Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250 To 1400 (Art Ebook)

I
COUNTY FREE LIBRARY
.LICAh|
HISTORY OF ART
John White
ART AND ARCHITECTURE

IN ITALY:
ill
1250-1400
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1250-1400
IN
The fourteenth century

very
rich
sculpture
one,
not
but
also
in
Italian
in
only
art
is
and
and
painting
in
architecture,
Professor White's book is the first to give

the art and the architecture equal weight.
The story which unfolds itself from generation to generation - the story of the
style
in
Italy
Gothic
and the prehistory
Renaissance -is
told brilliantly:
all
of
the
the facts
are related, the history of style
is traced,
but also the works of art are described with
insight
and as objects valuable
for their
own
sakes, and not simply as data for
into
schemes and
fitting
theories.
Among the names which appear in the book

are those of Arnolfo di Cambio, the Pisani,
Cavallini,
Martini,
Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Simone

and the Lorenzetti; among the
building
S.
Croce, S. Maria Novella, the
and the Palazzo Vecchio in

and the cathedrals of Siena,
Orvieto, and Milan, as well as the castles
and civic buildings of the period throughout
cathedral,
Florfvice,
Italy. The centre is of course Tuscany,

dominated by Florence and Siena, but there
much also on the rest of the peninsula,

from the Val d'Aosta to Rome, Naples, and
is
the east coast
and on down
to Sicily.
Tnere are about 300 half-tone illustrations

on 192 plates, about 25 plans and elevations
the text, and 8 diagrams of fresco cycles.
F-rcfessor
John White was born
in
1924.
After a course at Trinity College Oxford he

served for four years as a pilot with the
R A.F. and then studied at the Courtauld

institute of Art. Subsequently he held a
junior rese.irch fellowship at the
Institute for
1952 to
Lecturer and later as a Reader.

1959 to
Warburg
two years and then taught from
1959 at the Courtauld,
1966 Pilkington
first
as a
He was from
Professor
of the
History of Art and Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester.
His other publications include articles

learned
in
journals,
fourteenth
The Birth
largely on the Italian

and fifteenth centuries, and
and Rebirth of Pictorial Space
(London, 1957).
Front coyer: Pisa, S. Maria della Spina,
enlarged after 1323 (Snark International)
Back cover Simone Martini St Louis of
:
Toulouse, 1317. Naples, Galleria Nazionale

(Snark International)
THE PELICAN HISTORY OF ART

EDITED BY NIKOLAUS PEVSNER
ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY: I25O-I4OO

JOHN WHITE
:^1Q3
Simone Martini:
St Louis
of Toulouse,
Naples, Galleria Nazionale
13 17.
'
'
.,
>!
JOHN WHITE

IN ITALY
1250 TO 1400
PENGUIN BOOKS
BALTIMORE MARYLAND
Library
Marin County Free
Buiidmg
Administration
Cwic Center
San Rafael, California
Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex

Penguin Books
Inc., Baltimore,
Maryland, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Pty Ltd, Ringwood,
Text printed by Richard Clay (The Chaucer

Plates printed by
Lund Humphries
Made and printed
Copyright
in
John
i^
Press), Ltd,
&
Bungay, Suffolk
Co. Ltd, Bradford
Great Britain
White, ig66
First published
Victoria, Australia
ig66
TO
XENIA WHITE
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF PLATES
MAP
FOREWORD
Part
1230-ijoo
Architecture :
I.
2.
One
INTRODUCTION
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE FRANCISCAN AND DOMINICAN EXPANSION
IN ITALY
Assisi
S.
Francesco at Bologna
S.
Maria Novella in Florence
Amolfo
di
Cambio and
The Wooden-Roofed
3.
S.
Fortunato at Todi
S.
Antonio
at
in Florence
Church and
Hall
its
Development
The Duomo
at
Siena
Duomo
at
Orvieto
The
di
Cambio and
S.
Lorenzo
at
Vicenza
at
Maria del Fiore and the Badia in Florence

at
Massa Marittima
26
29
29
Palace of the Popes at Viterbo
The Palazzo Comunale

The
24
27
Arezzo
Orvieto
The Bargello
20
21
S.
CIVIC BUILDINGS
The
17
20
The Choir of the Duomo

The Duomo
12
15
Padua and
THE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS: SIENA, ORVIETO, FLORENCE
Amolfo
4.
Croce
S.
at
32
Piacenza
in Florence
Palaces of
33
Todi and Perugia
34
vii
CONTENTS
Part
Sculpture:
5.
6.
7.
Two
1250-1300
INTRODUCTION
39
NICOLA PISANO
The Pisa Pulpit
The Siena Pulpit
The Perugia Fountain
The Lucca Deposition
ARNOLFO
DI
40
46
50
53
CAMBIO
The Tomb of Cardinal de Braye

The Area
8.
di S.
Domenico
The
Altar Canopies in S. Paolo fuori
The
Sculpture for the Facade of the
GIOVANNI PISANO
The Fa9ade of Siena
The
Pulpit in S.
Mura and
le
Duomo
S. Cecilia in
in Florence
Cathedral
Andrea
The Virgin and Child
at Pistoia
for the Baptistery at Pisa
The Ivory Madoima and Child
The
Pulpit in the
The Wooden
Duomo
at Pisa
Crucifixes
The Late Works
Part Three
Painting:
9.
10.
1250-1300
INTRODUCTION
PIETRO CAVALLINI
The
Frescoes in S. Paolo fuori le
The Mosaics
in S.
Mura
in
Maria in Trastevere in
Rome
Rome
Jacopo Torriti
11.
The
Frescoes in S. Cecilia in Trastevere in
The
Frescoes in S. Maria
Donna Rcgina
in
Rome
Naples
COPPO DI MARCOVALDO AND GUIDO DA SIENA

Coppo di Marcovaldo
Guido da Siena
Rome
CONTENTS
12.
CIMABUE AND THE UPPER CHURCH OF

The Mosaic
in the
Duomo
Cimabue's Frescoes in
The
StyUstic Sources
The
Stained-Glass
13.
FRANCESCO AT ASSISI
Madonna
S. Trinita
of Cimabue's Frescoes
Windows
Window
Siena
S.
and the
Francesco at Assisi: Attribution and Sequence
S.
The Decorative Scheme

The
at Pisa
in the
in the
in S. Francesco
Upper Church of S. Francesco
Choir and Transepts of S. Francesco
and the Dating of Cimabue's Frescoes
at Assisi
THE LEGEND OF ST FRANCIS AND THE COMPLETION OF THE

DECORATION OF THE UPPER CHURCH OF S. FRANCESCO AT ASSISI
Jacopo Torriti
The
Isaac
14.
DUCCIO
DI
117
120
121
123
126
I32
133
Francis
St Ceciha Master
The Master of the
115
132
Master
The Organization of the Legend of St
The
II5
136
141
St Francis Cycle
143
BONINSEGNA
149
The Maesta
149
The Panel
155
Paintings other than the Maesta
Part Four
Architecture:
15.
INTRODUCTION
16.
SIENA
1300-1330
159
l60
The
Palazzo Pubbhco
i6o
The
Gates and Fountains
162
S.
Domenico and
S.
Francesco
The Duomo
17.
165
FLORENCE AND THE REST OF TUSCANY

The Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence
The Campanile of the Duomo and Orsanmichele in Florence
Pisa, Prato, Pistoia,
18.
163
and Lucca
ANGELO DA ORVIETO AND THE BUILDINGS OF GUBBIO AND OF UMBRIA

The
Palazzo dei Consoli and Palazzo del Pretorio at Gubbio
The
Palazzo
Comunale
in Citta di Castello
I70
170
172
I74
I76
176
179
The Churches of Gubbio
180
Perugia
i8i
CONTENTS
19.
20.
PIEDMONT, LOMBARDY, AND EMILIA

The Cathedral at Asti and S. Francesco in Piacenza
The Facades and Towers of Cremona, Crema, and Milan
FORTIFICATIONS AND CASTLES
Montagnana
Gradara
Sirmione
Fenis
21.
VENICE AND THE VENETO

SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice
S.
Maria Gloriosa
S.
Nicolo
at
The Wooden
The Duomo
22.
dei Frari in
Venice
Treviso
Ceilings at
Verona and Padua
Venzone
at
NAPLES AND THE SOUTH

S. Pietro a
Maiella in Naples and the
S.
Chiara in Naples
S.
Maria Donna Regina in Naples
Southern
Italy
and
Duomo
at
Lucera
Sicily
Part Five
Painting: 1300-1350
23.
INTRODUCTION
24.
GIOTTO
The Arena Chapel at Padua
The Navicella, the Arena Crucifix, and
The Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels
25.
THE
ASSISI
the Ognissanti
Madonna
PROBLEM
26.
SIMONE MARTINI
27.
AMBROGIO AND PIETRO LORENZETTI
28.
TUSCAN PAINTING
The
Sienese Painters
The
Florentine Painters
Pacino di Bonaguida
The
Frescoes in the
Bernardo Daddi
Taddeo Gaddi
Maso
di
Banco
Lower Church of S. Francesco
at Assisi
CONTENTS
29.
RIMINESE, BOLOGNESE,
AND VENETIAN PAINTING
The Riminese School
272
272
The Bolognese School
274
Venice
278
Part Six
1300-1350
Satlpture:
30.
INTRODUCTION
31.
TINODICAMAINO ANDTHE MINOR SCULPTORS OFSIENA AND FLORENCE

Tino
di
Camaino
Gano da
Goro
32.
di
281
282
282
286
Siena
Gregorio
287
Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura
287
Giovanni d'Agostino
289
Giovanni and Pacio da Firenze
289
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FA5ADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

The Planning and
Wood
the Execution of the ReHefs
and Metalwork and Stained Glass
29I
292
299
33.
ANDREA PISANO
303
34.
GIOVANNI DI BALDUCCIO AND NORTH ITALIAN SCULPTURE
3IO
Giovanni
di
310
Balduccio
3i3
Giovanni da Campione
Veronese
Tomb
3^4
Sculpture
Part Seven
Architecture:
35.
36.
1350-1400
INTRODUCTION
3^7
FLORENCE AND SIENA; CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ITALY

The Duomo in Florence
319
The Loggia
del Bigallo
The Duomo,
and the Loggia
della Signoria in Florence
the Baptistery Facade, and the Cappella di Piazza in Siena
The Rest of Tuscany; Central and Southern

37.
ip
3^5
Florence
S. Trinita in
Italy
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FORTIFIED PALACE

xi
326
327
328
33
CONTENTS
38.
MILAN BOLOGNA, VENICE, AND NORTHERN ITALY

The Duomo
in Milan
The Certosa
at Pavia, the
336
336
Duomo
at
Maria del Carmine
at
Spagna; Antonio di Vicenzo and
S.
Monza, and
S.
350
Pavia
Matteo Gattapone and the CoUegio
di
Petronio in Bologna
The
35^
Palazzo Ducale in Venice
355
Part Eight
Painting:
39.
40.
1330-1400
INTRODUCTION
TUSCANY
Bama da
Siena
The Minor
Sienese Masters
The Decoration of the Camposanto

Andrea Orcagna, Nardo
in Pisa
Cione, and Jacopo di Cione
di
Giovanni da Milano and Giovanni del Biondo
Andrea Bonaiuti da Firenze
Agnolo Gaddi and

41.
Spinello Aretino
NORTHERN ITALY
Venice, Padua, and Treviso
Bologna
Lombardy
Part
Sculpture:
42.
INTRODUCTION
43.
SCULPTURE
Nine
1330-1400
Nino Pisano
Andrea Orcagna, Alberto Amoldi, and Giovanni d'Ambrogio
The Area
di S.
Agostino
Venice
Bonino da Campione and
the Scaliger
Tombs
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TJtc Plates
in
Verona
LIST
1
OF FIGURES
Francesco, founded 1228, conse-
Assisi, S.
Gubbio, Palazzo dei Consoli, begun

after 1322, and Palazzo Prctorio, begun
(a)
Plans of upper and lower
crated 1253.
churches (B. Kleinschniidt, Die Basilika
San Francesco
in Assisi,
i,
1349, with intervening substructures.
2 Bologna, S. Francesco, founded 1236, con-
Plan
1250.
secrated
Chiesa di S. Francesco)
3
(b)
La
Rubbiani,
(A.
Florence, S. Maria Novella,
begun by 1279.
op.
10
Messina,
S.
Wagner-Rieger,
in
Neapel',
'S.
13
Fortunato, begun 1292. Plan
S.
S.
11
(1938),
Abb. 48)
Antonio, begun
(Dehio and von Bezold,
op.
cit.,
Treviso, S. Nicolo,
1,
Le
Chiese, 118)
Duomo, founded
1290.
19
22
11 Assisi, S. Franceso, upper church, stained-
windows,
c.
123
1240/95(7)
12 Assisi, S. Francesco, upper church, scheme
of decoration of the nave

13
Siena,
Plan
(T.
Siena, 160
Burckhardt,
degU antichi
and von Bezold,

14 (a) Siena,
op.
cit.,
edifici,
v, Taf. 535/3)
plans (Burckhardt, op.

(b) Siena,
315 Dehio
Duomo. Diagram of
Duomo.
Bezold, op.
ci7.,
cit.,
projected
55)
Maria Donna Regina, founded
535/3)
di
ground levels (.
Donna Regina, plans
199
S.
S.
205
Croce, Bardi Chapel,

e.
219
i3i5-2o(?)
Croce, Peruzzi Chapel,
240
i33o(?)
Duomo, original plan c. 1294, redesigned 1357, new plans 1 366. Plan (Dehio
and von Bezold, op. cit., v, Taf 535/i)
Florence,
Plan
S.
(W. and
Trinita,
Milan,
cit.,
v, 276)
325
I,
Abb. 98 and 100;
Duomo, begun
n.
Abb. 291)
1386. Projects for
determining the height of the piers and

vaults in the nave and aisles on a foundation
reconstruction of project of 1392
by
Heinrich Parler - square, 16 braccia grid;

[d)
167
320
nave begun 1350.
E. Paatz, op.
Verona, Castelvecchio and bridge, c. 1354c.

1375. Plan (B. Ebhardt, Die Burgen
(c)
166
Plan (Dehio and von

V, Taf.
Taf
90 braccia wide, (a) Project of 1390, after

Antonio di Vicenzo - units of 10 braccia;
(i) project of 1 391 by Gabriele Stomaloco;
Stadt der Jungfrau, 52; P. Chiolini, I Caratteri distrihutivi
v,
222
scheme of decoration, mid i320s(?)
Simone Martini: Assisi, S. Francesco,
Chapel of St Martin, scheme of decoration,
Italiens,
134
Campo, Palazzo Pubbhco, and
Cathedral.
cit.,
Florence,
Cimabue: Assisi, S. Francesco, upper

church, scheme of decoration, e. 1280
119
glass
op.
decoration, between 1304 and 1313
c.
V, Taf. 534/5)
1303. Plan
c.
1307. Plans at upper and
Diagram
of flank and plan (R. BoneUi, // Dtiomo di

Orvieto, 20; Dehio and von Bezold, op. cit.,
10
193
begun
194
S.
Giotto Florence,
8 Vicenza, S. Lorenzo, after i28i/2(?). Plan

(E. Arslan, Vicenza,
SS.
e Paolo, xxxii)
100/2)
begun
Frari,
Plan (G. Fogolari, / Frari e
scheme of decoration,
Taf.
i,
18
9 Orvieto,
191
Maria Gloriosa dei
Giotto: Florence,
Plan
1.
cit.,
Giotto: Padua, Arena Chapel, scheme of

16
123
c.
op.
before p. 27)
Kunstgeschichtliches Jahrbuch der BihUotheca
7 Padua,
190
and von Bezold,
Bertaux, Santa Maria
(W.
Kronig, 'Hallenkirche in Mittelitalien', in
Hertziana,
30s.
S.
177
c.
533/3)
Naples,
Bibliothecae
Hertzianae, 1961)
6 Todi,
13)
Auto-
533/8)
Lorenzo Maggiore
Miscellanea
in
and
1340. Plan (Regione
(Dehio and von Bezold,
Francesco, founded 1254. Plan
(R.
Taf
Giovanni
cit., i,
515)
Plan
Signoria.
11, 12,
della Valle d'Aosta)
Venice,
13
Croce,
S.
c.
cit..
1333. Plan (Dehio
4 Amolfo di Cambio (?) Florence,

founded 1294/5. Plan (W. Paatz,
Abb.
Fenis, castle,
V,
Paatz, Die Kirchen von Florenz,
m, 682)
della
(Schulze, op.
Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, begun
Kirchliche Baukunst des Abendlandes, v, Taf.
W.
Gubbio, Piazza
noma
Plan (G. Dehio and G. von Bezold, Die
534/3;
Elevation (R. Schulze, Gubbio, Abb. 14) 176
41)
accepted project of 1392, using Stoma-
loco's
system to a height of 28 braccia
332
LIST OF FIGURES
(dotted lines), followed
braccia in a
triangles (J.
XXXI
units
of 12
30 Pavia,
framework of Pythagorean
S. Ackerman, in Art Bulletin,
Maria del Carmine, designed

cit.,
Bezold,
31 Antonio di Vicenzo: Bologna, S. Petronio,
1386. Plan (Dehio
op.
op.
Taf.
v,
cit.,
32
338
537/3)
cit.,
V,
Taf
536)
Bama
da Siena:
right
aisle,
S. Gimignano, Collegiata,
scheme of decoration, early
I350s(?)
Unless otherwise indicated, the plans and elevations (but not the diagrams of firesco cycles) are
reproduced
at a
uniform
Bell-Scott; the diagrams
by
c.
figure 2)
begun 1390. Plan (Dehio and von Bezold,
Duomo, begun
von
S.
1370. Plan (Ackerman, he.
(1949), 89)
29 Milan,
and
by
Sheila Waters.
scale
of
of
.750.
The
fresco cycles
plans and elevations were redrawn by Donald

were drawn by Stephen Bradbery, and the map
361
LIST
Simone Martini:
Frontispiece:
louse,
Naples,
17.
13
OF PLATES
of Tou-
St Louis
(Snark International)
1
12 Viterbo, Palazzo dei Papi, 1266, loggia 1267.
Nazionak
Galleria
Exterior (Anderson)
13 (a)
founded 1228, consecrated 1253. Exterior (Ed. D.A.C.A. Assisi)

Assisi, S. Francesco, founded 1228, consecrated 1253. Interior of upper church
(b)
(b)
(b)
Genoa, Palazzo Lamba-Doria, soon
Amolfo
(a)
Cambio(?): Florence,
di
founded 1294/5. Interior

Gubbio,
and
begun by 1259.
Todi,
(a)
Messina,
1260. Pisa, Baptistery (Alinari)
S.
SiciUa Orientale:
Monumenti
(a)
S.
18 Nicola Pisano: Pulpit, 1265-8. Siena,
(Courtauld
19 Nicola Pisano:
Antonio, begun
c.
123 1. Exterior
(AHnari)
(b)
20
(a)
Duomo, founded
(b)
1290. Exterior
(AJinari)
(b)
(a)
Arezzo,
Duomo, founded
1290. Interior
Duomo, begun by
Arezzo,
(b)
1277-8. Exterior
(a)
Duomo, begun by
Amolfo
Giovanni
begun
1277-8. Interior
Amolfo
di
Cambio: Area
i264(?)-7.
22
(a) Pietro Oderisi:
of tomb,
di
S.
Domenico
di S.
Bologna,
Domenico
S.
di
(AJinari)
Simone:
Pisa,
(b)
4.
di
Marco valdo(?): Head of
Christ,
Cimignano,
Exteriors
Viterbo,
S.
Tomb of Clement IV,

Francesco
1271-
(Gabinetto Foto-
grafico Nazionale)
Palazzo del Popolo, begun 121 3, heightened
(Anderson)
Coppo
23 (a) Pietro Oderisi:
1267.
detail
Francesco
Gallerie, Florence)
after
Todi, Palazzo del Capitano, I290s(?), and
by
S.
Pinacoteca Civica (Photo Soprintendenza alle
soon
i25o(?). Exterior (AJinari)
completed
Viterbo,
detail of Cmcifix, late I250s(?). S.
Camposanto,
1277. Interior (Brogi)
1228-33,
Head of Clement IV,
1271-4.
(BibUoteca Hertziana)
Cambio(?): Florence, Badia,
11 (a) Orvieto, PaJazzo del Capitano,
(b)
Pistoia,
1270.
Pulpit,
(Courtauld Institute)
begun 1284. Fafade

(b)
GugUehno:
(detail),
(AJinari)
10
Duomo
Siena,
Giovanni Fuorcivitas (Alinari)
(AJinari)
(b)
1265-8.
netto Fotografico Nazionale)
(Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)
Adoration of die Magi,
pulpit,
Nicola Pisano: Fontana Maggiore, finished

1278. Perugia, Piazza IV Novembre (Gabi-
21 (A)Fra
Orvieto,
of
(AJinari)
original nave being vaulted
1256-60. Interior (Courtauld Institute)

8 (a) Orvieto,
Madonna and Child, detail of

Sietta, Duomo (Anderson)
Nicola Pisano
detail
terior (AUnari)
Duomo,
Duomo
Institute)
pulpit, 1265-8.
Vicenza, S. Lorenzo, after i28i/2(?). In-
7 Siena,
of pulpit, 1260. Pisa, Baptistery (Ander-
son)
Photo Ocularium)
Massa Marittima, Duomo, choir, begun

Padua,
Adoration of the Magi,
Nicola Pisano:
detail
della
1287. Interior (AJinari)
(b)
Francesco, founded 1254. In-
terior (Soprintendenza ai
(b)
Baptistery
1260. Pisa,
17 (a) Nicola Pisano: Nativity, detail of pulpit,
(Anderson)
5
Ben-
(Anderson)
Fortunato, begun 1292. Interior
S.
di
Exterior (AJinari)
later.
16 Nicola Pisano: Pulpit,
Exterior (Anderson)
(b)
and Giovanello
di Servadio
venuto: Perugia, Palazzo dei Priori, 1293-7
(AJinari)
Francesco,
S.
Giacomo
Croce,
S.
after
Monu-
menti della Liguria)

15
Interior (AJinari)
3
1255. Exterior
1298. Exterior (Soprintendenza ai
begun by 1279.
c.
(AJinari)
crated 1250. Interior (AJinari)

(b)
Comunale, begun 1280.
Piacenza, Palazzo
14 (a) Florence, Bargello, begun
Francesco, founded 1236, conse-
S.
dei Mihti, 1292. Exterior
Exterior (Anderson)

2 (a) Bologna,
Cremona, Loggia
(Negri)
(a) Assisi, S. Francesco,
(b)
Amolfo
di
Cambio:
Tomb
of Cardinal de
Braye,d.i282. Orvieto, S. Dooienifo (Alinari)
LIST OF PLATES
24
(a)
Amolfo di Cambio: Left acolyte, detail of

tomb of Cardinal de Braye, d. 1282. Otvielo, S.
(b)
(b)
Domenico
Amolfo
Galkria
Perugia,
36
(a)
(Alinari)
Cambio(?): Thirsting
di
1281.
c.
Woman,
Nazionale
(b)
Amolfo
di
(a)
(b)
Cambio Head of Cardinal de

:
(a)
(Soprintenden2a
Pisa)
di
Cecilia
(b)
(c)
Cambio:
Amolfo
di
Florence,
Museo deU'Opera
S.
Reparata,
del
by
the facade
of the
Duomo
deU'Opera del
(a)
Amolfo
di
Duomo (Photo
del
Giovanni Pisano: Virgin and Child,

Pisa,
1280.
Duomo,
di
(a)
facade, late thirteenth-early four-
deU'Opera
del
detail
Pisano:
Pulpit,
1301.
of
pulpit,
(b)
pulpit,
1301.
Pistoia,
Annunciation,
S.
Rome,
Cecilia
in
early
Trastevere
Annunciation,
S.
Rome,
S.
Maria
in
early
Trastevere
Maria Maggiore (Alinari)
CavalUni
Pietro
i29os(?).
Rome,
S.
Presentation,
Maria
in
early
Trastevere
of
pulpit,
42 Pietro Cavallini: Lastjudgcmcnt, early I290s(?),
S.
43 Pietro Cavallini The four right-hand Apostles,

detail of Last Judgement, early I290s(?).
Rome,
Pistoia,
S.
Andrea
S. Cecilia in Trastevere (Rotalfoto)

:
Rome,
33 (a) Giovanni Pisano: Adoration of the Magi,
of
Rome,
Cavallini:
Pietro
I296(?).
(b)
Andrea (Alinari)
detail
(Anderson)
41 (A)Jacopo Torriti: Coronation of the Virgin,
301. Pistoia, S. Andrea (Alinari)
32 Giovanni
Cavallini
i290s(?).
1301. Pistoia, S. Andrea (Alinari)
Giovarmi Pisano: Sibyl,
l282-97(?). Rome, S.
(Alinari)
(Alinari)
(b)
Grassi)
31 (a) Giovanni Pisano: Nativity, detail
(b)
c.
Mura
le
(Anderson)
detail
Duomo (Photo
Wife of
seventeenth-century copy of a
in Trastevere
(a) Pietro
i290s(?).
of head,
between c 1285 and 1297. Siena, Museo
Isaiah,
I305(?)'
c.
Duomo (Photo
Pietro Cavallini: Joseph and the
Maria
40
Giovanni Pisano: Maria Moise (Miriam),

between c. 1285 and 1297, in situ. Siena,
Duomo (now Museo deU'Opera) (Photo
Giovarmi Pisano:
del
twelfth-century apsidal mosaic. Rome, S.
Cecco: Siena,
Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)

(b)
Child,
39 Pietro Cavallini: Mosaics of the Life of the

Virgin, early I290s(?), beneath a mid-
teenth centuries and late 1370s (Alinari)
30
Crucifix,
Pisano:
Paolo fuori
Camposanto (Photo Alinari)
29 Giovanni Pisano and Giovanni
Madonna and
destroyed fresco,
Duomo
c.
e Gallerie,
Museo Civico (Photo Brogi)
Museo deU'Opera
Potiphar,
(Photo Ahnari)
(b)
(b)
Alinari)
Museo deU'Opera
c.
Treasury
Ahnari)
in
Cambio: Virgin and Child, by
1302. Florence,
Child,
Duomo,
Monumenti
ai
Pisano
38 (a) Giovanni
Florence, sixteenth century. Florence, Musco
28
Giovarmi
I3i2/i3(?). Pisa,
1302.
Duomo (Photo
Madonna and
Pisa,
Giovanni Pisano: Madonna and Child, c.

i30o(?). Pisa, Museo deU'Opera del Duomo
Siena,
Drawing of
Duomo
Pisa,
(Photo Alinari)
(Gabinetto Foto-
Trastevere
in
1302-10.
pulpit,
Ivory.
i299(?).
Ahnari)
(b)
of
37 (a) Giovanni Pisano:
grafico Nazionale)
27
Giovanni Pisano: Fortitude and Prudence,
Cambio: Ciborium, completed

