Renaissance Front of the Church of the Certosa at Pavia.See pages 378,379.
Renaissance Front of the Church of the Certosa at Pavia.
See pages 378,379.
This contract very much offended Gio. Antonio Amadeo, who had gone to Bergamo to make a monument for the Colleoni family, and he appealed to the Colleoni, and also to the Duke 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 apodere(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 Solari was still thecapo maestro. He died early in January 1481, and on the 13th of the same month, 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 arte et de divino ingenio"), as a worthy successor to his father as chief architect. Antonio Mantegazza succeeded him, but he, too, 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 recommendation of Ludovico il Moro. Gobbo, however, did not long remain in office, for in 1497 we find him employed at the Duomo of Milan, and the sepulchre of Beatrice d'Este, at the church of the Grazie there. In 1506 he became head architect at Milan.
In 1499, a letter from B. Calco, dated May 1, declares that the works at the Certosa are nearly finished (sarà presto presso el fine).[277]
The church had already been opened for service since May 1497, when the Cardinal di S. Croce came in state to consecrate it, and a grand refection was offered him. Thedocuments 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 all the Comacines, a sculptor as well as architect. The baptismal font at Monza, which was once noted for its beauty, is now ruined and mutilated. The pulpit and the sculptures on the façade of Monza cathedral are attributed to Matteo's own hand. The pulpit is a fine piece of sculpture in white marble. It was 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 it, and there are many small reliefs. It has a prominent part in the front, called by the Italians thepulpitino, or little pulpit. On this are sculptured the Redeemer with a book, and a thunderbolt in His hands, and the four Evangelists. The façade 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 Lombardtwo-light windows, the archlets of which are a little cusped. The lines of the façade are quite Lombard, the internal divisions being 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 eaves, but they rest on nothing, and are of no practical use as their prototypes were. Probably, as the interior was not rebuilt, Matteo da Campione so far respected the work of his older brethren, as to adapt his façade to the rest of the building. 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 ancient sculpture of "Agilulf and Theodolinda" in the lunette of the doorway. Its style is much earlier than the figures above. Matteo was buried in the church, and on his tomb is the inscription—"Hic jacet magnus ille ædificator devotus magister Mattheus de Campiliono, qui hujus sacrosanctæ Ecclesiæ fatiem ædificavit evangelistarium ac battisterium qui obiit anno Domini MCCCLXXXXVI die XXIV mensio maii." It is said that he has sculptured his own likeness in the rigid and thoughtful figure of the saint near the turret, over the rose window.
Façade of Monza Cathedral. Restored 14th century.See page 380 et seq.
Façade of Monza Cathedral. Restored 14th century.
See page 380 et seq.
Another work which we have seen commenced by earlier Comacines was the cathedral of Como. That too 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 from the town. In 1386, however, the Bishop of Como persuaded Gian Galeazzo to transpose his fort and open the church again to the people. In gratitude for this, the people proposed to restore their church, and Gian Galeazzo promised his aid. The work was begun in 1396 and went on till 1513. Authors disagree as to whether the church were renovated,i.e.restored, or rebuilt. Whichever it was,there is no doubt that the whole façade was executed in the fifteenth century. The north door is of rich ornate Renaissance style, and much later than that on the façade, although the lions are still under the columns. The façade follows in its lines the old Lombard form, but the dividing pilasters here are lavishly enriched. They are in fact but a perpendicular line of niches with a statue in each. The three doorways are round-arched, the windows above them slightly pointed. Over the central door is a Gothic vestibule with saints in its canopied arches.
The first architect of the restoration is indicated in the register of the Milan Lodge, where on April 30, 1396, Magister Lorenzo degli Spazi de Laino in Val d'Intelvi is allowed to leave the works at Milan to be chief architect at Como, "deliberarunt quod licentietur Magister Laurentius de Spatiis ad eundum Cumas pro laborerio Ecclesie majoris civitatis Cumarum ad requisitionem comunis et hominum dicte civitatis Cumarum." He had not long entered on office when Gian Galeazzo died, and Como was again involved in a fight for freedom with Malatesta and the Visconti. In 1416 the Como people had to swear allegiance to Milan, and then Duke Filippo Maria Visconti allowed the works to go on. On February 19, 1439, Pietro da Bregia near Como was elected master architect, and he continued Lorenzo de Spazi's work. He changed the plan so as to bring the façade 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 aboutA.D.1000, 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 completely buried.
