:i)ix
m:
i
M*
'c/Aiivaen-^^^"
•'■J^130NYS01^"
'•^/SaBAINfl 3WV
^c/AJivaan-^v^" ^^o.
vvlOSANCElfXy. = <
-n I-'
%aaAiNn]WV
^^ILIBRARYQ/: ^^ILIBRARYQc
'^'<!/Odl1VDjO'^ ^(I/OJIIVJ-JO"^
. \WE LINIVERS/A
^ o /
^lOSANCElfx^
^OPCALIFO% >
^OFCALIFOfiV
'&Aa\uoii-^ ^AdVcilJiliv
, ^WE UNIVERVa
^^^tllBRARYQr^
^ -^.i/OJIWDJO^
AV^EUNIVERS"///
, ^ _ o
v^lOSANCElfj>
"^/saaAiNO-Juv
i?
^ILIBRARYd?/: A^l
30
^-A^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^^WEUNIVERS-//-
, ^ ^ o
O "
AiNn-3\A> '
^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^01 > V / IS > ~
27 ^ ^
^lOSANCElfx^
o
AiNiim"^-
^^IIIBRARYQ^ >v^tLIBRARYQ^
\V\EUNIVER%
^.
^<!/0JnVDJO'^ ^,f/0JnV3JO^ <r^l3DNYS01^'^
71 o
■n <-»
,OFCALIF0%,
^OFCALIFO/?^
^<?Aav}ian-i'^ ^(JAyvaan-^-
\\^t liMVER&'/V
, , ^ o
-n l-J
<^lLlliKAHYO^^
%JiTV3J0^
^^WtUNiVERSy^ <ril30NVS01^
v^lOSANCElfj>. o
%il3AlNn]V\V
^^tllBRARYGr^ -^t
>^OFCAilFOfti^
>-
cc
<
,\\^EUNIVER^//.
v^lOSANCElfX;^
.^OFCAIIFO%
i^e^i §12^1 fori i^€)
6>
::i:j:.7sov^^ 'v7iJi3AiNii 3\\v"
^CAuVa3n-i;>
'i:?Ayvaaniw
,^ME•yNiVER%
on ^\. \ -^
CO
s^lOSANCEl5j>
'^'<!/OJIlV3dO^ '^<!/0Jliy3-JO>' •^TiiJONVSOl^'"
-<
i?
^OfCAUFO/?,^^
.^,OFCALIFO%
<rji3orvsoi^^
^lOSANCflfj>
dAINil3V\V-
^OFCAll
OC
^.
\\[ yNIVER5"//i
^^lOSA^ELfj-^
'^/iJ13AINn-3WV
j^lllBRARYQ^ ^tllBRARYQ^
'^(l/OJnVDdO^
so
>-
cc
<:
on
.\\^EUNIVERV/,
-n O
v^lOSANCElfx^
.^;OFCALIF0%
^OFCAIIF0%
3Alf!n]V\V
>-
oc
<
cc
CO
...XllBRARYQc.
^^lllBRARYCk
^ojnv>jo
30
'^<!/ojnv>jo>'
AWEUNIVERS//,
K-im-ANTFirr.
^/^a3AiNn jwv'
^OFtALiFOfiV,
cc
4>^
^OFCALIfO%
Cc
Aavaan-^^ ^(^Aavaani'^
.^
.^WEUNIVER% 5^ f
"^Aa^AiNn-awv"
:^
00
^.
\EUNIVER%
mnLv f rn
^vWSANCELfx^
"^/saHAiNG-awv
BRARYOc. ^^ILIBRARYQ^
i ,;^
^
\oi\m-i^
^^
t 1 1'
>d
^iOJIlVDJO'^-
c^
\EUNIVERS//)
vKlOSANCElfXx
^OFCAIIFO;?^
^OFCAllFOff^
.^WEUNIV
I)
^DORING M.ADONNA.
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK
OF
ITALIAN SCULPTURE
BY
CHARLES C. PERKINS
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE AUTHOR OF "TUSCAN SCULPTORS," "ITALIAN SCULPTORS'
ILLUSTRATED
|
NEW YORK |
|||
|
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S |
SONS |
||
|
3.883 |
9 > 0 > 0 -9 J |
-» i i i i |
|
|
i |
> > > |
1473S1
Copyright, 1882. by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE 1 CO., NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOf f^LACE, NEW TC««.
C » <
hJ
Etruscan Bas-rglib? from Cninsi. (Muade Napoleon III. au Louvre.)
PREFACE.
