niccolo's assistant in the
Bologna
in
the Tedesco
1272,
who
Vasari says sculptured
the fine pulpit in S. Gio. Fuorcivitas at Pistoja, and assisted
A
Bonanno
sculptor
tower of Pisa. named Bonaiuto must,
who
in the
belonged to Niccolo's school.
Two
think,
I
have
interesting sculptured
doorways by him still exist in what was once the Palazzo Sclafani at Palermo (now the barracks of S. Trinit^). The doorway is carved in tufo, and above it is a kind of gable supported by two small pilasters, enclosing the arms of the family, a pair of cranes surmounting the gable is a carved eagle, with a hare in its claws, standing on a kind of capital, which is unmistakably Comacine beneath this is a bracket inscribed, ''Bonaiuto me fe-cit de Pisa" Sig. Centofanti, in a private letter to Professor Clemente Lupi, ;
;
who wrote
to ask for information about Bonaiuto, says that
a register of expenses of the Opera del contains several mentions of the name.
Duomo
of Pisa
In one dated 13 15
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
224
Bonaiutus magister lapidum is noted as working at the Duomo, and receiving two soldi a day, his companions receiving four or five, and the capo maestro eight. Here it
would seem he is still in the lower ranks of the brotherhood. In 1 318 he is noted as Boniautus Michaelis, and receives In 1344 he has become full capo maestro four soldi a day. of the Duomo, and is paid nine soldi a day.*
From line too,
sprang Arnolfo, the first of a long From it, of sculptor-builders of the Florentine Lodge. through his son Giovanni, came the best builders of his school also
Siena cathedral, and their followers
the
who worked
at
Orvieto.
Thus Niccolo and Giovanni are proved to be links in the old chain that came from classic Rome through the Lombard Comacines to the Renaissance. All the famous names that ever were, may be traced in this universal Guild from father to son, from master to pupil. After Giovanni Pisano went to Siena, Andrea di Pisa, his scholar, carried on In 1299 we first hear of Andrea, the his school in Pisa. son of a notary at Pontedera, as famulus magistriJohannes? His first authentic works were the bronze doors of the Florentine Baptistery, proving that he had been trained in the many-branched fraternity at Pisa, where metal-working ranked so high. As instances of his sculptures in marble,
were on the Duomo at Florence, and the second line of reliefs on Giotto's campanile. But like all the Magistri, he was, above all, an architect, and in that branch we find him as Grand Master at Orvieto in 1347. His son Nino succeeded him in the onerous office. His other son Tommaso was also in the guild, but did not rise to eminence in it. He designed a
we may
take
many of the
statues which
^ From "Una sculiura di Bonaiuto Pisano" Nuova Serie, Anno IX., pp. 438 443, 1884.
—
^
Ciampi, Archivio del
Duomo
di Pisa.
m
Archivio storico Siciliano,
THE TUSCAN LINK and painted two caskets
palace,
for the
225
Doge
dell'
Agnello
of Pisa.
Nino's sculptures show a greater fidelity to
than those of his
A
artistic ancestors.
nature
Madonna and two
angels over the door of the canonry of the Duomo at Florence are very charming, as are his statues in the church of the " Spina" at Pisa. next find Nino's son
We
Andrea receiving payment for a sepulchre for the Doge deir Agnello, which Nino did not live long enough to finish.
One among Andrea's
pupils who were not his relatives and wide-spread eminence in the guild, i. e. Magister Giovanni Balducci di Pisa, whose artistic career was mostly in Milan, where the Visconti patronized him. He sculptured several tombs, among them the beautiful Area of St. Peter Martyr in S. Eustorgio in 1336, The figures of the Christian Virtues are very sweet and naturalrose to special
istic.
On
a sculptured pulpit at S. Casciano near Florence,
same shape and style as that by Guido di Como at Pistoja, but infinitely more advanced in art, he has signed,
of the "
Hoc opus
Johs Balducci Magister de Pisis." The only architectural work that is mentioned as signed by him is
fecit
the door of S. Maria in Brera at Milan.
II.— Lucca and Pistoja
THE BUONI FAMILY AT PISTOJA 1152
2
&34-
Magister
Employed
Buono
1168
"
1196
to" (Guido) Magister Buono, called
M. Johannes and
Gruamont
Guit-
at
Ravenna and
at
Naples, where he built Castel dell' Uovo and Castel CapuAt Arezzo the palace ano. of the Signory. Made the Ciborium at Corneto. Built the churches of S.
and
S.
Andrea
Gio. Evangelista at
Pistoja. This man is said by Vasari to be identical with the first Buono.
226 5-
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
it
is
THE TUSCAN LINK
22;
them
as his architects.
natural to suppose he chose
Every sign of the work confirms this, although no names us. As was frequently the case, the church was left without a facade for over a century, and at the end of the twelfth century the Lucchesi wished to put have come down to
this finishing touch.
There was in Lucca at the time a certain Magister Guido da Como, who had in 1187 built the church of S. It was built for the feudal Lords Maria Corteorlandini. Rolandinga, whose palace was called Corte Rolandinga, on the occasion of one of their family joining in the There is mention of a Comacine sculptor crusades.^ named Guido before this date, at Corneto-Tarquinia, where in the church of S. Maria di Castello is a fine Ciborium, signed " Johannes et Guitto hoc opus fecerunt, MCLXVIII." This, being only nineteen years previous,
may have been an
earlier
work of
this
same Guido.
This
Magister evidently had a son who followed his father's art, and was named after himself Guido, though called Guidetto, To or young Guido, to distinguish him from his father. these two
the
of
men were
Duomo.
confided the commission for the front
Probably
the
elder
not
did
live
to
complete it, for although the commission was given to Maestro Guido Marmolario {sic), the inscription on the 1
The
inscription,
still
preserved in the passage leading to the sacristy
of the church, runs thus
^
ANNO DNi
MO. CO.
OCTUAGO SEPTIMO. SEPULCRU.
CRUCE. XPI. SARA. CENI. CEPERUNT. PERFIDI. SUB. SALADINO. ANNO. PROXIMO. SEQUENTI. DIE. MILITE.
TEPLU.
.
ET.
.
.
KL. AGOSTO. HEC. HECCLA. DE NOVO REFU SOLO. QUAE LAUDAT. DM. X DARI. CEPIT. BEATE. MARIE. VlfV. BLASfU CONDOR .
.
SiU.
CERBONIU
ET ALEXIUM. GUIDUS. MAISER, EDIFICAVIT.
O.
.
.
.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
228 facade runs
—
" Mille C.C.
dextra Guidecti."
chras.
1
11
|
figure with a very
young
1
condi dit ele
a
is
|
|
|
cti tarn
pul |
the
sculptures
is
one
supposed to be a portrait of perfect specimen of pure
face,
This fagade
Guidetto.
1 1.
Among
^
Comacine- Romanesque, and shows that the Saracen inhad been placed in the south, when employed by the Lombard Dukes of Beneventum, had not led them to change entirely their old style, but only to develop it into a species of Oriental richness which (so far we may agree with old Vasari) sometimes fluence under which the Masters
errs against truth
and good
taste.
shows
It
also the close
connection between the Pisan and Lucchese Lodges.
The row
of archlets which used to form a cornice under
the roof now, as at Pisa, run wild over the whole fagade.
The
outlines which used to follow honestly the shape of nave and aisles, now, for the sake of heaping on more ornament, stretch up far beyond the roof-line, forming a mask.
A
more glaring instance of the same
still
seen
Michele, at Lucca, where
Guidetto's other church, S.
in
fault is
the two upper galleries are the frontage of a mere useless wall in the
As an desired to
young Guido left something to be a sculptor he was marvellous. Variety seems
as
have been
among a
;
air.
architect,
all
the hundreds of colonnettes, you can scarcely find
duplicate.
inlaid
in
;
In both S. Martino and S. Michele,
his aim.
They
are plain,
foliaged,
clustered,
black, white, red, green, yellow or parti-coloured,
endless
As
variety.
imaginable shape and
He
fluted,
for
style,
capitals,
you
get
every
symbol and ornamentation.
outdoes his prototype Rainaldus of Pisa, and no clearer
proof of a guild, rather than a single mind, can be furnished,
than by this
infinite variety
of the imaginings of '
many
Ridolfi,
of
detail,
which plainly speaks
minds.
Guida di Lucca,
p. lo.
THE TUSCAN LINK
229
The Comacines here are still in the transition stage, though near its end, for the sign of the lion of Judah holds its place above the pillar, under the spring of the arch. In the Italian Gothic, their next development, it is always beneath the column.
One
of the lion-capped columns
is
entirely covered with
sculptures representing the genealogical tree of the Virgin.
The
statue above the door, of St. Martin dividing his cloak
with the beggar, its
is sufficiently
well modelled as to suggest
belonging to a later century.
who has
Signor Ridolfi,
Lucca
for his
studied
much
in the archives of
learned work L'Arte in Lucca, thinks that,
in 1204,
Guidetto the younger was only just beginning his
career.
His father must have died about
this time, for
the
son loses his diminutive, and becomes in his turn Guido In 12 11 he was called to Prato to work at the
Magistro.
Duomo which
there (then
still
he was to
exists,
build.
known
as S. Stefano).
The
contract,
does not specify what part of the church It is drawn up by the Notary Hilde-
and binds " Guido, Maestro marmoraio " of S. Martino of Lucca, to go to Prato on fair terms, and there to remain working, and commanding others to work, at the church of S. Stefano. After this he was recalled to Lucca, to put the above-mentioned faqade to S, Michele, which Teutprand had built in the eighth century, and which had been rebuilt, when in 1027 Beraldo de' Rolandinghi had left a large legacy for the purpose. This fagade, which, as I have brand,
said, is precisely similar in
was finished
in
1246.^
sculpture the altar
much remains of
and
style to
Guido was
that of the
Duomo,
then called to Pisa, to
font in the Baptistery there.
—
the altar
Not
which appears to have been columns except some very
—
on four ancient sculpture, and two small columns with extremely The inscription, however, is rude statues on them. the usual
*
edifice
Merzario,
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
vi. p.
193.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
230
and
preserved,
runs
— "A.D.
MCCXLVI. Como
Rectore loci^-Guido Bigarelli da
fecit
sub Jacobi hoc opus."^
This valuable discovery was made by the German Schmarzow. Here we have the family name of this busy It is one of sculptor, and of his father Guido of Como. the first instances, for surnames only became fixed about this time.
Guido or Guidetto's last work appears to have been the pulpit in San Bartolommeo in Pantano, at Pistoja, executed
1250.
in
This
particularly
is
interesting,
as
being the immediate precursor of Niccolo Pisano's pulpit It has been thought that Guido, either at Pisa in 1260.
from death or other cause, pupil Turrisianus finished
Cav. Tolomei
is
left
it.
— "Sculptor
probatur Guido de |
Como
the
work
The
imperfect, and his
inscription as quoted
by
laudator qui doctus in arte
quern cunctis carmine promo |
Anno domini 1250] Est operi sanus superestans Turrisianus Namque fide prova vigil K Deus indi corona." ^ I
Tolomei
is
puzzled by the cypher K, and Ciampi, the
collector of inscriptions, has, in reporting this one, left out
He
the last line altogether.
interprets
it
as implying that
left the work unfinished, Turrisianus finished was studying lately some old documents in the archives of S. Jacopo at Pistoja, Signor Guido Maccio
Guido having Whilst
it.
of that
city,
I
who
kindly assisted
me
to read the crabbed old
new light on that inscription. He says Tolomei has misread it that the cypher is not a K but H C, which was plainly legible in a rubbing he took of it, and that superstans merely means overseer in fact, the Latin form of operaio. The same term superstans was used for the head of the laborerium in Rome up to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, and survived in the characters, threw a
;
;
1
Martin von Lucca, und die Aufange der Toschaniscen Sculptur von August Schmarsow, pp. 56, 57. Breslau, 1890. Cav. F. Tolomei, Guida di Pistoja, p. 74. Pistoja, 182 1.
S.
Mittelatter, ^
in
Pulpit in Church of
S.
Baktolommeo, Pistoja.
By Guido da Como.
[See ^ag-e 230.
THE TUSCAN LINK later
lodges as soprastante.
inscription
thus—
"
Signer Maccio interprets the
The famous
has proved himself learned in
be sung
in
verse,
sculptor
and
art,
Guido of Como
for superintending the
work so
well."
But as
in
most of the
name
inscriptions,
is
more
leave
I
learned classics to say which interpretation guild, the
(Torrigiani)
may God crown
acted as overseer to this fine work, and
him
name should
his
Turrisianus
1250.
a.d.
231
the true one.
documents,
etc.
of the
of the head of the lodge, and often those
put
Signor Maccio may be right, and the inscription is another proof of a Masonic lodge in which Torrigiani was, at the time, the head of the administration. Guido's pulpit is of white marble, and in the ancient square form, with eight panels in bas-relief. It rests on three columns the first stands on a lion with a dragon at its feet, the second on a lioness suckling a cub, the third on a human figure. In this pulpit, and the older one at of the councillors are
in,
I
incline to think
;
Groppoli,
we have a
perceptible link, connecting Niccolo
Pisano with the Comacine Guild, which closely
when
speaking of
There were
at that
neighbourhood.
One
Duomo at
Pisa,
one
Romanesque
we
epoch three lodges in
shall trace
more
sculpture. in the
immediate
connection with the Opera del
at Pistoja in the
Opera di
S.
Jacopo, and
a third one at Lucca, where Guido and Guidetto were chief sculptors. Besides this there was another in Apulia, where
thought Niccolo's father Pietro worked. Niccolo's work, and that of Guido the younger, are so very much alike as to warrant the suspicion that they were both pupils it
is
of one master, but that Niccolo had in him these greater qualities
which go to form an epoch-making
Little has hitherto
come
lodges of Lucca and Pisa.
artist.
to light respecting the
The
Masonic
laborerium at Pistoja
is
rather more clearly defined, and furnishes some definite It existed from the twelfth century, but I do not names.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
232
There
think the archives were kept quite so early as that. is
name Rodolfin'S
the
anni
op,
1167,
architrave of the principal entrance of the
carved on the
Lombard church
of S. Bartolommeo in Pantano but as critics cannot tell whether it means " Rodolfinus opus " or " Rodolfinus ;
operaius " or head of the Opera, it is not a very decisive bit The reading " Rodolfinus Operaius for the of history.
year 1167" would, like " Turrisianus, overseer in 1250,"
be quite
The
whose
interlaced
and
a masterpiece of
is
round-arched
three
usual
the
pilasters
architraves
are
rich
with
and whose richly-carved more or less fiercely dominating other
and
arches rest on lions
sin.
has
It
scrolls
animals, as
come
Bartolommeo
fagade of S.
Lombard work. doors,
connection with the guild.
intelligible in its
foliage,
emblems that divine strength is able to overWhether all the animal sculptures on this
church are due to the twelfth-century builder, or whether
some I
are
remains of Gundoaldo's^
The
cannot say.
first
edifice
in
767,
architraves are certainly of the later
date.
The
head, or capo-maestro of the laborerium of Pistoja
was evidently one of the Buono whose race and school became as famous as the Antelami and Campionesi, all three being branches of the original Lombard Guild. Like the Antelami and the Campionesi, the school founded by the Buoni furnished in the twelfth century,
family,
several shining lights
name
is
first
among
met with
spoken," on the
Ten
Years'
1
Doctor to King Desiderius.
'
Reproduced
in Muratori's
the
in the
Lombard Magistri. The poem of which we have
War
Rerum
between Milan and the
Italicum, verse 636 et seq.
" Inteluum scandunt et amicos insimul addunt
.
.
veniunt properantes Artificesque, boni
nimium
satis ingeniosi
Strenuus inter quosque rogatus adesse Joannes
Quinque Bonus de Vesonzo cognomine
dictus."
.
—
THE TUSCAN LINK people of Como.
down
Among
233
the brave citizens
their tools to take arms,
who
threw
and distinguished themselves
wielding them, was a certain Giovanni Buono from Vesonzo (now Bissone) in Vail' Intelvi, who took part in the siege of the fortress of S. Martino on Lake Lugano. The war took place in the tenth century the poem was in
;
than iioo.
Sig. Merzario^ opines Maestro Buono of whom Vasari speaks as the "first architect who showed a more elevated spirit, and aimed after better things, but of whose country and family he knows nothing," ^ was one of this line of sculptor-architects originally from Vesonzo (Bissone) in Inteluum (Val d' Intelvi). The name Giovanni occurs constantly in the
written a
little
later
that the
lists.
Certainly the head of the
line,
as far as regards art,
Magister Giovanni Buoni here mentioned by to say that this Buono in 1152 had been employed on buildings in Ravenna, after which he was called to Naples, where he built the Castel dell' Uovo
was the
Vasari,
who goes on
and Castel Capuano
and
;
that
in
the
time
of
Doge
Domenico Morosini, i.e. 11 54, he founded the Campanile of S. Marco at Venice, which Vasari asserts was so well built that up to his time it had never moved a hair [non ha mat mosso un pelo). Vasari says that Giovanni Buono was in 1 166 at Pistoja, where he built the church of S. Andrea. Both Milanesi, Vasari's annotator, and Merzario' complain that Vasari was very confused in these statements. The tower of S. Marco was, Cicognara says, by a later Bartolommeo Buono from Bergamo, who also sixteenth century.
built the Procuratie
It is
curious
how
Vecchie
same century, could have made such a statement
I Maestri
Comacini,
Vol
^
Merzario,
*
Vasari, Life of Arnolfo di Lapo.
^
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
I.
chap.
iv. p.
in the
Vasari, living in the
iv.
162.
;
he must
pp. 161, 162.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
234
have known whether the tower were being built then, or had been standing for several centuries. The fact was that one Buono built the older tower in Venice to which Vasari refers, and the sixteenth-century Bartolommeo Buono was its restorer. The style is certainly antique. Vasari's annotators agree that this Buono worked at Arezzo, where he built the bell-tower, and the ancient palace of the Signoria of Arezzo {cio e un palazzo della maniera de' Goti), i. e. with large hewn stones after which he came to Pistoja, where he built S. Andrea and other ;
churches.
But even here some confusion exists. It is difficult whether the builder of S. Andrea at Pistoja, the cathedral of Lucca was indeed named Buono and There is an inscription on the sculpor Gruamonte. ture of the architrave of the fagade which has been a great bone of contention. It proves, however, beyond a doubt that the usual organization, with the Opera as to decide
the administrative branch, existed in Pistoja in 1196.
—
It
hoc opus Gruamons magister bon(us) et Adot (Adeodatus) frater ejus. Tunc erat operarii Villanus et Pathus filius Tignosi a.d. MCIXVI." ^ This work was done by Gruamons, Master Buono, and Adeodatus his brother Villanus and Pathus, son of Tignosi, being then operai {i. e. on the administrative council). runs
" Fecit
.
.
.
;
In that word bonus
merely placed but
it
in
lies
encomium
does not seem to
habitually sign his
habitual
it
the difficulty. :
me
Some
say
it
is
Gruamons the good master probable that a
name with
man would
a boastful adjective
;
and
was, because on the white stripes of the archi-
trave of the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista Fuorcivitas
he has again signed himself " Gruamons magister bonus f^c hoc opus." Knowing the Italian love of nicknames ^ Milanesi, quoting other experts, says that when IX. hundreds and units it signifies 90, consequently the date
is
is
placed between 1196.
Church of
S.
Andrea, Pistoja.
Designed by Gruamons.
\Sce page 235.
THE TUSCAN LINK from the
earliest ages,
take
I
it
that
235
the architect
was
Vasari says. Master Bonus or Buono, and that from a long neck and a stoop, or from his clever use of a crane, he was nicknamed Gruamons, " the crane really, as
either
man,"^ grue being Italian for both bird and machine. That the Gruamons who carved the Magi on the architrave of S. Andrea was one of the very early Masters, is evident from the mediaeval grossness of his work in carving the is
human
figure
;
that
he may very
likely
be Comacine
suggested by the style and mastery of his ornamento and
the
life in
the figures of his animals.
The
capitals support-
ing this architrave are evidently by one of his subordinates
they are very rough, but
full
;
of meaning, explaining the
mystery of the Annunciation and Conception below them These early the signature Magister enricus mi fecit. ;
sculptures are especially interesting, for they are the
by
actual
first
show Bible events and truths Comacines representation instead of by symbols, and so form
efforts of the
to
development under Niccolo Pisano. Hence the greater want of practice in the human figures, compared to the animals and scrolls, with which the guild the
link
had been
with the
familiar for ages.
compare Gruamons' work with that of the later sculptor of the fagade of S. Bartolommeo, and note the rapid progress that art was making towards more There are only perfect and natural form in sculpture. It is interesting to
1 One only has to glance at the names of the well-known artists to see how common this use of nicknames was. We have Masaccio (the bad Thomas) Cronaca, whose real name was PoUajuolo Domenico Bigordi, ;
;
called Ghirlandajo
;
the iron-worker Niccolo Grossi, called Caparra
;
Antonio
Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino ; Alessandro Buonvicino, called Moretto da Brescia (the dark man from Brescia) Pietro Vanucci, Perugino; Andrea Vanucchi, del Sarto; Michelangelo
AUegri, called Correggio
;
Amerighi, nicknamed Caravaggio; Domenico Zampieri, styled Domenichino; and hundreds of others. No doubt the Buschetto architect of Pisa was only another instance ; probably he had a shock head of hair and was nicknamed " the little bush."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
236
twenty-two years between them, but the sculptor of S. Bartolommeo is far in advance of Gruamons in his representation of the
has
left his
human
figure.
It is said that
Gruamons
sign in a portrait of himself on the doorway
of S. Andrea, where a curiously negro-like head stands It seems, however, to out from the middle of a column.
have acquired
its
blackness by being used through several
centuries as a torch extinguisher at funerals.
Another of Gruamons' churches in Pistoja is that of S. Giovanni Evangelista Fuorcivitas, which is extremely interesting as showing a perfect specimen of the practicable Lombard gallery or outer ambulatory, which in two orders here surrounds the church.
The building is entirely encrusted
with black and white marble, mostly in alternate
lines,
but
some places inlaid in chequers. This fashion, which began in this very city of Pistoja, has an historical significance, and was introduced as a symbol of the peace between the factions of Bianchi and Neri, which so long harassed It was taken up afterwards by Siena and Orvieto, Pistoja. in
and
in
Florence and Prato,
when
their respective civic
feuds were healed.
Gruamons, or Magister Buono, may have been the chief master of the laborerium at Pistoja with its accompanying Opera di S. Jacopo, which began to keep its registers in 1 145. At any rate his family name was kept up in that lodge for more than a century. The Buoni followed the usual custom, and sought commissions in other towns. In 1206 we find one of them restoring and almost rebuilding the cathedral at Fiesole, which had been built in 1028, in the time of Bishop Jacopo Bavaro, but was menacing ruin two centuries later. On the sixth column of the nave, on the right,
is
"
inscribed
MCCVI.
Indict
VIII Bonus Magister Restaurus.
Operarius Ecclesise Fesulanse Fecit ^dificare
nil columnas
I.
AUex P.P."
THE TUSCAN LINK Here even
at
early
this
237
we have
date
the
Opera or
administration under the direction of the dignitaries of the
The tower was
built by a Maestro Michele in on the left of the apse tells us that the building of the tower cost seventy mancussi, a gold coin in use in the Middle Ages.^ It is supposed that Maestro Buono copied his church from S. Miniato near Florence. The plan is nearly identical, and both have the
cathedral. 1
An
2 13.
same
inscription
peculiarity of the omission of the narthex, or portico,
which
till
this
time had been an indispensable part of the It is true
ecclesiastic Basilica.
of stone, and
is
the Fiesole church
is
built
simple in ornament, while S. Miniato
is
of marble and rich in decorations, but in plan and form In each case the same use has been made of the older buildings on the site by leaving the two are identical.
them
as crypts.
The
first
San Miniato church was
built
under Charle-
the second was
magne, by Bishop Hildebrand 774 endowed by the Emperor Henry the Saint, and Saint Cunegonda his wife both times the patrons were accusin
;
;
tomed
we
to
employ the Comacine Masters.
In San Miniato
see one of their masterpieces.
In the thirteenth century another distinguished scion Buono race came down to join the lodge at Pistoja.
of the
We
have seen Giovanni Buono, or Zambono as he writes himself, at work at S. Antonio at Padua in 1264, together with Egidio, son of Magister Graci anni
;
Ubertino, son of Lanfranco,
;
Nicola, son of Giov-
etc.
In 1265 Magister
Bonus or Buono was capo-maestro and architect of the Duomo at Pistoja, and in 1 266 he erected the tribune of S. Maria Nuova there, on the cornice of which he has carved "A.D. MCCLXVI tempore Parisii Pagni * et
—
^
Marchese
Ricci,
BelP Architettura
in Italia, Vol.
I.
cap.
ii.
p.
485,
note 40! 2
are
The name of
this councillor of the
more than one family of Pagm.
Opera
still
exists in
Lucca, where
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
238
Simones, Magister Bonus in
when
the time
fecit
hoc opus,"
Paris Pagni and Simones were operai,
Magister Bonus executed
work.
this
Buono was commissioned
In 1270
of the church of S. Salvatore in the
The
town.
a.d. 1266,
i.e.
inscription
on the pretty
to
make
the fagade
same energetic faQade
little
little
is
"Anno milleno bis centum septuageno Hoc perfecit opus qui fertur nomine Bonus Prsestabant operi Jacobus, Scorcione vocatus
Et Benvenuti Joannes, quos Deus omnes
Amen."
Salvator lenis millis velit augere penis.
Here we get the names of two operai It is
instead of one.
Gruamons
evident that the lodge has increased since
was head of the laborerium, and Turrisianus head of the According to custom, one was an eminent Pistoand jese, the other a Magister. We find Johannes Benvenuti working with Giovanni in several other cities. The question we have now to answer is whether this Giovanni Buono, who was in Pistoja from 1265 to 1270, was the same man who worked at Padua in 1264, and was afterwards head of the lodge at Parma in 1280 ? An indication, if not a lateral proof, is found in studying who were Opera.
his companions.
was
At
Pistoja in 1264, Nicola, son of Giov-
1270 Johannes Benvenuti was with him. At Parma in 1280 we find that Guido, Nicola, Bernardino, and Benvenuto were in the laborerium anni,
his assistant,
when he was
and
in
chief architect.
Here we have
at least
of his companions, not including Guido, with
works of
all
three
cities,
which would go
him
far to
two
in the
prove his
identity.
The Buono family form a curious connection between Corneto Tarquinia and Pistoja. We have already spoken of the Ciborium at Corneto, sculptured by Johannes and Guitto (Guido) in 1168.
The
pulpit in the
same church,
and another at Alba Fucense, are both signed by Giovanni Buono and Andrea his brother, but date a century later
THE TUSCAN LINK than the Ciborium,
Buono of
i. e.
239
precisely the time of our Giovanni
The
same church at Corneto Tarquinia is full of Comacine sculptures and on the double-arched windows with the tesselated columns is an epigraph saying that the " inlaid work in porphyry, serpentine, and giallo antico" was done by Nicolao, son of Ranuccio. Now this must have been the Nicolao who worked under this same Giovanni Buono in 1280 at Parma, with a certain Guido and Johannes Benvenuti. Guido was evidently a kinsman of Giovanni Buono, for we find that in 1285 Albertus, son of Guido Buono, and Albertinus, son of Enrico Buono, were employed together in the sculptures Pistoja.
fa9ade of the
;
at S. Pietro at
Bologna.
we have
In any case
a long connection of the
Buono
and shall in other important works at Pisa find them still and Lucca, besides being chief architects at Parma and Padua, etc. Two centuries later their descendants were
Opera engaged
family with the
di S.
Jacopo at
Pistoja,
building fine Gothic works in Venice.
The
Baptistery of Pistoja has been attributed to Andrea
document in the archives of the Opera di S. Jacopo not only shows who was the real architect, or rather head-master, but proves that it was done by a Magister Cellini of the Masonic Guild from the lodge at Siena, who became Grand Master of the lodge at Pistoja. " Et per Magistrum Cellinum qui est caput It runs magistrorum edificantium Ecclesiam rotundam S. Joannis Pisano, but a
—
There also exists in the archives the contract made between the Opera (administrative council) and Magister Cellini on July 22, 1339, for the completion and ornamentation of the building which he had so far conThere is no mention of Andrea Pisano in either structed. Baptistae."^
deed. 1
Tolomei, Guida di Pistoja ier
Pistoja, p.
38 (note).
gh amanti
delle
belle
arti,
1821.—
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
240
The There
Pistojan Baptistery
is
not a very pleasing building.
is
something inharmonious
in its proportions.
of the usual octagonal form, but too high for
It is
width
its
;
the
and black marble still further detract from its beauty, and cut up the ornamentation. On the whole the architect who wants to study Comacine churches cannot do so better than at Pistoja, where horizontal lines of white
there
we
is
so
much
of the old
work
left.
Besides the edifices
have already mentioned, are other two very interesting
churches, S. Piero Maggiore and S. Paolo, although nothing
but the outer shell of either trave of S. Piero it,
now
is
The
remaining.-'
Maggiore has a very mediaeval
archi-
relief
on
representing Christ giving a huge key to St. Peter, while
the Apostles and the Virgin stand in a row beside them.
The tail
capital of
one
pilaster has
forms an interlaced knot.
a man-faced
The
volutes of a heavy kind of foliage.
lion,
whose
other has upstanding
Lions
lie
beneath the
spring of the arch, and winged griffins and other mystic
animals are on brackets along the fa9ade.
I
think the
and mystic beasts must have belonged to the first Longobardic church built by Ratpert, son of Guinichisius,
capitals
the lower part of the fagade, which is most ancient opus gallicum, of large smooth stones closely fitted. The architrave and the upper part, which consists of an arcade patched on in white and black marble, belong to Giovanni Buono's restoration in 1263. In old times a curious ceremony used to take place in this church, which belonged to the Convent of Benedictine nuns. When a new bishop took possession of the see, he was espoused (spiritually of course) to the abbess of this Order, with solemn rites and ceremonies. S. Paolo was a priory church. This, too, had been built in 748 by the first Comacines under the Longobards, and in 748, as well as
certainly of the
^
S.
escaped.
Paolo was destroyed by
fire in
1896, only the outer walls having
THE TUSCAN LINK evidences
still
remain that
it
was
east to west, the facade being then
241
originally turned from
where the choir
is
now.
It was rebuilt when S. Atto was bishop of the city in 1133, and besides a very pretty frontal, has a good specimen of the upper external gallery surrounding the church. I will end my chapter on Pistoja with a mention of an interesting old MS. from the archives of the Opera di
S. Jacopo, which,
with Signor Maccio's
aid,
we found
to
be
the marriage contract of a certain Maestro Jacopo Lapi.
The bridegroom Turdi, di
is
named as Jacobus Dominus Lapus, fili who wishes to contract marriage
Inghilberti,
Marchesana filia Sannutini, and to " live with her according to Longobardic law." The deed then goes on to specify the lands and possessions he bestows on his bride This might be interesting in art history, as a morgincap. if it could be proved whether the Jacopo Lapi were that pupil of Niccolo Pisano's who worked with him and Arnolfo with
at
Siena in 1266. it gives the Jacopo Lapi's family an added Longobardic origin through his grandfather, We further learn by the document that his
In that case interest as of
Inghilbert.
name was Molto-cara (very dear). This, taken together with the name Tordo (thrush) given to her son, proves how the nickname outweighed the family or baptismal name in mediaeval times. great-grandmother's
CHAPTER
IV
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
When
the romantic style of building, which the
cine Masters
had imbibed
set-by-rule building their
and
new
this
ideas
was
went
The
came first
in,
their serious
use they
made
of
to increase the richness of decoration,
they did by the almost childish expedient of multi-
plying their old ornaments. gallery
in Sicily,
out.
Coma-
Instead of one
little
pillared
on the top of a fa9ade, they now put whole rows of
galleries, or
covered the fronts
Lucca, Pisa, and Arezzo.
all
There
is
over with them, as in
a very early instance
of this in the church of Santa Maria at Ancona, of which
we
give an
illustration.
Here the network
of arches are
not real galleries, but only sculpturesque simulations arch
is
;
each
simply placed on the top of the other, without archi-
trave or frieze.
The doorway
has the usual Comacine
and no lions, so the fagade may stand as an early sample of the transition into Romanesque, dating about the eleventh century. The style shows a much further advance in Magister Marchionni's fagade to the church of Santa Maria della Pieve at Arezzo, which is a fine sample of Romanesque. interlaced knots
It was done in 1216. The fa9ade has four rows of arches, one on the other, " growing small by degrees and beautifully less" as they ascend. Of all the hundred columns
which support them, no two are square,
octagonal,
sexagonal, 242
alike.
They
pentagonal,
are round,
multi-angular,
S
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
243
crooked, Byzantine, Corinthian,
fluted, twisted, grotesque,
Ionic, Doric, Gothic, Egyptian, Babylonian, caryatid, black,
Some have
green, white, striped, or inlaid.
a round on a square, or vice versd, and so on
single bases,
ad
infinitum.
Yet with all this variety there is a certain unity of design, which bespeaks a multitude of Masters, each one using his
own
fancy in his particular part of the work, but one chief to whose general design the masters of the parts are sub-
Ruskin realized the beauty of this variety of idea, though he had not perceived that it came from a multitude of minds working together, when he said " The more conservient.
—
spicuous the irregularities are, the greater the chance of
being a good style."
And
again
—
"
The
its
traceries, capitals,
and other ornaments must be of perpetually varied designs." The very same style and variety, showing a multiplex manufacture, is displayed by the cathedral, and the church of San Michele at Lucca, and the old church of San Michele in Borgo at Pisa. The two Lucca ones are extremely enriched by friezes of the symbolic animals above each row of arches. The cathedral and tower of Pisa show greater unity of conception.
The next
great change was, that after the eleventh
century, the interlaced work, or Solomon's knot,
longer the secret sign of the Comacine work.
was no
They
pro-
bably found that there was a limit even to the combinations of the interlaced line, or that it did not give enough relief. Certain the
it is,
intreccio
changed
that
on the
faded away
rise
of Romanesque architecture,
into
mouldings, or got
mere
into foliaged scrolls for architraves; but the
mystic
knot with neither beginning nor end was no more used with special significance.
The rounded
sculpture of figures
was everywhere replacing low relief, and the Comacine From sign and seal of this epoch, was the Lion of Judah. this time forward for the 400 years that Romanesque and Gothic architecture lasted, there
is,
I
believe, scarcely a
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
244
church built by the great Masonic Guild in which the Lion of Judah was not prominent.
My
own observations have led me to the opinion that in Romanesque or Transition architecture, i. e. between a.d. coo and 1200, the lion is to be found between the columns and the arch the arch resting upon it. In Italian Gothic, I
—
i.
e.
from
a.d.
1200 to 1500,
In either position it
its
it is
placed beneath the column.
significance
is
to Christ the pillar of faith springing
Thus
at Lucca,
Pisa,
In the
evident.
points to Christ as the door of the Church.
first,
In the second,
from the tribe of Judah.
and Arezzo, where the guild worked
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the lion is always above the column. In Verona, Como, Modena, and where Italian Gothic porches were added in the thirteenth century, and in Florence, Siena, Orvieto, where the cathedrals date from the fourteenth century, you find the lion beneath the column. And in minor works of sculpture there is the
same
difference.
In the pulpit of Sant' Ambrogio at Milan,
the lions are beneath the spring of the arches of Niccolo Pisano at Siena and Guido di
;
in the pulpits
Como
(thirteenth
century) at Pistoja, they are beneath the column.
A
most beautiful instance of the transition between
Lombard and Romanesque is in the door of the church of San Giusto at Lucca, dating from the twelfth century. The is a grand intreccio of oak branches while the which form the door-jambs, have richly-carved capitals of mixed acanthus leaves and Ionic volutes, with a mystic beast clinging to each. The arch superimposed on the architrave has a rich scroll of cherubs and foliage, and it rests on two huge lions. It is altogether a perfect
architrave
pilasters,
Comacine design. The next change in the sculpture of the Comacine Masters was the humanization of their sculpture. The rude old carvings of symbolical beasts no longer satisfied them. Christianity had now endured a thousand years and was
Door of
S.
Giusto at Lucca, izth century.
[See page 244.
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION understood, so that
and mystic
signs.
it
was no longer needful
They
still
made
the
to use parables
fronts of
churches Bibles in stone, as they had done before Bible was in a language
all
could read,
From Adam and Eve
245
i. e.
;
their
only the
the sculptured
and the Virgin, and even the least of the Saints, the Comacine put all Scripture upon his church. His Bible lay open that all might read. The representation of the human figure was at first heavy and disproportionate, but as the centuries passed on, it grew in grace and sculptors were able to express their conceptions more completely. The animal symbolism did story.
to Christ
;
however, entirely disappear.
not,
It is
seen in every quaint
fancy of the Gothic artist of the north, in every naive bit of
church ornamentation in the south
and end of design.
object
human
figure
now took
It
the
;
but
it is
no longer the
had become subservient
;
the
first place.
In the earlier transition stage, even this actual repre-
was more or
sentation
instance of the allegorical nature of
may
As an
less allegorical.
Comacine
interesting
sculpture,
we
take the relief of the Crucifixion in the cathedral at
Parma (third chapel on the right), carved by Benedetto da Antelamo in 11 78. In this almost mediaeval relief, the artist has managed to put a symbolical history of the greatest events of his
own
times
— the defeat of Barbarossa, the
fall
Pope Alexander III., the cessation of schism, and the gleams of coming peace on Italy. Around the cross where Christ hangs, he represents the Church as a symbolic personage waving the flag of of Victor Antipope, the triumph of
banner broken. and the meaning, Every figure in the composition has its whole displays a thinking mind, even though the hand be victory
;
and the schismatic enemy with
his
heavy and mediaeval. That this is a veritable Comacine work the sculptor himself has chronicled. On still
a
the
top of the relief
little
characters
is
written in the
Lombard Gothic
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
246
"Anno
milleno centeno septuageno Octavo scultor patravit Mse secundo Antelami dictus scultor fuit, hie Benedictus."
An
old chronicler of the sixteenth century tells us that
once ornamented an ambone or pulpit supported on four columns, which was destroyed in 1566. Another very interesting work is the font for immersion this relief
in S.
Frediano at Lucca, sculptured by Maestro Roberto in The figures which surround it are as
the twelfth century. usual
of meaning but grotesque in proportion
full
one can see
in the draperies
though
;
a foreshadowing of that return
which Niccolo Pisano afterwards advanced
to classicality
We
have here a queer representation towards perfection. clad in classical garments and standof Adam and Eve, both ing by a conventional
fig tree,
of the Eternal Father
in
clutching the
tail
out of which looks the head
Eve
a cloud like a medallion.
is
In the next com-
of a monstrous serpent.
partment the four Evangelists carry their emblems on their shoulders.
looks like a
St.
eagle standing
Matthew
Mark, with
Roman
his lion, sits in a curule chair,
Prefect, mediaevalized.
on a
Roman
carries the child
on
St.
altar beside
and
John has his
him, 'while St.
his shoulder like a St. Christo-
As the work of a forerunner of Niccolo Pisano in the same brotherhood, the font is intensely interesting. The cathedral at Beneventum (one of the Lombard dukedoms) has some beautiful Comacine arabesques on the
pher.
pilasters of the great door.
The
one of them.
tional vine, in the
Here
is
the
numberless
interlaced
We
give an illustration from
maze
is
formed by a conven-
branches of which are symbolical animals.
Lamb
of God, signed as divine and eternal by
circles all
over
it.
The
emblem of
symbol of
eagle,
strangling sin in the form of a serpent
;
above,
faith, is
is
a
calf,
the Christian, overcoming evil in the form ot
a bird of prey.
In meaning, the intention
the old sculptures on
is
San Michele, executed
the
same
as
six centuries
Pilaster of the door of the Cathedral of Beneventum, i2Th century.
\See page
2ifi.
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
247
but speaking technically, sculpture as an art has
previously
;
advanced
greatly.
intelligibility
There
is
rich
and
clear
and
relief,
of design in this work.
—
Symonds,^ speaking of this stage of art, says " The so-called Romanesque and Byzantine styles were but the dotage of second childhood (it was a childhood which grew and developed into virility, however), fumbling with the methods and materials of an irrevocable past. It is true
unknown mediaeval
indeed that
shown an
carvers had
instinct for the beautiful, as well as great fertility of grotesque
The
invention.
fagades of
Lombard churches
are covered
with fanciful and sometimes forcibly dramatic groups of
animals and
men in contest and contemporaneously with many Gothic sculptors of the north were ;
Niccolo Pisano,
adorning the fagades and porches of cathedrals with statuary unrivalled in line
one
of progressive artists
Italy the conditions plastic arts could
Yet the founder of a had not arisen, and except in
style of loveliness.
were
still
wanting under which alone the
Here Symonds
independence."
attain
goes on to speak of Niccolo Pisano, as the fountain-head of sculpture.
And now we of
can no longer evade the knotty question
who and what Niccolo
was, where did he arise from, and
where was he trained in art ? There are always those
conflicting
The
Milanesi found to be reconciled. of the Opera di S. Jacopo
documents which in the archives
first,
at Pistoja, dated July 11,
1272,
—
Magister Nichola pisanus, filius Petri de illegible word which Ciampi reads as Senis ^). He chose this reading because another document dated November 13, 1272, styles "Niccolo" Magister Nichola,
which runs (here is an
quondam
Petri de (Senis) Ser Blasii pisa
Milanesi, however,
who found
at
.
.
(hiatus).
Siena the contract for
Fine Arts, chap.
'
Symonds, The Renaissance,
2
Ciampi, Notizie inediie delta Sagrestia Pistojese.
etc.
.
iii.
p. 77.
Firenze.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
248
Niccolo's pulpit there, dated October
5,
1266, says the
word
Senis should be read Sanctis for in the Sienese contract the
Magister Niccolus de parroccia ecclesie etc. etc. In another document also at Siena, in which Niccolo is commanded to send for his pupil Arnolfo to work with him, we get Magistrum Nicholam In two others of the next year, Magister de Apulia. Now all this is very Niccholus olim Petri lapidum de Pisis. puzzling, and yet being documentary it must all be true. We will put Siena entirely out of the question, the word proving to be a misreading of Sancti, so that instead of the second document meaning Niccolo son of the late Peter son of Ser Blasius or Biagio of Siena, it must read Niccolo son of Peter of the parish of St. Blasius at Pisa. We have then the two different nationalities of his father Pietro Pisa and Apulia to account for. Milanesi suggests that Apulia means a little place near Lucca called Puglia. The further light we have found thrown on the peregrinations of Magistri of the guild may assist us to reconcile
words are plainly
sancti Blasii de ponte de Pisis,
—
—
the conflicting statements.
It
is
certain, as
we
said before,
Niccolo Pisano was a Magister of the guild, and being a man of genius he became one of its most important
that
members. His membership was moreover hereditary his father had been also a Magister lapidum. Now the Comacines had a lodge in Apulia, from the time of the Longobards, and traces of it still remained after 1 100, in a small ;
colony in the valley of .^terno, which preserved as a kind of monopoly the art of building.^
The church of S. Sofia at Beneventum, a.d. 788, and the monastery of S. Pietro were built by them, as well as the later cathedrals of Trani, Bari, and Ruvo. its
ancient
Lombard
The
latter still retains
fagade covered with figures of animals,
the portal being flanked by columns surmounted by a fine rose window. '
When
Merzario,
the
I Maestri
Normans succeeded Comacini, Vol.
I.
the
chap. v. p. 177.
Longo-
t
<
s
Pulpit in the Church of Groppoli near Pistoja.
a.d. 1194.
[See pag;e 2\g.
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
249
bards and Saracens in Apulia, the Masonic Guild was still more busy there, and it was very probable that Pietro the sculptor worked in Apulia under the Norman dynasty, with
many
of his
brethren.
I
cathedral a pulpit of the
This
of an earlier date.
am
told that there
same form is
as that
in
Bari
by Niccolo, but
a significant proof of Niccolb's
early training in Apulia, probably under his
was the custom of the
is
guild.
It
would
own
father, as
also account for the
Saracenic touch in his arches and ornamentation.
The
lions
under the columns were used by the Masonic Guild a century before Niccolo's time, so it is evident they were not, as Ruskin and others suppose, borrowed from the Saracens
by Niccolo.
There
is
a most interesting pulpit of the older
square form at Groppoli near Pistoja, dated 1194, with lions beneath the pillars. It offers one of the very early specimens of the sculptured scriptural story. The panels represent the " Nativity of Christ " and the " Flight into Egypt," both most naively designed.
The
square pulpit of Guido da
Como
in
Bartolommeo at Pistoja is dated a.d. 1250, and shows the immense improvement art had made in those sixty years. In some ways Guido da Como quite equals Niccolo. He does not strain after the classic, but there is great and simple dignity, and even grace in his figures, some of which are It was ten years after almost worthy of Fra Angelico. Guldo's lion-pillared pulpit was finished, that we find Niccolo who had for some years been working at Pisa, .where he was then domiciled— sculpturing his famous pulpit there, and though altering the form from square to octagoh, using the same symbolism, and in many ways the same treatment of It would be a his subject, as Giiido had done before him. training, to compare influence in suggestive proof of the same S.
—
the panels representing the Nativity, in the three pulpits.