The Cathedral and Broletta at Como.See page 382.
The Cathedral and Broletta at Como.
See page 382.
THE VENETIAN LODGE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
The connection of the Comacines of Longobardic times with Venice, through the powerful Lombard Dukes of Friuli, and the Patriarchs of Aquileja, their metropolitan bishops, has already been touched upon; and we have mentioned the Patriarch Fortunatus for whom the Masonic Guild built the churches of Grado and Torcello. The Comacines had, in the eighth century, also built the Baptistery of Calixtus at Cividale, and had sculptured the altar of Duke Pemmo in Friuli; in the twelfth century they rebuilt the Duomo of Cividale for the Patriarch Pellegrino.... This connection was still further strengthened, when in 1311 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 followed him. The Torriani were from Valsassina near 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. At Sacile in the Friuli district the ancient church with three naves, built in 1400, can show documents proving its architects to have been Beltramo and Antonio, both of Como, and 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 in transition style,i.e.semi-Gothic. The two aisles are divided from the nave by a grand colonnade. The façade is of the style of Siena and Orvieto, with cusped arches under triangular gables; it has a large finely-traceried rose window in the centre, and a profusion of statues. At Venzone, also near Tagliamento, is an ancient Lombardchurch with characteristic sculptures, built in 1200. Here 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 of Cividale was restored by Pietro Lombardo, several of his brethren worked with him.
In 1420, the Venetians, led by Roberto Morosini, took Friuli and annexed it to Venice. By the treaty of Lodi in 1454 they added Bergamo, Brescia, and Crema. Many Lombards flocked to Venice at that time, and the Masonic Guild had its schools andlaboreriumthere. From that date the Masters of the guild were known in Venice as "Mistri (Masters) Lombardi." Merzario dates from this epoch the renewed connection of the Comacine Guild with Venice, but it must have begun much earlier than that, if it had not continued unbroken from Lombard times. A lodge must certainly have existed in Venice from the time when the first Maestro Buono (Vasari's Buono) went there in 1150. It is unlucky for history that the original Freemasons, being a secret society, kept no archives. It is only after the twelfth century, when other art guilds were formed on the same system, but without the secrecy, that we get an insight into what had been, all the ages through, the management of the guild. At Siena, as we have seen, the painters seceded in the thirteenth century from the universal brotherhood, and founded their academy of painters, the sculptors following their lead. 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 Venicefor permission to form statutes and hold chapters under the denomination of theArte de tajapiere(stone-cutters). They were not at liberty to form a Masonic or building guild, because the original one had then the monopoly. Sig. Agostino Sagredo,[278]in his valuable work on the building guilds in Venice, says—"While we are speaking of the 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 Comacini) it spread beyond the Alps; Popes gave them their benediction, 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 of building important edifices. Long and hard were the initiations to aspirants, mysterious were the meetings and the teaching, and to ennoble themselves they dated their origin from Solomon's Temple." This monopoly would 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 centuries were evidently absolved from secrecy; they started fresh as independent companies, and thus freed, art was able to expand more largely. With this light on its formation, it is interesting to find in the Venetian Guild of sculptors, organized in 1307, the self-same rules and government as in Siena, and all the other cities. We find the school andlaboreriumand the usual Administrative Council of fourSoprastantielected on the first Sunday of every month, the outgoing officials having to instruct thenew ones. In Venice the Grand Master of the Lodge was called, as in the ancient Lombard Lodges,Gastaldo; the chief architect of a work was designated in more classic language,Proto.
On the third Sunday of the month every Master of theartewas obliged to pay a goldsoldoto 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 theQuattro Coronatiwas kept,[279]and no one was to work on that day under pain of a fine of 100 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 four ounces. The fines for those who absent themselves from thefêteof the Patron Saints are the same as at Siena, and so also are the rules about matriculation of members, the making of contracts, the introduction of foreign Masters, etc.