Greek sculpture of tlie fifth century before the Christian era, ^ and Itahan marble work of the tenth century after it, are re- ^ spectively the extremes of what is highest and what is lowest J in plastic art, for the first belongs to a period of assthetic ? culture never since reached, and the last to one of artistic ignorance greater perhaps than any elsewhere met with in the history of a civilized nation. Varying between Byzantinism, which regulated all forms of art by strictly conventional rules, and Medifevalism, which regarded them solely as a means oi conveying doctrinal instruction through symbolic or direct representation, sculpture in Italy had dragged out a feeble existence for many centuries before the year 1000 when the end of the world was confidently expected, and had then almost ceased to" be. As the dreaded moment approached, men thought only of how they could save their souls or drown their anxieties, and not until it had passed did they breathe freely enough to occupy themselves with life and its activities. Among these, art at once claimed attention, as gratitude for deliverance found natural expression in the building of new churches or the restoring of those which through neglect were fast falling to ruin, and as sculpture formed an integral part of their fagades and portals, improvement in the use of the chisel soon began to show itself, though no real revival took place in the decorative arts until the first quarter of the thirteenth
ii Preface,
century, with which our history properly begins. Its seat was Tuscany, and its leader was Niccola Pisano, of whom we shall speak, after giving some account of sculpture in Italy before his time and as he found it. We use the word sculpture, which implies technical and aesthetic training, instead of stone carving, which more properly expresses the nature of much of the work which we are to consider, simply because it is a more convenient form of speech, and not as implying artistic excel- lence in Italian works of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Their makers, who modestly styled themselves ''Maestri di Pietra," i.e. stonecutters, and " arte marmoris periti," men skilled in marble work, then first began to sign their works, and to be lauded in fulsome inscriptions, which while they show that art was held in esteem also prove the low standard of an age, when the clumsiest workmen were looked upon as prodigies of genius.
In preparing this volume for the press from materials already made use of in a larger work on the same subject, and from those which have been added to the common stock of informa- tion since its publication, I have thought it best to speak of Pre-revival sculpture throughout Italy in an introductory chapter, and to begin the work — proper with the Eevival. After that era, as the personality of the sculptor becomes more and more pronounced, biographical materials increase, until in the case of such representative men as Michelangelo little remains to be discovered. Modern research is however constantly active in the pursuit of fresh information, so that we can never con- sider what we know at any given time as final, but the historian can do no more than avail himself of present acquisitions, and this I have endeavoured to do,
" AI3 ik kan, nict als ik wil."
Boston, December, 1882i
CONTENTS,
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
PAGB
Sculpture in Nortfeun Italy before the Eevival . . . ix
SECTION II. ycuLPTUKE IN Southern Italy beeore the Eevival . . . sxix
SECTION III.
SCDLPTUEE in CENTUAIi ItALY BEFORE THE EeVIVAX, . ., , lu
BOOK I. The Eevival and the Gothic Period. 1240 to 1400.
CHAPTEE I.
NiCCOLA PiSANO 3
CHAPTEE II. The Scholars of TSTicco.la Pisano 23
CHAPTER III. Andrea Pisano and his Scholars 35
CHAPTEE IT. SlEK/j. 51
BOOK II.
The Early Renaissance,
CHAPTEE I. Ghiberti and Donatello 73
*v Conte.nts,
CHAPTER II.
PAGB
1. — The ScnoLAKS of Bkunellesciii . ,; .... 108
2. — The Scholars of Ghibeeti 109
3. — The Scholars op DonateIlo 117
CHAPTER III. The Robbias, Mino, Civitali, Benedetto da Majai^o, Atsdrfa
FeKUCCI, KusTICI and BARTOLOilEO DA MoNTELUPO . .139
CHAPTER IV. The Abf.uzzi, Andrea dall' Aqtjila. IsTaples, Andrea Ciccione. Rome, Paolo Romano. Lombardy, Jacobino da Teadate, The Mantegazza, Omodeo, Ambrogino da Milanc. Vsnici, Calendario, The Ducal Palace, Tombs at Yenice, Giovanni AND Bartolomeo Bon, Pietro Lombardo, Guido Mazzoni , 163
BOOK III.
The Later Eenaissance. 1500 to 1600.
CHAPTER I. Andrea Sansovino, Jacopo Tatti, Jacopo Sanpoi'ino, Era?: c esc j
Di Sangallo, Benedetto da Rovezzano and Torriglano . 237
CHAPTER II. Michelangelo 251
CHAPTER III.
Bandinelli, Ammanati, Rapi'Aello da Monteltjpo, Lorenzetto,
MoNTORSOLi, Cellini, and Gian Bologna .... 309
CHAPTER IV
Non-Tuscan Sculptors and their Works from 1500 to 1600 . 341
APPENDIX 387
INDEX TO TOWNS 405
INDEX OF ARTISTS' NAMES 423
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
BOOK I.
FAQB
Frontispiece.