Guido da Como's at Pistoja, and Niccolo's at Pisa, and one might add a fburth, i. e. Giovanni Pisano's pulpit in S. Andrea at Pistoja, which
The Lombard one
at Groppoli,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
2S0 is
some
in
although
it is
respects an
advance on
his
father's
design,
evidently not only inspired, but almost copied
There are in all four, the same kind of lectis same cows, out of perspective, high up in the background, and in the two last the same treatment of In some ways, however, Niccolo has passed far drapery. While Guido followed his forefathers' beyond Guido. traditions, Niccolo had been first revelling in the richness of Saracenic types in Apulia, and then living among the classic spoils of Pisa, where Diotisalvi had worked before from
it.
for bed, the
him.
His school at Pisa inaugurated a revival which was to change art for all the world. Yet it was only a step and He was no ancestorless genius springnot a sudden leap. ing from darkness and chaos, but a link in the chain of art from which in him a new strand departed, leading towards He took the forms of his sect, Donatello and Ghiberti. but improved and freed them he held to the traditional symbolism of his guild, but classicized and enriched it. His greatest advance was in the modelling of the human One figure, and here his classic models helped him. that much on models, suspects he depended those for where he had no antique to copy from, he degenerated ;
into the mediaevalism of his fraternity.
the two styles his pulpit,
is
The mixture
of
very apparent in the different panels of
some of which look
as
if
they had come from
Antonine's column, while others are heavier and less graceful
by
far
than Guido da Como's simple natural figures.
The
fact was, that in his time the whole guild was developing under the freer conditions of art, and Niccolo was one of its leading masters, and endowed with especial talent. With him the Romanesque period closes, and the Italian Gothic begins. Led by him the Comacines in Tuscany left the rude, distorted images and meaningless monsters behind, and marched on towards the perfection of sculpture
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION human form
of the
as
251
shown by Donatello and Michael
Angelo.
Among the Comacines in Lombardy the same change was in progress. Jacopo Porrata, working at nearly the same time, carved the life-like prophets and bas-relief on the fagade of the cathedral of Cremona, which bears the legend, " Magister Jacobus Porrata de Cumis fecit hanc rotam MCCLXXIIII." Antonio de Frix of Como, working in concert with Meo di
Duomo
Checco, carved the beautiful roof of the
rara,
at Fer-
while other Masters were sculpturing sacred stories on
and doorways, vestibules and decorations
pulpits
a church which their forerunners had
With the development changed the
The of the
many
of the Gothic, the guild again
style of their ornamentation.
pointed gable over first
in
built.
the
Orvieto, Florence,
arch
circular
You
signs of this change.
see
it
was one in Siena,
and the fourteenth-century porches
in
Lombardy.
The
gable gave an opening for statuary, floriated and ornate pinnacles the pointed arch opened a beautiful tracery the upward shaft and pilaster
crockets,
way
to
;
;
afforded space for the ornate tabernacle or saint-filled niche; for the sculptor-architect
never
let
an inch go plain which
could be effectively sculptured.
Between the solid Lombard round arch and the pointed traceried one stands the cusping of the circular arch. Ruskin credits Niccolo
Pisano also with this
;
saying grandiloquently
that "in the five cusped arches of Niccolo's pulpit
you see
the change, in Gothic Christian architecture a word, for all Europe, from the Parthenon to Amiens cathedral. For Italy it means the rise of her Gothic the
first
dynasty
—
.
it
.
means the Duomo of Milan
Temple of Paestum." 1
^
This
is
.
instead
very poetic, but
Ruskin, Val d'Arno,
p. 17.
it
of the will
not
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
252
bear analysis.
The
means the
to
first
cusps of Niccolo's arches were by no
be seen
in Italy
;
we
find
them
in several
churches of the twelfth century; and as for Amiens cathe-
was nearly completed when Niccolo's pulpit was
dral, that
carved.
The it
cusping of the round arch came up from the south
was suggested
to the
Comacines by the Saracenic
archi-
tecture, as a variety on their usual twin archlets under a
round arch, and was used some time before they adopted the pointed arch.
The
Italian step to the pointed Gothic began hands of Jacopo il Tedesco, and his fellowcountryman, Fra Filippo di Campello, or Campiglione. Jacopo stands to Italian Gothic architecture in the same place as Niccolo Pisano stands to Renaissance sculpture. In Italy, the land of classic Rome, true Gothic never developed in the form in which we see it further north. Her finest buildings retained in parts the older forms, and first real
at Assisi, in the
humanism
with the classic
revival
of
of the classic revival of literature, a architecture
also
took
place.
The
Italy was strangled in its infancy by Bramante and Michael Angelo. Even Milan, though a glorious Gothic building, was masked and disfigured by a Renaissance front, with its straight lines and geometric
Gothic style in
pediments.
The Germans and developed
it
French, taking the germ from
magnificently
;
and
it
is
Italy,
fortunate that they
had broken the bonds of the old Masonic brotherhood, and nationalized themselves and their art in time to keep their Gothic forms pure. If
we
should attempt to particularize examples of Italian
Gothic ornamentation, volumes would not be enough. will
We
be content with a few instances of sculpture by the
Lombard
Some
guild at this epoch. beautiful illustrations of their allegorical style are
THE R.CCA«m PALACE,
B^.LT PC. LoHEN.O DE:
MEmo.
Florence.) (ii-«m athotograph by Giannini,
l^ee^age
25s.
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
253
be seen in studying the capitals of the colonnade of the Ducal Palace at Venice, some of which were by Bartolommeo Buono, son of the fifteenth-century Zambono or Giovanni Buono. We give an illustration of one with allegorical representations of the classical goddesses, Venus, Minerva, and Juno, throned in acanthus leaves. Minerva looks like to
Hebe and the The famous Adam and
a mediaeval school-mistress as she teaches
Loves, from a ponderous tome.
Eve
capital,
of which Ruskin writes so eloquently, was
probably by the same hand.
was
in his "
Bartolommeo's best carving
Porta della Carta," the door of the Grand Ducal
San Marco, which is rich in the extreme, and Opus Bartolommei." Bartolommeo's father, Giovanni Buono, was the head architect of the beautiful " Ca' d'oro," and here the richness Palace, next
is
signed on the architrave "
of decorative sculpture under florid Gothic forms reaches
its
height.
The
family
Buono came from Campione, and
think
I
it
probable that this was the same Bartolommeo da Campi-
one whose name Milan cathedral.
on several of the Gothic capitals of We give an illustration of one of them, which is extremely rich in statues and pinnacles. The rapid march from the early pointed towards florid Gothic sculpture, is evidenced in a remarkable manner by The monument to the tombs of the Scaligers in Verona. Mastino II., who died in 1351, by Magister Porino or Perino,
is
is
only a quarter of a century previous to that of
Can Grande, who died in 1375, which was by Bonino da Campione.^ Yet between the two there lies an immense development of style. In Perino's work there are the seeds
of
all
Gothic style
the is
forms
in
Bonino's,
but
undeveloped, in the other
in it
one
the
in
full
is
flower, ^
This must have been another scion of the Buoni family, probably a
small man, and therefore called "Little Buono."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
254
Perino has his columns
high gables above them
;
his cusped pointed arches with
and pyramidal roof, with an equestrian statue on the summit but his lines are simple, direct, and unbroken, though en;
his
tabernacles, pinnacles,
riched here and there with reliefs and figures.
In Bonino's
the columns are richly carved, the arches lavishly cusped, the
tympanum
filled
with sculptured medallions.
The taber-
and more emphatically Gothic in their lengthened lines and multiplied pinnacles. The figures even have grown into more true proportions, and are elongated Every inch of the whole design is into gracefulness. as beautiful a bit of Gothic foliated and rich to a degree sculpture as any German or English cathedral can show, but yet the work of pure Italians, and men of the Comacine nacles are richer
—
Guild.
The
sepulchral
monument
the Certosa of Pavia
of the Scaligers,
is
of Gian Galeazzo Visconti in
of an entirely different style to those
It is principally
the
work of Gio. Antonio
Amedeo, and has the same ornate Renaissance the fagade of the Certosa in which he assisted.
style as
An
arched
base contains the sarcophagus, on which rests the beautiful
and dignified figure of the Duke, guarded at head and foot by classic angels. Above this is a statue of the Virgin and Child in a central niche, flanked by reliefs of scenes from the life of the Duke. The whole surface of the marble is
covered with sculpture, but of a style removed as
far as
work of the Comacine Guild, 800 years back. There all was life and naivete, here all is classical decorum and convention. Pilasters covered with armour and coats of mail like a Roman trophy, friezes of set garlands and shields like a Roman pediment, vases the poles from
the
with conventional plants rising
stiffly
are no Gothic pinnacles
and graceful
The
out of them.
severe architectural lines are straight and unbroken shrines,
;
here
no ornamental
gables or pyramids, only the plain arch and pediment classic-
Tomb of Masting
II.
degli Scaligeri, at Verona.
THE Milan Lodge.
Sculptured by Magistee Perino, of {Seepage
253.
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ORNAMENTATION
255
had revived the Roman and the Renaissance style was the result. Comacine art began with true Roman, and ended with a return to a false classicism, that with rule and line crushed out the life of ally set
and
correct.
The
the rich Gothic floriation.
Italians
;
CHAPTER V ARCHITECTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE ERA
CIVIL
The Comacines island
and
fine fortress builders
from
not only their
own
Goths, and against their
civil
were always
when they
the early times,
city against the
fortified
which had foes to Their towers and forts were so solid and strong builders were taken by Justinian to the East to
foes at Milan, etc., but also other cities
keep
off.
that their
build
castles
there,
with
strong battlemented
the
walls
which aroused Procopius's admiration, and which he confesses were called Castelli, because that was the Italian
name
for them.
when
After the eleventh century,
the
Communes were
formed, the building of the fortress was less frequent, and the
Communal
Palace
took
its
place.
The
guild was
its adoption of new styles, and the palace of the Podesta or the " Signoria" differed only in form, and
always gradual in
not in style, from the older castle.
masonry fitted
—
either opus
with nicety, or opus
Romanum
welded together with cement
Roman
There
is
the
same
solid
Gallicum of smoothly-hewn stones
till
of
flat
wide bricks
they are strong as a
There are the same battlements and cornice and wherever a window is needed, high enough to be safe without an iron grating, it is invariably of the old Lombard form, with its two round arches enclosed in a larger one. There was the same wall.
of arches supported on brackets
;
pillared courtyard with its flight of steps to the 256
upper
floor.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE ERA
257
Jacopo Tedesco's Bargello at Florence, his Castle at Poppi, and his Palazzo Pubblico at Arezzo are the most beautiful examples of this style. Arnolfo's Palazzo Vecchio, the Palazzo of the at Siena,
and the Palazzo Pubblico
towards a
step
much
less
Commune
show the next There still remains the solidity and rigidity of the at Pistoja
military style.
of the fortress, in
masonry below, and the battlemented lines above, but the is no longer a solid weapon of war it becomes an
tower airy
;
ornamental shrine for a peaceful civic and sorrows of the people.
bell,
that rings
for the joys
These buildings may stand as the fair examples of the work of the Masonic Guild for the thirteenth century in the fourteenth and fifteenth the style changed gradually towards less rigid lines. The windows were widened and cusped, and the arches over the archlets of the windows became pointed a gable with crockets placed above the windows still further lightened the effect, and emphasized ;
;
the new Gothic influence. The ancient Palace of the Priors and Palazzo del Popolo, which stand close together at Todi, of which we give an illustration, show this progress in a very marked degree. There is just the difference between the two buildings that there lies between the palace of King Desiderius at S. Gemignano, and the Palazzo Vecchio of
The
Florence.
Palazzo
Pubblico,
Perugia, with
at
its
noble Ringhiera and Loggia, might be taken as the culmin-
Romanesque
ating point of
civil
building.
Its
principal
doorway is a masterpiece of Comacine work. The Masters have set their sign of the lion beneath the column, but both lion
and
pillar are secularized
;
instead of the ecclesiastic
a square pilaster with niches containing graceful figures of the civic virtues justice, mercy, fortitude, column, here
is
—
charity, etc.
bishops,
In the
tympanum
of the arch stand three
and over the architrave two other
mark the spring of the
arch.
The door
is
lions
on brackets
surrounded with
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
2S8
course upon course of beautiful mouldings, arabesques, and
Though
spirals rich in the extreme. ful,
yet
one compares
if
this
with other public edifices of
exceptionally beauti-
Palazzo Pubblico of Perugia
time in
its
Italy,
the similarities
are such that one cannot deny that a single influence must
have dominated them
all.
In the Palazzo Pubblico at Udine, which was later, being built in the fifteenth century
by Giovanni Fontana of Melide
(Master of Palladio) and Matteo his son,
we
get the link
between these Romanesque civil buildings and the Venetian The upper windows have still the Lombard Gothic. columns, but the
little
The
gothicized.
arches are more ornately cusped and
colonnade forming
the
Ringhiera
is
formed of decidedly pointed arches. There is in this a affinity to the Venetian architecture, and its origin accounts for it. The Fontanas were much employed at Venice, and worked with the Lombardi, to whom Venice is
marked
much
indebted for so ture.
of her beautiful Gothic
civil architec-
In cinquecento times there was a great
Masonic Guild
for palaces.
The
on the republics had begun to call
fade into principalities, wealth and aristocracy again got the upper hand. The great churches were already built, and so
employ the many great Masters of architecture and whose families had for generations beautified Italian cities, the dominant families in them vied with
to
sculpture
each other
in
palace building.
In Florence the Medici led the way, the Strozzi followThen all the other old families, Guic-
ing them close. ciardini,
Rinuccini, Antinori, Borghini,
the masters of the Florentine Guild to
Cronaca,
Sangallo,
Baccio
ancestors were well
known
d'Agnolo,
etc.,
also called in
make them all
names
palaces.
whose
at either Siena, Orvieto, or in
Lombardy, made the plans and directed the works. And one who compares these palaces one with another, cannot but confess that different as were the hands that fashioned
Doorway of the Municipal Palace at Perugia
(1340).
{Seepage 257.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE ERA
259
them, one type and one style shows through them all, which is to say that the architects were all brethren of the same guild, and had received the same training. The Florentine palace bore on it
its
face the imprint of
gradually from the Brolio of
race;
you can trace
times, through
and the republican public palace. the Riccardi and Strozzi, the Pitti and Guadagni
the mediaeval
Here
its
Lombard
in
fortress,
same solidity of architecture but instead of smooth hewn blocks, the huge stones are left rough, rustica} Here are the same shaped windows,
Palaces,
the alia
is
the
;
enlarged and beautified with tracery and mullion in place of the ancient column, but directly derived from the older form. Here is the ancient crown of Lombard archlets
diminished into a rich cornice
it
;
only in the older build-
is
ings that the battlements are seen above, as in the Palazzo
Ferroni.
In the interior the
around
loggie
There
it,
holds
cortile, its
own
with
arched and pillared
its
in the centre of the building.
change of form between the Court of the Palazzo Vecchio in 1299 and the Riccardi, Strozzi, and little
is
a score of other private palaces of the fifteenth century.
The
which was such an important feature
loggia,
private house of the Republic,
is
now
the garden front or the upper storey, where the family
This
itself,
and
is
in the
either relegated to it is
a delight to
no longer the public meeting-place.
a difference entirely depending on a changed state
is
of society.
As
in
Florence,
so
was
it
Milan,
in
Venice,
and
other cities where Masonic lodges were established in the 1
This rustic style
is
some buildings of House (Palazzo Monte Florence. In Monte Citorio
carried to an eccentric excess in
the seventeenth century, such as the Parliament Citorio) at
Rome, and Zucchari's house in hewn and shaped smoothly
the window-sills are
other half being door-lintels to the eye.
left
in the rough.
and window-panels.
for half their length, the
Zucchari has done the same with his
The
effect is
an incongruity, not pleasing
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
26o
church
great
builders
-
building era.
The
whose hands were craving
employed the work. And what
nobles for
palaces they built, and what a wealth of rich Gothic decoration they lavished
on them
!
We
are indebted for most of
the Venetian Gothic palaces to the Buoni and Lombardi families,
whose course we have traced
The Renaissance
Venice.
in
the chapter on
buildings belong chiefly to the
members of the Florentine Lodge, such and San Michele, who went to Venice in
as
Sansovino
the sixteenth
century.
At Rome, where the Pope's rule was absolute, there was less palace-building, but the Lombard Guild was employed greatly in their old branch of fortress and bridge building. The Masters Bartolommeo and Bertrando of Como were engaged by Pope Pius IL to strengthen the fortifications of S. Angelo. Maestro Antonio of Como built the Ponte Lucano, Maestro Antonio da Castiglione the Ponte Mammolo and Ponte Molle. Maestro Manfredo da Como was commissioned by Pius n. to build a new fortress on the heights of Tivoli to defend the valley of the Anio from incursions on the Abruzzi side. The following entries from the registers prove Maestro Manfredo's employment there " 1 46 1. August 12. Twenty-five ducats given to the treasurer by command of his Holiness, to be paid to Maestro Manfred the Lombard, to begin the castle of Tivoli {roccha di Tiboliy
May 14. To Maestro Manfredino, builder, 200 gold florins on account of the works at the fortress of " 1462.
Tivoli." " 1462. October 6. 400 ducats di camera to Master Manfredino the Lombard, who works at the castle of Tivoli."
1
Master ^
Manfred
Merzario,
with
I Maestri
Paolo da Campagnano,
Comacini, Vol.
II. ch. xxxviii. p.
420.
both
ARCHITECTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE ERA Comacines,
built the
Ponte
261
which has been errone-
Sisto,
ously attributed to Baccio Pontelli.
Pope Sixtus IV. employed Giovanni the
citadel
of
Civita
Vecchia,
finished after Giovanni's death.
di Dolci to build
which Baccio Pontelli Antonio di Giovanni da
Canobbio built the fort at Zolfanella in the same reign, while Francesco di Pietro da Triviago, Francesco da Como, and Giorgio Lombardo were joint architects of the castle at Santa Marmella. So we see that nearly all the papal forts were the work of Lombards connected with the Roman Lodge. In their own native hills the Lombards were doing similar works.
In A.D. 1500 Maestro Jacopo Dagurro da Bissone, who was a most able engineer, constructed a splendid viaduct, forty-eight metres long, over the Natisone, among the rocks and beetling cliffs of Civitale in Friuli.
Tower of Palazzo Vecchij at Florence.
Designed by Macister Aenolfo. [See pag-e i$j.
BOOK ITALIAN-GOTHIC,
IV
AND RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTS
CHAPTER
I
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS Painting is not generally supposed to be connected in any great degree with architecture indeed it has now become a distinctly independent art. In the Middle Ages :
I
believe
the
case was
different.
The
great
primitive
Comacine Guild seems to have embraced all the decorative though especially sculpture, as integral branches of architecture. There are indisputable proofs of the manysided nature of the training in a Comacine laborerium. There were Magistri insigneriorum, or Master architects Magistri lapidum, or sculptors, and Magistri lignorum, or master carpenters. These latter seem in old times to have been the designers of scaffoldings and makers of beams for roofing wood-carvers and inlayers were called Maestri d'intaglio. Then there were certainly ironworkers and masters in metal, and fresco-painters, who also attained to the rank of Master. But no one branch was entirely separarts,
;
;
ate from the others, until the fourteenth century,
when
the
We find
the same man and even working in gold or iron, and seeming equally good in all styles, so that the training of the laborerium must have been painters'
companies were founded.
building, designing, sculpturing, painting,
especially comprehensive.
The
reason appears to be that
—
the fine arts
— painting,
were considered by the Comahandmaids to architecture, and no
sculpture and metal-working cines as indispensable
all
265
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
266 builder
was
eyes
in their
to
fit
be a Master till he could Their symbolic it.
not only erect his edifice, but adorn
church was to them a kind of Bible, figuring of creeds, but the building itself
binding of the Bible
the
;
all
the points
was but the paper and
sculptor put the
frontispiece
which explained its inner meaning, and the mosaiicist and fresco-painter added as it were the letter-press and illustrations. The churches of Ravenna show how full and rich was this inner illustration, how Christ and the Apostles, angels and prophets, saints and martyrs, have shone on those walls, a beautiful Bible picture-book for ages. this
was the
Fathers. I
deeds of
is
many passages
plain from
in the early
—
" Rise 379) in preaching, says pray you, ye celebrated painters of the good
St.
up, now,
which the early Christians regarded
light in
their churches
That
Basil
this
(a.d.
Make
army.
glorious
by your
art
the
by
mutilated images of their leader.
With
your cunning, make
crowned martyr, by me
too
illustrious the
feebly pictured.
I
retire
colours laid on
vanquished before you
your painting of the excellences of the martyr,
Here
is
the
etc. etc."
in ^
by St. cometh unto
description of a Christian shrine
century) — " Whoso
Gregory of Nyssa (fourth like this, where there is a monument of the just and a holy relic, his soul is gladdened by the magnificence of what he beholds, seeing a house as God's temple elaborated most gloriously, both in the magnitude of the structure, and the beauty of the surrounding ornament. There the artificer has fashioned wood into the shape of animals and the stone-cutter has polished the slabs to the smoothness of silver and the painter has introduced the flowers of his art, depicting and imaging the constancy of
some spot
;
;
1
Amasia (fourth Euphemia of Chalcedonia, which PauHnus of Nola (died 401) describes a Basilica
Mulroody's S. Clemente.
St.
Asterius, Bishop of
century), describes a fresco of the matryr St.
moved him
to tears,
and
covered with paintings.
St.
Eighth-century wall decoration in subterranean Church of
S.
Clemente, Rome. [See pages lo
and
268.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
267
the
martyrs, their resistance, their torments, the savage forms of their tyrants, their outrages, the blazing furnace and the most blessed end of the champion the representa;
tion of Christ in
human form
presiding over the contest
it were in a book gifted with speech shaping for us by means of colours, has he cunningly discoursed to us of the martyr's struggles, has made this
these things as
all
;
temple glorious as some brilliant fertile mead. For the on the walls has the art to discourse, and to
silent tracery
And he who has arranged the made this pavement on which we tread equal history." (From Father Mulroody's translation, in
most powerfully.
aid
mosaics has to a
San Clemente,
pp. 34, 35.
St.
Gregory wrote before
a.d.
395-')
No
doubt the richness of colour
in these
Byzantine mosaics inspired the taste for pictorial embellishment in the interiors of buildings, and the Comacines, not having Greek mosaicists at command, found an easier and quicker method of writing their scriptures on their walls
i.
e.
fresco.
The
mention of frescoes is of those in the palace of Theodolinda, where her Lombards were portrayed on the walls. Several Lombard churches also retain signs of having been first
frescoed.
But if one desires to see what the early Christian Comacine could do in fresco, let him go to that interesting 1
St.
Ephrun, Deacon of Edessa,
in' his
Sermo
I. de
Pxnitentia XV.,
uses glass mosaic as an illustration of the sacrament of penance.
"Penance and changes it into gold. It takes Have you seen glass, how it is made of the lead and makes it silver. You cannot doubt, too, that colour of beryl, emerald, and sapphire ? penance makes silver of lead and gold of glass. If human art knows how to mix nature with nature, and change what was before, how much more would the grace of God be able to effect ? Man has added gold-leaf to glass, and in appearance that seems gold which was before glass. If man had chosen to mix in gold, the glass would have been made golden but avoiding the cost, he invented the fitting together and inserting the thinnest is
a great furnace
:
it
receives glass .
.
.
;
leaf."
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
268
Roman made
church of San Clemente, where some excavations
1857 revealed the ancient fourth-century Basilica, almost complete under the present one, which dates from in
This ancient church was built by St. Clement, the third bishop of Rome, and in it Gregory the Great read his thirty-second and thirty-eighth homilies. From the subterranean remains, with their grand ancient marble pillars and the huge semi-circle of the tribune, masked and built in though they are by the foundations of the upper church, we judge that it was a far finer building than the one above. Its walls were moreover covered with frescoes, some of which are precisely similar in style to the ones at S. Piero a Grado, also said to date before the tenth about the twelfth century.
century.
The
frescoes,
which have been discovered on
the subterranean walls, are, as will be seen by our
illus-
which appear to be of three different eras certainly. The upper band of saints two and martyrs are distinctly Byzantine in style, drawing, and colouring. They show the usual rows of immobile saints and martyrs in set robes with jewelled borders, which are seen in the mosaics of the Ravenna churches. These would, I believe, date from the fourth-century church, when the Roman builders were employing Byzantine decoration. The second row beneath this is of the more naturalistic Comacine school, and would probably date from Pope Hadrian's restoration in the eighth century. In these and the frescoes of S. Piero a Grado one gets the veritable link between the conventional Byzantine school and the naturalistic Renaissance in Tuscany. Here are no longer icons or the people are no longer rigid abstract images of saints and set, but are full of action and expression, though both trations of them, in three rows,
—
;
are imperfectly expressed.
and
their stories.
scenes.
Beno
di
The
life
They
are, in fact, real
of St. Clement
is
all
persons told in
There are even portraits of living people, such as Rapizo and his wife Maria, who " for love of the
>
Frescoes of the 8th Century in the subterranean Church of
S.
Clemente, Rome, with [See /ag^es lo and z68.
PORTRAITS OF THE Patron Beno di Rapizo AND HIS Famii-y.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
269
blessed Clement " caused the frescoes to be painted.
Nor
are their children, the boy Clement {puerulus Clemens) and little
They
Atilia his sister, forgotten.
traits,
the face
for
The
identical.
of
Beno
colouring,
two
in
too,
is
are veritable por-
different
unlike
the
scenes
is
Byzantine
Those are rich with solid heavy tints these are lighter, and more in the style of the early Sienese or Tuscan ones. Beneath this row of scenes are ornamental saints above.
friezes,
;
which one recognizes
in
Roman
classical
forms
naturalized into floriated scrolls, and under these a line of
One
panelling in fresco.
panel appears to be copied from
the mosaic of the ceiling at the circular church of Sta.
Costanza
;
another
is
suggestive of the emblematic circles
and signs of the Catacombs. A third, the most interesting of all, is the one commemorating the building of the church to which we have before referred. Here stands Sisinius, and whether he be the hero of St. Clement's miracle, as Father Mulroody asserts, or not, he is certainly a Master architect standing in his toga, and wearing a Freemason's apron under it, directing his men, Albertus, Cosma, and Carvon-
moving of a column. The figures in this are so much more rude and out of drawing than the ones above, that they scarcely would seem to be by the same hands. I account for it by the fact that in representing a natural celle, in
the
sketch from real to
life,
the artist had no traditionary models
guide him, as he had for his saints and virgins, and con-
sequently he found
it
difficult to
The
depict his fellow-workmen
Catacombs has no affinity with these frescoes, which are of a more free and natural style, and the true ancestors of the Tuscan school in
complicated attitudes.
art of the
of fresco-painting.
We
might place these as the earliest revival of nature after the Byzantine conventional influence was withdrawn the next link is to be seen in the church of S. Piero a Grado,
;
three miles from Pisa, where are extant by far the finest
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
270
specimens of Comacine fresco-painting. The church, which I have described in the chapter on the Carlovingian era,
was
The
built
soon after the time of Pope Leo
III. (795
— 816).
Like those of St. Clement they are not Byzantine, and yet, though full of life and action, they have an Eastern air they are not like the later Tuscan art, the colouring being lighter and frescoes are said to date before a.d. iooo.
;
the drawing of the figures different.
The
prevailing tint
is
a
like nothing in Tuscan
which is though Peruzzi produced a tint something like it in the Standing at one end of the church and sixteenth century. looking down the nave, one could imagine a Ravenna church, with its mosaics softened and toned down into beautiful ethereal pale green,
art,
They
frescoes.
are a valuable proof that
cine Masters pictorial decoration
part of a building.
They
among the Coma-
was considered an
integral
told the articles of their creed in
their sculptures outside, but they wrote the history of the
church on the walls
The
story of the church in the popes above the arches, ending at Leo III. the story of this church in particular is told in large scenes above them. Here is the church as it looked when built, and here is the ship of St. Peter cast ashore at Grado, and his preaching and baptizing, imprisonment, etc. In fact all his life still glows, though fading out on the abstract
is
inside.
told in the line of ;
south wall. miracles.
The
Here
is
given to his death and his crucifixion, near an obelisk on the
north wall
is
Janicular Hill, and the beheading of his fellow-martyr St.
Paul at the Tre Fontane, with the mysterious blood-red
Another scene shows the Pope Symmachus (a.d. 498) disinterring the bodies of the two Saints, and his vow of building S. John Lateran, and the last scene shows his consecration of that church. It is interesting to mark the Comacine influence in the drawing. The towers are Lombard towers, and the buildings all have bird that drank his blood.
round apses.
The
people
who
are not ecclesiastic or saints
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS seem
271
be Longobardic, with reddish tunics, leather-thonged and long hair. As for the lions, which lie waiting before the cross of St. Peter, they are in the precise form of the crouching lions beneath a Comacine arch. The drawing of other beasts shows that the artists were less accustomed to
sandals,
to
them than
to their traditional lions.
be true that these frescoes, like the ones beneath San Clemente, were really of the ninth or tenth centuries, If
and
it
they were by native
would place Pisa far before Siena in the history of art, and Merzario would be wrong when he asserts that there was no school of art in Pisa before the cathedral was begun. The state of art in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries strongly inclines me to if
place these
artists, this
Byzantino-naturalistic paintings, according to
legend, in the ninth century
— that
is,
before the
fall
of
art,
which took place during the times of German invasion and feudal oppression after Charlemagne. Certainly Cimabue, who is called the " Father of Tuscan Art," could not have painted them, though in the revival of his time he may have studied them, as earlier
works of his guild,
for
we have documental evidence of his The first
connection as a Magister with the Pisan Lodge.
great painter of that lodge was Giunta di Pisa, sometimes written Magister Juncte.
He
was the son of a who was a Master in
still
older
Guidotto dal Colle, a.d. 1202, and lived till 1255.-^ We give a facsimile of an old print showing two of his paintings, one a figure from the fall of Simon Magus, in the church of St. Francis at Assisi painter,
another a St. John from an ancient crucifix in S, M. degli Angeli at Assisi. The Byzantine style in Cimabue's painting 1
may be
The Dal
of the
Duomo
traced to the influence of Giunta, of
whom
A deed in the archives Colle family were nobles of Pisa. dated 1229 registers the sale of some land to Giunta by the
Archbishop Vitale edificium," etc.
— " Vendo
tibi
Juncti q Guidotti de Colle totum
unum
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
272
an
ancient
writer,
paintings at Assisi,
Padre Angeli, when speaking of his says " that though his teachers were
—
Greeks, yet he learned his art in
This
is
Italy,
about a.d. 1210."^
a proof of the connection of Eastern artists with the
Western
architects.
Giunta,
who became
a Magister
in
12 10,
preceded
Giotto by a century, in the frescoes of St. Francis of Assisi, where among other things he painted a crucifix with Frate Elias kneeling at the foot. Brother Elias was a scholar of St. Francis, and contemporary with Giunta himself, who has inscribed on his crucifix
FRATER ELIAS FIERI FECIT JESU CHRISTE PIE MISERERE, PRECAUTIS HELIC, GIUNTA PISANUS ME PINXIT A.D.
1
236. IND. 9.
Morrona has reproduced, by a copper engraving, a a crucifix with the Holy Father veritable work of Giunta' s above, and the Madonna and St. John at the sides, which was for many years left in the smoke of the kitchen of the Monastery of St. Anna at Pisa. There is a decided effort to overcome the stiffness of his first Byzantine teachers, and a good deal of lifelike expression in the smaller figures. The same leaning toward nature is visible in the figures Del Valle and of his Fall of Simon Magus at Assisi. Morrona, judging by evidences of style, assert that Giunta di Pisa was the master of Cimabue. But as Giunta graduated as Magister in 1 2 1 o, and Cimabue was not born till 1240, this does not seem possible. It is more likely, in regard to time, that Guido of Siena, painter of the famous Madonna in San Domenico, may have learned something
—
of Giunta 1
;
but as
"Circa an.
sal.
all
three of these primary Masters, each
1210, Juncta Pisanus
amoenitas primus ex
Italia
Paradisi seu sacriconv.
assissiens. historim,
ruditer a Grtecis Instructus
artem apprehendit." Liber
I.
—Padre
Tit. xxiv.
Angeli,
Collis
From paintings
in Assisi by
Magister Giunta of
Pisa,
{See page 271.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
273
whom became
the head of the painting school in his were members of the great guild, the source of own instruction might have been common to all, and moreover that source must have been originally or partly Byzantine. While mentioning that Giunta learned of Greek masters
of
lodge,
in
we may
Italy,
tells
note that Vasari, a propos of Cimabue,
a story of the Florentines calling
teach painting there.
The
in
Greek masters
assertion has been
to
much derided
by modern authors, but it might contain a grain of truth after all. Taking it with the fact (which becomes impressed on us the more we study early Comacine churches) that the architecture is Roman, and the ornamentation shows a Greek influence naturalized, we get at what may be the truth
;
that the Byzantine brethren
after the
edict of
scendants in
it,
Leo
among
Campionese and Buoni
among
the architects.
the
who
I saurian,
joined the guild
still
had
their de-
the ranks of the painters, as the
had for centuries theirs This would account for Andrea families
Tafi working, together with Apollonius the Greek, at the
mosaics in the tribune of the Florentine Baptistery.^
Aggiunte to Vasari's Lives, says that in a contract dated 1297 he read " Magister Apollonius Here we get one of the very Greek pictor Florentinus." masters Vasari has been derided for mentioning, and he is certainly connected with the Masonic lodge. With a common origin, each lodge nevertheless developed its own distinct style, yet so much was general to the whole guild, that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries one spirit seemed to permeate them all, and only experts can from a Memmi, or a Giotto from a tell a Lorenzetti We find them working now in one Spinello Aretino. Del Migliore,
in his
In his Tafi was a nickname. (See Vasari, Life of Andrea Tafi.) had to where the painters SpeziaH, Medici e Arte de' matriculation to the 1
enroll themselves after their split
from the Masonic Guild, he
is
written as
" Andreas vocatus Tafi olim Ricchi."
T
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
274
now
lodge,
work was working
The
another.
in
Cimabue, though
his
Florence where his school was,
in
in the
Pisan
Lodge
principal is
found
in 1301.
Duomo there
have three documents of that year referring to him. One proves the payment of X solidi II libr. a day to " Magister Cimabue" and his famulus (apprentice) for their work there. Who knows whether the famulus may not have been young Giotto, or Joctus, as he is written in old deeds The second paper is Cimabue's receipt for the payment by the Lord operaio [Dominus operarius) for a figure of St.
archives of the
John, painted for that guild {Magiestatem).
The third seems to be the payment for a coloured glass window which had been painted on glass by Baccio, son of Jovenchi of Milan, from Magister Cimabue's design.^
Cimabue's school in Florence must have prospered greatly. long list of names of painters between 1294 and 1296, who are qualified and who agree to teach their
A
may be made from an ancient law register kept at that date by the notary Ser Matteo Biliotti, which is preserved in the general archives of Contracts in
art in Florence,
Florence.^
Here we
Masters trained
find several of the
1 Archives of Opere Del Duomo, Pisa. Docum. 26, libro sud anno 1301 sud "Magister Cimabue pidor Magiestatis pro se et famulo suo pro diebus quahior quibus laborarunt in dicta Opera ad rationem solid. X. pro
die libr II.
" //
Cimabiu pidor Magiestatis sua sponte confessus Juit se hahiisse a D. summa libr: decern quas didus Cimabue habere debebat de figura S. Johannis quas fecitjuxta Magiestatem libr V sol X. Operario de
"III. Bacciomeus filius Jovenchi mediolanensis isse
.
.
.
.
.
.
fuit confessus se habu-
de precio vitri laborati et colorati quern facere debuit juxta
.
.
.
et
voluntatem magistri Cimabovis pidoris, quern vitris Bacciomeus vendere et dare debet suprad. operario ad rationem den XXIIII pro qualibet libra pro .
operando ipsum ad
illas
in majori Eccksia S.
figuras que noviterfiunt dree Magiestatem inceptam
Maria."
— See Morrona, Pisa
Illustrata, etc., vol.
249, notes. ^
Quoted by Del Miglioie
in Firenze Illustrata, p. 414.
i.
p.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
such as Lapo de Cambio, Lapo di Beliotto, Lapo
at Pisa, di
275
Buono, Andrea di Cante, Grifo di Ricovero, Vanni di Rinuccio, Michele
Taldo, Corso di
Tancredi, Tura di
Ranuccio
di Pino,
di Bogolo,
Guiduccio
Guccio
Piero, Bindaccio di Bruno,
di
Maso, Cresta
di
Lippo, Bertino della
di
Dino and Lippo Benivieni, Asinello d' Alberto, Lapo di Compagno, called Scartapecchia, Vanuccio di Duccio, and Bruno di Giovanni, the companion of Buffalmacco and Calandrino, of whom Marra, Rossello e Scalore di
Vasari
tells
such funny
Another
act,
Lettieri,
stories.
dated 1282,
is
a contract by which Azzo,
Mazzetto painter, of the parish of S. Tommaso, engaged to teach his art for six years to Vanni
son of the late
di
Bruno
;
probably Giovanni the father of Bruno men-
tioned above.
Rossello di Lottieri was the great-grandfather of Cosimo
Vanuccio was the son of the famous Duccio of Indeed I think we could find, by close the Sienese Lodge. investigation, that most of these Magistri pittori were connected with one or other of the Tuscan Lodges. There was Painters abounded in the guild at this era. Rosselli.
Tommaso de Mutina (Modena) whose Madonna in the Gallery at
1297 Arezzo (12 16 is
of
Madonnas and
Vienna.
— 1293),
crucifixes,
a
painted in
There was Margaritone
great
tre-cento
of
painter
whose works are yet preserved
London, Siena, etc. He generally signed them " Margarit de Aretio pingebat." A portrait of St. Francis, however, in the Capuchin Convent at Siniin
Florence,
.
.
.
gaglia, is inscribed " Margaritonis devotio
Madonna enthroned not only signed
in the
but dated 1284.
Margaritone were the at
church at
fee.
.
A
."
Monte San Savino
is
Guido of Siena and
leaders of that
Siena which culminated
me
in Spinello
flourishing school
Aretino and
Lorenzetti, one of whom, Lorenzo Monaco, Fra Angelico.
the
rivalled our
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
276
Various painters are found in Pisa up to the fourteenth century, artistic descendants from the school of Giunta Signer Morrona {Pisa Illustrata nelle Arti del Disegno, vol.
ii.
154) gives a
p.
list
There are
of Giunta's scholars.
Bonaventura and Apparecchiato da Lucca, Dato Pisano, Vincino da Pistoja, a list which proves the affinity between the Tuscan schools.
all
certain, Vicino of Pisa as
A
little
later in
Gaddo Gaddi's
132
1
we
find a
scholar in Florence,
where he finished his master's mosaics in the Baptistery. Ciampi has written a long dissertation to prove that Vicino of Pisa ought to be Vincino of Pistoja, because he has found But as his documents the latter name in some documents. refer to paintings done by Vincino of Pistoja in 1290, and the mosaics of Vicino and Gaddi date 1321, it seems more probable they were really two different men one, the Pistojan, being the scholar of Giunta at Pisa mentioned above the other, the Pisan, a scholar of Gaddi in Florence somewhat later. In 1302 we find painters from all the lodges
—
;
in Pisa. Here are Magister Franciscus, painter from S. Simone, named as a Magister of the highest rank. He works with his son Victorius, and his apprentice San-
assembled
Here are Lapo of Florence, Benozzo Gozzoli,^ " and Michaelis the painter " Duccio and Tura of Siena, druccio.
;
and Datus Pictor, who might be that Dato Pisano mentioned as a scholar of Giunta.^
painters
;
1 Gozzoli is in some books entered as Benozzo di Lese de Fiorenza, in others as " di Case de Florentia." So uncertain is mediaeval spelling.
Extract from the book entitled in Latin
^
:
" Introitus et exilus facti et
Burgundio Tadi Operario opere see marie MCCCII. Ind IIII de mense madij incept.
habiti a d.
dis.
.
majoris eccle. sub
a.
.
Magistri Magiestatis majoris
Magister Franciscus pictor de S. Simone porte maris cum famulo suo pro diebus V quibus in dicta opera Magiestatis laborarunt ad r^tionem solid.
X pro
die
.
.
.
Victorius ejus
Lapus de
Florentia, etc.
pictor etc.
Datus pictor
vol.
i.
p. 249, note.
.
.
.
filius
Michael
.
.
pro se et Sandruccio famulo suo,
Document
25."
—
etc.
Duccius pictor, Tura See Morrona, Pisa Illustrata,
pictor, etc
.
.
.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS The books
of the
Duomo
of Pisa contain
277
among
other
things an entry which indicates the use of oil-painting long
before the time of Antonello de Messina. less
29
It
is
nothing
than the payment by the Proweditore of the Opera for of turpentine, 104 lbs. of linseed oil at 28 denari
lbs.
per
lb.,
and 43
lbs.
of varnish,
of which were for the use
all
The
of the painters of the operam Magiestatis.
dated 1301, and
is
of the Opera at
No. 26
in the
MCCCI.
Orlandi sua sponte dixit se habuisse ad
duas den.
is
books of the Proweditore
the year
Pisa in
entry
"Johannes
Operario libras
pro pretio libre viginti novem trementine
pis.
operate adoreram Magiestatis. " Libras quinquaginta quatuor, et solidos
den. pisanorum olei linseminis
que
fiunt
XXVIII
in
minutorum pro
decem
et octo
pretio centinarum quatuor
ad operaio Magiestatis, et aliarum figurarium majori Ecclesia, ad rationem denariorum
pro qualibet
libra."
Upechinus Pictor ^ pro emptis Comunis an. 1303,
libris is
quadraginta tribus vernicis
named
as a painter of Pisa.
prove what a large part the painters took in the work of the Masonic brotherhood, and how the frescoing of the wall was a component part of a Comacine church, and carried on, like their building, by the
These
entries
joint labour of
go where you
clearly
many will in
that has a wall of
its
Masters. Italy,
and
wanting,
If
proof of this
is
if
you
any church
can find
original early Christian or mediaeval
building remaining, of any age between
the fourth and
and you will find Santa Croce, Fiesole, wherever the precious works of the
the fourteenth century, scratch that wall,
have been there. For and San Miniato at Florence, and at restorer's plaster has been taken off, frescoes
instance, in
Upechinus must be dog Latin for Upettino, who is in the Breve ad operam Magiestatis." Johannes Orlandi was a member of a Lombard family, who had been long in the guild. The Orlandi are found 1
Pisani " ab eo
at Milan, Siena, etc.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
278
old Masters have
come
to light.
But
In all these
we have
imagine what a mediaeval church was like from the fragments that remain to see the real Comacine church of to
:
the twelfth or thirteenth century, one must go to the ancient
San Gimignano with its many towers, where they remain untouched by the restorer, and unwhitewashed There the whole by the seventeenth-century destroyer. city of
churches, every inch of them, are covered with scripture or saintly story in glowing colours.
Our
illustration
shows
one by Barna of Siena before the painters seceded. The Spanish chapel at S. Maria Novella is another unspoiled and entire specimen of the profuse use of fresco by the guild. Most of these churches were decorated by fresco artists who belonged to the Masonic Guild before the secession of the painters, and being so,
it
is
probable
worked together, as the architectural Masters were this would account for the difficulty of distinguishing in the Spanish chapel between the work of the Memmi and that of the Lorenzetti, who certainly worked together at Siena, and probably also in Florence. Cimabue and Giotto were undoubtedly Magistri of the Masonic Guild, for both of them were builders as well as painters, and were employed together with other Masters. When Cimabue discovered Giotto drawing his sheep, he took him into his school in the lodge, he being then a qualified Master. But the boy must have passed his novitiate, that they
accustomed to do, and
not only in Magister Cimabue's own atelier, but also in the wider teaching of the school and laborerium, or he would never have got the commission to build the tower, nor the
power
to sculpture his "
Hymn
of Labour
"
around it. This was the era when pictorial art was freeing its wings from the shackles of tradition and set conventionalism, and from the bondage of working under the rule of another art like
architecture.
The
when the oil new and independent career
painters, especially
process was invented, saw a
Fresco at
S.
Gimignano.
By Magister Barna of Siena.
[See page 278.
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS
279
open before them, and struck
for freedom. The Sienese led In 1355 they seceded from the Masonic Guild, even forsook their four crowned Saints inaugur-
the way.
and
;
own company under the banner and protection Luke. They called it DArte afe' Pittori Senesi.
ating their
of St.
In reading their laws
one cannot but recognize that they were framed on the same lines as those of the Masonic Guild, the chief changes being the difference of patron saint, and the omission of some technical rules relating ^
especially to architecture.
The names
of the artists forming this
first
school of
painting are sufficient proof of their former connection with the
Comacine Guild.
Here
is
Francesco
who was
called in a council of the
Lando
Stefano di Meo, whose
di
Opera
Vannuccio,
di in
name appears
1356, first
and
in the
Masonic Guild, and then among the painters Andrea di Vanni, whose father and ancestors had been in it, and who in 1 3 18 was himself working in the Duomo of Siena with his father, where he is entered in the books as Andreuccio (poor little Andrea) di Vanni. There are sundry other members of the Vanni family, some of whom were on the lists of the Masonic Guild before they are found as painters. Then there was Bartolo, son of agister Fredi, with his son Andrea and grandson Giorgio. Bartolo must have been an old man at this time, so that his frescoes at S. Gimignano would have been done before the painters seceded. We find also Andrea and Benedetto di Bindo in 1363 inscribed in the roll of" Magistri lapidum,"and in 1389 in that of the painters several of their family have also enrolled themselves there. This agister Bindo was a Lombard from Val D'Orcia other Comacine names are there also, such as Domenico di Valtellino, and Cristofano di Chosona ;
M
;
M
;
(Cossogna, near Pallanza). 1
See Milanesi's Documenti per T Arte Senese, pp.
deir arte de' Pittori Senesi.
i
to 56.