1285. Rome, S. Paolo fuori le Mura (Alinari)
Amolfo di Cambio: Ciborium, 1293. Rome,
S.
of
Giovanni Pisano: Hercules, detail of pulpit,

1302-10. Pisa, Duomo (Anderson)
Domenico
Amolfo
detail
Duomo (Anderson)
(Anderson)
Braye, d. 1282, detail of tomb. Oruieto, S.
26
(Alinari)
Crucifixion,
Giovanni Pisano:
detail
dell'
Umbria (Photo Alinari)

(b)
Duomo
pulpit, 1302-10. Pisa,
Orvieto, S.
25 (a)
1302-10. Pisa,
Domenico (Alinari)
Amolfo di Cambio Right acolyte, detail of

tomb of Cardinale de Braye, d. 1282.
of pulpit^;
35 (a) Giovanni Pisano: Nativity, detail
44
S. Cecilia in Trastevere
(a) Pietro Cavallini
(Alinari)
Seraph,
Giovanni Pisano: Massacre of the Innocents,

detail of pulpit, 1301. Pistoia, S. Andrea
I290s(?).
(Alinari)
34 Giovanni Pisano: Pulpit, 1302-10. Pisa,

(Anderson)
Head of upper right-hand
of Last Judgement, early
detail
Rome,
S.
Cecilia
in
Trastevere
(Alinari)
(b)
Duomo
Cavallini Circle:
Head of David
(detail),
early fourteenth century. Naples, S. Maria
Donna Regina
(Alinari)
LIST OF PLATES
(a)
Coppo
Marcovaldo(?):
di
I250s(?).
(Soprintendenza
(b)
Assisi, S. Francesco,
Francis, detail
Virgin and Child,
Coppo
di
(b) Isaac
Marcovaldo: Madonna del Bordone,
Coppo di Marcovaldo(?): Virgin and

late
i26os(?). Florence,
(Soprintendenza
mounting the Cross,
Guido da
(a)
I270s(?). Utrecht, Archiepiscopal Museum

Guido da Siena: Virgin and Child, c. 12758o(?). Siena,
(b)
Guido da
i28o(?).
c.
(Ander-
the Spring,
Trinita
S.
Madonna,
Mark,
St
(b)
Francesco, upper church, crossing (Bencini
and
i28o(?).
c.
Assisi,
S.
62
(a)
Cimabue:
Master of the St Francis Cycle: Institution

at Greccio,
Lame,
St Peter healing the
^455151,
S. Francesco,
(b)
Honorius
before
b)
Cimabue: Crucifix,
Apparition
at Aries,
a)
Cimabue:
b)
Duomo (AJinari)
Cimabue Circle: Madonna,
i28o-5(?). Florence,
c.
John
St
1301-2. Pisa,
(detail),
detail,
c.
c.
l290-5(?).
64
(a)
choir
265-75 (?).
Cimabue(?):
detail
Window,
c.
Assisi,
(b)
1287/8.
detail
1287/8. Siena,
of window,
c.
a) Isaac Master: Isaac

of the
1287/8. Siena,
Duomo
and Esau, mid
67
(a)
I290s(?).
upper church (Bencini and
Pentecost,
Duomo (Photo Anderson)
del
deU'Opera del
Virgin,
Sansoni)
Master:
or
Miiseo
mid
I290s(?).
Duomo (Photo Gabinetto
Fotografico Nazionale)
66 Duccio: Maesta,
Dormition
Siena,
Duccio: Madonna of the Franciscans, c.

i290-5(?). Siena, Pinacoteca (Photo Ander-
deU'Opera
Duomo
(Grassi)
b) Isaac
del
late thirteenth
century.
65 Duccio: Maesta, front, 1308-11. Siena, Museo
(Grassi)
b) Cin'iabue(?):
Galgano,
son)
Siena,
Coronation of the Virgin,

c.
S.
fourteenth
deU'Opera
S.
(Anderson)
of window,
ReHquary of
early
Duomo,
and the
I290s(?). Assisi, S.
Florence, Uffizi (Soprintendenza alle Gallerie)
Francesco, upper church, right transept (Gabi-
Cimabue(?):
St Francis
63 Duccio Rucellai Madonna, commissioned 1285.
Louvre (Photo AJinari)
Windows,
mid
III
Francesco, upper church (Liberto Perugi)
Uffizi (Soprintendenza alle Gallerie)
b)
I290s(?). Assisi,
Master of the St Francis Cycle:

preaching
a)
mid
grafico Nazionale)
c.
upper church,
north transept (Anderson)
Paris,
Assisi,
and San-
S. Francesco, upper church (Gabinetto Foto-
i28o(?).
56
Master of the St Francis Cycle: St Francis
of the Crib
(Ander-
son)
a)
I290s(?). Assisi, S. Francesco,
soni)
Cimabue: Angels,
Francesco, upper church, south transept
52
mid
S. Francesco, upper church (Bencini
Sansoni)
b)
III,
upper
and Sansoni)
preaching to the Birds, mid I290s(?).
i28o(?). Assisi, S.
c.
Francesco,
S.
upper church (Bencini and Sansoni)
early i28os(?).
Florence, Uffizi (Soprintendenza alle Gallerie)
Cimabue:
Assisi,
61 (a) Master of the St Francis Cycle: Miracle of
son)
Cimabue:
a)
and the Dream of Innocent
I290s(?).
church (Bencini
S.
Assisi,
Assisi,
before the Crucifix, St Francis repudiating

his Father,
alle
mid
Francesco, upper church, south transept
Francis
Cloak, mid I290s(?).
59 St Ceciha Master: St Cecilia Altarpicce, before

I304(?). Florence, Uffizi (Photo Alinari)
Gallerie, Siena)
Cimabue: Crucifixion,
his
St Francis
S. Francesco, upper church (Alinari)
and Cluld, 1262.
(Soprintendenza
away
of the
Madman, St
60 Master of the St Francis Cycle: St Francis
Palazzo Pubblico (Anderson)
Siena: Virgin
Pinacoteca
5iVm<i,
Cycle: St Francis and the

giving
(b)
Siena: Christ
58 St CeciUa Master and Master
Florence)
alle Gallerie,
of Isaac
detail
I290s(?). Assisi, S. Francesco,
upper church (Bencini and Sansoni)
Child,
Maria Maggiore
S.
Head of Jacob,
Master:
and Jacob, mid
1261. Siena, S. Maria dei Servi (Anderson)

(a)
St
(Bencini and Sansoni)
Orvieto)
alle Gallerie,
Head of
of the Donation of the Cloak,
midl290s(?).^(.ji, S. Francesco, upper church
i265-7o(?). Orvieto, S. Maria dei Servi
(Soprintendenza
upper church (Anderson)
57 (a) Master of the St Francis Cycle:
Florence)
alle Gallerie,
Coppo di Marcovaldo{ ?)
c.
late
Civka
Pinacoteca
Gimi(;natto,
S.
Crucifix,
(b)
rear,
1308-11. Siena, Museo
Duccio Entry into Jerusalem, detail of the

Maesta, 1308-11. Siena, Museo deU'Opera
:
del Duomo (Photo Anderson)

Duccio: Temptarion in the Temple, detail
of the Maesta, 1308-11. Siena, Museo delV

Opera del Duomo (Photo Electa)
LIST OF PLATES
68 Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, begun 1298. Exterior
(b) Fenis, castle,
69
(a) Siena,
Domenico,
S.
after
1309. Exterior
(b) Siena,
Fonte Nuova, begun 1298 (Alinari)
(a)
founded 1326. Exterior
(Alinari)
della Signoria, construction super-
1376-C. 1381. Exterior (Alinari)
Sala
d'Armi
(a)
Drawing
campanile,
(b)
(Alinari)
for the campanile of the
of Florence.
Siena,
Mtiseo
Duomo
dcU'Opcra
del
Duomo,
da
Palazzo
Comunale, mid fourteenth cen-
Angelo
Orvieto:
da
Orvieto
Palazzo Comunale,
tury(?).
Citta
di
Castello,
Maria Donna Regina, 1307-f.
Gaghardo Primario(?): Naples, S. Chiara,

begun 1 3 10. Literior (G. Parisio)
Palermo, S. Francesco, doorway, after 1302
Madonna,
Ognissanti
c.
I3I0-I5(?).
Interior looking east (Ander-
Head of
the Virgin, detail of the
between 1304 and
13 13.
Padua, Arena Chapel (Alinari)
and
Expulsion ofjoachim, between 1304
13 13. Padua,
a) Giotto:
Interior
b)
Arena Chapel (Anderson)
Annunciation to Anna, between
Citta
di
Fotografico
b)
after
1323. Interior
c.
l26o-7o(?).
(Archives Photo-
Ivory.
mid fourteenth century (Alinari)

Montagnana, town walls, between 1242 and
1259. From the south (Fotocclcrc)
castle,
c.
1307-25 (Altirocca)
castle, late
Marriage of the Virgin
between 1304 and
ing tower,
Sirmione,
Angel,
c) Giotto:
Formerly
thirteenth
and early
fourteenth centuries. Aerial view (Fotocielo)
13 13. Padua,
(detail),
Arena Chapel
(Anderson)
a) Giotto:
Teaching
in the
Temple, between
1304 and 1313. Padua, Arena Chapel (Ander-
Chiaravallc di Milano, abbey church, cross-
Gradara,
diirteenth century.
tvest portal
graphiques)
in 1336 (Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)
(a)
Arena Chapel (Alinari)
Demotte Collection
Duomo, begun
(b)
13 13. Padua,
Queen of Sheba, mid

Reims Cathedral,
Castello,
mid fourteenth cen-
(Gabinetto
Giotto: Birth of the Virgin, between 1304
and
a)
79 Crema, Duomo, facjiade, r. 1341 (Alinari)

80 (a) Milan, S. Gottardo, campanile, inscribed
82
S.
Last Judgement,
(Courtaidd Institute)
81 (a)
Pietro a Maiella, founded early
I304andi3i3.
Nazionale)
(b)
S.
1304 and 1313. Padua, Arena C/iape/ (Alinari)
Angelo
(b) Asti,
Naples,
b) Giotto
Angelo da Orvieto(?): Gubbio, Palazzo dei

ConsoU, begun after 1322. Detail of steps
tury (?). Exterior (Ahnari)

(a)
c 1320
son)
(Angeli)
78
Naples,
a) Giotto:
son)
(b)
ceiling,
Giotto: Padua, Arena Chapel, painted between
consecrated 1366. Interior
(Angeh)
(a)
Fermo Maggiore,
(Anderson)
76 Angelo da Orvieto(?): Gubbio, Palazzo dei

ConsoH, begun after 1322. Exterior (Ander-
77
S.
Florence, Uffizi
75 (a) Pisa, S. Maria della Spina, enlarged after

1323. Exterior (Anderson)
Gubbio,
Verona,
Giotto:
(b)
1306
1320. Interior
(a)
founded 1334
c.
fourteenth century. Interior (G. Parisio)

(b)
Duomo,
Florence,
Padua, Palazzo della Ragione, ceOing
(Courtauld Institute)
mid fourteenth
(Alinari)
(b)
Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, begun

of choir and transepts
(Alinari)
(b)
(Alinari)
Florence, Palazzo Davanzati,
Giotto:
S.
Exterior
(Alinari)
(a)
Palazzo Vecchio, founded 1299,
centur)'(?). Exterior (Alinari)
(a)
1333.
c.
Venzone,Duomo, inscribed in 1308. Interior

Treviso, S. Nicolo, begun c. 1303. Exterior
73 Florence, Orsanmichele, foimded 1337. Interior
74
De
(b)
by Benci di Clone and Sinione Talenti,
(a) Florence,
(b)
Geografico
(Alinari)
Francesco, founded 1326. Interior
71 Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, founded 1299, and
72
Venice,
1330S.
(Liberto Perugi)
(b) Siena, S.
vised
(Istituto
Interior (Anderson)
(a) Siena, S. Francesco,
Loggia
1340
Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, begun
(Alinari)
70
c.
Agostini-Novara)
(Alinari)
son)
b)
Giotto:
Massacre
of the Innocents and
Mocking of Christ, between 1304 and
13 13.
Padua, Arena Chapel (Alinari)
Giotto:
Feast
at
Cana, Raising of Lazarus,
Lamentation, and Resurrection, between 1304
and
13 13. Padua,
Arena Chapel {?oto Rossi)
LIST OF PLATES
96
Giotto: Apparition at Aries,
(a)
Giotto: Trial
by
S. Croce, Bardi
a) Giotto:
Fire,
mid
I320s(?).
I330s(?). Assisi, S. Francesco, lower church,
Chapel (Alinari)
south transept (Anderson)

b)
Photographiques)
Bartolomeo
CamogU:
da
a)
Ambrogio
b)
Ambrogio
Madonna of
Humility, 1346. Palermo, Gallcria Nazionale
(Photo Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)

99
(a)
Lucchese
mid
brocade,
satin
fourteenth
Venetian
brocaded
sOk,
10
111
Gallerie,
alle
Simone Martini:
Naples, Galleria Nazionale (Soprintendenza
Martini
and
Memmi:
Lippo
St Catherine,
c.
St Mar)'
b)
Magdalen and
a)
lower church. Chapel of St Martin (Anderson)

St
b)
Martin invested, St
Martin renouncing the Sword,
c.
Assisi, S. Francesco, lower church,
(a)
c.
1333-6.
a)
Siena,
S.
1342. Liver-
Simone Martini Virgin Amiunciate,

:
Pacino di Bonaguida:
I340s(?). Antwerp, Koninklijk
Museum
York,
Florence,
1305-
late
Biblioteca
Communion of the
first
quarter.
(By
Collection
Wildenstein
&
Follower of Giotto: St
Mary Magdalen,
i^njigiTj.
Assisi,
S.
Co., Inc.)
Francesco,
lower
Chapel of the Magdalen (Anderson)

Follower of Giotto Visitation (detail), fourchurch.
b)
teenth centurs", second quarter(?). Florence,

Uffizi (Soprintendenza alle Gallerie)
voor
117 Bernardo Daddi:
Madonna
c.
CoUegiata
Courtesy of Wildenstein
c.
early
Schone Kunsten (A.C.L.)

106
a)
Simone Martini: Frontispiece to Servius's

Commentary on Virgil, between 1340 and
1344. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana
(b)
century.
Apostles, fourteenth century,
Agostino
Walker Art Gallery (City of Liverpool)
Fiorentino,
Tuscan: Crucifixion from a missal,
New
Simone Martini Holy Family,

pool,
105 (a)
Segna di Bonaventura: Maesta,

Castiglion
1344.
Anderson)
Laurcnziana (Photo Sansoni)

b)
(Alinari)
(b)
thirteenth
Simone Martini: Miracle of the Wolf,

of the altarpiece of Blessed Agostino
(Photo Ahnari)
(Liberto Perugi)
i33o(?).
Chapel of
detail
Novello,
Lorenzetti: Presentation, 1342.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti Annunciation,
I5(?).
St Martin (Liberto Perugi)
104
Ambrogio
Siena, Pinacoteca (Photo
i33o(?). Assisi, S. Francesco,
Simone Martini:
I330s(?).
(Photo Alinari)
Lorenzetti:
Florence, Uffizi
Simone Martini:
Maesta,
Lorenzetti:
Birth of the Virgin,

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
(Photo Anderson)
Alinari)
(b)
Ambrogio
1342. Siena,
Annunciation, 1333. Florence, Uffizi (Photo
103 (a)
a) Pietro
1328. Siena, Palazzo Pubblico (Alinari)
Simone
Palazzo Pubblico
5iVn<i,
Ambrogio Lorenzetti Allegory of Good

Government (detail),
Siena,
1338-9.
Siena, Pinacoteca
102 (a) Simone Martini: Guidoriccio da Foghano,
Well-Governed
Lorenzetti:
Palazzo Pubblico (Anderson)

b)
alle Gallerie)
(b)
mid
(Photo Anderson)
(Anderson)
a)
of Toulouse, 1317.
St Louis
(Photo Anderson)
Well-Governed Town,
Country, 1338-9.
Siena)
loi
(Alinari)
Townscapc, mid
Lorenzetti(?): Landscape,
Lorenzetti
Ambrogio
100 Simone Martini: Maesta, 1315. Siena, Palazzo
(Soprintendenza
Lorenzetti(?)
320s(?). Siena, Pinacoteca
Ambrogio
century. Krcfeld, Gewebesammlun^ der Slatt
Pubblico
I330s(?).
1338-9. Siena, Palazzo Pubblico (Anderson)
fourteenth
late
Maesta,
Lorenzetti:
I320s(?). Siena, Pinacoteca
century. Uppsala Cathedral, Treasury

b)
Ambrogio
Massa Marittima, Palazzo Pubblico
fourteenth centur)'. Paris, Louvre (Archives
b)
i320s(?).
108 (a) Follower of Pietro Lorenzetti: Last Supper,
of St Francis, early
a) Giotto: Stigmatization
Deposition,
sept (Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)
i320s(?).
Chapel (Anderson)
Florence, S. Croce, Peruzzi
Lorenzetti:
Assisi, S. Francesco, lower church, south Iran-
Dance of Salome, mid
Giotto: Raising of Drusiana,
Ambrogio Lorenzetti: Madonna del Latte,

mid I320s(?). Siena, S. Francesco (Anderson)
b) Pietro
i3i5/2o(?). Florence,
c.
(a)
Chapel (Alinari)
Florence, S. Croce, Periizzi

b)
107
Chapel (Alinari)
Florence, S. Crocc, Bardi

b)
l3i5/2o(?).
c.
Tripr)xh,
1333.
Florence,
(a)
Ambrogio
Lorenzetti:
ChUd, 1319.
Vico
(b)
Pietro Lorenzetti: Virgin and Saints, 1320.
1338. London, Seilern Collection (Photo Otto
Arezzo, Pieve (Alinari)
Fein)
and
r Abate, Pieve (Brogi)
Bigallo (Alinari)
a)
Bernardo Daddi: Exterior of triptych,
::
LIST OF PLATES
(b)
119
(a)
Art Gallery, James Jackson Jarves Collection
Camaino: Henry VII and his

Emperor
Henry VII, 1 3 1 5 Pisa, Camposanto (German
Master of the Biadaiolo Fiorentino: Corn
Institute, Florence)
Bernardo Daddi: Vision of St Dominic,

lii^?). New Haven, Conn., Yale University
Market
in a
Taddeo Gaddi: Hope, 1332-8.
(b)
130
(a)
Florence, S.
Croce, Baroncelli Chapel (Brogi)
Life,
Supper,
Last
Florence, S. Croce, Refectory
122
(a)
Maso
di
window,
c.
1340-50.
(b)
Maso
late
detail
(b)
Sylvester
St
and the
Pieta di S. Remigio,
second
century,
(c)
(a)
132 (a)
Unknown
Riminese: Presentation, early

century.
125 (a)
Hamburg, Weddel
Collection
Unknown
134
(a)
fourteenth centur)-.
(b)
Bolognese:
from the
Bologna, Museo
Page
of
font,
i332-3(j).
c.
and Agnolo
di
Ventura
Tarlati, 1330.
of
St Catherine
of Alexandria,
i343-5(?)- Naples, S. Chiara (Alinari)
Lorenzo Maitani(?): Angel of St Matthew,
facade,
Duomo
(Liberto Perugi)
Gallery
Scotland
of
(a)
(b)
century.
Bologna,
Pinacotcca
127 Vitale da Bologna: Frescoes, 135 1. Pomposa,
d.
Drawing
Maitani(?):
Duomo at Orvieto, c
Opera
del
for
the
i3io(?).
Duomo
(Raffaelli,
Arnioni, and Moretti)
Cain
138 (a) Lorenzo Maitani(?):

c.
Tomb of Doge Francesco
1339. Venice, Frari, Chapter
at
137 Lorenzo Maitani(?): Baptism of Christ, c.

I3io-3o(?). Orvieto, Duomo, 3rd Pier
Abbey Church (Anderson)

Dandolo,
Duomo
for the facade of the
Lorenzo
Orvieto,
mid
Nazionale (Photo A. Perissinotto)
128 (a) Paolo Vcncziano:
Drawing
facade of the
(National
(detail),
Duomo,
13 10 (Gabinetto Fotografico
Orvieto, cijioC?). Orvieto, OperadelDuomo
of Scotland)
da Bologna: Nativity
fourteenth
begun
Nazionale)
136
Magi, mid fourteenth century. Edinburgh,

National
(b)
(Alinari)
Giovanni and Pacio da Firenze: Scene from
1329-30. Orvieto,
da Bologna(?): Adoration of the
Galleries
Cerbone,
di S.
Duomo
Statuti dei Merciai, 1328.
(b) Vitale
detail
the Life
Bolognese: Page from a Bible,
Civico (Photo Fotofast)

(a) Vitale
Area
di Gregorio:
135 Lorenzo Maitani (in charge) Orvieto,
Unknown
Duomo
Giovanni d'Agostino: Angel appearing to
f-
Nationale
126
Goro
Monument to Bishop Guido

Arezzo, Duomo (Alinari)
late thirteenth century. Paris, Bibliothkque
(b)
Siena: Ranieri del Porrina, d.
133 Agostino di Giovanni
Agostino
Giovanni Baronzio(?): Crucifixion, right
mid
S. Chiara
Arezzo, Pieve (Alinari)
fourteenth
half of diptych,
Gano da
St John,
Museum
S.
Camaino: Head of Mary of Valois,
di
1324. Massa Marittima,
quarter.
(b)
Rimini,
Tino
(Brogi)
(Photo Courtauld Institute)

(b)
of Mary of Hungary, under con1325. Naples, S. Maria Donna
1315, detail of tomb. Casole d'Elsa,
Giuliano da Rimini: Virgin and Saints,

1307. Boston, Mass., Gardner
124
(AUnari)
detail
Florence, Uffizi
(b)
Duomo
Camaino and Gaghardo Primario
di
of tomb, 1333-7. Naples,

(Foto Marburg)
Chapel
I330s(?). Florence, S. Croce,
Unknown Florentine:
fourteenth
21. Florence,
Tino
Chiara (Anderson)
of
I330s(?).
late
Bardidi Vern'o Chapel(Bencim and Sansoni)
123 (a)
Tino di Camaino: Monument to Bishop

Antonio degh Orsi (detail), completed
Camaino: Hope, detail of tomb

of Mary of Valois, 13 33-7. Naples, S.
alle Gallerie, Florence)
Banco:
di
Dragon,
to Cardinal
(Alinari)
131 (a) Tino di
(Phaidon Press)
Florence, S. Croce, Bardi di Vernio
(Soprintendenza
Duomo
13 18. Siena,
Regina (Alinari)
Lives of the
Banco: Head of Trajan,
stained-glass
c.
struction
Taddeo Gaddi: Tree of

and
Camaino: Monument
di
Tomb
Chapel (Alinari)
Saints,
Tino
13
(b)
Virgin, 1332-8. Florence, S. Croce, Baron-
121
di
Petroni,
120 Taddeo Gaddi: Scenes from the Life of the
celli
Tino
1335-40. Florence,
c.
Laurenziana (Photo Sansoni)
Biblioteca
(a)
Councillors, detaU of tomb of the
Year of Plenty, from the
Biadaiolo Fiorentino,
(b)
129
I3io-3o(?).
(RaffacUi,
(b)
Orvieto,
killing
Duomo,
1st
Abel,
Pier
Armoni, and Moretti)
Lorenzo Maitani(?):
House (Osvaldo Bohm)
of Last Judgement,
Paolo Vcncziano: Coronation of the Vir-
Duomo,
gin, late i350s(?). Venice, Accademia
Moretti)
Damned
f.
Soul, detail
I3io-3o(?). Orvieto,
4th Pier (RaffacUi,
Armoni, and
LIST OF PLATES
139
UnkiiowiJ Master: Visitation,
(a)
1310-30.
c.
and Moretti)
Lorenzo
(b)
150 Giovanni di Balduccio: Area di
Diwmo, 3rd Pier (RafFaelli, Armoni,
Oruieto,
151
Angels,
Maitani(?):
detail
of
Florence,
152 (a)
140
(a) Choir-stalls (detail), early
(b)
Duomo
(Alinari)
Conte
di
(detail),
1337-8. Orvielo,
Ugolino
141 (a)
(b)
Giovanni
142
Bonino
Stained-glass
ot S. Savino, fourteenth centur)', second
Duomo
(Alinari)
Bronze
doors,
quarter. Orvieto,
143
Andrea
Pisano:
Museo dell'Opera
156
(a)
the Baptist, St
(b)
Burial of the Baptist, detail of

Florence, Baptistery
(b)
detail
Pisano:
Museo
S.
Reparata,
dell'Opera
I330s(?).
del
(b)
161 (a)
Duomo
Andrea Pisano: The Weaver, c. 1334-7.

