Chapter 5

After all these things, and many others not less useful than beautiful, Arnolfo died at the age of seventy, in the year 1300, about the time when Giovanni Villani began to write the general history of his times. And since he left S. Maria del Fiore not only with its foundations laid, but saw three principal apses under the cupola vaulted in, to his great praise, he deserves the memorial set up to him in the church on the side opposite the campanile, with these lines carved in the marble in round letters:--

"Anno millenis centum bis octo nogenis Venit legatus Roma bonitate donatus Qui lapidem fixit fundo, simul et benedixit Praesule Francisco, gestante pontificatum Istud ab Arnolpho templum fuit aedificatum Hoc opus insigne decorans Florentia digne Reginæ coeli construxit mente fideli Quam tu, Virgo pia, semper defende, Maria,"

I have written the life of Arnolfo with the greatest possible brevity because, although his works do not nearly approach the perfection of those of the present time, yet he none the less deserves to be remembered with affection, since, in the midst of so great darkness, he pointed out the road to perfection to those who came after him. The portrait of Arnolfo, by the hand of Giotto, may be seen in S. Croce, next to the principal chapel, where the friars are mourning the death of St Francis. He is represented in the foreground as one of the two men who are talking together. A representation of the exterior of the church of S. Maria del Fiore, with the dome, by the hand of Simon of Siena, may be seen in the chapter-house of S. Maria Novella. It was taken from the actual model of wood which Arnolfo made. From this representation it is clear that Arnolfo proposed to begin to vault his space, starting immediately above the first cornice, whilst Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, desiring to lighten the weight and make the appearance of the structure more graceful, added above this the whole of the space which contains the round windows before he began his vaulting. This matter would be even more obvious than it is had not the negligence and carelessness of those who had charge of the works of S. Maria del Fiore in past years allowed Arnolfo's own model, as well as those of Brunellesco and others, to be lost.

Niccola and Giovanni Pisani, Sculptors and Architects.

Having discussed the arts of design and painting in dealing with Cimabue, and that of architecture in the life of Arnolfo Lapo, we now propose to treat of sculpture, and of the very important architectural works of Niccola and Giovanni Pisani. Their achievements in both sculpture and architecture are alike remarkable for the manner in which they have been conceived as well as for the style in which they are executed, since to a great extent they emancipated themselves from the clumsy and ill-proportioned Byzantine style in both arts, showing more originality in the treatment of their subjects and arranging their figures in better postures.

Niccola Pisani was originally associated with some Greek sculptors who were engaged upon the figures and other ornaments in relief for the Duomo at Pisa and the church of San Giovanni there. Among the spoils brought home by the Pisan fleet was a very fine sarcophagus on which was an admirable representation of the chase of Meleager, hunting the Calydonian boar. Both the nude and the draped figures of this composition are executed with much skill, while the design is perfect. This sarcophagus, on account of its beauty, was afterwards placed by the Pisans in the façade of the Duomo opposite S, Rocco, against the principal door on that side. It originally served as a tombstone for the mother of the Countess Matilda, if we may credit the inscription cut in the marble:

_Anno Domini MCXVI. Kal. Aug. obiit D. Matilda felisis memoriae comitissa, quae pro anima genetricis suae D. Beatricis comitissae venerabilis in hoc tumba honorabili quiescsnts in multis partis mirificc hanc dotavit ecclesiam, quarum animae requiescent in pace_.

And then follows:

_Anno Domini MCCCIII. sub dignissimo optrario Burgundio Tadi occasione graduum fiendorum per ipsum circa ecclesiam supradictam tumba superius notata bis trantlata fuit, nunc de sedibus primis in ecclesiam, nunc de ecclesia in hunc locum, ut cernitis eccelentem_.

Niccola, considering the excellence of this work, which greatly delighted him, applied such diligence in imitating that style, studying carefully both the sarcophagus and other excellent sculptures on other antique sarcophagi, that before long he was considered the best sculptor of his time. There was indeed, after Arnolfo, no other sculptor of repute in Tuscany except Fuccio, a Florentine architect and sculptor. Fuccio designed S. Maria sopra Arno at Florence in 1229, putting his name over the door. The marble tomb of the queen of Cyprus in the church of St Francis of Assisi is also his work. It contains a number of figures, the principal one being the queen herself, seated on a lion, as emblematical of her strength of mind. She had bequeathed a large sum of money for the completion of these works.