Title-page. Italo Byzantine. Marble disk. Campo Santo,
Pisa Preface. Etruscan bas-relief from Chiusi. Louvre, Paris . i
1. Byzantine saint. Stucco. Eighth century. Sta. Maria della
Valle. Cividale xii
2. Descent from the Cross. Benedetto Antelami (1178). Boiardi
Chapel, Dnomo, Parma . . ..... xviii
8. Head of Heraelius. Bronze. Byzantine. Seventh century.
From Statue at Barletta, Apulia ...... li
4. Adam and Eve, from Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (359).
Crypt of St. Peter's, Rome Hi
5. Ascension of Elijah. Early Christian bas-relief. Fourth or
fifth century. Laterau Museum, Rome .... liii C. Angel, by Rudolfinus (1167). Portal of S. Bartolomeo, Pistoja Ixiii 7. Tail-piece. Paschal Candlestick. Marble. By Niccolo di Angelo
(1148). S. Paolo, f. le m. Rome Ixiv
CB AFTER I.
8. The Deposition. Alto-relief, by Niccola Pisano. Side portal
of San Martino, Lucca. About 1240 10
9. Miracle, by St. Dominic. Bas-relief on "Area di San Dome-
nico." Niccola Pisano (1267). 16
10. Tail-piece. Allegorical figures from the fountain at Perugia.
Niccola and Giovanni Pisano (1274) 22
CHAPTER IL
11. Group symbolic of the Evangelists. Sant' Andrea, Pistoja.
Giovanni Pisano (1303) • . 32
12. Tail-piece. Madonna and Child. Ivory statuette. Sacristy,
Duomo, Pisa. Giovanni Pisano ,34
Yi List of Illustrations,
CHAPTER III.
PAOK
13. Angel announcing lier approaching death to the Madonna.
Bas-relief from tabernacle at Or-Sau Micliele, Florence, by Andrea Orgagna. (About 1350) 48
14. Portrait of Orgagna. Tabernacle at Or-San Michele. Andrea
Orgagna. (About 1850) 50
CHAPTER lY.
15. Angels from the Pier of Creation, Fa9ade of the Duomo,
Orvieto. (Before 1330) 54
16. St. Catharine. Bas-relief. Trenta chapel at San Frediano,
Lucca. By Giacomo della Quercia. (About 1416) . , 70
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
17. Female figure from a bas-relief of the Baptism of our Lord.
Baptistry Font, Siena. Lorenzo Ghiberti. (About 1427) . 83
18. Equestrian statue of Gattamelata, Padua. By Donatello.
(About 1445) 101
19. Tail-piece. Israelites taking corn from Egypt. From second
Baptistry Gate. L. Ghiberti. (1447) .... 107
CHAPTER IL
20. Effigy of Pope Sixtus IV. Chapel of the Sacrament, St.
Peter's, Rome. Antonio Pollajuolo (1493) . . . .115
21. Allegorical relief, from monument of Sixtus IV., by Antonio
Pollajuolo (1493^ 116
22. San Giovannino. Louvre, Paris. By Mino da Fiesole. (About
1455) 138
23. Zachariah. Statue, by Matteo Civitali. Duomo, Genoa.
(About 1420) 152
24. Tail-piece. St. John the Baptist. Bargello, Florence. By
Benedetto da Majano. (Before 1480) 162
CHAPTER IV.
25. Saints in relief. Tomb of Maria da Durazzo. Sta. Chiara,
Naples. (About 1330) 168
26. Angels in flat relief ; at the Certosa, Pavia; by the Brothers
Mautegazza. (About 1480) 184
List of Illustrations. vii
I'Aan
27. Bas-relief from a cliimtiey-piece in the Ducal Palace atUrbino,
by Ambrogio da Milano. (About 1470) .... 194
28. Virtue. Statuette. Porta della Carta, Ducal Palace, Venice.
Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon. (About 1440) . . . 209
29. Tailpiece. Lion of St. Mark. Piazzetta, Venice. (Thirteenth
century ?) 234
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
30. Effigy of Bishop Bonafede. Certosa, Florence. By Francesco
di Saiigallo. (About 1526) . 245
31. Tail-piece. Head of a boy possessed with a devil. Bas-relief
from the tomb of San Giovanni Gualberto. By Benedetto
da Eovezzano. (About 1512) ...... 250
CHAPTER II.
32. Tail-piece. Cupid. S. Kensington Museum. Michelangelo . 308
CHAPTER III.
33. Church Fathers. Church of the Servites, Bologna. By Mon-
torsoli. (After 1557) 323
34. Perseus. Loggia de' Lanzi, Florence. By Benvenuto Cellini
(1.546) 331
35. Angel. San Petronius, Bologna. By II Tribolo. (About 1528) 336 30. Mercury. Bargello, Florence. Gian Bologna. (About 1559) . 337
37. Bronze Venus. Statuette. Fountain at Petraja. By Gian
Bologna .......... 339
38. Tail-piece. St. Cosimo. Sacristy of San Lorenzo, Florence.
By Montorsoli (1526 ?) . . 340
CHAPTER IV.
39. St. Jerome. Giustiniani Chapel, S. Francesco della Vigne,
Venice 357
40. Head of Bartolomeo Coleoni, from equestrian statue. Piazza
of S. Gio. e Paolo, Venice. Alessandro Leopardi. (About 1490) . . 361
41. Jacopo di San Severino, from his monument in San Severino,
Naples, by Merliano da Nola. (After 1516) . . .368
42. Tail-piece. Sta. Chiara, at Sta. Maria de' Miracoli, Venice. By
Girolamo Campagna (1591) 386
1
V
I
IX
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
SCULPTUEE IN NORTHERN ITALY BEFORE
THE REVIVAL.