Florence, Duomo, campanile (Alinari)
(b)
Giovanni di Balduccio Virgin Annunciate,

early I330s(?). Florence, S. Croce (Alinari)
of Area
163 (a)
Temperance,
Balduccio:
di S. Pietro Martire, 1339.
(b)
1340 (Anderson)
(a)
Tomb
(b)
Equestrian figure from the
of Gughelmo
di
Castelbarco, d.
1320. Verona, S. Anastasia (Alinari)
grande della Scala,

Vecchio (Rossi)
tomb of Can-
d. 1329. Verona, Castel
Facetti)
Bartolino da Novara:
Ferrara,
Castello
Matteo da Campione: Monza, Duomo,

facade, completed 1396 (Anderson)
Pavia, S. Maria del Carmine, designed c.
Pavia, S. Maria del Carmine, designed
c.
S.
Petronio,
begun 1390. Interior (Alinari)

Matteo Gattapone: Bologna, Collegio di
Spagna, 1365-70. Counyard (Andenon)
Venice, Palazzo Ducale, 1340
fF.,
late four-
teenth century, and after 1424. Exterior
Giovanni da Campione: Bergamo, baptistery, inscribed
149
1360-5.
Court)'ard
1360-90.
castle,
162 Antonio di Vicenzo: Bologna,
Milan, S. Eustorgio (Mario Perotti)

(b)
c.
i37o(?). Interior (G. Chiolini)
detail
Visconteo,
i37o(?). Exterior (G. Chiolini)

(b)
(a)
di
Castello
1360-5. South
choir (Anderson)
of bronze doors, 1330-6.
(Photo Alinari)
148 (a) Giovanni
Pavia,
c.
begun 1385. Exterior (Alinari)

159 Milan, Duomo, begun 1 3 86(?). Interior (Alinari)
160 (a) Milan, Duomo, begun I386(?). Exterior of
Florence, Baptistery (Brogi)
147
(Anderson)
Estense,
Andrea Pisano: Presentation of the Bap-
Andrea
Visconteo,
fa(âde
(Giovanni
(Alinari)
Florence,
Francesco Schicci(?): Montagnana, Porta
158 (a) Verres,
Carrying of the Baptist's
bronze doors, 1330-6.
(b)
Matteo Gattapone: Spoleto, Rocca and
Courtyard (G. Chiolini)

I325(?).
c.
Florence, Baptistery (Alinari)
Head,
and fourteenth century, third quarter
(a) Pavia, Castello
(b)
tist's
Duomo (Photo Alinari)
Legnago, 1350/80 (Fotoceiere)

157
(Libcrto Perugi)
(a)
del
Bridge, 1362-70 (Levibrom)
145 (a) Detail of mosaics, completed
146
recon-
155 Siena, baptister)-, fa<;ade, late thirteenth cen-
bronze doors, 1330-6. Florence, Baptistery
Body and
(detail),
(Anderson)
Naming of
Andrea Pisano
interior
fourteenth centur)', third quarter. Siena,
tuT)-
John entering the WOdemess, Preaching

of St John, Presentation of Christ, St John
baptizing. Baptism of Christ, detail of
(b)
Duomo,
Lucca,
154 Drawing for the facade ofthe baptistery at Siena,
1330-6.
Florence, Baptistery (Brogi)
144 Andrea Pisano:
1350-70 and
Trinita, nave,
structed 1372-flfteenth century (Alinari)
window
Reliquary
S.
BigaUo, 1352-8. Exterior (Anderson)

(b)
UgoUno di Vieri and Viva di Lando
Florence,
153 (a) Alberto Amoldi(?): Florence, Loggia del
(Alinari)
completed 1334. Orvieto, Duomo,
(detail),
choir
di
Duomo
plans
1383-c. 1405. Interior (Brogi)
Reliquary of the Holy
di Vieri:
Corporal, 133 S. Orvieto,

(b)
Nave screen
Duonw (Alinari)
new
nave, redesigned 1357,
1366. Interior (Brogi)
1330s. Orvieto,
Orlandi:
LelLio
Duomo, exterior of choir (Alinari)

di Cambio (original plan c. 1294),
Amolfo
Duomo,
Armoni, and Moretti)
Pier (Raffaelli,
Pietro
Francesco Talenti, and others: Florence,
Creation of Eve, c. 13 10-30. Ori'iVfo,DHOio,

1st
S.
Martire, 1339. Milan, S. Eustorgio (Alinari)
(Alinari)
164
Bama
da Siena: Annunciation, Entry into
Jerusalem, Judas and the Thirty Pieces
of
Silver, Last
Supper, early I350s(?). S.
Gimignano, CoUegiata (Phaidon Press)

165 (a) Bartolo di Fredi: Adoration of the Magi,
I390s(?). Siena,Pinacoteca (Photo Anderson)
LIST OF PLATES
(b)
Lippo Vanni: Annunciation,

Lago (Foto
5. Leonardo al
166
(a)
c.
1350-65.
b)
Reali)
tail
Umbrian: The Meeting of Dante and

Virgil, MS.L.70.f.2., mid fourteenth cenAndrea Vanni: Agony
178
a)
Crucifixion,
Garden,
and Descent into
Limbo,
b)
179
Francesco
Traini(?):
early
and Green Parrot, firom memorandum

book,
180
a)
1357. Florence, S. Maria Novella, Slrozzi
b)
Chapel (Alinari)
Last
Judgement
(detail), i36os(?). Florence, S.
Croce (Photo
Orcagna(?):
(b)
Giovanni del Biondo: St John the Baptist

and Scenes from his Life, c. 1370/80.
171 Andrea da Firenze:
a)
begun
b)
c)
c.
Madonna
1350 and 1368.
Nino
Abruzzan:
S. Balbina,
The Legend of
the Cross,
c.
182
a)
b)
begim 1365.
Florence, S.
183
Aretino:
by
a)
probably
Frescoes,
b)
174 (a) Guariento di Arpo: Coronation of the

(detail),
Di/ffl/e
(Osvaldo
(b) Altichiero:
Venice,
1365/7.
others:
Duomo
c 1377/84.
185
Frescoes,
mid
St
b)
PhiUp exorcizing
a Devil, early i38os(?). Padua, S. Antonio,
Padua)
(Photo
Duomo
(Gabi-
Musco
Civico,
from the baptistery,

Museo deU'Opera del
(Alinari)
1380.
Vanni: Reliquary of S. Reparata,

Florence,
Museo deU'Opera
Duomo (Soprintendenza
1370s.
Padua, Baptistery (Alinari)
Silver altar
a) Francesco
Padua, Oratory ofS. Giorgio (Rossi)
Cividale,
after 1377. Florence,
Felice (Alinari)
175 Altichiero and Avanzo: Frescoes,
Chapel
Donato, 1375.
184 Leonardo di Set Giovanni, Betto di Geri, and
completed 1379. Padua, Santo, Chapel ofS.
Giusto de'Menabuoi
Eucharist, 1350s.
Donadino da Cividale: Reliquary bust of

S.
Crucifixion (detail of left bay),
176 Giusto de'Menabuoi:
The
Duomo, campanile (AHnari)

Pietro and Paolo Aretino: Reliquary bust
of S. Donato, 1346. Arezzo, Pieve (Libcrto
Palazzo
Bohm)
Alberto Amo!di(?):
Florence,
Perugi)
1387. Florence, S. Miniato al
(Alinari)
Virgin
detail
Florence,
Croce, Rimiccini
Chapel (Ahnzri)
Belludi
fourteenth century,
of tabernacle, 1359.
Orsanniichclc (Alinari)
Monte
delta
Andrea Orcagna: Assumption of the Vir-
Press)
finished
Maria
1350 and 1368. Pisa, S. Caterina
c.
gin,
Spinello
del Latte, be-
Pisa, S.
Pisano(?): Virgin Annunciate, be-
i38o(?). Florence, S. Croce, choir (Phaidon
173 (a) Giovanni da Milano Expulsion ofJoachim,
(a)
Pisano(?):
tween
second half L'Aquila, Museo (Photo Electa)
172 Agnolo Gaddi:
177
Nino
(Alinari)
1365.
(Alinari)
(b)
di
Lombard: Chivalric scene, detail of page

from Guiron le Courtois, end of fourteenth
tween
Maria Novella, Spanish Chapel
Florence, S.
Visconti
Spina (Alinari)
(Photo Reali)
Frescoes,
Milan,
1395.
Collection
century. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale

181
Institute)
Florence, Contini Collection
Uffiziolo of Gian Galeazzo Vis-
before
Modrone
Courtauld
(Photo Wells)
Giovanni (and Salomone?) dei Grassi: Page

conti,
Andrea
fourteenth century. Bergamo,
late
from the
Camposanto (Photo Ander-
169 Andrea Orcagna Christ in Majesty and Saints,
(a)
Museum
1403. London, British
son)
170
Museum
Giovanni dei Grassi: Vulture, Goldfinch,
The Triumph of
Triumph of Death,
Treatise of the
Biblioteca Civica
168 Francesco Traini(?):
from
b)
Camposanto
I350s(?). Pisa,
insects,
Paduan French bean, from Herbal, before
Death, detail of sinopia, early I350s(?).

Pisa,
Staatsbibliothek
Institute)
a)
1390/1400. Siena, Pinacoteca (Photo Anderson)

(b)
Page with
London, British
Paolo di Giovanni Fei: Birth of the Virgin,
133 1. Paris,
Virtues and Vices, late fourteenth century.
ington, Corcoran Gallery

(a)
Munich,
1374.
(Photo Courtauld
fourteenth century, third quarter. Wash-
167
c.
Niccolo da Bologna: Detail of page from

Missal,
the
in
of page from Pantheon,
Bibliothkque Nationale
tury. Perugia, Biblioteca Augusta

(b)
Goffredo da Viterbo: Death of Jacob, de-
del
alle Gallcric)
Voghera Monstrance, 1406. Milan,
Castello
Sforzesco (Photo Electa)
186 Altar of
S.
Jacopo, 1287, 1314-16,
tccnth-cariy
Duomo
fifteenth
(Libcrto Perugi)
mid
century.
four-
Pistoia,
LIST OF PLATES
187 Area di
S.
Pavia,
Pietro
S.
Giacomo da Campione: MiJan, Uuomo,
'
r
relief over
1
north
sacristy,
(Fabbnca
Campione Monument
'9 Bonino da
f Alinari)
del^
door,
189 (a) Andriolo de' Santi:
191
signono
Vcnma,
(^)
of Jacopo da
(Alinari)
Masegne:
to
Bcrnabo
Milan,
^
Campione: Monument
1
n
della
. ,
Castello
S.
t-
to
^
Can-
begun bctore 1375.

Maria Antica {A\m^n)
Scala,
Monument to Mastino II della Scala, equcstnan figure

5.
(b)
dalle
1363.
Bonino da
Carrara, completed 13 51. Padua, Ercmitani
(B)Jacobello and Pierpaolo
before
Sforzesco (Alinari)
,-,
j^^
Tomb
Visconti
1390s
Duomo)
1388-92. Bologna, S. Francesco
altar,
(Alinari)
Cicl d'Oro
in
18S (a) Anon, and Isacco da Imbonatc: Virgin

.
^tl
T~,
Annmiciate, 1402. Milan, Duomo
.
^
1.1
T^
IB)
High
Agostino, inscribed 1362, completed
later(?).
(detail),
before 1351. Verona,
Maria Antica (Alinari)
The ScaUger Tombs.

.(4H/iVa
(Alinari)
Verona,
S.
Maria
I
S\y \TZE
R.
LA N D
ITALY
FOREWORD
The period covered by this book has long been
names
and
in art history
articles.
have contributed, or are
These range from magisterial surveys
At every
the most minute details.
level, therejore,
Neither the notes, which have been kept

select bibliography,
which
is
to
oj the entire field to
to
me
to
oj
books
complex investigations of
my debt ofgratitude is quite
what seems
of the greatest
unending stream
contributing, to an
impossible to repay.
be the essential
minimum, nor
the
merely a pointer to some of the more important sources of information,
of things, be more than a token of what I owe
can, by the very nature
Many
the object of intensive study.
still
to writers,
many of whom
have not been named.
The general shape of the

has been conditioned by
period
in
which, for the
become appreciable
ing,
in
book, built for the most part round biographies of the major
first
detail.
The
at such points as
the arts were notable
to be
no need, however,
to insist
arts,
on the often unfortunate modern
and
of clarity.
distinctions
the latter are treated without segregation
seemed to be appropriate for various reasons. The internal chronological divisions
1300 and 1350 are as arbitrary as the opening and closing dates of the book as a whole. I felt
some subdivision was
that
architecture or sculpture
seemed
to be neither
sidered reflect
The
my
limitations
desirable in order to avoid such extremes as
Any
of 1400 before the painting of 1230.
more convenient nor
created are rigidly respected,
to
when
to
and paint-
division into architecture, sculpture,
in principle, particularly in relation to a time
between major and minor or fine and applied
at
enough documented
time, artistic personalities as such are well
their unity than for their separation, seefued to be necessary in the interests
There appeared
artists,
belief that this traditional format remains the most appropriate for the
any quantity or
though undesirable
more for
my
and
less
misleading.
having
to discuss the
alternative dividing lines
None of the
three compartments so
the varying sequences in which painting
and sculpture
are con-
estimate of their changing inter-relationships.
of space arising from the nature of the
series as a
whole meant that any attempt
achieve an even coverage of the field would have reduced the text to a mere string of names.
The outcome
is
therefore a compromise. Without, I hope, ignoring the need for a reasonable
survey, I have concentrated heavily on those artists and works of art or architecture which seemed
to
me, for one reason or another,
many
respects than those
many passages on works which

of
to be the
most important. This means that
many fine
artists
and
some of them possibly more beautiful or more significant in certain

which are discussed, have had to be left out. I have, on the other hand, included
considerable works,
illustrations.
could not, unfortunately, find a place within a strictly limited
list
I did this partly in the interests of a reasonable historical coverage within the
guiding lines already mentioned; partly because such passages seemed
to
me
to be essential to
an
understanding of the works which could be illustrated; and partly because I believe the final test
of what I have ivritten to lie in its success orfailure in terms of increased understanding and enjoy-
ment
in front
of the ivorks themselves.
Particularly in the earlier sections of the hook I have tried, wherever I have felt able to deal
with
a
artists or
way which
with works of art or architecture at some length,
to
approach the various topics
demonstrates the essential ivorkings of art-historical method as I understand
in
it.
FOREWORD
Words such
as 'seems' are deliberately used throughout to indicate degrees of probability or un-
certainty, especially
where detailed argument could not be included. Finally, on matters such as
and
dating, attribution,
I have
the like,
ofpresent knowledge,
in the light
make
tried as Jar as possible to
to be so
those things which seem,
well established that they can, for
all practical purposes,
be treated as certain, stand out clearly from the surrounding structure of less secure hypothesis.
One of the
least desirable aspects
of the intense
interest in
tliis
particular field in recent years has
been the extent to which, in certain quarters, hypothesis has been raised upon hypothesis, until
the often tiny basis of reasonable certainty has been buried under a mountain of attractive
but insecure assumption.

the firm foundation of
unsuccessfully at times,
By
a natural process of conditioning the latter
is
then often treated as
known fact which it is not. I have therefore done my best, however

to cut down to bed-rock in these respects and to allow the nature of the
speculative superstructure to remain visible from the foundations upwards. It

that
I have reduced the references
explanation.
When
minimum; and
Vasari to a
to
dealing with a period which lay to
remarkable expertise, what he says, however fruitful
When
be accepted on the basis of outside evidence.

least as often as
whenever
he
is right.
happens
his opinion
to coincide
and
to
with one's
Professor Johannes Wilde for their advice
Hoivard Saalmanfor
Professor George Zarnecki has

historical matters,
own
has
little to
come
I cannot begin
to
my
to
say
how
and encouragement
I
in typescript.
his generosity in allowing
outside the range of his
to be
the tendency to quote Vasari as
have helped me, I owe especial thanks
work, ivhen they read a number of chapters
in this context
avenues for research, can only
he can be checked, he seems
Under such circumstances
Among the many people who
some extent
in sitggesting
is
perhaps requires some
this
me
aid time
to
am
recommend
to
at
it.
Dr Margaret Whinney
in the early stages
of the
also extremely grateful to
Dr
read nnich oj his unpublished material.
and again. Apart jrom
indebted I
wrong
an authority
am
to
on art-
his advice
Professor Nikolaus Pevsner for his
kindness and understanding andfor his endless patience. I owe a great deal to Airs Joan Allgrove,
DrEve Borsook, Projessor Hugo Buchthal, Mrs Diana Donald, Mr

Dr George Henderson, Dr Peter Kidson, Mr Andrew
Martindale, Dr Peter Murray, Miss Stella Mary Pearce, Mr John Pope-Hennessy, Dr Nicolai
Rubinstein, Projessor Charles Seymour, Jr, Drjohn Shearman, Dr Kathleen Speight, and Dr
Max White. lam also gratejul for all that I have learnt over tlie years in the course ojinintmerable
Projessor Sir Anthony Blunt,
Julian Gardener, Projessor Louis Grodecki,
arguments and discussions with undergraduates and graduates
Butjor Miss Pauline Newton, whose speed and

ness
was
constant,
Mrs Judy
path
Nairn,
efficiency
I think the typescript would not be finished
Mrs Helen
to actual publication. It
Wightwick, and
Mr
Donald
who have worked with me.
were as remarkable as her

yet.
I would also like
helpfiilto
thank
Bell-Scott for so greatly easing the
goes without saying that I have been given assistance of every kind
by members of staff at the University of Manchester and at the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes
in the University
and Museum
I am grateful
cost
of London, as well as by the owners of collections, by
officials,
to the
of photographs
and by
civic
and
Central Research
at the very
ecclesiastical authorities in Italy
Fund of the
librarians,
by Gallery
and elsewhere.
University of London for a grant towards the
beginning of the preliminary research. In photographic matters
generally I have been greatly helped by
Mrs Anne
Diinkerley.
Thanks
for permission to
reproduce individual photographs are due also to those copyright owners mentioned separately
in the List
of Plates.
PART ONE
ARCHITECTURE
1250-1300
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
The late
and
tliirteenth
and early fourteenth centuries
ceaseless architectural
in Italy are a time
experiment and adventure.
of vigorous growth
New forms are constantly evolved
meet the new needs of a multiform society in the throes of economic and social reit is marked by the continued expansion of the
Dominican and Franciscan orders, and by the pouring of the new wealth of the towns
into a series of ever grander schemes for the expression of God's glory and their own
to
volution. In reUgious architecture
magnificence. This growing civic pride, this sense of unity, or the desire for
the bitter factions and the rending struggles for internal and external power,
no
despite
communal
wealth.
It
parallel elsewhere in
Europe.
Not only do
panied by the accumulation of great individual and

creation of a secular architecture that has
it,
was accomled to the
the buildings of the day provide the essential physical environment for the visual arts
from which they
are inseparable; they also play a vital role in the estabHshment
vocabulary of form.
richness to their
The latter
fundamental
still
embraces
unit)'.
all
The period
the
is
arts,
of a
new
but adds a fresh complexity and
characterized
by
the emergence of the
individual artistic personahty and the germination o( the
modem concepts
and the architect, yet the idea of specialization in the
was barely
arts
in
its
of the
artist
infancy.
The
were not distinguished from each other. Mason and sculptor,

architect and mason, were not yet separated. All of them were craftsmen first and foremost. Often a single man habitually combined two or more of the now distinct roles
of sculptor or goldsmith, architect or painter. Even where he did not, fame in the visual
major and the minor
arts
or apphed arts was, as
common
practice, taken to qualify a
man
of the most important architectural commissions. In such

justifying any underestimation of the role of architecture.
direction
However much they may be
completely for the

a
world there
is
no
masterpieces in their owii right, the buildings of this
period have always occupied a rather
unhappy
position in the history of
art.
They
are
of invidious comparisons with the Northern Gothic architecture to which

many of them are in part st^'Hstically afflhated with the native ItaUan Romanesque
tradition that precedes them and with the Renaissance that follows; and above all
the victims
with the visual
arts
more important
by which they
are
embelUshed and completed. It is therefore all the

of the period and to the
that their contribution to the cultural history
PART one: architecture 1250-1300

subsequent development of Italian architecture should be seen for what
what
it
was
in
its
own
day, as far as that
is
it is,
and for
possible.
tion.
mid thirteenth century there were three main sources of architectural inspiraThe first was the varied, omnipresent, and still hving, native Romanesque tradi-
tion.
This contributed to almost every major achievement of the next
In the
fifty years
and
to
was done throughout the succeeding century. The second was French Gothic
architecture. This was often experienced directly or through German intermediaries
much
that
and was embodied, largely by French
architects, in the great Cistercian monasteries
bmlt in Lombardy and South Central
Italy
during the preceding seventy-five years.
was the small but increasingly influential body of work in which the
elements of Northern Gothic art were beginning to be adapted in a specifically Italian
manner to ItaUan taste and needs. By far the most significant of these seminal earlythirteenth-century achievements was the construction of the double church of S.
The
third source
Francesco at
Assisi.
CHAPTER
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE FRANCISCAN AND

DOMINICAN EXPANSION IN ITALY
The
mendicant churches
Italian architecture.
a consistently
of
offer a telling introduction to the study
more or
Certain
less
apphed rehgious programme, provide
guismg the regional variety that remained
a feature
a unifying
of
Italian hfe
theme without
and
art.
the saUent characteristics
persistent Itahan
champions of Gothic forms,
of Itahan Gothic architecture can be seen in
dis-
The newly
formed orders were, moreover, expanding across the whole of Europe, and
were the most consistent and
medieval
late
constant architectural demands, arising out of
since they
number of
their wider,
European context.
Although
S.
Domenico
at
Bologna was founded shghtly
Assisi that site, architectural
earher,
to S. Francesco at
it is
form, and subsequent decorative completion have given
unique aesthetic and historical importance (Plate lA and Figure
i).
founded in 1228, the year of St Francis's canonization and two years
Although
1239.'
it
It is a
was only consecrated
in 1253,
it
was probably
structure, has the
major architectural
significance.
only a relatively small group of buildings,^
after his death.
substantially
double church, and the upper building, rather than the
Although
it
The church was

complete by
cr)'pt-like
lower
provides a pattern for
many of the fundamental
characteristics
of
luhan Gothic architecture are already estabhshed in it. Its plan is simple, and the unadorned Latin-cross form and aisleless nave closely resemble those of its possible prototype, the late-twelfth-century cathedral of Angers.^ There is extreme volumetric clarity,
and in the nave the overriding sense of a single unified space is unimpaired by its articulation into bays (Plate ib).
gregation's
It is
a preacher's church,
view or breaks the steady
Breadth and
airiness are
and nothing interrupts the con-
architectural flow towards the altar
combined with
and the
pulpit.
firm sense of architectural mass. Balance
is
the
by a horizontal of equivalent power, and

each strong horizontal broken by a vertical. The outcome of the interplay of members
is both an enhancement and an exact expression of the actual architectural volume and
ke^-note.
its
major
There
Every
vertical acceleration
is
held
axes.
is
a clear structural logic,
and no attempt
is
made
to use hidden engineering
or external elements to create an internal sense of weightlessness

soaring members. Such buttressing as
is
needed
is
by means of
forms, and the spectacular mechanics of the fl)dng buttress are eschewed.
of the
Roman
and the Romanesque remain the foundation of the
Itahan Gothic architecture.

the basis
of the
The wall and
final architectural
its
sohdity, not
achievement.
thin and
supphed by massive, semi-cylindrical
its
The
aesthetics
finest creations
of
destruction or negation, are
The vitaHty of this feeling
for the wall in
Figure
its
i. Assisi, S.
simplest form,
Francesco, founded 1228, consecrated 1253. Plans of upper and lower churches*
flat, solid,
whether internally or
dows
is
and predominantly
in the plane
rectilinear,
geometry of its
fa(âde.
is
obvious in
The
S.
Francesco,
area occupied
by win-
comparatively small except in the choir, which therefore draws the eye by
its
increase in luminosity. Coolness, and yet sufficient, even Hght, and a clear field for the
fresco painter, are the
outcome. The feeling for plane surfaces extends not only into the
The clustered columns, of Burgundian
five-sided apse but into arcliitectural details.

inspiration, are the only
* Unless othcnvisc indicated,
scale
of
750.
all
rounded elements, and
all
the heavy ribs of the square,
plans and elevations (but not the diagrams of fresco cycles) are reproduced at the
THE FRANCISCAN AND DOMINICAN EXPANSION

form and volume of
The lack of any distinction between diagonal and transverse elements emphasizes
cross-vaulted bays are firm, five-sided prisms that reiterate the basic
the apse.
of design, from large to small, the
that in every aspect
and repetition of a few simple and
mum of sculptural detail.

plexities
is,
tliis
simphcity and in
its
of the great contemporary cathedrals of the
in principle,
were
that
In
to
common
effect
depends on the relationship
accompanied by
mini-
contrast to the architectural
com-
easily distinguished forms,
to the Gothic
lie
de France, Assisi has
be built throughout Europe in the
its
and in the fourteenth
late thirteenth
embodiment of
derives
still
clearer in the sister
and seemingly built between 1257 and 1265, when
from
Francesco, but the encircling wall-passage,
S.
cornice, instead
The
now
S.
Chiara, also
marked by
capitals,
much
is
at the level
heavier
columns have been shrunk against the
clustered
of
wall,
sit hke flattish caps upon the high walls of a wide,

more bare and more unbroken, and much smaller win-
appear to
rectangular room. Walls, yet
dows, are the saUent features of this nave.

c.
church of
was consecrated. The plan
reduced from five to three. They have no connexion with the longitudinal
arches of vaults that
Nevers, of
it
of nmning behind the columns well below the
the springing of the arches.

their elements
these
position both in time and space could never be mistaken.
The Burgundian connexions grow

at Assisi,
that
of imiumcrablc churches, small and not so small,
centuries. Nevertheless, the traditions controlling the practical
principles are such that
much
1245,* underlines
how
no precedent or
architecture have
It
close resemblance to that
Europe.
parallel elsewhere in
ing the tendency to spatial unification

the transept openings.
Its
of St Gildard
at
seldom the individual elements of ItaUan Gothic
is
paradoxically stressed
On entering
by
the build-
the near-invisibility
of
only gradually becomes apparent that the church is not a simple
mere continuation of the nave.

is shown by a fa(;ade which, hke that of S.
Francesco (Plate ia), and like the campaniles of both churches, derives ahnost unaltered from the Umbrian Romanesque tradition. Here again the high rectangle of the
flat screen is horizontally divided by cornices. A first low rectangle contains the doors
hall
and the apse
Externally, the hmited interest in verticaHty
and damps
main
down any
rose and
is
of the pediment
resultant vertical thrust.
second frames the spatially neutral
crowTied by a free-standing pediment with a smaller oculus.

is
now less
steep,
The
slope
and the greater width of the facade in relation to
its
by wide horizontal bands of pink and white stone. The fact that
in Italy buttresses seldom fly is almost caricatured by the massive arches, much more
wall than arch, and vice-like in effect, which were soon added to secure the structure.
height
is
accentuated
S. Francesco at Bologna
Any
danger of thinking that there was ever a mendicant
pelled
'
by moving
firom Assisi to Bologna.
years before part of the tribune

ghiexia',
fell,
Founded
architecttire' as
killing a certain
screen-facade in the
Romanesque
Lombard and Ermhan

tradition
is
dis-
Brother Andrea, 'maestro della
and seemingly substantially completed by the early
brick construction typical of the
such
in 1236, consecrated in 1250, four
sixties, S.
plain. It hides
Francesco
is
behind a massive
of Parma, Piacenza, and Pavia. The pointed

openings and the relative emphasis on height instead of width hardly prepare one for
the strength of the Northern Gothic influences in the
ambulatory and nine separate radiating chapels,
is less
main body. The
plan,
roofed Cistercian radial systems of Clairvaux and Pontigny than of their

sources in the
lie
de France (Figure
2).^
gular buttresses are linked
by
flat
faceted choir.
The heavy forms
visible pitched
soil.
connecting walls.
rectangular in plan and section, press against the
no
common
Rectangular chapels with rectan-
The massive
flying buttresses, again
that
defme the angles of the
flat pilasters
up and then seem suddenly truncated,
pile
its
Externally the formal build-up of the choir reflects
upon EmiHan
the transformation of French forms
with
reminiscent of the continuously
since there
is
roof to give a fmal concentration to the vertical movement.
4r-^
ilX'/'
Figure
Internally there
2.
is
Bologna,
nothing
and in the low flanking
S.
Francesco, founded 1236, consecrated 1250. Plan
specifically Franciscan in the sexpartite vaults
aisles (Plate 2a).
The emphasis on
line
and plane
is
of the nave
thoroughly
on the other hand. The nave piers alternate between plain octagons and octagons
composed of clusters, not of columns, but of pilasters. The vaults, with their bold,
almost square, prismatic ribs, are supported by applied pilasters set out singly or in
groups of three. The planar forms give way to rounded elements only in the columns of
the choir, and everywhere the brick of the supporting system makes a Uvely linear
contrast to the wide white surfaces of wall and vault. The relative flamess of the vaults
themselves becomes particularly obvious in the choir, which seems, as in the external
Itahan,
view, to
come
polygon
continuous horizontal
strips
bers.
above the ocuU. This further stresses the

which the arches, walls, and windows blend into
to a sudden stop immediately
width and flamess of
The whole
effect
is
no
in
less
emphatic than the
one of calm and
rationality
verticals
of their individual
dcfmition and distinction of 'supporting' and 'supported parts, and