Breve
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
28o I
believe that after this secession the churches were no
longer so entirely decorated with
frescoes.
Altar-pieces,
introduced by Giotto and Lorenzo Monaco, partially took their place.
In 1386 the painters of the Florentine
Lodge followed
the example of their confreres at Siena, and put themselves also
under the protection of
St.
Luke.
selves the Confraternitcb del Pittori.
They called themThe meeting-place
of this Confraternity was in the old church of S. Matteo, now no more. Their first company lasted till the time of
Cosimo
L,
who patronized
it,
and superintended
its
reorgan-
ization in 1562.
In Medicean times great y?/^^ were held on St. Luke's
Day, by the Academy, and all the best pictures in Florence were hung in the cloisters of the Servite monks. By the time of the Grand Dukes the Masonic Guild seems have decayed. Owing to the new painting, sculpture, and gold-working companies, which had freed themselves from the old organization and the secularizing of art which followed from these causes, and from the diminished zeal for church-building, the Freemasons must have dwindled away, to
;
and the guild died a natural death. Cosimo again revived and united the three sister branches of Art Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting in \ns Accademia delle Belle Arti, where they remain to this day. The ensign of the Academy was a group of three wreaths, bay, olive, and oak, with the motto "Levan di terra al ciel nostra intelletto." Lorenzo il Magnifico had paved the way to the revival of sculpture by the school he started in his gardens. The Academy has now a fine building for itself, and a very in-
—
—
teresting collection of paintings, chiefly of the early schools.
Here we will leave the painters, who no longer have any connection with the great Masonic Guild. That fraternity, nevertheless, forms the link of connection between the old classic art and the Renaissance in painting, as in all the
THE SECESSION OF THE PAINTERS other branches. frescoes
we should have had no grand Lorenzetti, the Memmi, and the
Without
by Giotto, the
2S1
it
Gaddi, for the lodges at Siena and Florence trained their art
;
and
painters,
The
it is
a certain fact that after the secession of the
the glorious days of fresco-painting were over.
no longer worked together to beautify every inch of the churches built by the brotherhood, but they painted for themselves, for personal fame and money. Madonnas, votive pictures, and portraits multiplied the commission and the patron ruled the art. Imagination and inspiration rarely dominated, except in rare cases like Fra Angelico, Fra Bartolommeo, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, and other of the greatest Masters who stand forth from the painters
:
crowd of
artists,
endowed with
true genius.
CHAPTER
II
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
THE SIENESE SCHOOL 1259
Magister Luglio Benin-"j
1260
M. M. M. M. M.
Architects employed on Siena
tendi
1266
Rubeo
cathedral. Bartolomei T Stephanus JordanusJ Bruno Bruscholi \ Engaged on May 31, 1260, for work in the cathedral. Buonasera Brunacci / Sculptured the pulpit in the Niccolo Pisano q.
.
M. Donate M. Arnolfo M. Lapo
M. Johannes coli
1267
Duomo of Siena. 'His pupils and assistants.
di Ricevuti
Donato and Lapo were
filius
Nic-
(Giovanni Pisano)
M. Johannes Stephani (son of No. 3)
M. Orlando Orlandi
natural-
27 1 at Siena. Arnolfo went to Florence, and was there made a citizen. Son of Niccolo Pisano, who was made a citizen of Siena. He was chief architect of the Duomo in 1290. 'Three Magisfn employed at the Duomo, who witnessed the payment to Niccolo Pisano for ized in
1
his pulpit.
M. Ventura Diotisalvi of Rapolano
13-
Ventura was probably descended from Diotisalvi, the builder ,
28 1
M. Ramo
di Paganello
14.
1
IS-
1308
M. Andrea olim Ventura
16.
1310
M. Lorenzo olim M.
.
Vi-
de Senis (called Lorenzo Maitani)
of the
Tower of
Pisa.
Signed a contract as builder on Nov. 20, 1281. Son of No. 13. Worked under Gio. Pisano at Siena during his apprenticeship.
talis
Was
Orvieto in
chief architect at
13 10.
His son
Vitale was " Capo-Maesiro" after
him.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES 17-
1310
18.
M. Ciolo M. Muto M. Teri
di Neri
"j
Worked
di Neri
..../
19.
together at Siena.
Ciolo takes Teri as his pupil on Sept. 10,
1318 *M. Camaino di Crescen tini di Diotisalvi
*M. *M. *M. *M. *M. *M. *M. *M. M.
21. 22.
2324. 2526. 27.
28. 29.
S2ss-
1330
M.
1
3 10.
Grandson of Ventura
Diotisalvi
^
Tino
His son.
Corsino Guidi
Ghino
Ventura\
Relatives
Ceffo di Ventura /
family.
di
Vanni Bentivegno Andreuccio Vanni Ceccho Ricevuti Gese Benecti Vanni di Cione of
Florence M. Tone Giovanni M. Cino Franceschi M. Niccola Nuti
SC-
283
of
the
Diotisalvi
His son.
A descendant of No.
7.
These four with Lorenzo Maitani (No,
16) voted against going on with the too large church at Siena, and advised its present dimension. Son of Lorenzo Maitani (No. 16), CM. {Capo-Maestro) at
Vitale di Lorenzo
Orvieto for six months after his father's death, with Niccola Nuti (No. 32.) 34-
S536. 37383940. 41.
M. M. M. M. M. 1333 tM. tM. tM.
Agostino da Siena Giovanni, his son Angelo di Ventura
Simone
These five sculptors were engaged to make the tomb of Bishop Tarlato at Arezzoj Agostino being head sculptor and designer.
Ghino
di
Jacopo, his brother Paolo di Giovanni ^
Toro di Mino Cino Compagni
.
.
Worked
at the Sienese
Duomo
from 1326.
Com-
A monk of the guild, brother of
tM. Guido or Guidone di Pace tM. Andrea Ristori tM. Ambrosio Ture M. Cellino di Nese of 1339
Built the castle of Grosseto with
tM. Frate Viva
42.
di
pagni 43-
44. 4546.
the preceding.
Siena
47-
1339-
M. Lando
di Pietro
40 48.
1348
M. Stefano
di
Meo
Angelo Ventura.
the church of St. John Baptist at Pistoja ; the contract was signed July 22, 1339C.M. in 1339. great artist in metal, and eminent architect. Son of Magister Meo di Piero. Built
A
Built the chapel of St. Peter at
Massa.
All the Masters marked * were receiving pay at the Duomo of Siena in 1318. All the Masters marked + gave their opinion, on oath, of the works at the Duomo of Siena in councils in 1333. ^
"^
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
284 49-
1349
M. Giovanni di M. Jacopo di Vanni
5°51-
1356
M. Niccolo di M. Jacopo M. Gherardo di Bindo
These brothers were employed at the Fonte Branda. 'Paid for advice about the
Duomo
52-
J)
M. Francesco
di
new
when
Francesco Talenti and Benci Clone came from Florence as ex-
Van-
nuccio
perts. S3-
1358
M. Paolo
Matteo
di
on Nov.
"Elected
3,
1358,
CM.
of Orvieto with Moricus as his assistant. 54-
55-
1360
M. Moricus Petrucciani M. Andrea di Cecco Ra-
and died
CM.
He
resigned,
in 1360.
of Orvieto, Dec. 1360.
naldi S6-
57-
J)
1364
M. Luca
Cecco
di
M. Paolo
His brother and
.
d' Antonio
.
.
assistant
;
de-
signed the steps of the Duomo in 1386. CM. of Orvieto from April 8, 1364.
M. Antonio
S8.
di Brunaccio
A
descendant of No. 5 ; he returned his salary because he broke his contract, March 17, 1364.
59-
1369
M. Johannes Stephani
.
A descendant of Stefano JordaHe worked at 3). John Lateran for Pope Urban V. in 1369. Elected CM. at Orvieto, March 11,
nus (No. S.
6o.
1377
M. Giacomo
di Buonfre-
di (detto Corbella)
M. Francesco
6i.
del
Ton-
ghio (called Francesco del Coro) 62.
1379
M. Giacomo del Tonghio
63-
1384
Magister
1375Sculptured the fagade of the Duomo of Siena, opposite the hospital. Sculptured the choir stalls in Siena cathedral in 1377, also the choir in the Duomo of Florence. His son and assistant. He sculptured the tabernacle of S. Pietro in the Duomo of Siena.
Giacomo
di
Castello
Contracted on Feb. 24, 138485, to make three coloured glass windows for the Du-
omo in
;
S.
he made also those Francesco at Pisa in
139164.
1386
M. Giovanni Peruzzi
Did some stone building the
tower at
in
Siena cathe-
dral.
6S-
1388
M.
Mariano Romanelli
d'Agnolo
Carved several
figures
in
choir of Siena cathedral.
the
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES 66.
67.
285
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
286
By that
time so
many
native architects and sculptors had
been trained that there were two distinct parties in the guild, and the Sienese clique began to feel the need of independent power. In 1 44 1 a schism was made, the Sienese sculptors forming a branch of their own, called L'arte dei maestri dipietra, Senese, which had its laws and regulations in due form. The same schism had taken place in Venice in 1307, when the Arte de taglia pietre was formed, and a similar one took place later in Florence.
The
Sienese
was not very satisfactory, for on December 5, 1473, we find they called a meeting of the two guilds, to further the means of working in better accord with each other. The following compact was made (i) That all Masters, Lombard or Sienese, should pay ten soldi for right of entry on employment. (2) That all, equally, should pay five soldi a year for the festa of the Santi Quattro ; and that a Lombard camarlengo should be chosen to work together with the Sienese one, to collect these and other moneys that the camarlengo should hold no more in hand than twentyfive soldi all money above that to be immediately split
;
;
invested.
That the Lombard camarlengo shall be subject to the same laws and rules and fines as the Sienese one. (4) That the garzoni (novices or pupils) shall have no claims to receive pay, but manual labourers shall be paid three soldi a year each by the Masters employing them, as (3)
says the statute. (5)
the
That when
it
Lombard Masters
is
necessary to "
shall
make a
collection,"
be obliged to attend, equally
with the citizens, and under the same penalties, as by the statute.
Here
follow the
names of the contracting
parties,
as inscribed in the original report of the meeting.^ 1
Reproduced
128, 129.
in Milanesi's
Documenti per FArfe
Senese, vol.
i.
pp.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES Et
Magistrorum Senensium.
PRIMO, NOMINA
Mannus Antonii M. Galganus loannis M. lulianus lacobi M. lacobus loannis M. Antonius Ghini M. Dominicus Cambii M. Aloysius Ruggieri M. Franciscus Andreae M. Petrus Antonii Magister
Magister Laurentius Petri
M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M.
Urbanus
287
Petri
Franciscus Ducci
Dominicus Andreae Petrus Zantebuoni Joannes Vitus Marci
Marianus Sani TuUius magistri Marci
Sequntur NOMINA Magistrorum Lombardorum. Magister
Guglielmus
de
Joannis
Magister
M
lacobus
Dominici
de
Lamone
(his
Lamone
Sanvito
de
Christophori
Franciscus
M. loannes
Cumo (Como) M. Joannes Guglielmi de Sanvito (son of No. i) M. Stephanus Fidelis de Voltolina (Valtellina)
M. Adamus loannis de Thori M. loannes lacobi de Sanvito M. Alexus loannis de Sanvito
M. M. M. M. M.
Guglielmus Antonii de Sanvito Paulus Thomae de Charazza
Antonius loannis de Ponte lacobus Petri de Condupino
Antonius magistri
(his
M. Martinus Martii de Sanvito M. loannes Talentine de Sanvito
de
M. loannes Francisci de Lamone M. loannes de Ponte M. Guglielmus Andreae de Sanvito
Acta fuerunt,
etc.
On January
this did not succeed.
find the Sienese
Alberti
Lamone
son)
But even
lacobi de
son)
Lodge making a
6,
15 12,
we
petition to the Signoria to
the effect that whereas in ancient times the brethren of the
Masonic Guild were always accustomed to hold their meetings and unite for worship in their own chapel of the Santi Quattro in the cathedral, the " foreign " builders
from that chapter (lodge), collected
to
endow
all
the
that chapel,
being now separated money which used to be is now collected among
themselves, and sent to Lombardy, without consulting the
"to the grave injury and shame of our city, and of the said chapel," " thus we pray of your
said chapter {capitudine),
Signoria that you will
command
that the said lodge shall
THE CATHEDRAL BULIDERS,
288
meet according shall
in the ancient
Breve
be useful and honourable to our
By
chapel."^
.
under pain the which
and
to the said
to the ancient rules of the order,
named
of penalties
this
we
.
city
realize that the
.
Lombard Masters
were not only the earliest guild of architects at Siena, but most powerful, as the Sienese branch could not even keep up the chapel of their patron saint without their
also the
aid.
may be
It
interesting to glance over the headings of the
Masonic Guild, which no doubt were at any rate similar to, if not identical with the original one they will throw light on the organization. Cap. I. On he who curses God or the Saints (a fine of statutes of the Sienese
;
twenty-five
Cap.
lire).
II.
On
he who opposes the Signoria of the
city
(a fine of twenty-five lire).
Cap.
On
III.
the election of rettore and camarlengo.
(In the Florentine
Lodge which kept up the
these are called caput magister
Cap. IV.
On
Cap. V.
How
Cap. VI.
2svd,
older Latin,
provveditore.)
the forming of councils and their duration. to treat underlings (sottoposti).
On
who
those
disobey
the
rector
or
camarlengo.
On
Cap. VII.
he who refuses a citation
(fine
of twenty
soldi).
Of one who
Cap. VIII.
swears by the blood or body of
God. Cap. IX.
Of he who
takes
work on a
risk.
Cap. X. All names of sottoposti to be written in the Breve.
Cap. XI. That
no one may take work
away from
another Master.
Cap. XII. Contracts with pupils must be
made
before
the camarlengo. ^
Milanesi,
Documenti per
la Storia dell'
Arte Senese,
p. 130.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES Cap. XIII. is
to
How
289
Four Holy Martyrs
the feast of the
be kept.'
Cap. XIV.
On
the entry of a foreign Master into the
guild.
Cap.
XV. Di chi vietasse
no clear translation of
this
il pegno
think
I
;
al messo. it
can get
(I
means a pledge on
receiving a commission.)
XVI. The camarlengo shall hand over all receipts Grand Master. Cap. XVII. On the salaries of officials of the guild. Cap. XVIII. How fites must be kept (fines of five soldi to all who work on feste. Forty-nine fHe days Cap.
to the
are named).
Cap. XIX. One who is sworn to another guild cannot be either the Grand Master or camarlengo. Cap. XX. That the camarlengo keeps for the guild
moneys received from
all
sottoposti
(brethren
of
lower
rank).
XXI. On good faith in receiving a commission. Cap. XXII. How members are to be buried. Cap. XXIII. How to insure against risks. Cap.
Cap.
be held Cap.
XXIV. No arguments
or business discussions to
in the public streets.
XXV. How
the rectors to
have
full
the
fHe
power
of the guild
to
is
to be kept,
command.
These Four Holy Martyrs are the " Santi Quattro Incoronati," the We find from the Breve that at the feast of the dead, on November 2, all the Masters and officers of the guild had to meet in their chapel to hear mass. Each Master was to bring a wax taper not weighing less than half-a-pound, and was to make an offering for the maintenance of the chapel, etc., of whatever he could afford. The Rector (Grand Master) was obliged by oath to enforce the strict observance of the day, and to fine any Magister who, being in Siena, should absent himself from the meeting, fifteen soldi, besides the offering he ought to have made. They had another greater feast of the Four Martyrs in June, the grand fite of '
patron saints of the guild.
the guild.
U
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
290
XXVL How
Cap.
monks of the
wax
candles shall be sent to the
Mantellini for x!ci&festa.
XXVII. How tithes are to be paid. XXVIII. That all orders come from
Cap. Cap.
the
Grand
Master. the
Cap.
XXIX. How
new
ones.
was changed the
till
officials shall instruct
council of administration which
periodically.)
first
XXXI.
Cap.
by the
the outgoing
The
XXX. That
Cap.
work
{i. e.
no Master may undertake a second has been paid. Brick-makers and quarry-men must abide
rules of the guild.
XXXIV, On
who lie against others. Cap. XXXV. Those who demand a meeting or Cap.
pay
sultation shall
those
XXXVI. That
Cap.
the
Grand Master on
office shall call three riveditori
XXXIX.
Cap.
con-
fifteen soldi to the guild.
^
to
examine
retiring from
his accounts.
That no master of woodwork
shall
work
in stone.
XL. The Breve
Cap.
(statutes) shall
be revised every
year.
Cap. XLI.
On
the entry into the lodge, of Masters from
the city or neighbourhood.
The
and well composed, and must have been made from long experience in the guild. In 1447 we find a further split. The Masters of woodcarving secede from the sculptors in stone, and form their statutes are very fair
certainly
own statutes. Little by little, as art becomes more perfect and requires more freedom, the Masonic monopoly of centuries
is
dissolving.
We must
now
return to the building of the
Duomo by
this multitude of brethren. ^
In Florence and Venice the riveditori are called frobi
they are Buotiuomini.
viri,
sometimes
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
291
was in 1259 that the civic Council decided to continue work of restoration in the Duomo of Siena, and formed
It
the
a council
of nine influential
citizens,
together with the
Magistri of the Masonic Guild, to superintend the work. By February 132 1 their ideas and ambitions had so enlarged that they proposed to make the present church the transept, and to add a great nave, " to make a beautiful and all rich and suitable ornamentation." nave was really begun, and a high bare wall with The new a fine window in it remains to this day to puzzle the tourist. This vast design was, however, abandoned, and the building continued on a less ambitious scale. Now for details of all these changes. Before Giovanni Pisano's time we only get a few quaint names such as
magnificent church, with
Magister Manuellus, son of the late Rinieri,
who made
the
1259; Luglio Benintendi, Ventura Magister Gratia or Gracii, Ristorus, Stefano Jordano, Orlando Bovacti, nearly all of whom were Masters from other lodges either in Lombardy or Pisa. There are one Ventura di Gracii, and one besides two other Venture All these are named as being Ventura called Trexsa. stalls
in the choir in
Diotisalvi,
—
called in a council of the guild of
the stability
June 9, 1260, of some vaulting lately made, but
to consider I
can find
Several of these are names no known in other cities where the guild had lodges. Ventura's father, Diotisalvi, built the Baptistery at Pisa; Magister capo magistro at this date.
came from Padua, Stefano Jordanus had a son, Johannes Stephani, who was witness to Niccolo di Pisa's receipt for payment by Fra Melano of 78 gold lire and IV denarii for his pulpit in the Duomo on July 26, toGracii
gether with Orlando, son of Orlando Bovacti, and Ventura Niccolo himself had with him his son Giodi Rapolano. vanni, who also graduated in the guild from the school of his father.
Here, too, were Arnolfo, Lapo (the younger),
with Donato and Goro,
who were
students in Niccolo's
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
292
school of sculpture, and ture at Siena that
who worked
so well at the sculp-
when they became Magistri
were given the freedom of the
three last
in 1271, the
They were
city.-'
not exclusively sculptors, however, any more than Arnolfo
Lapo was employed
was.
in
1281 as architect at Colle,
where Arnolfo's reputed father, the elder Lapo or Jacopo il Tedesco, had been engaged by King Manfred long before him. Goro di Ciucci Ciuti had three sons, Neri, Ambrogio, In 1306 we find them all and Goro, all in the guild. engaged together in the fountain of Follonica at Siena. one In 1 3 10 Neri's sons Ciolo and Nuto are mentioned of them, having graduated, is old enough to have a pupil, named Teri. Here is the deed of apprenticeship ;
No.
"1^10, i6 Setfembre.
26.
"Ciolo, maestro di pietra del fu Neri da Siena, prende per suo DISCEPOLO T£RI FRATELLO DI BaLDINO DA CaSTELFIORENTINO (Archivio del Duomo DI Siena. Pergamena, 616). " In nomini Domini amen. Ex hoc publico instrumento sit omnibus manifestum; quod dolus magister lapidum de cappella sancti Salvatoris in Ponte, quondam Nertt de Senis, fecit Ugolinum, dictum Geriolum, de
—
—
—
populo Sancti Joannis de Senis suum procuratorem ad recipiendum pro eo et ejus vice et nomine, Teriutn, germanum Baldini de Castro Florentino, nunc commorantem Senis, in discipulum et pro discipulo suprascripti Cioli.
Et ad promictendum magister tenebit
ipsi
statuendum
et terminos
suam artem de
"Actum
Terio, vel ali persone pro eo,
eundem Terium
in
suum
et
quod
dolus
ipse
pro suo discipulo, ad terminum
et statuendos a dicto
dolo;
et
quod eum dictam
lapidibus docebit.
Pisis,
in via publica ante
domum
habitationis Duccii Nerii
Bonaveris, positam in via sancte Marie, in cappella sancte Eufraxie.
Dominice incarnationis anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo decimo, Indictione septima, sextodecimo Kal Octobris, secundum cursum pisanorum. " Ego Bonaccursus filius quondam Provincialis de Vecchiano not :
—
scripsi."
— (Reproduced from
Setiese, vol.
In
1
i.
:
Milanesi, Documenti per la Storia delV Arte
pp. 174, 175.)
281 a
Grand Council was
called to
banishment of one of the Lombard Masters, 1
Milanesi, Op.
cit.
pp, 153, 154.
revoke the
Ramo
di
Paga-
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
293
It seems that Ramo's father was from Lombardy, de partibus ultramontanis " but the son had been made a citizen of Siena, whence he was exiled for contumacy. However, he was such a good sculptor that the edict was nello.^
"
;
The
revoked. "
1
report begins
28 1, 20 Novembre.
de partibus
Paganelli senensis,
— Item cum Magister Ramus olim
ultramontanis, qui
venerit nunc ad civitatem
operi beate liatoribus
Marie de Senis
et
;
fuit
filius
civis
Sen pro serviendo ex eo quod est de bonis intal-
sculptoribus, et
:
subtilioribus
de mundo qui
ad dictum servitium morari non potest, eo quod invenitur exbannitus et condenpnatus per contumaciam, occasione quod debuit jacere cum quadam muliere
inveniri possit
et
:
;
eo existente extra civitatem Senensem
:
si
videtur vobis
conveniens quod debeat rebanniri et absolvi de banno et
condenpnationibus servire dicto operi
ad hoc ut possit libere et secure ad laudem et honorem Dei, et beate
suis,
Marie Virginis, in Dei nomine consulate." The first head architect, who is definitely styled Capo maestro dell' Opera, is Giovanni Pisano, who, when he came to work with his father at the pulpit in 1266, seems to have taken root in Siena, as did his fellow-pupils Lapo, Donato, and Goro. Arnolfo, the fourth of the group, found his mission in Florence.
Signor Milanesi has not succeeded in finding the document referring to Giovanni da Pisa's election, but he finds 1284, the Sienese, in gratitude for the services he has rendered in the building of the Duomo, and especially that, in
the fagade, gave
from taxes. 1
him the freedom of the
city,
and immunity
^
Milanesi, Op.
cit.
vol.
i.
p. 157.
immunitate magistri Johannis quondam magistri Nichole. "Item statuerunt et ordinaverunt,'quod magister Johannes filius quondam magistri Nicchole, qui fuit de civitate Pisana, pro cive et tanquam civis Et toto tempore vite sue sit immunis ab senensis habeatur et defendatur. 2
"De
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
294
Like most
artists,
Giovanni must have "been Bohemian
in his ways, or careless in his political expressions, for in
October 1290 he was fined the large sum of 600 lire, and had not the wherewithal to pay. He got off by paying a third, but even this Fra Jacopo, one of the Operai of the Duomo, had to advance. It was probably repaid from his From these documents we gather salary by instalments.^ that the fagade was not designed by Lorenzo Maitani, as has generally been supposed. If the Commune of Siena in 1284 acknowledged Giovanni's talent in building the Duomo and the faQade, Lorenzo Maitani, who only began to be chief architect of Orvieto from 13 10, certainly could not have been old enough to design the front of Siena cathedral. Moreover Milanesi expressly says that, with all his research in the archives, he can find no mention whatever of Maitani's being connected in any prominent manner with Siena cathedral.^ He most likely worked at it as Giovanni's pupil, and this, with the general tenets of the guild, would sufficiently account for the similarity between the two
churches.
The
tenets of the guild
were certainly veering towards
the Gothic, and each generation of
new
step.
its
members made
a
Jacopo Tedesco at Assisi, and Niccolo Pisano
in his pulpit,
showed the
and
Arnolfo at Florence, and Giovanni at Siena,
pupils,
developed the style
still
first
sign of transition
further,
and
;
their sons
their successors fully
expanded it at Milan. Giovanni was a lover of the Gothic, but was not yet entirely converted. His windows, like Arnolfo's, were pointed, the points emphasized by ornate Gothic gables omnibus
et singulis
honeribus comunis Senensis
:
seu datiis et collectis et
exactionibus et factionibus et exercitiis faciendis etaliis quibuscumque." Milanesi, Op.
cit.
vol.
i.
p. 163.
1
Milanesi, Op.
"
Ibid. p. 173, note.
cit.
p. 162.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES over them
;
but the three arches of the doorways are of a
Lombard roundness, the pointed by
295
being only conveyed
effect
Yet the
the superimposed gables.
turrets
and
saint-
niches of the upper part of the fagade are as rich,
filled
and pointed, and pinnacled as any Gothic cathedral could He had not discovered, as the Germans afterwards be. the beauty of the upward line. The old classic leaning did, to the horizontal line still cuts up the design and the little ;
Lombard
pillared gallery
still
stretches across the front,
though beautified and gothicized.
He
did not forget the
sign of the guild in this transition period
;
for there
on the
columns, and beneath the arches, are the lions of Judah. not positively certain whether the present fagade
It is
was the
We
one
designed by Giovanni or
originally
November
find that in
13 10, a commission
not.
of ten
Master builders was formed, to superintend the work of the commenced, and to guard against useless
mosaic, already
Milanesi supposes this to refer to some mosaics
expenses,
1358 a Maestro was paid six gold florins for his
destined for the facade, especially as
Memmo
Michele di Ser work, "per
la
sua fadigha
(fatica)
Michele agnolo, a musaica
duomo mosaics
nel canto." ;
^
The
(sic)
in later days.
e magistero di Santo
che fecie a
front, as
probably Giovanni
in
it
Pisano's
It is certain that after
la facciata di
at present, has
is
plan was
no
modified
Giovanni's death in
1299 great changes of design were made. The interior has the same mixture as the fagade arches below in the
there are round
windows above
in
the clerestory.
The
marble, significant of the times though
from the
up
in 1
nave, and pointed
it
black and white be, detracts
effect of the really fine architecture
slices.
Milanesi, Op.
Fergusson cit.
by cutting
recognized the purely
p. 103, note.
much it
Italian
Magister Michele, the lawyer's son,
was in 1360 Master builder of the chapel towards the Piazza del Campo, and in 1370 was camarkngo of the Opera.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
296
" That at Siena," he says, pedigree of Siena cathedral.^ "illustrates forcibly the tendency exhibited by the Italian
architects
adhere to
to
the
domical forms of the
Etruscans, which the Byzantines It is
much
made
be regretted that the Italians only, of
to
old
peculiarly their own. all
the Western mediaeval builders, showed any predilection
form of roof. On this side of the Alps it would have been made the most beautiful of architectural forms." We cannot, however, endorse Mr. Fergusson's next " in Italy there is no instance of more than assertion moderate success nothing, indeed, to encourage imitation." for this
—
—
Rome,
In the face of the domes of St. Peter's at at Venice, the cathedrals of Florence,
and Monreale,
The
this is rather a
Sienese had, as
S.
Marco
Parma, Padua, Siena,
hard saying.
we have
said,
proposed to so
enlarge the church by adding a huge nave, that the present
church would only form the transept. but
when
This was begun,
the works had already advanced the plan was
abandoned.
Provisional Magistri were called to form a
committee, which met in council on February
17,
132 1, and
we find Lorenzo Maitani was called to attend the meeting from Orvieto, where he had been capo maestro of the works from 1 3 10. He, with Niccola Nuti, Gino di Francesco, Tone di Giovanni, and Vanni di Cione (one of Orcagna's relatives from Florence), formed the council. After due deliberation they pronounced on the inconvenience of proceeding with the addition to the Duomo, and decided to build a new church of more moderate dimensions, which should still be large and magnificent. The work now continued without interruption; and on November 20, 1333, we find another Council of Masters was called, in which here, for the
first
giving his vote.
time in Siena,
He
twelve of the guild severally swear " scripta et sancta ^
testis juratis die
Dei evangelia, corporaliter
supra
tactis scripturis
Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, p. 770.
Front of Siena Cathedral.
Designed by Magister Giovanni Pisano.
[Seepage
295.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES dicere veritatem, suo juramento testificando dixit,"
297 that
etc.,
the walls and foundations were strong and firm.
The
next capo maestro was Master Lando or Orlando
who
son of Piero, a metal-worker of the guild,
di Fieri,
was recalled from Naples in 1339. He was a Lombard, though a naturalized citizen of Siena. They say Lando is " a most legal man {pmo legalissimus), not only in his own branch (gold-working), but
special
in
many
others
;
is
man
a
of the greatest ingenuity and invention, both with regard to
the building of churches and the erection of palaces and private houses tains,
a good engineer for roads, bridges, or foun-
;
and, above
all,
a citizen of Siena." ^
signs of the jealousy of the
Lombard
Here we see
Guild, which caused
we have spoken. Lando was truly an acknowledged genius. He made the coronet with which the schism of which
Emperor Henry VH. was crowned
the
at
Milan
in
131
1.
Muratori (cap. xiii.), quoting an old Latin dissertation on the " corona ferrea," says the maker of the crown was present, " presente magistro Lando de Senis, aurifabro predicti domini Regis, qui predictam coronam propriis mani-
We
bus fabricavit." in
hear no more of his gold work
;
but
1322 he was employed in Florence to hang the great
bell
of the palace of the Signoria, and
quod de
facili
make
it
ring (Ita
pulsatur et pulsari potest), for which he was
In his architectural capacity he was
paid 300 gold florins.
employed at Naples by King Robert of Anjou, but was recalled from there to Siena in 1339, and made caput magister of the builders of the signed on
December
a salary of 200
The articles
lire
3,
Duomo.
The
contract,
1339, binds him for three years at
a year.
accounts of the
Opera have
some
interesting
connected with the laying of the foundations of In August 1339 the Masters were called
the revised plan. 1
Milanesi,
deliberation.
Op.
cit.
p.
228, gives
the original
Latin
report
of the
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
298
into council on the enlargement of the Duomo, as ihe nave was considered too short, and Ser Bindo, the notary of the guild, had to supply them with five sheets of parchment at one lire a sheet to make designs. Also two lire ten soldi were spent in bread, meat, and wine, which were sent by
the guild to the priests
who
officiated
when
the
first
stone
was laid. In March, Maestro Lando again applied to Ser Bindo for parchment to make designs, which cost him twenty-three soldi six denari.
Whether these plans were accepted probably not died.
He
—
left
for in the following
or not,
I
cannot tell
March, Lando
fell
ill
and
a son, Pietro di Lando, also in the guild, and
naturalized Florentine when he joined that lodge. document cited by Gaye {Carteggio, etc. vol. i. p. 73) shows Pietro to have worked with Giovanni di Lazzero de Como and a Buono Martini at the fortifications of Castel the three architects solicited the S. Angelo in Val di Sieve This Pietro was the Signoria for the pay due to them. father of Vecchietta, who inherited more than his greatgrandsire's talent for working metal. The next capo maestro after Lando was Giovanni, son of the famous sculptor Agostino of Siena, who was, on March 23, 1340, elected for five years. He had been head of the works at Orvieto in 1337, but did not long remain there, for in 1338 we find him again in the pay of the lodge of Siena, where a document in the archives of the Hospital notes a payment for some work on April 26, to Maestro Giovanni, son of Maestro Agostino of the Opera, and of the
who was
A
;
parish of S. Quirico.^ I can find no mention of a capo maestro February 16, 1435, when J acopo della Querela, otherwise " Magister Jacobus, Magistri Petri," was elected operajo (president of the Council), i. e. Grand Master. His salary was fixed at one hundred gold florins as long as he lived, and
After Giovanni
till
1
Milanesi, Op.
cit.
vol.
i.
p. 242.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
299
have a pension at his death. There were several conditions specified to which he had to agree. But he had so many other engagements, at S. Petronio in Bologna, at Parma, and Lucca, that he absented himself too much from As early as March Siena to please the Opera there. 1434-35, a month after his election, we find him leaving two his wife
was
to
of the Council of Administration to rule in his absence.
The absence must have been
the Signoria of the
22, 1435,
follows
...
—
As
a lengthy one, for on October
Commune
write to
him
as
Magister Jacobo Pieri electus Operaio, etc. etc. you have been fully informed, you ought before
"
month
have taken action, and performed the duties undertaken by you in regard to the office of Operaio of our Church, to which our Councils elected you. We and our councillors have waited all the past month, expecting that, for the honour of the Commune, and its needs at the hands of the said Opera, you would return. Now we are at October 22, and you do not appear to think of it. God knows how the citizens are complaining and murmuring against you. Therefore we have decided to write to you, that without fail, and with no delay, you must immediately present yourself to perform your duties, and let nothing hinder you. If you do not do this, it will cause us great astonishment and inconvenience." ^ The Council of the Opera wrote a long Latin letter at the same time, exhorting their chief to return and satisfy the claims of the Commune. Whether he came or not I cannot say, but it appears not for any length of time, as on March 26, 1436, we find him at Parma, writing a defiant kind of letter to the Operai of San Petronio at Bologna, who had By 1439 appealed to him to finish his engagements there. we find Jacopo della Querela had died, and his brother Priam was writing repeated petitions to the Opera at Siena about his inheritance from Jacopo, which it seems a certain the past
1
Milanesi,
to
Documenti per
la Storia dell' Arte Senese, vol.
ii.
p. 166.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
300
pupil of Jacopo's called Cino Bartoli
was withholding from
him.
So
the
work went on
for centuries.
There are
contracts
with different Masters for sculptures, for windows, for towers, for chapels,
each Master designing the part assigned to him.
Francesco del Tonghio obtained great fame for his carvings of the
stalls in
assisted him.
the choir in 1377, where his son Giacomo find him in Florence some time later,
We
and his fame must have preceded him, for he is known there as " Francesco of the Choir " (Francesco del Coro). It is impossible to name a single architect for any of these great buildings they were all the united work of a ;
self-governed guild.
During the centuries when the into beauty, her sister of Orvieto also
Duomo
of Siena rose
grew under the hands
of the same brotherhood.
Lorenzo Maitani, having been trained by his master, Giovanni di Pisa, at Siena, was called to Orvieto in 13 10. His family lasted long in the guild, and won much fame. His father Vitale was a master sculptor who had worked under Niccolo and Giovanni. His sons Vitale and Antonio both graduated
became
in the
Siena or Orvieto Lodge, and Vitale
chief architect at Orvieto for six
Lorenzo's
death,
when
Master
Meo
di
months Nuti
only, di
on
Neri
succeeded him. not probable that beyond the design, Maitani had do with the fagade, which was incomplete till about The beautiful Bible in stone which adorns the 1500. pilasters of the three fine doors may have been designed by Maitani, but the work was done by his sons, with the help of many sculptors of the guild from Siena, Florence, and Lombardy. The upper part was not added till the time of Michele Sanmichele of Verona, who in 1509 was nominated chief architect of the facade at a salary of one hundred florins a year. He is described as " Magistrum It
is
much
to
Door
in
Orvieto^Cathedral.
\Sce page 300-
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
301
Michaelem, Magistri Johannis de Verona, principalem magistrum fabrice faciate de Urbe vetere." ^ The enthusiastic work of the numberless artists all vying with each other in beautifying this marvellous church bore
on the funds of the Opera, for in August 1521 the camarlengo had to stop the expenses of the fa9ade and rather heavily
some more needful parts of the church first. So Mag. Michael Johannes Michaelis, Caput Magister dicte Fabrice," was given permission to absent himself for three days a week, for other work (no doubt the church at Spello), and the Opera continued his salary on half-pay." About this time a competition was offered among the Magistri for the best design for the chapel of the Three Kings at Orvieto. Antonio Sangallo and Michele were the two best, and when Pope Clement VII. fled to Orvieto from the sack of Rome in 1527, the choice was made with his conBoth San Michele and currence, Michele's being chosen. San Gallo rose to extreme eminence in the guild many of the finest palaces in Florence and Venice were by them.
finish
"
;
It
is
interesting
to find
that they
were both Lombard
brethren of the guild by hereditary descent.
The preponderance is
sufficient
of
Lombards
in all these later
lodges
proof of the connection of these lodges with the
older Comacines, from
whom
their ancestry can
be traced
direct.
In April
we find Maestro Piero di Beltrami da Lombard companions arranging with the
1422
Biscione and his
Opera for the purchase and cutting of marbles and travertine. In September 1444 Guglielmo di Como and his brother Pietro da Como were commissioned to make a mausoleum in the
Duomo
A contemporary
of
theirs
was Giuliano da Como, who was of such repute
in
^
He
for the
Bishop of Siena.
was also capo maestro of the works of the cathedral
Orvieto. ^
Merzario, Op.
cit.
Vol.
I.
chap.
vii.
p. 231.
at Spello,
near
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
302
the guild, that the Council of the Opera, "considering the virtu of Maestro Giuliano and the desirability of keeping
of seventy florins to buy a house."
Again, on
May
Filippo Visconti
25,
Duke
him
accord to him a loan he requested,
in Siena, deliberated to
^
i42i,the Republic of Siena wrote to of Milan that a Maestro Giovanni,
son of Maestro Leone da Piazza near Como, was anxious
and to and they recommended him to the Lords of Milan because he had greatly won the affection and esteem of the Sienese republic by his good life and his eminence in his art of sculpture. A certain " Maestro 'Alberto di Martino de Cumo in provincie Lombardie" was engaged by the Opera on March 2, 1448, as a builder, in company with Giovan Francesco of Valmaggia and Lanzilotto di Niccola of Como. When the Piccolomini wanted to build a splendid palace in Siena, they did not choose their architects from the faction of their townspeople, but from the original Lombard Martino di Giorgio da Varenna (near Bidagio on branch. Lake Como) was chief architect, and Lorenzo from Mariano in the Lugano valley assisted him as sculptor. He carved the beautiful capitals and friezes in the palace, and his work so pleased the Piccolomini, that they employed him to erect an altar and decorate their chapel in the church of S. Francesco. Milanesi says that Lorenzo da Mariano was one of the best artists of his time for foliaged scrolls and grotesques.^ In 1506 he was capo maestro of the Duomo of Siena. Maestro Lorenzo was no doubt one of the preto return to his native country, to see his family
arrange
a law-suit
;
cursors of the sculptors of the beautiful cathedral of
Como,
and the richly ornate Certosa of Pavia, who were trained
in
the Sienese laboreriuni. ^
p.
Document quoted by
216. 2
Milanesi, Op.
Milanesi, Op.
cit.
cit.
vol.
Merzario, vol. iii.
iii.
I Maestri
p. 282.
p. 77.
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
vii.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES
303
A fellow-countryman, named Maestro Matteo di Jacopo, came from Lugano with Lorenzo, and together with Maestro Adamo da Sanvito (also in Val di Lugano) undertook the great engineering work of making an artificial lake, to drain the then malarious country round Massa in Maremma. Martino di Giorgio had a relative who became more famous than himself. This was Francesco di Giorgio di Martino three names in rotation are generally enough to
—
supply an Italian family for centuries,
work
— who
at Palazzo Piccolomini (Vasari gives
for the whole),
and was one of the
continued the
him the
credit
architects of the palace
at Urbino.
Milanesi, the
commentator of Vasari,
asserts that Fran-
cesco was the son of a seller of fowls in Siena, because he
found the registers,
more
name
of a " Giorgio di Martino, pollajuolo," in the
but seeing that he was bred
in
the guild,
it is
much
he was related to the Giorgio di Martino already eminent there. His family had certainly become citizens of Siena by that date. Maestro Francesco di Giorgio Martini holds a large share in the correspondence of the Sienese government and likely that
of the Opera in the latter part of the fifteenth century.
On December pay of the Sienese
26, i486,
we
Commune
find
him
first
entering the
as public architect.
He
has
and is bound to fix his home at Siena. He was recalled from Urbino for the purpose, having orders to arrive within six months, but the Duke Guidobaldo was On May 10, 1489, the not at all willing for him to leave.
a salary of 800
Duke
florins,
writes to say that the absence of his architect {inio
would be a serious injury to him. During the time Francesco remained in Umbria he seems to have done the Commune good political service by keeping them informed of the dangers that threatened Florence from the offensive alliance between Lorenzo de Medici and the Pope Innocent VIII., who designed to take architector)
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
304
This would have endangered the peace of Siena, so the architect warned them to be prepared. After this, Magister Francesco became the bone of conCitta di Castello for Francesco Cibo.
tention
among
several princes and republics.
The Duke
of
Milan wrote, on April 19, 1490, to the Signoria of Siena, begging them to send the " intellexerimus magistrum Franciscum Giorgium Urbinatem " (see how the place he last worked at is named as his residence !) to Milan to give his opinion on the
Commune gave
mode
of placing the cupola.
The we
the permission, and on June 27, 1490,
Magistro Francisco di Georgi di Siena (here again at Milan he is styled of Siena), with Magistro Johantonio Amadeo (Omodeo) and Johanjacobo Dolzebono (Gian Giacomo Dolcebono), elected as a supreme council of three, and giving their advice on the erection of the cupola at Milan, with the exact plan and measurements which would harmonize with the building as it then stood. He did not find
remain to see the plans carried out, but was on his recall to Siena remunerated with one hundred florins by the Fabbrica {Opera) of Milan.
On October the Prefect of
24 of the same year, Giovanni della Rovere, Rome, wrote to the Signoria of Siena pray-
ing for the service of their architect, and on 1490, Virginio Orsino,
Duke
November
4,
of Bracciano, begged him to
go and build a fortress at Campagnano. Next Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, wanted him at the Castle of Capua, where he went between February and May 1 49 1, and in August of the same year the Anziani, Lords of Lucca, petitioned for him. And so he is called from end to end of Italy, and wherever he goes he is received with honour as a grand architect.^ At Orvieto we find the same preponderance of Lombards 1
All these letters are reproduced in Milanesi's Documenti per TArte
Senese, vol.
ii.
pp.
430
—452.
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES as in Siena.
The
register of the
1293, gives the salaries of the
305
Opera there for August 30, Magistri in the Loggia
Here we find many of our Magistro Orlando and Guido da Como receive six soldi a day Magistro Martino da Como seven. of the
(lodge)
Sienese friends
Fabbrica,
;
;
We
Lombardo, Giacomo and Benedetto da Martino, Guido, and Aroldo as successive
find also Pietro
Como,
sculptors
;
chief architects in the Fabbrica or Opera.
In 1305 the camarlengo had to write to
more builders and
volo ne spargesse
di
Lombardy
sculptors, for, says Delia Valle, " la
grido
il
fin
oltre ai confini
for
fama
d'ltalia,"
December four Magistri arrived —
and in " Mag. Franciscus Lombardus, Mag. Marchettus Lombardus, Mag. Benedictus Lombardus, and Johannes de Mediolano (Milan)." I do not know which of these sculptured the door of which we give an illustration, but the artist has set the sign of his fraternity on it in the lions beneath the pillars. (One is
now
missing.)
The Lodge is
of Orvieto, sometimes spelt
Loya or Loja,
described as a large, spacious, and airy building, in which
the sculpturing of stones
and marbles was done, and where
the stores and the schools were.-' The use of the word " Lodge "
for this complicated
organization seems a sign of Freemasonry, and suggests
Comacines followed the ancient rules of Vitruvius, and kept up the organization of the Roman Collegium. that the
We that the
have,
I
think,
proved
be
this to
same organization held good up
century, if not longer. lection of Sienese
true,
and shown
to the fifteenth
Signor Milanesi's interesting
documents,
if
We find
endless indications of the existence of the guild. several cases of arbitration, such as
Francesconi, ^
"Entro
il
and
Maestro
when Doctor
Lorenzo
di
— Delia
Valle, //
Duomo
Filippo called
Pietro,
quale facevasi I'acconciatura delle pietre,
masserizie e la scuola."
col-
studied closely, contains
el
erano
di Orvieto.