The first name of aGastaldoor Grand Master in the Venetian Lodge is a Mistro Lorenzo de Vielino in 1407, who makes a law that no Master shall have more than threefanti scritti(apprentices?) besides his own sons or brothers. Sagredo says that the Masters in all theseartiwere 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 Ca' D'oro, Venice. Designed by Magister Giovanni Buoni (Zambono) 1430 a.d.See page 389.
The Ca' D'oro, Venice. Designed by Magister Giovanni Buoni (Zambono) 1430 a.d.
See page 389.
The head-quarters of the lodge were in the little street known as the Piscina di S. Samuele. TheOperawas a large building, not much decorated, but there was a fine relief by one of the Lombard Masters over the door. Thiswas removed, and preserved by the Government when the building, no longer needful for its former use, was sold. The altar of theQuattro Coronati, sacred to the guild, was in the church of S. Samuele close by. Here too 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 façade runs—
MCCCLXXXII ADI XXV MARZO.IN TEPO D(i)MA' ANTONIO DA MODON(Modena)E SO COMPAGNI MA' ANTONIO NEGROE MA BONAZZA E MA' ANDRA(Andrea)D'ACRE.E SCRIVAN MA' DOLZE(Dolce).
MCCCLXXXII ADI XXV MARZO.IN TEPO D(i)MA' ANTONIO DA MODON(Modena)E SO COMPAGNI MA' ANTONIO NEGROE MA BONAZZA E MA' ANDRA(Andrea)D'ACRE.E SCRIVAN MA' DOLZE(Dolce).
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 four members of the ruling council in 1482, allMagistri, and that of the notary of the guild, Maestro Dolce.[280]Another inscription on the staircase, 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 other branches of the guild. In 1430 we find Zambono engaged to decorate the Ca d'Oro or Palazzo Contarini on the Grand Canal. In his aim at magnificence good Giovanni Bono of Como not only made the work a masterpiece of Gothic ornamentation, but he gilded his sculpture till it was refulgent. It appears that this Zambono, who could not spell his own name, was not such a master of thepen as he was of the chisel, for his son Bartolommeo signed the contract for him on April 20, 1430. The gilding was done by Giovanni da Francia, whose son Francesco signed for him.
Bartolommeo Bono worked much with his father, and later his 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 built by Justinian and Narses. At the end of the tenth century, the Doge Pietro Orseolo restored Justinian's building. To this restoration belong probably some of the fine mediæval capitals of the columns of the Loggia, of which we have given an illustration onpage 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 façade rebuilt. The first Masters mentioned in the books are the three Buoni. A minute, dated September 6, 1463, registers that the Salt Office 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[281]—i.e.the Sala del Squittinio. This would include all the façade and its colonnades, with the internal Sala del Squittinio and Scala Foscara leading to it, on which isplaced the statue of Francesco della Rovere.[282]The 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, for on November 25, 1443, Bartolommeo writes himself in a notarial act as "Ego Bartolommeus lapiscida q. ser Johannis Boni."
Ducal Palace at Venice. The side built by the Buoni Family.See page 390.
Ducal Palace at Venice. The side built by the Buoni Family.
See page 390.
Part of the palace was burned not many lustres after, and in 1484, Antonio Rizo or Riccio was nominatedProtofor its rebuilding. He came to Venice with good recommendations. 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 façade 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, 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 d'Intelvi, both Como Masters, assisted in the sculpture of 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 the round arches again appear. It is all enriched byexquisite sculptural decoration; the frieze of Nereids and sea-horses on the third order is very fine.
Selvatico attributes also to Riccio much of the side of the palace towards the prisons. The two statues of Adam 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 ofProtois given in a document in the Venetian archives quoted by Cadorin. The document, dated October 10, 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,Protoof 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."[283]
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.[284]
Court of the Ducal Palace at Venice. Designed by Magister Antonio Rizo or RiccioSee pages 391,392.
Court of the Ducal Palace at Venice. Designed by Magister Antonio Rizo or Riccio
See pages 391,392.