'
of formal
detail
mem-
and simple colour contrast. Clear

a
sharp-edged clarity
the retention of the structural elements of Gothic architecture and a

positive exploitation
of
their necessary resolution into the simple
best suited to a brick construction; such

set
the pattern in
Bologna
for
two hundred
S.
The supreme and
seem
Maria Novella
in
Florence
example of the adaptation of the vaulted,
mendicant needs, and of a thoroughgoing exploration of the
rhythmic possibihties o the Gothic idiom,
Dominican church
of a church that
years and more.
earUest surviving complete
aisled basihcan design to
forms traditionally
to be the basic quahtics
in Florence,
is
that
founded by 1246
of
S.
(Plate
Maria Novella, the principal
2b and Figure
3).
The
choir and
f
M
ft
'
-m
r
Figure
transepts
3.
begun by 1279. Plan
seem to have been started by 1279, and work appears
nave, without substantial subsequent change of plan, until

early fourteenth century.
its
to have continued
virtual
on
the
completion in the
The short-headed, cruciform plan with its straight-ended choir,
four flanking chapels, and square or near-square bays for crossing and transepts combines
features
of such North
characteristic
Italian Cistercian
subsequently modified in
S.
as
Rivalta Scrivia with others
tradition,
headed by Fossanova, and
foundations
of the South-Central Cistercian
Galgano near Siena. In the nave
a similar blending
is
observable in the rapid expansion towards the North Itahan square bays, which are,
however,
set in the
Alternatively, the
on to
that
South-Central, one-to-one relationship with those of the
whole plan may be regarded
of S.Francesco
at Assisi.
pleted three-dimensional design

Cistercian in
its
and
is
stresses the vital
Italian
mendicant and not transplanted French
origins.
The shmness of
airiness
This
aisles.
of certain Cistercian features

fact that the novelty of the com-
as a grafting
the supports,
combined with the bay-shapes,
spatial unity to the design.
gives imprecedented
The breadth and moderate height of the nave, and

narrow aisles, break down the separation
the unusually wide openings into the relatively
of the subsidiary spaces
common
to
all
Cistercian churches.
consequently over two-thirds that of the nave, and

vaulted
Romanesque
time in ItaHan Gothic
first
height of the
movement. Although
as the
aisles is
proportions of such
buildings as S. Eustorgio in Milan, not to mention a
unvaulted Tuscan Romanesque buildings such

for the
The
recalls the
Pieve at Arezzo.
number of
Now, however,
hght has been combined with hghtness and
art,
the hierarchy of the spatial subdivisions
is
maintained, there
free
is
an
unusual rhythmic interpenetration of the entire volume of the nave. This continuity of
movement is again accentuated by the picking out of all the slender supporting members
tiates
this
time in the cool grey-green of the Tuscan pietra
the longitudinal arches of the nave
boundaries.
ings,
means
The very smoothness of aU such

that the
flat
serena.
Only colour
from the walls of which they form
minimum of mould-
elements, with their
surfaces themselves are energized. In comparison, the
Francesco at Bologna assumes the
air
differen-
the lower
nave of S.
of a rhythmically patterned, rectangular volume.
In S. Maria Novella rhythmic volumes link into a richly articulated unity in
which the
smoothness of aU surfaces and the lack of sharply pointed forms ensure that movement
is
combined with calm
in a swift-flowing stillness.
This ultimate sense of quiet

triple east
window, which
which, since
it is
is
epitomized in the
replaces the
set in a contrasting
much
clear, closely
frame of
relative obscurity
accentuated crossing, contributes to a fmal concentration

subtly furthered
by
grouped forms of the
looser patterns of Cistercian end-walls and
on
beyond the UghtThe same end is
the altar.*
the diminishing length of the nave-bays as the crossing is approached.
This speeds up the natural perspective diminution, adding to the sense of space in an
Whether this is a dehberate refmement or the sensitively managed

outcome of a change of plan begun in the third bay from the crossing, the aesthetic point
would have been more obvious when the original placing of the monks' choir in the
bays before the crossing partially obscured the now uninterrupted vista. The numerous
subsequent examples of equivalent subtlety of mind and eye show that such problems
should not be too easily dismissed. These very years are marked by growing interest in
already lengthy nave.
the appearances and metamorphoses of real space.
It is
part and parcel of an ever-
increasing determination to transform the two-dimensional world of wall- and panel-
painting into a seemingly three-dimensional reaUty.

space that could characterize a
seen
by turning
piece that
is
man who was
sensitivity to architectural
of sculptural form
is
to the one surviving and substantially unaltered architectural master-
generally attributed to Arnolfo di
Cambio.
Arnolfo di Camhio and S. Crocc
The
The
a leading explorer
in Florence
history of the rival, Franciscan church of S. Crocc, half-cmbcddcd, like S. Maria
Novella, in
its
system of cloisters and monastic buildings,
typifies that
of many of the
The rapid geographical expansion of the new

accompanied by dramatic growth within the individual cells of the body
great mendicant constructions.
and often,
as in the case
of S. Maria Novella
8
in 1221, the story
orders was
corporate,
began with the
transfer

of an existing church. Here, however, the setting up of a small house by St Francis himI2II-I2 was followed by the buildijig of a church first mentioned in 1225. This
self in
was already apparently being enlarged, or possibly replaced, by 1252, and an even finer
was being plamaed by as early as 1285. Apart from Florentine tradition, the bchef
edifice
Cambio designed
that Arnolfo di
things.
The
first is a
the
new
building, founded in 1294/5, depends
tenuous styHstic relationslaip to the
new
little
on two
that can hypothetically
be
Duomo, of which he is
documented as being capomaestro in 1300. The second consists of such links as may
justifiably be forged between his architecture and his sculpture. By the probable date of
reconstructed of the original project for the
death in 1302
liis
completed.
by
The
it is
first
Florentine
hkely that the chapels flanking the choir of
S.
Croce had been
southern aisle-bay was finished by 13 18 and the third northern
1326, but although the nave
was not completed
until the
end of the
ccntur)', there
were no important subsequent variations in a design conspicuous for clarity and balance
in a complex whole adapted to the special purposes of the Franciscan order, and for space
and calm, combined with Gothic Hghmess, unity, and movement (Plate 3).
S.
The
Croce
is
one of the
largest
violent opposition aroused
and most richly decorated mendicant churches in
by
its
long controversy over the interpretation of the extreme rule of poverty,

saint
who had
of any kind,
is
not even wished
liis
who
laid
followers to build themselves permanent dwellings
not surprising. The battle was intensified by the fact that two of the most
important writers of the Spirituals or

Casale,
Italy.''
by the
down by a
building in an order already deeply riven
in 13 10 castigated
its
and Ubertino da
Strict Observants, Pietro Olivi
excessive luxury as the
ing in the monastery while the church was being built.
mark of anti-Christ, were Hv-
It is t)'pical
of the paradox and
the tension, indeed the duahsm, present not merely in the Franciscan order but in
Florentine society as a
was
also the
whole during
this
period of the birth of capitalism, that
S.
Croce
favoured church of the great banking famihes of the Bardi, Alberti,
Peruzzi, and BaroncelH.
The
with
plan,
ten,
manner
hke
that
(Figure 4).
A major factor in the
runs, uninterrupted,
Christian
in
of S. Maria Novella,
is
modified Burgundian-Cistercian,
this
time
not four, chapels flanking the choir, and a five-sided apse in the Assisan
Rome
down
design
is
the open-trussed
wooden roof that
the nave to the entrance- wall of the choir. Favoured in Early
and in Ravenna, such roofs were
Romanesque times and were
common
throughout the peninsula
particularly popidar in Central Italy,
where the
tradi-
was wholeheartedly embraced by the mendicants. The similar roofing of the aisles
is supported by transverse pointed arches, marking bays which are less long and narrow
than in S. Maria Novella. The nave arcading is stUl wide, however, and the stopping
effect of the transverse arches, together with the pools of shadow that collect in the
tion
upper volumes of each bay, encourages
movement into
the long,
unbroken
free space
hghtened by an even greater height. This Hghmess is

accentuated by the sUnmess of the nave supports and by the thinness of an overburden
pierced by simple windows and articulated by extremely flat and narrow pilasters.
of a nave in which great width
is
Despite the extensive area of these upper walls, the outcome

weightlessness.
is
quaHty almost of

Awareness of the evenly illumined volume of the nave
as a positive entity,
not merely
an interspace that separates surrounding soUds, is ensured in many ways. Its great
length is measured, but not interrupted, by the nave arcading. Its width is stressed by
as
the repeated transverse accents of the roof, in

trusses
forms a
existence
volume
resilient, spatially
dynamic
which the seemingly
net, 'closing' the ceiUng
of the
and suggesting the
of a cubic volume without actually shutting down the lid. The nature of this
further emphasized by the rectangularity and flatness of the wall that
is still
Figure
4.
Amolfo
Cambio(?): Florence,
di
S.
Croce, founded 1294/5. Plan
frames the entrance to the choir. This rectangularity

disposition of its
major openings
boundaries themselves.
by
by
close setting
The
in relation to
its
is
as
much
asserted
by
the shape and
boundaries and to each other
cubic quality of the architectural space
is
as
by the
finally established
the continuity of the lateral walls above the heightened arches of the transepts, and
that
travel
of the
gallery,
which
rises
over these same arches in the course of its unbroken
round the four walls of the nave.
As one moves towards the choir, the same wide openings that allow the free expanvolume of the nave into the aisles assist the heightened arches of the crossing
in establishing the visual unity of the whole space. Diagonal views are opened up that
sion of the
quickly take in the whole area of the transepts.

accentuate the slimncss of the
seem
last
to be cut off. Lastly, the unity
The heightened
crossing-arches also
free-standing piers, so that the lateral spaces
of the T-shapcd volume
is
pressed
home by
do not
the
way

in
which
the carefully framed end-wall of the nave stretches,
change of plane, past the
pilasters
main and flanking chapels play
Indeed, the openings ot the
nave arcades and crossing arches

It
carries
with
way
in such a
a lateral variation
as to create a species
of
on the
internal facade.
and of airy spaciousness.
enclosure of the monks' choir in the
partially
slightest
transept.
the associations of free, outdoor space and adds to the impression of
it
internal grandeur
The
unbroken by the
of the crossing arches to the end of either
two bays of the nave would once have
last
obscured the architectural imity laid bare by Giorgio Vasari's cleaning up cam-
away the colourful confusion of memorials and

mean that Arnolfo himself was unconcerned with
discussed. The partial blocking of the nave would have
paign of 1566, which also cleared

frescoes
on each
spatial effects
wall. This does not
of the kind so
far
some extent by the visual acceleration caused by the doubling of the upper
windows in the two bays concerned. In concert with the leaping rhythm of the crossing
arches and the rising of the gallery, which seems to add speed even to the quick-fire
been
offset to
repetition of the roof-beams, this creates a counter-balance for the lateral expansion of
the nave space.
out within
The
it
It
speeds the
movement to
the choir-wall and towards the apse that opens
and absorbs and concentrates the shock.
is ultimately based upon economy and

Most striking is Arnolfo's feeling for the smallest change of plane
throughout a building in which planar surfaces are a dominant structural feature. Apart
from the few simple rings upon the faceted octagonal columns, there is not a rounded
rib or moulding or a round, columnar form in the whole building. Prismatic columns,
heirs to a long Tuscan Romanesque tradition, lead to the flat soffits of the arches. A
single dehcate change of plane from arch to overburden bridges the step from soffit to
and crispness of the whole design
clarity
sensitivity
of
detail.
Each such change carries its own sharp, linear definition. Line and plane are all.
Nowhere, except of course in the main arch-forms, arc there the soft transitions and
blurred boundaries which are implicit in the curve. Such clarity of rectilinear definition
is the necessary first step from the looser medieval systems of proportion to the precise
and detailed modular relationships of the Renaissance. Nevertheless, if the fmal balance
of the building is largely dependent on the rectangle and cube, and on the interplay of
verticals and horizontals, the openings of the arches and the windows show Arnolfo's
feeling for the slimness and vertical sweep of Gothic forms. There is no blunting or
pilaster.
distortion of the Gothic structural elements
shapes of the apse, and yet the emphasis
on the
lines
which reach their climax in the slim

many Northern Gothic buildings,
not, as in so
of force that form dynamic boundaries for the space enclosed.
able extent the stress
The
is
is
not upon the cage or box by which space
building seems not so
much
to enclose as to
defme
a space.
is
To a remark-
articulated or shut in.
The form and
tion of the simple planes and prisms of the church are so devised that they
disposi-
seem
to re-
As in Arnolfo's sculpture and in many of the fmest

works of art, the sohd thing itself, though it controls every reaction and no part of it is
inessential, is strangely self-efFacing. It draws the onlooker into those worlds beyond the
flect attention
rather than absorb
range of words, where what
by
solid stuff.
is
it.
inexpressible
becomes reahty and the intangible defined

The Wooden-Roofed Hall Church and
The power of the reforming
orders, and the seeds
relatively splendid buildings that
humble
zeal
which helped
than in the innumerable

Friars
and
and the
of which the
tiny,
to put that
lesser
far
Development
of spiritual dechne, are
visible in the
been discussed. The popular austerity and
power in
their
hands are nowhere better enshrined
churches which sprang up alongside those of the Austin
and the other smaller but expanding orders, in almost every town
the tradition of the Romanesque country churches
Servites,
city in the land.
have so
its
They followed
hving-room-sized buildings that St Francis
extreme example. The simpHcit\' of the
latter
knew and
loved were the
could be, and ver)^ often was, preserved.
Extremes of smallness, on the other hand, would have been self-defeating in buildings
primarily designed to house the growing urban masses untouched
by
existing parish
organization.
typical
founding
who,
as
example of the mendicant church
saints
is
S.
as it
Francesco at Cortona, in which
developed
is
after the
death of the
buried that same Brother EUas
General of the Order, had been the driving force behind the controversial
The rough-stone church, begun in the second quarter

basically a rectangle measuring some 145 by 50 feet
5
(44 by 1 "50 m.). It is lit by simple lancets do\Mi one side and covered by a wooden,
truss-supported roof A flight of two steps, followed by a further one, is the prelude
grandeurs of S. Francesco at
of the
centur)'
and
later
Assisi.
modified,
is
namely the three simple pointed arches
to the only element of comphcation,
end-
in the
The latter open into a cross-vaulted, rectangular main chapel, which extends a few
beyond the otherwise imbroken rectangle of the ground-plan, and into two similar
wall.
feet
flanking chapels that do not. Sculptured capitals and ribs of the simplest, near-square
profile
completed the architectural decoration. Similar churches, sometimes on an even
simpler plan, entirely without vaulting or with only a single altar-chapel, and sometimes with an added architectural grace-note of some kind,* were built in brick or local
stone
all
over Italy in the succeeding hundred years.
In aU such churches spatial unity
economy and
practical simphcit)';
clearly
is
of the
new
not the outcome of aesthetic urge but of

relationship
of priest and
and above
lait)-;
of the need to preach. The frequency with which the lack of structural complexinproduces bell-like clarity in the acoustics is among their most striking attributes. There
all
are
none of the confusing reverberations commonly found
No
raising
syllable
of the voice or straining of the ear
from one end of these often
extreme simpUcity upon the grandest
bare
bams of Tuscany,
scale
does have
its
in particular, are not easily forgotten,
by the added complication of a cruciform
The almost wholly
in vaulted Gothic churches.
needed to distinguish every spoken
vast enclosures to the other.
that
scarcely altered
is
reconstructed
the
most remarkable of such
the
dawn of a new
S.
It is,
own
and
moreover,
aesthetic.
The
their qualit)'
often
plan.
Francesco at Messina, founded in 1254,
early cruciform designs (Plate 5 A
era for an order which, because
is
clear
great,
of its close
and Figure
tics
is
among
5). It
marks
with the papacy, had
faced considerable hostility in the Hohenstaufen Sicily and Southern Italy of the
half of the century.
wooden-roofed nave of moderate height
in relation to
its
first
width,

and high, but only
slightly projecting transepts, create
Apuhan Romanesque
chapels flank
it
on
The
architecture.
They
either side.
block-forms reminiscent of
interesting feature
of the nave
is
that eight
are far too shallow to disturb the spatial unity,
of internal
their undecorated, pointed arches give the appearance
and
buttressing. This idea,
occurring in the late tweltth century in the Cistercian foundation of Silvancs, was taken
up by the mendicants, beginning with
S.
Catarina in Barcelona, and became
common
during the thirteenth century in Catalonia and in Southern France.' Another notable
feature of S. Francesco
is
way
the
in
which the pointed arch before the crossing
is
both
an immediate monumcntahzation of the motif of the flanking chapels of the nave and a
cunningly calculated frame for the three polygonal choir chapels and their framing
of chapels are the same height and width
oculi. Since the flanking pair
Figure
Messina,
5.
nave, and since the choir opening

arch, the latter
may
also
11
is
be seen, in
S.
Francesco, founded 1254. Plan
intermediate in size between these and the crossing

spatial terms, as the
ment, followed by concentration on the
nave forms are regarded
tively, if the
movement, concentrating on
as those in the
altar
beginning of a forward move-
and by contraction and return. Alterna-
first, it is
the culmination
of a sweeping forward
by formal growth and
the altar and followed
a short
return in space. These are only the most elementary of the hnkages between the simple,
They
show
as the woodenon the most deHcate

subtleties of relationship. An arch that frames or does not frame what Hes beyond - a
simple harmony of proportion or the lack of it - and the sense of freedom and simphcity
basic forms.
do, however,
that in buildings
roofed hall churches the fmal architectural effect
strikes
home
or leaves the
mind
as
is
of such plainness
often founded
blank and empty
as the unarticulated space itself.
Flanking chapels next appear in the wooden-roofed nave of
which seems
S.
Lorenzo
at
to have been added after 1289, as a result of a change of plan, to a
ficent choir erected
between
c.
1270 and
combination of a nave and transepts on
c.
1284. Despite the
a plan reflecting S.
choir with ambulatory and flanking chapels in the
fme French
Naples,
magni-
detailing, the
Francesco at Messina, and a
manner of Royaumont (1229-35)
and Valmagne (1257 ff.), is not completely happy.i

Curiously enough, the even more extreme transition from an original Romanesque
main body
to a late-thirteenth- or early-fourteenth-century Gothic choir with five
radiating chapels, seen in the
Duomo
at Barletta,
13
is
to
some extent more memorable

more
because
as
high
strange.
The four narrow bays of a Romanesque nave
long are connected to the wide forms of the
as it is
new
that seems ahnost
by two more bays

of a \'irtually unmodulated
choir
which open out diagonally. The narro\Miess and verricalit}*

space give way to one which is in its own way no less severe and
weighted, though the stress is now on faceted complexit)% on spatial
on
lateral extension.
When seen from choir
to nave,
it
seems
as if a
solid
and wall-
penetration, and
rounded polygon
is
being dra'W'n into a rectangle. Flow and compression take the place of contrast and expansion, and
much
chapels swell
beyond the
The
the
same
true externally as the undulations of the ambulator.'
is
side- walls
of the nave.
standard cruciform plans of Central Italy, formed by adding transepts to the
by the
Domenico at Pistoia and Pescia in Tuscany and at Spoleto in Umbria."
Domenico at Pistoia, seemingly begun in the late thirteenth centur\', the trussed
simpler system, involving only a choir and flanking chapels, are exemplified
churches of
In S.
S.
roof runs uninterrupted to the choir, and the existence of the transept chapels
is
barely
from the nave. At Pescia, and in S. Francesco at Pistoia, started in 1294, the
crossing and the transepts, hke the chapels, are vaulted. It is only in the context of such
unpretentious buildings that the architectural subtlety of a man such as Amolfo, and
the positive aesthetic qualities of his achievement of spatial unit}' within a complex
whole, can be appreciated to the full. The supreme examples of the t%'pe, and those most
often said to have affected his design for S. Croce, namely S. Francesco and S. Domenico
at Siena, seem in fact to be dependent fourteenth-centun,' creations. As often in the
appreciable
histors'
arts
of art, an understanding of the importance of the humblest traditions of the
and
crafts to the
local
development even of the greatest innovators of the day must be
accompanied by awareness that the progress
is
not necessarily from simplicity to
The impression that it is so may arise quite simply from the greater use
that great men make of what they borrow, and in borrowing, transform.
Important pseudo-basiUcan variants of the two main groups of wooden-roofed hall
churches just discussed are represented by S. Francesco at Gubbio and S. Domenico at
Orvieto. The former now has a largely eighteenth-centurs' interior, but its slender octa-
sophistication.
gonal columns seem originally to have supported a simple arcading and plain wall on
which was
set
an open-trussed roof such
main, five-sided apse and

slightly stepped
down
its
as
can
now
be seen in the bay preceding the
flanking apsidal chapels.
over the
aisles,
must have
The
pitched roof, probably
stressed the height
of the nave and
compromise between an aisled hall church and the standard basiUcan highnave and low-aisle design of Central Itahan Romanesque architecture. The Pieve at
Mensano is a simple Romanesque hall church, and at Gubbio the Romanesque heritage
is plainly visible in the compact block of an exterior to which the windows and the
repeated verticals of shm pilasters lend a certain air of Gothic grace (Plate 4a). As
later in the much more complex S. Croce in Florence, there is a sharpness and an allpervading sense of qualin.' and even of sophistication in the detail of a basically simple
structure which, though unfinished in 1292, was seemingly well under way as early
resulted in a
as 1259.1S.
Domenico
at Ors'ieto,
of which only the choir and transepts of the building con-

secrated in 1264 arc
tion. '^
The
now
left
the plan of S. Maria Novella.
many
years before those
was evidently
It is
may
century architectural forms
more grandiose
standing, represents a far
straight-ended choir with
which
its
original concep-
four flanking chapels seems to be a precursor of
reminder that
many of the
best
known
thirteenth-
well have been estabhshed in lost buildings put up
now seem
to
be the
earliest.
The nave of S. Domenico
of the kind of architectural adventurousness that achieved
a foretaste
maturity in the cathedral. In a cruciform building some 270 feet (82 m.) in length, a
nave of 57
feet (17-40
and
60
at least
travertine and basalt

septs
may
spatially resihent
were soon
aisles
which were only 7
feet (2-10
m.) wide
The thimiess of the v/all and of the nave piers of striped

presupposes a wooden roof for the nave at least, although the tran-
have been vaulted
have acted almost
passages
m.) was flanked by

m.) high.
feet (19
as the
like the chapels.
Beneath
this
roof the nave arcading must
outworks or advance guard of the enclosing wall, creating
border to the unimpeded volume of the nave.
as
If,
any possibiUty of treating the
built along the side-walls,
would have disappeared and
a series
have been created. Such an unusual design
is
of unenclosed,
is
likely, altars
aisles as
flanking
vestigial chapels
would
particularly interesting thirty years before
the seemingly original invention of the absidioles that give a three-dimensional, altar-
enclosing flexion to the solid side-walls of the
S.
The fmal decade of the

throughout Central
Fortwwto
thirteenth century
Italy.
The
Duomo.
riches
was
at Tocii
of unusual architectural activity
a period
accumulated during the economic expansion of
the major tovîs in the preceding forty years were beginning to pour into ever larger
building projects, and the Franciscan church of S. Fortunato at Todi
is
among
the
most
important and most interesting of these enterprises.
The foundation stone was laid in 1292 by Bishop Nicola, whose two predecessors
were Franciscans. The destruction of the old church and the building of the new were
well advanced by 1298, and the eastern half appears to have been substantially comby 1328. The wêstem half, together with the lower part of the unfmished (aqa.de,
was only erected during the first half of the fifteenth century. Although the dividing
line between the two campaigns is clearly visible, the few modifications in the detail of
plete
the design do not affect
its
unit)\
Externally the building squats Hke a huge hangar on the
hill.
The introductory
flights
of steps seem only to accentuate the mass of the broad rectangle of the facjade. A single,
low, pitched roof stresses its unity, its Brobdingnagian scale, and its close kinship to
the wooden-roofed
bam
breadth in relation to
its
6).
The
expectation
of a vaulted Gothic
is
churches of Tuscany and Umbria. Nevertheless,
its
great
length hints at a different internal structure (Plate 4B and Figure

shell conceals the airy
complex
by rows of chapels and
the four
not disappointed, for the massive
hall in
which the
bays culminate in a seven-sided apse.
aisles
are flanked
The South
Italian
cormexions of this hitherto rare
Cistercian transposition of the chapel system adopted in S. Croce in Florence
were
discussed in connexion with S. Francesco at Messina and S. Lorenzo in Naples (p. 13

The morive for the proliferation of small chapels in both systems seems to have
been the need to accommodate more and more daily masses as the Franciscan order
above).
became
increasingly clerical.
Fortunato also
church.
Then
ing that
at
Umbrian Romanesque
reflect the strong
traditions
of the vaidted
S.
hall
again, the rib-forms and side-wall and passage treatment recall S. Fran-
cesco at Assisi ^vith
matched
of
satisfying particular Franciscan needs, the architectural solutions
Apart from
its
Angevin
ancestry,
and the design of certain doorways can be
Fossanova. Nevertheless, the main source of inspiration seems to be a build-
may
well be the
work of an Angevin
The essential
tury choir of Poitiers Cathedral.

aisles at Poitiers are
of equal width,
Figure
6.
at
Todi,
architect
Todi the nave
S.
- namely the late-twelfth-cenis that, whereas the nave and
difference
is
twice as wide
as
the
aisles.
The
Fortunato, begun 1292. Plan
length and breadth of the four central bays ensures their thorough domination of the
aisles."
The
resultant visual and spatial unit)',
tered columns, soaring lotus-Hke
from
their
combined with the slimness of the
high bases,
is
clus-
so complete that the pulpit
could be placed high up in the centre of the end-wall of the right-hand
aisle
This very practical and non-theoretical recognition of the extent to which an
omm-
dominance of the nave and the major

accent of the choir, leads to a recognition of the way in which the wide and simple
openings of six chapels upon either flank encourage and give constant focus and significance to lateral and to diagonal views and movements. Before the upper windows
directional space has been created, despite the
were blocked, Hght must have flooded evenly throughout the building. The inherent
contrast between the airiness and emptiness of the contained, articulated space and the
surrounding areas of plain wall must always have been strong, but added emphasis
would have been thrown upon the vaulting with its even height and great simpHcity of
form. Herein Hes the second major deviation from the Poitevin prototype with
heavily stressed longitudinal and transverse arches. Just as each main pier at Todi
16
is
its
en-

circled
by
in shape
eight indistinguishable colonncttcs, so
and in dimension.
the ribbing of the vaults
all
single plain prismatic
form
in the Assisan
impartially for longitudinal, diagonal, and transverse elements.
engendered by these simple, frond-like forms
as
The
is
uniform
manner
serves
visual excitement
they strain almost vertically upwards,
continuing the column-form for several feet before begijuiing to fan out,
only marred
is
by the too obvious fact that such audacity flies in the face of structural reaUty. Only the
massive masonry cross-ties stop the central vaults and piers from bursting outwards.
Detailed accommodations in design reveal, moreover, that these lumpish elements
were planned, as well as being necessary, from the fust.
A carefree and at times uncomprehending attitude to Gothic structure is one recurring feature of Itahan architecture. But, whether in architecture, sculpture, or painting,
the determination to give actuahry to dreams half-sensed, to step beyond the bounds of
safe traditions
tensity
and sure knowledge and accept the consequences,
of vision and
desire, this
is
another.
It is this
in-
urgency in the achievement of a goal, regardless of the
incidental inconsistencies and even failures
which
ensue, that underhes so
many of
the
great achievements both in this and in succeeding periods.
The
positive aspect of the architectural audacities
possibihty that there
is
some
is accentuated by the
numerous departures from the
of S. Fortunato
intentional element in the
rectangular and the level.^' Particularly in the earHer sections these at times produce
dramatic
of accelerated foreshortening. Most remarkable of all, however, is the

of the massive campanile, which is first mentioned in 1328 and
effects
internal engineering
follows the pattern of that of

arches carrying the
S.
Francesco at
Assisi.
The
interaction
wide stairs up through the hollow square in three
the transformation of the supporting
comer masses
of the segmental
each side
flights to
into free-standing, square piers set
within the main square of the tower; the final barrel, seated upon longitudinal seg-
mental arches;
all
of them contribute
to
an interplay of void and sohd, of
arrest
and
and curved, that shows with what sure touch the Umbrian Romanesque traditions of structural engineering could be continued and transformed under the
movement,
straight
impact of new attitudes to architectural space.
Antonio
5.
final,
projects
at
Padua and
S.
Lorenzo
at
Vicenza
by the major building

which conflicting archi-
grandiose illustration of the variety of form embraced
of the expanding religious orders, and of the
way
in
tectural streams could blend or fail to blend in thirteenth-century Italy,
by
the Santo at Padua.
The new church,
replacing an earlier building,
aknost immediately after St Anthony's death in 123

city in
1,
is
provided
was
started
but EzzeHno's conquest of the
1237 and his subsequent tyranny appear to have seriously interrupted its conseemingly began at the west end, and the crossing had probably
struction. Building
been completed
when
St Anthony's
body was
translated to the
new church in
1263.
By
1307 the main structure seems to have been substantially finished.

