Francis.* In the chapter-house of Santa Maria Novella, a painting of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore may also be seen; it was taken from the model in wood of Arnolfo by Simon of Siena, and represents the exterior, together with the cupola. From this painting, it is obvious that Arnolfo had proposed to raise the dome immediately over the piers and above the first cornice, at that point, namely, where Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, desiring to render the building less heavy, interposed the whole space wherein we now see the windows, before adding the dome. And this fact would be even more clearly obvious, if the model of Arnolfo himself, as well as those of Brunellesco, and others,† had not been lost by the carelessness of the persons who directed the works of Santa Maria del Fiore in succeeding years.

NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS OF PISA.

[NICCOLA BORN BETWEEN 1205 AND 1207, DIED 1278.

HAVING treated of Design and Painting in the life of Cimabue, and of Architecture in that of Arnolfo Lapi, we will now consider the art of Sculpture in the lives of Niccola and Giovanni of Pisa, and also the most important edifices erected by these artists. Their works, whether in sculpture or architecture, are, as not only great and magnificent, but thoroughly expressed, well worthy of commemoration, they having, in a great measure, liberated both these branches of art from the rude and tasteless old Greek manner, and having displayed much greater power of invention in their compositions, as well as more grace of attitude in their figures.

Niccola Pisano first worked under certain Greek ‡ sculptors, who were executing the figures, and other ornaments in sculpture, of the Duomo of Pisa and the chapel of San Gio

* This historical work is among the many that have disappeared from the church.--Ed. Flor. 1846.

+ The monument of Pope Honorius III, in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, is said by Vasari himself to have been commenced by Arnolfo, but left unfinished.

Della Valle and other Italian writers maintain that Niccola acquired his art from Pisan, and not Greek masters,

vanni : : among the many spoils of marbles brought by the armaments of Pisa to their city, were several antique sarcophagi, now in the Campo Santo of that town: one of these, on which the Chase of Meleager and the Calydonian boar was cut with great truth and beauty, surpassed all the others; the nude, as well as draped figures, being perfect in design, and executed with great skill. This sarcophagus having been placed, for its beauty, by the Pisans, in that façade of the cathedral which is opposite to San Rocco, and beside the principal door of that front, was used as a tomb for the mother of the Countess Matilda, if we may credit the following words, inscribed on the marble :

66

A.D. MCXVI. Kal. Aug. obiit D. Matilda felicis memoriæ comitissa, quæ pro anima genitricis suæ D. Beatricis comitissæ venerabilis in hac tumba honorabili quiescentis in multis partibus mirifice hanc dotavit ecclesiam, quarum animæ requiescant in pace." Then, "A.D. MCCCIII sub dignissimo operario Burgundio Tadi occasione graduum fiendorum per ipsum circa ecclesiam supradicta tumba superius notata translata fuit, nunc de sedibus primis in ecclesiam, nunc de ecclesia in hanc locum, ut cernitis, eccellentem."

Niccola was attracted by the excellence of this work, in which he greatly delighted, and which he studied diligently, with the many other valuable sculptures of the relics. around him, imitating the admirable manner of these works with so much success, that no long time had elapsed before he was esteemed the best sculptor of his time. In those days, no sculptor of great eminence, beside Arnolfo,* existed in Tuscany, with the exception of Fuccio, a Florentine architect and sculptor, who built the church of Santa Maria sopra Arno, in Florence, in the year 1229, placing his name over one of the doors of the building. This artist also executed the tomb of the Queen of Cyprus, in the church of San Francesco at Assisi, a monument in marble, adorned with many figures, and particularly with the portrait of the queen herself, seated on a lion, to typify the force of mind of this princess; who left large sums of money, at her death, for the completion of the fabric. But Niccola, having proved himself a much better master than Fuccio, was invited to Bologna in the year 1225, where he was entrusted with the execution of

* From this mode of expression, it might seem that Arnolfo had rather preceded Niccola, than been his disciple, as was the fact.-Ed. Flor. 1846.

