cis, which was afterwards reconstructed on a larger scale, and with increased magnificence, near the castle, receiving the name of Santa Maria "della Nuova". When these buildings had been commenced, and had made a certain degree of progress, Giovanni left Naples to return into Tuscany; but, having reached Siena, he was not suffered to go farther, being called on to give a plan for the façade of the cathedral of that city, which was then constructed, after that model, with extreme splendour and magnificence.* In the year 1286, the people of Arezzo were building their cathedral, from the designs of Margaritone, an architect of that city, when Giovanni was summoned thither from Siena, by Guglielmino, Bishop of Arezzo, for whom he executed the table of the high altar, in marble: this he covered with figures, foliage, and other ornaments, in relief. The whole work was divided into compartments by fine mosaics, and enamels on plates of silver, fixed into the marble with great nicety and care. In the centre is a figure of the Virgin, with the infant in her arms; on the one side stands St. Gregory the pontiff (whose face is the likeness of Pope Honorius, IV); and on the other is the figure of St. Donatus, bishop and protector of the city, whose remains, with those of Sant' Antilla and other saints, repose beneath that altar. And since the altar itself stands apart from the walls, Giovanni adorned the sides with small figures in bassorilievo, representing passages from the life of St. Donatus; and the crown of the whole work is a series of tabernacles filled with marble figures in high relief, all of exquisite workmanship. On the breast of the above-named Madonna, is an ornament of gold in form of a casket, which is said to have contained jewels of great value; but during the wars, these were carried off, as were also various small figures placed around, and on the summit of the whole; by soldiers, as is believed, who do not often show respect even to the most holy sacrament itself. On this altar,† according to records still remaining, the people of Arezzo spent thirty thousand florins of gold; nor does this seem improbable, since the work was the most rare and precious that *For a dissertation respecting the date, &c., of this cathedral, see Rumohr, Ital. Forsch. †This altar still remains in the cathedral, but is much delapidated. the art of those days could produce, insomuch that Frederick Barbarossa,* returning from Rome, where he had been crowned, and passing through Arezzo many years after its completion, commended, nay, admired it infinitely and certainly with good reason; for, to speak of nothing more, the various portions of this work, formed of innumerable morsels, are so nicely conjoined, and fixed together with so much exactitude, that any one who is not well practised in matters of art may readily suppose the whole to be of one piece. In the same church, Giovanni constructed the chapel of the Ubertini, a most illustrious family, still possessing several lordships, but formerly the masters of many more. This he likewise enriched with numerous decorations in marble; but these have been covered over by various ornaments in stone, erected on that site, by Giorgio Vasari, in the year 1535, for the support of an organ,† of extraordinary beauty and excellence, which has been placed in that chapel. Giovanni Pisano also gave the designs for the church of Santa Maria de' Servi, which has been destroyed, with many palaces belonging to the noblest families of the city, for the causes before mentioned. And here I will not omit to note that Giovanni employed the services of certain Germans for the altar above described, who assisted him, more in the hope of improvement than for gain; these artists became so expert under his instructions, that, having departed to Rome on the completion of the work, they were employed in many of the sculptures of St. Peter's by Boniface VIII, as well as in architecture, when that pontiff was building Civita Castellana. They were, besides, despatched by the same pope to Santa Maria d'Orvieto, where they executed many figures, in marble, for the façade of that church, which were tolerably well done for those times. But among those who assisted Giovanni Pisano in the works of the cathedral of Arezzo, Agostino and Agnolo, sculptors and architects of Siena, were the most distinguished, and far surpassed all others, as will be related at the proper time. We now return to Giovanni, who repaired to Florence on leaving Orvieto, partly to view *It is obvious that Vasari here means Henry VII, and not Fred. Barbarossa.-Ed. Flor. 1846. + On the altar under this organ the arms of the Ubertini family may till be seen.-Ed. Bottari, 1759. the building then constructing by Arnolfo (Santa Maria del Fiore), but also to visit Giotto, of whom he had heard great things related while on his travels. But he had scarcely arrived in Florence, before he was appointed, by the Intendants of the fabric, to execute the Madonna, which stands between two angels, over that door of the church which leads into the canonical palace; a work which was then greatly commended.* He afterwards erected the small baptismal font of San Giovanni, adorning it with passages from the life of that saint, in mezzo-rilievo. Then, proceeding to Bologna, he directed the construction of the principal chapel in the church of San Domenico, where he was also commissioned, by Teodorico Borgognoni, of Lucca, the Bishop, a friar of the Dominican order, to execute an altar in marble; and in the year 1298 he completed the marble table in which are seen the Virgin with eight other figures, all of very tolerable workmanship.