Externally the multipHcity of domes recalls St Mark's, but a St Mark's no longer
calm and squat
in
its
main bulk and dehcate

17
in
its
lace-like detail (Plate 6a).
SimpHcity

and mass and sturdy
rectilinearity characterize the
crowded cupolas upon

octagonal towers, and
vertically accented
tall,
much of the brickwork
forms that build up to spectacularly
drums. The massive screen

detailing derive directly
faijade, the
from the Lom-
bard Romanesque, but the repetition of the pointed arches and the general complexity
of the
articulation
add
their
the formula of St Mark's

axis
overshadowed by
is
own distinctive
by
flavour. In plan (Figure 7) the extension
the addition of a further
a completely different system
and by the incorporation of
Figure
a choir
7.
Padua,
dome
Antonio, begun
c.
of
one end of the main
of support and
and ambulatory and
S.
at
a ring
aisle
arrangement,
of radiating chapels.
1231. Plan
These create an outline reminiscent of S. Francesco at Bologna and its French forerunners. A very different outcome is, however, ensured by the sheer mass of the ill-lit,
virtually unembellishcd masonry and by the vast scale of the spaces that have been enclosed. Since
all
the major arches are round-headed and applied
fined to the region of the ambulatory,
it is
only in the
aisles that
colunmar forms arc conGothic elements gain the
upper hand. Gothic, Byzantine, Romanesque: here the styhstic categories seem to be
no more than the identifying labels of gigantic forces locked in ponderous, sometimes
awe-inspiring, not infrequently ungainly, battle.
flict is
Far
less
is
8).'* It
the unending con-
like
architecture in particular,
(Figure
The outcome of
no other in the land.

imposing, and far more important for the subsequent
a building that
is
was probably
history of Venetian
the Franciscan church of S. Lorenzo in near-by Viccnza

built in the years following 128 1-2,
and the quiet Lorn-

bard forms of S. Corona
at
Viccnza, begun
c.
1261, supply the immediate prototype for
the interior (Plate 6b). Less accentuated bases; foliate capitals replacing cushion forms
and making
a far easier transition
more dehcatc
pilaster
from the smooth cylinders of the stone columns
to the
forms above them; and fmally, the more steeply pointed longi-
tudinal and lateral arches,
all
add grace to the calm forms previously found
in S.
Corona.
The outcome is a pleasantly proportioned and still restful nave in which the concentration on the altar is undisturbed by the sense of spaciousness to either side. The wooden
tie-beams are an integral feature of the design, as also is the relative drama of a transept
which extends beyond the
Figure
8.
aisles
Vicenza,
and runs the
S.
full
height of the nave.
Lorenzo, after l28i/2(?). Plan
most notable feature is the Lombard screen-facade with its graceful,

bhnd arcading into which a massive sculptured portal was subsequently
inserted. The brick and terracotta detailing completes a network of relationships that
spreads not only through the Veneto but throughout the Lombard and Emihan plain.'^
Externally, the
stone-faced
Nevertheless, despite the linkages of detail,

parallels
can rival
S.
Lorenzo
at
Vicenza in
none of the relevant late-thirteenth-century

its
19
quiet harmonies.
CHAPTER
THE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS: SIENA, ORVIETO,

FLORENCE
The relative importance of the mendicant orders in the reUgious as well as in the archiof the times is stressed by the fact that so few other churches of any consequence remain to be considered. This does not mean that the inseparably intermingled
civic and rehgious Hfe of every town and city no longer tended to revolve around the
tectural hfe
duomo
or cathedral.
The enormous
building
programmes of
the Early Christian,
Byzantine, and Romanesque periods had already provided most Italian towns with
magnificent main churches.
It
ordinary rehgious event, such

direct result
drals
was therefore only imder the impact of some extraMiracle of the Holy Corporal at Orvieto, or as a
as the
of phenomenal economic growth,
were begun.
reasons, unsurpassed in Italy.
harmony of ItaHan Gothic
As an
interacting group, they
Siena Cathedral (see Figure 14B, p. 167)
to 1400 in a
its
7).
way
is
at
cathe-
major
triad in the
Siena
particularly interesting in the present historical
that intimately reflects the
connect
it
its
waxing and waning of
sculptured pulpit and facade,
to the central
Finally, the associated
cathedrals
form
new
are, for diifering
building and reconstruction span the whole of the period from 1250
ambition. Furthermore,
altarpiece,
Siena and Florence, that
of these three towns
architecture.
The Duomo
context, since
as at
Individually, the cathedrals
its
power and
and
development of Tuscan sculpture and painting
documents and drawings estabhsh
of Orvieto and Milan,
civic
stained-glass oculus
as
it,
its
(Plate
together with the
one of the most important sources of information
on medieval European architectural procedure.

The date of founding is uncertain, but the nave was being vaulted in 1256-60 and
the bronze ball on the dome was paid for in 1264. Despite the Tuscan Romanesque
banded marbling, the new building possibly had much in common with Notre
Dame la Grande in Poitiers, since the nave may have been covered by an archsupported barrel-vault which sprang from only shghtly above the crown of the existing
Undoubtedly there was a sweeping progress to the

now, the latter reached almost to the full width of
the aisles, drawing the space together till, on close approach, inspection of the complex
vistas into the once shallow transepts was encouraged (see Figure 14B, p. 167). The
structural and documentary evidence seems to show that the original transepts were two
arches into the cross-vaulted
aisles.^
great hexagonal crossing. Then, as
bays wide and only one bay deep, and that a straight-ended choir, with central vaulting
which was even lower than that of the nave, extended for only two bays beyond the
crossing. Indeed, a document of 1287 refers to the great round window as being 'above

The way
the altar of S. Maria'.^
in
which the dome must once have dominated
stantially centralized eastern end, spinning attention ofFinto the
surely gathering
in again, can
it
still
a sub-
secondary spaces and
as
be sensed in the existing building. The feelings
aroused by the complicated distortion of bay units, the impression of spatial interpenetration
the
and of unity
dome
dodecagon
summed up in the volumetric complications of

hexagon of its plan is turned by squinches into a
in complexity, are
the irregular, basic
itself, as
that melts into a circle. In spite
of the nearness of
S.
Galgano with
its
straight-ended choir, and in spite of the constant stream of architectural administrators
which the monastery supphed,
the inspiration for the
new cathedral lies less in
Gothic architecture than in the Romanesque cathedrals of Pisa and,

cornice
which was once immediately below the springing of the
and Barletta, and in the
combined with
that
Duomo at Ruvo,
which
is
Cistercian
as regards the
massive
barrel-vault,
of Bari
Apuha.' Such influences were
also in
of Poitou in an adventiurous and
of the
influential extension
Romanesque vocabulary of form, and Gothic detailing was scarcely hinted at except in
the windows and in the arcading of the drum. Such buildings as the Duomo at Grosseto,
reconstructed between 1294 and I302,'* on the remains of an older structure, by Sozzo di
Pace Rustichini of Siena, likewise testify to the continuing liveliness of the Romanesque
tradition in
Tuscany
as
well as in the Abruzzi and in the remoter areas of Southern
The Duotno
The
Italy.
at Orvieto
must without doubt be numbered among the

in Italy during the period of transition
Gothic architecture (Figure 9). The existing choir was begun
original design of Orvieto Cathedral
greatest masterpieces created
from Late Romanesque
to
anywhere
and the extension of the transepts to create the present cruciform

plan came even later. In the original structure, foimded in 1290, the transepts were
contained within the basic rectangle of the plan. The choir preceded the crossing, and
only in the
late 1320s,
behind the
altar a single great apse, flanked
of lesser apses rippling

is
accentuated
by
down
by pointed windows, gathered up
each flank (Plate 8a). Even
the regularly varied
rhythm created by
asymmetrically offset in each aisle-bay.
When
now
the
waves
the quahty of movement
the apse and
window
that are
these forms are related to the arches
of
the nave and to the massive cylinders of their supporting columns, they generate an
ever-changing sequence of visual counter-rhythms. Indeed, in walking down the nave,

each column, almost six feet in diameter, is so sited as to overlap the beginning of the
corresponding apse.
The column being
closer to the eye, the apparent diameters
of the
convex curve runs smoothly on into its concave

counterpart. This laterally extended, wave-like quahty has its vertical component in the
rise and fall of these same apses and their alternating lancets. Up and down, and in and
out, pointed and rounded, planar, convex, and concave: these interweaving rhythms
two forms almost
coincide, so that the
and accentuated by the unbroken moulding which runs through

at the level of the springing, and continues up and over the
pointed windows. The result is that the sequence of soft, rounded curves in space and
are
all
tied together
and round the apse-forms

sharp, steep curves
upon
the plane
is
visually inescapable.
Figure
In
the
9.
Orvieto, Diionio, founded 1290. Diagram of flank and plan
nave the omnipresent, streaming motion of striped travertine and basalt
in the horizontal accent of the gallcr)' (Plate 8b). The latter is

surmounted by an absolutely planar upper wall pierced only by the lancet windows.
These are similar to the ones below, but now sit soberly above the crown of the nave
stonework gathers force
By such means the implication of a bay-form is extended upwards into the

unbroken upper volume, dominated by the regular staccato ot the transverse trusses of
arches.
the roof, yet
is
never categorically imposed upon
it.

The
static
of the
alternation
plainest
round and pointed openings the subtlety with which

;
of movement permeates and yet does not disturb the harmony of the simple,
the sense
volumes the balanced

;
mass and space, transform what might have
sensitivity to
been no more than another essay in attenuated, Late Transitional Romanesque into a
major work of
moreover,
art.
Within the comprehensive unity of the
most unusual
between
relationship
rhythmic repetition of asymmetrically balanced

livens the architectural vistas
different set
of the
of external rhythms
in the
(Plate 8a).
is
At the lower
They
become
no bay
features.
The
no vertical coincidence between the lower apses and the upper

another major asymmetrical relationship. If, on the other hand, the upper
is
apparent.
It is
now
the
further balances and contrasts
still
clerestory that provides the stabilizing,
flat
regular bay-beat, while a continuous cornice rises over every

wall,
connected but quite
levels the apse forms, rather
are therefore immediately related to the
and the lower storeys are considered independently,

rapidly
is,
The
so subtly varies and en-
upper wall, which are the other dominant articulating
outcome, since there
windows,
which
units,
interior, results in a closely
than the flanking lancets, take the eye.
windows
original design there
internal and external structure.
divisions interrupt the rippling flow
window.
On
the lower
of apse and lancet wliich, since
it
was
once continued on the end wall of the transepts, estabhshed an imusually close bond
between the
flanks
and the apse-dominated eastern end. The sense of nave and transepts
carved out of a single block can only have been comparable to that created by such
masterpieces of Apuhan
Romanesque
as
Trani or Bitonto or
other hand, the volumetric richness added
S.
On
Nicola at Bari.
the
the substitution of flanking semicylinders
by
for the South Itahan arch-forms, and the complex, syncopated
rhythm
created
by
the
interaction of the aisle and clerestory walls are quite unprecedented.

If the flanking chapels are, indeed, externally a transmutation
of
S.
Francesco at
Assisi, or, in their internal
struction of the so-called
Temple of Mars
of the way in which the creative mind
at
of the rounded buttresses
form, an echo of the niche and wall con-
Todi,
it is
in either case a classic illustration
releases the potential
hidden in the patterns of the
and volumetric subtleties

must therefore be paid to the
regular curvatures, concave to the centre, that have been created by the way in which
the nave walls have been seated upon columns that themselves are ranged in mathe-
past. Since the
church was
were apparent from the
set
first.
within an open square,
The very
extremely
visual
closest attention
matically accurate straight lines.5 Particularly

it is
its
difficult to distinguish the
when
the
whole ground-plan
is
skewed,
intended from the accidental. Nevertheless, a
long tradition Ues behind such deviations from a hypothetical norm. Irregularities and
refinements are undoubtedly seen side by side in the Greek temples, and the truth of
may well be that men who were often unable to make things absolutely
and regular, were simultaneously aware that deviations are enHvening and that
the matter
straight
perfect rectilinearity can be as sterile and as deadening in a building as a

single
If
some of the
have been
as in a
subtleties
of relationship undoubtedly apparent in the earHer building

now contrast not only with the upper wall
lost; if the rippling lateral apses
but with the planar, rectilinear closure of the choir; and
whole
moulding.
23
if
the original balance
between

continuity and contrast
in the
impressive
cUmax
Anwlfo
in the simple
di
There
upset, there are, as at Siena, certain gains.
is
aheady dramatic sense of space and
structural grandeur,
sweep of the great window of the
Cambio and
S.
Maria
del Fiore
and
an increase
choir.
Badia
the
is
new and most
and a
The economic and pohtical surge which powered the project for
Siena is dwarfed by the expansion that led, half a century later, to
new Duomo in Florence. The death of the Emperor Frederick II,
in Florence
new
cathedral in
the planning of the

the achievement of
independence, and the estabhshment of the Primo Popolo, which was in power from
a turning-point in Florentine history. The popular uprising which
Guelph power in the city led to the creation of the office of Capitano del
Popolo to set beside that of the Podesta. The latter was the sohtary, and usually foreign,
chief executive and magistrate combined. He was elected, normally for a year, in order
1250-60,
mark
re-established
to control the bitter internal feuds
which would otherwise have destroyed
the
com-
munity. The powers of the Podesta were further hmited by the appointment of the
twelve Anziani, two from each sesto of the
city,
who were to oversee its government

new administration rapidly em-
and provide an element of democratic control. The
barked upon a boldly expansionist pohcy in which the economic element was
thing
more important than
the mihtary. Already in the thirties, the city had
revolution in the chaotic medieval currency
by
illegally
minting
if
any-
begun
a silver soldo (sohdus).
This was valued at twelve of the silver pennies (denarii) of which the fluctuating base
metalhc content had become a source of increasing commercial
difficulty. In
completed the process by minting the fiorino d'oro. This was valued
at
1252 they
twenty
soldi or
one hra (Hbra) and became, because of its jealously guarded purity, the stable though
constantly appreciating basis of European finance. During the years of GhibeUine
domination (1260-7) following the disastrous
ing Florentine merchant
money
class
battle
of Montaperti in 1260, the emerg-
had become the papal bankers. Since the Papacy was forced
own, the Florentine banking network

itself was becoming
an ever more important centre for the wool trade which, apart from usury, was by
now the greatest source of monetary wealth.
The period of Angevin dominion (1267-82), marked by mcrcasing commercial ties
not only with Charles of Anjou's South Itahan kingdom but with the papacy and with
to fight with
for lack of armies
of
its
spread across the greater part of Europe at the same time as the city
was one of constant and explosive growth. When the Sicilian Vespers of 1282
it is no surprise to fmd that Florence was quickly
taken over by the new commercial powers, to become, as they were, Guelph by choice
and interest. Already in 125 1 the seven Merchant or Greater Guilds had become military
France,
brought Charles's rule to an end,
as well as
commercial
associations. It
Lesser Guilds, established the

sentatives chosen
to them.
a
was they
government of the
from among
their
own
less
The
together with five of the
latter consisted
of six repre-
now
subordinate
body, and the Podesta was
The new government, which was
wider but none the
who now,
Priors.
in effect a
kind of democratic ohgarchy on
severely restricted base, accelerated the already rapid process
24

by
wliich the powers of the old feudal landed nobility were curtailed. Those
not already been impoverished or absorbed into the

subjected to severe legal restrictions.
The
latter
new commercial
found
who had
structure
were
their clearest expression in the
famous Ordinances ofjustice of 1293. Their promulgation represents a further, definitive

stage in the transfer of power from land-based mihtary and agricultural groupings to an
urban civilization founded on commerce and on
capital. It
was
a period
of pohtical
The
expansion, of far-reaching economic revolution, and of rapid social change.
accompanying surge
and population underlay the crescendo of building
in wealth
activity wliich reached
its
peak in the 1290s.
A scheme for the renovation of the old cathedral of S. Reparata had already been considered in 1285, and after being set in
able.
By
to speak
8
motion
in 1293
of
'work of the
greatest splendour',
to be unworkwas already possible
had quickly proved
1294 'renewal' was being discussed. In February 1296
it
and the foundation stone was
on
laid
September, according to an inscription, probably of 1368. In April 1300 Amolfo di
Cambio
referred to as the capomaestro and there
is
visible beginning',
this great ecclesiastical project
plains that, apart
is
mention of
'
magnificent and
but seemingly by early 1302 Amolfo was dead. The extent to wliich
from
was
a truly civic affair
liberal indulgences
subsidy of four denarii in the Hra
(a
is
made
clear
by
Villani.
He
ex-
and pardons, the building was fmanced by
6oth part) from the city treasury and by a poll tax
of two
soldi on every male inhabitant.*

The fame both of Amolfo and of the
many
death with
time that
his design
was fundamentally
careful re-examination
embedded
existing building,
intervening changes in plan,
of what
may
or
is
such that
a smaller version
may
it
completed long
after his
has been accepted for
of the present
some
structure.''
not be the remains of Amolfo's project
of the first and second bays firom the entrance

however, recently led to the modification and elaboration
instead of a vaulted nave and aisle design of the type even-
in the lower part of the flanks
of the existing building

of an earher hypothesis
has,
that,
of rather different proportions, there was a system involving simple

wooden roofs.s Already in 1293 the Guild of the CaHmala had provided funds for new
marble piers for the nearby baptistery. Amolfo himself may have carried out the work,
tually adopted, but
it is the Romanesque marble cladding of this building, rather than the more ornate
marbUng of the facade of S. Miniato, which seemingly set the pattern for the outside of
the new cathedral. The plan was based on the rectilinear severity and planar simpUcity
of a high socle,' and it seems that the entire architectural design was based upon the
and
subtlest differentiation
of closely related planes. This
sensitivity to the flat surface, in-
volving changes of plane of less than an inch in the marbling of the

closest link
The
with
styhstic
are hardly
S.
socle,
is
perhaps the
Croce.!"
connexions between the Duomo and the Benedictine church of the Badia
1284," and
specific. According to Villani the building was begun
more
was consecrated in 13 10. It was built on an extremely restricted site and

was wooden-roofed except for the choir and its two flanking chapels. The choir facade
the high altar
is
now
and
the only original part of the building that can readily be seen, and the austerity
restraint
of the design are such that
it is
25
only through long contemplation that
its

The
qualities reveal themselves (Plate ioa).
ship
between three
trinity
the
is
depends on the subtle relation-
basic architectural elements reduced to their simplest terms. This
undecorated wall, the virtually unadorned openings of the windows,
flat,
and the simple,
entire effect
flat pilasters
and plain cornices. At the lowest
spaced segmentally arched openings for shops, which are

architecture,
draw
emphasis
is
further strengthened
it
by
central pilaster, although the placing
provides a firm base for the

the
two main
is
the carefully
Next, the central
grouped about the
of the outer pair of windows in the middle of their
that a subtle, all-pervading three-four

tripartite ecclesiastical interior
latter.
lancets, closely
respective fields gives these their due importance. Indeed, the
of the
evenly
Tuscan palace
of the floor of the choir. In separating the com-
signifies the level
mercial and ecclesiastical elements,
in
from the wings. '^ Above
attention slightly inwards
demarcated zone that
level the four
common
rhythm
is
whole facade is
so designed
created out of the conflicting
demands
and the quadripartite commercial substructure.
It is
purely and simply through their delicacy of relationship that the severe, rectilinear net-
work of cornices and flat pilasters and the spatial movements of pilasters, walls, and
windows blend in grace and grandeur. There is a similar subtlety of interplay between
the slopes that link the crowns of the windows and those of the main pediments and of
the flanking roofs. They are united in a harmony too fme to countenance the use of
main rectangular compartments
by whole numbers.
parallels, just as the
division
The
all
defy analyses depending on
existence and the importance of these relationships which, as has been seen, are
very similar form and with equally remarkable
later exploited in
results in S.
Croce can
Romanesque churches of Umbria, such as the

Duomo and S. Pietro at Assisi or S. Pietro at Spoleto, which appear to provide the
forerunners of this disciphned, planar design. In all of them the relationship of rectangle
to rectangle, and more especially of the door and window openings to the framing
elements, seems casual and even haphazard in comparison. The fundamentally close
easily
be confirmed by looking
at the
between the Florentine Badia and
relationship
Croce, and their association with
S.
Amolfo di Cambio, make it significant that it was in Umbria that the known
of Amolfo the sculptor were concentrated during the preceding years. In
before his journey to Orvieto, he was working in Perugia, with Assisi in
a
few miles down
full
activities
1277-81,
view only
the valley.
The Choir of the Duomo

If the logical basis for the reconstruction
at
Massa Marittima
of Amolfo's
artistic
personality
is
often elusive,
only the most profound illogic can support the continued attribution of the choir of
Massa Marittima Cathedral to Giovanni Pisano in the face of the carved inscription
the church.'^ Despite
by
a certain
tor, since
'J.
its
careful mutilation,
it
declares that the
us Pisanus'. This cannot possibly
no Latin or
Italian
work was begun
in
in
1287
have been Giovanni Pisano the sculp-
corruptions of his Christian
name end
in 'us'.
The
Pisan
character of the carefully harmonized columnar additions to the upper part of the
Romanesque
fa(;âdc,
which includes an
atlas closely
26
reminiscent of Giovaimi's
manner
I
'

towards the turn of the century, do, however, suggest that the
connexions with the flourishing ateHer headed
unknown
had
artist
by Nicola and subsequently by
first
his
son.
The
heights wliich could be reached
santo, the
cemetery of
Pisa, started in
by Pisan
elegance and delicacy of its arcading represent
Romanesque. Giovanni's
and
the play of light
witnessed
delicate
sense
by
the
Gothic
sensitivity in the use
line in the
way
in
which
tlic
their supporting piers
in
is
simple seeniing framework could assimilate the
traceries inserted in the fifteenth century.
entrances of this unbroken rectangle to blend into a
No
work of art
combined with hghtness; gravity with
The polygonal
Campo-
ultimate sophistication of the Pisan
less
of interval and proportion that allows the sixty-two arches and
discipline are
the
of the traditional marble striping and
round-headed arches and in

his
shown by
architects are
1277 by Giovanni di Sinione (Plate iob).^* The
in
remarkable
the
is
six closely similar
which
restraint
and
grace.
choir of Massa Marittima, which a second inscription probably indi-
cates as being finished in 1304
and which reveals some shght external connexions with
is certainly the work of an unusually

The three-bay extension is so organized as to create a smooth
Romanesque nave to a clearly Gothic choir. The simphcity,
Giovanni Pisano's facade for Siena Cathedral,

sensitive architect (Plate 5b).
transition
severity,
from
aroused.
flict is
a fully
and weight of the
latter are
such that in spite of the change of idiom, no con-
The mass and grandeur of the
piers at the
the classicism of the capitals that succeed the superb
beginning of the added section,
Romanesque
series in the
nave, and
the round-headed arcades and vaulting that precede the pointed arches of the choir,
make
their contribution to the fmal
articulation
harmony. Upper and lower cornices provide
of the walls, but the most
which pointed caps

stroy, the effect
that
telling detail
is
the treatment of the
all
a clear
windows,
in
harmonize with the vaulting dominate, and yet do not de-
of the Romanesque round-headed hghts. The steady movement to-
wards an increasing, but always carefully
from
restrained,
Gothicism seems to indicate an
normal medieval approach to architectural additions in

which the new and old could be set side by side with no attempt to smooth away
styhstic contrasts by a gradual transition. It is perhaps a symptom of new attitudes in
attitude that differs
the
Tuscany. These were to lead in the next