a tomb, in marble, to San Domenico, of Calahorra, founder of the order of Preaching Friars, who had then but recently died. Concerting his measures, therefore, with those who had the direction of the matter, Niccola constructed the tomb, with the many figures still to be seen on it, finishing the whole in the year 1231, to the great extension of his fame, the work being then considered one of extraordinary merit, and superior to any thing of the kind that had been seen. He also prepared plans for the rebuilding of the church* and of the greater part of the convent. When Niccola returned to Tuscany, he found that Fuccio, having left Florence, had gone to Rome, at the time when the Emperor Frederick was crowned by Pope Honorius,† and from Rome to Naples with that monarch. In Naples, Fuccio completed the Castel Capuano, now called the Vicarìa, wherein all the law-courts of the kingdom are held. He also finished the Castel dell' Uovo; founded the towers, and built the gate, which commands the Volturno, for the city of Capua; laid out a chase, for the sport of fowling, near Gravina; and a second, for hunting in winter, at Melfi; besides many other labours, which are omitted for the sake of brevity. Niccola, meanwhile, remained in Florence, occupied not only in sculpture, but with architecture also; in the buildings which were then in course of construction, and not without merit of design, in all parts of Italy, but particularly in Tuscany. He gave no small aid, at this time, towards the construction of the abbey of Settimo, which had not received its completion, from the executors of Count Ugo of Brandenburg, like the other six founded by the same noble, as mentioned above (page 27). For although we find engraved on the campanile of this abbey the words "Guglielm me fecit", yet we know certainly, from its style, that it was constructed under the direction of Niccola, who built the old palace of the Anziani, in Pisa, at the same time. This latter edifice has been demolished, in our own days, by Duke Cosmo, for the purpose of erecting on its site, while retaining a portion of the old building, the magnificent palace and convent of the new order of the Knights of St. Stephen, built after the plans *That of San Domenico, namely.

This took place in 1221; which shews the confusion of dates and vents into which Vasari has fallen in this life of Niccola.- Ed. Flor.

and models of the Aretine painter and architect, Giorgio Vasari, who has endeavoured to do his best with those old walls, accommodating to them, as much as possible, the new. Many other palaces and churches were constructed in Pisa by Niccola, who was the first, the good method of building having been lost, to found buildings at Pisa on arches raised upon piers, which, in their turn, were supported by piles; for, where this was not practised, the whole edifice was frequently ruined by the sinking of the foundations, whereas the piles rendered all entirely secure, as experience fully demonstrates. The church of San Michele in Borgo, belonging to the monks of Camaldoli, was also built by Niccola; but his most ingenious, most beautiful, and most extraordinary architectural work, was the campanile of San Niccola, of Pisa, near the convent of the Augustine Friars. Externally this building has eight sides, but its form within is circular, with a spiral staircase ascending to the summit; within the stairs a free space is left, in the manner of a well, while on every fourth stair are placed columns, supporting arches, which follow the spiral line. The roof of the staircase being supported on these arches, the ascent is of such sort that the spectator at the foot sees all who go up; those who are ascending see those remaining below; while he who stands in the mid-way can see both those above and those below. This remarkable invention was afterwards applied, with many improvements of proportion and richer ornament, by Bramante, in Rome, to the Belvedere of Pope Julius II, and by Antonio di San Gallo, in Orvieto, for Pope Clement VII, as will be related in the proper place. But to return to Niccola: he was no less excellent in sculpture than in architecture; and on the façade of the church of San Martino, in Lucca, he executed a Deposition of Christ from the Cross, half-relief in marble, which is full of admirable figures, finished with extreme care, the marble being entirely perforated, and the whole completed in a manner which gave hope, to those who were previously pursuing this art with weary steps, that a master was now about to arise, from whose aid and example they might look for greater facilities to their future progress than had yet been enjoyed. This work is under the portico, and above the side-door, on the left hand of him who enters the church. In the year 1240, the plans

for the church of San Jacopo di Pistoja were prepared by Niccola, who employed certain Tuscan artists to decorate the apse in mosaic. This apse,admired in those days as a work of great expense and difficulty, awakens more compassion or ridicule than admiration in our own times, and the rather as the defects then prevailing were manifest not in Tuscany only, but through all Italy, where many buildings and other works, executed without design or method, because of the little knowledge to which men had then attained in the art of design, serve only to prove the poverty of their invention, and to show us what unmeasured riches were badly expended by the people of those times, for lack of masters capable of worthily executing the works confided to them.

In this state of things, Niccola perpetually increased his fame by the works he performed, both in sculpture and architecture, acquiring a better name than any of the sculptors or architects then working in Romagna; his right to which may be seen in Sant' Ippolito and San Giovanni of Faenza, in the cathedral of Ravenna, in San Francesco, in the houses of the Traversari, and in the church of Porto, as well as in Rimini, where the town-hall, the palaces of the Malatesta family, and other edifices, are all in a much ruder manner than the old buildings erected at the same period in Tuscany. And what is here said of Romagna, may be affirmed with equal truth respecting a part of Lombardy. One needs only to examine the cathedral of Ferrara, and such other buildings as were erected by the Marquis Azzo, to be convinced of this truth, and to perceive how inferior these attempts are to the Santo* of Padua, built after the designs of Niccola, or to the church of the Frari in Venice, both magnificent and deservedly celebrated works. Many artists of Niccola's day, incited by a laudable ambition, devoted themselves to the study of sculpture with more zeal than they had previously done, more particularly in Milan, where many Lombards and Germans had assembled for the construction of the cathedral, but who were afterwards dispersed by the hostilities that arose between the Milanese and the Emperor Frederick, when these artists were distributed over all Italy, where much emulation arising among them, they produced

*The church of St. Anthony of Padua, so called, par eminence, St. An thony being the protector of that city.