‡ In the year 1300, § Niccola da Prato, cardinal legate, being despatched by the pope to Florence, in the hope of appeasing the dissensions of the Florentines, employed Giovanni to build a convent for nuns in Prato, which he caused to be called the Convent of San Niccola, after his own name; in the same district he restored the convent of San Domenico, with another of the same name in Pistoja, and on both these buildings the arms of the aforesaid cardinal may still be found. Then the people of Pistoja, holding the name of Niccola, the father of Giovanni, in high respect, for the many excellent works that he had produced in their city, caused Giovanni to construct a marble pulpit for their church of Sant' Andrea, similar to that which Niccola had executed for the cathedral of Siena, and in which he was to compete with one erected shortly before by a German, in the church of St. John the Evangelist, which had been highly praised. This work Giovanni com *This beautiful and well-preserved work may still be seen in the place thus described by Vasari.-Ed. Flor. 1846. + The present baptismal font cannot be the work either of Giovanni, or of Andrea Pisano, as Del Migliore supposes, the inscription around it declaring it to have been executed in 1370, when Gio. had been dead fifty years, and And. twenty-five.-Ed. Flor. 1846. This work has been lost.-Ibid. Schorn says 1303. This pulpit of St. Andrew, at Pistoja, is precisely in the same pleted in four years, representing passages from the life of Jesus Christ, in five compartments, on five of its sides, with a Universal Judgment on the sixth, giving his utmost care to the execution, in the hope of equalling, or perhaps of surpassing, that of Orvieto, then so much lauded. And as it appeared to him that he had produced a great and beautiful work, which was true, the age considered, he inscribed the following verses around the pulpit, above the columns supporting it, on the architrave :— "Hoc opus sculpsit Joannes, qui res non egit inanes Quem genuit Pisa, doctum super omnia visa." About the same time, and in the same city, Giovanni constructed the holy water font for the church of St. John the Baptist. This is in marble, supported by three figuresTemperance, Prudence, and Justice-and the work being then considered very beautiful, was placed in the centre of the church as something remarkable.* Moreover, before he departed from Pistoja, Giovanni gave the plans for the campanile of St. Jacopo, the principal church of that city, although the church itself had not then been commenced. This tower, which stands on the Piazza di San Jacopo, and beside the church, bears the date 1301. Pope Benedict IX† dying soon after this in Perugia, Giovanni Pisano was invited to that city, where he constructed a marble tomb for the lately departed pontiff, in the old church of San Domenico of the Preaching Friars. The figure of Pope Benedict, taken from nature, and in his pontifical habits, is extended on the sarcophagus, between two angels, which support a canopy; the Virgin stands above, with a saint on each side of her; many other ornaments also, in marble, are cut around the monument. In the new church of the Preaching Friars, Giovanni likewise erected a tomb, that of Messer Niccolo Guidalotti, bishop of Recanati, a native of Perugia, who was founder of the new college, called the Sapienza, in that city. In this same new church, which had been founded by manner with those constructed by Niccola Pisano for Pisa and Siena, in white marble that is, and with six sides, all highly enriched. *Now in a very grievous condition, yet, not so completely ruined, says Cicognara, as some writers have said. It is no longer in the centre of the church, but near the side door.-Ed. Flor. 1846. Vasari here means Benedict XI. others, it may be further remarked, that Giovanni directed the works of the central nave, and this part of the building was much more securely built than the remainder of the church, which has sunk on one side from the defects of its foundations, and now, from having been so insecurely based, is in danger of ruin. And, of a truth, whoever undertakes a building, or other work of importance, should seek advice from the best informed, and not from those who know but little, lest, when all is done, he should have to repent, with shame and loss, of having been ill directed where most he needed counsel. Having completed his labours in Perugia, Giovanni resolved to proceed to Rome, that he might profit, as his father had done, by the study of the few antiquities then to be seen there; but being prevented by good reasons, he refrained from carrying this resolution into effect, and the rather as he heard that the Papal Court had just gone to Avignon. He returned, therefore, to Pisa, where Nello di Giovanni Falconi, master of the Duomo, commissioned him to build the principal pulpit of the cathedral,—that fixed to the choir, namely, on the right hand of the spectator as he approaches the high altar. Having commenced this work, and the many figures, in full relief, three braccia high, which were to serve for its decoration, he brought it, by slow degrees, to the form it now bears. This pulpit is based partly upon the above-mentioned figures, partly on columns supported by lions; on the sides are represented certain passages from the life of Jesus. It is truly deplorable that so much care, industry, and cost, were not accompanied by some merit of design; that it should fall so far short of perfection, as to have neither invention, nor grace, nor any approach to good style, such as would be assured, in our times, to works of much less expense and labour. It awakened no little admiration, nevertheless, in the men of those times, accustomed to see only the rudest attempts. This work was finished in the year 1320,* as appears from certain verses engraved around the said pulpit, and which proceed thus: "Laudo Deum verum, per quem sunt optima rerum *1311, according to the inscription. |