LOMBARDY.
The Goths who overran Italy at the end of the fourth century were fortunately under the control of a leader who, though him- self so illiterate that he could not write his own name, had imbibed at the Court of the Emperor Zeno such u respect for arts and letters that when he became master of the better part of the Western Empire he used his power to protect ancient monuments from injury, and for a time stopped the wanton destruction of those vestiges of the past. With a shrewd fore- sight, which recognized the conditions necessary for the main- tenance of his authority, Theodoric (475-526) stimulated the Italians to the cultivation of arts and letters, while he kept the Goths out of the reach of such humanising influences, lest in becoming civilized they should fall off from their high state of military discipline. The palaces which he erected at Terra- cina, Ravenna, Verona, and Pavia,* were built by Italian archi- tects who were ignorant of any other style of architecture than that which was based upon the round arch, and imitated the old Roman buildings as far as their inferior skill would allow. The debased Roman was therefore the only style employed in Italy during the period of Gothic rule, and it was not till seven hundred years after its overthrow that the pointed style, to which the name of Gothic has been most erroneously attached, crossed the Alps and took an always uncertain foothold in the peninsula.
While Italian architects and mosaic-workers built and
* Cantu, Storia degli Italiani, ii. 25.
X Historical Handbook :)/ Italian Sculpture.
decorated the edifices of Gothic kings, Italian marble-workerg adorned sarcophagi with such rude bas-reliefs as we see in the Lateran museum at Rome and about the streets of Kavenna, but they made no statues,* and were so inferior to Byzantine sculptors that St. Ecclesius, Bishop of Ravenna, on returning from ByzantMTin, where he had witnessed the immense enthu- siasm of Justinian and his people in the construction of Santa Sophia, determined to employ only Greek workmen upon the church of San Vitale.f The introduction of the Byzantine stjde into Italy thus effected was productive of important results, for as it was gradually blended with the classical Roman, with which it was then first brought face to face, a third great style was formed, known as the Romanesque, Romano-Byzantine, Lom- bard or Comacine. The two first names sufiiciently denote their origin, but the two last demand some explanation. That of Lom- bard as applied to any art is an absolute misnomer, if supposed to be derived from the barbarous tribes who crossed the Alps under Alboinus, king of the Lombards or Longobards, reduced the greater part of Italy to subjection and ruled it for nearly two centuries, since they like the Goths were ignorant and unlettered. It was not because the new style of architecture, which sprang up in Italy during their dominion, originated with them, that the name of Lombard was applied to the manner of building then prevalent, but because the greater part of the southern as well as the northern Italian provinces were comprehended under the name of Lombardy. The name ot Comacine was derived from a body of Italian architects who built for the Lombards, and kept art traditions alive while their rule lasted. For twenty years after Alboinus and his followers overran the plains of Lombardy, the Isoletta Comacina (an island in the Lake of Como), which held out against their power under Francioue, an imperial partisan, contained numbers of fugitives from all parts of Italy, amongst whom were many
* The equestrian group wliich savrcnuded the pediment of Theodoric'a palace at Eavenna was a portrait of the Emperor Zeno cast at Constanti- nople. It bore a shield upon its left shoulder and a lance in its out- stretched right hand. Birds flew in and out of the distended nostrils of the horse and built their nests in his belly (Agnelli, Llher PontificallSf pt. ii. ch. ii. p. 123 ; Mur. Sc. Iter. It. vol. ii.).
t Completed by St. Maximin a.d. 546-556.
Introduction. xi
skilled artisans known as the Maestri Comacini, a name afterwards changed into that of " Casari " or '' Casarii," — builders of houses. After they had submitted to the invaders (a.d. 590) their college or guild was favoured by the Lombard kings ; its members were affranchised, made citizens, and allowed certain important privileges, but there is no evidence that the Lombard kings did anything to protect arts, com- merce, or industry before the reign of King Eotari (a.d. 636 -652), whose code of laws contains -special enactments for the protection of the Maestri Comacini, and a recognition of their free jurisdiction in the name given to them of Free-masons. During the early period of Lombard rule, while the country was suffering from war and pestilence, these artisans found little employment, but their situation was ameliorated after the con- version of the Lombards from Arianism to CatholicismT" through the influence of Queen Theodolinda, the Bavarian and Catholic wife of their King Agilulph. To commemorate his change of faith, the queen employed Comacine architects to build the Cathedral at Monza, where they represented her with other members of her family, and the precious gifts with which she endowed the Church, in a bas-relief of the Baptism of our Lord, which still exists over its chief portal.