X
le
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3o6
were chosen on September 20, 147 1, as between Maestro Urbano di Pietro of Cortona, sculptor, and Bastiano di Francesco, stone-cutter, his workman, who lodged a complaint against his master on account This same Urbano of unpaid wages and loss of tools. appears to have been frequently in need of arbiters, for on Jan. 27, 1471-72, Bertino di Gherardo was called on to settle a cause between Madonna Caterina, wife of Silvio Piccolomini, and the sculptor Urbano, and decided that the lady must pay the artist 100 lire within the term of four years, the payments to be made quarterly. It was at the lady's option to pay in kind, such as corn or wine, if it suited her better.^ Then there are frequent meetings of councils for appraising the work of other Masters, and we Vecchietta, arbiters
Head
find the Operaio, or
of Administration, fixing the
Precisely the same meetings, arbiwent on in Florence. Indeed, in the century the two lodges of Siena and Florence
salaries of underlings. trations, appraisings,
fifteenth
were so closely .intermingled, the Masters appearing now in one city and then in the other, that there can be no doubt a fraternity existed between them. We even find Donatello, who came from Florence to make the bronze doors, sleeping in a feather bed supplied by the camarlengo of the Opera at Siena." Donatello was more or less in Siena between 1457 and 46 1. He was engaged to sculpture the altar of the 1 Madonna of the Duomo there on October 17, 1457. His accounts are much mixed up with those of Urbano di Pietro of Cortona, of whom we have spoken. It seems 1
Milanesi, Doc.
per
la storia, etc., vol.
ii.
p. 48.
Uno letto e chapezale di penna di peso libbre 200 die dare 1459. trenta-una ; soldi uno denari otto. Sono per tanti ne abiamo messi
^
lire
:
a uscita di Vanni di Ser Giovanni di Bindo Kamarlingho tiene al presente Maestro Donatello
da Firenze che
Archivio detto Libro Rosso a carte 162 etc., vol.
ii.
p. 298.
pergo.
;
il
quale letto lo
fa le porti di bronzo.
Milanesi, Documenti,
THE SIENA AND ORVIETO LODGES Urbano bought the metal
307
to cast a half figure of Judith,
The
and one of St. John, both modelled by Donatello.
money, however, was advanced to Urbano by the banker Dalgano di Giacomo Bichi. The books of the camarlengo of the Opera have several entries for expenses of modelling wax, and metal for casting, etc., used by Donatello in the his figures on the altar of the Madonna delle Grazie assistants and pupils on this occasion were Francesco di Andrea di Ambrogio, of Lombard origin, and Bartolommeo ;
di
Giovanni
di
Ser Vincenzo.
CHAPTER
III
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
THE FLORENTINE LODGE I.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE M. Bartolo da
16.
S.
309
A Lombard from S.
Ghallo
Gall, grand-
famous Giuliano and Antonio San Gallo. Son of Guglielmo da Campione ; was CM. of the Baptistery in 1356 ; CM. of the father of the
17-
1356
M. Ambrogio Lenzi (Ambroxios da Campione)
Duomo 18. 19.
1357
M. Stefano Metti M. Domenico di Noffo
22.
23-
M. Agostino Falchi
21.
Sent to Siena to buy marbles. rThese three were joint Maestri for the upper part of the Campanile. In 1362 Gio. Belchari was poor and infirm, and the guild gave him a pension.
C
M. Giovanni Belchari M. Vigi Grilli M. Bancho Falchi
20.
(bro-i
ther of the preceding)
M. Niccolb Megli M. Andrea di Cione
24. 25-
J-
1362
di Lapo Chavacciani M. Mato di Cenni \ M. Jacopo di Polo/ M. Barna Batis
1363
M. Davinus Corsi M. Simone Johannes
M. Jacopo
27. 28. 29.
Joint Masters for the walls and columns of the Duomo.
J
(Or-
cagna)
26.
in 1362.
In council with Frati and Magistri about the space between Later he bethe columns.
came famous as painter and sculptor, and made the shrine in Or Sari Michele. Makes a model of a shaft. These were engaged
for
the
bases of the columns.
Proweditore after FUippo Marsili.
30-
31-
dal Pino 32. 33-
1364
M. Ambrosius Ghini M. Sandro Macci
Engaged to carve the twisted columns of red marble in the windows of the Duomo. A relative of Lapo Ghino. In council on the domes, with
many and
M. Francesco Neri
34-
Sel-
lari
35-
1366
M. Simone
di Frances-
co Talenti
36.
M. Jacopo Pauli
3738-
M. Mato Jacobi M. Aldobrando Jacobi M. Corso Jacobi
others
named
before
after.
Sculptured pila and relief in S. Croce. CM. of Or S. Michele in With Taddeo Ristori 1376. in 1366 he made a design for a chapel. Engaged Aug. 3 1 , 1 366, to make capitals for columns in the sacristy.
39-
His three sons who assisted him.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3IO 40.
1367
41. 42.
1368
43-
44.
1375
45-
Made
M. Bernabfe Fieri) M. Manetti Fieri/ M. Francesco Michaeli
1
a contract on Aug. 31,
366, to carve
some
capitals.
M. Mattheo olim Cionis
Advises about Or San Michele with Gio. di Lapo Ghino. One of the Masters employed in Or San Michele, brother of Orcagna.
M. Giovanni Giuntini M. Francesco Salvetti
CM.
in
later in
1375, but resigned favour of Giovanni
Fetti.
46.
1376
M. Taddeo
One
of the Clone family; archiOr San Michele, and the Loggia de' Lanzi after his uncle Benci Clone.
Ristori
tect at
48.
49.
M. Ambrogio di Vanni Masters in stone-carving. M. Leonardo olim Masis/ M. Johannes Michaeli, Went to Prato on Oct. z, •>
47-
1377
SI-
brother of Francesco (No. 42) M. Tommaso Mattel M. Zenobio Bartholi
52-
M. Simone Francesci Ta-
5°-
.
.
lent!
S3-
1380
M. Jacopo da Scopeto M. Pietro Landi of Siena
1381
M. Johannes
S4SS-
.
Fetti
.
.
1377,
with Tommaso Mattel to buy marble. Son of Matteo di Clone. Was paid 18 florins on Dec. 15, 1377, for a figure of the Angel Michael. He also carved two other figures at 20 florins. Elected CM. in 1377. Son of the CM. Francesco. He sculptured a figure in 1377, and was paid 13 florins. Worked in the choir. Son of the famous Lando, G.M. of Siena Lodge. Elected CM. with Guazetta on
March 14, 1381. Designed the window under the vault on the north sida M.
56.
Johannes
Stefani,
called Guazetta, of No. 18. S7-
1383
M. ^Laurentius
S8.
1384
M. Giovanni gio
No.
son
Filippi
di
.
Ambro-
da Lenzo (son of 17).
Was
a famous Master in woodwork; he was noted for foundations and scaffolding. C.M. of the Loggia dei Lanzi with Benci Clone, who was
master builder. his vote at a meeting on April 4, 1384, about the pilasters of the tribune. Was chosen C.M. on Feb. 28,
Gave
1400.
1386
M. Luca Siena
di Giovanni
da
Carved some angels.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE 59-
M. Michael Johannis La-
1388
pi Ghini '
60.
1389
M. Antonio
61.
1404
M. Niccolao
62.
1418
M.
Francisci
.
311
Succeeded Lorenzo Filippi as CM. on July 15, 1388. Elected ArcA Magistrum, but deposed in 1420 by the council; and Giovanni di Ambrogio of Campione was elected.
called Pela
Baptista Antoni (son of Antonio, No. 60)
Sculptured the door of the chapel of the Crucifix from Giovanni d'Ambrogio's design. Elected M.C. when Giovanni d' Ambrogio
resigned by rea-
son of old age.
M. Piero
63-
d' Antonio (an-
other son of Antonio, No. 60)
*M. *M. *M. *M. *M. *M.
64. 6566. 67. 68.
69.
Matteo di Leonarda Vito da Pisa Piero di Santa Maria Donatello
Nanni
di
Banco
Lorenzo Ghiberti
70.
M. Andrea
71
noni M. Bonaiuti Pauli M. Papi di Andrea
72,
M. M. M. M. M.
73 74 75
76 77
no-
thing).
All the masters marked * sent in plans for the Cupola. The
design of Brunellesco, who I believe not to have been of the guild, was chosen. Provisore of the Cupola with Baptista Antoni when Brunellesco' s plan was chosen.
Berti Martig-'
All these Masters were employed to erect a large model of
Aliosso Cristoforo di Simone Giovanni di Tuccio
Jacobo Rosso Giovanni dell Abbaco
M. Antonio di Vercelli M. Gherardo (tedesco) M. Ghabriella {tedesco) M. Averardo {"magistro
78.
Nicknamed FannuUa (Do
the design of Brunellesco for the Cupola, on the Piazza del
Duomo. Worked
at the Cupola under Brunellesco.
Three Germans who were paid for models of a cupola.
teutonico ")
Art
like
is
a flower.
If the seeds are
able soil the plant grows, develops,
blossoms,
which
generations.
in
their
If the soil
perhaps reach
its
turn
sown
in favour-
and bears
leave
seed
beautiful
for
future
be not favourable, the plant may it is weak, and
flowering season, but
the seeds lack the power of reproduction.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
312
Modena, Parma, Orvieto, etc., The the artistic atmosphere and soil were wanting. rooted. The firmly never became cities those lodges of Lombard Masters placed there did their work, and then
Thus
moved
in small cities like
to other cities, but the natives
In Pisa, art faculties
first
took
root.
The
had been awakened by the
gathered together
in
their
remained uninfluenced. Pisans,
whose
classic spoils
conquests,
artistic
they had
found a practical
them in the teaching of the laborerium set up in their midst by Buschetto and his assistants and followers. Pisans joined the lodge, and from it great teachers arose. Siena was the next lodge that took root, and drew native then followed Venice and Florence and artists into it through them all, distinct as they became in later times, the seed was always sown by the Comacines or Lombard The Campionese and Buoni families are at the Masters. bottom of all the Tuscan schools, and every one of these cradles of art was of the self-same form, i. e. composed of the school, the laborerium, and the Opera of the Comacine
outlet for
;
;
Masters.
And what
connection had Arnolfo, the
first
designing
and Palazzo Vecchio, with this Masonic company ? He had much to do with it, inasmuch as he was an hereditary member, in fact one of the aristocracy of the guild, and he had a most com-
architect of the Florentine cathedral
plete training in
it.
The
first
trace
we get
of Arnolfo
is
his instruction in the school of Magister Niccolo Pisano.
The
proof of this
is
a deed drawn up in Siena on
occur— "requisivit
May
ii,
1266, in which these words Magistrum Nicholam Petri de Apulia quod ipse faceret et curaret ita quod Arnolfus discipulus suus statim veniret Senas ad laborandum in dicto opere, cum ipso magistro Nichola." Here we have Niccol6 di Pisa as Master in the guild, and ;
his disciple Arnolfo not yet
Another paper relating
having graduated. to Niccolo's
work on the
pulpit
THE FLORENTINE LODGE Siena
at
says
Lapum, suos
— " Secutn
ducat
Senas
313
Arnolphum
et
discipulos."
By 1277 Arnolfo seems
have graduated, for when Niccolo and Giovanni di Pisa were at work on the beautiful fountain at Perugia in that year, Fra Bevignate, the soprastante of the work, sent to call Magister Arnolfo from to
Florence to assist in the sculpture of the fountain.
Arnolfo,
letter dated Aug. 27, 1277, that he Perugia, or undertake any work there
however, declared in a could not go to
without the consent of King Charles of Anjou (King of Naples and Sicily) or of Hugo, his vicar in Rome. King Charles was applied to, and on Sept. 10 of that year he wrote conceding permission to Arnolfo to go and assist his old master then 74 years of age and also to take the
—
—
marbles necessary.^
These documents are very valuable apart from the fact They show how the guild was not only privileged by the reigning monarch, but that he was the active president of it. It explains all those queer words oh Longobardic inscriptions, beginning "In tempore Dominus they chronicle.
—
Honorius Episcopus," "In tempore praesule Paschalis, etc.," showing that they point out the reigning king, pope, or patron bishop who was at the time president of the Great Guild. The name of this highest magnate is usually followed in these inscriptions by the Grand Master, soprastante or operaio of the special lodge.
the guild
is
Naples, his
The
shown its "vice" at Rome. also
;
next place in which
where he worked
universality of
president, the king, being at
we
see Arnolfo
in
is
Rome,
with his socio (fellow Freemason), Pietro,
at the tabernacle of this
The
San Paolo
fuori le
mura.
Here, with
ancestor of the Cosmati, Arnolfo learned his love of
polychrome sculpture, which he afterwards adapted to the larger uses of architecture for his grand Florentine Dome ;
1
Milanesi's Vasarr, Vita Niccolb e Giovanni Pisano, vol.
i.
p.
388.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
314
seems only a magnified
work
piece of inlaid
There
inlaid casket.
in
the
Opera
del
is
a beautiful
Duomo
which
I
believe to have been the pluteus or parapet of the tribune
the Cosmatesque work which That he was as apt a pupil of the Cosmatesque revival of the opus Alexandrinum as he had been of Niccolo's figure sculpture, and his father Jacopo's architecture, is evident by his tomb of Cardinal de Braye at Orvieto, where we next find him working in 1285.^ The tomb is a beautiful mixture of Cosmatesque ornamentation with the legitimate sculpture which he had learned in Arnolfo's time.
It is in
Arnolfo often executed.
The
from Niccolo,
capitals of the spiral inlaid
the sarcophagus are of the form.
true
old
columns of
Romano- Lombard
In the simple grace of the recumbent figure
we
descry a forerunner of Donatello and Desiderio.
We
have now traced Arnolfo's training through three
or four of the chief lodges, and always under the
Masters.
It is
best
then no marvel that by 1294 his fame had he was chosen as architect of the Duomo
risen so high that
He
of Florence.
was well known
to the Florentines, his
master, Jacopo Tedesco, otherwise Lapo, having to settle in Florence,
left
Colle
where he was engaged to build the
Palace of the Podesti (Bargello).
And
this brings us to
the vexed question of the parentage of Arnolfo.
Vasari says that Jacopo or Lapo, whom he calls "il Tedesco " (meaning Lombard architect), was the father of Arnolfo, and he gives this as a certain fact, understood to be the case by the world in general for two or three centuries past.
on
document quoted Secum ducat Senas Arnolphum et Lapum suos discipulos," says that Lapo was only Arnolfo's contemporary and fellow-pupil. Milanesi,
the strength of
the
above, "
^
The
Cardinal died in 1290, so he must have given the commission
during his lifetime.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
315
But neither Vasari nor Milanesi seem to reflect that Certainly, if two youths there might have been two Lapi. are fellow-disciples of one Master, it is not probable that On the other the senior should be the son of the other. hand, if " Jacopo il Tedesco," said to be Arnolfo's father, was elected head architect at Assisi in 1228, how could he have been a young pupil of Niccolo di Pisa in 1266 ? Recognizing these difficulties, Milanesi sets out in search of a father for Arnolfo, in place of Lapo, his fellow-
He
pupil.
comes across a document
" Riformazione "
of
in the archives of the
dated
Florence,
MCCC.
Aprile
i,
where the privileges of citizenship are accorded to " Magistrum Arnolphum de Colle, filium olim Cambij."-' In quoting will
this,
persist
Gaye ^ in
says that in spite of
calling
it
the Florentines
Now
Arnolfo the son of Lapo.
cannot these conflicting facts be reconciled
It is
?
a strange
no other Florentine deed except this one any sign of parentage given to Arnolfo. He is so enveloped in the greatness of being caput magister, and the greatest architect of his day, that his parentage seems to be lost sight of, though the universal custom of the day was to cite the father's name as well as the son's in a document. Therefore, though we have never before heard the surname of Jacopo il Tedesco, there is no reason By the time in the world why it should not be Cambi. Arnolfo was grown up, Jacopo Tedesco had lived many fact
that
privilege
in
is
years in Florence citizen,
;
may have
he therefore, having become a Florentine office and might have been con-
taken
name Cambi during the
nected with the Cambio, or Exchange there, taking his
from that
office,
as a large family of
Republic seems to have done. I incline,
1
however, to another theory
In the register of deaths
it
—
that Cambij
occurs that Arnolfo's mother's
Perfetta. ^
Gaye, Carteggio degli Artisti, vol.
i.
pp. 445, 446.
is
a
name was
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3i6
corruption of Campij, or
—As
Campione— for the following reason
Tedesco was already a. Ma^tsier, he was chosen as master architect of
early as 1228 Jacopo
and of such fame that
the grand church of S. Francesco at Assisi, in conjunction In spite of Fergusson's with Fra Philippus de Campello.
opinion
that
the architect of these
large
buildings was
working under some ecclesiastic who drew the plan, the evidence goes to prove, in this case, that Jacopo the layman was capo maestro, and Fra generally a
mere
builder,
Cam-
Philippus the ecclesiastic only aiutante (assistant).
was
pello
a corruption of Campiglione or Campione, which
name, first taken from a place near Como, became afterwards the distinctive title of the Parma school of Comacine Masters. We find it spelt in different documents Campillio, Campellio, Campilionum, Campione, often shortened into Campio or CampT. All the older writers say that Tedesco was a Comacine or Lombard, and if so, he Jacopo was one of the Campionesi. His name occurs in a stipulation made at Modena on Nov. 30, 1240, where he and Alberto are qualified as uncles of Magister Enrico, one of the contracting parties.^ This may well have been the :
father of Arnolfo,
especially as
Jacopo Tedesco lived at Colle
was born, while
With
his father
in
Baldinucci^ asserts that
Val d'Elsa, where Arnolfo
was building the
castle there.
these lights Milanesi's documental "Arnolphus
de Cambii" may be accounted for. If the members of the Campione school in the north took that as their name, why should not Jacopo also have signed himself Campione? It is more than probable he shortened it according to custom into Campio, and may not have been very particular to distinguish between the kins-letters p and b, a very common fault in the sketchy spelling of old MSS., and especially >
We find
these
same men, Alberto and Enrico
ing in San Pietro at Bologna in 1285. ^
Baldinucci, tom.
iv. p.
96.
his
kinsman, sculptur-
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Designed by Arnolfo. {See pages 257
and 317.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
317
Lombardy was a German province, he 'should have imbibed a German accent. This would likely to occur
while
if,
Arnolfo was evidently closely connected with the elder Lapo, his style being so similar. reconcile
the dispute.
all
Compare the Palazzo Vecchio and Bargello with Lapo's castle of Poppi,
and the
relation
Lapo
with the younger
is
is
His connection
evident.
equally clear.
In the
list
of
qualified masters in painting at Florence, in
Fireme
illustrata, p. 414, is
Lapo
quoted by Migliore Niccolo Pisano's pupil, who
Cambio. This would suggest that Arnolfo and his fellow-pupil Lapo were brothers as well as
is
called
fellow-pupils,
so
di
that
when Lapo
the
younger finished
Jacopo Tedesco's (Lapo the elder's) work at Colle, he was only following out the usual rules of the guild, in which the son succeeded the father.
The
was a time of immense development in art what Niccolo and Giovanni di Pisa did for sculpture, Jacopo Tedesco and Arnolfo did for architecture. Jacopo was the first to introduce the pointed arch into thirteenth century ;
Central
Italy, at
Assisi
;
Arnolfo further developed
it
in
where the arches of the nave are windows pointed. After this era we have no more Romanesque the reign of Italian Gothic has his cathedral at Florence,
round, and the
—
begun.
The
Basilican form, too, has vanished we have now nave and transepts of the Latin cross. No longer the small double-arched window, but long pointed arches ;
the
filled
with beautiful tracery.
linger on,
The
old symbolic animals
but in the subordinate form of grotesques in
ornamentation.
That takes a
distinctive
new
mark of the
guild, the lion of Judah,
position in the Italian Gothic.
It is
no longer
between the pillar and the arch, but beneath the column, and Guido da Como first placed it in their pulpits. You see it under the pillars of the north door of as Niccolo
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3i8
the Florentine is
indicated
Duomo, where
by a
the transition into Renaissance
particularly classic figure of a child stand-
and under the central column of the windows of the Spanish chapel in the cloister of S. Maria Novella, where it serves to mark the fact that the architects Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro (who in the documents of the time are styled Magister Fra Sisto and Magister Fra Ristoro) were members of the Masonic Guild. ing by the lion
;
Jacopo, the inaugurator of Italian Gothic, spent
having
later years in Florence,
when he had
Colle
left
many
all
his
years before,
Jacopo's work in
finished the castle there.
Florence consisted of the building of the Bargello, which is
a perfect specimen of the late Comacine style, built in
modo
gallico
with
large
smoothly-hewn
stones.
The
connection of the Masters of the guild with the south of is shown here as well as at Pisa, for it is said that King Manfred commissioned Jacopo Tedesco to design the sepulchre of the Emperor Frederic in the abbey church
Italy
of Monreale in Sicily.
(Manfred died
in 1266.)
Jacopo also introduced a reform into Florence. time
when Messer Rubaconte
of
Como was
In the
Podesta of
Florence (1236, 1237), his compatriot, Jacopo Tedesco of Campione, near Como, proposed to him that the streets should be paved with stones instead of bricks, to which
Messer Rubaconte agreed, and the same method of paving still
continues in Florence.
The second Lapo, brother,
Arnolfo's fellow-pupil, and perhaps
was the author of several buildings
in the
end of
the thirteenth century, which Vasari falsely attributes to
Jacopo the
He
elder.
fortifications at Colle.
also continued
Jacopo Tedesco's
^
Whether we look on Arnolfo
as
the son of Jacopo
Tedesco, or only as the pupil of Niccol6 Pisano, he was, either way, one of the guild and more, a follower of ;
1
Milanesi, vol.
i.
p.
283.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
319
Jacopo rather than of Niccolo, his bent being rather archiWe can, then, place Arnolfo as the first head of the laborerium of Florence and in tectural than sculptural.
;
tracing the formation of this branch of the guild,
we
shall
throw a light on all the former branches, which, from want of systematic documents, have remained as formless organizations of schola, laborerium,
vain to find something
more
tions at the National Library
the director of the the
Opera
and Opera.
explicit
After trying in
about these organiza-
and State Archives,
del
Duomo, who
I
consulted
me me a
kindly saved
work of long puzzling over old MSS., by lending
copy of Cesare Guasti's valuable collection of abstracts from the books of the Opera, from the earliest days of Arnolfo to the completion of the cathedral.
Here the whole organization stands
revealed.
Here
the meetings of the lodge, and the subjects discussed
;
are
the
names of the Magistri and Council of Administration from year to year the payments to architects, artists, and men the legal contracts and business reports. It is clearly seen how the Opera is connected with the laborerium, and how the meetings are always composed of some civic members from the Council of Administration, and some from the working Masters of the lodge. ;
;
One, dated October
Opera
del
councillors
Duomo, were
Ugo
15, 1436, reports
a meeting in the
Operai or Alessandri, Donato Velluti, Nicolo
at
which
the attendant
and Benedict Cicciaporci (pig's flesh) here's a nickname They deliberated on the advisability of sending for a certain Francesco Livii de Gambasso, Comitatus Florentice, who was at Lubeck in Germany, to Caroli de Macignis,
;
!
windows and mosaics. Francesco, when he came back to the city which he had known in his boyhood, and where he had learnt his art, bound himself to work in the laborerium of the Opera, " et in dicta civitate
make
the painted
Florentiae in Laboreriis dictae Operae toto
tempore suae
vitae
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
320
eidem continuum, ac firmum inviamentum exhiberent, ita, et taliter, quod ipse una cum sua familia victum, et vestitum in praefata Civitate erogare posset."^ This one document gives valuable proof on several points.
proves that whether or not Italy got her architects from Germany, Italian Masters were employed in It
Germany. proves that there was a guild in Florence, " Comitatus Florentise," to which Francesco Livii belonged, and that there was a laborerium in Florence, in which Francesco, It
when
a boy, had learned his
Master.
It
art,
proves, moreover,
risen to the rank of
and
the
that
laborerium was
connected with the Opera.
Another meeting of the same Opera on November 26, 1435, held to consider all the designs for the choir of
the
Duomo, marks " Nobiles
this
connection
still
more
plainly.
Johannes Sylvestri de Popoleschis, Johannes Tedicis de Albizzis, Johannes ser Falconis Falconi, Jacobus Johannis de Giugnis, et Hieronymus viri
Francisci dello Scarfa, Operarii dictse Operse, existentes collegialiter congregati in loco dictae
eorum
residentiae pro factis
Operae utiliter peragendis, absque
aliis
eorum
Collegis,
et servatis servandis
"Attendentes ad quandam Commissionem factam per Offitium de ordinatione Altaris majoris dictae Ecclesiae, et Chori ipsius Ecclesiae infrascriptis Civibus, et
eorum
Religiosis Sacrae Theologiae, Magistro Jacobo Graegorii del
Badia Ordinis Fratrum
Minorum, Magistro Sandro de Covonibus Converso Hospitalis Satictse Mariae Novae de Florentia, Francisco alterius Francisci Pierotii della
Luna
Nerio Gini de Capponibus egregio Medicinae Doctori, Magistro Paulo M. Dominici, et Juliano Thomasii Gucci,
omnibus Civibus 1
1820.
Civitatis Florentiae, et
La Metropolitana Fiorentina Illustrata,
p. 54.
ad
quemdam
rap-
Firenze, Molini e Co.,
THE FLORENTINE LODGE portum per eos factum coram eorum
321
Offitio infrascriptse
^
continentise."
Here follow the
on three designs one by Filippo Brunelleschi one by Nencio for the choir a third by Magister Agnolo da Arezzo. di Bartoluccio Observe that we have as master architects of the guild, a monk and a hospital warden, called on the Commission with the Operai, who were influential citizens, but not This seems to throw a light on the word qualified Masters. " Magister comacinus cum colligantes suos," in eolligantes, criticisms of this council
:
;
;
Would
the old laws of Rotharis.
mean
not the colligantes
the Consuls and Operai, members of the Opera or administrative body in these great works of church-building, whom the Magistri of the guild elected from the influential men of the city in which they were ? Here are a few translations of his quaint statements of the orders the Provveditore received from the Operai Lotto, Lapo, Piero di Cienni, "June 1353. Operai Simone di Michele Ristori. They tell me to make haste and obtain the payments from the Camera (council), and
—
—
:
'
the
Gabelle
'
Day
;
the
'
'
(octroi).
'
must manage that by
I
John's
St.
covelle of the Campanile must be finished. '
And
must get two of the Magistri from Or San the scaffolding must be taken down from S. Giovanni (the Baptistery), so that the work may be seen." This entry shows how many buildings the guild were engaged on, and how the architects of them all were under
to
do
that,
Michele.
the
I
And
command
of the Opera, or centre of administration for
all.
''August
14,
1353.
—
Piero, Lotto,
and Simone."
(Every
To order by naming the Operai in council.) Get it made. To order the designs for a tabernacle. Have it done design for the campanile, and in what kind. in wood. To order marble, for the work at the summit. "
entry begins
.
'
La
.
.
Metropolitana Fiorentina Illustrata,
p. 59.
Firenze, Molini e Co.
Y
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
322
To
tell
Francesco^ there
is
rations of Neri Fieravanti. all
work for a year. About the Give him the money to pay
the master's claims, and you, Filippo, shall be the pay-
we
master, and
per pagare lingo, e noi
tutti ti
The way
will i
(" Dalle danari
provide the means."
maestri loro, e tu Filippo sia loro camar-
faremo provedere.")
^
which the Provveditore, Filippo Marsili, and puts down his orders from the Operai His memotheir own words, is naive in the extreme. in
talks of himself,
just in
randa are certainly delightful.
Here
is
another very busy day
"September
26,
1353.
Talenti,
lawyer.
Simone, Migliorozzo,
(This time the head architect, Fran-
Francescho, Piero." cesco
—Operai:
was
in
council.)
About a notary
for
"
To
elect
a
salaried
About the nine
citations.
hundred and fifty lire which the Commune has of ours. To pay by the piece, rather than by the day. To send to Carrara (for marble). Put it off till All Saints' Day. Of the many documents we need. ... To reason with the Regolatori.^ To speak with the captains of the Misericordia about our many legacies. Tell them to let us know .
when they meet.
.
About the
.
To
Wills.
discuss
it
with
Ser Francescho Federigi (a notary). To find means to get ready money. Try and get a discount on the tax on assignments. About the wine for the Masters. Take it
away
entirely. About Francesco and the window ... to pay the Master who had the commission and when the work is done, have it valued, and the surplus, or the deficit, will be entered to Francesco" (head architect). Truly it was no sinecure to be Provveditore for the .
1
^
^
.
.
Francesco Talenti, head of the laborerium. Cesare Guasti, Santa Maria del Fiore, p. 77.
Here
is
another
not hitherto met with.
office in the organization
The
council, to control expenses.
of the guild which we have
Regolatori must have formed the economical
THE FLORENTINE LODGE He
guild of architects in those days.
hands
indeed
full
When
!
323
must have had
his
the Masters were not satisfied
with their pay, and a work had to be appraised, like this window, a special council was called, consisting of the
Consuls of the Arte della Lana, who were the Presidents of the Opera, the members of the Opera, and all the Magistri of the laborerium.
The Masters were
The
then called on one an estimate of the work, and discuss its a ratio was taken, and the medium price fixed. same kind of council was called to consider any
designs.
Generally, several of the Magistri sent in their
by one merits
;
to give
models made of wood. These were discussed and votes taken before the final commission was The report of one of these meetings, where each
designs, or in council,
given.
Master naively voted for his own design, is very amusing. The Masters were strictly bound by contract to the
some
cases they were paid
by the day. We find, on May 29, 1355, that the salaries of Masters were lessened by two soldi a day, and workmen by one soldo. Sometimes the Commune found them wine and rations at others they were paid by the piece, by contract. On June " It is desired that on no 7, 1456, the Proweditore writes account shall any Master go to work outside the Opera, If without the deliberation and consent of all four Operai. any absent himself without this permission, he shall be conIn
laborerium.
;
—
sidered as discharged."
The
schools attached to the laborerium must have been
very complete.
They trained pupils in
architecture, sculpture,
and painting.
the three sister arts
One
sees the remains
of them in the Belle Arti at Florence, Siena, and other towns, and the
Academy
of St.
Luke
at
Rome.
the Magistri were teachers, but there were certain
who
held
certainly
Giotto.
office
one of
as
these,
Not all of them
was and so were Cimabue and Magister Professors.
Niccolo di
Pisa
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
324
This full art-education accounts for the artist of the Renaissance being such an all-round man. One finds a painter like Giotto, or a sculptor like Niccolo Pisano, building
graduated
grand
works.
architectural
Sometimes they and Leon
in all three arts, as did Landi, Giotto,
Battista Alberti.
When
they graduated
the
in
schools,
they became
Magistri of the guild, and could then undertake comBesides the Magistri fratelli, there were the missions. undergraduates as it were in old Latin documents they ;
below these were the novices or pupils. The workmen employed by them were quite unconnected with the guild, and were paid daily wages as manual labourers. The light thus thrown on the organization of the Masonic Guild by the valuable collection of documents are written as fratres
made by Cesare was
Guasti,
;
seems
to
me
to explain
much
that
For instance, none which includes It would have been
puzzling in the Florentine city guilds.
why, among architects,
all
sculptors,
supposed that
Commune
the Arti,
or painters
in the early
spent
its
there
is
?
days of the republic, when the
wealth and enthusiasm on erecting
great and noble buildings, architecture would certainly have
ranked among the greater Arti, even
in competition with
and silk-weavers. But there was no There was a minor one for masons and stone-cutters, but it was established later for workmen and mere house-builders, and had nothing to do with great the wool-combers
such civic guild.
while painters who wished be members of the Commune and have any hand in the government, had to enroll themselves in the Goldsmith architects or master sculptors
;
to
"Arte
and apothecaries). The existence of this Freemasonic Guild would explain this hiatus in the greater arts. While such a powerful and self-governing body existed, which had Guild, or the
degli speziali" (doctors
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
325
monopoly for Italy in the art of churchmere city guild would never have been able to compete with it, and would have been superfluous. That it really held the monopoly is more than probable. We have traced the Comacines through each gradation, have seen the successive schools and branches started by them in each place where they had great works in hand. The Buoni family at Modena going on to the south of Italy and then to Pistoja, founded that school. The Campione branch at Verona and Parma hence passed to Assisi and Florence. The Lucca school of Lombard Masters spread to Pisa and gathered into it native talent. The later gathering of Lombards and Pisans at Siena thence moved to Orvieto, and sent a branch to Florence in the persons of Jacopo Tedesco and Arnolfo. There taking root it grew into the goodly flower of the Renaissance. evidently
the
building, a
And
after efflorescence,
—decay
;
the old organization, by
in the greater freedom of art. Each Master aimed to stand alone on his own merits, and was no longer necessarily enrolled as one in a guild.
degrees, dissolved
A
great
many
things
besides are revealed
to us
by
We find that Arnolfo died
Guasti's collection of documents.
1310; Vasari read it wrongly as 1300, so that Arnolfo would only have worked a year or two at his Duomo. The in
correct entry in the archives
is
—
"
1 1 1 1
idus (martii) Quiescit
magister Arnolfus de I'opera di Santa Reparata
MCCCX."
'
a strange coincidence that the death registered before Arnolfo in the Necrology should be a man named Cambio, a locksmith, but he seems to have no connection It
is
with Arnolfo, whose parentage as usual
1
the
is
not indicated.
Carta 12 of Antica Necrohgia di Santa Reparata in the Archives of
Opera del Duomo. Q. Davanzato f
Alfieri.
Q. Cambio chiavaiuolo. Q. Magister Arnolfus de I'opera di Santa Reparata' MCCCX.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
326
Thus we see
eleven or twelve years at
a
century
to
most only worked a building which took more than
that Arnolfo
at the
How much
finish.
did
he
accomplish
?
Probably not more than the foundations and the design
which he left, and which may be seen to this day for it is usually understood that the church in the fresco of the Spanish chapel represents the Duomo as Arnolfo designed it. After his death Florence fell upon warlike times, and ;
was unable
to continue the
work
till
1331,
when
the " city
recommenced the building of the church of Santa Reparata, which had for a long time been in abeyance, and had made no progress, owing to the many wars and expenses which the city had undergone." The deed goes on to relate that the Arte della Lana was placed at the head of the administration, and that a tax of two denari per libbra on all moneys paid to the Commune should be appropriated for the expense, as had been decreed before. They further added another tax on the customs, so that the two amounted to 12,000 libbre picciole a year. Besides this, every shop in Florence was to have a money-box where they were to place il denaro di Dio (tithes) on all they sold.^ I quote this to show how cities in the good old being in a happy and tranquil
state,
church-building days paid their architects.
It is
probable
that the schools of the guild had continued in this interval,
though the Magistri ma.y have had to seek work elsewhere, for
by July
18, 1334,
we
find Giotto as a Magister, selected
he seems to have had do with the Duomo. His marvellous tower, in its varied colouring and artistic effect, shows the hand of a painter rather than an architect. He did not live to see his work completed, for on January 8, 1336, he died, soon after his return from Milan, where he had been sent in the services of the Visconti, and had a public funeral at the as architect of the Campanile, though
very
little
to
^
Guasti, Santa
Maria
del Fiore, p. 29.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE expense of the the
work of
Commune
his
in
The fact
Santa Reparata.
tower went on
must have had brethren
327
in his absence,
in the guild
that
proves that he
capable of carrying out
As the foundations were only laid in July 1334, and Giotto died in January 1336, after a long absence at Milan, one wonders how he found time to sculpture the his plans.
Hymn
However, we must take it. In his second Commentary, Ghiberti says^ " The first line of reliefs which are in the Campanile which he erected were sculptured and designed In my time I have seen his own sketches by his own hand. A contemporary anonymous commentbeautifully drawn." "Giotto designed and superinator on Dante writes^
reliefs in his
of Labour.
Ghiberti's testimony for
—
—
tended the marble bell-tower of Santa Reparata in Florence, a notable tower and costly. He committed two errors
had no base, and the other that it was too This caused him such grief that, they say, he narrow. fell ill and died of it." I think indeed that if Giotto had found any error he would have rectified it in the That it had plans which he left for his successors. no foothold is not true, for the solid foundation was placed so far beneath the surface that it stood firm on the solid macigno (kind of granite rock) twenty braccia one that
it
below.
His successor was of another branch of the guild, but a Masonic J/«^w^^r all the same. On April 26, 1340, Andrea •
Cronaca di Lorenzo Ghiberti
Florence.
—" Le
prime
scolpite e disegnate.
storie
MS.
che sono
in the
Magliabecchian Library, furono di sua mano
all'edificio,
Nella mia etk vidi provvedimenti di sua mano, di
dette istorie egregissimamente disegnati." il campanile di marmo di Santa Reparata companile et di gran costo. Commisevi due errori Tunc che non ebbe ceppo da pife, I'altro che fu stretto posesene tanto Commento alia dolore al cuore ch'egli, si dice, ne infermo et morissene."
^
"
Compose
et ordinb Giotto
di Firenze, notabile
:
Divina Commedia d'Anonimo fiorentino del Bologna, i868.
secolo
XIV.,
vol.
ii.
p. 188.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
328
was elected by vote by the Council of the Opera to succeed Giotto as head architect.^ There must have been other Magistri proposed as candidates, if the Council had to resort to black and white beans for the voting. Andrea only lived a few years he
di Pisa
;
died, or retired from office, in 1348, the year of the great
plague
;
and Francesco Talenti became caput Magister
in
Francesco was a brother of Fra Jacopo Talenti, 1350. Magister lapidum et edificorum, who was joint architect with
Fra Ristoro of the convent and church of Santa Maria Novella from 1339 to 1362. Francesco, like his brother, must have been in the guild he worked at Orvieto cathedral among numbers of Como and Lombard Masters ;
in
1336 we find him called to Siena as There had been discovered some defect in
In April
1329.
an expert.^
Francesco's companion from Florence was
the columns.
His
Benci di Clone.
maestro of the
office as capo
some
Duomo
though he did not reign alone, but was associated with Giovanni di Lapo Ghino, of Florence continued
who
after
1360
documents of
is
years,
called joint capo maestro.
The
principal
prove that there were and arguments about the size, height, and placing of the columns, and discussions on Talenti's plan for the chapels at the east end. This seems to have been a crucial question. Councils of four Magistri in each were held for three consecutive days July 15, 16, and 17, 1355; and their opinions given in writing. On August 5 the grand united council of twelve Masters and the whole lodge was held, when the proporendless
their administration
councils
.
1
"
Ac etiam cum
.
.
magistro Andrea, majore magistro dicte opere
:
facto
ad fabas nigras et albas." Andrea was a scholar of Giovanni Pisano, and had worked with him at Pisa and Siena, where he is mentioned as famulus Magistri Johannis 2 " A Franciescho Talenti e al compagno da Firenze tre fiorini d'oro per lo consiglio che diederono del Duomo nuovo." Milanesi, Documenti per VArte Senese, Afrile 1336. prius et oblento partito inter eos
—
THE FLORENTINE LODGE tions for the
329
columns were decided, and Francesco's design
for the chapel
approved.
Another Council was held on June 8, 1357, with the Operai and Consuls of Arts, and their ecclesiastical colleagues, when the undermentioned Masters and monks gave their counsel on the church—a proof of the close of ecclesiastics with the Masonic Guild.
affinity
Frate Francischo of Carmignano
M. Novella
„
Jacopo Talenti.
„
Franciescho Salvini.
„
Tommasino. Ogni Santi Jachopo da S. Marcho
„
S.
S.
Croce
„
Piero Fuci, e
,,
Filippo sacrestano di S. Spirito
„ Benedetto dalle Champora Magister Neri di Fieravanti „
Stefano Messi
,,
Franciescho Salviati
„
„
The guild
;
report
Giovanni Gherardini Giovanni di Lapo Ghini
„
Franciesco dal Choro
„
Ristori
,,
Ambrogio
Cione Lenzi, or Renzi
was written by
the spelling of the names
Several of the same
Sig. is
monks met
Mino, notary of the
his own. at the
Opera on July 12, columns in the
13575 to consult about the placing of the
second foundation.
on July 17, 1357, to choose between two designs of columns and a chapel made by Francesco Talenti and Orcagna, when each candidate elected two Masters as arbiters. PVancesco Talenti chose Ambrogio Lenzi, a Lombard, and Frate Filippo Riniero of S. Croce, Andrea Orcagna chose Niccolo di Beltramo, also a Lombard, and Francesco di Neri. These could not decide, and Piero di Migliore the goldsmith was taken as umpire, the parties binding themselves to abide by his decision. Giovanni di Also,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
330
Lapo Ghino and Francesco Talenti were ordered to make new designs. At length, on July 28, Orcagna's plan was chosen. Talenti's
office
was no sinecure
disputing with other Masters.
we
;
often
Disintegration was beginning.
lacked unity.
find
him
Indeed, the lodge greatly
On August
—
" I must 1353, the Provveditore, Filippo Marsili, writes Fioravanti and Francesco Talenti settle that to get Neri di 5,
dispute within fifteen days. each, and may
They chose Benozzi 4,
They must choose an
as mutual third.
— 1353 "The Master who Executes
arbiter
by joint consent." Again on October
elect the third arbiter
Francesco Talenti's
When
design for the window must be paid his demands.
work is done, have it valued, and the balance more or less to go to Francesco's account." He seems also to have been an improvident sort of man. Here are two tell-tale entries in Filippo Marsili's memorandum book "July 12, 1353. Advance him as soon as convenient the pay for four months. Take it out, by deductAgain in November the ing half his salary weekly." entry is " Lend him what he wants." In 1376 Francesco's son Simone became joint capo the
—
—
maestro with Benci Clone, Orcagna's father, at a salary of eight gold florins a month.
Simone graduated
also in the
and executed a figure for the fagade, for which he was paid thirteen florins on September 4, 1377. Zanobi Bartoli, also a Magister lapidum (sculptor), was at the same time paid twenty gold florins each for two marble figures, though he received only eighteen florins for his statue of the Archangel Michael in December of the same sculpture school,
year.
Francesco's colleague, Giovanni di instance
—one
guild.
We
century.
of
first
On
many
—of
Lapo Ghino,
is
a good
the hereditary nature of the
hear of Ghino at Siena in the thirteenth
February
7,
1332,
his
sons Simone
and
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
331
Lapo di Ghino, sign a contract with Agpstino and son Giovanni of Siena, to build a chapel in the Pieve S.
Jacopo, or his
—
Maria at Arezzo that of Bishop Tarlati, Bindo de' Vanni and his son Francesco, with two other Magistri, being witnesses.^
In 1362 a certain Ambrosius Ghino
named in a list of He may have been a brother or nephew of Lapo. the lodge. Then comes the third generation, and we find Giovanni, son of Lapo di Ghino, at Orvieto. He afterwards came to Florence, where he
is
was elected capo maestro,
at
unison with Jacopo Talenti, and later by himself. old Ghino's great-grandson, in the
books as
in his turn capo
" Michele, Johannis, Lapi, Ghini,"
Duomo
in
In 1388
whose whole pedigree
maestro of the
first
is
given
became His
of Florence.
descendant, Antonio Ghino, also graduated in the Florentine
Lodge, but he went back to Siena, where he appears as one
employed there in 1472. This family is only one of many hereditary Masonic brethren. The Clone family is another instance. The first Masters of the name appear in Florence on July 1355, as Ristoro and Benci Clone, two members attending the Council on Francesco Talenti's design for the chapels, but whether they were brothers or father and son I cannot tell I presume brothers, or Benci would have been written down as Benci Ristori di Cione.^ We have seen Benci Clone called to Siena as an arbiter. He was much occupied in Florence, where he worked at the building, or rather adaptation, of Or San Michele. He and Laurentius Filippi (Lorenzo, son of Filippo Talenti) were joint architects of the Loggia dei Lanzi, Lorenzo superintending the sculpture, and Clone the architecture. Lorenzo has set the sign of the guild on the base of his columns by surrounding them with small pillars of the Magistri
;
1
Milanesi, Documenti per la Storia
^
Ristoro had a son,
Taddeo
Loggia dei Lanzi in 1376.
deW Arte Senese, torn. p. 200. who was capo maestro of the
di Ristori,
i.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
332
on which lions are crouching the proportions and ornaOrcagna has mentation of the building are beautiful. Loggia, but of this the architect as credited always been he is here proved not to be the original designer, though he probably worked with his father. Orcagna's name, Andrea di Clone, first appears in the great Council with monks and Magistri, held on June 1 8, 1357, to decide on the space which should be left between ;
the columns of the Duomo.^
Andrea's nickname of Orcagna, a corruption of Arcangelo (Archangel), has clung to him through centuries, and over-
shadowed his real patronymic of Clone. The relation between him and Benci di Clone remains rather obscure. Orcagna has also had the credit of building the church of Or San Michele. Probably writers confuse Orcagna, or Andrea di Clone, the sculptor of the beautiful shrine in that church,
which
is
architect of the building.
two
Benci di Clone
his masterpiece, with the
From
who was
the close connection of the
and from Orcagna having worked so much think it probable they were father and son.
in the guild,
with Benci, Milanesi
is
I
rather uncertain about the father of Orcagna,
and in the genealogical table at the end of his life he writes him as Clone with a note of interrogation, and no Christian name, which may well have been Benci. Orcagna first studied painting under his elder brother Nardo (short for Bernardo), who was enrolled in the " company of St. Luke." But this was only one branch of Andrea's art-education. He matriculated in the Masonic QviA^ {Arte dei maestri di pietra e legname), in the books of which it is written " Andrea Cioni, called Archangel,
—
a painter of the his oath
parish
and promises
of S. in
Michele Visdomini, took
the said guild, Magister Neri
This and many other deliberations at the same epoch put it beyond a doubt that Arnolfo's church was considerably changed in form, as time went on, if not rebuilt entirely. '
Shrine in
Or San Michele,
Florence.
Designed bv "Orcagna" (Andrea Cione). [See page 333.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE being his sponsor, in
Fioravanti
October It
tions
29."