Niccola having proved himself a much greater master than Fuccio, was summoned to Bologna in 1225 to make a marble tomb for St Domenic Calagora, founder of the order of the Friars Preachers, then recently deceased. Having, arranged with those who had charge of the work, he designed a tomb full of figures, as may be seen at this day. The task was completed in 1231, and the finished tomb was greatly praised, it being considered a remarkable work, and the best piece of sculpture executed up to that time. He further made plans for the church there and for a great part of the convent. On returning to Tuscany, he learned that Fuccio had set out from Florence and was gone to Rome, at the time when the Emperor Frederick was crowned there by Honorius. From Rome Fuccio accompanied Frederick to Naples, where he finished the castle of Capoana, now called "la Vicheria," where all the courts of that kingdom are held. He also completed the Castel del' Uovo, founding the towers, made the gate on the side of the River Volturno at Capua, constructed a park near Gravina for fowling, enclosing it by a wall, and made another at Amalfi for winter hunting, besides many other things which are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Meanwhile Niccola was staying at Florence, obtaining practice not only in sculpture but also in architecture by means of the works which were in progress throughout Italy, but especially in Tuscany, with some amount of good design. Thus he contributed not a little to the abbey of Settimo, left unfinished by the executors of Count Hugh of Brandenburg, as the other six had been, as we have noticed above. For although an inscription on the campanile of the abbey reads "_Gugliel me fecit_" yet it is clear from the style of the work that it was carried out under the control of Niccola. At the same time he was building the old palace of the _anziani_ at Pisa. This building has been dismantled at the present time by Duke Casino, who has used a part of the old edifice for the erection of the magnificent palace and convent of the new order of the knights of St Stephen, after the designs of Giorgio Vasari, Aretine painter and architect, who has done his best with the old walls, to adapt them to the modern style. Niccola designed many other palaces and churches at Pisa, and he was the first, after the loss of good methods of construction, who introduced the founding of buildings at Pisa upon pillars connected by arches, first driving piles in under the pillars. This method renders the building absolutely secure, as is shown by experience, whereas without the piles, the foundations are liable to give way, causing the walls to fall down. The church of S. Michele in Borgo of the monks of Gamaldoli was also built after his plans. But the most beautiful, ingenious and fanciful piece of architecture that Niccola ever constructed was the campanile of S. Niccola at Pisa, where the friars of St Augustine are. Outside it is octagonal, but the interior is round with a winding staircase rising to the top leaving the middle space void like a well, while on every fourth step there are columns with lame arches, which follow the curve of the building. The spring of the vaulting rests upon these arches, and the ascent is of such sort that anyone on the ground always sees those who are going up, those who are at the top see those who are on the ground, while those who are in the middle see both those who are above and those below. This curious invention was afterwards adopted by Bramante in a better style with more balanced measurements and richer ornamentation, for Pope Julius II. in the Belvedere at Rome, and by Antonio da Sangallo for Pope Clement VII. in the well at Orvieto, as will be said when the time comes.

To return to Niccola who excelled no less as a sculptor than as an architect. For the church of S. Martino at Lucca he executed a deposition from the Cross, which is under the portico above the minor doorway on the left hand as one enters the church. It is executed in marble, and is full of figures in half relief, carried out with great care, the marble being pierced through, and the whole finished in such style as to give rise to hopes in those who first practised this art with the most severe labour, that one would soon come who would give them more assistance with greater ease. It was Niccola also who in the year 1240 designed the church of S. Jacopo at Pistoia, and set some Tuscan masters to work there in mosaic, who did the vaulting of the apse. But although it was considered a difficult and costly thing at the time, it rather moves one to laughter and compassion to-day, and not to admiration, oh account of the poorness of the design, a defect which was prevalent not only in Tuscany, but throughout Italy, where the number of buildings and other things erected without method and without design betray the poverty of their minds no less than the bountiful riches lavished on them by the men of their day; a wasteful expenditure of wealth, because there was no masters capable of executing in a good style the things which they made for them. Now Niccola was steadily increasing his renown in both sculpture and architecture, and was of greater account than the sculptors and architects who were then at work in the Romagna, as one may see in S. Ippolito and S. Giovanni at Faenza, in the Duomo of Ravenna, in S. Francesco, in the houses of the Traversari, and in the church of Prato, and at Rimini, in the public palace, in the houses of the Malatesti, and in other buildings which are much worse than the old buildings erected in Tuscany at the same time; and what is here said of the Romagna, may be repeated with even more truth of a part of Lombardy. It is only necessary to see the Duomo of Ferrara and the other buildings erected for the Marquis Azzo, to perceive at once how different they are from the Santo of Padua, built from Niccola's model, and from the church of the friars minors at Venice, both of them magnificent and famous buildings.