Instinctive taste begins to
whole
streets
fifty
years to a
new
interest in
town
planning.
be replaced by a conscious concern for the visual harmony of
and squares.
The Duomo
at
Arezzo
The unbroken block-form of the Duomo at Arezzo, isolated with its octagonal campanile on its high, stepped podium, maintams the reticent tradition of so many of the
Central ItaHan Romanesque buildings and of the mendicant churches that followed in
their wake (Plate 9a). The vertical sweep of the interior of this most Gothic of latethirteenth-century Itahan cathedrals is only hinted at by the exterior. The lack of buttressing, apart from an intermittent series of pilasters that are wholly insignificant as
supports, ensures that there shall be no outward indication of the details of internal
27

structure (Plate ps).
As
the building are their
much of Italian
in so
o-^\-n
support.
Gothic architectm:e, the basic volumes of
No tremor of the energies and
tensions that vibrate
within disturb the outer surface of the architectural prism.
The new church was planned

and
first
was slowly
set for the
carried forA'ard during the next
in the nineteenth century-.
tT\-o
The height and span
length and narrowTiess of the
On
and begun by 1277-8.
in 1275-6
bays were in use and the pattern
aisle bays, recall
By
12S8-9 the apse
remainder of the building, which
hundred and
fifn- years
ot the nave arcading,
and completed
combined with the
the nave of S. Maria Novella in Florence.
the other hand the five-eighths division of the extremely shallow polygonal choir
relates it to the
Duomo
at
Massa Marittima of a few years
later, as
well as to the mendi-
cant churches of Trevi and Montefalco, which probably derive firom the early-thirteenth-centin)- Cistercian building of S. Martino al Cimino.
the great relative increase in height in a nave that
is
two and
The
lack of transepts, and
three-quarter times as high
wide, also contribute to an outcome which dilfers greatly from that in the FlorenDominican church. The almost square plan of the nave bays in itself assists in speeding the eye towards the altar through the substantially unified volume of the building.
The movement is accelerated by the vertical dominance of the nave, which culminates
in the slender windows of the Ught-filled apse. The fact that the emphasis upon the
as it is
tine
vertical axis actually plays a
major part in drawing the eye towards the sanctuary alhes

The smaUness
the building to the classic achievements of northern Gothic architecture.
of the lateral windows, which so accentuates the attraction of the apse, the emphasis
upon bare wall, and all the architectural details, no less ob\'iously combine into a form
found nowhere outside Central Italv.
28
CHAPTER
CIVIC BUILDINGS
The
continuity of Italian late medieval arcliitectural development
major public buildings of the period
as it
is
as
is
obvious in the
The conceptions
in the great cathedrals.
underlying the Romanesque cathedral group of Pisa and the complex of

baptistery,
related.
Duomo,
and campanile which were undergoing redevelopment in Florence are clearly
The
thread that links the late-twelfth- and early-tliirteenth-century pubhc
North Itahan conmiunes to the new palaces of the Podesta, of

is no less evident. In civil as in ecclesiastical
the transition from the Romanesque into the Gothic is a gradual process,
style owes much of its distinctive flavour to this continuity of vision.
buildings of the Uvely
the Capitano del Popolo, and of the Priors,

architecture,
and the
later
The new
buildings are not merely the architectural reflection of physical and economic growth and of the increasing independence and ambition of the towns they epitomize the developing complexity of urban organization and administration. They also
:
mirror the growing concern with the practical ordering of life on

still
this earth in a
permeated and largely dominated by the other-worldly. The
world
new economic,
by the actual physical juxtaposimain squares of the towns. The virtually

intact survival of a few such squares and groups of buildings is a reminder that the fmal
work of art with which the art historian must somehow come to grips is certainly no
less than the ever-changing complex of the medieval town, seen as a whole within the
expanding and contracting circle of its walls.
spiritual,
and
practical relationships are often expressed
tion of the civic and rehgious centres in the
Orvieto
Nowhere
in Italy does the
most
characteristic
development of mid-thirteenth-century
administration, the creation of the office of Capitano del Popolo, achieve

architectural illustration than in Orvieto. Again, as in the case
more
splendid
of Florence, which was
then allied to Orvieto, the powers of the Popolo, representing the guilds and the bourgeoisie,
had been consolidated by the imperial
crisis
of 1250, and the Palazzo del
Capitano, built in the local honey-golden tufa, probably dates from the immediately
succeeding years.i
gamo
(by
199),
The
pattern
Como
great hall, supported
on
(1215),
is
that
of the
earlier
communal meeting
and Milan (1228-33). The building
is
places
of Ber-
essentially a single
the massive arches and transverse barrel- vaults of an originally
The latter forms a link between two squares in

manner of its North ItaUan prototypes. The closing of the arcades, the addition
of a second chamber and a bell tower, and above all of a grand external stair and
open, ground-floor loggia (Plate 11 a).

the
balcony, appear to have taken place in the final quarter of the thirteenth century.
similar,
but
less
architecturally ambitious, stair
29
and balcony adds
interest to the
even

more imcomproinising block of the Palazzo dei Papi, and a corresponding feeling for
the isolated volume of a building is again revealed in the new Duomo.
The outstanding feature of the Palazzo del Capitano is the way in which the asymmetrical setting of the balcony and the bold diagonals of the stair ramps give the
block of the building added architectural richness.
The
main
repeated rhythms of the stepped
supporting arches provide an exciting middle term between the simple openings of the
voids beneath and the linear decoration that reduces the severity of the upper surfaces
and
links the
windows which were
and the Palazzo dei Papi. The
new
and balcony
of entry to the Council Hall
ease
beneath. This, the
first
able for a
new
vertically
through the
fluidity
at
Orvieto also symbohze the
citizens'
well as to the open loggias and squares
still
beset
by every kind of feud and
faction. It
was
was
also not-
of movement both between the warring groups themselves and

which, by now, were subject to recurrent meta-
social strata,
morphosis and upheaval.

architecture
itself, as
great period of Itahan civic architecture since Antiquity,
time in which society was
town
copied, later in the century, in the Palazzo Vescovile
stairs
is still
It is
symptomatic
reflected in
that although the fortress character
much of the new
civic construction,
it is
of earUer
the great
no longer merely the internal stair enclosed within a building or

one of the most characteristic and architecturally vital features of the
external stairway, and

a courtyard, that
is
age.
Externally the Palazzo del Capitano
is
almost entirely Romanesque in
detail, elaborat-
ing forms found in the neighbouring Benedictine abbey of SS. Severe e Martirio, which
was
transferred to the Premonstratensians in 1220 and then considerably enlarged.^
Internally four pointed arches, corbelled
roof and,
in conjunction
from the
walls, support the
with the evenly spaced windows,
Chamber. 3 As with the external
detail, similar
its
repetition in a couple
Comicil
forms recur in the Palazzo Vescovile and
in the Palazzo dei Papi. Nevertheless, the importance
measured by
wooden, pitched
articulate the
of the system
of dependent Orvietan
is
palaces.
by no means to be
The fmest achieve-
ments of Italian Gothic architecture are often associated with the simplest forms, and
is
it
extremely elementary type of roof support that characterizes some of the most
this
impressive of the late-thirteenth- and early-fourteenth-century halls and hall churches
both
in
The
Umbria and elsewhere

direct source
of
in Central
and Northern
this distinctive feature
Italy.
does not appear to He in the widely
of Romanesque and Early Gothic churches in which it occurs: in few of

do the diaphragm arches appear as rhythmically repeated forms, and when they
scattered series
these
do they tend
to be associated with a nave and aisle design
Messina, in
Maria Maggiore
to derive
S.
from
at
Lanciano, and in the
hke
that in the Badiazza at
Duomo at Atri. It seems, instead,
the Cistercian refectories and infirmaries of Fossanova and Casamari.
These, in their turn, are related to the late-twelfth-century Catalan dormitory of Santes
Creus
(i
190-1225).
The
latter leads
on
to a similar
room
at
Poblct and to a long line of
thirteenth-century diaphragm-arched hall churches in Catalonia and southern France.
The evolution of the form
as a simple solution to the problem of roof support, and one

which allows full use of the available area at ground level, is to be seen at Fossanova,
where the five arches arc carried on truncated pilasters corbelled out a tew feet from the
30
CIVIC BUILDINGS
The
floor.
airier
proportions of the Palazzo del Capitano at Orvieto, and the corbelling
of a reduced number of arches
many
feet
above the ground, produce
a distinctive sense
of space. The contrast wîth certain other Umbrian examples of this system could hardly
be more extreme. In the remarkable refectory of the Friary of
less
than thirteen segmental brick diaphragm arches have been
The
low room
long,
is
dominated by
Fortunato
S.
set at
Todi no
at
three-yard intervals.
their powerful, close-ribbed appearance
and the
play of light and shade within the deep recesses must have been extremely dramatic
before the latter were

is
filled in
by such buildings
presented
spanning archway, with
its
with
of ill-fitting
a series
Palazzo
as the
vaults.
Comunale
Another kind of contrast
at Tarquinia. Set
on
its
road-
massive blind arcading haphazardly related to linked win-
dows in a distant parody of French usage, it is but one reminder out of many of how easily
ambition could outdistance local
local
skill.
The Palace of the Popes
The
close styhstic
Capitano
at Viterbo
Hnks between the Palace of the Popes
at
Viterbo and the Palazzo del
Orvieto can scarcely be fortuitous. Nearness to
at
Rome
and strong poUtical
ties
with the papacy made up for what Viterbo lacked of Orvieto's natural impregnabil-
ity,
and the
century.
was a year
was among the most important seats of the Curia in the later thirteenth
main doorway of the palace gives the date 1266. This
which the French Pope Clement IV (1265-8) visited Orvieto, where his
city
An
inscription over the
in
predecessor had spent two-tliirds of his equally short pontificate.
The
adjoining loggia
was from Viterbo in 1268, the year of his own death, that Clement
watched Conradin and his army marching southwards to defeat at TagUacozzo.
Except that the rough grey of the local peperino replaces the warm Orvietan tufa,
the outside of the palace (Plate 12), with its continuous cornice linking and overrunning
both the roimd-headed windows and the main door, closely resembles that of the
is
dated 1267, and
it
Palazzo del Popolo at Orvieto. Abundant traces of red and blue reveal, however, that
the architectural and heraldic detail
must
lacing of traceried,
main
were once highly coloured. In the loggia, which

and arcaded on the valley side as well,"* the inter-
originally have been roofed over
hall,
round
arches, echoing
on
a larger scale those
gives rise to pointed, Gothic forms.
The
of the windows of the
heraldic sculpture, the tracery
itself,
and the shm twin columns that support it, lend a certain gaiety to a building that is
otherwise conceived in terms of mass and powerful architectural engineering. Great
arched buttresses pin the structure to the hillside and the massive octagonal column of
upwards through the huge, five-arched and bridge-like barrelon which the loggia stands. The shoulder of this same vault takes the thrust of the
almost rounded arch that carries on its back the spacious entrance platform. From the
latter, wide and shallow steps cascade into the square. Crisp cornices, and rectilinear
a well-shaft pierces
vault
panelling such as
show
is
the forms to
common in Umbria
and increasingly comphcated,

cloister
of S. Maria
and the Marches, decorate the balustrades and

is most apt. The very similar,
which the rough, volcanic peperino

della Verita
traceries
show
of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century

somewhat clumsy carving of the
that the stiff and
31

detail
of the loggia
largely due to the unsuitabiHty of the local stone for the deHcate
is
openwork on which
of the simple marble detailing of the near-by cloister of S. Maria
medium and
the limitations of the
The
The
the Viterbese stone carvers set their hearts.
their skill in
clear-cut deUcacy
in Gradi underlines
both
overcoming them.
extent to which the detailed treatment of the steps and the bold spatial play of
of
arches, intersecting at right angles, represent the distillation
a century-old tradition
can be seen by walking through the Romanesque quarter of

identical forms, adapted to the scale
of private houses, are
fourteenth- and fifteenth-century buildings.

a flattened half-arch, that give light
also to
S. Pellegrino.
The stairs and balcony, boldly suspended on
and shade, movement and architectural
the probably fourteenth-century facade of the Casa del Vico are the
The
these wimesses to the gradual erosion of the fortress concept.
such additions to the Romanesque
town
a turbulent late
most
interest to
striking
of
austere grandeur of
walls as the tower gate of S. Biele, dating
1270, are, however, a reininder that the arts of mihtary engineering
dead or even dying in
Almost
be seen in a number of
from
were by no means
medieval world.
The Palazzo Comunale
at
Piacenza
The fmal flowering of the Lombard Arengario or Broletto is achieved in the unfmished
Comunale of Piacenza on the Emihan border (Plate 13B). The building was
Palazzo
begun
in 1280 at the order
of Alberto Scotto, the long-time ruler of the town, and
its
construction was entrusted to four local architects. Inscriptions indicate the progress of
the
work
in 1281 and 1282, and the projected building
closed a central courtyard.
Palazzo del
Comune
at
It
would
Cremona of 1206
after the latter's
middle of the century. The sophistication of the
comparing
it
would undoubtedly have enmanhandled
therefore have resembled the heavily
with the all-brick Arengario
at
new
enlargement towards the
building at Piacenza
Monza. The
latter
was
built
is
shown by
between 1250
and 1293 and incorporates only the most tentative modifications of the Romanesque
traditions represented by the Palazzo della Ragione at Milan. The mid-thirteenthcentury Palazzo di Cittanova at
Cremona belongs
to the
same
way
line
of development.
maimer taken up
vdth greater self-assurance in the more-or-less contemporary Palazzo Comimale at
Bologna. The architectural severity of the latter, with the heavy symmetry of its wide
window openings repeating the forms of the arcades below, is thrown into reUef by a
comparison with the Loggia dei Militi, built in Cremona in 1292 (Plate 13A). The height
The heavy, pointed
arches of
its
loggia
form
a covered
in the
of the two arches of the loggia and the rich terracotta decoration of the three upper
windows, which are closely related to those in the northern transept of the cathedral,
built in 1288, give the facjade a feeling
of comparative hghmcss,
if not grace,
and
tliis is
accentuated by the almost tower-like proportions of the whole.
The
interesting two-to-three
flects a taste for
grouping of the openings
in the
Loggia dei Militi re-
such relationships which had already found more comphcatcd expres-
sion in the five arches and six
windows of the main
fa(j-ade
of the Palazzo Comimale
Piacenza. There, within a structure largely dependent for effect on
32
its
at
proportions, the
CIVIC BUILDINGS
grey-white and pink marbling of the lower storey
is
set off against the rich red
of the
brick and terracotta of the upper half Six simple pointed arches lead into an open loggia
two bays
form
deep. Their severity of
set against
is
the relatively intricate detail and
predominantly rounded shapes of the upper windows and against the busy GhibcUinc
battlements of the roof
The
hardness and smoothness of the broad stone surfaces, the
velvety quality of the brick, and the intricate texturing of the terracotta lunettes and
surrounds of the windows achieve a
though
relationship,
paintings.
outward
The
this
loggia
vistas that
articulated space
is
may
imposing in
creates,
it
maximum
intensity
of impact from
their
mutual
once have been considerably modified by external fresco

its
height and
scale.
The complex internal spaces and
and the sense of flow between the riches of architecturally
and the wide
sunlit areas
of the piazza
that surrounds
on
it
three sides,
and of the courtyard glimpsed upon the fourth, provide a striking contrast to the undifferentiated vasmess
of the space enclosed beneath the wooden trussed roofs of the
council hall and anteroom above. That
and
spatial contrasts
all
should be maintained
a building that, at first glance,
is
these textural, colouristic, formal, structural,

at
what could be done with the simplest

permeated by a great tradition.
A second major group of civic buildings,

represented
by
the
BargeUo
so
arcliitectural
The Bargello
is
such a pitch of mutual enrichment within
endowed with
far
compact
a unity,
elements by
a revelation
is
in Florence
more
closely aUicd to the medieval fortress,
in Florence (Plate 14A). In their struggles
with the sur-
rounding feudal lords and with each other; in the very process of destroying
castle
and of casting
down
of
men whose minds were
the towers that had
made
stone forests, far
more
castle after
fierce than
any modern asphalt jungle, out of every town, the Communes had themselves acquired
the aspect of expanding castles. Already in twelfth-century Florence the first circle of
Roman wall had been enclosed within a second which, although it reached across
Amo, was itself engulfed by the mid thirteenth century. Even within the walls
internal feuds did not die down with the destruction of the private fortresses and tower
the
the
The
houses.
its
first
thought of each government, however 'popular', was
physical defence against opposing factions. Indeed, the
of a
new
constitution, the
more
its
promulgators might
conservative of architectural forms: and so
it
was
still
directed to
the
form
forced to cling to the
more
more revolutionary
feel
in Florence
with the Primo Popolo.
The BargeUo was begun about 1255 as the Palace of the Capitano del Popolo, who
had previously made do with a rented private house.' Then, after the disastrous defeat
by the Sienese at Montaperti in 1260 and the reversion to the older and less democratic
governmental system, it became the Palace of the Podesta. The architectural model for
the building seems to have been the block-like, towered fortress of the Palazzo dei
town of Volterra. This, the oldest surviving Communal

begun in 1208, and the lower part at least was completed
Priori in the newly subj ugated hill
palace in Tuscany, had been

in 1257.
The
which, with
similarity to the
its
string
even more severe three-storey block of the
cornices and
Gothic
33
hi/ore,
later Bargello,
originally stretched
from the

pre-existing
comer tower
to the Piazza S. Firenze,
internal division into a series
of great
halls,
connected to a few smaller ante-chambers,

Typical also was their tendency to
must have been quite
striking.
The
often occupying virtually an entire floor and

is
of
typical
grow not only
all
this class
of buildings.
upper storey of the
vertically (the
Bargello was substantially modified in the fourteenth century) but also horizontally to
enclose internal courtyards.
The Palazzo Nuovo

ambitious
stair
larged in 1323.
possesses
It
indeed, the Palazzo
The
Gimignano, with
its
cortile lined
c.
by
a rustically
1288-9 and en-
in a town that still

town houses. At Massa Marittima,
formed by the union of three tower-Hke
the mid fourteenth centuries.
shows the emergence of the same type of building
many of its
sections dating
del Podesta at S.
and balcony poised on intersecting arches, was begun

thirteenth-century towers and
Comunale
from the
is
actually
early thirteenth to
reciprocity in terms of architecture, as of social ambition,
which ensured
that as
powers or joined the newly powerful, the rising

bourgeois should take on the noble trappings of the social order which they were
so busily destroying, is well illustrated by the Palazzo Pretorio at Poppi. It was begun
fast as
c.
the feudal classes cither lost their
1274 by Conte Simone di Battifolle and
The
original structure
on
the right, with
its
later
became
single
the castle of the Conti Guidi.
row of first-floor
bifore,
was, like the
Florentine Bargello, a severe, rectangular three-storey block which, also like the Bargello,
was subsequently extended to enclose a courtyard. It is, however, in the Palazzo

at Florence, which will be considered later, that the Volterran palace has its
Vecchio
most magnificent progeny.
The Palaces of Todi and Perugia
Between
the
Lombard and Emihan
pattern followed at Orvieto and the Tuscan for-
series of civic palaces in which a more

open and extensive ground-floor loggia forms the basis for a building of at least
three storeys, often furnished with a fme external staircase, yet in many cases still retaining the clear marks of castle ancestry.
At Todi the substantially thirteenth-century cathedral and three civic palaces,
grouped about a single square, have all in varying degrees survived the vicissitudes of
tress
or
type of the Bargello, there stands a varied
less
centuries of constant use.
1213, heightened
a general
by one
The much
restored Palazzo del
storey in 1228-33, and completed
connexion with such buildings
Popolo
by
as the late -twelfth-
(Plate iib),
begun
in
1267, immediately reveals
and early thirteenth-century
Broletto at Brescia. Although the colour and the texture of the grey-white stone of
Todi provides a maximum contrast to the mellow Bolognesc brickwork, the wide
distribution and closely comparable parallel development of the type is illustrated b\
the Palace of Re Enzo in Bologna, which was built about 1246 in close relationship to
an earlier group of buildings. The kinship is particularly noticeable in the scale of the
arches of the loggia. In either case vistas open out
the angle of the building.
del
Capitano
at
Todi seems
The
from one square
to another
through
subsequently linked, and also highly restored, Palazzo
to date
from the
1290s,
34
when
it
might have been thought
that
CIVIC BUILDINGS
of S. Fortunato would have demanded
the founding
town
small a
the architectural energies of so
all
(Plate iib).
The wider but
still
rounded arches and more massive
are boldly contrasted with the Gothic triforc above.
piers
The
of the ground-level loggia
use of diaphragm arches in the
council chamber links the internal structure with the abbey of S. Fortunato and with
a
long
so
line
much
subtle
of important fourteenth-century Umbrian constructions.
grouping that the supreme achievement of the medieval
Confronted
by
in the earUer building
three rhytluiiic
symmetry of
It is,
however, not
of the individual buildings
in the detail or the general structure
arcliitccts
sHm block and by
tall,
in
as
tiieir
of Todi
lies.
the two-three-onc-
the arches and the windows, opening with severe and
timid grace into the great blank areas of wall, the later architect of the Palazzo del
Capitano reacted with an

tomizes
that
all
intuitive,
almost certainly unconscious, sensitivity that epi-
Any
the highest quaUties of late medieval architectural craftsmen.
might
result
from the
setting
back of a wider, lower block
is
heaviness
counteracted by the
broader openings of the loggia and by the increased dehcacy of the windows. The Ughtness and extent of the latter
magnified
is
at first-floor level
and a ruiniing zigzag of coimected gables.
performed by
On
by pierced
relieving arches
the second floor a similar function
is
continuous moulding in the Orvietan manner which arouses formal
echoes of the openings of the ground-floor loggie of both buildings.
The more
de-
veloped feeling for the horizontal articulation of a facade by cornices that give firm
anchorage to the window openings, accentuates the quality of floating, strip-hke apphcation in the
older structure. Yet, in the very act of attempting a
windows of the
more
organic relationship between the parts and the whole, the later architect confirms the
of the earher building revealed in his balancing of masses. Time

one walks round the palaces and observes the seemingly haphazard changes
sensitive understanding
and again,
as
of level which distinguish each and every comparable element in the two buildings, the
laws of natural perspective recombine these elements into harmonious contrapuntal
groupings. This
phenomenon
is
demonstrated on Plate iib, in which the lower cornice
of the Palazzo del Capitano seems to coincide exactly with the line of window bases in
the Palazzo del Popolo, and the asymmetry of door and windows in the central zone
acquires a positive quaHty within a system of
cUmax
in the
broad flow and the daring
dynamic balance. The
spatial intersections
latter attains its
of a stairway in which
mass and movement have been monumentally combined.
Each new departure in the

fore.
instinctive criticism at
level
arts is in
some ways an
implicit criticism of what
Here, in the cautious terms of some forgotten architect in an
and
at
its
It
Late-thirteenth-century variations
new
its
ConsoU
at
Bevagna
in
and pointed arches of the loggia, and the simple hi/ore

form part of an unspoilt twelfth- and thirteenth-century
Umbria, where the massive
different buildings
important fourteenth-century
additions that include the outside stairway, or the Palazzo dei
stair,
is
age.
on the theme include such very
Palazzo Pretorio at Prato (before 1284), with
and broad external
town,
underlines
esque within the gradually evolving styles of a
as the
went be-
hill
what must be obvious at every

the persistence of the architectural idiom of the Roman-
most constructive.*
every turn in Italy
Umbrian
piers
35

At Genoa the wide arched loggia of the brick Palazzo di S. Giorgio, which, II
with its Gothic detail, dates from c. 1260, would almost form a covered street but for
the steps that flow down into it. Indeed, in the Palazzo Lamba-Doria (Plate 14B), which
piazza J
was given by the Genoese
Commune to the victor of the
naval battle of Curzola, fought
against the Venetians in 1298, the ground-floor loggia with

recalls the
its
fme polygonal columns
Bolognese arcades, although the outflow of the main
stairs indicates its pri-
The four storeys of the striped wliite marble and black stone fa<;ade are
defined by intervening cornices and are enhvened by the pointed quadrifore
vate nature.
clearly
which repeat the shapes and rhythms of the arcade beneath. Originally this palace, the
forms of which are elaborated in the roughly contemporary Palazzo Vecchio del
Comune, must have been distinguished by a discipline, a symmetry, and a calculated,
if repetitive,
rhythm unsurpassed elsewhere
any obviously defensive character and
is,
in Italy at such a date. It has
been shorn of
among the earhest and farthest on the road towards a truly civil architecture.
The most over^vhelmingly palatial of the substantially thirteenth-century Central
ItaUan civic palaces is, however, the Palazzo dei Priori at Perugia (Plate 15). The main
body, consisting of the
first
ten bays of the long side and the
bmlt between 1293 and 1297 by Giacomo
di Servadio
first
three of the short,
and Giovanello
di
was
Benvenuto,
two otherwise unknown Perugians. The first impression is of enormous mass erdivened
by a flhgree of windows. The additions of 1333-58 upon the short flank and of 1429-43
upon the long only accentuate the quahties that must always have been apparent when
the view was not confmed to what was then the relatively tall and narrow north face of
the building. The latter would have lacked the fan-shape of the present steps, and also
the arched fourteenth-century balcony that adds so greatly to the sense of architectural
movement. Despite the more straightforward steps, the original, symmetrical facade
must always have been dominated by the pointed trefoil of the entrance door. This
would be large for a cathedral, and its grandeur is unprecedented in the context of such
marks a further stage in social evolution and gainsays the imphcations
of the reconstructed battlements above. The sense of mass obtained in three-quarter
views is not entirely due to the actual scale or to the general proportions, though these
civic buildings. It
are impressive enough.
It is
enhanced by the repetition of large nimibers of identical
openings which, despite the forms of their individual members, are united to establish
horizontal accents widely separated
weight and horizontahry in what

fied
by the
fact that the
is
by unbroken
areas
actually an extremely
of masonry. The
building
tall
is
feeling of
finally intensi-
lower cornice rims above the lower windows, while the suc-
ceeding cornice joins the bases of the upper windows. This gives unusual clarity and
definition to the
unbroken mass of grey stone pressing down between them. Internally,

is given similar weight by the heavy, rectangular
the wide expanse of the great hall

section
of the eight closely spaced roimd diaphragm arches
that support the equally
extensive upper chamber.
Considered
as a
whole, the
size
repetition of identical units and
age.
The
size
and frequency
as
and symmetry of the original structure,
its clarit)'
of aU the Early Gothic private palaces of Italy, 1
of definition, mark
it
out
as typical
its
well as the form and delicate detailing of the
36
regular
of the new
windows
CIVIC BUILDINGS
reflect the
ambitions of new
social order.
makes the
classes struggling to
Those of the upper
give reality to a changing vision of the
storey, in particular, constitute a master-stroke wliich
related, possibly derivative,
and certainly more
Palazzo del Capitano at Todi seem both thin and hesitant
very act of giving a
opening they create
distinctive, picture-framing
Gothic forms of the

for in the
emphasis to each individual
a rippling architectural continuity that
37
fully
by comparison;
is
unique.
triple
TWO
PART
SCULPTURE
1250-1300
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
Late-thirteenth-century
three
men. The
Italian sculpture
with him for a time and the third

;
marks
momentous
is
dominated by the achievements of
who worked
The span of their careers
Nicola Pisano; the second Amolfo di Cambio,
first is
is
Nicola's son, Giovanni.
stage in the transition
to that of the self-conscious
modem
artist.
from the world of the medieval craftsman