333
1352, sixth indication,
^
was Orcagna's way to emphasize his varied by signing his paintings, " Andrea di Cione,
and his sculptures, "Andrea di Cione, masterpiece, the shrine in
qualifica-
scultore,"
On
pittore."
Or San Michele, he
his
has inscribed,
"Andreas
Cionis, pictor Florentinus, oratorii arch magister extitit hujus MCCCLIX." The expression " Archmagister
of the Oratory " (or shrine) explains
many
things.
It tells
us that the whole of that complicated piece of sculpture,
though
it
may have been
designed entirely by Orcagna, was
not entirely executed by him, but that, like other Magistri,
he had a band of brethren working under him could he have been chief Master where there lesser
ones under his
It is
command
how
were no
?
interesting in studying the
Guild, of which
for
;
working of the Masonic
Orcagna signs himself Archmagister,
to see
how they are occupied in building several grand edifices at once. The immense number of Masters congregated in the Florentine Lodge rendered this possible, and wealth was not lacking in the city to
The books
employ them.
how the Council of dominates Administration the laborerium. We shall see how the busy Proweditore has to change the Magistri about from Santa Croce to Or San Michele or from the Duomo at
the Opera reveal
;
San Michele Visdomini, just as need presses. He has to order marbles for all and any of these edifices to call to
;
councils to consider designs for
ings etc.
kinds of different build-
and parts of buildings, such as windows, chapels, doors, Sometimes we find him commissioning a certain
architect ^
all
to
make
a plan for a chapel, or a door, or
a
" Andreas Cionis, vocatus Arcagnolus, pictor populi Sancti Michaelis
Visdominis, juravit et promisit dicte arte, pro quo fideiussit Nerius Fioravantis
Magister in
— Milanesi's
MCCCLII,
Vasari, Vita di
indictione sexta, die
Andrea Orcagna.
XX
ottubris "
(sic).
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
334
window.
When
Talenti and
Giovanni Ghino had both
October 1367, the usual decide the momentous question to enough councils were not The whole city had to be called into which to choose.
made designs
council,
for the tribune in
together with the
Magistri of the
guild, etc.
monks {/rati colleganti), the Hundreds and thousands of
people came to the Opera, looked at the designs, signed their
names on the
list
of approval, for one or the other.
After the joint reign as capi maestri of Gipvanni di
Lapo Ghino and Francesco
came a varied
Talenti,
line
of master builders lasting for a hundred years, so that is
impossible to say that any one
the
Duomo.
Between Arnolfo's
man was first
it
the architect of
plan and the
final
Italian Gothic development of the fifteenth century lies the whole history of the development of art. The next great capo maestro after Talenti was Ambrogio of Lenzo or Lanzo, near Como, one of the Campione His name is given in a deed of February 3, 1363, school. as " Ambroxius filius magistri Guglielmi de Champiglione." It is remarkable that an ancestor and namesake of this " Ambroxius " was also written down as " filius Magistri Guglielmi " in 1 1 30, two centuries earlier, when they were leading members of the Campione school at Modena, and sculptured the fa9ades of Modena and Ferrara cathedrals so our Ambrogio of Florence was one of the distinguished aristocracy of the lodge, his family dating from its cradle in Lombardy. From the deed which we quote we find that Ambrogio graduated under his father, and made his first contract with Barna Batis, then Proweditore of the Opera of the Duomo, to provide and prepare the black marble necessary to the work, for every braccio of which he was to be paid six soldi eight denari. This is the original ;
" Anhivio
dell' Opera dell
Duomo, February
3,
magistri Guglielmi de Champiglione, comitatus
a
Domino
1362.
—Ambroxius
filius
Mediolani, emancipatus magistro Guillielmo patre suo, ut continere dixit publice manu
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
335
de Champiglione, conduxit a Barna olim de Florentia, locante vice et nomine operariorum ... ad faciendum et digrossandum totum marmum nigrum quod erit necessarium dicto operi, hinc ad unum annum proxime venturum, illarum mensurarum prout dicetur eidem per capomagistros dicti operis. Et dictus Barna locavit eidem die dictum marmum ad fovendum et digrossandum, et promisit pro dicto opere eidem Ambroxio de quolibet brachio dicti marmi dare eidem Ambroxio soldos sex «t denarios octo f. p., etc. ser Joannis Arriglionis notarii
Batis provisore Operis Sancte Reparate
Que
omnia, etc."
Ambrogio or Ambrose remained many years in Florence. His name often appears in council. In 1356 he was elected head architect of the Duomo, and also of the restorations On April 4, 1384, when as an old man at the Baptistery. he attended a meeting to decide whether the pilasters of the tribune were strong enough to support the dome, his name is given as Ambrogio de Renzo. A marked instance of the effect of twenty years among Florentine dialect, which has an inveterate habit of mixing up I's and r's. His son, Giovanni d' Ambrogio di Lenzo, who afterwards became capo maestro, was also in council, and Orcagna was chosen umpire.
But between the reign of Ambrogio and that of his we have various changes in the directorship. In 1381, Giovanni, son of Stefano, called Guazetta, became capo maestro together with Giovanni Fetti, who was also of the guild, and preparing first in Siena, and next at Florence, Giovanni for his future work in Lucca and Bologna. Fetti designed and made the fine "window towards the houses of the Cornacchini, under the third arch of the
son
nave."
Guazetta's peculiar line was laying foundations and devising complicated scaffolding. of the sacristy.
He
He
favour of
made
the presses
was perhaps not enough of a builder
to hold the office of chief, for in in
also
Francesco
Salvetti
1375 this pair resigned
and
Taddeo
Ristori.
Salvetti, however, very soon renounced office, preferring to
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
336
remain
in the guild
on a simple
salary, rather
than incur
responsibilities.^
Then Francesco
Talenti's son Simone,
who had by
this
Taddeo when Michele, son
time become a Magister, was put in his place with
Their reign lasted
Ristori.
1388,
till
was
of Giovanni, son of Lapo, son of Ghino,
elected.
In
were begun. 1404 Ambrogio's son Giovanni was elected capo
his time the pilasters of the tribune
In
maestro.
November
Here
is
the part of the entry of the Deliberation,
—
elegerunt et nomina1404 " Operaris verunt et deputaverunt in caput magister dicte opere Sancte 17,
.
.
.
Reparata providum virum Johannem Ambroxii, etc. etc., salario florenum otto, pro quolibet mense cum auctori-
cum
tate, balia et
Another
potestate usitate et consueta." deliberation, dated
June
"Johannem Ambroxii caput magister" for the species
17,
Delib. xlix. 28.
14 15, states that
shall give the order
and form of the bricks
for
some
special
part.
Giovanni, the
can
was
last of
the
Campione school whom we
and Baptista Antoni elected in his stead. He was probably the son of Antonio, the Grand Master mentioned above. Giovanni had not always time to carry out his own designs. In 1408 we find that Magister Niccolao, surnamed Pela, took the contract to carve in marble the doorway near the chapel of the crucifix, which was designed by "Johannem Ambroxii, caput magistrum." It is rich with vines and other ornaments. Niccolao did not push the work, however, and in May 1408 the Opera decided that he owed the guild the sum of twenty-five florins for register,
deposed
for
old
age,
breaking his contract.
—
1 Extract from the books of the Opera, "Francis1372, December 13 chus Salvetti de sua propria et spontanea voluntae qui erat caput magister diet! operis Sancte Reparate renuntiat et repudiat dicto officio, et quot non vult confirmus esse caput magistro in presentse operarorum."
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
337
The number of different minds each leading the works own department is bewildering. The beautiful door
in his
Mandorla, so rich and elegant
the
called
in
sculpture,
have been executed by Jacopo della Querela, was in reality the work of Nanni di Antonio di Banco. The books of the Opera register, on June 28, 141 8, a payment of twenty florins on account to Nanni for this doorway, and in 142 1 the last payment was made on the Nanni was a favourite scholar of completion of the work. Donatello he was a person of good birth, who matriculated in the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra on February 2, 1405, and proved his membership by sculpturing the four patron saints of the Masonic Guild on Or San Michele. We further find in this precious collection of documents that Magister Jacopo di Lapo Cavacciani made a model that Nato di Cenni and Jacopo di Polo were, for a shaft in August 1357, engaged to make the bases of the columns, and that time after time different Masters were called on to make plans for chapels, windows, doors, etc.
which
is
often said to
;
;
Now we know this
fourteenth century,
centuries without a in his di
the state of the building as
we
dome.
Storia Florentina,
giugno
1380
si
realize that
The lib. iv.
it
it
was not
stood in left for
old chronicler Buoninsegni, p.
642, says
— "A
di venti
cominclarono a riempire et murare
fondamenti della cupola di S. Maria del Fiore."
Up
i
till
this time the nave only seems to have been built. On August 7 a meeting of Magistri was called to consult on the foundation for the cupola, and on November 12, " Bartolom1380, there is a long document commissioning meus Stefani, Johannes Mercati, and Leonardus Cecchii,
Magistri Florentini," to build the pilasters to support the
dome, which are to be of good stone and cement, and the builders are cautioned not to work in times of frost or snow, caused much anxiety in the guild; in 1384 constant meetings were held about them. etc.
etc.
These
pilasters
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
338
The Masters were
afraid the foundations of the
one towards
Via dei Servi were not firm; day after day in July 1384 they met in scores to examine and report on it. Then they called in the consuls of the Art of Wool, the Operai, and
men
and everybody, excepting a certain Messer Biagio Guasconi (who after all was not an architect), agreed that the foundation of the pilaster was However, good Messer Biagio still held his perfectly safe. own opinion and refused to sign approval. From the steady way in which the work went on, it is certainly possible and probable that there would in the natural course of the work have been a dome to the It was in the cathedral even without Filippo Brunelleschi. pilasters were placed plan, and the foundations and original There was much talk of the difficulty in readiness for it. of placing the framework of the scaffolding for it, but there seems to have been no doubt that it would be accomplished. In fact numbers of the Masters sent in plans for it at
all
the chief
of the city
;
different times.
The
first
time that Brunellesco appears in the records
meeting of consuls, Opera, and Masters, convened on 10, 1404, to consider a certain error in measurement committed by the capo maestro, Giovanni di Ambrogio. The question turned on the placing of the (sprone) brackets on the faqade which interfered with the windows. It does not seem that Brunellesco belonged to the brotherhood. He is merely mentioned as Filippo the goldworker, son of the notary Brunelleschi {Filippus ser Brunelleschi aurifex). In no place, either here or elsewhere, is he ever called Magister, and throughout his life his every action was a protest against what he called "the Maestranze," a term of contempt like "their Masterships," which Brunelleschi applied to the Arte dei Maestri.
is
at a
November
He
had matriculated in 1398, when twenty-one years Arte delta Seta, but as his tastes were strongly
old, in the
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
339
and he refused to follow his father's profession of lawyer, he enrolled himself in 1404 in the Arte degli Orafi (goldsmiths), in which so many painters were
artistic,
already eminent.
The
goldsmiths or metal-sculptors,
who
seem to have seceded from the Freemasons, were still in some measure colleagues of the Masonic Guild, and their members were often called to vote or advise in the councils of the Opera.
Thus we
find Brunellesco as
one of the orafi called
council about the construction of the brackets. to
have held 1405,
till
He
into
appears
Opera for a year was probably one of
office as councillor in the
when he was paid
off.
He
on the part of the city. famous competition of 1402 Brunellesco lost the commission for the doors of the Baptistery, he left Florence in dudgeon, and with his friend Donatello went His studies of the methods of the ancient to Rome. Romans in making their great domes, suggested to him a way of vindicating his amour propre by defeating the whole He had made guild of " Masters " on their own ground. investithoroughly and now architecture a special study, the Operai
When
in the
gated the classic methods. Pantheon, and
made
He
got to the roof of the
studies of the stone-work in the ribs
of the cupola, investigated the foundations, the supports, etc.,
and came
mysterious hints
back to
among
Florence,
the influential
where he
let
members of
his
drop
own
company, and in the studios of one or two artists, that even if the " maestranze were to call their Masters from France or Germany, and all parts of the world, none of them would be able to make a dome equal to the one he could make." The Masters of the laborerium at length heard of these assertions, and called on him to show his trade
which he declined to do. Then the Opera, on August 19, 141 8, announced a competition. Any artist whatsoever who had made a plans,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
340
model of the projected cupola was to produce it, before the end of September, the model accepted to have a prize of 200 gold florins. The date of decision was prolonged to October, and then to December, when a number of models were sent in, the competitors being Magister Giovanni di Ambrogio, CM. of the laborerium, Manno di Benincasa, Matteo di Leonardo, Vito da Pisa, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Piero d'Antonio, nickall Magistri of the Masonic Guild named Fannulla (do nothing), Piero di Santa Maria in Monte, masters in wood. There were several models by members of the civic company, the Arte dei Scarpellini (stone-cutters) and last, not least, a model in brick and mortar without scaffolding, made by Brunellesco, Donatello, and Nanni di Banco,^ so he was obliged after all This last won the prize, but the to show his design. Arte dei Maestri had not evidently faith enough in one ;
;
outside their ranks to
commence
at
once with the building.
In Signer Cesare Guasti's collection of archivial documents regarding the building of the Duomo, we find several of that from October to December 23, 1418, the Masters, including Magistro Aliosso, Mag. Andrea
Mag. Paolo Bonaiuti, Cristofero di and Giovanni Tuccio, were receiving payment for building a model in masonry of Brunellesco's plan for the cupola. I do not find that Brunellesco himself was employed in this, the only payment to him being " 50 lib. 1 5 soldi " for his work on the lantern of the model, between July II and August 12, 1419 proving that he put the finishing touch, but that the Masters of the guild themBerti
Martignoni,
Simoni,
;
selves tested his design for the great
dome
before finally
This brick model, which was built on the Piazza del Duomo, remained there till 1430, when the Opera ordered its destruction. Guasti ^ gives in full this
adopting
it.
1
Milanesi, Vasari, Vita Filippo Brunelleschi, vol.
^
Cesare Guasti,
La
ii.
p. 351, note.
Cupola di Sattta Maria del Fiore, pp. 34, 35.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE which
341
dated January 23, 1430, and is in the usual low Latin of contemporary documents. When the model order,
is
was
finished, the
14,
142
1,
Magistri of the guild assembled on May to hold council on it. There are entries of
expenses for a breakfast to the Masters, and for torch-
accompany them on their internal investigations. We find the same ceremony of refreshment to the Magistri who visited the works of the real cupola in 1424, when six flasks of Trebbiano (the best Tuscan wine) with fruit and bread were provided. In 1420 Brunellesco was definitely bearers to
commissioned to superintend the cupola, but even then the Magistri could not admit an outsider to
full Masonic was not named caput magister, as one of the guild would have been, but he and Ghiberti (whose model had been next best) were named provisori of the dome, while the Magister Baptista di Antonio was capttt
privileges.
He
The terms
magister proper of the lodge.
of the contract
were that "the provisori were to superintend the works, providing, ordering, building,
and causing to
build,
the
cupola from beginning to end, etc. etc."
At
first
a month.
both Ghiberti and Brunellesco drew three
The head
head master.
salary of the guild as
The
florins
Magister, Baptista, had the usual
story of Brunellesco's restiveness at his old rival
him
Ghiberti being associated with peculiarly his
own, and
how he
in carrying out a design
tried to
by locking up his plans and feigning Ghiberti to
work in the dark,
is
too well
throw scorn on him, illness,
thus leaving
known to need repeti-
is very hard on Ghiberti's ignorance, was so great that he was obliged to resign because he could not do the work. But there are two sides to every question. How could a man carry out a work
tion here.^
Perkins
^
which, he asserts,
^
See Sculpture, Renaissance and Modern, pp. 63, 64, published by Sampson Low and Marston.
Messrs. "
Tuscan Sculptors, Vol.
I.
chap.
v. p.
135.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
342
designed and begun by another without seeing his plans ? Besides, Ghiberti's resignation, or rather relinquishment of his
work
at the cupola just then, was,
believe,
due
to the
he had a few months before received a com-
that
fact
I
mission for the second bronze gates of the Baptistery, and
wanted January
his time free for them.
This commission
is
dated
ceased for
His salary as provisore of the cupola The dates a few months from June 28, 1425.
speak
themselves.
1425.
2,
for
returned to
it
He
still,
however, held
with partial pay, for in
1428 we
office,
or
find a decree
of the Opera which raises the salary of Brunellesco to 100
gold florins a year, while Ghiberti only draws his usual
But even then not an order is ever own name every document and every receipt was signed by Baptista d'Antonio, caput magister, and Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, provisore. And now let us see who were the underlings employed by Brunellesco. Finding the workmen of the Florentine Lodge were disaffected, he got ten Lombards, and shut out all the Florentines, till they humbly came back, begging to be taken on again, which he did at a lower salary than
three florins a month.
given
Brunellesco's
in
;
before.
The Lombard Vercelli,
still
strong in the guild.
A
named Magister Antonio of invented a convenient mode of drawing up weights cupola. The workmen had a kitchen and eating-
Maestro di
certain
into the
element was legno,
house up in the dome, so that they did not need to descend in the middle of the day. In fact the Opera made strict laws about this.
was
In 1436 another competition of models for the lantern proclaimed, and again Brunellesco won the palm
against Ghiberti and others.
It seems that when the commission was given to Brunellesco, the Masonic Guild must
have
felt
of the
it
make a non-member capo maestro Consequently they matriculated him into
infra dig. to
dome.
THE FLORENTINE LODGE
343
But with his jealousy of the maestranze and determination to show that one need not be a Freemason
the fraternity.
he ignored this membership and never on which the Masters of the laborerium sued
to build a church,
paid his fees,
and he was imprisoned. This did not suit who were the all-powerful Arte delta Lana, especially as Brunellesco's Arte della Seta was also on his side. A stormy meeting was held in the Opera on August 20, 1434, at which the civic party was too strong for the Maestri. It was decreed that Brunellesco should be liberated, and one of the Arte dei Maestri was imprisoned, on the plea of hindering public works ^ After this triumph of independent architecture ^runellesco became in a manner architect in chief to the city. He built the pretty Loggie of the Foundling Hospital on Piazza della SS. Annunziata, and the Pazzi Chapel at Sta. Croce, both of which Luca della Robbia adorned with his beautiful blue and white reliefs. He erected the fine Palazzo Quaratesi on Piazza Ognissanti, and the remarkably grand church of Santo Spirito was after his death built from his designs. Brunellesco's strike for independence appears to have given the death-blow to the great Masonic Guild which, as it became more unwieldy, had been slowly disintegrating. The local members in large cities like Siena and Florence, becoming too strong for the original Lombard element, had asserted their independence by forming other guilds of a local nature, in which even the ancient quartette of patron saints was forgotten. How long the lodge in Florence kept together after Brunellesco's defiance I do not know, though its educative influence certainly lingered on till Michael Angelo's time, he being as all-round an artist as
him
for debt,
the City Patrons of the Opera,
!
1
Milanesi's
Vasari,
See also Cesare Guasti,
document 116.
Vita di Filippo Brunellesco, vol.
La
ii.
p. 362, notes.
Cupola di Santa Maria del Fiore,
p.
54,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
344
any Magister of older days who could build a church and decorate
The
it
too.
laborerium of the Florentine Opera must, however,
have been closed by the time of Michael Angelo for Lorenzo de' Medici had to supplement it by giving up his garden in the Via Larga as a school of sculpture, there His teachbeing then no place where the art was taught. ing, however, was a heritage from the ancient guild, for old Bertoldo, scholar of Donatello, was the Master there, and the works of the Masonic Brotherhood for two centuries, together with the classic treasures collected by the Medici, were his models. ;
CHAPTER
IV
THE MILAN LODGE
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
346 20.
1387
tMagisterAn-|^j(,^;^ ^/°"^o \ brothers M. Giovanni J Adamo tM. tM. Giovanni di Furno JM. Adriolo daCampione tM. Guglielmo di Marco .
21. 22. 2324.
25-
Son of Marco da Frixone, architect at Crema; called to Milan as expert, Oct. 1387.
Two
M. Leonardo Zepo M. Simone da Cavag-
26. 27.
Masters deputed to take note of Magister Andrea's suggestion, Oct. 1387. his vote at a meeting of
nera
*M. Ambrogio Pongione
Gave
29.
*M. Bonino da Campione
the lodge on March 20, 1388. Voted at the same meeting. Had been sculptor of the Scaliger tomb at Verona in
30.
*M. Gasparo da Birago
A famous
28.
1388
I37S-
*Magister Ambrogio
iron-worker.
Magis-
ter of the lodge.
i
da
Melzo
*M. Pietro da Desio *M. Filippo Orino *M. Ridolfo di Cinisello *M. Antonio da Troenzano (son of Giovanni
3233-
3435-
All these * voted with the chief architect Simone at the same meeting, March 20, 1388.
da Troenzano) 36.
1390
M. Niccola del Bonaven-
Made
a design for the windows of the choir at Milan not accepted discharged from the lodge on July 21, 1390.
tura
:
:
37-
1391
M. Giovanni da Campione
Sometimes called John from •
Fernach.
He
brought
100
stone-carvers into the labore-
rium
39-
M. Antonio A. Padernb M. Marco da Carona
40.
M. Lorenzo
38.
1399
degli Spazi, di Val d'Intelvi
in 1391.
'Two rising Masters in
1399, who fought the great dispute with the French architects. ^ Brought 188 stone-carvers with him to Milan. He was in
1396 CM. at Como, and probably went to Milan with all
41. 42.
1400
M. Jacopo da Tradate M. Samuele, his son
his
workmen, when the
works there were suspended on Gian Galeazzo's death. In 1400 he was chief sculptor. Sculptured his father's tomb in 1402.
THE MILAN LODGE 43-
1400
347
M. BertoUo da Campi-' one
M.
44-
Giorgio de SoUario
(Solari)
M. Guglielmo di
45-
Giorgio
(his son)
46.
1410
47-
to
1440 48. 49.
S°51-
52S3-
1420
M. Giovanni de Solari M. Giovanni di Reghezio
M. Jacopo da Lanzo M. Michele di Benedetto da Campione M. Francesco Solari M. Giovanni da Cairate *M. Cristoforo da Chiona *M. Arasmino Solari da
Magistri working under Jacopo da Tradate at the sculptures for Milan cathedral.
marked * were master
All these
architects,
each building a
Arogna *M. Franceschino da Ca-
Was CM.
55-
nobbio *M. Leonardo da
Son or grandson of Magister
56.
*M. Paolino da Arsenigo
57-
*M.
to 54-
1404
Sirtori
certain part of the cathedral. in 1448.
Guarnerio (No.
Filippino degli Argani
2).
Son or grandson of Magister Simone (No. i). Son of Andrea degli Argani (No. 6), whom he succeeded as architect to the Visconti. Designed the choir window at Milan. Entered the lodge as novice, 1400; graduated master, 1404; 1417.
58.
USo
M.
Giorgio di Filippo
.
His son
:
CM. CM.
became
in his
turn in 1450. 59-
1451
60.
1470
M. Giovanni Solari son of Marco da Carona. M. Guiniforte or Boni:
forte (son of
Giovanni
Solari) 61.
148
Magister Pletro Antonio his son
62.
1468
M. Martino da Mante-
to 63-
64.
1492
CM.
from 1451 to 1470. He forms a link with Venice. CM. in 1470 1481. Built the Ospedale Maggiore and church of Le Grazie at Milan. Went to Russia in 1481.
—
gazza
M. Dolcebono Rodari
.
M. Gerolamo della Porta
Entered the lodge in 1490; was sent to Rome for training. His relative, Tomaso Rodari, was more famous than he, and sculptured the Renaissance door at Como.
Was employed
later in
Rome
and Naples. 65-
M. Salomone, son of Giovan de Grassi
One of the line descending from Magister Graci, founder of the lodge at Padua.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
348 66.
1471
M. Bartolommeo de Gor-
67.
1488
CM.
for the
cupola of Milan
cathedral.
gonzola
M. Leonardo da Vinci
.
Engaged
for
the cupola, but
resigned.
M. Antonio da Padernb
68.
7°-
(descendant of the older Antonio, No. 88) > M. Giovanni Antonio M. Amedeo or Omodeo
71-
M.
69.
Rectified the mistakes of of Gratz.
John
Joint architects to finish cupola and cathedral of Milan. Amedeo worked afterwards in
Venice. Gio.
Giacome
di
Dol
Dolcebono was son of Dolcebono Rodari.
cebono .:„<
M. Francesco
di Giorgio of Siena M. Luca Fancelli of Flor-
.72.
73-
called to advise on the plans of the above three.
Were
ence 74-
1506
M. Andrea Fusina
75-
1502
M.
1618
M. Gian Giacomo Bono'' da Campione M. Francesco Bono, his
Cristoforo
.
.
Gobbo
Descendant of Jacopo Fuxina. Andrea was elected CM. to replace Dolcebono in 1506. Sculptured Adam and Eve on the facade of Milan cathedral, etc.
76. 77-
to 78.
79-
1647
son M. Carlo Antonio Bono, a relative M. Giuseppe Bono, his son
A later offshoot of the old family of Bono or Buono, who have Magistri since furnished 1152.
FOREIGN ARCHITECTS IN MILAN LODGE Anichino or Annex of Freiburg
Giacobino de Bruge Ulrico di Ensingen
Heinrich di
.
.
.
.
Gmunden
.
Jean Mignot de Paris Jean Campanias from .
Was paid for the model of dome which was not used. Fell
ill,
a
and was supported by
the lodge. Came for a few months. Entered, July 1391 ; left, June 1392.
Came from
Paris.
Campanias did not stay
long.
Normandy Ulrich de Frissengen di Marchestein ) Giovanni da Gratz .
Worked
Aulx
at
Milan
for a short
time. .
Engaged, 1488.
1482
;
discharged,
THE MILAN LODGE I.
The Comacines under the
349
Visconti
History repeats itself. We began the story of the Comacines in Lombardy with their works under the invading Longobards, we end it with their works under the usurping Visconti. The first era shows their early RomanLombard style in its purity the last shows the culmination ;
of their later Italian-Gothic style in
Like Florence, Siena, Milan, on
freeing
Pisa,
herself from
its
fulness.
and other cities, Longobard and French
Pistoja,
had become a commune, but she could not escape the usual fate of a mediaeval commune, i. e. party faction, and the supremacy of a dominant family. As Florence had her Guelphs and Ghibellines, Pistoja her Bianchi and Neri, so Milan had her two warring families, the Torriani and The conflict was long, but in the end the Visconti. Matteo L reigned over Cremona, Visconti dominated. Azzo Lodi, Bergamo, Pavia, Alexandria, and Vercelli. Luchino Visconti subjugated Piacenza and Como, etc. added Asti, Bobbio, and Parma while his brother, the Archbishop Giovanni, acquired Brescia, Genoa, and Bologna. His nephews, Bernabo and Galeazzo II., divided the state, and lost part of it. Genoa freed herself from Galeazzo, while Bernabo's vices and cruelties caused rebellion everytyrants,
;
where. Galeazzo's
when
son,
Gian Galeazzo, who was only
fifteen
his father died in 1378, married Isabella of France,
he being then seventeen, and she a child
still.
By
this
he gained, as his bride's portion, the estate of Vertus in Champagne, and his descendants kept up the tide, which became Italianized into Conte di Virtu. His second wife
was
his cousin, Caterina,
daughter of Bernabo.
To
assure
himself of her heritage, he imprisoned his uncle in the castle of Trezza, where he died a few months after, some say by poison.
However
this be,
Gian Galeazzo immediately rode
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3S0
Milan, where he was proclaimed Signore of Milan. Wenceslaus, Emperor of Germany, had already created into
Lombardy, so that his power was was able to oust the Scaligers from Verona in 1386 the Carraresi from Vicenza and Padua in 1387. In 1395 he induced Wenceslaus to nominate him Duke of Milan, and to make the title hereditary. Then, emulating his Longobardic predecessors, he began a march of conquest southwards took Perugia, Spoleto, and Assisi in Lucca in 1401 then he bought Pisa from the 1400 Appiani, and Siena capitulated. Florence was next in his list, but luckily for her he died at this juncture, and
him
his Vicar-general in
great.
So
great was
it
that he
;
;
;
;
Florence escaped.^
These
were
the princes under whose auspices
the
cathedral of Milan arose, a mountain of sculpture white
In olden times there were twin churches standing
as snow.
on the
site
of Milan cathedral
:
S.
Maria Maggiore, the
winter church, and S. Thecla, the estiva, or
summer
church.
Santa Maria had two Baptisteries, one for male children, the other for female. They both had marvellous towers
Maria was two hundred and forty-five braccia (about four hundred and seventy feet) high, and of " admirable beauty." This tower was thrown down and the church destroyed in the siege of Milan, 1162. After the Peace of Costanza^ Sta. Maria was restored by public offerings, and the Milanese ladies, like the ancient Roman dames, threw their jewels into the treasury. The fagade of this restoration was of black and white marble in squares, and the church was so large that it could contain 7000 people. By the fourteenth century Milan had become so wealthy and powerful that it determined to build a church more beautiful than any before it. To Gian Galeazzo is that of S.
/ Maestri Comacini, chap. xii. I have taken the facts for from Merzario's collection of documents, not being able to get the archives of Milan 1
Merzario,
this chapter at
THE MILAN LODGE
351
generally given
the whole credit of this
documents seem
to
prove
On May
people's part.
it
initiative,
but
was a general move on the Monsignor Antonio dei
12, 1386,
Marchesi, Archbishop of Milan, addressed a circular letter to his clergy, saying that the church of the Blessed Virgin
was old and
and " the hearts of the faithful which work being very costly, the
dilapidated,
intended to rebuild
it,
Archbishop prayed all his clergy to " institute offerings their churches, and to pray God to bless the work."
Again a year
later
he circulated another
letter, to
in
ask
that all the offerings thus gathered should be transmitted
Milan before t\vQfite of
St. Martin, as the faithful
were Gian Galeazzo did his part by promulgating two edicts one dated October 1 2, 1 386, instituting a questua (collection) in all the Ducal State to
anxious to continue the work begun. ;
for the
benefit of the funds for the
dated February
7,
Duomo
1387, decreed that
all
;
the second,
the
money from
the paratici of the city, which shall be paid as offerings
during the
fHe
of the
Madonna
in
February of
this
and
following years, shall be dedicated to the building fund.
The
and decrees, and the small appears in a letter from the deputies of the Fabbrica or Opera, addressed to Gian Galeazzo, on August 3, 1387, saying "Offerings have been made with great devotion by every kind of person, rich and poor, who have copiously and liberally aided the building. Now, O Signore, we pray that you and your lady mother, your consort, and daughter, may also transmit your devout oblations to subsidize the church." This is the way the funds were found, and now who were the builders ? We have seen in a former chapter that the Visconti patronized the Campionese school of architectsculptors, and as the Comacines had been associated with Milan for centuries, it was not necessary to look far for architects. Indeed the very first batch of names which results of all these appeals
part the Visconti
had
in the giving,
—
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
352
meets our eye
Lombard
books of the laborerium are
in the
all
of the
Here is chief architect Simone da Arsenigo written down as ingegnere generale ; or capo maestro, Guarnerio da Sirtori Marco, Jacopo, e Zeno, da Campione and Andrea from Modena; where we have seen the Campione Masters established a school. On October i6, 1387, a meeting was held by the commission of the Duomo to discuss a project proposed by the Guild.
;
administrators
of
the
Fabbrica,
for
and electing the proper
organization,
forming a officials.
regular It
was
decided 1.
To
confirm the present deputies as superintendents
(Here we have the Tuscan Operai.)
of the work. 2.
3.
4. is
To To
elect a treasurer-general.
nominate a good and efficient accountant. Also a good and efficient spenditore (in Tuscany
this
the Proweditore).
Magister Simone da 5. To confirm the election of Arsenigo as head architect of the building, and to nominate enough capable Masters to assist him. (In Tuscany capo maestro and Maestri.') 6. To confirm (considering their eminence in their art)
Brugora and Ambrogio da Sala (an island in Lake Como near Comacina) in their offices, and to choose others equally good to aid in the building. 7. To elect two or more. probi uomini (arbiters). 8. To elect lawyer, notary, and sindaci (consuls) of the Dionisolo di
art. 9.
"We
also determine
and ordain that Maestro Simone
da Arsenigo, as being chief architect of the said fabric, shall all the works done in the said church, ." and that he shall show diligence, etc. etc. Here we have the exact organization we have seen at and as there the Lombard Siena, Parma, Florence, etc. order and provide for
.
;
Masters are the founders of
it,
we
find the
same
filing
of
THE MILAN LODGE
35^
documents, the same assigning of different parts of the building
to
Masters, and the same calling of
different
councils in the guild to consider
and value the work.
The
registers of administration are kept in precisely the
way.
The
same
spenditore keeps his books just as the Florentine
Here
Provveditore does.
are a few translations from the
bad Latin of his entries
—
" 1387- January 15. For two lbs. of morsecdte for Maestro Andrea degli Organi, four lire." (Andrea degli Organi of Modena was the Ducal architect, the father of
Modena, a first-rate architect.) ^'January 19. For a Master and forty-seven workmen
Filippo da
— —To
to place the foundations of the pilasters."
"
Mfirck
19.
Simone da Arsenigo,
chief architect,
eighteen days in which he was engaged in work himself." (This entry would seem to prove that when a Master did
for
manual work with
his
men, he was paid as they were
in
addition to his salary as architect.)
—
April 2. To Maestro Marco da Frisone " (Magistro Marcho de Frixono), " who was in the service of the Fabbrica, and began to work on March 5, and finished on April 2, for his pay 12 lire 13 denari." ''April 13. To Maestro Andrea da Modena, architect to the Duke, for his pay for the days he gave to the church "
—
in Milan, with the permission of the Vicario Sig.
de Capelli, and the
XII
Giovanni
di provisione" (one of the city
which acted as the president of the lodge, as the Arte della Lana did in Florence), " and also of the deputies councils,
of the Fabbrica, L. 19. 4."
— Lent Maestro Marco da Frisono, 22 To "August — For 84 workmen, 13 "May
to
2.
12.
master builders,
lire."
lire
i. e.
Giovanni da Arsenigo,
13.
6.
5 lire
10
;
4 to
Giovannino da Arsenigo, his son, 5. 10 to Giovanni da Azzo, 5. 9; and Giovanni da Troenzano, 5. 9; 18 lire in all." In August we get entries of expenses for rope to draw ;
—
AA
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
354
water from the well, and rope for raising scaffolding, for nails, baskets, plumb-lines, water-levels, red paint to mark
On
October 9, 1387, we find the spenditore paying a messenger to go to Crema with letters from the lodge to Maestro Guglielmo di Marco, to call him to Milan to give advice on business connected with
the planks, and other things.
the buildings.
his
On October 15 Guglielmo di Marco is paid 16 lire for journey and eight days' employment in examining and
judging the work of the church.
On
October 18, 1387, we have payment to Maestro Simone da Arsenigo and ten companions (eleven in all), master builders. To Maestro Zeno da Campione and twentyone companions (twenty-two including himself), master sculptors of " living stone " {pietra viva). The word which
companions is sotiis {Mag. Symoni de Ursanigo which would imply that they were all members (soci) of one society, and is thus valuable as a confirmation of the brotherhood in this guild. In October 1387, Andrea da Modena, the Duke's architect, is again engaged, but only as adviser for which he receives in dono fiorini venti ; and Leonardo Zepo and Simone da Cavagnera are deputed to take note of his I
translate
et sotiis, etc.),
;
suggestions. " 1387.
November
19.
— For the payment of two
large
sheets of parchment consigned to
Simone da Arsenigo."
(These must have been
plans.)
"1388.
April ig.
soci for plaster to
to
draw the
— Paid Maestro Marco da Frixone and
make models
of the four piloni."
In another entry, noting the payment of 81 salary,
Marco da Frixone
is
named
as
lire
as
Marco da Campione
detto di Frisone.
Merzario Frisian,
Tedesco,
is
whom
Marc the Campione school; Jacopo agree was Italian Guglielmo
of opinion that such names as
who was one all
of the
old writers
;
tHE MILAN LODGE
355
d'Innspruck, also a Campionese, have been the cause of
much
misunderstanding, and have sent authors off on false scents. It was the custom, in the books of the Comacines, to name people from their provenienza,
Thus
from.
Pisa he
at Siena
you
i.
e.
the last place they
will find
came
Niccolo da Pisa, while
Niccolo di Apulia.
Lorenzo Maitani was Lorenzo da Siena to the Orvieto people, and Lorenzo
at
is
d'Orvieto to the Florentines.
Marco
Frisone, born at
il
Campione, is therefore a link between the German guilds and the Italian he must have worked at Friesland, and probably brought back ideas of a more pointed Gothic from ;
there.
These
registers are
ample proof that the builders just Milan cathedral were of the
called in for the building of
Lombard
Guild, and chiefly of the
Campione branch.
It is
1389 that we find a single German name, and then a certain " Anichino (Annex) di Germania " is paid 16 soldi for having made a model of a tiburio (cupola) in lead, and Giacobino da Bruge, who falls ill while working at the church, has a slight subsidy given by the guild not
till
per amor di Dio.
They
are not mentioned
them seem to be Masters. That Simone da Arsenigo was chief
again,
and
neither of
time, not a
doubt can
a deed executed in tion,
exist.
December
architect at this
It is especially
1387.
In
it
emphasized
in
the Administra-
"in consideration of their long and continued expeand admirable goodwill, and the opera
rience of the pure
multifaria which the worthy man, Magister Simone da Arsenigo, most worthy chief architect and master, has
achieved in this church, by constant diligence, and wishing to remunerate him better (pro aliquali remuneratione bene meritorem), decide that whereas his salary hitherto has been ten imperial soldi a day, it shall now be raised to ten gold florins
a month."
It is plain,
however, that he worked in concert with the
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
3S6 guild.
Just as at Florence and Siena, great councils of the
Masters, both architects and sculptors, were held to consider
whether the foundations were strong before continuing the building, so in Milan a great meeting was called on Friday, March 20, 1388, in which all th.e. Magistri were, cited before their patrons, the Imperial Vicar-General, and the Council of XII. (In Florence the Arte della Lana took the post of President of the Works.) All the Magistri were charged
on the building in its present state, and to suggest any improvements they could. First uprose Master Marco da Campione (Surrexit primus Magister Marchus de Campilione, Inzignerius), and said there was an error in the wall on the side of Via Compedo, the wall being, in one part, " half a quarter wider than the measure given. He suggested undoing that to give their opinion
part to the foundation.
Then
the chief architect,
Simone da Arsenigo,
rose,
and
proposed to cut the stones down to the ground, but not to remove them. Maestri Giacomo and Zeno agreed with Maestro Marco, as did Maestro Guarnerio da Sirtori and Ambrogio Pongione. Then uprose Maestro Bonino da Campione (whom we saw last at work on the Scaligers' tombs at Verona), and said that he not only agreed with the others, but found an error in the piloni in the
body of the church, towards the
door of the fagade.
Gasparolo da Birago, worker in
iron,.
Magistri Ambrogio
da Melzo, Pietro da Desio, Filippo Orino, Ridolfo di Cinisello, and Antonio da Troenzano, all voted with him. The words " according to the measure given " [j'usta mensuram super hoc datam), prove that however many superintended special parts, there was one supreme Master who made the design. This was first, as we have said, Simone da Arsenigo, architects
THE MILAN LODGE
him Marco the Frisian of Campione, whose salarypaid on March 31, 1389, naming him as " Mag. Marcho
and is
3S7
after
de Campilione dicto de Frixono inzegnerio fabricae." His name often appears as chief architect till July 10, 1390, when " he died at the Ave Maria in the morning, and was buried with honours the same evening in the church of S. Thecla."^
One of Marco's contemporaries in the laborerium was Jacopo da Campione, whose name appears with that of Nicola del Bonaventura, and Matteo da Campione, and a general meeting held on January 6, 1390. Historical authorities say Jacopo da Campione was of the
others, at
Buono
and some assign as his father Giovanni Buono. He, too, had a cognomen of Fuxina or Fusina, but whether a family name or a place name I cannot tell. His name first appears in the books of the guild with Zambono, or Giovanni Buono, supposed to be his father, family,
with Magistri Zeno, Andriolo, Lazaro, Rolando, Fontana, Cressino
(all
from Campione), and with Alberto, Airolo,
and Giovanni da Bissone, and Anselmo da Como. These must have been the Masters who responded to the invitation for architects sent out by the Milanese. On April 15, 1389, Jacopo da Campione was elected chief architect in connection with his friend Marco da
Campione.
A
window of the and Jacopo da Campione and
competition for designs for the great
was announced in 1390, Niccola del Bonaventura each sent a design, from which the He preferred that of Bonavenarchbishop was to choose. tura, but the Master fell into disgrace, and his window was never executed. We find that the Administration, on July 31, 1390, "deliberated" to discharge Master Bonaventura, choir
'
Magister Marcus de Frixono Inzignerius Fabricse, decessit die supra
scripto (10 Julii 1390) circa
sepultum
fuit
horam Ave Marie
in
mane
et
Corpus ejus
honorifice in Ecc. S. Teglse ipsi die post prandium.
358
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
give him the salary due to him, and remove him entirely
from the lodge. Jacopo da Campione remained in office till the end of 1395, when he and Marco da Carona retired They were not for rest and change to Lake Lugano. recalled on January were for they long, away be allowed to 9.
1396.
During that year new honours were preparing for Jacopo. Gian Galeazzo Visconti was intending to rebuild the Certosa at Pavia, and set his eyes on Jacopo da Campione as the best architect he could find for it. The Masters of the Milan Lodge dared not dispute the will of the all-powerful Duke, and held a meeting on March 4, 1397, at which it was decided "that Jacopo di Campione, chief architect of the building,
laboreria Cartuxics, should
still
qui acceptatus
est
super
retain his position in the
works of the Duomo, because the entire absence of the Master who began the building {qui principiavit ipsam fabricam) would cause grave peril and injury to the work. They proposed, however, that Maestro Jacopo might, in cases of necessity, assist in the building of the Certosa, as
he had done before." This document sets the question beyond a doubt that the architect who had most to do with the building ot Milan cathedral was this Jacopo of Campione, who had worked with the first architect, Simone, and shared, on his death, the post of chief, with Marco, his fellow-countryman. He died on October 30, 1398. During the time he was head of the laborerium several Germans worked under him Milan being so near the ;
German
was always a favourite object of German travel. Moreover, I fancy there must during these centuries have been a fraternal intercourse between the Italian Masonic Guilds and those of Germany. We have so many Italians who worked in Germany, and coming back were dubbed with the name of the last place they came from, frontier
THE MILAN LODGE that
equally likely that
IS
it
359
some Germans crossed the
border with those fellow-guildsmen on their return, and worked at Milan. This intercourse between the two nations
would
account
the
for
more German
style
of
Milan
compared with other Italian churches. have before remarked that the lines of architecture
cathedral as I
gradually take a
we
The
go.
more upward tendency the
further north
slight point of the arch, as seen in Siena
and Milan the rows
is much sharpened in round archlets which covered a Romanesque building with rich horizontal lines, have here become elongated and
Orvieto and Florence, of
;
little
pointed,
all
the lines tending upwards,
almost monotonous
;
yet Milan
is
till
they become
but the natural northern
development of the southern Italian Gothic. It was always the tendency of the guild to seek greater richness of ornamentation in multiplying forms already customary to them. As the Romanesque fagade was merely a multiplication of the
Milan
is
Lombard
single
gallery, so
the Gothic of
but a multiplication and elongation of the turrets
and pinnacles of Siena and Orvieto, and of the pointed gables over elongated arches, with almost an abuse of the
Of
perpendicular shaft.
course
I
do not speak of the
fagade in these remarks, that being a discord by the later
The changes may well have been German influence in the guild.
Renaissance architects. induced by the strong
There were also French artists, such as Jean Mignot de and Jean de Campanias of Normandy.^ We hear of a Niccold Bonaventura from Paris, but his name is too Italian He probably had been for his nationality to be mistaken. employed in France, and brought back the French sculptorAll these names, with the Germans architects with him. Paris,
mentioned below, are to be found of Magistri in 1391.
pietra viva (sculptors). '
Is this
in the report of a
meeting
They are qualified as Magistri di The German names are, Ulrich
by chance a French rendering of Giovanni da Campione
?
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
36o
de Frissengen di Nein, Aulx di Marchestein, and Johannes Annex di " Friurgo " (Freiburg ?). This last has been confused by writers with Giovanni de Fernach,
who was
a
Giovanni da Campione worked for many years in Germany, and when he returned was as usual dubbed a German, being called John from Fernach. He brought a hundred stone-cutters to the service of the Duomo of Milan in February 1391. The Administrators approved of him, and considering that he knew Germany and its language, and was a judge of good work, they sent Campionese.
him
to
He
went, but finding no one of great talent, he returned
Cologne to try and procure some good
unsuccessful,
and was obliged to refund
As a
the cost of his journey. tration
commissioned him
southern sacristy.
He
to
architects.
to the guild half
compensation, the Adminis-
prepare a design for the
appears to have shut himself up to
prepare this great plan in secret, for on
November
i,
1391,
the Deputies of the Administration order the Provveditore
"Giovannolo and Beltramolo" to get the Archcommand Giovanni de Fernach to explain his intention about the work on which he was engaged because, "if his plan was not approved, they would not wish to send
bishop's order to
;
it
proceeded with."