A hundred years after her time other Comacine masters worked at Cividale in the district of Friuli, with the same methods of construction, and the same lack of skill in the use of the chisel. Their architecture and sculpture are chiefly in- teresting as examples of a transitional period, when Eoman and Byzantine elements hesitated in each other's presence before uniting in the Romanesque. The most imjjortant of these Comacine works is the octagonal font in the Cathedral which was erected by St. Calixtus, Bishop of Aquileja, about 737. The spaces between the slender columns with rude Corinthian capitals which support its roof aro spanned by round arches, whose spandrils are adorned with clumsily repre- sented Christian emblems. The bases of the columns rest upon a marble parapet decorated with figures symbolical of the four Evangelists. These figures and an ornate Greek cross with candelabra and palmettos, are executed in relief by lowering the surface of the stone around the clumsy outlines, within which the details are indicated by furrows dug out in
h 2
xii Historical Handbook of Italian Sctdptnre.
the stone. The sarcophagus of Pemone, Duke of Friuli, under the high altar of the Church of San Martino is contem- }3orary with them, and equally rude in style. Our Lord is there represented as borne upwards by four angels in an aureole formed of leaves within which are two other angels, marked as cherubim by the eyes upon their wings. The hand of the Father is sculptured above the head of the Son, and stars and flowers are scattered about the background. In the bas-rv)lief of the Adoration of the Magi* at one end of the sarcophagus, and in that of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth at the other, the Madonna has a cross cut upon her forehead, instead of having it traced upon a veil as in early Greek manuscripts. The faces of the figures are without expression, and their pro- portions are short and clumsy. Their outlines, features, and
folds of drapery were originally rendered more distinct by colour, traces of which are still visible. Numerous fragments of orna- ments and animals in the same Italo-Byzantine style are set into the wall of the atrium of the church of Santa Maria della Valle,f where they may be easily compared with the genuine By- zantine figures and stucco orna- ments inside its portal, which were probably executed for Pel- truda, wife of a duke of Friuli, who founded the adjoining monastery, by some of those artists who took refuge in Italy during the Iconoclastic war. The archivolt of the portal is completely covered with a vine, boldly modelled in open work.
* The three Kings are said to be portraits of Eachis Duke of Friuli, and his brothers Aistulf and Ratcait.
t See Tavole Chronologicho della Storia della Chiesa universale, illus- crate de Ignazio Mozzani. sec. 8, pp. 96, 97, for a mention of Sta. Maria della Valle, also the work of M. de Dartein on Lombard architecture, pt. ii. ])p. 30 et sej.
Introduction. xlii
Above it are six life-size statues of SS. Anastasia, Agape, Chiouia, Irene, Cbrysoguus and Zoiles, wliose long propor- tions, rigidity of i)ose, and j^eculiar type of face give them the appearance of the saints represented in Byzantine mosaics and ivories. They wear crowns upon their heads, and are clothed in closely fitting robes, whose borders are ornamented with gems disposed in regular patterns. {See wood-cut, p. xii.) It is important to remember that many of the early Italian churches have been so completely changed by restoration as to retain but few traces of their original aspect, while the date of the sculptures about them, when history fails us, can only be conjectured, as they often belong to a later period than the buildings. The capitals of the columns of the church of San Salvatore at Brescia, for instance, some of which are Byzantine and others rude imitations of the Corinthian, certainly belong to the same period as the edifice, which was built by the Lom- bard king Desiderius and his wife Ansa in the eighth century (769), while the capitals of the white and red marble colonnettes formerly in the confession, and now in the museum, cannot have been sculptured before the tenth century, as one of them is adorned with representations of the martyrdom of Santa Julia, whose worship did not obtain favour at Brescia until after that time.* So also the stucco ornaments and reliefs at San Pietro di Civate (in the territory of Brienza, on the moun- tains near the Lake of Como), which was built by the same king in fulfilment of a vow made to St. Peter when his son Adelchi was struck blind while hunting, are of several diflerent periods, though none appear to be contemporary with the building itself. The grifiins, chimeras, fantastic animals and fishes, with the interlaced ornaments resembling those upon Scandinavian monuments, indicate that influence of northern traditions, which shows itself in similar sculptures of the eleventh century about Apulian churches, but the subjects in relief from the life of our Lord belong to a later period, for the Resurrection and the Passion were not directly represented in this part of Italy before the twelfth century. So again, while the rudely-shaped animals and monstrous figures about the facade of San Michele at Pavia, and the clumsy images of Sau Michele and of a bishop above its pediment, are works
* Eicci, op. ciL i. 256, 25S.
XIV Historical Handbook of Italiaft SculpttLre.
of the eleventh or twelfth century, the church is a huilding of the tenth, erected upon the site of an old edifice founded by King Grimoaldus, which was burnt down when the Hungarian mercenaries of the Emperor Adalbert set fire to the city.
Milan.