Whereas in ancient Greece the primacy of
sculpture in the evolution of the visual arts
decades of upheaval that prepare the
way
is
merely probable, in
for the Renaissance,
period sees the replacement of a flourishing
Romanesque by
it is
Italy, in the first
certain. This short
a well-estabhshed Gothic
sculpture and the acceleration, if not the beginning, of that slower process
by which
Itahan sculpture becomes increasingly independent of architecture. These same three
men, by drawing on the Antique past and on the northern Gothic present, created
a sculptural language in which the greater naturaHsm of the forms became the vehicle
for richer and
more
varied spiritual and psychological experience.
It is
the vividness
of their achievement in the exploration of new representational means, in the estabUsh-
ment of new canons of dramatic
narrative,
and in expanding the entire range of
sculptural expression, that largely underhes the ensuing pictorial revolution.
were the men
warm
who
for the first time bodied out in the enduring forms
They
art that
hiunanity and sense of immediacy which fired the rehgious fervour of whole
populations and which
were building
of
in their
filled
the ever
more ambitious churches
that the mendicants
hundreds through the length and breadth of Italy.
39
CHAPTER
NICOLA PISANO
The Pisa Pulpit
The
epicentre of the constant tremors that reshape the landscape of ItaUan sculpture
during the second half of the thirteenth century Hes in the unstable
first
the
task
is
dominance of the
architect
is
architectural embellishment.
lying principles of Itahan
It is
Romanesque
soil
of
Pisa.
At
and the sculptor's primary
virtually unchallenged
possibly significant therefore that the underarchitecture are
nowhere more
clearly visible
than in the great twelfth-century buildings of Pisa Cathedral. Instead of the Northern
European pattern of a
and
single building in organic
altar to the soaring bell-towers
of clearly separated
parts,
unit\' in a lucid interplay
growth from
overhead, there
is
the twin kernel of font
a coordinated
group
built
up
of Duomo, campanile, and baptistery, the whole achie\ ing

of simple volumes, pure prismatic forms,
set against
cone
Holy Sepidchre at
continues. Within the
Jerusalem,! the still, mathematical dance of architectural
circular outer wall the conical inner dome stands on a dodecagon, the columns of which
are divided into four groups by pUlars. In the centre of the radiating pattern of the floor
stands the lace-carved octagon of Guido Bigarelh da Como's font of 1246, and to
one side of the rectangular enclosure of the altar the contrapuntal rhythm finds its
close in the hexagon of the pulpit inscribed 'Nicola Pisanus' and dated 1260 (Plate 16).
There is good reason to beheve that here the formal dance is deep with meaning as it
weaves from the Apostohc twelve, the multiple of the Trinit)' and the four evangeUsts
or the four comers of the earth, through the eight that is the baptismal symbol of
and cylinder and ovoid. Inside the
regeneration and salvation,- to the
Adam' who
by
form
baptistery', itself inspired
perfect
first
prefigures Christ, the second perfect
number,
six,
the
the sign of the 'Old
man.
Except for mention in a Lucchese will of 1258, Nicola Pisano
is
unknown
before
the apparition of the seemingly fully mature sculpture of the baptistery pulpit. His
other
two
surviving documented works are the pulpit in the
tracted for in 1265

finished in 1278.
his son,
pulpit,
self
and he
By March
himself
bom
as
as
bom
at the latest.
in Pisa,
it
show
that
seems that Nicola must have
Since Nicola
'de Apulia', instead of the usual 'de
in the south, and this
Italian sculpture revealed in his
The
con-
in Perugia,
1284 he was evidently dead.^ Since documents
later refers to
documents
was
at Siena,
Giovanni, was already being employed in a minor capaciu' on the Siena
been estabhshed there by 1250

Sienese
Duomo
and completed in 1268, and the Fontana Maggiore
is
is
seems that he him-
confirmed by the apparent knowledge of South
own work.
building of the baptistery pulpit coincides with a
Nicola's adopted city.
twice referred to in the
Pisis', it
The naval
victories
moment of triumph
for
of 1258 through which, with her Venetian
40
NICOLA PISANO
allies, Pisa had secured her overseas possessions against the rival Genoese were followed by the decisive land battle of Montaperti, in which the Ghibellines of Pisa and
Siena overcame the Guelph coaUtion led by Florence. The triumphs were short-hved,
however, and the half-century following the death of the Emperor Frederick II in
1250 marks the moment when expansion ceases. It is a period of increasingly desperate
commercial and mihtary defence, leading to ultimate

riches
of the past were
broken,
were those with the
as
Francigena,
pilgrims
lost.
down which
from
Commercial
intact.
still
cities
of Provence. The
As often happens
in the Ufe-spans
As yet the accumulated
battle for control
un-
still
of the Via
of trade and works of art poured with the
a constant stream
whole of Northern Europe on
the
defeat.
contacts with the East were
their
of ItaHan
way
cities,
to
Rome, had not
as
yet been
the chmacteric sees a fmal
burgeoning in the realm of art.
The compact polygonal form of
Nicola's pulpit, so intimately adapted to
sur-
its
Marco
in
Venice and in near-by Torcello, but in Tuscany there are only the minor polygons
at
roundings,
is
comparatively
Fagna and Borgo
S.
rare.
Lorenzo.
stQl existed in the thirteenth
Austere Byzantine examples occur in
The
possibility that
S.
monumental Tuscan prototypes
century must not, however, be overlooked,
as
the sur-
viving pulpits are conservative works confmed to minor churches. Nevertheless, the
closest existing parallel to Nicola's
pulpit at Spht (Spalato)
on
eighteenth century at Trani
As important, and
trave, favoured in
work
the mid-thirteenth-century hexagonal
is
the Dalmatian coast, and a similar pulpit survived until the
on
the opposite,
ApuUan,
also rare before this date,
is
shore.
the replacement of the simple archi-
Tuscany, by an archivolt that softens the transition between the sup-
porting columns and the casket and increases the vertical flow of the design."* Indeed,
the one specifically Tuscan contribution to the general scheme of Nicola's pulpit
decoration of
its
walls with scenes
from the
Life
is
the
of Christ instead of with the vegetal
forms of the Abruzzi or the dazzling and elaborate geometric inlays of the south.
The
fmest of the earher thirteenth-century storiated pulpits
dated 1250 and signed

tainly, the
it
by
Guido da
same Guido BigareUi
Como who
who signed
is
is
that in Pistoia.
possibly, but
by no means
It is
cer-
the font at Pisa four years earHer. Although
does not appear to have been correctly reconstituted and the narrative sequence
seems to indicate that some scenes
mark in a
Gughelmo
line
may
have been
of similar structures that
in 11 62 for the
Duomo
stretches
at Pisa
lost,
the pulpit represents a land-
back to the work completed by
and consequently well-known to Nicola
Pisano.5
Guido's pulpit, with
its
styHzed hons and supporting figure; with
trave and abruptly contrasted horizontals and verticals; and above
its
all
simple archi-
with
its
fully
Romanesque rehef style, characterized by its almost complete respect for the flat
surface which it decorates, provides a striking contrast to the full-bodied plastic richness of Nicola's work. The narrative zest that shines through the simple, carefully
controlled, symmetrical juxtapositions of these reUefs is embodied in deUcately carved,
doll-hke figures clothed in flat, linear draperies. The fme drill-work; the deUght in
the flat patterns of the coloured marble inlays the Lombard-Emihan exploitation of
;
41
PART two: sculpture 1250-1300

the plain
ground of the reUef; the subtle alchemy that blends naivety with
The
sophistica-
culmination of a long development.*
tion, reflect the
existence
of a tradition of the
storiated pulpit in Tuscany, while clarifying
one
aspect of the antecedents of the baptistery pulpit, also serves to underline the beginning
of the revolutionary iconographic expansion which
is
one of the most important
facets
of Nicola Pisano's achievement. At the angles of the intermediate zone beneath the
of the
five rehefs
Nativity, the Adoration of the
and the Last Judgement, stand
new
Magi, the Presentation, the Crucifixion,
They
six Christian virtues.
are almost in the round,
and
theme within the body of Itahan sculpture. Between them,

in the spandrels of the arches, are the evangelists and a series of Old Testament kings
and prophets, and below them crouch the wild men and the guardian hons. It is the
first crisp statement in so condensed and unified a sculptural form of an encyclopedic
give a
urge that
status to the
is
intellectually
crystallized in the writing
only expUcable in terms of the philosophical strivings
Summa
of the
Theologiae on which St
Thomas Aquinas
must be seen in the hght of the resplendent stone and glass encyclopedias of Chartres and Reims and Amiens, all of them
taking shape throughout the first half of the century. Thematic originaUty is, moreover,
was engaged during these
years. Artistically
it
accompanied by remarkable independence in the face of the detailed iconographic

sources. This
is
particularly clearly reflected in the highly unusual Hercules-Fortitude
and in the virtues
whole.
as a
In Italy, as in France,
new
and
ideas
new forms
are inseparable.
The
Italo-Byzantine
iconographic basis for the angeUc figure of Faith, or for the opening scene of the
Nativity,
is
springboard for a formal revolution (Plate 17A). This rehef
is,
properly
speaking, not a single scene but a distillation of four separate episodes, the Annunciation,
the Nativity, and the Annunciation
Washing
oj the Christ
and volume which

dent
is
is
to the
Shepherds,
stemming from the
Child from the apocrypha. Each figure
one of the outstanding
told with a dramatic
power and
of gesture and of carefully chosen
characteristics
selectivity
detail that
is
is
gospels,
given that
of Nicola's
full
art.
and the
weight
Each
inci-
and with a convincing naturahsm
new
to
Tuscan sculpture. Yet Nicola
has been at such pains to give formal and dramatic unity to the act to wliich the
separate scenes build up, even attempting, despite the obvious contradictions, to create
some
tive
feeling
is
The
reflect,
of spatial continuity, that the actual multiplicity of the continuous narra-
easily missed.
massive, reclining figure of the Virgin that recalls, but probably does not directly
Etruscan grave figures serves, by
its
very
scale, to
dominate the
scene.
The
immediately juxtaposed repetition of her head in that of the Virgin Annunciate creates
which was once completed by the now mutilated figure of the

vertical, created on the left by the figures of the angel
and of St Joseph, was likewise originally balanced by a framing motif that ran down
from the now headless shepherds on the right. Where, as in the Presentation and the
Crucifixion, a single action fills the entire frame, the high relief of powerful verticals
at sides and centre is accentuated by the intervening troughs of shadow, and the closed
and architectonic construction of the scenes takes on an almost diagrammatic clarity.
a strong central accent
Christ Child.
The firm opening
42
NICOLA PISANO
The firm
by
solidity
of the ahnost architecturally constructed figure design
a Hvely concern {or the decorative quahtics
of
based on the repetition of relatively simple forms.
a surface pattern that
The
draperies
of the
is
matched
is
likewise
axial figures
in the Presentation fall into almost identical patterns,
and the decorative function of

even more obvious in the Adoration of the Magi (Plate lys). As
always with Nicola Pisano, the articulation and sohdity of the underlying forms is
never left in doubt. Nevertheless, the surface pattern established by the iconographicsuch repetitions
is
ally original repetition
of the kneehng pose
pattern of the folds that
fall
below the
is
way in which the sharp
emphasized by the
of these two figures
waists
repeated, despite the wholly different pose, in the folds that run
of the Virgin's
So
far
is
as far as possible
up from the lower part
left leg.
only general styhstic
work, and
parallels to Nicola's
his potential sources
inspiration have been considered. Here, in the Adoration, with
its
of
firm closure about
the central pyramid of the three kings, Nicola can be seen exploiting his famiharity
work of art. The
with
a particular surviving
who
reappears, imperially enthroned, in
Roman
firom the second-century

like
Pisa,
many
Roman matron
impassive
rehef
tliis
one of several
is
sarcophagus of Hippolytus and Phaedra. This work,
other historically important Antique remains,
and served, from the eleventh century,
Comparison of the two
of the Nativity
direct quotations
seated figures
as the
shows
that
is still
tomb of
Camposanto
in the
at
the Countess Beatrice.
mainly the pose, reversed and
it is
The proportions have been altered in

the direction of those of Tuscan and Lombard Romanesque sculpture, and the features
seem to reflect a knowledge of RepubHcan and Early Imperial classicist statuary.^
The relationsliip between the drapery and the underlying forms is also changed through
shghtly modified, that has interested Nicola.
the adoption of a prismatic fold pattern. This raises the whole question of the nature of
Nicola's acquaintanceship with French
at
art, since
was used
the system
Reims and Amiens shortly before the mid century and
is
fairly extensively
otherwise extremely rare.
Equally sweeping transformations are visible if the nudes on the sarcophagus are
compared with
the naked Hercules of Nicola's Fortitude, or if the
right of the Presentation
marble vase that
is
related to
is
its
own
mighty figure on the
close prototype in the rehef
on
Greek
likewise in the Camposanto.
Such confrontations show

of the baptistery pulpit has
mark of the
that the classicism
Httle in
common
which
is
one of the outstanding features
with that deadening devotion to the past
pasticheur. In searching for the
motive force that hes behind
that
is
it is
important to remember that the techniques required for working directly from
the
nature had stiU to be developed.
The very
idea
of the Hfe study, with
problems of abstraction and controlled observation that
it
all
entailed,
it,
the formidable
was
still
in
its
growing urge to represent the actual

physical appearance of the natural world more accurately was to turn towards those
earher works of art that appeared to correspond most nearly to the artist's own
infancy. Initially the only possible response to a
experience of nature and to satisfy his
important
as the poHtical
new
needs most completely. This
is
especially
ambitions of the patron, which dictated the classicizing form
of so much of the sculpture produced for Frederick

43
II
in the first half
of the century,

do not explain
commission. Nevertheless,
a similar classicism in a Pisan ecclesiastical
of Nicola's exploitation of the Antique are such that it is difficult

to beheve that he had not at some time laboured in the imperial Southern Italy of his
birth. Despite the direct quotations from Antique art that occur in French medieval
sculpture, whether at Reims or, earher, in Provence, and in spite of constant echoes
the extent and intensity
of Antiquity throughout the history of Itahan monumental sculpture from the time of
re-emergence in the early twelfth century, nothing remotely similar occurs outside
its
the Hmits of the dehberate attempt at a renaissance that Frederick
had personally
II
directed.
The
of Antique forms was seemingly imposed on South
fact that the imitation
ItaUan sculptors for clearly defmed poHtical ends should not be allowed to detract
from
an appreciation of the variety and often of the quaUty of their achievement. The
head of the Justitia Imperiahs from the Capuan Gate, with its boldly massed forms and
simpUfied planes, remains, for aU
Frederick's imperial
ment
Angevin court
flocking to the
that small part
both in the south
in sculpture did survive,
artists
mutilation, a compelling
its
dream died with him,

at
was achieved
The
in
actually conceived
marks
and executed in
number and
domg
it
new
later seen
by
of
inspiration
the
much
is
of ItaUan sculpture
stage in the history
show
to
accompanied by
that the rehefs
There
their narrative sequence.
freedom of action of the
in the
iconographic demands. This
was
became the
development which seems
itself a
it
in the later thirteenth century.
baptistery pulpit not only
but reveals within
in the
Tuscany
where
Naples, and, presumably, in outposts Hke the
castle at Prato, built in the late forties. In so
that
itself,
work of art.^ Though
of it which found embodi-
figures that
a modification
were
a steady increase
is
is
independent of
of the almost starkly
by
the French
classical figure
type of the opening scenes and
Gotliic Christ
of the Last Judgement beneath which stands the inscription of 1260. In
eventual replacement
its
this last
scene the extreme quantity of the figures
subject,
and
that in this
new
turn to a
this leads in its
is,
of course, partly dictated by the
type of composition.
It is
the battle sarcophagi with their even scattering of figures over the
decision
may
of Nicola
typical
scenes he should reach back to the Antique reHef style of
most French of
by
well have been affected
whole
surface.
The
the fact that the layer-cake arrangement of
rows of figures standing one above the other upon

would have made a much more violent contrast with the
the northern rehefs, with single

separate ground-lines,
neighbouring scenes. Nevertheless, in
this particular
intermixture of French figure
types and Antique patterns of rehef, created to solve a special problem, there hes the
germ of the
For
all its
drawn on,
ideas that
were
the
crowning
few
to reach fruition in the next
internal stylistic development,

characteristic
and for
all
years.
the diversity of sources that are
of Nicola's pulpit
possibly that
is
both epi-
it
tomizes and extends the formal application of those very quaUties that are fundamental
to the
group of buildings for which
compact, hexagonal form,

treatment,
is
its
it
was designed. The unity of the whole, with
increased vertical flow, and
evident enough, but the most striking of
tectonic clarity of parts
on wliich the
final
unity
44
is
its
its
many
based. In
its
uniformity of sculptural
virtues
tliis it is
is
the archi-
unique.
NICOLA PISANO
Beginning with the
17B), each
of a
details
made up out of clearly
is
folds
Each
is
do not
fall
(Plate
separable, individual curls,
their delicate variations giving hfe to the essentially repetitive pattern
The
Magi
single reUef such as the Adoration of the
head of hair, each beard,
of the whole.
into blended, swinging curves that swell and melt indefinitely.
clearly distinguished
from
its
neighbours and
once again built up of clearly
is
separable parts; of one, or two, or three, or more, straight sections. In every scene there
a similar clarity in the figure disposition,
is
and drapery pattern, and
with
its
accentuated repetitions of pose
in the compositional structure.
Every rehef is carefully disfrom the marble mouldings of its frame, just as each frame is separated from
the neighbouring facets of the hexagon by smooth, clustered columns that emphasize
the intervening angle. Finally, the insertion of corner figures at the level of the architinguished
volts asserts the interchangeabihty
of architectural and sculptural functions,
at the
same
time ensuring a clear distinction between the upper, intermediate, and supporting
zones within the unity of the whole.
The beauty of the

its
pulpit as
it
stands
present appearance represents the
world
in
restrict
which colour played an
must
not, however, lead to the assumption that
artist's
The
true intent.
pulpit
essential part in all the visual arts,
was created for a
and Nicola did not
himself to the deep, stippled red and green marbles of the main columns, to
the deep green marble inlays of the cusps, and to the red marble of the clustered
columns and rehef frames. Fragmentary remains and, in some
show
that strongly patterned vitreous glazes
ground
to the figures. This
of the actual
is
the pupils are treated in this
way and
seem
to have survived,
appear to
modem eyes,
ItaHan
Romanesque
as
tradition rooted in the
sets
black, inset pupils
ver)' fact that,
others have
fully coloured.
finish,
common
in
within a single rehef, some of
no markings or
few perished
insertions
traces
of any kind
of such colouring
and however pecuhar fuU polychromy in such

its
rough
formed the backoff the wholly ItaUan treatment
sometimes uses the
contemporary Tuscan sculpture, but the
places, the
a gesso foundation
French practice that
rehef. Nicola also
imphes that the reUefs were
on
a context
may
use seems to have been the rule and not the exception as far
sculpture
was concerned. The
pulpit stands at the end
of a
thoroughgoing painting of Greek sculpture, which, firom the
Renaissance onwards, has, like Nicola's reUefs, been so admired for the white purity of
its
scrubbed marble surfaces.
It is,
indeed, almost impossible to imagine the trans-
formation that must have been wrought by a rich polychromy envisaged by the
himself, and the reahzation underlines the caution that
is
artist
needed in any attempt to
analyse his aesthetic intentions.

is some evidence of studio intervention, primarily in the Last Judgeof the baptistery pulpit seems largely to be due to a single hand,
presumably that of Nicola himself It is characterized by high finish and the constant
demonstration of an apparently effortless technical virtuosity, particularly with the
Although there
ment, the carving
drill,
that seems to
be partly derived from the study of Antique remains.
45
PART TWO: SCULPTURE I25O-I3OO

The Siena Pulpit
workshop organization is revealed, some five years later,
which he negotiated with Fra Melano,
the clerk of works, who was a monk from S. Galgano. He himself was to receive
eight soldi for each working day, while his principal assistants, Amolfo, who had still
not arrived by May 1266, and Lapo, were to have six. Nicola's young son, Giovanni,
if he worked, as in fact he did, was to have four soldi paid on his behalf In a later
Something of Nicola's
by
full
the contract for the Siena pulpit (Plate 18),
document a fourth assistant, Donato, is also mentioned.

The variations in the style and quahty of the work show that the part played by the
various members of the workshop was large and their independence considerable.
Consequently, various sections have been attributed to one or other of them on the
basis of comphcated styUstic comparisons. Although it would be exciting if the outlines
of these sometimes more and sometimes
clarified, the present haziness
is
no mere
less
convincing styhstic groups could be
indication of the idleness of art historians.
Although the emergence of the individual artistic personahty from the cooperative
anonymity of the medieval workshop is one of the unique and epoch-making characteristics of Itahan thirteenth- and fourteenth-century art, the modem conception of
work and of its importance
the autograph
facade of the
Duomo
at
Orvieto
is
did not as yet exist.
reminder of the
a constant
of artists could cooperate in the various stages of a single

with a single aspect of a
series
as
The new
the pulpit at Siena

pulpit
is
name
would be
on the
number
sculpture
which
occupy themselves
else.'
the author of each detail of a
In such
work
as
the reverse of reassuring.
octagonal, and the other important departures
established at Pisa are the substitution
of the casket and the
figure, or
in
of figures substantially carved by someone
circumstances an apparent abiUty to
complex
The
way
from
of figures for the clustered columns
use, in all the narrative panels,
of
a type
the pattern
at the angles
of reUef that was pre-
viously confined to the Last Judgement. Simultaneously the plain mouldings, particularly those
above the
reUefs,
have given
way
to classical cornices of such complexity
broken surfaces of these purely architectural features blend with those of

the narrative scenes. Instead of sculpture clearly set within an architectural framework,
that the
it
almost looks
as if a tapestry
Here sculpture provides
of figures has been stretched around the upper octagon.
own
its
articulation,
and the whole could be described im-
partially as sculptural architecture or architectonic sculpture.
The
increased size
of the
pulpit, essentially linked to the greater scale
of
its
sur-
roundings, and the extended use of figure sculpture go hand in hand with a greatly
The Massacre of the Imwceiits is added, and the Last

two whole panels and their flanking figures, the intervening angle being filled by that of Christ. The tapestry-like impression therefore
reflects an actual flowing of the narrative across the architectural framework. At the
base of the central column the figure of Philosophy now appears, accompanied for the
first time in the history of ItaUan sculpture by the seven Liberal Arts.'" The symbols
of the highest achievements of the mind of man are thus united widi the spiritual
enlarged iconographic programme.
Judgement
now
spreads over
46
NICOLA PISANO
qualities, the Virtues, that
enable
him
to attain to the salvation proffered
by
the sacred
histories.
The
would have been
tapcstry-Uke quahty
significantly intensified
by
the original
colouring of the sculpture, once again combined with richly patterned, glazed back-
grounds. Here, however,

that the colouring
such
as
much
it
seems likely that
full
polychromy was no longer used and
of the drapery was confined to the gilding of
many of the
details,
hem-lines, and possibly the painting of the drapery linings, where they show,
in the
manner subsequently common
in
French ivories. Whereas
carving of decorative fringes was the exception, here

reflects the
change in method indicated by the surviving
great increase in
numbers and the decrease
in the scale
at Pisa the
the rule, and this apparently
it is
of colour. Despite the
traces
of the figures
in the reliefs,
con-
tinuing the process evident at Pisa, the interest in high fmish and in the virtuoso carving
of tiny
details
is
if
anything intensified.
comparision of the Nativity or the Adoration (Plate 20a) with the corresponding
a and b) shows that the reliefs are no longer predominantly

by the creation of an architectonic compositional structure. Instead, it is
the very tension of the unified reUef surface established by the closely packed figures
that does the work. At Pisa the surface undulates and surges with the subject matter.
Here, in spite of the great depth of cutting and undercutting in the narrow interstices,
scenes at Pisa (Plate 17,
held together
there
is
an even, honeycomb surface.
of the Nativity from

Virgin
is
It is
the latter that prevents the multiple narrative
falling apart into its separate fragments,
although the reclining
no longer dominates and

sheer mass, but only appears as the first among a group
so reduced in relative scale that the central episode
unifies the panel
through
its
of now quite carefully separated
equals.
The new rehef style, developed from
that
of the Antique
battle
sarcophagus and fore-
shadowed in the Pisan Last Judgement, permits a fresh expansion of descriptive naturalism. Whereas the Pisan Adoration typifies an approach in which there is comparatively
Uttle distinction between the actual carved depth of the relief and the space that is
supposedly represented by it, the two things are practically unrelated in the corresponding scenes at Siena. Although the two episodes of the Journey and of the Adoration of the Magi are here combined, and although the scale of the figures is related to
their importance rather than to their spatial position, the discrepancies have become so
small that the filling of the entire surface with tiny figures begins to suggest the existence
of a steeply inclined but continuous ground plane. Both

able depth,
would
however modified by
by
The new,
originally have been visible, are emphasized
inwards and upwards on the extreme
left.
which allows not merely representative

shown,
is
its
continuity and
the relatively small area of patterned
its
consider-
ground
that
the back-turned figure riding

pictorial
form of high
figures but a cavalcade in
its
rehef,
entirety to be
accompanied by an all-pervading hveliness of reaUstic detail. This interest in

is such that in parts of the Last Judgement the borderline
the appearance of the particular
between figure types and mdividual portraits is on the verge of dissolution.