Then Fernach began
to say that Johannes di Firimburg and that the proportions of the church, with which his sacristy had to harmonize, were wrong. On this the President, the Archbishop, and the Deputies sent to Piacenza for an expert, named Gabriele Stornaloco, a great geometrician, to settle the vexed question. He came, made his calculations, and decided that the German critics were in the wrong. Not satisfied with this, they next prayed the Duke to send his sculptor, Bernardo da Venezia, to give his opinion. He came to Milan in November and also decided that the 1 39 1, made his computations, Germans had made a mistake. Then Fernach's plan for
was
right,
THE MILAN LODGE
361
was handed over to the chief architect, Jacopo Campione, to modify its proportions da and Fernach's name appears no more in the books of the spenditore. Another German in the laborerium was an architect, Magister Enrico or Ulrico di Ensingen, near Ulm. He came in July 1391, but only remained a few months, and then disappeared. Another Enrico or Ulrico (the spenditore s orthography is diverse and mixed) da Gamodia or Gmunden, then appears. This is the Heinrich of Gmunden, the sacristy
;
whom the
the guide-books generally
We
Duomo.
will
now
name
as the architect of
see precisely
how much was
His name appears at a meeting on May i, due to him. 1392, in which Jacopo da Campione, as usual, holds the Enrico da Gamodia, as he is written in the books, was but lately returned (ritornato) from Germany,
first
place.
and had offered himself to design and work of the
Duomo.
He
in the building
allowed himself to raise doubts and
express censure of the solidity and strength of the already done.
Public discussions were raised as to the
A great
validity of his objections.
which his name appears at Masters,
all
Italian.
To
meeting was called, in the bottom of a long list of
the questions as to the solidity
and beauty of the building, and whether tinued on the that
the
work
same plan or not,
design could
not
all
it
should be con-
the other Masters agreed
be improved.
Heinrich of
Gmunden alone answered stubbornly, non assensit. The guild soon after decided on cutting off useless expenses, and among others the salary of Magister Hein" rich, who was " dismissed," and " sent about his business The German (licentietur ad eundum pro factis suis). begged the Deputati appealed to the Duke of Milan, who They, however, held firm, and calling Heinrich before them on the 7th of the following July, told him that he had not served the cause well (in designamentis et aliis necessariis pro Fabrica male servito reconsider their decision.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
362 verit).
They gave him
six florins for his
journey and
"Yet," as Merzario says,^ "to this man who came to Milan at the end of 1391, and left in the middle of 1392, is given by many people the credit of having designed the Duomo of Milan, which was begun
dismissed him.
in 1386,
Nor achieve
Certosa of Pavia begun in 1396." did Ulrich da Ulm, whom we have mentioned,
and
also of the
much more than
He came in
his compatriot.
1391,
and only stayed a few months. In 1394, however, he again offered his services, and was reinstalled on a profitable con-
But he too had the national spirit of criticism, and vaunted his own plans of improving the church, while he detailed his opinion of the flaws in the existing plans, and tract.
Of course
doubts on the stability of the building.
a meet-
ing of the lodge was called, and as before the majority
went against Ulrich's new improvements. sent to Pavia to ask the
Duke
However, they
to let his architect, Nicola
Lelli, come to Milan and arbitrate. He replied that they had better send a deputation with all the plans to Pavia, as So the capo maestro, he could not spare the architect. Jacopo da Campione, and Giovannino de' Grassi accompanied Ulrich to Pavia, to confer with the Duke and his architects, with the result that the present work was pronounced good, and Ulrich's designs and innovations rejected. The spenditore records that Ulrich's salary was paid he too was sent off (ad eundum pro factis suis). During the three following years no German names are met with in the books. Then came the death of Jacopo da Campione in 1398, and the laborerium seems to have had no And now we shall see how capable Master to replace him. this Masonic Guild was ramified throughout Europe.
de
:
The
Deputies sent to Giovanni Alcherio, a Milanese
living in Paris, to see
from the works 1
at
if
some
I Maestri Comadni,
Vol.
be spared proposed Jean
architect could
Notre Dame. I.
He
chap.
xii. p.
342.
THE MILAN LODGE
363
Campanias from Normandy and Jean Mignot of Paris, mentioned above, who were accepted, and came to Milan in Mignot was 1399, with a painter named Jacopo Cova. made architect of the two sacristies. He coveted the supreme post of chief architect of the whole building, but he met with serious rivals in Marco da Carona and Antonio da Paderno, two young Magistri who were fast rising in the guild to fill the place of Jacopo and Marco da Campione and Simone da Arsenigo. There was schism in the guild. Mignot found fault with everything in the
Duomo,
the size, the proportions,
windows, the tracery, and all the Marco and Antonio declared that Mignot's
t)i&piloni, the capitals, the
ornamentation. sacristy his
was of a
false rule
window wrong
of measurement, and the arch of
in its lines.
the lodge, and endless disputes,
There were meetings in till Mignot also disap-
peared from the scene.
The Campione school of Masters still held its own we now find that Matteo da Campione was sent for from Monza. Zeno da Campione, brother of the late Jacopo, also came with two hundred and fifty stone-cutters under :
him to carve the capitals, pinnacles, etc. etc. There was Lorenzo degli Spazi di Laino in Val d'Intelvi, also of the same school, who brought onehundred and eighty-eight stone carvers to the laborerium, and who won fame for the fine sculpture they produced. Can one wonder at the wealth of sculpture in and on the cathedral, when only two Magistri can furnish more than four hundred workmen between them When one looks at the lavish marble work on the .''
the plurality of artists is well accounted for. Giovannino dei Grassi, or Gracii, seems to have succeeded Jacopo as capo maestro, and his designs and Jacopo's were kept with reverence in the rooms of the Administration. In 1400 Jacopo da Tradate is the "supreme sculptor" to roof,
the fabric.
He
did the statue of Martin V. in
commemora-
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
364
tion of that Pope's visit to
of Constance,
Milan
in 1418, after the
when he consecrated
the
Council
principal
altar.
Jacobino da Tradate also sculptured the mausoleum of Pietro, son
of Guido
Torello,
Marquis of Guastalla,
in
His son, Samuele, was a friend of S. Eustorgio at Milan. Andrea Mantegna's, and once visited him on the Lago di Garda. He too was a sculptor, and made his father's tomb in the cloister of S. Agnese, which he inscribed " Jacobino de Tradate patri suaviss Qui tamquam Praxiteles vivos in marmore fingebat vultus Samuel :
—
—
observantis. V. F."
1402 Duke Gian Galeazzo died, and during the minority of his son, art, architecture, and sculpture lanIn
Few famous names
guished.
are preserved,
and
all
of
Those the neighbourhood of Como. books as continuing the work between 1402 and 1440, are Jacopo da Tradate, Bertollo da Campione, Giorgio de Sollario, sculptors, and Paolino da Montorfano, a painter. At a later period other Masters
those were
from
mentioned
in the
appeared, and
we
and Giovanni
Solari, all
Giovanni de Solari from Val d'Intelvi, Guglielmo di Giorgio and Giovanni di Reghezio, Jacopo da Lanzo, Michele di Benedetto da Campione, Francesco Solari, and Giovanni da Cairate, all sculptors, with Cristoforo da Chiona, Arasmino Solari da Arogna, Franceschino da Canobbio, Leonardo da Sirtori, Paolino da Arsenigo,
Of
all this
find
Lombard engineers and
crowd, two
men
architects.
rose to especial eminence
:
Magister Filippino degli Argani da Modena, and Giovanni Solari da
Campione, who had a special connection with the
domestic Gothic architecture of Venice. of Andrea degli Argani, architect to
Filippino was son
the Visconti.
He
showed so much talent for his father's profession that Duke Gian Galeazzo himself nominated him as a novice in the lodge of the guild. A letter, dated January 8, 1400, was addressed by the Duke to the Administrative Council of the
Marble Work on the>"Roof of Milan Cathedral.
\Seepage
363.
THE MILAN LODGE
365
— " Considering the
fine genius shown even in boyhood by Filippo, son of our architect, the late Maestro of Modena, we advise that his talents shall be cultivated, and that he shall be practised in the technical arts, especially by the assistance and instruction of good masters.
lodge, saying
.
Therefore
.
.
we
decree that the said Filippino shall enter the said laborerium (of the Duomo at Milan), and we recommend
him
for instruction therein."
^
Filippino so far justified this recommendation, that when,
on March the
6,
141 2, a competition was offered for designs for
window behind the
Many
choir,
he won the commission.
authors, not heeding the authentic documents, have
given the credit of that window to Buonaventura from Paris.
made Magister of the guild, and under Marco da Carona. In 1406 he sculp-
In 1404 Filippino was
given office
tured a beautiful sepulchre to
Marco
Corello, a Milanese
who had left all his patrimony to the works of the Duomo. On Marco da Carona's death he became chief architect of the cathedral, with the three Magistri, Magatto, Leonardo
and Cristoforo da Chiona under him. An act passed by the guild on May 19, 14 17, confirms him as " Superior et prior aliorum inzigneriorum de fabbrica," on a term of twelve years, at a salary of twenty florins a month. At the expiration of the twelve years he was not removed from office, but was given two colleagues with equal power to his own. These were Franceschino da Canobbio and da
Sirtori,
Antonio da Gorgonzola. In April 1448,
suspended.
much
to his disgust, Filippo
was
entirely
Francesco Sforza interceded on his behalf with
the Administration, but they replied that Franceschino suited
Again in 1450, when the Duchess Bianca Visconti recommended Filippo's son Giorgio as a worthy
them
better.
successor to his father, the Council again asserted that they
had no wish 1
to discharge Franceschino
Merzario,
I Maestri
Comacini, Vol.
I.
da Canobbio. Then
chap,
xviii. p.
512.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
366
Duke,
the
irritated
by
this repulse,
strong letter to the Council
As
the illustrious
—
"
wrote the following
Our beloved
{Dilecti nosiri).
Madonna Bianca our Consort has
advised
you, and considering the respect and devotion which the late
Magister Filippino bore to the
memory of our
Consort's
considering his valuable
late celebrated father, also
praiseworthy works, in the building of the cathedral, other edifices and fortresses,
I
beg that you
will
Duomo, Magister
to elect as architect to the
and and
be pleased
Giorgio, son
of the said late Magister Filippino, with the usual salary,
and nothing four experts,
of the said
'
less.
who
If
you wish, you are
shall inform
at liberty to elect
themselves of the capabilities
Magister Zorgo,' and whether he be sufficient
We shall be obliged if you
nominate him to the said office on the usual terms, by which you will Given from Milan, November also oblige our Consort. for the post.
will
1450."
7.
The
bow
command, but the nomination of Giorgio "degli Argani" was not decided on till
Council had to
the meeting of July
6,
given him, "
to this
145 1, and then only a moderate want of funds being assigned by
was them as a reason." Giorgio's death, occurring soon after, ended the difficulty, and Giovanni Solari became his successor. A convention, dated September 24, 1450, between some masters and the Council, concludes " It is to be salary
—
observed that Giovanni di Solari
deputed to
this
is
the
head architect
work, which must be done according to his
designs and conditions."
Giovanni was the son of Marco da Carona, formerly In the deed of his nomination is the sentence " son of the late Marco, who through all his life chief architect.
—
exercised the office of architect in such a
none could even equal him." 1
Giulini,
1452). P- 497-
Memorie
delta
citth. e
mode
that few or
^
Cavipagna di Milam,
lib.
Ixxxv.
(anno
Capital
in
Milan Cathedral.
Sculptured by Magister Bartolommeo da Campione. [See page 368.
THE MILAN LODGE
36;
Two months after this election, Duke Francesco Sforza wrote a very commanding letter from the camp at Trignano, saying, he recommended the nomination of Antonio da Firenze (Filarete) and
Giovanni da
Filippino degli Argani.
The
latter
Solari,
was already
Duke by on which the Duke
but the Council again defied the
no need of Filarete
;
self-imposed office of adviser, and its
own
business, which
da Solari being
left in
it
left
place of
in
at his post,
saying they had
from his
retired
the lodge to
always intended to do.
manage
Giovanni
peace, carried on the works, and so
were they, that even to the Magistri themselves the building seemed " more divine than human." He was succeeded by his son, Magister Guiniforte, whose name is sometimes misspelt Boniforte. He was " a man of clear mind, exquisite sense and strong will educated amidst grand ideas and grand things by a wise and talented father he became Magister at twenty-two years of age, and worked under his father." When he was thirty-seven, he took Filarete's place, as chief architect of the Ospedale Maggiore at Milan, a work almost perfect in its harmonious beauty, and yet showing in every line its derivation from the civil edifices of the older Lombards. He was also architect at the Certosa, and built, or rather designed, the churches of S. Satiro and the Madonna delle Grazie and
beautiful
;
;
the castle of Alliate.
Calvi says that Guiniforte, "though
following the older school,
northern style, by giving
When
knew how
it
to lighten the serious
the smile of Italian skies."
Guiniforte died in 1481, his son, Pietro Antonio,
armed with a
letter of
recommendation from the Princess
Bona, presented himself at the lodge, as a candidate for
The Freemason Council, however, seemed determined not to bow to royal commands, and his father's position.
again asserted
its
independence.
Pietro
was put
1489 he departed to Russia.^ 1
Merzario, Op. dt: Vol.
L
chap,
xviii. p.
521.
off,
and
in
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
368
During the years from 1468 lodge, preserved
in
the
to
archives,
1492, the books of the
abound
in
names of
Magistri from the neighbourhood of Como, both architects
and
sculptors.^
Among them da
Mantegazza,
are
some famous names, such
as Martino
Dolcebono Rodari (sculptor of the Como), and Gerolamo della Porta,
beautiful north door at
who
entered the lodge in
May
1490,
with a letter of
recommendation from the Duke, advising his being speciHis talents warranting ally trained in the art of sculpture. he was sent to Rome with four other stone-sculptors, to remain ten years, and perfect themselves in sculpture, to study the antique, and to return to the laborerium as fully qualified masters. There was also Bartolommeo da
this,
Campione, who carved some of the richly ornate capitals of I suspect he was the man who became the columns. famous in Venice. The cathedral of Milan was now reaching completion. There only remained the crucial question of the dome, and with this the Masters now occupied themselves. Jacopo da Campione had made a model which the Council of Administration preserved in their rooms, together with a beautifully made wooden model begun by Giovannino de' Grassi, and finished on his death by his son, Salomone. These were not adopted, for on Giovanni Solari's death in 1471, we find the name oi Bartolomeus de Gorgonzola, magister super Tiburium. This was on September 26, 1472. The same phrase is repeated in another entry on November 25, 1471, where a payment is registered, made to Branda da Castiglione, on account of the work he has to do at Gandolia, in making certain columns to place above the Tiburio. The difficult work was suspended on the assassination of Duke Galeazzo Maria, by reason of want of funds. On the restoration of Gian Galeazzo in 1482, the subject ^
See Merzario, Op.
cit.
Vol.
I.
chap,
xviii.
pp. 522, 523.
North Dock
ok
Como Cathedral.
Sculptured by Tommaso Rodarl
\See page
-ifX,.
THE MILAN LODGE
369
was again under consideration, and in the absence of any very eminent Masters at the moment Guiniforte having the Duke wrote to Strasburg to beg that died in 1481 some architects might be spared from the works there. This action is very suggestive of an affinity between the German and Italian Masonic Lodges. No one could be spared from Strasburg, but a certain Giovanni da Gratz came over with a little squadron of Germans, and signed a contract to superintend the " reparation and completion " of the Tiburio
—
—
of the
Duomo. The conditions of the contract further when the cupola should be so far finished as to
stated that
allow of inspection, a committee of qualified Masters should
be elected to inspect
it,
and pronounce
if
the work were
good.^
The words
"reparation and completion" would imply
and Bartolommeo had already begun the John of Gratz is signed May 1482, and it would appear not to have been of long duraFebruary tion, no payments being made to him after that Guiniforte
dome.
i486,
show
The
contract with
and on January the
following
26, 1488, the annals of the
entry— " To
Maestro
Duomo
Antonio da
Paderno in recompense for his labours during the past year in verifying the errors committed by Maestro Giovanni da
Like his forerunner Heinrich da Gmunden, John of Gratz had to retire from the Milanese Lodge his name is no more found in the books, and the Council began Magister Luca to search for a capo maestro nearer home. examine some to Florence from Paperio Fancelli was called Gratz, etc.
.
.
."
;
designs which had been sent
Leonardo of
Florence (Da
and a Maestro
cipation L.56, as
his
assistant,
named
The one chosen was by who was paid in anti-
in.
Vinci),
in legname
was assigned
Bernardino da Abbiate.
He
probably was to superintend the scaffolding, and Da the building. However, the engagement fell through, and
Vinci
1
Merzario, Vol.
I.
chap,
xviii. p.
526.
B B
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
370
the
Duke
of Milan wrote to the Pope, the
King
of Sicily,
Venice and Florence to find an architect Two Germans, one named for that puzzling cupola. Lorenzo, and one a monk, John Mayer, were successively refused. At length, in 1490, the Council finally commissioned
and the
rulers of
Giovan Antonio Amadeo and Maestro Gio. Giacomo Dolcebuono as joint architects " to finish the cupola and the church." They were to choose the model which pleased them best of those preserved in the Administration, and the one they selected was to be examined for approval by Maestro Francesco di Giorgio, then living at Siena, and by Maestro Luca of Florence (Fancelli), then residing at Mantua, two experts who were by the Council elected as judges and examiners of the perfection of the Maestro
model.
A
great meeting of the Magistri of the lodge, and the
patron of the
presided over by the
city,
Duke
himself,
met
on June 27, to examine the several models, but none were chosen and Amadeo and Dolcebuono were ordered to ;
make a
revised model, with the concurrence of Francesco
The two former were
Giorgio. architects,
"to compose and ordinate"
quaintly puts said Tiburio, if
then confirmed as joint
it
—
—
as the Verbale
" all the parts needful to constitute the
which must be
beautiful, worthy,
and
eternal,"
indeed earthly things can be eternal.
Francesco di Giorgio departed laden with presents and payments, and with the honorary title of architect of the
Duomo of Milan and on September 9, the two others began their work, which they brought to a happy conclusion on September 24, 1500. ;
The registers
fagade was, however, not completed.
show
that the insignia of the
Indeed, the
Comacine Masters,
the marble lions which were destined for the great door,
were in 1489 still in deposit in the laborerium. Dolcebuono died in 1506; and Andrea Fusina was
THE MILAN LODGE elected in
his
The famous
place.
371
sculptor,
Cristoforo
Gobbo, entered the works in 1502, on the compact that he was not to be under the orders of other architects, but He executed much of the to make his own contracts. sculptural ornamentation of the cupola such as the Doctors while a master Andrea da of the Church in medallions ;
;
Corcano, with other " brethren," did the pictures.
famous statues of
foro also carved the
Cristo-
Adam and Eve on He and Fusina
the fagade, besides several other statues.
being compatriots, fraternized, and opposed Amadeo,
who
had made a too daring design for the lantern on the cupola. Meetings after meetings were held, and at length Gobbo retired temporarily to pursue his sculpture in Rome and His Venice, where he is entered as Cristoforo da Milano. nephew, Michele da Merate, and Michele's son Paolo, both sculptors, worked with him at Milan, where he continued till
his death, in 1527.
Another long list of names from the books, given between 1500 and 1550 by Merzario, proves that the Comacines still reigned supreme in the laborerium, the Solari family preponderating.
As we
if
to connect the last link in the chain with the
find the old family of
Bono da Campione
still
first,
prominent.
and 1647, For nearly Magister Gian Giacomo Bono da Campione sculptured in the laborerium of the Duomo, and there his son Francesco was trained, besides two kinsmen Carlo Antonio Bono, thirty
years,
i.e.
between
16 18
—
painter and sculptor,
worked together
and
his son, Giuseppe.
All this family
in the seventeenth century at the fa9ade of
the cathedral, designed
by
Pellegrini.
The
fine central
door
was the work of Gian Giacomo Bono and Andrea Castelli, both Comacines by birth. As for the names of other Comacines who worked at the fa9ade and on the wondrous roof, one finds them by hundreds
in the annals of the
Duomo,
as
collected
by
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
372
Memorie della Cilia e Campagna di Milano. Here you see names repeated which have been familiar in the guild for centuries such as the Bono and Solari families, and Luca Beltrami, who worked at the facade in the seventeenth century, and whose ancestors were architects at Modena and Parma two hundred years earlier. Giulini in his
;
II.
The Certosa of Pavia
MAGISTRI AT THE CERTOSA OF PAVIA I.
1396
2.
CM.
Bernardo da Venezia M. Jacopo da Campione Magister
for the actual building.
CM.
Milan to
at
visit
and
superintend. These two were the
M. Giovanni da
first architects.
Two
of the Duke's architects from Milan, who were also called into council on the
Grassi
(Graci)
M. Marco da Carona
plans.
first
M.
Drew a
Cristoforo da Lonigo
M. Domenico Bossi da Campione M. Giovanni da Campi1397
one (called Bosio) M. Antonio di Marco
design for the church of the convent. Assisted in laying the foundations.
Sculptured slabs for three
reli-
quaries. .
Son of Marco Carona da Cam-
.
pione: CM. of Milan ; called from Crema to be CM. instead of
M. Bernardo.
'Two brothers
M. Giovanni
9-
Solari
I
M. Francesco
to.
Crema.
•>
of Campione
|
Solari
'
till
1400.
in charge returned to
left
when Antonio
Giovanni was CM. Giovanni was the
father of the celebrated Gui-
CM.
of Milan. The of Venice were descendants of this family. niforte,
Lombardi
1428
M. Rodari da
Castello
-^
Ancestor of dari,
12.
M. Giovanni da Gar-
13-
vagnate M. Giovanni da
Como
who
Tommaso
di
Ro-
sculptured the Re-
naissance door at Como. All three were paid for sculptures in 1428 and 1429. .
THE MILAN LODGE 1429
14. 15-
M. Antonio 1 M. Giovanni
"]
Val di
di
J
1460
Employed
as builders.
Lugano
M. Jacopo Fusina
16.
373
M.
Guiniforte Solari
M.
Gio. Antonio
J .
.
.
.
Frequently mentioned in the books of the Fabbrica. in place of his father Giovanni; designed the fa-
CM
gade. 18.
Amadeo
19-
M.
20.
M. Antonio Mantegazza
Mante-
Cristoforo gazza
22.
23-
colo M. Cristoforo
1495
and cloister. He became famous afterwards in Venice, and sculptured the Colleone monument at Bergamo. rCame to the Certosa from their apprenticeship to Jacopo da Tradate
M. Giovanni, junior, da" Campione M. Luchino di Cernus-
1478
21.
Pupil of Guiniforte; carved the door between the church
Solario
at Milan. Sculptured in the fagade of the Certosa on Guiniforte's plans.
Assisted in the sculptures.
CM.
(Gobbo)
Whatever were the the world has one great for
at the Certosa.
CM.
at
Milan in 1506.
faults of
and
Gian Galeazzo Visconti,
beautiful legacy to thank
him
—the Certosa of Pavia. It is said
that Stefano Maconi, prior of the Certosa at
Garignano, suggested to the
Duke
the
building of the
monastery in Italy but the funds were certainly provided by Gian Galeazzo, who took a personal and finest
;
untiring interest in the work.
The
first
documental proof of
this
is
a deed of
gift,
dated April 15, 1396, whereby Gian Galeazzo gives to the monastery of the Certosa, landed property to the annual value of 2500 gold florins.
On
October 6 of the same
he makes another endowment of property, yielding 5500 gold florins a year, besides an annual subsidy of 10,000 florins from his own private purse. The history of this beautiful building is much connected
year,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
374
—
the same architects or same Masonic Lodge worked at both and at one time Jacopo da Campione was capo maestro of both works at once, spending a certain propor-
with that of Milan
cathedral
;
—
rather brethren of the ;
tion of his time at both.
Heinrich of this building
his likeness,
Gmunden has had a good deal of credit much so that a certain bust, said to
so
;
was kept
in
the sacristy of
the
for
be
Certosa
;
and on the strength of that bust, the Germans erected a But as he left Italy in July statue to him in Gmunden. dismissed Milan after a few months there, it is from 1392, not probable that he could have designed the Certosa in Count Giulini was the first to draw attention to 1396. and a learned archivist, Girolamo L. Calvi, this error had the good luck to discover in the archives of S. Fedele, ;
the ancient register of the Administration of the building of the Certosa for the year
1396, which settles the matter
The master builder was Bernardo da Venezia, completely. and Jacopo da Campione worked with him as designing architect and superintendent. On the official verification of this precious MS. on April 16, 1862, the bust of Heinrich da Gmunden disappeared from the sacristy of the Certosa.
As a
proof that the Magistri mentioned were both
employed,
we
will translate
a few of the entries of the
Provveditore of the Certosa. " 1396. July 26. In the presence of Pietro Barboti,
—
official
of the Administration, Berto Cordono, cordmaker,
was paid for 1 38 lbs. of strong cord, for use in the designing and building of the church and cloister. The cord was consigned in June, at the order of Maestro Bernardo da Venezia, architect of the said laboreritim" (Inzignerium dicti laborerii).
"1396. tember 14).
August
14."
— (This should,
I
think, be Sep-
After registering several payments of wages
THE MILAN LODGE to
workmen who excavated the
375
foundations,
it is
written
above-named Jacopo da Campione, for his superintendence of the works (tantum qui perseveravit superdictis laboreriis), together with the Duke's architects during fourteen days {t. e. the last days of August and the first two " Also the
of the present September), at the rate of eight imperial
he had to find his own food." TheMagistri Jacopo da Campione, Giovannino de Grassi, and Marco da Carona, architects, came from Milan to inspect, order, and build in the aforenamed works " (causa videndi ordinandi et hedificandi). The two latter must have been the Duke's architects spoken of before. All through August and September Jacopo da Campione was backwards and forwards between Milan and Pavia, and Maestro Bernardo also received his salary monthly as soldi a day, as " 1396.
—
chief architect.
Again, on
November
we
— "To
Master Campione, architect of Milan cathedral Jacopo da (inzignerio ecclesiae majoris Mediolani), for fourteen days during October and November, in which he remained working and superintending in the said laborerium (Certosa) at his own expense, and in payment for some designs made by him at Milan, and submitted to the Duke's 22, 1396,
read
approval here."
On December 4, 1396, the Provveditore notes the purchase of twenty sheets of parchment, most of which were consigned to the Magistri Jacopo da Campione and Cristoda Lonigo for the designs of the church. From these
foro
entries, it would seem that Jacopo was the architect who drew the designs, and Bernardo da Venezia the master
builder
who executed them.
As
a farther proof, there
is
on March which it says
the deliberation of the Administration of Milan, 4.
we have already referred, Jacopo was in command of the works
1397. to which
that
acceptatus est super laboreria Carthusise).
in
at Certosa (qui
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
376
Other Campionese names also appear in the registers such as Domenico Boss! da Campione, who was paid " for four marble slabs, with certain inscriptions, which were
when
placed under the foundations stone on August
first
Campione, called Bosio,
27,
for
the Visconti laid the
and "Giovanni da three sculptured marble slabs
1396;"
for three reliquaries."
In 1397, Gian Galeazzo, being taken up with affairs of ceded the presidency of the Administration of the
state,
Certosa Lodge to the Prior of the Carthusians, adding more donations and an endowment.
The
Prior's first actions
were to dismiss Bernardo da Venezia as master builder, and to call Antonio di Marco from Crema. He was son of Marco da Campione, one of the chief architects of Milan cathedral, and brother of Guglielmo di Marco, whom we have also found at Milan in 1387, where he was called as an expert to give judgment on some moot point. When Antonio entered office, the monastery had twentyfour cells already inhabited by as many monks, under their Abbot, Father Bartolommeo of Ravenna. As soon as the contract was signed, it appears that Antonio returned to Crema, leaving Giovanni Solari da Campione, father of Guiniforte, and Francesco Solari, in charge. In the payGiovanni'as chief architect, ments made to we find his name written in different ways. In one, " Magister Johanni de Campilioni Ingenerio fabrice Monasterii
L
XVI."
In
another, " Magister
Johanni di Solerio Inzignero super XIV Maij, pro suo salario ;" XVI sometimes he is merely written as "Johanni
laboreriis fabrice Monasterii die
L
Inzegnero."
These payments go on for at least four years, during which time Antonio di Marco seems to have had little to do with the building. Sometimes Giovanni Solari even In 1429, the register notes does the commercial business. 4 lire, 5 soldi paid to him for his expenses in going to
THE MILAN LODGE
377
Milan and Pavia, on business connected with the building, and in the same year he pays six Masters who come from Milan to Certosa, when there was a competition for some sculptures in marble for the monastery.^ The sculptors working under him were mostly his compatriots. Here are, Maestri Rodari da Castello, Giovanni da Garvagnate, and Giovanni da Como paid for sculptural works in 1428 and 1429 also Maestro Antonio and Maestro Giovanni di Val ;
Lugano, employed as
di
builders
(rattione
edificiorum
novorum).
There are also frequent mentions of Jacopo Fusina, and the two Solari, who form such a link between Milan and The Solari were the stock from which came the Venice. line of Lombardi, who may be almost called the makers of Venice. To this little group of architects we owe the exquisite
famous
cloister
of the Certosa, with
its
labyrinth of fairy white
marble columns, and the ruddy beauty of ornamentation on Our illustration shows the beauty of terra-cotta arches.
Campionese work at this era. Giovanni Solari of Campione, who is said in this work to have inaugurated the beautiful terra-cotta architecture of Lombardy, appears to have held office as chief architect up nearly
to
Under
1460,
when
Guiniforte,
Gio.
entered his novitiate.
son Guiniforte succeeded him.
his
Antonio Amadeo, or Omodeo, in 1466, he reached the age
When,
was already engaged at the Certosa as a sculptor. A deed drawn up by the notary Gabbi, on October 10, 1469, shows that the Administration lent him certain blocks of marble, for which he was to pay their equivalent in work; the payment he made was the beautiful of nineteen, he
door leading from the church into the as
"the door of Amadeo." 1
Pro
It is exquisitely
solvendis magistrts sex qui venerunt
occasione incantandi opus
cloister, still
marmoris pro
known
decorated in
a Mediolano ad Monastermm
fabrica.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
378
Bramantesque style reliefs of angels and foliage surround and in the tympanum is a fine relief of the He, too, became famous in Venice, as Virgin and Child. did the two brothers Cristoforo and Antonio Mantegazza, who had just been trained under Jacopo da Tradate at Indeed, the network of this marvellous company Milan. of sculptor-builders is at this epoch interwoven in a most complicated manner between Milan, Certosa, Como, Monza, and Venice. ;
the door
The
;
facade of the Certosa forms precisely the
same
discord with the body of the building that the facade of
Milan does, but here the Renaissance face is so rich and gorgeous that one almost forgives the discord. It has been attributed to Bramante of Urbino, whose name never appears in the books to Bernardo of Venice, who died long before it was begun and to Borgognone the painter, who was only invited to the Certosa by the Prior in 1490, when the facade was well begun, Sig. Merzario, with his documental evidence,^ proves that Guiniforte di Solario certainly designed it, and for the most part superintended its execution. On January 14, 1473, the notary Gabbi registered a contract between the Prior of the Certosa and the Administration of the Milan Lodge, for the furnishing of 200 cwts. of white marble of ;
;
Gandoglia, annually, for ten years, to serve for the facade
On October 7, 1473, the same notary makes the contract, by which the brothers Cristoof the Certosa church.
and Antonio Mantegazza are commissioned to erect all the fa9ade, according to the plans given them by the foro
monastery.* 1
Merzario,
I Maestri
Promiserunt
Comacini, Vol.
I.
chap.
xvii.
pp.
494
—499.
dederunt ad faciendum fabricandum et laborandum totam fazatam dicte Ecclesie ac portam, cum fenestris et aliis laboreriis necessariis pro ipsa fazata juxta modum et designationem *
.
.
et
.
.
ipsis fratribus
dandum
Maestri Comacini, Vol.
et I.
dandem chap.
.
.
per dictum Monasterium.
xvii. p.
508, note 51.
— Merzario,
I
THE MILAN LODGE
379
This contract very much offended Gio. Antonio Amadeo,
who had gone
Bergamo
to
to
make
a
monument
for the
Colleoni family, and he appealed to the Colleoni, and also
Duke
to the
of Milan, to enforce his claims on the work,
which were so far recognized that he was engaged to do half the work, at a price to be estimated, receiving a podere (vineyard) in part payment. Another act of notary, dated October 12, 1478, records the ceremony of valuing several works of sculpture, by Amadeo and the brothers Mantegazza, by two Masters of the guild, Giovanni, junior, da Campione, and Luchino of Cernuscolo, which took place in the presence of the Prior and the chief architect, Guiniforte Solari a proof that ;
was
Solari
still
the
capo
maestro.
He
—
died
early
in
same month, January 1481, " Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza wrote to the Dominis Priori et monacis Carthusie Papiensis," to recommend his son, " Pietro Antonio (suo figliuolo peritissimo de la medesima and on the 13th of the
arte et
de divino ingenio
father as chief architect.
"),
as a worthy successor to his
Antonio Mantegazza succeeded
died in 1495, and Cristoforo Solario, named Gobbo, 'Who had worked with him, became architect in his turn. His election was on October 11, 1495, by the
&im, but he, too,
recommendation of Ludovico il Moro. Gobbo, however, did not long remain in office, for in 1497 we find him employed at the Duojno of Milan, and the sepulchre of In 1 506 Beatrice d'Este, at the church of the Grazie there. he became head architect at Milan. In 1499, a letter from B. Calco, dated May i, declares that the
works
at
the Certosa are nearly finished (sara
presto presso el fine).^
The church had already been opened for service since May 1497, when the Cardinal di S. Croce came in state to The consecrate it, and a grand refection was offered him. 1
Archivio di Stato in MWzxiO.—Reg. Miss. N. 210,
vol. clviii.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
38o
documents cited by Sig. Merzario are certainly conclusive as to the epoch and authorship of both the convent and the church.
We
must not leave the Lombard Lodge without a mention of one of its principal Masters, Matteo da Campione, who was architect for the fourteenth-century restoration of the cathedral at Monza, which his forerunners of the guild had built for Queen Theodolinda. He is spoken of in the registers at Milan, when he attended a general meeting of the guild there on January 6, 1390, as Matteo da Campione "inzignero in Monza," and again on July 10, 1390, when, on the death of Marco da Campione, it was deliberated in council to send for Maestro Matteo from Monza, and see whether he would take Marco's place in the works. He was, like almost architect.
noted for
The its
all
the Comacines, a sculptor as well as
baptismal font at Monza, which was once
beauty,
is
now
ruined and mutilated.
The
and the sculptures on the fagade of Monza cathedral
pulpit
are attributed to Matteo's
piece of sculpture
in
own
The
hand.
white marble.
It
pulpit
was
is
a fine
originally
square, but has been altered in form during the last century.
Fourteen
figures,
the twelve apostles with St. Paul and
Barnabas, are sculptured around small
reliefs.
by the
It
it,
and there are many
has a prominent part in the front, called
Italians ihe. pulpitino, or little pulpit.
On
this are
Redeemer with a book, and a thunderbolt His hands, and the four Evangelists. The fagade is a curious instance of the transition of Comacine art, between the Romanesque and the Gothic. The door is very much like those of Verona and other Comacine churches of the same era. Matteo has put his lions in front of the pillars of the porch, instead of beneath them. The mixture of style shows more in the windows. The four lower windows are distinctly Gothic, with pointed arches, three lights, and Gothic tracery the upper ones are round-arched Lombard sculptured the in
;
Facade of Monza Cathedral.
Restored 14TH century.
[SeeMi'« 380
et seq.
THE MILAN LODGE
381
two-light windows, the archlets of which are a
The
little
cusped.
Lombard, the internal marked on the front by pilasters running the whole height. The Lombard gallery is indicated like a memory of past time by a row of archlets beneath the lines of the fa9ade are quite
divisions being
eaves, but they rest
on nothing, and are of no
as their prototypes were.
Matteo da Campione so
rebuilt,
his older brethren, as to
practical use
Probably, as the interior was not
work of
far respected the
adapt his fagade to the rest of the
Over the portico is a fine rose window, and above that a row of saints in niches the space between them is filled with geometrical sculpture. He has used the building.
;
ancient sculpture of "Agilulf and
Theodolinda"
lunette of the doorway.
much
Its style is
in the
than the
Matteo was buried in the church, and on " Hie jacet magnus ille sedifidevotus magister Mattheus de Campiliono, qui hujus
figures above. his
earlier
tomb
cator
is
the inscription
—
sacrosanctae Ecclesise fatiem aedificavit evangelistarium ac battisterium qui obiit
XXIV own
mensio mail."
anno Domini
MCCCLXXXXVI
It is said that
die
he has sculptured his
likeness in the rigid and thoughtful figure of the saint
near the turret, over the rose window.
Another work which we have seen commenced by That too earlier Comacines was the cathedral of Como. was restored and redecorated by Comacines about this time. The old church had been ruined in the wars between Como and Milan, and in 1335, Azzo Visconti, building his fortresses at Como, ran his walls close round the church, cutting it off In 1386, however, the Bishop of Como persuaded Gian Galeazzo to transpose his fort and open the fchurch again to the people. In gratitude for this, the people
from the town.
proposed to
promised his
on
till
1
5 13.
restore aid.
their
church,
and
The work was begun
Authors disagree as to
were renovated,
i.
e.
restored, or rebuilt.
Gian
Galeazzo
1396 and went whether the church Whichever it was, in
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
382
no doubt that the whole fa9ade was executed in The north door is of rich ornate century. Renaissance style, and much later than that on the fa9ade,
there
is
the fifteenth
although the lions are follows in
its
still
lines the old
under the columns.
Lombard
The
form, but the dividing
They
pilasters here are lavishly enriched.
are in fact but
a perpendicular line of niches with a statue in each. three doorways are round-arched, the slightly pointed.
Over the
bule with saints in
its
The
first
fagade
The
windows above them
central door
is
a Gothic vesti-
canopied arches.
architect of the restoration
is
indicated in the
Milan Lodge, where on April 30, 1396, Magister Lorenzo degli Spazi de Laino in Val Intelvi is allowed to leave the works at Milan to be chief architect at Como, " deliberarunt quod licentietur Magister Laurentius register of the
de Spatiis ad eundum Cumas pro laborerio Ecclesie majoris civitatis Cumarum ad requisitionem comunis et hominum He had not long entered on dicte civitatis Cumarum." office
when Gian Galeazzo
died,
and
Como was
again
involved in a fight for freedom with Malatesta and the In 14 16 the Como people had to swear allegiance and then Duke Filippo Maria Visconti allowed On February 19, 1439, Pietro da the works to go on. Bregia near Como was elected 'master architect, and he continued Lorenzo de Spazi's work. He changed the plan so as to bring the fagade in a line with the Broletta and tower of the fortress, which altogether made an imposing mass of buildings very interesting as displaying at once the Comacine work in civil, military, and ecclesiastical architecture. The Broletta is a particularly good specimen of their civil architecture, of about a.d. iooo, though it loses in proportion owing to the filling up of the lower level on which it was built, so that the bases of the columns are Visconti.
to Milan,
;
completely buried.
CHAPTER V THE VENETIAN LINK
THE VENETIAN LODGE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 1407
Gastaldo or Grand Master.
Mistro Lorenzo da Vielino
1423 143°
M. Scipione Buono M. Zambono (Giovanni .
.
Buono)
M. Bartolommeo Buono M. Pantaleone „
Built the Loggia near the Rialto. Architect of Ca d'Oro, and sculptor of capitals, in the Ducal Palace. /"His sons who worked with him -! in the Ducal Palace up to
1463-
I
1441
M.
1442
M.
1448 1449
16.
M. Giorgio da Como M. Lorenzo q. Martino da Lugano M. Giovanni da Marco M. Anicino \ Lombard! M. Luchino/ M. Antonio da Modena M. Andrea d'Acre M. Antonio Negro M. Bonazza
17-
M. Martino
Elia da Bissone Cristoforo
da
.
Sculptured the door to the Fra-
.
ternity dei Calzolai. Built the tower at Udine.
Mi-
lano 8. 9-
lo.
II. 12.
13-
1482
14. IS-
All Lombard Masters who received pay in the Venetian Lodge for work in the Ducal Palace.
The Council of Administration when the Masonic Lodge was built at ''
da
Solari
Carona
M. Moro Lombardo
18.
.
.
1484I 19.
to
M. Antonio Riccio
1491J
Samuele.
Father of the famous Pietro Lombardi, Proto (chief archiHe designed the tect). Scuolo di S. Marco. Son and assistant of Martino Proto of S. Zaccaria Solari. Bernardino and in 1488. Francesco(No. 2oandNo. 21) were his son and grandson. Proto of the lodge from 1484 to He carved the Adam 1 49 1. .
383
S.
and Eye.
„
384 20.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
THE VENETIAN LINK The
385
connection of the Comacines of Longobardic times through the powerful Lombard Dukes of
with Venice,
and the Patriarchs of Aquileja, their metropolitan has already been touched upon and we have mentioned the Patriarch Fortunatus for whom the Masonic Friuli,
bishops,
;
Guild built the churches of Grado and Torcello.
Comacines had,
in
the eighth
century,
also
built
The the
Baptistery of Calixtus at Cividale, and had sculptured the
Duke Pemmo
altar of
rebuilt the
Duomo
in Friuli
;
in the twelfth
century they
of Cividale for the Patriarch Pellegrino.
This connection was still further strengthened, when 1 the Visconti conquered and exiled from Milan the Torriani family, their rivals in the Signory there, who retired to Friuli, where they soon acquired supreme power. Two of the family, Raimondo and Pagano della Torre, had previously been successively Patriarchs of Aquileja, and in 1317, Gastone, the exiled Archbishop of Milan, succeeded Pagano. A second Pagano and a Ludovico Torriani him. The Torriani were from Valsassina near followed Como, and would consequently have had more interest in the Comacine Guild than any other, if other there were in fact the tombs of the Torriani at Primaluna and at Chiaravalle show unmistakable signs of Comacine work. .
.
in
.
131
;
At
Sacile in the Friuli district the ancient church with three
show documents proving its archihave been Beltramo and Antonio, both of Como, and
naves, built in 1400, can tects to
who form a link with the Roman Lodge. The church of Gemona, on the mountains near Tagliamento, was built by Giovanni Bono, another familiar Comacine name. The choir
is
aisles
are divided from the nave
The
in transition
fagade
is
style,
of the style
i.e.
semi-Gothic.
The two
by a grand colonnade. of Siena and Orvieto, with cusped
arches under triangular gables
;
it
has a large finely-traceried
and a profusion of statues. At Venzone, also near Tagliamento, is an ancient Lombard rose
window
in the centre,
cc
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
386
Here church with characteristic sculptures, built in 1200. is a holy water vase of a later period, of extremely fine and finished
sculpture,
signed
Bernardino da Bissone,
1500.
Bernardino also sculptured another holy water vase in the Duomo of Tolmezzo, and the beautiful door of the church of Tricesimo.
All these works prove the close connection
of our guild with the Patriarchs,
who
ruled over Venice as
well as Friuli.
Even
in 1468,
when the Duomo
by Pietro Lombardo, several of
of Cividale was restored
his brethren
worked with
him.
In 1420, the Venetians, led by Roberto Morosini, took and annexed it to Venice. By the treaty of Lodi in
Friuli
1454 they added Bergamo, Brescia, and Crema. Many flocked to Venice at that time, and the Masonic Guild had its schools and laborerium there. From that date
Lombards
the Masters of the guild were
known
must have begun much
earlier
Venice as " Mistri (Masters) Lombardi." Merzario dates from this epoch the renewed connection of the Comacine Guild with Venice, but
it
continued unbroken from
Lombard
in
than that, times.
A
if it
had not
lodge must
have existed in Venice from the time when the Maestro Buono (Vasari's Buono) went there in 11 50. unlucky for history that the original Freemasons, being
certainly first
It is
a secret society, kept no archives. century,
when
It is
only after the twelfth
other art guilds were formed on the same
system, but without the secrecy, that into
what had been,
of the guild.
At
all
we
get an insight
the ages through, the
Siena, as
we have
management
seen, the painters
seceded in the thirteenth century from the universal brotherhood, and founded their academy of painters, the sculptors
They, not being bound to secrecy, let the world know their statutes and their customs. The same thing took place in Venice. On September 15, 1307, the sculptors appealed to the Signory of Venice following their lead.
THE VENETIAN LINK for permission
to form statutes
the denomination of the
They were guild,
Sig.
Arte de
387
and hold chapters under tajapiere (stone-cutters).
not at liberty to form a Masonic or building
because the original one had then the monopoly.
Agostino Sagredo,^
ing guilds
work on the buildWhile we are speaking of
in his valuable
says —
in Venice,
"
Masonic Companies and their jealous secrecy, we must not forget the most grand and potent guild of the Middle Ages that of the Freemasons. Originating most probably from the builders of Como (Magistri Comacint) Popes gave them their beneit spread beyond the Alps diction, monarchs protected them, and the most powerful thought it an honour to be inscribed in their ranks. They, with the utmost jealousy, practised all the arts connected with building, and by severe laws and penalties (perhaps also with bloodshed) prohibited others from the practice Long and hard were the of building important edifices. initiations to aspirants, mysterious were the meetings and the
—
;
and to ennoble themselves they dated their This monopoly would origin from Solomon's Temple." account for none of the Communes having a civic guild of architecture and their secrecy explains the want of documentary evidence in the earlier centuries, while the monopoly was undisputed. The new local branches of the fourteenth and fifteenth the teaching,
;
were evidently absolved from secrecy they started as independent companies, and thus freed, art was With this light on its to expand more largely.
centuries fresh
able
formation,
;
it
is
interesting to find in the Venetian Guild
of sculptors, organized
in
1307, the self-same rules
and
We
find
government as in Siena, and the school and laborerium and the usual Administrative Council of four Soprastanti elected on the first Sunday of every month, the outgoing officials having to instruct the all
1
Sulk Consorterie
delle
the other
cities.