It is difficult to say who is the Antonio Bregno that is accredited with Rizo's works. There was a Lorenzo Bregno, a sculptor to whom Sansovino attributes the statue of the General Dionisio Naldo of Brisighella (died 1510), which is placed above the door of San Giovanni e Paolo. There 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 a diligent search. As the Bregni were related to Rizo, it 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, the "curly-headed"—fromriccio, a curl.[285]
After Riccio, a Magister Bartolommeo Gonella, who died in 1505, succeeded asProto, 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 St. Mark's, which were now occupying the guild. The 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 in 1150, more than three centuries earlier.
When in 1516 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 d'essa) censured the plan of the stairs, and the work was suspended.Maestro Buono would not relinquish his design, and retired; on which Pietro Lombardo was elected in his place to continue the building. Here we have again a distinct proof of the 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, Florence, etc.
In 1529 Maestro Buono died, and Jacopo Sansovino was nominatedProtoof the Procuratie in his stead. One of Buono's principal assistants was Guglielmo da Alzano, near Bergamo.[286]He sculptured a beautiful altar in the Servite church on the commission of Madonna Verde della Scala. It is now removed to the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. The great altar in the church of S. Salvadore is also attributed to him. He was a famous builder as well as sculptor, and was architect of the Camerlinghi Palace, at the foot of the Rialto in Venice. The beautiful Tasca 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 "Porta di S. Tomaso" in Treviso.
Several other more familiar Comacine names are found in Venice, such as Gregorio and Giorgio of Carona, whom we have seen sculpturing at Udine;[287]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 theArchivio Veneto(vol. xxxi. anno 1886, fasc. lxii. p. 169),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,i.e.a Madonna and Child and two angels, the statues to be figures, that may by any goodMagisterbe 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 histories of art is nothing but a misleading nickname. The Venetians called them the Lombards. Just as Vannucchi is called Perugino, and Allegri is called Correggio, so the Solari family 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 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).[288]
Martino was the architect of the Scuola di San Marco, near SS. Giovanni e Paolo. His name appears before that time as "Mistro Martino tajapiera," when he was, in 1476, sent to Istria tosbozzarethe marbles for the sculptures on S. Zaccaria, of which he was architect, though his ancestor Antonio di Marco had begun it in 1458. At the Scuola di San Marco, his son Moro, brother of Pietro, assisted him, and on Martino's death Moro becameProtoof the works at San Zaccaria, his son Bernardino and grandson Francesco assisting him. The books of the Administration of that building have notes of payment, in 1488, one "to Bernardo, sculptor, son of Moro ourProto," and another executed on July 20, 1488, where it is written, "And I Francesco di Bernardo, sculptor from Como." Other papers prove the sons of Pietro Lombardo as being Giulio, Antonio, and Tullio. In Tullio's sons two old family names are revived—Marco Antonio and Sante.
To this family may be attributed a large part of the finest fifteenth or sixteenth century buildings of Venice. Pietro's elder brother Moro built the church of S. Michele at Murano between 1478 and 1481; and at the same time designed and directed the building of the Vendramin or 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 Pietro Lombardo belongs the design for the fine exterior of the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista. In 1475 he sculptured the beautiful monument to the Doge Pietro Mocenigo, a grand design with seventeen life-sized figures carved in Istrian marble. His sons Tullio and Antonio assisted in this. In 1481 he restored the Scuola della Misericordia, and finished the ornamental gate of the Scuola dei Battuti. In the same year he won in a competition for designs for the church of S. Maria de' Miracoli,and became head architect of that masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. Here he has curiously revived some features of the old Lombard architecture of his ancestors in art. He has made a raised tribune with a 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 façade of S. Cristofero della Pace at Murano. The original Torre dell' Orologio on Piazza S. Marco was also designed by him.
On March 14, 1499, he was nominatedProto maestroof 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 façade of the side towards St. Mark's, which Selvatico pronounces one of the finest examples of Lombard style. In the interior of the palace he restored the "Camera del Tormento," and built the hall of the Council of Ten, the prisons over the Granaries, and the attic prisons known as "I Piombi."