While Theodoric made Pavia a royal residence, and the Lombards embellished Llonza, Milan was left in the low state to which Uriah, the nephew of Yitiges Kiug of the Goths, had reduced her in the fifth century. Her double walls, her theatres, temples, and peristyles adorned with statues, mentioned in the verses of Ausonius, were then thrown down and destroyed, and this city, which had been the first in Italy after Eome, did not regain her former position for more than five hundred years. The remains of early sculpture at Milan are consequently of little importance, and only x^orthy of attention as connected with the history of art. The earliest are a sarcophagus of the fourth century in the church of S. Celso, which differs in no respect from works of the same class and period at Rome and Ravenna, and a rudely executed bas-relief of the eighth century on the outside of the church of Sta. Maria di Beltrade, which is interesting on account of the connection of its subject with the period in which it was sculptured. It represents a bishop preceded by monks bearing an image of the Madonna and Child upon their shoulders, and followed by torch-bearers. The man with a long beard who closes the procession (called "Delia Idea") is supposed to be the '' Primiciero "* of the "Scuola di Sant' Ambrogio," a society of twenty male and female beggars, to whom alms were distributed at certain seasons of the year, among whose benefactors was Archbishop Anspertus, the regenerator of Milan.
With the exception of Anspertus and his predecessor Angibertus, the Archbishops of Milan, who held the first rank among Italian ecclesiastics and were the real rulers of the city under the weak successors of Charlemagne, did little for any of the arts. Angibertus erected the ciborium at Sant' Ambrogio
* From his dress we might suppose this to be a priest, did we not know that priests were not allowed to wear beards at that time (Giulini, Mem. di 3IilanOf i. 305).
Introduction, xv
(a.d, 835) whose gables are adorned with long-proportioned symmetrically - disposed figures in relief of a thoroughly Byzantine ty^pe, and employed an artist named Wolvinus to make a series of bas-reliefs in gold to decorate the high altar.
The wealth and power of the Milanese archbishops culminated in the person of Heribert or Aribert, an ambitious and w^arlike prelate, who assuming the right to dispose of the crown of Italy, offered it at the Council of Constance, to the German emperor Conrad, placed it on his head in the cathedral at Milan, and entertained him and his suite with princely magnificence for many weeks after the ceremony. His chief title to remem- brance is the invention of the Caroccio, which was adopted by the principal cities of Northern Italy, and proved a powerful element of military success, as its loss in battle was a disgrace, and its possession by the enemy the surest proof of victory. It consisted of a huge car with a lofty mast, surmounted by a crucifix standing on a gilded globe, from which floated two long white banners. An altar for the celebration of mass, the military chest, and all kinds of medicines and bandages for wounded soldiers were carried upon it, and it was always kept in the midst of the army while in the field, so as to show where the commander stood, where the disabled could find succour, and where fugitives could rally in safety. The Milanese regarded their caroccio with so much affection, that when Frederic Barbarossa ordered it to be broken up (a.d. 11G2) their emotion affected even his rough soldiers to tears,* but they took their revenge upon him at Legnano five years ^ later, and then consecrated the rude Byzantine-looking crucifix W'hich towered above the Caroccio on that memorable day in the church of San Calimaro,f where it still remains. \
The victory of Legnano is also commemorated by the bas- reliefs of the Porta Romana, Avhich represent the trium- phant citizens returning to their half-destroyed homes, headed by a monk named Frate Jacopo, who bears the city banner in his hand, and accompanied by their allies from Cremona,
* Kington's Life of Frederic II., i. 52.
t The figure of our Lord in low relief is both coloured and gilded. Below it Archbishop Heribert is represented holding the model of the church of St. Dionysius in his hand. The square nimbus around liia head proves that the crucifix was made during his lifetime.
xvi Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture.
Brescia, and Bergamo. One of the inscriptions upon the gate records the name of Anselmus as the sculptor, and hails him as a second Dtedalus,* hut in applying to him a name which stood to his coutemporaies as typical of the perfect sculj)tor they showed their own ignorance, for art could hardly reach a low^er stage than in these short, clumsy, thickset figures, dang- ling in the air like a row^ of dolls wdth pendant feet and shape- less hands. The contempt of the Milanese for Barbarossa expressed itself in two bas-reliefs of himself and his wife, the Empress Beatrice, one of which is a hideous caricature, and the other too grossly obscene for description. f In the first the Emperor is represented as a bareheaded and long haired monster, holding a sceptre in one hand and resting the other upon his thigh. His feet are crossed, and he holds between his knees a nondescript creature with a human head, bat's ears, a dragon's scaly breast and wdngs, and fishes' fins in lieu of arms.+
As Milan increased in power and wealth, the monuments in her churches w^ere so greatly multiplied, that at the end of the fourteenth century they are said to have been no less than 2,000 in number. Many of those in the Cathedral were re- moved by San Carlo Borromeo, and others, such as the twelve marble statues given by Pope Urban II. in 1220, a pulpit made by a certain Oprando da Busnate, and divers tombs of the Sforzas and the Viscontis have disappeared, so that the red marble sarcophagus supported upon columns in which Arch- bishop Otho Visconti (d. 1256) was buried, is now the only exist- *' ing monument to a member of either family in the Cathedral. It may be the work of one of the Campionesi, so called from Campione, their native district on the shores of the Lago
* " Hoc opus formavit Anselmus Dasdalus ale." " Ale " has been siip- posed to stand for " alter," or to be an abbreviation of Alexandrinus. " Dasdalus ale " has also been read as " De Dalus arte " (see Millin, Voyage dans le Milanais).
t This bas-relief, which long disgraced the Porta Tosi, is now preserved in the Palazzo Archinti. It is sculptured on the back of a Eoman cippus, whose inscription says that Publius Futilius had it made for himself and his three sons.