Arti Edijicative in Venezia, capo
ii.
p. 14.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
388
new
Grand Master of the Lodge was Lombard Lodges, Gastaldo; the a work was designated in more classic
In Venice the
ones.
called, as in the ancient
chief architect of
language, Proto.
On
the third Sunday of the month every Master of the was obliged to pay a gold soldo to the company, which money was only to be spent for the use of the school. Again a marked similarity. At the beginning of November the feast of the Quattro Coronati was kept,* and no one was to work on that day under pain of a fine of ICO soldi. There is the usual rule about every Master bringing a wax candle when he attends a meeting, and on the day of the Patron Saints the candle must weigh
arte
four ounces.
The
fines for those
who
absent themselves
from xh&fite of the Patron Saints are the same as at Siena, and so also are the rules about matriculation of members, the
Masters,
The
making of
contracts, the introduction of foreign
etc. first
name
Venetian Lodge
makes a law
is
that
of a Gastaldo or
Grand Master
in the
a Mistro Lorenzo de Vielino in 1407, who no Master shall have more than three
fanti scritti {dL^^rentxces
?)
besides his
own
sons or brothers.
Sagredo says that the Masters in all these arti were a privileged aristocracy, whose sons were allowed to enter the guild without the usual novitiate.
In 1509 Mistro Manfred de Polo was Grand Master, and decreed a kind of census. Every Master was obliged within eight days to
hand
in a list of his relatives in the guild
and
the apprentices in his studio.
The head-quarters of the lodge were in the little street known as the Piscina di S. Samuele. The Opera was a large building, not much decorated, but there was a fine relief 1
by one of the Lombard Masters over the door.
" I quattro martiri patroni de la dita arte
Claudio, San Castorio e
S.
Superian."
ciofe
This
San Nicostrato San
—Sagredo, Sulk Consorterie
i, etc.
THE VENETIAN LINK
389
was removed, and preserved by the Government when the building, no longer needful for its former use, was sold.
The
Quattro Coronati, sacred to the guild, the church of S. Samuele close by. Here too
altar of the
was in were the tombs of the brethren of the lodge. Unfortunately none of the funereal inscriptions remain. Cicognara has, however, preserved two inscriptions on the building of the lodge, which are valuable as additional proof of the guild.
One beneath
the relief on the fagade runs
MCCCLXXXII ADI XXV MARZO. IN TEPO D(i)MA' ANTONIO DA MODON (Modena) E SO COMPAGNI MA' ANTONIO NEGRO E MA BONAZZA E MA* ANDRA (Andrea) d'acre. E scrivan ma' dolze (Dolce).
Here we get the names of the ruling council in
1482,
all
four members of the Magistri, and that of the notary
of the guild, Maestro Dolce.^
Another inscription on the which was rebuilt in 1686, announces that the stairs were built by the gifts of the brethren under the Gastaldo Maestro Domenico Mazzoni, and then follow the names of his three companions in office, one of whom is Vincenzo Minella, and that of the notary. If we now trace some works in Venice we shall see how intimately connected this lodge was with that of Milan and staircase,
other branches of the guild.
In 1430
we
find
Zambono
engaged to decorate the Ca d'Oro or Palazzo Contarini on Grand Canal, In his aim at magnificence good Gio-
the
vanni
Bono of Como not only made the work a master-
piece of Gothic ornamentation, but he gilded his sculpture till
it
was
refulgent.
could not spell his ^
capo
It
appears that this Zambono,
own name, was
Agostino Sagredo, Sulk Consorterie ix.
pp. 84, 85.
who
not such a master of the
delle
Arti Edificative in Venezia,
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
390
pen as he was of the chisel, for his son Bartolommeo signed The gilding the contract for him on April 20, 1430. was done by Giovanni da Francia, whose son Francesco signed for him.
Bartolommeo Bono worked much with his father, and younger brother Pantaleone joined them, and became more famous than either of them. To these three we owe in a great measure the reconstruction and decoration of the Ducal Palace, which in the first place had been At the end of the tenth built by Justinian and N arses. later his
century, building.
the
To
Doge
Orseolo restored Justinian's this restoration belong probably some of the Pietro
columns of the Loggia, of which we have given an illustration on page 253. It has been said that Marino Faliero, when Doge, engaged his friend and fellow-conspirator Filippo Calendario to make a plan for a new palace, but no proofs of this, nor any designs are to be found. Authentic documents, however, prove that a meeting of the Grand Consiglio was held on September 27, 1422, in which it was proposed to " rebuild the palace in a decorous and convenient form." On April 20, 1424, the decree went forth that the old walls were to be thrown down, and the The first Masters mentioned in the books facade rebuilt. A minute, dated September 6, 1463, are the three Buoni. that the Salt registers Ofifice should pay " Maistro Pantalon," sculptor, for the work done for the Ducal Palace that this work included many other works besides the figures and that it should not remain incomplete, the Doge wished it to extend across the piazza and up to the last built Sala^ the Sala del Squittinio. This would include all i. e. the fagade and its colonnades, with the internal Sala del Squittinio and Scala Foscara leading to it, on which is fine mediaeval capitals of the
—
;
—
1
Parte
Gualandi, vi. p.
108.
Memorie Originali Italiane risguardanti Bologna, 1485.
k
Belle Arti,
THE VENETIAN LINK
391
The
placed the statue of Francesco della Rovere.'
part of
Bartolommeo, brother of Pantaleone, was the Porta della Carta, of which we speak in the chapter on decoration. Their father Giovanni (Zambono) must have died about the time the palace was finished, which was May 13, 1442,
on November
for
a
notarial
act
as
25, 1443, Bartolommeo writes himself in " Ego Bartolommeus lapiscida ser q.
Johannis Boni." Part of the palace was burned not
many
lustres after,
Antonio Rizo or Riccio was nominated Proto He came to Venice with good recomfor its rebuilding. mendations. He was the son of a deceased Magister Giovanni Rizo, as we see in a deed of June 25, 1484, where he is nominated as " Ser Antonius Rizo lapiscida q. ser Joannis de contrata sancti Joannis Novi," and had been in the East, where he built the fortifications of Scutari, for Antonio Loredan, His fortifications resisted the attack of the Turks so well that they had to raise the siege, and Antonio, who was wounded, was rewarded by a pension for himself and children, and by the appointment of chief architect for the Ducal Palace, when it was restored after the fire. It would seem that the fagade built by the Buono trio had not been injured, as Rizo turned his attention to the inner court, which he built in a beautiful style, and
in 1484,
together with
the great staircase,
now known
as
the
"Scala dei Giganti," from Sansovino's two giants, which were added not much to the grace of the stairway in
—
—
1566.
Bernardino da Bissone, and Domenico Solari of Val both Como Masters, assisted in the sculpture of
d'Intelvi,
the
beautiful
balustrade.
Riccio
has the characteristic
Comacine mixture of round arches in the foundation, and pointed ones above. He added a third colonnade, in which It is all enriched by the round arches again appear. 1
Merzario, Op.
cit.
Vol.
II.
chap.
xxii. p.
16.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
392
exquisite sculptural decoration
sea-horses on the
third order
is
the frieze of Nereids and
;
very
fine.
much of the side of The two statues of Adam
Selvatico attributes also to Riccio
the palace towards the prisons.
and Eve facing the Giant's Stairs are signed in the plinths, one " Antonio," the other " Rizo." They are fine works of sculpture, which have been wrongly attributed, in spite of the signature, to various persons, such as Antonio Bregno, and Andrea Riccio of Padua. A proof of Rizo's lengthened tenure of the office of Proto is given in a document in the The document, Venetian archives quoted by Cadorin. dated October lo, 1491, is an order from the Magistrates of the Salt Office, who were at the head of the Administration of the works of the Ducal Palace, "to increase the salary of Rizo Antonio, Proto of the building works, from one hundred and fifty ducats to two hundred, as the former salary was not enough to support his family in his old age, and also having regard to his long and valuable services and fatigues, and the necessity of retaining him, for the prosperity and the beauty of the said building." ' Another document, quoted by Merzario from the Diary of Marin Sanuto, seems to throw a cloud over the close of Antonio's head membership. It seems that 10,000 ducats were missing from the accounts of the works, and that Antonio, being unable to explain
it,
sold
all
his possessions,
and shouldering his belongings went towards Ancona and Foligno. This entry is dated April 5, 1498.^ It is difficult to
say
who
accredited with Rizo's works.
a sculptor to
whom
the Antonio Bregno that is There was a Lorenzo Bregno,
is
Sansovino attributes the statue of the
General Dionisio Naldo of Brisighella (died 15 10), which placed above the door of San Giovanni e Paolo. 1
Notizie storiche intorno al Palazzo Ducale di Venezia,
Cadorin. 2
Venezia, 1838.
Merzario, Of. at. Vol.
II.
cap. xxii. p. 23.
p.
i,
is
There by Gius.
THE VENETIAN LINK
393
was
also Paolo Bregno, father of Lorenzo, but the name of Antonio never appears in the books of the Administration, nor in any archives as far as Sig. Merzario can judge after As the Bregni were related to Rizo, it a diligent search. seems probable that this is another misleading case of nicknames, and that the chief architect's family name was Bregno so that Antonio Rizo was only Antonio Bregno, " from riccio, a curl.' the " curly-headed Riccio, a Magister Bartolommeo Gonella, who After died in 1505, succeeded as Proto, and then Magister Buono succeeded him. Buono was probably a grandson of the last Bartolommeo, son of " Zambono." This man, who signs himself " Bartolomeus de Cumis lapizida," had been a sea-captain, and sailed in the fleet of Melchiorre Trevisan. On his return in 1498 he resumed his hereditary profession, and in 1505 was nominated head of the building works of The St. Mark's, which were now occupying the guild. upper order of the "Vecchie Procuratie" was built under his supervision. The church of San Rocco, built in 1495, was, however, his first great work in Venice, and the next was the restoration and heightening of the tower which ;
—
another of the
Buono
family had built
inn 50,
more than
three centuries earlier.
When
in
15 16
the erection of the " Scuola di
San
Rocco" was proposed, Bartolommeo Buono, the head architect of the "Vecchie Procuratie," was unanimously elected. However, when he had drawn his design, and the edifice began to rise, a certain knowing brother of the confraternity {un tal saccente confratello cTessd) censured
the plan 1
of
the
stairs,
and the work was suspended.
Monsignor Paolo Giovio wrote a poem on Antonio. " Un Riccio nel contado all 'etS, nostra Nacque di Como, che fu buon scultore E I'opre di costui Venezia mostra :
Fece un Adamo,
Che
ch'fe di
tanto valore
di bellezza cogli antichi giostra," etc.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
394
Maestro retired
;
place to
Buono would not relinquish his design, and on which Pietro Lombardo was elected in his Here we have again a continue the building.
Masonic organization, and see that in Venice they held their meetings to consider the work of their brethren, just as they had done in Milan, Siena, distinct proof of the
Florence, etc.
In 1529 Maestro
Buono
died,
and Jacopo Sansovino
was nominated Proto of the Procuratie in his stead. One of Buono's principal assistants was Guglielmo da Alzano, near Bergamo.^
He
sculptured a beautiful altar in the
Servite church on the commission of Scala.
Madonna Verde
della
now removed to the church of SS. Giovanni The great altar in the church of S. Salvadore is
It is
e Paolo.
He was a famous builder as well and was architect of the Camerlinghi Palace, The beautiful Tasca at the foot of the Rialto in Venice. palace at Portogruaro, of which the richly-sculptured doorway was brought to Venice, was his design, as well as the fine gate at Padua called the " Portello," and the also attributed to him.
as sculptor,
" Porta di S.
Tomaso "
in Treviso.
Several other more familiar Comacine names are found in Venice,
such as Gregorio and Giorgio of Carona,
we have
whom
seen sculpturing at Udine Bernardino di Martino of Bissone, and Andrea from Milan. Francesco, son of Bernardo of Como, Simeone of Pietro, sculptor from Como, with Donato and Giovanni Busata, sons of Ser Piero da Campione, are all mentioned in the Transactions of the Guild in Venice about this time. A contract is reported in the Archivio Veneto (vol. xxxi. anno 1886, fasc. Ixii. p. 169), ;
^
^ To show how difficult it is to trace names through the queer old documents, we may mention that this sculptor is sometimes written in the archives as " Guglielmo Bergamasco " probably he entered the lodge at
— —and sometimes " Vielmo Vielmi di Alzano."
Bergamo ^
Merzario,
I Maestri
Comadni, Vol.
II.
chap,
xxiii. p.
47.
THE VENETIAN LINK
395
signed on July 26, 1476, "between the Fraternity of S,
Maria
in S.
Daniele and Maestro Giorgio, sculptor of Como,
who, having made several statues for S. Giacomo in Udine, is herewith commissioned to make three figures in stone for the
door of
S.
Maria
in S. Daniele,
Child and two angels, the statues to
Madonna and be figures, that may i. e.
a
by any good Magister be judged worthy and beautiful." Then comes a name which has become synonymous with the beauty of Venice the Lombardi family to whom are attributed all the principal late Gothic and Renaissance buildings that enrich the city. As usual, the name by which the family has come down to posterity in the his-
—
—
tories of art is
nothing but a misleading nickname.
Venetians called them the Lombards.
Just as
The
Vannucchi
and Allegri is called Correggio, so the were known as Lombardi. They were among the aristocrats of the guild, however, whose ancestors had been eminent men for more than a century. We have seen Marco Solari, and his son Antonio, and also his is
called Perugino,
Solari family
grandsons Cristoforo and
Guiniforte, at
work
at
Milan,
where Marco, Guiniforte, and Pietro Antonio were successively chief architects. The Lombardi-Solari of Venice appear to have been another branch of the family, equally descended from Giovanni da Carona, through his son Martino,
the father of Pietro
Lombardi (Peter of the
Lombards).^ 1
The parentage
Venetian archives.
is clearly proved by documents in the a deed dated Sept. 19, 1492, drawn up by the It confirms the will of Magister Petrus Lom-
of Pietro
One
notary Gerolamo Bossis.
is
quondam Martini lapiciola. Another, dated Sept. 8, 1479, drawn up by the notary Bartolommeo de Vegiis, begins "lo piero lombardo fiolo di ser martino de charona, tajapiera in Venesa in la chontrada de samoele in casa del duse testimonio e scrive de mano propria." bardus
Here Pietro
—
tells
us not only his father's
name
Martin, but his birthplace
—
Arogno and Campione the place his relative Marco da Carona came from. In fact here we have the Campionese school still surviving and sending forth fine artists. Carona, a village near
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
396
Martino
was the
architect
of
the
Scuola
di
San
His name appears Marco, near SS. Giovanni e Paolo, before that time as " Mistro Martino tajapiera," when he was, in 1476, sent to I stria to sboszare the marbles for the sculptures on S. Zaccaria, of which he was architect,
Antonio di Marco had begun it in 1458. San Marco, his son Moro, brother of Pietro, assisted him, and on Martino's death Moro became Proto of the works at San Zaccaria, his son Bernardino and
though
At
his ancestor
the Scuola di
The books
grandson Francesco assisting him. of
Administration
that
have
building
notes
of of
the
pay-
ment, in 1488, one "to Bernardo, sculptor, son of Moro our Proto" and another executed on July 20, 1488, where it is
written, "
And
Francesco di Bernardo, sculptor from Other papers prove the sons of Pietro Lombardo
Como."
I
as being Giulio, Antonio, old family
To finest
and
names are revived
this family
may be
In Tullio's sons two
Tullio.
— Marco Antonio and Sante.
attributed a large part of the
fifteenth or sixteenth century
Pietro's elder brother
Moro
buildings of Venice.
built the
church of S. Michele
Murano between 1478 and 148 1 and at the same time designed and directed the building of the Vendramin or at
;
Loredan and the Corner Palaces. Moro had been before employed by the Loredan family to build a part of the church of S. Maria in Isola at their expense. No doubt he was assisted by his numerous relations in the guild.
To
Lombardo belongs the design for the fine exterior of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista. In he sculptured the beautiful monument to the Doge 1475 Pietro
Pietro Mocenigo, a grand design with seventeen life-sized figures carved
in
Istrian marble.
His sons Tullio and
In 148 1 he restored the Scuola and finished the ornamental gate of the In the same year he won in a compeScuola dei Battuti. tition for designs for the church of S. Maria de' Miracoli,.
Antonio assisted
in this.
della Misericordia,
THE VENETIAN LINK and became head naissance
some
of that masterpiece of ReHere he has curiously revived
architect
architecture.
features
ancestors
397
Lombard architecture of his He has made a raised tribune with a
of the old
in art.
dome, but it is square instead of semi-circular, and he has placed two ambones or pulpits, as in the early churches. Pietro could build in Gothic style as well as Renaissance, as is shown in the cusped and pinnacled fagade of S. Cristofero della Pace at Murano. The original Torre deir Orologio on Piazza S. Marco was also designed by him.
On March
14, 1499,
he was nominated Proto maestro
of the Ducal Palace in place of Antonio Rizo.
Seguso
and Selvatico attribute to him, with his sons and nephews, the rich and beautifully sculptured capitals of the pillars which support the lower arches "from the Court of the Senators to the second part of the building " and the internal fagade of the side towards St. Mark's, which Selvatico pronounces one of the finest examples of Lom;
bard "
style.
Camera
del
In the interior of the palace he restored the
Tormento," and
prisons
known
as "
I
built the hall of the
over the Granaries,
of Ten, the prisons
Council
and the
attic
Piombi."
Two he was of remarkable genius. As signed statues in the church of San Stefano, one of which represents S. Antonio, are of extreme beauty, as is the a sculptor
magnificent high relief of the Virgin and Child in the outer arcade towards the bridge. The monument to Cardinal
Zeno
in
S.
Marco
ornamentation.
is
a beautiful specimen of Lombard with carven angels and saints,
It is rich
wreaths of flowers, and
all
possible wealth of sculpture.
In about 1490 Pietro was engaged on a great work of architecture at Treviso, where the bishop had commissioned
improve the cathedral by putting a new and ornate fagade with a large window, besides building three new
him
to
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
398
outweighed his talent He left the building at Treviso in the for architecture. Masters, and went to Venice to sculpture inferior hands of in the laborerium of the guild at San Samuele, the statues
His sculpturesque
chapels.^
and
for
reliefs
tastes
The work
fagade.
its
not
proceeding
was suspended, and on Pietro Lombardo's lost in some mysterious manner. The church was not ultimately restored till two centuries later. He had also the commission to restore the older church of S. Maria Maggiore at Treviso, and there, too, having
satisfactorily
it
death even his design was
made
his
design,
he
left
his
son Tullio to execute
Either for want of means, or disagreements Masters, this also remained incomplete.
had too many elected
among
it.
the
Probably Pietro
where in 15 14 he was Grand Master of the lodge in
interests in Venice,
Gastaldo
or
;
which office he continued till his death in 152 1, a date proved by his son Tullio taking out papers of administration in that year. We have no particular mention of any great buildings by Pietro's eldest son Giulio, but he was greatly respected in the guild, for on June
3,
1524, the
Chapter of S. Roch, while deliberating that " Mistro Bon," Master Bartolommeo Bono, a famous architect, should i. e. be discharged from the office of chief architect {Protd) of the Scuola, because he is disobedient and not diligent enough (we perceive that even a Proto had some superior officers or council above him), elected as Proto in his stead a young Magister Sante, son of Giulio Lombardo, but with the proviso that his father Giulio should be his adviser in everything.
won a
Antonio, Pietro's second son, sculptor, but
removed
he
is
better
known
to the latter city in
1
in
certain rank as
Padua and Ferrara.
He
505 with his family, and died
there in 1515.
The ^
third son, Tullio, however,
Marchese Ricci, DelF Architettura
was a bright
star in the
in Italta, Vol. II. chap. xix. p. 605.
THE VENETIAN LINK line.
His sculpture was so
delicate,
399
and he attained such
tenderness in the flesh of his marble statues, that
it
is
when he was in Padua in 1450. His decorative sculpture may be judged by the chimney-pieces in the chamber of Udienza, with its antechamber, in the Grand Ducal Palace by the doors of the Scuola di S. Marco, and the church of SS. Giovanni e The beauty and grace of his Paolo, all done about 1 500. thought he had studied under Donatello
;
figures
may be
seen in the four kneeling angels which
support the altar of the
Incoronation of the Virgin in
This S. Giovanni Crisostomo; a most exquisite group. " The fine Opus Tullii Lombardi." work is signed, Giovanni Nicolo Marcello, at SS. the Doge to monument
and those of Marco and Amerigo Barbarigo, in S. Maria della Carita, are also by him. There is some confusion between the two cousins, Sante, eldest son of Giulio, and Sante, the second son of Tullio.
e Paolo,
Sante di Giulio was chief architect of the Scuola di San Rocco, from June 1524 to March 1527, and part of the building is attributed to him.
all
He
the finest built the
church of S. Giorgio for the Greek colony. This was finished in 1548 by Gian Antonio Lombardo da Clone (Carona), who was son of Pietro Antonio Solari of Carona,
and Venetian branches of the Solari family meet, but the Milan branch has kept the old name, while in Venice it has been merged in the The place name, and they are known as the Lombards. so that in this church the Milanese
Palazzo Trevisan, which belonged to the family of Bianco Capello, was said to be from the design of Sante.
We have followed
up the Venetian architects sufficiently to prove that they, too, had their links with the great Comacine or Lombard Guild. Sansovino, who succeeded the Lombard Solari family in Venice, was a Master trained in the Florentine Lodge, so even he was not extraneous to the guild.
CHAPTER
VI
THE ROMAN LODGE
THE ROMAN LODGE I.
THE ROMAN LODGE 19.
1210-77
1231-3S 21.
1231-95
22.
1294
23-
1290 1303
24. 2526.
1224
27.
13th century
28.
1447
29.
3°-
3132-
3334-
35-
40.
I4S5
401
402 41.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
THE ROMAN LODGE Mention has been made,
403
second chapter, of the under Constantine, and the forty-six churches of the same era, which Genseric destroyed, and how the three Basilicas which were then saved i. e. S. Agnese, San Lorenzo, and S. Maria in Cosmedin have, during subsequent restoration, revealed, in the
early Christian Basilicas erected
—
in the parts of the original
buildings discovered, a style
precisely analogous to the Basilicas
which sprang up in the Lombards. The only difference between the fourth-century Roman churches and the seventh-century Lombard ones is not in form or style, but merely a deterioration in workmanship. This may easily be accounted for by the two or three centuries of decadence between the destruction of Rome by Genseric and his successors, in about a.d. 460, when it is supposed the remnants of the Collegia of architects fled to Como, and During those their revival under the Longobardic kings. centuries, no great buildings, or even restoration of edifices, took place. The Eternal City seemed, even when free of invaders, to be perishing in the clutches of time. Charlemagne led the way by rebuilding one or two ancient temples and palaces, and he established several schools, one of which was for Lombards a proof that he was interested in those architects, and that they still had a seat in Rome, where the church of their four Patron Saints had stood, north of Italy in the time of the
—
from the far-off time of Pope Melchiades
a.d. 311.
Pope Adrian L followed the example of his imperial by restoring several churches, to do which he had to ask Charlemagne for the builders of the guild under his protection a proof that no Collegio existed in Rome at that time. Among these churches, one of the most interesting was that of S. Agnese fuori le Mura, a beautiful round-arched Basilica, built by Constantine in 324. As it now stands, it is so far below the level of the ground that ally,
;
there
is
a long descent of forty-five wide marble steps, to
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
404
The
reach the vestibule of the church.
extremely interesting, as
remains
it
century form, as Pope Adrian
is
in its original eighth-
restored
I.
Basilica itself
it
in 775.
The
is a pure and simple Comacine Basilica, with its nave and two aisles, circular tribune and an upper gallery, with
plan
the cochleus or spiral staircase leading to
The columns
of the nave
Roman
an ancient except the
The
building.
nearest
four
seem
the
to
it all
complete.
have been taken from
capitals are all classical
tribune,
which
are
quite
But the columns had to be placed in such close juxtaposition, that the round arches between them are diminished out of all harmonic proportion. The triforium gallery, having shorter columns, Comacine,
with their simple upright volutes.
building space being limited, the extremely
gives a
more pleasing
The
tall
effect.
spiral staircase leading to this is cut in the thick-
The
ness of a pilaster.
mosaics in the tribune are the
Pope Honorius'
original ones of
time, and of Byzantine
the decorative paintings over the whole church are mere modern frescoes. But that the sculpturesque decorations were done by the Comacines, and not by the Greek mosaicists, is suggested by several remains of the ancient decorations of the church, which are preserved on the walls of the stairway descending Here is ^pluteus, or stone panel, probably from the to it. front of the ancient tribune, and it is a beautiful intreccio style
;
precisely like the ones at S. Clemente.
Two
other panels
same parapet are of Roman design. One might imagine that the Lombard architect copied them from the inner roof of the Arch of Titus. Probably the guild, being
of the
of
Roman
origin,
kept
all
these classical decorative designs
in its laborerium.
Now
and then,
large-minded
in the
Pope,
the beauties of
ages following Adrian,
who gave
Rome
:
his thoughts
we
find a
to restoring
such as Leo IIL (796), Leo IV.
.Apse of the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, on the Cielian Hill, Rome. {See page ^o^ (From a photograph by Alinari.)
THE ROMAN LODGE
405
(845), Innocent III. (1178), Nicholas III. (1277), Boniface VIII. (1294). This latter was the Pope consecrated the Duomo of Florence.
The
and
who
Lombard Masonic Guild being under the especial protection of the Popes, we should expect to see its members employed in the mediaeval buildings of Rome.
And
great
Adrian's
after
truly,
time, here they are. Hope, and Boito, besides other writers, have all decided that the ancient cloisters of San Lorenzo built under Honorius III. in the beginning of the thirteenth
Schmarzow,
Ricci,
—
century
—as well
as the primitive churches of St. Peter, S.
John Lateran, and S. Lorenzo, were all early Comacine work and that the exquisite cloister of S. John Lateran, and the churches of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, Ara Coeli, San Giovanni e Paolo, S. Maria sopra Minerva, etc., are ;
all
equally
centuries.
Lombard churches
of the twelfth and thirteenth
Several friezes and inscriptions go to prove the besides those eloquent lions that crouch
truth of this,
beneath the columns in the cloister of S. John Lateran and other places.
As
this is
not an architectural dissertation, but merely work of this great guild, I will keep more
a tracing of the
to the inscriptions relative to Magistri, than to a description
of their works, which has been done by so
many
writers.
In the old times before the painters and sculptors, and after
them the metal-workers,
split off
and formed companies
of their own, every kind of decoration was practised by the
A
church was not complete
unless it were and breadth with either adorned in its sculpture, mosaic, or paintings, and this from the very early times of Constantine and his Byzantine mosaicists, and of Queen Theodolinda and her fresco-painters, up to the revival of mosaics by the Cosmati, and the fresco-painting in the Tuscan schools. But never were those arts entirely
Masters.
whole height
lost.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
4o6
The Sicily,
ideas which the
when working
Lombard
architects brought
up from
there under the Normans, were the
seeds of re-vivification, and caused a tremendous evolution They saw the decorative value of
in the art of the guild.
mosaic as it was used in the twisted Saracenic columns, and they were charmed by the rich use of sculpture in the From that time, every lodge throughout graceful arches.
seemed to invent a new style peculiar to itself The Romans, with their traditions of classic mosaics, revived the art in Saracenic style as a means of decoration.
the land
The
Tuscans, with their wealth
of
coloured
marbles,
enlarged chromatic decoration into chromatic architecture,
and arched churches were all more or The Lombards, having no marbles at less polychrome. hand, took from these same Saracens their rich traceries and cuspings, which they produced in the plastic clay, throwing a veil of ruddy beauty over the fagades and and
their airy towers
arches of their buildings.
The name
of the Cosmati family has
for the peculiar chromatic sculpture of
century
;
the family were
become generic
Rome
in the twelfth
complete masters of the
art.
But though they may have taken the idea of its revival a decorative aid to sculpture, it was by no means their invention, or even their monopoly. If you look at a Cosmati pillar or panel, and then at the floor of any Roman church, you will see that Cosmatesque decoration is but an adaptation of the old Roman opus Alexandrinum. And we have plenty of proof of the fact that other Magistri of the
as
guild
also
Palatio at
The ambone in S. Cesareo in which we give an illustration, is earlier
practised
Rome, of
it.
than any of Cosimo's family.
There
Leonardo) the ancient and which was said to
exists at Florence (in S.
pulpit from S. Piero Scheraggio,
have been brought there from Fiesole. Its date is supposed to be before looo a.d. Though of a ruder style,
«,
THE ROMAN LODGE we have
407
the Cosmatesque inlaying of glass and marble, as
a setting to sculptures distinctly Comacine, and of almost
Longobardic antiquity. In Sta. Maria in Cosmedin are two fine pulpits, on one of which is a beautiful candlestick formed of a twisted column, inlaid in the same style.
The Comacine is
the
lion crouches
beneath
inscription in Gothic
letters,
worthy and learned man Paschalis
made
study
us
that the
(called Rita), with great di
inscribed on the door of inlaid
is
marble in the church of
and on the base
telling
Then we have Nicolao
this candlestick.^
Rannuncio, whose name
it,
Maria
S.
at Toscanella,*
and a
whole family whose names are inscribed on the ciborium of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura ' where it is written "John, Peter, Angelo, and Sasso, sons of Paul the sculptor, Magisters of this Opera. I, the humble Abbot Hugh, had :
work executed " * (Jobs, Petrus, Anges, et. Sasso. Marmor. Huj'. Opis. Magister Fuer. Ann Filii. Pauli. d. M. CXLVIII. Ego. Hugo. Humilis. Abbs. Hoc. Opus. this
The
Fieri Feci.).
tabernacle
is
of the usual four-pillared
the columns are ancient porphyry ones adapted the capitals the usual Comacine mixture of classic and mediaeval
form
;
;
—acanthus
leaves and cornucopiae with the mystic beasts
among them. Angelo, the third son of Magister Paulus, had a son named Niccolo, and the two together made the candelabrum
climbing
a quaint mediaeval piece of sculpture, of the style of Magister Roberto's font, but with some marvellously There is also Arnolfo with his beautiful interlaced work.
of S. Paolo
;
partner Peter (Arnolfus
cum suo
socio Petro),
who made
the inlaid and sculptured tabernacle in S. Paolo fuori le
Mura 1
in 1285.
VIR p(R0)bUS.
DOCT' PASCAI
HUG CEREVM
CODIDIT
LIS RI
|
TA,
VO CAT
:
SVMO CUM STUDIO
I
:
I
I
2
Marchese
3
Ibid.
Ricci,
DeUArchitettura
in ItaHa,Vo\. *
I.
chap.
I^i^-
ii.
p.
46?
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
408
Merzario says that
we must
Florentine architect.
the
not confuse this Arnolfo with
Camille Boito, however, opines
he is the same. Arnolfo had certainly a taste for the polychrome in architecture, which may or may not have been imbibed in Rome, while working at that lodge with Peter whom Cavalcaselle considers was one of the Cosmati, and who certainly did the ciborium at S. Paolo, though I have found some Arnolfo's name is absent in that work. that
—
other
members of the Roman Lodge
— written
"
Feceruht."
inscribed above a
On
bronze door in S. John Lateran.
the archivolt
is
Hui opis Ubert et Petr Frs. Magistri Lausenen. Over another bronze door in the sacristy they :
—
" Ubert Magister, et Petrus. Ei Fr. Fecerunt Hoc. op.," and the date a.d. 1196. Boito ^ sees nothing in this but a perplexing contradiction, that in one place the brothers say they are from Lausanne, and in another from Piacenza. It is to me plain enough. They are natives of Lausanne, and consequently Lombards
are written
as
:
Placentini
they are also brethren of the lodge of Piacenza, where they had most likely worked while the cathedral and other buildings were being erected.
The
date of the Baptistery door, and the connection of
maker with the
by the inscription on the other panel of the bronze door, which says it was done in the fifth year of the pontificate of Pope Celestine IIL e. 1 196), and that Father Giovanni, Cardinal of S. Lucia, the Jubente, or camerarius of the Opera, had it made.^ This door had engraved on it the design of the ancient facade of S. John Lateran a perfectly Lombard front consisting of two round-arched arcades, with a little pillared
its
guild, are verified
(?'.
—
gallery above.
The door ^ ^ l55^I
of the Sacristy must have been cast before
Boito, Architettura del t
ANNO V PONT^
Dlvfl
Medio Evo. CELESTINI
I Cosmati, III
PP
dfe
PP CAMERARIG JUBENE GPUS ISTUD FACxt)
£.
p. 124.
GIG CADIN LUCE ET DE
Pulpit in Church of
S.
Cesareo in Palatio, Rome. Medieval Sculpture inlaid {From a photograph by A linari. )
Mosaic.
in [
See page 406.
THE ROMAN LODGE
409
first work Uberto is entitled and Petrus only named as his brother, whereas in the second the younger brother must have also graduated, and has in his turn attained to the dignity of Magister. We trace the same gradual progress through the ranks of the Guild in the Cosmati family, whose connection with the Roman lodge we must now trace. Several generations of them were Magistri
that of the Baptistery, as in the
M
agister,
—
Lorenzo
Jacopo (some works, 1205-1210) Cosimo, 1210-1277
Luca 1231-1235
To Lorenzo Falleri,
and the
pulpit in
Ara
Adeodatus 1294
Jacopo 1231-1293
Giovanni 1296-1303
belong the fagades of Santa Maria in
Duomo
Coeli at
in Civita Castellana, besides the
Rome.
In
all
these works his son
Jacopo worked with him. Jacopo alone, with the
title
of Magister, sculptured the
Smaller doors in the fagade of the
Duomo at Civita CastelRome in 1 205 also the
and the door of San Saba at columns at S. Alessio in Rome, and the Cloister of Santa Scolastica at Subiaco. In Civita Castellana, above the magnificent portal, is inscribed " Laurentius cum Jacobo Filiosuo, Magistri doctissimi Romani H(oc) opus fecerunt." This proves my assertion that they had graduated in the Roman Lodge, and if further proof is required, this portal bears the universal mark of the Comacine Masters at this era its columns rest on lions. Similar inscriptions are on the ambone of Ara Coeli, and the doorway at Falleri. The inscription on the door of San Saba, dated 1 205, is "Ad honorem domini nostri ihu xpi Anno VII. Pontificatus domini Innocentii III. pp Hoc lana,
;
inlaid
—
—
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
4IO
opus domino Johanne, Abbate Jubente^ factum est per manus magistri Jacobi." Up to this time we have no proof that the family was of merely given as members of the
have seen was of Lombard
made Roman enough
origin.
we
to assist him.
at Civita Castellana has
find
Lodge, which we afterwards
Cosmato, the son of Jacopo,
That same frontal of the Duomo on the cornice over the portico
Romanus cum Cosma
filio
—
" Magister Jacobus
suo, Fieri fecit
Cosmato's name
Mccx."
DNi.
A.
they are
;
They were
these words inlaid in letters of gold civis
origin
citizens.
After these works old
Roman Roman
is
also
hoc opus
inscribed
as
San Tom1224, we find young
assisting his father in the door of the church of
maso in Formis at Rome. Next, in Cosmato a full-fledged Magister, working at the cathedral of Anagni, which was in those days an important city, and
The whole
the residence and birthplace of several Popes.
pavement
there
is
a beautiful work of inlaid marbles, and
bears an inscription saying that the Venerable Lord Bishop
Albert had the pavement
made Magister ;
Rainaldo,
Canon
Anagni to Pope Honorius IIL, and the honourable subdeacon and chaplain assisting in the expense, which was a hundred gold oboli; Magister Cosmato executing thework.^ Magister Rainaldo, the Canon, must have been one of the of
members of the
ecclesiastic
guild,
and showed so much
he preferred the title of Magister to the grander one of Venerabilis, to which his office of Canon would have given him right. respect
1
for
the
privilege that
This Giovanni, Jubente or President of the lodge, would probably be
same one under Lateran were made. the
2
whom By
the bronze doors of the Baptistery of
this
S.
John
date he has risen to be Abbot.
DNS. Albertus. Venerabilis an agnin eps gister
fecit
hoc
fieri
pavimentu
pi (pro illo)
construendo
Rainaldus anagnin canonicus,
DNI. Honorii III. pp. subdiacon' et capellan'
C
obolos aureos erogavit.
Magist.
Cosmos hoc op
fecit.
ma
THE ROMAN LODGE After this time, Cosmato
name appears on
his
411
always written as Magister
is
the altar of the crypt of S.
Magnus
in
the cathedral of Anagni, which was also a commission of
Bishop Alberto married
has
in 1230.
and has a
according to ancient
Next,
we
goodly
custom,
perceive that Cosmato family
are
of
sons,
educated
all
in
who, the
guild.
Luca and Jacobo, the two
eldest,
helped him in the
mosaic pavement of the crypt at Anagni, and in the cloister
This
of Santa Scolastica at Subiaco.
work
in
transition
style.
is
a most beautiful
The columns
are
alternately
and double, the single ones with a wide projecting Some are slight and straight, others spiral and beautifully inlaid between the sculptured ribs. The arches resting on these fanciful columns are on two sides round, Above the but on the other sides are slightly pointed. It is arches is a sculptured cornice and a frieze of mosaic. single
abacus.
altogether' very beautiful.
In 1277 Cosmato was employed by Pope Nicholas III. to restore the chapel " Sancta Sanctorum " in the Basilica of S. John Lateran, the altar of which was reserved for the
Luca appears to have died young, but Jacopo eighty years of age was a master builder at the cathedral
Popes alone. at
of Orvieto, where in 1293 he
is
written in the books as
Maestro de' Muratori Jacopo di Cosma Romano." The third son, Adeodatus, or Deodatus, rose high in the guild. In the pavement of S. Jacopo alia Lungara, before it was destroyed, the following epigraph was inlaid, which "
was copied by Crescimbeni
—
"
Deodatus
filius
Cosmati, et
Jacobus fecerunt hoc opus." In a later work, the ciborium once in S. John Lateran, now in the cloister, we find that Deodatus has risen to the rank of Magister. It was a commission from the Colonna family, whose arms are The ciborium in S. Maria in Cosmedin, sculptured on it. ordered by Cardinal Gaetani, nephew of Pope Boniface
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
412
VII., must have been earlier than
me
signed " Deodat.
fee."
Cosmato's fourth son, independent work
in 1296,
Giovanni,
hoc op."
appears in an
first
when, on the elegant sepulchre "Johs filius Magri Cosmati
of Bishop Durante, he signs fee
he has merely
this, for
—
Similar epigraphs are on the
tomb of Car-
Maria Maggiore, and a monument to Stefano de' Surdi in Santa Balbina. In all these works of the Cosmati, Camille Boito finds signs of Lombard principles, and traces in the development dinal
Gonsalvo
in S.
of style from father to son the
same gradual movement from
older forms towards the Gothic, which
we
notice between
Jacopo Tedesco and Arnolfo, and between Niccolo Pisano and his son Giovanni. Living in Rome, however, the
Cosmati never really took up the Gothic style, as it developed further north but always kept nearer to classical forms, and so prepared Rome for the Renaissance style, which arose from the humanist movement in the Cinque;
cento epoch.
The
next great patron of the
Lombard Guild
in
Rome
was Pope Nicholas V. (Thomas of Sarzana), of whom Gregorovius said "This man had only two passions collecting books and building." His dominating idea was According to him, the directing of a new Renaissance. " Rome ought to become the imperishable monument of the Church, or rather the Papacy, and re-arise in admirable
—
magnificence before the eyes of
had the
first
all
people."
^
Nicholas V.
idea of the rebuilding of St. Peter's, and the
life was not long enough for such He, however, restored the Campidoglio, Castel S. Angelo, San Todaro, S. Stefano Rotondo, the palace of S. Maria Maggiore, the fountain of Trevi, the walls of Rome, and several of the State fortresses.
Vatican, but one man's
great works.
'
Storia della
Renato Manzato,
cittd,
di
Roma
nel medio evo, translated into Italian by
vol. vii. p. 744.
Venice, 1875.
Candelabrum
in S.
Paolo at Rome, i2Th century.
[_See
page
407.
THE ROMAN LODGE
413
He
got some of his architects, such as Leon Battista Albert! and Rossellino, from the Florentine Lodge, but by far the greater part of
them were Lombards.
these was Master Beltramo da Varese, of
The chief of whom we have
much in the Lombard Lodges. With him were his nephew Maestro Pietro di Giovanni, Maestro Paolo da Campagnano (a village near Varese), and Maestro Giacomo Rossellino had begun the works at St. di Cristoforo. heard
Peter's in a kind of reverse fashion, starting with the apse.
The
continuation of this tribune was confided to Maestro
Beltramo,
who
set to
work
lime and brick furnaces, ropes, ladders, etc.,
in
good
earnest.
He made
vast
the laborerium with wood,
filled
engaged sub-architects and Magistri
workmen under them, most of whom came down from the Como region. In fact, there was an army of Lombards.^ The registers of the Opera, now in the Vatican, mark large payments to Magistro Beltramo and his nephew Pietro di Giovanni, who became chief architect with bands of
after his uncle's death.
Besides the Tribune of
St.
Peter's,
the two relatives
Muntz employed to publishes some notes taken from the registers of the Apostolic Camera, recording payments made between 1447 and 1448 to Maestro Beltramo, and some of his associates {socii), for the roof and marble windows of the Campidoglio and the palace of the Conservators. In 1452 Pietro da Varese is found continuing the work alone. The docurebuild
were
the
Campidoglio.
ments recently published from the registers of the Vatican have these entries "1452. December 11. To Maestro Pietro da Varese, nephew of Maestro Beltramo, 1000 gold ducats for part of the Tower he is building behind the Campidoglio, at the T. S. 1452, fol. 216, side where they sell salt by retail.
—
ef. fol. 1
194." Merzario, I Maestri Comadni, Vol.
II.
chap, xxxviii. p. 413-
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
414 " 1453.
March
9.
— D.
1
12, b. 56, d. c, for
remainder and
Tower he
completion of the contract of the
(Pietro) has
which in full amounts to 1212 last year at different times, received he which ducats, of and thus it is registered by Janni di 1000 (and 100) ^ 126. 10. 93)." (Notary V. fl. Jordani
made
at the Campidoglio,
.
We
.
.
find Pietro in
1450 sculpturing
Orvieto, where in a public act he
is
in the cathedral at
described as a good
and clever sculptor (" lapidum sculptor bonus et doctus "), and prayed to remain at Orvieto in the service of the lodge there.
Muntz speaks very highly in praise of the Lombard sculptor, Giacomo di Cristoforo^ da Pietrasanta, saying that although his name is little known to biographers, he holds a high place in
and merits
to
of his time.
Roman
art of the fifteenth century,
be ranked among the most celebrated artists Many of the buildings which Vasari ascribes
da Majano and Baccio Pontelli are
to Giuliano
him
in reality
which was due rebuilt under Pope Paul IL (Pietro Barbo, who succeeded Now Giuliano da Majano to the papal throne in 1464). only came to Rome towards the end of the reign of Pope Sixtus IV,, and could not therefore have been employed by Paul n. In fact, Muntz, after many researches, concludes that the chief architect was Maestro Giacomo da Pietrasanta, to
who
is
in
for instance, the Palazzo Venezia,
;
the registers of 1467 qualified by the
Soprastante in the of S.
Marco
at
title
of
laborerium of the church and palace
Rome, and
in
1468
is
written as the presi-
dent of the building of the Palazzo Apostolico or Vatican.*
1
^
Merzario, I Maestri Comacini, Vol. II. chap, xxxvii. p. 415. Probably the son of Cristoforo di Milano, who worked so
Venice and Udine.
He may
much
in
have been employed by the Medici in their
buildings at Pietrasanta. ^
"Superstans marmorariis laborantibus, lapides marmoreas pro ecclesia Marci presidens fabrice palatii apostolici." Muntz, Les
et palatio Sancti
—
THE ROMAN LODGE
415
In fact, Giacomo da Pietrasanta, the Lombard, was Grand Master of the whole Roman Lodge during these years. But Maestro Giacomo was not the only Comacine employed in the Palazzo Venezia. A contract dated June 1466,
16,
Arzo,
names Magister Manfred of Como and Andrea of
whom we
have seen
in Venice, as magistros architec-
and the registers reveal a whole army of master builders and sculptors whose names will be found in the list apMuntz quotes no less than twenty-five, many pended. of whom have been familiar to us at Milan, Siena, and tos}
Florence.
Although when Calixtus III. (Alfonso Borgia) succeeded Nicholas V. in 1455, he had no great ideas about resuscitating the architectural glories of ancient
Rome, he neverthe-
Lombard Masters
employed the to finish the works Maestro Pietro da Varese, and Maestro Paolo da Campagnano, with Maestro Antonio di Giovanni from Milan, and Maestro Paoliqo da Binasco, were joint architects of the Pontifical Palace. Maestro Bartolommeo da Como, whom we have known at Milan and Pavia, was director of the works of fortification at Castel S. Angelo, while Maestro Stefano da Bissone di Como is named as a less
begun.
sculptor in the church of S. Spirito.