In Niccola's day there were many moved by a laudable spirit of emulation, who applied themselves more diligently to sculpture than they had done before, especially in Milan, where many Lombards and Germans were gathered for the building of the Duomo. These were afterwards scattered throughout Italy by the dissensions which arose between the Milanese and the Emperor Frederick. They then began to compete among themselves, both in carving marble and in erecting buildings, and produced works of some amount of excellence. The same thing happened in Florence after the works of Arnolfo and Niccola were seen. The latter, while the little church of the Misericordia on the piazza S. Giovanni was being built after his designs, carved a marble statue of Our Lady with St Domenic and another saint on either side, which may still be seen on the façade of that church. It was also in Niccola's time that the Florentines began to demolish many towers, erected previously in a rude style in order that the people should suffer less by their means in the frequent collisions between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, or for the greater security of the commonweal. One of these, the tower of Guardamorto, situated on the piazza S; Giovanni, presented unusual difficulty to those who wished to destroy it because the walls were so well knit that the stones could not be removed with the pickaxe, and also because the tower was a very high one. Niccola, however, caused a piece to be cut out of one of the sides of the tower and closed the gap with wooden supports, a braccia and a half long, he then set fire to the props, and so soon as these were consumed the tower fell down and was totally destroyed. The idea seemed so ingenious and so well adapted for such emergencies, that it afterwards came into general use, so that whenever it was necessary to destroy a building, the task was speedily accomplished in this most facile manner.

Niccola was present when the foundations of the Duomo of Siena were laid, and he designed the Church of S. Giovanni in that city. He went back to Florence in the year of the return of the Guelphs, and designed the church of S. Trinita, and the women's convent at Faenza, pulled down in recent years to make the citadel. Being subsequently summoned to Naples, and not wishing to abandon his enterprises in Tuscany, he sent thither his pupil Maglione, sculptor and architect, who in the time of Conrad afterwards built the church of S. Lorenzo at Naples, finished a part of the Vescorado, and made some tombs there, in which he closely imitated the manner of his master, Niccola. In the meantime Niccola went to Volterra, in the year that the people of that place came under the dominion of the Florentines (1254), in response to a summons, because they wished him to enlarge their Duomo, which was small; and although it was very irregular, he improved its appearance, and made it more magnificent than it was originally. Then at length he returned to Pisa and made the marble pulpit of S. Giovanni, devoting all his skill to it, so that he might leave a memory of himself in his native place. Among other things in it he carved the Last Judgment, filling it with a number of figures, and if they are not perfectly designed they are at any rate executed with patience and diligence, as may be seen; and because he considered that he had completed a work which was worthy of praise, as indeed he had, he carved the following lines at the foot:

"Anno milleno bis centum bisque trideno. Hoc opus insigne sculpsit Nicola Pisanus."