J Fiamma, the chronicler, says this figure was made for the Greek emperor; but this cannot be, as he was an ally of the leaguers. Millin calls it " Christ Conqueror of Satan." Giulini and Biondelli believe it to be the portrait of Barbarossa. "When removed from the gate it was eet up in the wall of a house overlooking the Naviglio.
hitrodtiction. xvii
Ceresio, to whom we may also safely attribute whatever of an im- proved style is to be found at or near Milan of an earlier date than the beginning of the fourteenth century, as, for instance, the equestrian alto-relief on the outer walls of the Broletto of tJie Podesta Orlando di Tresseno, who is noted for having first caused heretics to be burned at Milan (1233). He is here represented with bared head, and hair cut close in the neck, after the modern fashion, riding on a heavy limbed horse. The group, though wanting in life, has a certain homely truth to nature, and is interesting as being one of the first works of its kind made in Italy since the days of Justinian.
MODENA.
Five of the Campionesi, named Anselmo, Ottaccio, Enrico, Alberto and Jacopo, were employed at Modena, about the middle of the thirteenth century, to sculpture certain bas-reliefs for the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament in the Cathedral. The best among them is that of the Last Supper by Anselmo which, though far from being a masterpiece, is not barbaric like the reliefs of the victories of King Arthur over the Visigoths, sculptured by Wiligelmus, a Lombard or German sculptor of the twelfth century upon the fagade of the Cathedral. Their figures, like those in the bas-reliefs of the Porta Romana at Milan, lately described, have round staring eyes, pendant limbs, and furrowed draperies, and rej)resent sculpture at its lowest stage of degradation, while those in Anselmo's relief of the Last Supper, although stiff and inexpressive, show some knowledge of form, and some comprehension of the require* ments of Art.
Parma.
Benedetto degli Antelami, who built the Baptistry at Parma, and decorated it and the Cathedral with sculpture, was a much more remarkable artist than his contemporary, Anselmo da Campione. Like the Campionesi, and the Comacini, the Magistri Antelami to whom Benedetto belonged, were a body of architects and stone carvers, who derived their name from
xviii Historical Handbook of Italian Scnlpttire.
the place of their origin. * Benedetto, who came from the Valley of Antelamo, in the province of Como, between the lakes of Mag- giore and Varese, is known to us only by his patronymic, and we have no information as to his youth and education. In point of technical skill he was not in advance of many of his contempo- raries, but though he expressed himself in very broken language, he had vastly more intelligence and feeling than any of them, and is on this account to be classed as their superior. Eighteen years before he built the Baptistry at Parma, and decorated it with sculptures, which form his best title to remembrance.
J£(U
Descent from the Cross. (By Benedetto Antelami.)
he carved three bas-reliefs for a pulpit in the Cathedral (1178), one of which, representing the Descent from the Cross, is now preserved in the Boiardi Chapel (see woodcut). The figures are stiff in pose, and scanty in proportion, but they form a composition with a central group and side groups whose action is concurrent. On the right of the cross, from which Nicodemus detaches the body while Joseph of Arimathea supports it in his arms, stand St. John and the Madonna, who assists the flying angel above her head to hold up the drooping arm ot her Divine Son. The corresponding group on the left, repre- sents a priest who is pushed forward to the foot of the Cross by
Inh'oditction. xix
a soldier and a flying angel. As he has the word Synagoga, inscribed above his head, we may suppose that he is here introduced as a type of the stiff-necked Jews. This striking and so far as we know original idea, exemplifies those mystical tendencies of Benedetto which found full expression in hia works at the Baptistry (1196). The bas-reliefs of its three portals illustrate the first and second coming of Christ, and symbolize human life. Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs, with Moses, who freed the children of Israel from slavery as Christ liberated mankind from the thraldom of sin, and the kings of David's line and the Madonna are represented upon the side parts of the north portal as seated one above the other upon the leaves of a vine, the tree of Jesse, whose branches intertwine to enframe them. Around the archivolt sit the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ, holding medal- lions, upon which half figui-es of the apostles are carved in relief. The frieze illustrates the history of our Lord and of St. John the Baptist. Upon the side posts of the western portal are the deeds of charity, which the Judge will enumerate as the titles of the just "to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world," and the parable of the Labourers of the Vineyard, divided into twelve parts to represent the hours of the day. In the lunette sits Christ the Judge, surrounded by angels bearing the instruments of the Passion, and upon the architrave are other angels blowing trumpets to call the dead to life. The principal decoration of the southern portal is a bas-relief in its lunette, which repre- seats a youth seated in the branches of a tree, gathering honey from a honeycomb,* while two small animals are gnawing at its
* Many learned explanations have been given of this relief. See for example, the Eevue Arclieologique, Paris, t. x. p. 289; Letter written by Sig. Lopez to M. Isabelle ; Hammer, Antologia di Firenze, 1827, p. 84 ; Valery, Voyage en Italie, t. ii. p. 210 ; Sacchi, AnticMsta Romantiche (V Italia, epoca i. p. 117 ; M. le Dr. Duchalais, Letti-e a M. Lopez tlu 5 juin 18o4, imprime dans le xxii* vol. p. 307, cles Mcmoircs cle la Societe Imperiale des Antiqioaires de France, 1855, in which he suggests that the subject of the bas-relief was drawn from the legend of S. Barlaam ; Didron, Annales Archeologiqnes,yo]. xv. p. 413, 1855. Sig. Lopez, op. cit. p. 180, quotes the explanation given by Sig. Ab. Luigi Barbieri and l)rinted in the Efemeride della Pubblica Istruzione (anno ii. no. 28, April 1, 1861, p. 473), as the most satisfactory. Sig. Barbieri says that the
XX Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture.