The
next Pope, Pius II. (^neas Silvio Piccolomini), much building and embellishing in Siena where Lombard Masters divided the honours with their col-
did so
the
leagues born in Siena, and trained by them
—
—that
he did He employed the same Pietro da Rome. little for Giovanni and Paolo da Campagnano between 1460 and 1463, for the roof of S. Pietro, which menaced destruction. The palace of the Vatican was placed under the Arts d, la Cour des Papes, vol. i. p. 606. It is interesting to note that the head of the laborerium bore the same title as in a.d. 1250, when Guido da Como wrote on his pulpit, " Superstans Turrisianus." ' Merzario, I Maestri Comacini, Vol. II. chap, xxxviii. p. 424.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
4i6
Maestro Manfred of Como and Domenico of Lugano. The first appears to have been designing architect, and the second master builder, as he commanded squadrons of workmen, and was assisted in ruling them by his brother Antonio. Maestro Angelo da Como, and a certain Martino Lombardo, rebuilt the chambers which had been destroyed by fire, and adorned the " Hall of the Pavilion " and " Hall architectural superintendence of
of the Parrot."
In the time of Sixtus IV. (Francesco della
—
Rovere,
1471 1484) the Lombards of the. Roman Lodge were joined by their brethren from Florence, and now we find the two groups inextricably mixed,
Baccio Pontelli and
Majano work together with Manfred the Lombard and Paolo da Campagnano in the administration Giuliano da
of the works of the Vatican
;
while Francesco and Andrea,
both Lombards, are found carving in wood and executing beautiful doors in
Marco
Giovanni and
intarsia, together with
Giovanni de' Dolci with his Comacines) worked at the Sixtine Chapel, some parts of the Vatican, and the fortress of Civita Vecchia, which Baccio Pontelli finished. Pope Innocent VIII. (Cibo, 1484-92) added the Loggia Belvedere to the already immense palace of the Vatican, and Alexander VI., a Spaniard, built the Borgia apartment, for which he employed Antonio di San Gallo, or from St. Gall, a di Dolci, Florentines
colleagues
;
(chiefly
Lombard naturalized Florentine, whose assistants work seem to have been chiefly Lombards. It
was
this influx of Florentines,
who were
in
the
fresh from
the humanistic influences of the classic revival of literature
under the Medici, and therefore more open to further inspirations from the influences of antique Rome, which brought about the revival of classic forms in architecture Bramante and San Gallo began it in 1503, in Rome. Raphael and Michael Angelo carried it on and such hold ;
THE ROMAN LODGE
417
did the Renaissance style take on the minds of people in the late Cinque-cento era, that it spread, and overpowered the Gothic from end to end of Italy.
Vasari raved about the faults of the old architecture
and itsgoffissima style, upholding the chastened order of the new, but whatever may have been the merits of Renaissance, as Bramante and Michael Angelo practised it, their later followers committed quite as many sins against reason and good taste as any Comacine or Romanesque architect ever did. Look, for instance, at the church of S. Carlo, in the Corso at Rome, with its gigantic pilasters running up the whole height of a front, which is, by its square windows, cut up into three storeys, giving the lie to the unity of space implied by the mock columns and at San Firenze in Florence, where half an arch runs up into the air and stops short, as a defiance to all laws of gravity. Arches or pediments, with a hiatus where the key-stone should be, and which, logically speaking, can support nothing, are the most common blots on a late Renaissance building. But we have nothing to do with this era. It was only a late survival of a side issue of the Comacine Guild which had been practically dissolved before Michael Angelo's time, although the influence of its smouldering ashes vivified the art even of that great genius. ;
The
great family of sixteenth- century architects, the
Fontana, was of Comacine origin, though guild
was dissolved by
their time.
I
believe the
Domenico Fontana
was born at Melide near Como his elder brother Giovanni, famous for his stucco work, had preceded him in Rome, The Cardinal but Domenico was an artist of a wider kind. his capacities, and discovered Felice di Montalto soon entrusted him with the erection of the Cappella del SantisHere a very unusual episode simo in S. Maria Maggiore. occurred. The Cardinal had not means enough to finish the work, and the brothers Fontana, instead of suing him ;
E E
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
4i8
for their pay, lent
him looo
scudi.
Of course
the Cardinal
was their great patron after this, and recommended them to Pope Sixtus v., who employed them in the Vatican to Domenico also enbuild the Belvedere and the Library. he placed the Giovanni and Piazza S. M. Maggiore built the set up the Castor and Pollux on the Quirinal bridge at Borghetto, the hospital of S. Sisto, and restored the Alessandrini- Felice aqueduct embanked the Fiumicino near Porto made the water conduit at Civita Vecchia, which implied tunnelling under a mountain and the great aqueduct of Acqua Paola from Bracciano to Rome, thirtyfive miles long besides constructing fountains everywhere, in Rome and Frascati. In fact, he nearly made Cinque-cento Rome. His brother Giovanni was nominated architect in general to Pope Clement VIII. and Paul V. made him chief architect of St. Peter's, with his nephew Carlo Maderno. He too was employed in Ferrara. For a century the name and race
shrined the Scala Santa at S. John Lateran obelisks
on Piazza
;
S.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Rome, some of the family emigrating to Naples, where they became equally famous. The number of their buildings was legion they and the family Delia Porta, who also came to Rome from Lake Lugano,
of Fontana flourished in
;
divided the renovation of
Rome between
della Porta, like the Fontanas,
The Fontana
Girolamo
them.
was a naturalized Roman.
family forms a link with Naples, though
not the only connection of that city with the guild.
Comacine Masters kept up
their connection with
The
Naples
long after the time of the Normans, when- Maestro Buono
Capuana for William I. Merzario claims one of his descendants, Buono dei Buoni, the credit of having first invented painting in oils, which he is supposed to have taught privately to Antonello of Messina.^ Several names of the Solari family, so famous at Milan
built the Castel for
1
Merzario,
f Maestri
Comacini, Vol. II. chap, xxxvi.
p.
359.
THE ROMAN LODGE
419
and Venice, turn up at Naples in the fifteenth century, and then a famous work was put into Lombard hands. When Alphonso of Aragon made his entry in 1443, the governors of the city decreed that a triumphal arch should be built to commemorate the event. It was placed at the entrance of Castel Nuovo, and consists of two round towers, with an
columns.
arch
The
between arch
is
them,
supported on Corinthian
surmounted by a
frieze
and
cornice,
with a parapet above, enriched with bas-reliefs representing the entry of
King Alphonso.
The whole
is
surmounted
by statues of saints and the cardinal virtues.
The
construction of this fine arch has been attributed
to Giuliano da Majano, but as he was at the time only a
boy of ten or twelve years old, this could not be. Sig. Miniero Riccio, after a diligent search in the Neapolitan archives, has found some acts, which give the names of sculptors employed on this. We find Pietro di Martino Isaja da Pisa, Domenico di Montemignano, Antonio da Pisa, Francesco Arzara, Paolo Romano, and Domenico Lombardo. This authorship is confirmed by the epigraph in the church of S. Maria la
from Milan, head architect
;
Nuova in Naples, dated 1470, in memory of Pietro di Martino, Milanese, who, for his merit in erecting the arch at Castel
Nuovo, was created Cavalier by King Alphonso, in this church for him and
and a sepulchre was given his descendants.^
had only been a little later, we might have supposed this to be Pietro Lombardo, son of Martino but as he died Solario, who had won such fame in Venice in 15 1 2, it is scarcely likely he would have been well-known If the date
;
"Petrus de Martino Mediolanensis ob triumphalem arcis novae arcum multa statuarise artis suo munere hinc cedi oblata, a divo Alphonso rege in equestrem adscribi ordinem et ab ecclesia hoc Merzario, sepulcro pro se ac posteris suis donari meruit MCCCCLXX." 1
solerter structum et
—
Op.
cit.
Vol. II: chap, xxxvi. p. 375, note 4.
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
420
enough
to
1440.
Knowing how
have obtained such an important commission
in
a certain succession of names was,
and is, kept up in ItaHan families, this Pietro and Martino might have been the father and grandfather of the Martino da Carona, father of Pietro Lombardo, especially as they had Domenico, also a Solari, with them. King Alphonso was a good patron to the Comacine Masters, and greatly appreciated them. On February 16, 1456, a gentleman at Terracina wrote to the Duke Francesco Sforza, saying that some master builders from Como, in leaving the realm of Naples, had been made to forfeit 190 ducats, on which they appealed to the King. Alphonso ordered the restitution of the money, excepting a small tribute to the confiscators, which he made good to the Comacine Masters out of his own purse. From 1484 to 1508, a Maestro Tomaso da Como, sometimes called Tomaso delle parti di Lombardia, master sculptor, was living in Naples. He was paid for the carving of the principal door of the church of the Annun-
which his son Giovanni finished after his death. His will still exists. It is dated July 2, 1508, and says that " Mastro Tomaso de Sumalvito (now Sanvito) de la terra de Como de la parti di Lombardia, marmorario habiistituisce herede Joan Thomaso de tante in Napoli Napoli suo figlio," and declares besides that a Sumalvito de
ziata,
:
is still owing to him on the work for doorway of the church of the Annunziata. The the great fine monument to Signor Antonio d'Alessandro and his wife, Maddalena Riccio, in the church of Monte Oliveto, and that of the Bishop of Aversa in the same church, were sculptured by Tommaso de Sanvito, as he is called in the books of Orvieto, where he was head architect. His son Giovanni built, in 1509, the fine chapel of the " Macellai in the church of S. Eligio, and the " Confession
debt of three ducats
'^
Milanese State Archives.
Documents of
the
Dukes
Sforza.
THE ROMAN LODGE
421
Gennaro under the tribune of the cathedral of Naples, where the yearly miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of S. Gennaro takes place. Even the beautiful Royal Palace at Capodimonte was built by a Lombard, Domenico Fontana of Melide, near Como, whose family we have seen was more famous in Rome than in Naples ? Domenico, however, died in Naples in 1607, and was buried in S. Anna dei Lombard!, where his sons Sebastian and Julius Caesar (Giulio Fontana) wrote on his tomb " Patritius Romanus, Summus Romae of S.
—
Architectus.
Summus
Like so many of his
Neapolis."
predecessors in the guild, he had been given the citizenship of the towns it
he had embellished.
so difficult to trace the artists
It is this
which makes
—the same man may appear
successively as being a citizen of
Rome, of Orvieto and
and yet have been born at Como in spite of all. Enough has been said to show that at Rome and
Siena,
cities, the great Lombard Guild which may be looked on as the led the way. flower of the Renaissance, had, however, reached the period when its blossoming time was over its many petals, too much spread, were falling from all its branches. Some had dropped off long since, and new suckers formed in the painting academies, and the sculptors' companies, at Siena, Florence, Venice, and other parts. These suckers
Naples, as well as in other
The
guild,
;
had,
by the
fifteenth
century,
grown
into
independent
overshadow and choke the ancient trunk. Art knowledge of all kinds had now become dispersed outside the jealous custody of the once secret Freemasonry, and the Cinque-cento artist stood alone on his own merit, without needing the cachet of the Masonic title There were, after this time, Masters in every of Magister. other art or trade guild, the nomenclature of this most ancient and universal of guilds having been adopted by all other guilds whatsoever so that even in our own England we find Master Humphrey the iron-worker, or Master plants, that threatened to
;
422
Ambrose
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
and in Italy Maestro Giorgio the maker of majolica, and Maestro PoUajuolo the metalworker; and in Germany the "Little Masters," who, I opine, were a German group of painters, who, like their brethren of the South, seceded from the Masters par excellence, e. the great Masonic Guild. the cloth-weaver
;
i.
EPILOGUE When
began writing this work, my object was to prove that the Comacine Masters were the true mediaeval link between Classic and Renaissance Art. The results have been greater than I then foresaw. In attaching this link in its true place, the chain of Art History takes a new and changed aspect, and instead of several loose strands with here and there detached links, it becomes one continuous whole, from early Christian Rome to the Rome of Raphael and Michael Angelo. The famous artists who formed the rise of the different schools of the Renaissance, were not each a separate genius inspired from within, but brethren of one Guild, whose education was identical, and whose teachers passed on to them what they received from their predecessors the I
—
accumulated art-teaching of ages. I
am aware
that in tracing the progress of this great
weak points are the derivation of the Comacines of Lombard times from the Roman public architects, who and the connection built for Constantine and Pope Adrian of this Lombard Guild with the early Cathedral builders of Guild, the
;
the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Between each of these transitions there lies a century or two of decadence, during the barbaric invasions and general demoralization which I have indicated in the earlier chapters. But I think I have given arguments enough to 423
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
424
prove these affinities. For the first, we have the identity of form and ornamentation in their works, and the similarity of nomenclature and organization between the Roman Collegia and the Lombard Guild of Magistri. Besides this, the
well-known a refuge
Como was used as from barbaric invasion, makes
fact that the free republic of
by Romans who
fled
a strong argument.
For the second, we may plead again the same identity of form and ornamentation, and a like similarity of organization and nomenclature. Just as King Luitprand's architects were called Magistri, and their grand master the Gastaldo, so we have found the great architectural Guild in Venice, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, using the very same titles, and having the same laws. In the Tuscan schools which have been traced direct from Lombard times, we have the same offices with the titles translated into a more mediaeval Italian or late Latin form the Gastaldo here becomes Arch Magister. In some Lodges it is more significant still, the ancient Roman
—
—
;
Superstans
is
modified into Soprastante, thus forming a very
suggestive connection between early Christian
Tuscany.
Again, the hereditary descent
patron saints of the indications
Rome
and
marked by the
Lombard and Tuscan Lodges, being four
martyr brethren from a other
is
are
Roman
surely
as
Collegio.
strong
All these and as
documental
proof.
The
lists
masters,
who
families
only,
of the Comacine are
the
Guild begin with a few
seemingly members of three or four
men
of
the
Campione schools forming the
Buoni,
Antelami,
and
aristocracy of the Guild.
We have seen how, as the church-building era developed, the brotherhood grew and multiplied.
The Antelami family founded Lodges in Parma, Padua, and Verona the Campione at Modena, Bergamo, and Cremona the Buoni family spread eastwards to Venice, and ;
;
EPILOGUE
425
southwards to Tuscany, founding everywhere laboreriums
and schools. Three hundred years later we see the descendants of the Buoni and Campione artists together, building the Gothic and Renaissance palaces at Venice masters of the Graci and Antelami families rearing the cathedrals of Siena and Orvieto and in all the ages dispersing about Italy from north to south. We have seen how all these schools native artists joining the Lombard ones, and increased working together with them, and though a distinctive local ;
;
;
style
was the
characteristic of each school, yet in their funda-
mental principles they
all
had one
rule
and one teaching.
the Guild increased and multiplied, in the times of the foundation of rival Communes, all vying with each other in
As
building glorious churches, noble palaces, and fine houses, frequently happened that the primitive
it
Lombard element
was overpowered by the newer local one, and then schisms and disintegration took place. Separate local Guilds were thus formed at Venice, Siena, and Florence, painters next seceded, and started painting as an and thus the independent of church decoration
The art
;
took place so Academies of Art were formed. This late after the city Arti or Guilds were established, that the painters of Florence, having left the Freemasons, had no split
Guild of their
own
privileges, they
had
;
and
if
they wished to enjoy civic
to enroll themselves in the
Company
Here of the Gold-workers, or that of the Apothecaries. painters goldsmith the of we get at once a clear explanation in Florence.
This disintegration reached its climax when Brunellesco proving that defied the Maestranze or Masonic Magisters, genius and to right exclusive the Freemasons had not the heard, even without that genius had its own claims to be ;
the pale of that monopolizing Guild.
I
think that his
dome
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
426
crushed out the almost effete institution of Freemasons, and that the Florentine Lodge was broken up soon after for by Michael Angelo's time the Medici had to literally
;
supply a school for sculptors, which
we have
placed under the instruction of old Bertoldo,
seen was
—a lingering
of the great company.
relic
At
first
sight
might appear that
it
this
revelation
of
the universal fraternity would materially alter the history In some aspects it does; for we can no longer of art. say that Maitani built Siena cathedral, or Arnolfo that of Florence, nor assert that St. Mark's at Venice was entirely
Milan cathedral the work of a German all the joint labours of the same architect. brotherhood of artists, the plans made by the first Archmaster being modified a score of times as the centuries went on, and art developed. But in the great points Certain masters still the story of Art remains as it was. or
Byzantine,
They were
stand out as leaders and founders of schools, and every school had of style is
;
its
own
separate bias and special development
but Niccolo di Pisa's influence on future ages
not lessened by our finding out the masters
who
trained
the Lorenzetti, Memmi, and Gaddi are not the less famous because their frescoes illustrated with divine truths the walls built by the hands of their brethren of the great
him
;
Guild.
The
of
recognition
the
complex
brotherhood
only
renders history more compact and concentrated, giving rich
and perfect
unity,
it
a
and showing a gradual and consistent
development, like some perfect flower which grows leaf by leaf, bud by bud, until the petals fall from its own overblossoming.
But
its
seeds are
left to
future ages.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED " Codice diplomatico Longobardo."
Troya.
" Antichitk Longobardico -Milanese."
DiFENDENTE E GIUSEPPE Sacchi. "Antichitk Romantiche d'ltalia. Saggio primo intomo all' Architettura Simbolica civile e militare usata in Italia nei secoli VI, VII, e VIII." Milano, 1828. 8vo. Prof. Merzario. "I Maestri Comacini." Milano, 1893. Two volumes, large 8vo., published at Milan by Giacomo Agnelli. "Via S. Margherita," No. 2
price 12
;
frs.
Marchese Giuseppe Rovelli.
al
" Storia di
Como."
Cesare Canto. " Storia Marchese Amico Ricci.
di Como." Como, 1829. Ostinello. " Storia dell' Architettura in Italia dal secolo
Modena, 1857. Raffaello Cattaneo. "
3 vols. large 8vo.
XVIII."
IV
L' Architettura in Italia dal secolo sesto al decimo."
Ferdinando Ongania. DOTT. Gaetano Milanesi. " Documenti per
Venezia, 1889. Siena, 1854.
Porri.
DOTT. Gaetano Milanesi. 1882.
Sansoni.
la storia dell'
Arte Senese."
2 vols. 8vo.
"Annotazionialle operedi Vasari."
Florence,
8 vols. large 8vo.
James Fergusson,
"Handbook
M.R.I.B.A.
of Architecture."
London, 1859.
Murray.
Alessandro da Morrona. "Pisa illustrata nelle arti del disegno." 181 2.
Cav. Francesco Tolomei. Arti."
Livorno,
3 vols. "
Guida
di Pistoja per gli
amanti delle Belle
Pistoja, 1821.
Cesare Guasti. documenti
"
La Cupola
dell' archivio.
Cesare Guasti.
Maria del Fiore."
i
Firenze.
Agostino Sagredo.
documenti
Illustrata
con
i
Florence, 1857.
" Santa Maria del Fiore."
del campanile, secondo
quello di stato.
di Santa
Barbera.
tratti dall'
La
costruzione della chicesa
archivio dell' opera secolare e
da
Ricci, 1887.
" SuUe Consorterie delle Arti Edificative in Venezia.
Studi storici con documenti inediti." Venezia, 1857. Tommaso Hope. " Storia dell' Architettura.'' Italian translation of Hope's " Historical Essay on Architecture," by Sig. Gaetano Imperatori. Milano, 1841. " Archivio
storico
Siciliano."
Nuova
Bonaiuto Pisano."
427
serie.
Anno
IX.
"
Una
scultura di
THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS
428
" Descrizione di una chiesa monte di Civate.'' Giovanni Villani. " Storia di Fiorenza." Filippo e Jacopo Giunti, MURATORl. "Annali d'ltalia." Milano, 1744. 13 vols, quarto. MURATORI. " Scriptores Rerum Italicarum."
"Archivio storico Longobardico,'' 1898.
antica
sul
Camillo Boito. " I Cosmati " (pamphlet). DOTT. Giovanni Gave. " Carteggio inedito
d'artisti dei secoli
XVI." Firenze, 1839. Molini. 3 vols. 8vo. DOTT. Carlo Dell' Acqua. "Dell' insigne reale Basilica Pavia, 1875. Fusi. Mulroody. " The Basilica of
XIV,
1587.
XV e
S.
Michele
1821.
Ricci.
di
Alaggiore in Pavia."
Father
Del
Rosso.
San Clemente."
" L'Osservatore Fiorentino."
8 vols. 8vo. Ciampi. " Archivio del
Third Edition.
Florence.
Duomo
di Pisa."
" Instituzioni, riti e ceremonie dell' ordine dei Francs-magons, ossia Liber Muratori." Venezia, 1788. Bassaglia.
Mrs. Jameson. " Sacred and Legendary Art." London, 1879. Longmans, Green and Co. Paulus Diaconus. " Storia dei Fatti dei Longobardi." Udine, 1826. Mattiuzzi.
John Addington Symonds. 1
877.
" Renaissance of Art
:
Fine
Arts.''
London,
Smith and Elder.
MoNTALEMBERT.
"
PlETRO Selvatico. PiETRO Selvatico.
The Monks of the West "
(Italian translation).
" Storia estetico-critica dell' arti del disegno." " SuU' architettura e suUa scultura in Venezia nel
medio
Venice, 1847. Ripamonte. MiLMAN. " A History of Latin Christianity." " Borgo San Donnino e suo Santuario " (anonymous).
evo sino
Aff6.
ai nostri giorni."
" Storia della cittk di Parma," sino al 1347.
Parma, 1837. Carmignana.
DiFENDENTE Sacchi. " L'arca di S. Agostino illustrata." MiCHELE RiDOLFi. " Sopra alcuni monument! delle belle Lucca, 1844.
Guidotti.
Arti di Lucca."
INDEX Abadia on Lake Maggiore, Abbondio,
S.,
Accademia
1
14
bishop of Como, 34, 142
delle Belle Arti, Florence,
280 Adelgiso, son of Desiderius, 56 Adrian I., pope, 403 Agilulf, king, marries Theodolinda, 33 shelters St. Columban, 86 Alachi, duke of Brescia, 47, 54 ;
Alba Fucense, its pulpit, 238 Albertus Magnus, I2, 134, 137, 201 Alboin, enters Italy, 31, 32 Alexander II., pope, 226 Alfonso, duke of Calabria, 304 Alfred, king, founds Ripon cathedral, 150 Alphonso of Aragon, 419 Amalasunta, queen, her hospital, 107 Amantius, bishop of Como, 34, 78
Anagni, 410 Ancona, the Pieve
at,
242, 243
rius, 56 Ansige, abbot of Fontanelles, 103
Antelami (Magistri), 188, 189, 232, 424 Antonio di San Gallo, 416 Antonio, S., 200 Aquisgrana (Aix-la-Chapelle), the Basilica,
103
di S. Agostino, Jo, 202 et seq.
Arches,
Astolfo, king, 55 Autharis, king, takes
first pointed, 178, 179 arch, 252
;
cusped
Comacina,
141 ; marries Theodolinda, builds church of Farfa, 35 Ava, the Longobard, 285 Azzo Visconti, 381
28,
32
;
Baptisteries, their form, 115
Barbarossa, Frederic, 116 Bargello at Florence, 61, 149 Barnack church, 149
Comacine work Beneventum, dukes of, Basle,
of,
Andrea Pisano, 211, 328 Andrea from Serra di Falco, 1 14 Annex, a German, 355 Anselberga, daughter of King Deside-
Area
Arte degli Orafi, 339, 425 Arte della Seta, 338, 343 Arte dei tajapiere, Venice, 387 et seq. Assisi, first parts Gothic, 252 ; painting, 272 Asteno, near Porlezza, its church, 184
there, 135 1
14
;
cathedral
246
Benozzo Gozzoli, 276 Berengarius, the house of, 109 Bertharis, king, dethroned andrecalled, 45 saved by his servants, 53 ;
Bianchi and Neri factions, 236 Biscop (Benedict), abbot of Wearmouth, 150 Boniface, St., his mission to Germany, 133 Bradford-on-Avon, 149, 157 Bramante, 416 Bregno, Antonio, 393 Brixworth, 147 Broletto at Como, 382 Brunellesco, Filippo, 321
;
his
dome,
340 etseq., 428 Buono, Giovanni, fights for Como, 116; his descendants, 233, 239 Buono (Maestro), 236, 237. See Gruamons, 393 Buschetto, 209 et seq. Byzantine work, compared with Coma-
Ardoin, 128 Arezzo, its palace, 334 Aribert II., 46 Arichi, duke of Lombardy, 44 Arnolfo di Cambio, 224, 291, 313 his death, 325 Arte della Lana, 337, 343 Arte dei Maestri di Pietra, Senese, 286 Arte dei Maestri di Pietra, at Florence, ;
cine, 75, 158
Cadoc, St., 147 Cambio, or Exchange, 315
338, 343 Arte de' Medici e Speziali, 273
429
INDEX
430 Campione
196
school,
et
seq.,
232,
et seq.
Carloman, 58 San, pulpit, 225
Casciano, Castel Castle Castle Castle
Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, 182
S.
352, 42s S.
near
the
Florence,
S.
Maria Maggiore, Brescia, 47 Maria Maggiore, Toscanella, pulpit,
Capuana, 233
S.
of Branigola, 41 of Perleda, 40 of Tivoli, 260 Certosa at Pavia, 358 et seq. Charlemagne, emperor, rebuilds Rome, 15; defeats Desiderius, 58, 97; takes Comacines to France, 105
Churches S. Abbondio, Como, 84 S. Agatha al Monte, Pavia, 45 S. Agnese fuori le mura, 9, 97, 403 S. Ambrogio, Milan, 83, 84
its
89
Maria del
Tiglio, at
Gravedona,
40, 152 S.
S. S. S.
Martino at Lucca, 226 Michele in Borgo, Pisa, 223, 245 Michele, Lucca, 228, 243 Michele, Monza, 37 et seq. Michele, Pavia,
S.
facade,
50 et
seq.
its
;
77—80
Monreale cathedral, 127
:
Or San Michele,
Florence, 333
mura, Rome, 407 Paolo, Pistoja, 240
S. Va.olo fuori le 1
52,
S.
S. Pier Scheraggio, 91 ;
its pulpit,
;
406
its
Grado, 37, 50 ; its found100 ; its form, loi, 173,
148; its atrium, 112, 244 S. Andrea, Pistoja, 233, 249 S. Antonio, Padua, 199
S. Piero in
ApoUinare in Classe, 153, 157 Ara Cceli, 409 S. Bartholomew, Smithfield, 124, 125 S. Bartolommeo, Pistoja, 153, 230, 23s, 249 S. Benignoat Dijon, 122, 123
S. Pietro in Ciel d'oro, Pavia, 50 S. Pietro le Dome, Brescia, 47
pulpit, 88,
ation,
147,
S.
near Pisa, 222 Clemente, panel of altar, 9 fresco, 10 door, 156 paintings, 266 Croce, 277, 333 Donato at Polenta, 92, 93 Donnino, near Parma, 181 Fedele, Como, 81, 104 Francesco at Assisi, 179 Fredianus, Lucca, 48, 49, 94, 246
S. Cassiano, S.
;
;
S. S. S.
S. S. S.
S.
;
Gemignano, Modena, 193
George, Brescia, 47 Giovanni in Borgo, Pavia, 42 S. Giovanni Evangelista Fuorcivitas, Pistoja, 223, 234, 236 S. Giovanni Laterano, 408 S. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, 65 S. Giusto, Lucca, 244 S. Julia at Bonate, 40, 41 S. Lorenzo fuori le mura, Rome, 407 S. Lorenzo in Lucca, 99 S. Lorenzo, Verona, 96, 153 S. Marco dei Precipazi, 84 S. Maria in Cosmedin, 97 99, 404, 405,411 S. yizx'ia. forts portatn, 46 S. Maria dei Fiori, Florence, 312 et seq., 337 S. Maria Novella, Florence, 278 S.
S.
—
268 S. Piero
Maggiore, Pistoja, 240
S. Pietro di
Monte
Civate, 56 et seq.
S. Prassede, 97, 148
SS. Quattro Coronati, 22 S. Salvatore, Pavia, 46 S. Sofia, Beneventum, 248 S. Sofia, Constantinople, 69, 70 S.
Tommaso
at
Lemine, 41
Zeno, Verona, 95, 96, 11 Cimabue, 271, 274 his scholars, 275, 278, 323 S.
;
Cione family, 331 et seq. Clement VIII., pope, 418
San Lorenzo, Rome, 65 John Lateran, 66 Voltorre,
Cloisters, S.
Ti;
CoUe
in
;
;
S. Zeno, Verona, 66 Val d'Elsa, 316, 318
;
Romana, 7,
Collegia.
403 Cologne, churches
at,
10,
1 1,
138 etseq.,
136
Colonies, Lombard, in Sicily, 128, 129 Comacina island a refuge for Romans, 23 Comacine Masters, who they were, 5 et seq.
Comagene, now Eufratisia, 69 Como, a Roman colony, 5, 141 116
;
its
its
;
26 is besieged, war with Milan, 233 its
antiquities,
25,
;
;
cathedral, 381 et seq. Confraternity of painters at Florence,
280 Constantino the Great, 53; his Basilica, 403
INDEX Constantinople, 142 Contract of apprenticeship, 292 Convents, Comacine, their form and style, 6; Corneto Tarquinia, 227 ciborium ;
there, 238
Cortelona, Luitprand's
villa,
54
Cosimo I., Grand Duke, 280 Cosimo Rosselli, 275 Cremona, its cathedral, 185, 186
431
" Franchi Artefici," meaning of the term, 113 Frederic, emperor, 128, 318 Fredianus, S., bishop of Lucca, 48, 164 Freemasons in mediaeval times, 12, 13 century, Freemasons, seventeenth Italian, 16 etseq.; English building Freemasons, 18
French Masters
Crosses Bewcastle, 147 i Clonmacnoise, 166 CoUingham, 147 Kells, 166 Kirkdale, 147, 148
in Italy,
359
Frescoes, early Christian, 266 et seq, Byzantine, 268 ; Tuscan, 405, 426
:
Galeazzo, Gian, 351 et seq., 358; his death, 364, 373, 381 Gastaldo, Grand Master, 86, 388 et
Whalley, 145
Yarm, 147 Cunibert, king, 47 ; goes to Lucca, 48 fights Alachi, 54 erects tomb to Theodata, 87
;
;
seq., 424 Genseric destroys 403 German Masters in
Roman
churches,
Italy, 320, 358,
360
et seq.
Germany, Lombard architecture there, Desiderius, abbot, 114, 210 Desiderius, king, 55 et seq. Diotisalvi,
Pisan architect, 214
Donatello, 306, 337 Donnino, Borgo San, Duccio of Siena, 276
its
church, 181
Edwin, king, builds York cathedral, 145 Eginbert, biographer of Charlemagne, 103 Eriprand, duke of Cremona, 45 Ermelind, queen, 87 Ethelred, king, rebuilt Oxford cathedral,
159
Fabiola, her hospice, 107 Faliero, Doge Marino, 390 Falleri,
409
Fermo
cathedral, 190 Ferrara, its cathedral, 198 Fiesole destroyed, 14 ; its cathedral,
236 Filippo Maria Visconti, 382 Florence founded, 14 ; its baptistery, 213 rwtej its Duomo, 312 et seq.
Fontana family, 417
et seq.
Fontana, Giovanni, 258 Fontana, Melide, 258 Fortresses, Comacine, 66 ; Baradello, 68 ; Civita Vecchia, 416 Fortunato, patriarch, of Grado, 113; employs Comacines, 175, 176 France, Lombard architecture in, 131,
133 et seq. its cathedrals, 216 Ghiberti employed at the Duomo, 341 ;
et seq.
Ghini family, 331 Giotto, 278, 323, 326 et seq. Giovanni da Gratz, 369 Giuliano da Majano, 414, 416, 419 Giunta di Pisa, 271 his scholars, 276 Glass, early manufacture of, 156 Grado, near Pisa, church at, 100 etseq. Grado, near Venice, its Basilica, 113, 174 Greek Masters in Italy, 74, 273 Gregory, pope, 143, 144 Grimoald, duke of Beneventum, 45, 47 Groppoli, near Pistoja, its pulpit, 249 Gruamonte, 234 et seq. ;
Guazetta, 335 Guido da Siena, 272, 275 Guidotti dal CoUe, 271 Guillaume, S., abbot of S. Benigne, 122, 126, 175 Gundeberg, queen, 42 builds churches, 42 ; her rings, and the ring fair, ;
43,44 Gunduald, Luitprand's doctor, 54 Heinrich or Ulric of Gmunden, 361, 369, 374 Heinrich of Ulm, 361, 362 Hexham church, 150 et seq. Honorius, Bishop of Canterbury, 145 Hospices, 106, 107
132
Francesco del Coro, 300
Iconoclastic edict, 73
INDEX
432
Justinian, emperor, rebuilds Sta. Sofia,
69 Laborerium, 207 at Canterbury, in fourth century, 148 Certosa di Pavia, 376 et seq. Cremona, 186 closed, 344 Florence, 207, 319, 339 Lucca before 1000 A.D., 20 Milan in 1383, 20 ; fifteenth century, :
;
355 et seq. the 198 in 1200A.D.,
Campione Mas-
ters, 19, 195,
19, 186, 189, 238 Pisa, 211, 214, 223, 231, 312 Pistoja, 190, 231, 233, 236, 238, 241,
247
Rome, 410 et seq. Siena and Orvieto, 285 et seq., 305 Leo in., the Isaurian, 73, 74 Leonardo da Vinci, 369 Lion of Judah, sign of Comacine work, 243> 244 Loggie (Lodges),
19, 61, 201, 208, 288,
305
Lombard Lombard
colonies in Sicily, 128 kings, chronological table of,
30
Lombard Masters, table of, 31 Lombards in Rome, 412 in Venice, ;
386
Arnolfo, 224, 291, 313, 407 Auripert, a painter, 55 Bartolo Fredi, 276
Bartolommeo Buono,
253, 260, 390,
393, 398
Modena under Parma
Antonio of Como, 260 Antonio Mantegazza, 378 Antonio da Paderno, 369 Antonio Rizo, or Riccio, 391, 392, 397 ApoUonius, 273
Siena, 301, 305 Lombardi Solari family, 395 et seq. Lorenzo il Magnifico, 280 Lothaire, bishop, his church of S. Zeno, ;
96 Lothaire, king, his wars, 108
Lucca, 225 et seq., 246 Luitprand, king, his laws for Comacines, 24, 44, 63 et seq., 160 ; his foot, so ; his churches, 50 et seq. Magister, what the term means, 15 Arch Magister, 17 ; Magisters in Sicily, 129 Magistri frati, 200, 287 ; different kinds, 265 Magistri Adam, atrium of S. Ambrogio, 112 Adam, de Arogno, 182 Agostino da Siena, 298 Albertinus Buono, 239 Albertus Buono, 239 Ambrogio Lenzo, 334 Andrea Fusina, 371 Andrea da Modena, 352 et seq. Andrea di Pisa, 211, 220, 224
;
;
Anselmo (Tedesco) da Campione, and Arrigo, Alberto, and Jacopo, his sons, 194 et seq.
Bartolommeo de Gorgonzola, 368 Bartolommeo di Pisa, bronze worker, 221 Beltramo, 413 et seq. Benedetto da Antelamo,
187,
188,
24s Bernardino da Bissone, 386, 391 Bernardo da Venezia, 374 Bertrando of Como, 260 Biduinus, 222 Bonaiuto di Pisa, 223
Bonanno, 220, 221 Bonino da Campione, 203 Buono, 236, 237, 238 Cellini,
239 Cimabue, 274 Cosmato, and his family, 409 Cristoforo Gobbo, 371, 379 Cristoforo Mantegazza, 378
et seq.
Diotisalvi of Pisa, 214, 250, 291
Dolcebono Rodari, 368, 377 Enrico Buono, 239 Filippino degli Argani, 364 et
seq.,
366 Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 303, 370 et seq. Francesco Talenti, 328 et seq., 334 Franciscus da S. Simone, 276 Fredus, 183 Giacomo Dolcibuono, 370 Giacomo da Pietrasanta, 414 Giorgio degli Argani, 366 Giorgio da lesi, 190 Giovan Antonio Amadeo, 370, 377 Giovanni di Ambrogio, 336 Giovanni Balducci di Pisa, 225 Giovanni Buoni da Bissone, 189, 233, 38s Giovanni Buono, 253 ; builds Ca d'Oro, 389 Giovanni da Campilione, 184 Giovanni da Carona, 366 et seq. Giovannino dei Graci, 363, 375 Giovanni di Lapo Ghino, 328^^ J^^., 334 Giovanni Pisano, 222, 224, 291, 293 et seq.
INDEX Magistri {continued)
Fra Sisto and
:
Giovanni Solari, 377 Graci, 237 ; a later one, 291 Gufredo, 182 Guglielmo Tedesco, 220, 223 Guglielmo, his porch at S. Zeno, 112; fagade at Modena, ig6 at ;
Ferrara, 198 Guidetto, his works at Lucca, 227 231
Guido da Como, 227, 249, 250 Guiniforte, 367, 378, 395 Jacobus Porrata, 186, 251 Jacopo da Campione, 257
et seg.,
375 etseq.
Jacopo Dagurro da Bissone, 261 Jacopo della Quercia, 298 et seg. Jacopo (Tedesco) da Campione, 197,
Tommaso
Ursus, his ciborium, 85 Zeno da Campione, 363 Majorca, 213 Manfred, king, 318 Maniace, Lombard colony there, 128 Margaritone of Arezzo, 275 Maximilian, emperor, 138 Mellitus, the monk, 144 Michael Angelo, 416 Milan, its Duomo, 350 etseg. Missions (early) to Normandy, 123 et to
;
Germany, 133
England, 143 160 et
Duomo,
;
et seg.
to
;
to Ireland,
116, 193
;
Abbondio
S.
et seg.
seg.
its
Monasteries
at Bercela, 54
S. Fredianus,
Lucca, 48 George, 47, 48
S.
Sta. Giulia, Brescia, 53
Monte Barro, 40 Palazzolo at Lucca, 54 Subiaco, 179 Monkswearmouth, Durham, 156 Monreale,
et seg.
Niccolao Pela, 336 Niccol6 Pisano, 211, 222, 247, 250, 291 Nicolaus, his porch at S. Zeno, 112; fagade at Modena, 196 Ferrara, 198 Nino di Pisa, 224, 225 ;
Pantaleone Buono, 393 Paolo da Campagnano, 260
Philippus, an EngHshman, 69 Piccone, 54 Piero di Beltrami, 301 Pietro di Apulia, 221, 247 Pietro Lorabardi and his descend-
Nanni di Banco, 337 Nicholas V., pope, 412 use,
235
Nino
di Pisa, 225
Norman architecture, Normans,
123, 126, 130 their connection with Sicily,
121, 128
Oil paintings. 277, 418
ants, 395 et seg., 398
Pietro da Varese, 413 ^/ seg.
Rainaldo, 212 Rainaldus, sculptures fagade of Pisa cathedral, 16 Paganelli, 293
Ramo da
Opera. See Laborerium Orcagna, 329, 332 et seg. Orseolo (Doge Pietro), 390 Orsino (Virginio), Duke of Bracciano, 304 Orso Orseolo, patriarch of Aquileja, 122 Orvieto, its Duomo, 224, 300 et seg. Chapel of Three Kings, 301, 414 .
Roberto, 246
354
Mosques, El Haram and Amrou, 179 Murano, its church, 113 Mythic sculpture, 75, 80
note
Paulus and his sons, 407
Simone da Arsenigo, 352
its cathedral, 127 Cassino, convent, 66, 114 Monza, its church, 380 et seg.
Monte
Nicknames, their common
Paulinus, 145
Simone
Como, 420
di
183
Modena,
Lorenzo di Mariano, 302 Lorenzo de' Spazi, 382 Luca FanceUi, 369 Manfredo of Como, 260 Marco da Carona, 356, 358, 365 Marco da Frixone, 353 et seg. Martino di Giorgio da Varenna, 302 Matteo da Campione, 197, 363, 386
125,
Urbano da Cortona, 306
seg.
Lanfrancus, 115, 193
Ristoro,
Uberto and his brother Pietro, 408 Ugone da Campione and his sons,
his sons,
;
Fra
318
252, 294, 315 et seg.
Jacopo da Tradate, 363 364 Lando, 297 et seg.
433
et
seg.,
.
;
Talenti, 331, 336
FF
INDEX
434
Otho, emperor, confirms Comacine privileges, 27 Otho, his decree, 27, 28 he conquers
Rotharis, king, his laws, Runic inscriptions, 148
5, 6,
160
;
Saints
Italy, 109, 135
Otho Orseolo, Doge of Venice, 122 Padua, church of
S. Antonio, 199, 237 Painters of the Guild, their secession, 265 et seg. Palaces (private), Florentine, 258 Venetian, 260 Palace of Desiderius at S. Gemignano, 62, 257 Palace, Luitprand's, at Milan, 62 Palazzo Pubblico, 256; at Perugia, 257 at Todi, 257 ; at Udine, 258 ; Capodimonte, 421 Palazzo Vecchio (Florence), 61, 259 Palazzo Venezia (Rome), 415 £/ seg. Palermo, its cathedral, 126, 213 Papal forts, 260, 261, 415 ;
Parma, 238 Paulinus, assists St. Augustine, 145 Pavia, its church, 50, 77 ei seg. its castle, 202 ; its Certosa, 373 et seg. Penna, inscription there, 191 Pepin, king, founds church of S. ;
Lorenzo, 96 Peter Martyr, St., his tomb, 225 Piacenza, its walls, 106 Pisa, beginning of the Duomo,
173, baptistery, 214 Pistoja, 223, 225 et seg. ; its baptistery,
209
ei seg.
;
240 Pius
II.,
pope, 260
Pliny's villa at
Como, 26
Prato, its Duomo, 229 Provveditore, his office, 208 et seg. his books, 322 et seg.
:
Augustine, 143, 145 Boniface, 133, 271, 233, 239 Columban, founds convent at Bobbio, 86, 164, 167 Cumianus, his tomb, 86 Fredianus, 48, 164 Gregory, 264 Hugh of Lincoln, 143 Luke, the company of, 280, 332 Modwen, 143 Nilus, his letter, 81 Patrick, 163 Sansovino, Jacopo, 394 Saracenic architecture, 121, 177, 406
Saxon architecture. Book
II. ch.
iii.
Sculptured animals, their meaning, 72, 73 Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista, 396 Scuola di San Marco, 396, 399 Sforza, Francesco, 365, 367, 420 Sicily, the revival there, 126 et seg., .
.
17s, 406 Siena cathedral, 224, 285 et seg. Sixtus IV., pope, 261, 416 Sixtus v., pope, 418 Solari family, 395 et seg. Solomon's knot, its meaning and origin, 72, 82, 243 Spanish chapel, 278, 326 Statutes of the Masonic Guild in Siena, 287, 291 Steepleton church, Dorset, 149 Stilicho the Goth, his tomb, 89
Strasburg, Freemasons there, 137 Symbolism of the Comacine Guild,
71
et seg.
SS. Quattro Coronati, 20 inscription to them, 21 ; sculptures representing them, 207 their_/?^«, 289 Querela, Jacopo della, 337 ;
;
Rahere, founder of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, 124 Rainaldo, Magister at Pisa, 211, 212 Raphael, 416 Ratchis, king, becomes a monk, 55 Ravenna, towers at, 153, 154 Richard, prior of Hagustald, 160 Richard II., of Normandy, duke, 123, 158
Roger I., duke, 126 Roger II., king of Apulia, 126 Rome, Comacine fortresses near, 260 Lombards in Rome, 412 et seg.
Talenti, Francesco, 328 et seg. " Tedesco,'' what the word means in architecture, 216, 218 Theodata, her tomb at Pavia, 87
Theodolinda, her marriages, 32 etseg. her churches, 37 40 Theodosius, his laws on building in marble, 81 Toller Fratrum, Dorset, 149 Tomb of Can della Scala, Verona, 203, 204, 252 Cardinal Longhi degli Alessandri,
—
185
Domenico, Bologna, 223 Folchino de Schicci, 204 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, 254 S.
;
INDEX Mastino
dei Scaligeri, 253 of Siena, 301 Theodoric at Ravenna, 218 II.,
Venice,
its fifteenth-century 8, 113; restorations, 385 et seg., 397
The Bishop
Tommaso de Mutina (Modena),
435
Verona 275
fortified by Charlemagne, 106 Visconti family, 349, 364, 373 et seg
Torcello, 73 Torriano family of Milan, 385 Toscanella, pulpit there, 89 Towers, Comacine, their form, 67, 153; San Marco, Venice, 233; round towers of Ireland, 161 et seg.; Piag, 219, 220; Fiesole, 237
Wenceslaus, king, 350 Wilfrid, bishop of York, 150, 155 William of Normandy, 123 Winchester tower, 153
Trent, its cathedral, 181 eisef. Turrisianus of Pistoja, 230, 238
Zambono, northern
Vatican, 414 ei seg. Vecchietta, 306
Vitale,
300
Voltorre,
its cloister,
Italian forGiovanni Buono, 237 Zohak, emblem of remorse, 79 Zurich, the Gross Miinster, 135
THE END
Richard Clay
tfi
115, 193
Sons Limited, London &> Bungay.