As a sculptor he was of remarkable genius. Two signed statues in the church of San Stefano, one of which represents S. Antonio, are of extreme beauty, as is the magnificent high relief of the Virgin and Child in the outer arcade towards the bridge. The monument to Cardinal Zeno in S. Marco is a beautiful specimen of Lombard ornamentation. It is rich with carven angels and saints, 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 him to improve the cathedral by putting a new and ornate façade with a large window, besides building three newchapels.[289]His sculpturesque tastes outweighed his talent for architecture. He left the building at Treviso in the hands of inferior Masters, and went to Venice to sculpture in thelaboreriumof the guild at San Samuele, the statues and reliefs for its façade. The work not proceeding satisfactorily it was suspended, and on Pietro Lombardo's death even his design was 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 made his design, he left his son Tullio to execute it. Either for want of means, or disagreements among the Masters, this also remained incomplete. Probably Pietro had too many interests in Venice, where in 1514 he was electedGastaldoor Grand Master of the lodge; in which office he continued till his death in 1521, 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,"i.e.Master Bartolommeo Bono, a famous architect, should be discharged from the office of chief architect (Proto) of the Scuola, because he isdisobedient and not diligent enough(we perceive that even aProtohad some superior officers or council above him), elected asProtoin his stead a young Magister Sante, son of Giulio Lombardo, but with the proviso that his father Giulio should be his adviser in everything.
Antonio, Pietro's second son, won a certain rank as sculptor, but he is better known in Padua and Ferrara. He removed to the latter city in 1505 with his family, and died there in 1515.
The third son, Tullio, however, was a bright star in theline. His sculpture was so delicate, and he attained such tenderness in the flesh of his marble statues, that it is thought he had studied under Donatello 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 Paolo, all done about 1500. The beauty and grace of his figures may be seen in the four kneeling angels which support the altar of the Incoronation of the Virgin in S. Giovanni Crisostomo; a most exquisite group. This work is signed, "Opus Tullii Lombardi." The fine monument to the Doge Nicolò Marcello, at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, and those of Marco and Amerigo Barbarigo, in S. Maria della Carità, are also by him.
There is some confusion between the two cousins, Sante, eldest son of Giulio, and Sante, the second son of Tullio. Sante di Giulio was chief architect of the Scuola di San Rocco, from June 1524 to March 1527, and all the finest part of the building is attributed to him. He built the church of S. Giorgio for the Greek colony. This was finished in 1548 by Gian Antonio Lombardo da Cione (Carona), who was son of Pietro Antonio Solari of Carona, so that in this church the Milanese 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 place name, and they are known as the Lombards. The 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.
THE ROMAN LODGE
NAPLES BRANCH OF THE ROMAN LODGE
Mention has been made, in the second chapter, of the early Christian Basilicas erected 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 parts of the original buildings discovered, a style precisely analogous to the Basilicas which sprang up in the north of Italy in the time of 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 aboutA.D.460, when it is supposed the remnants of theCollegioof architects fled to Como, and their revival under the Longobardic kings. During those 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, from the far-off time of Pope Melchiades—A.D.311.
Pope Adrian I. followed the example of his imperial ally, by restoring several churches, to do which he had to ask Charlemagne for the builders of the guild under his protection; a proof that noCollegioexisted 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 there is a long descent of forty-five wide marble steps, toreach the vestibule of the church. The Basilica itself is extremely interesting, as it remains in its original eighth-century form, as Pope Adrian I. restored it in 775. The plan is a pure and simple Comacine Basilica, with its nave and two aisles, circular tribune and an upper gallery, with thecochleusor spiral staircase leading to it all complete.
The columns of the nave seem to have been taken from an ancient Roman building. The capitals are all classical except the four nearest the tribune, which are quite Comacine, with their simple upright volutes. But the building space being limited, the extremely tall 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, gives a more pleasing effect.
The spiral staircase leading to this is cut in the thickness of a pilaster. The mosaics in the tribune are the original ones of Pope Honorius' time, and of Byzantine style; 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 to it. Here is apluteus, or stone panel, probably from the front of the ancient tribune, and it is a beautifulintreccioprecisely like the ones at S. Clemente. Two other panels of the 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 Roman origin, kept all these classical decorative designs in itslaborerium.
Now and then, in the ages following Adrian, we find a large-minded Pope, who gave his thoughts to restoring the beauties of Rome: such as Leo III. (796), Leo IV.(845), Innocent III. (1178), Nicholas III. (1277), and Boniface VIII. (1294). This latter was the Pope who consecrated the Duomo of Florence.