The people of Siena, moved by the fame of this work, which greatly delighted not only the Pisans, but whoever saw it, assigned to Niccola the task of making for their Duomo the pulpit from which the gospel is sung, at the time when Guglielmo Mariscotti was praetor. In this Niccola introduced a number of subjects from the life of Jesus Christ, especially remarkable for the figures which they contain, which stand out in high relief, all but severed from the background, a work of great difficulty. He likewise designed the church and convent of S. Domenico at Arezzo, for the lords of Pietramela who built it, and at the request of the bishop Ubertini he restored the Pieve of Cortona, and founded the church of S. Margherita for the friars of St Francis, on the highest ground in that city. The fame of Niccola was continually on the increase, owing to these works, so that in 1267 he was invited by Pope Clement IV. to Viterbo, where, among many other things he restored the church and convent of the Friars Preachers. From Viterbo he went to Naples to King Charles, who having defeated and slain Curradino on the plain of Tagliacozzo, founded a wealthy church and abbey on the spot, for the burial-place of the large number of men who had fallen on that day, ordaining that prayers should be offered for their souls both day and night by many monks. King Charles was so delighted with the work of Niccola in this building that he loaded him with honours and rewards. On the way back from Naples to Tuscany Niccola stayed to take part in the building of S. Maria at Orvieto, where he worked in the company of some Germans, making figures in high relief in marble for the front of that church, and more particularly a Last Judgment, comprising both Paradise and Hell; and as he took the greatest pains to render the souls of the blessed in Paradise as beautifully as he possibly could, so he introduced into his Hell the most fantastic shape of devils imaginable, all intent on tormenting the souls of the damned. In this work not only did he surpass the Germans who were working there, but even himself, to his great glory, and because he introduced a great number of figures and spared no pains, it has been praised even to our own day by those whose judgment does not extend beyond such circumstances.

Among other children Niccola had a son called Giovanni, who was always with his father, and under his care learned both sculpture and architecture, so that in the course of a few years he became not only the equal of his father, but his superior in some things. Thus, as Niccola was already old, he withdrew to Pisa and lived quietly there, leaving the control of everything to his son. At the death in Perugia of Pope Urban IV., Giovanni was sent for to make the tomb, which he executed in marble; but it was afterwards thrown down, together with that of Pope Martin IV., when the Perugians enlarged their Vescovado, so that only a few remains may be seen to-day dispersed about the church. At the same time the Perugians, thanks to the skill and industry of a friar of the Silvestrini, had brought to their city from the hill of Pacciano, two miles away, an abundance of water. The ornamentation of the fountain in both bronze and marble was entrusted to Giovanni, so that he thereupon set his hand to the work, making three basins, one above the other, two in marble and one in bronze. The first is placed at the top of a flight of steps of twelve faces, the second rests on some pillars which rise from the centre of the first, while the third, which is of bronze, is supported by three figures; and in the middle are griffins, also of bronze, which throw out water on every side. And as Giovanni considered that he had executed an excellent piece of work, he put his name to it. The arches and conduits of this fountain, which cost 160,000 gold ducats, were found to be very much worn and broken about the year 1560, but Vincenzio Danti, sculptor of Perugia, contrived a means, to his great glory, of bringing water to the fountain in the original way, without rebuilding the arches, which would have been very costly. When the work was finished Giovanni felt anxious to return to see his old father, who was sick, and he set out from Perugia intending to return to Pisa; but on his way through Florence he was compelled to stay there, to assist with others at the mills of the Arno, which were being made at S. Gregorio, near the piazza dei Mozzi. But at length receiving word that his father Niccola was dead, he departed for Pisa, where he was received with great honour by all the city, on account of his worth, since everyone rejoiced that although Niccola was lost to them, yet they still possessed Giovanni, who inherited his father's ability as well as his property. Nor were they deceived in him when the time of testing arrived, for when it was necessary to do some few things for the tiny but highly-ornate church of S. Maria della Spina, the task was entrusted to Giovanni. He therefore put his hand to the work and brought the ornamentation of that oratory to the state of perfection which it possesses to-day, the more so as he introduced the portrait of Niccola, taken from life, executed to the best of his ability. When the Pisans had seen this they decided to entrust him the construction of the Campo Santo, which is against the piazza del Duomo towards the walls, as they had long desired and talked of having a place for the burial of all their dead, both gentle and simple, so that the Duomo should not be filled with tombs, or for other reasons. Thus Giovanni with good designs and great judgment erected the building as we now see it, in style, size, and marble ornamentation, and as no expense was spared, it was roofed with lead. On the outside of the principle entrance may be read these words, carved in the marble:

"A.D. MCCLXXVIII. tempore Domini Federigi archiepiscopi Pisani, et Domini Terlati potestatis operario Orlando Sardella, Johanne magistro aedificante."