roots, and a dragon, with flames issuing from his extended jaws, sits watching to seize his prey when they shall have done their work. Thus man, absorbed in worldly enjoyments, forgets his inevitable doom. Reliefs in red Verona marble, of such symbolic human figures, heads, busts, animals, and fantastic monsters as are frequently seen about Lombard churches, are disposed about the eight sides of the building ; and others of Faith, Justice and Peace, Hope, Prudence and Modesty, Charity and Piety, Chastity, Patience and Humility, are placed near the doorways.
The lunettes of the three doors within the building are filled with reliefs representing the flight into Egypt, the Pre- sentation of Christ in the Temple, and the Regions of the Blessed. In a fourth relief upon the high altar, Christ seated within a mandorla blesses with his right hand, and rests his left upon an open book. In considering these w^orks,* w'e must remember that they were sculptured at a time when anything beyond the decoration of a font or an architrave with emblems was seldom attempted, while in them on the contrary, the whole scheme of human redemption is" unfolded in a series of allegorical and sacro-historical compositions and symbolic figures, by a master who lived more than a century before Giotto treated the same subject on the walls of the Arena Chapel at Padua. This once again brings us to see that in art, as in nature, the processes of evolution are slow and progressive. An appa- rently sudden advance is always preceded by eff"orts which have made it possible, and it is the discovery of these efforts which gives charm to the study of art in its early periods. Objects in themselves unattractive become interesting so soon as we recognize their historical relations to each other and to those of later and more educated times. Thus, at Parma, when we compare the sculptures of the Baptistry w'ith the work of Lombard times, about the doorway of one of the old portals of the Basilica of San-Quintino, and upon the so-called Porta di
bas-relief expresses human life in its beginning, its source and its end; and that it is truly symbolical in that it has a triple significance, in rela- tion to the physical, the moral, and the religions attributes of human nature.
■* The facade sculptures of the Cathedral at Borgo San Donino near Parma, were perhaps executed by Benedetto or his scholars.
Introduction. xxi
San Bertoldo in the choir of the church, which are respectively of the ninth and eleventh centuries, we see that although no great advance has heen made in technic, the field of art repre- sentation has been greatly widened. Nearly all the great and many of the small North Italian cities give opportunity for such comparative study and observation, as for instance Verona, Venice, Mantua, Modena, etc., of which we shall uow proceed to speak briefly.
Verona.
The earliest sculptors mentioned at Verona, are Magister Urso, or Orso, and his scholars Gioventius and Gioviano, whose names were inscribed upon a ciborium in the church of San Giorgio di Val Pulicella. They are supposed to have been refugees from the Roman Campagna, who when Alboinus de- scended with his Lombard followers into Italy in the sixth century, fled with many natives of the invaded provinces to the Isola Comacina, and eventually became members of its famous body of architects. Maestro Pacifico, who lived in the ninth century, was perhaps a Veronese, as were Guglielmus,Nicolaus,Briolottus, and Adaminus, who in the twelfth took part in the decoration of the venerable church of San Zeno, which though founded in the sixth century was not completed till after the middle of the tenth (961). Guglielmus has been identified with the sculptor of the bas-reliefs and portal ornaments about the Cathedral at Modena, and Nicolo with the Nicolo del Ficarolo who decorated the exterior of the cathedral at Ferrara. The rude bas-reliefs on either side of the portal of San Zeno repre- sent subjects from the Old and New Testament, fantastic animals, knights on horseback,* &c., &c. The figures in these compositions