An increasing desire not merely to symbohze an eternally significant event but to
tell a particular human story with as much incidental detail as possible is one aspect of
47

the opening of a
chapter in the history of ideas. Ahready in the
new
who was
century Albertus Magnus,
for a time the master of St
first
half of the
Thomas Aquinas,
shows again and again in
that he
places
deal in
his treatises on plants and animals the special value

on personal experience and on personal proof His determination to
with particular plants and animals marks the rebirth of descriptive science and,
in the case of animals, is accompanied by a first few crude but truly purposive experidetail
when he ascertained for himself that ostriches would not, as was asserted,
although they would readily accept stones or chopped bone. This constitutes
a break with the philosophical tradition of dealing solely with general characteristics,
ments,
as
eat iron,
with universals, and of ignoring the
peculiarities that are inseparable from the individual.
Albertus himself apologized for this departure from the Aristotehan and Platonic
practice that he followed faithfully elsewhere.
tions. It
probably
is
at a later date that
He none
the
he declared that
know
less persisted in his
'it is
terms of universals, but
we
characteristics, for this
the best and perfect kind of science'.
is
seek to
not enough to
each object according to

It is
its
own
the false
innova-
know
in
pecuHar
dawn
that
modern age of scientific experiment, and a whole new complex of ideas

is codified by Roger Bacon in his discussion of the 'experimental science' which, in
its new, independent role, plays such an im.portant part in the Opus Maius. This was
precedes the
the
work
that he
completed in Paris in 1266 while Nicola, in Siena, was beginning to

its own way encouraged this same changing
give shape to the pulpit that reflected and in

attitude to the
world of nature.
In Nicola's case the rapidly increasing
tempo of his
exploitation of the
new
climate
from the completion, in the space of five short years, of an

almost dramatic transference from an Antique classical to a fully Gothic ideal of the
human figure. Although reflections of Antique art still abound in the new pulpit, the
changed attitude may be summarized by comparing the remote, impassive goddess of
the Pisan Nativity (Plate 17A) with the majestically human Madonna and Child at Siena
(Plate 19). Here flesh replaces marble, and the sculptured drapery has become a
of ideas
is
inseparable
heavy-hanging, softly textured cloth. The folds are richer and more deeply cut, yet
they reveal the Hving forms beneath
more
clearly.
Whether here or
in the palpitating
figure of Hwnility, the patterns of the draperies unfold in space, leading the eye
surely
more
round the body.
The imphcation
in these
most complex of the Sienese figures that side as well

a development from the Pisan style, although it
marks
frontal views are possible
as
is
on the other hand, in

which the block-like form of the lower parts is a continuation of the structure of the
capitals below, there are no satisfactory side views as a whole. Below the waist the
patterns of the folds upon the separate faces are almost as divorced as if apphcd to the
true that the promise
surfaces
is
only partly
of an actual cube.
Crucijixion,
It is,
which appears
to
fulfilled.
however, symptomatic of a changing attitude that
space, whereas the similar, repetitive

in these
same
in the
have been largely carved by Nicola himself, the repeated
patterns of the folds in the figures
Whether
In the seated Virtues,
figures
of the Virgin and St John retreat diagonally into

complexes at Pisa lie predominantly on the surface.
from the
Crucijixion or in those
48
of the almost free-
NICOLA PISANO
fiill and firmly articulated body is seen
by Nicola as the cage of new emotions which, for all its strength, it is at times unable to
contain. The physical and emotional range of this new reahsm is extended to the full
in the fierce tumult of the Massacre of the Innocents. The startling powers evoked by the
new subject represent no more than the extreme of tendencies that can be seen through-
Standing Virgin and Child or the Humility, the
out the pulpit. Neither in
spirit
nor in teclinique do there appear to be
sufficient
grounds
for a substantial attribution of the scene to Nicola's teen-age son. Sometimes, as in the
angle figure of the Apocalyptic Christ, so reminiscent of the Beau Dieu of Reims and
Amiens, the connexions with French

detailed stylistic parallel
is
art
appear to be exphcit. Even where no such
new human reahsm
apparent, the whole of this
seems to be
intimately linked to the achievements of the French sculptors. Unfortunately, the
Gothic
articulated figures that
is
of certain aspects of Late Gotliic
typical only
standing characteristics of the classic period of French Gothic sculpture,
between 1220 and 1250 in the

and
at
Reims, are
side porches at Chartres
moment
the French
If the idea that the driving
to bring
new reahsm
human
artists also
upon which he drew
spirituahty.
impulse behind Nicola's
new
at first, infused as
it
at
appears
Amiens
portrayal of the hfe of Christ and the
ideal
artistic
moment,
becomes
was with
no surprise that at this

on an Antique basis.
borrowings was a desire
It is
the fundamental reason
clear.
The pagan Antiquity
a spirit largely
ahen to
its
new
whose whole work was centred on the

embodiment of his doctrines, so far and no
surroundings, could only carry a medieval
body
The out-
as it
and in the west portals
often build directly
into sculpture be accepted for a
for his almost dramatic conversion to a
farther.
art.
simphcity and an accomphshed reahsm in draperies and bodily
forms that are expressive of a warmly

particular
word
too often conjures up a vision of swaying unreality and charming, weakly
all
artist,
French Gothic sculptors, on the other hand, had already succeeded in giving
new, intensely human vision of Christian spirituahty. With their aid Nicola
to a
could give
models
is
new
psychological dimensions to his reahsm.
in fact
no
volte-face, but another aspect
standing and ambition which
is
The
swift transition to fresh
of that steady growth in under-
reflected in Nicola's sculpture as a
whole and
in the
Siena pulpit in particular.
The precise nature of Nicola's contact with French Gothic sculpture is not clear.
Although such meetings cannot be documented, he may have met French sculptors in
the south or travelling through Tuscany. The ease and rapidity with which artists
traversed Europe is attested time and again, and he may himself have journeyed into
France, though no such travels can be proven. In any case he would undoubtedly have
seen French manuscripts and portable works of art of every kind, although, oddly
enough,
ivories,
which might seem
knowledge of French
early date.
It is
sculptural form,
most obvious way of transmitting a

would probably not figure on the hst at such an
to be the
not always fully appreciated that French ivory-carving to all intents and
The total number of surviving Gothic ivories
purposes died out in the twelfth centur\\
of all kinds that can reasonably be dated before 1260 is in the neighbourhood of twenty.
Even when full allowance has been made for losses, it is therefore evident that ivories
were still rare when Nicola was working at Siena. It was only at the turn of the centtiry
49

which
that the ivory flood
now
embellishes almost every large
museum began
to flow
in earnest.
The
which the thirteenth-century
readiness with
posed by distance
is
artists
overcame the
barriers inter-
only matched by the ease with which, in the main, they passed
unscathed through the pohtical turmoUs of the day.
With
characteristic Itahan
reaUsm
the ecclesiastical and civil authorities seldom allowed pohtical or economic conflicts to
impinge on
their assessments
of
artistic
worth. While Nicola was marshalling
his small
company for the Sienese commission, Charles of Anjou's force of thirty thousand men
was moving south through Italy. At Benevento, early in 1266, Manfred, Frederick's
heir and the new Ghibelline champion, was killed. A bare two and a half years later,
in 1268, the
embers of the Hohenstaufen cause were scattered in the rout of Tagha-
cozzo. Nicola's
work was
barely finished
when
Ghibelline Siena was forced to
come
to
terms and bloodily taken over by the party of the Guelphs. Yet, after a period in
Pistoia in 1273," the artist
work with
his
from ApuHa who made
son Giovanni on a
monument
his
name
and Siena started
in Pisa
Guelph
to the civic pride of the
hill-city
of Perugia.
The Perugia Fountain

Although the hydrauHc prehminaries reach back twenty years or more, it seems that
the structure of the Fontana Maggiore, once begun, was rapidly completed (Plate 20b).
In 1277 Boninsegna, the Venetian hydraulic engineer, was called from his work on the
construction of a fountain in the aUied Guelph city of Orvieto to replace the original
conduit with an aqueduct. His name, alongside those of Nicola and Giovanni, appears
with that of the Benedictine Fra Bevignate in the rhymed inscription of 1278 on the
lower basin of the fountain. The wording shows that Fra Bevignate,
clerk
of works of the cathedral
at
who was
to be
Orvieto for a time and fmally the overseer of pubhc
was the man in charge. Since all procurement would be in his hands,
two parchments deUvered to him 'causa designandi fontem'
does not necessarily mihtate against the behef that the complex polygonal plan of the
works
in Perugia,
the record of payment for
is the work of Nicola Pisano.

Romanesque Duomo, which had yet to be replaced, and now over-
fountain, so reminiscent of the pulpits,

Sited next to the
looked by the massive Palazzo dei Priori, the fountain shows

tectural scale
and composition that
architectural
work can
hugging quality
five-sided
in
its
is
typical
a sensitivity to archi-
of Nicola, though no surviving purely
reasonably be attributed to him. There
slow upward surge. The circhng
polygon of the lower basin with
its fifty
steps lead
is
architecturally
the twenty-
framed low rehefs
to the broad, column-supported second basin, the twelve plain concave sides
are subdivided and articulated
by
bronze column and basin with
its
offset
by
figures.
ground-
a wide,
on through
of which
Then, fmally, there comes the heavy central
caryatid crown.
The
wcightincss of the main forms
the interchanging roles of architectural and sculptural elements,
is
by the
dehcate pinks and whites of the marble, and by the rich plasticity of the carving that
accentuates the spatial palpitations of the
main drums. The

50
intricate, off-beat interplay
NICOLA PISANO
of forms created by the
of the expected two
slight displacement
between the polygonal basins
reflects the original intention,!^
one relationship
to
and the avoidance of
exact correspondences encourages the onlooker to travel round the fountain.
of
which
rest at
a visual
elusive, unattainable.
of the
S.
finest
will be established
A similar caretul lack
Gothic windows, such
Francesco at
six,
symmetry
as that
of correspondence spins the wheels of many
series
composed of twelve,
and fmally, forty-four members, Hkewise ensures
of part
The point
round the corner,
for ever
above the twin doors of the upper church of
There the radiating
Assisi.
is
fourteen, forty-
a constantly shifting relationship
to part.
Although the idea of water faUing from
cupped central
shaft into a
lower basin
exploited in the late-twelfth-century fountain in the cloister at Monreale,i'
prototypes for the Perugian fountain
now
survive.
no
is
close
That inspiration was available in
Central Italy seems to be proved by the many-fountained city of Viterbo, to which the
Perugian authorities had sent for craftsmen. The angular Fontana Grande
1279, and clearly represents a separate subdivision of the type.
Its
steps
basin are cruciform in plan and sharp, spiky forms support the lower,
spouts that cluster round the base of the central column.
superimposed pair of four-lobed, clover-leaf
with
progeny
its
at
Nami and
basins.
The
is
dated
and simple main
Hon-mouthed
then swells into a
latter
Like Nicola's fountain at Perugia
Fabriano, the Fontana Grande inspired the whole series
of smaller fourteenth-century fountains that embellish the often miniscule piazze of

Viterbo.
not by visual means alone and for
It is
encouraged to pursue
new
his orbit
encyclopedia in marble, apt to
revolves.
On
purely visual purpose that the beholder
round the fountain

its
situation as
the lower basin are the months. Philosophy and the Liberal Arts, the lion
of the Guelphs, the gryphon of Perugia, a pair of

bibUcal and
is
Here for the reading is a

the hub round which the city's Hfe
at Perugia.
Roman
history and, not
least,
Roman
from Aesop's
eagles,
fables.
and scenes from
Round
the upper
basin saints and kings and prophets mingle with personifications of Lake Trasimene,
the fishery, and of Chiusi, the granary of Perugia.
The
personifications
of the
ecclesi-
both of Rome and of Perugia are accompanied by heroic figures

from Perugian history. Although the original arrangement of the figures has long since
been lost, it is typical of a new age that between EuHstes, founder of Perugia and hero
astical
and
civil aspects
of the turgid Eulistea commissioned some
fifteen years later
and the figure of Melchisedek, there proudly stand the
from Bonifacio da Verona,

of Matteo da Correggio
effigies
and Ermanno da Sassoferrato. These were respectively the Podesta and Capitano del
Popolo of the year 1278 and are the
first Italian civic
dignitaries to take their place in
such a company.
This
compendium
Majus with
political
is
reminiscent of such works as Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum
natural, doctrinal, moral,
its
element
now
and
historical subdivisions.
apparent within the traditional framework
is,
The
frankly
however, symp-
tomatic of the increase in the prestige of lay and civic organizations that accompanies
the expanding
power and commercial complexity of the towns. Although
tion recognizes
Rome
as
the inscrip-
'capud mundi', Perugia herself had recently, like a hundred

51

Other similar centres of every
size,
consolidated her
own
position as the centre of a
universe in Httle.
For Perugia the third quarter of the thirteenth century was her time of triumph.
Securely Guelph in her allegiance, closely associated with the victorious papal poHcy
and yet substantially independent, her dominion over the contado and the surrounding
smaller centres
was unchallenged. The paving of the piazza and the construction of the
aqueduct was accompanied by the determination of measures and the systematization
of property and
gold
florin,
The growing
taxes.
prosperity was wimessed
rivaUing that of Florence.
was probably
It
by
the strength of the
in 1276 that the university
down
founded, to be followed three years later by the laying
was
of the Civic Statutes and
the ensurance of further expansion through the estabhshment of a
wool
trade in the
persons of the UmiUati recently expelled from Lombardy. Then, in the nineties the
Palazzo dei Priori was enlarged.
It is
this
period of mihtary consoHdation and of
economic, poHtical, and intellectual expansion that Nicola perpetuated in
a fountain.
The present extreme weathering of the sculpture was undoubtedly foreseen from the
first. The outdoor position and constant exposure to the populace as well as to the
water probably dictated the replacement of the intensively worked high rehef of the
pulpits by figures set in relatively low rehef against a plain ground. Although this
method was used for the Byzantine cycle of the months on the baptistery at Pisa, here
reflected in the month of March, and in Romanesque cycles at Modena, Ferrara, Verona,
Parma, and elsewhere, the fmal
draperies, recalls French practice.
in conjunction
effect,
The flowing drapery
with the
fluid,
curvilinear
somewhat modified
style,
in the
broad, soft forms associated with the peasant labours of the months, but everywhere
expressive of the constant activity of the figures, reaches
the gentler though
no
less
its
maximum
absorbing occupations of the Liberal Arts.
complexity in
It is
an almost
unimaginable journey of the mind that separates these supple, rhythmically moving
from the formal world of the baptistery pulpit. Yet they he exacdy on the course
The knowledge of French prototypes that underHes the
increasingly French flavour of the rehefs is confirmed by the gay May-time cavaHer
out hunting with his lady-love, and by the accompanying double-headed symbol of
the Twins, a usage otherwise known only in French manuscripts. On the other hand
the sense of power, characteristic of Itahan sculpture in general and of the Pisani in
figures
so clearly plotted at Siena.
particular, bursts
number of
through the
the angle figures.
softer
The
forms of
latter
many of the
rehefs
betray a similar but
and
more
is
apparent in a
range of
restricted
drapery style and a corresponding divergence between those that maintain a blocklike frontaUty
and others that reveal the increasing awareness of three-quarter views
which was already apparent
The rhymed
pendent
artist.
inscription
certainly a presage
tween father and son

that
that
Giovarmi was by
The words 'boni Johannis
of eagles even implies

is
at Siena.
shows
many minor
est sculptor
now
a fully fledged
and inde-
hujus operis' beneath the pair
that these magnificent birds are his alone. Their vibrant energy
of
is
his later
more
work. Beyond
conjectural, and
is
this
point the division of labour be-
further complicated
by
the probabihty
craftsmen assisted in the rapid execution of the work. There
52
is
no
NICOLA PISANO
mck
doubt, however, that the bronze group of caryatid figures that

at the
summit of the fountain
ment of its
is
into
one another
both hterally and figuratively the crowning achieve-
sculptural decoration. These figures are a technical
accompHshment of the
column and basin, for which the normal bell-casting
like the hon and gryphon on the Palazzo dei Priori, were
liighest order, for unlike the
methods were used, they,

cast
by
this
method, favoured for
the cire-perdu process. Except for the bronze figure of St Peter in the Vatican,
its
delicacy
by
the
Romans and
Rosso,
who
who
in 1264
had signed the bronze
ball
of the cupola
process are
all
the
same man, and although
shown by
his difficulties
who
signed the basin,
at Siena,
signed the bronze architrave at Orvieto, probably in the
are possibly
was seemingly not
Etruscans,
used again until the fifteenth century. Rubeus, the craftsman
last
and the Rubeus
years of the century,
with the
intricate cire-perdu
the thickness of the metal, Rubeus's efforts were not wasted. These
solemn, graceful figures, clothed in a pure, soft-flowing version of the Antique pcplos,
are in their severe
humanity
conflicting opinions
on
a fitting
climax to Nicola Pisano's hfe-work, for despite
were probably
the matter they
substantially designed
and
modelled by the aged master himself The Perugian caryatids do, moreover, emphasize the particular aspect of Nicola's art that underHcs the
Cambio, the
work of Arnolfo
di
of his great followers.
first
The Lucca Deposition

Since no further documented or styhstically imdisputed, partially autograph sculpture
by Nicola survives, there remains, apart from the Area di S. Domcnico, which can most
profitably be discussed in connexion with Arnolfo's career, only a single important
and problematic complex to be related to the span connecting Pisa to Siena and Perugia.
This is the tympanum and architrave within the portico of S. Martino at Lucca, which
is
the sole surviving
The Hmp
circle
of the
figure
monumental composition from
of the dead Christ
lunette,
and
its
pathos
is
is
briUiantly adapted to the semi-
emphasized by the contrast with the firm scaffold-
The magnificent Romanesque
ing of flanking and supporting verticals.
wooden Deposition groups such
Nicola's immediate circle.
in the Deposition
as that at
Volterra
is
tradition
characteristically enriched
of
and
bodied out. Apart from the sudden intrusion in the figure on the extreme right of a
seemingly Lombard complex of folds that
considerations of
site,
materials,
and
scale
is
otherwise unparalleled in Nicola's work,
may
well have affected the actual manner
of the carving. Consequently the possibiUry that Nicola partly carried out a work that
clearly stems, at first or second hand, from his designs cannot wholly be excluded.
Conversely, whenever an unaccustomed heaviness in handling
this case,
by
tendency on the part of some observers to
others to place
it
among
the
in fact a derivative
that
it is
In a
town with
latest,
work,
of an
artist's
a sculptural tradition as strong as that
accompanied,
as in
the earUest, and of
is
always greatly strengthened.
of Lucca, the presence during the
thirteenth century of artists of sufficient caUbre for such

unknowTi by name, occasions no surprise.
53
is
work
surviving productions, the supposition
at least in execution,
mid
call a
a task,
though
now

If the
Lucchese Deposition
recalls
French sculptural achievements, the carving of the
fa9ade of Genoa Cathedral, dating
from various periods up to the late thirteenth century,

is almost wrholly ultramontane in character. The same is true of the architectural and
sculptural detail of the upper part of the facade of Ferrara Cathedral. Only the general
screen-form of the
German
latter, wîth its
three equal gables,
is
fundamentally ItaHan.
Though
intermediaries are possible, the iconography, disposition, and type of reUef in
the elaborate tabernacle of the Last Judgement are ultimately French in their entirety.
Nothing
is
more
revealing of Nicola Pisano's very diiferent aims and achievements
than the comparison with
this
presumably late-thirteenth-century sculpture in EmiHa.
54
CHAPTER 7
ARNOLFO
A SEEMINGLY
Straightforward account of
appears in the surviving documents.
1266 a
CAMBIO
much of the
They show
career of Arnolfo the sculptor
and
was fixed as early as September 1265, but that in
fme of 100 hre was hanging over Nicola's head if liis subordinate did not
Nicola's assistant
May
DI
on
that his salary as plain 'Arnolfo'
the Siena pulpit
immediately appear. The
latter's arrival
was, however, not too long delayed,
ments to him are recorded in 1267 and 1268. Ten years
as
pay-
by the
Perugians for the release of 'Arnolfo de Florentia' from the service of Charles of Anjou
was sent to Rome and quickly granted. Tliis was so that he might work upon a second
fountain close to the Fontana Maggiore, on which his former master was probably
already employed, and in 128 1 several payments to him were recorded. The next
landmark is his signature, in S. Domenico at Orvieto, of the tomb of Cardinal de
Braye,
who
is
stated to
monument was
that the
have died in
May
later, in
1282, although
actually constructed in that year.i
tliis
Roman
churches of
followed in 1300 by the

in
S.
on the
was responsible for the
Mura and S. Ceciha, and these are

tomb of Boniface VIII in the Vatican,
Paolo fuori
lost inscription
which he was apparently
does not of itself ensure
No such uncertamty bedevils
the inscriptions of 1285 and 1293 estabhshing that 'Amolfus'

ciboria in the
1277, a request
le
referred to as 'Amolfus Architectus'.
Beyond this point the problems hidden beneath the placid documentary surface can
no longer be ignored. The first is whether, since the documented sculptural complexes reveal a wide range of attack, the various Amolfos are indeed a single man. The
second is whether 'Arnolfo de Florentia' and 'Amolfus Architectus' can be shown to
be none other than the Arnolfo di Cambio of CoUe Val d'Elsa who probably designed
the Badia and S. Croce in Florence, and who, after a mention in April 1300 as capomaestro of the
new
cathedral, appears to have died in 1302.^
be answered when a clear picture of the

sculpture has been estabhshed.
styUstic quahties
The only
Such questions can only
and development of Amolfo's
reasonable course of action
begin the search for Arnolfo the sculptor in the
first
is
therefore to
major documented and inde-
pendent work which has substantially survived, namely the
monument
to Cardinal
de Braye.
The Tomb of Cardinal de Braye
Of the
tomb of Cardinal de Braye, only two headless censing

monument (Plate 23 b). Among those
the imprint of genius is perhaps most instantaneously visible in the two small
that hold the curtains of the bier (Plate 24, a and b). The acolyte on the left
surviving figures of the
angels are not incorporated in the reconstructed

that are,
acolytes
is
poised
round
P
upon
the brink of motion, die lower part of the curtain chnging sheath-like
his thighs, revealing the position
of the underlying fomis, while the upper border

55

in a wide, deeply cut and shadowed opening. Dramatic emphasis is placed
emergent volume of the upper part of the body, and no confusion is allowed
between the clothing that is worn and the curtain that is held. The prismatic form of
the folds and of the upper border of the curtain, the deUght in the rich detail of lace
away
falls
on
the
and
fringe, recall the Siena pulpit. Nevertheless, there
and
severity,
is
combination of richness
of easy naturahsm and of classical economy, that opens
new
chapter in
the story of Italian sculpture.
This same confident articulation and sturdy naturahsm of proportion

rapidly
moving pendant
motion
are resolved
the
movement of the
columnar
folds
figure in
which the complex
static
mark
the
volumes of potential
and simplified in action. The hquefaction of the folds accelerates

sohd, clearly defmed underlying forms. The stiff, crystaUine, and
of the cardinal's robes, the limp heaviness of
his
gloved and jewelled
maximum
of contrast in a drama that achieves its climax in the

folds of skin drawn tight by death across the bony structure of the face (Plate 25B).
The pair of acolytes that seemingly introduce a motif wholly new to sepulchral art
are often referred to as merely holding the curtains, or as opening them for the
hand, provide the
benefit of the pious and the curious. In fact they are
and
significant ritual.
much more solemn
engaged in a
glance at the swift action of the right-hand figure and at the
movement shows that, having held the curtains open, both are now in
drawing them together, closing before our eyes the fmal chapter of the
dead man's earthly hfe. Immediately, he reappears upon the left on the next level of
the monument, plump-cheeked and wide-eyed, eternally ahve and prayerfully expect-
direction of his
the very act of
it is St Mark, his name-saint, who presents

Dominic, the founder of the order to which he belonged
earthly shell remains, adds intercession from the right. Above,
ant of the glory he has earned. Presumably
him
to the Virgin, while St
and in whose church
his
half-smiling and majestic,
sits
very empress of heaven with the welcoming Christ
Child on her knee.
The
direct
dependence upon
classical sculpture in
of the Virgin, the
the figure
and ideaUzation of fold and feature ahke, when compared with

the Uvely naturahsm of the earthly realm, appear more probably to reflect the symbol-
intensified stylization
ism of the subject matter, the eternal queen of heaven, than to indicate the extensive
intervention of assistants, since the same sure sense of volume and of anatomical articulation underlies the ideal forms.
mediate
level,
of talent.
and
where
On the other hand,
solid
made
The problem
a certain heaviness
possible
by
is
more comphcated
of hand does seem to
in the figure
the monastic
also the earher use
of the inter-
watering-down
of St Dominic, the dramatic contrast of void

cowl is fully exploited. The striking head
emerges from the dark tunnel of the drapery in a
below but
in parts
reflect a
way
that echoes not only the acolyte
of the same device among the blessed
in Nicola's pulpit at
The cramped proportions of these intermediate figures have, moreover, Uttlc

attributional significance when they may merely represent a necessary adaptation to
the demands of the original architectural framework.
The lower half of the de Brayc tomb appears to be substantially unaltered, with
Siena.
traces
of the original colour
still
surviving in the figures, and
56
it
seems likely that the
'
ARNOLfO
whole was
beneath a Gothic canopy of the kind
set
pope Clement IV
which
is
still
seen in the
first
tomb of the French
1268; Plate 23A) and reflected in that of Adrian
(d.
likewise in S. Francesco at Viterbo. All three
marble and mosaic
similar coloured
type
CAMBIO
DI
inlays,
and are
tombs
(d.
1276),
are ablaze with closely
essentially a
development of the
mid century and exempHficd by that of Cardinal Fieschi in S.

Mura in Rome, with its re-used Antique sarcophagus and its dedica-
current in the
Lorenzo fuori
le
tory fresco sheltered beneath a rectangular canopy similar to a
Romanesque ciborium.
The tomb of Clement IV is shown by documents to have been begun by late 1271
and fmished by 1274.3 A lost inscription stated it to be the work of Pictro Odcrisi, who
is
who
possibly identical both with the Odericus
pavement of the
sanctuar)' in
who
now
signed the
The
ably in 1269.
in 1268 signed the inlaid
Westminster Abbey, and with the Petrus

'
marble
Romanus
civis
dismembered shrine of St Edward the Confessor, probmarble decoration of these two tombs, briUiant with porphyr)',
largely
inlaid
is known as
home on pavement,
deep speckled green, and red and black, dark blue and wliite and gold,
Cosmati work.
altar,
Its
tomb, and
smooth-running geometric
pulpit,
patterns, equally at
were handed down from
Roman workshops and
father to son in a small
group of
survived ahnost unchanged from the early twelfth to the
beginning of the fourteenth century.
Romanesque decoraby no means represents the sum of his achievement. Gazing at the recumbent
effigy of Clement IV (Plate 22 a), its boldy cut and firmly st^'Uzed draperies dominated
by the magnificent head on which the simple, mitre-Hke tiara is jammed down to the
jug-ears and almost to the jutting brows that overshadow the small, deep-set eyes,
Pietro Oderisi's combination of Gothic architectural forms and
tion
to reaUze that this
it is difficult
is
the earUest surviving ItaUan
example of such
a figure.
Recumbent effigies in high rehef are found in the twelfth century or even earHer in
Germany, and German examples may have given added impetus to the rapid development of the form in France in the first half ot the thirteenth centur)% when it takes its
place as the natural concomitant of the
sculptured portals.
On
new
urge to reahsm in the carving of the
the other hand, the lack of surviving Itahan protot)-pes does not
prove that none existed, for whatever knowledge of northern
may have
England, there
So vivid
it is
is
Pietro Oderisi
is
Httle styUstic trace
that
of it on the tomb of the French pope at Viterbo.

Clement IV that
the impression of Hfe and character in Pietro's head of
hard to beUeve that
showed
effigies
acquired if he was indeed but freshly back from a journey overland to
pronounced
it is
not a portrait
frontal ridges
were
likeness.
The exhumation of 1885 even
a feature
of the dead man's
skuU.'* It
is
sweep of
the brow, the deep-socketed form of the eyes and the aquiline nose, the deeply furrowed
upper Hp, and many of the lesser elements of linear design, are characteristic features of
the dramatically sry^Hzed heads on painted crucifixes of the period. Indeed, considering
therefore sometliing of a surprise to find that the
low forehead and
unified
the change in mediimi and purpose, as well as the difference in subject matter, the
similarity
between the head of Clement IV and
(Plate 22b),
that
upon
the Crucifix at S.
probably painted some ten years earher by, or in the
Marcovaldo,
is
quite remarkable.
57
Gimignano
circle of,
Coppo
di
though more extensive modification of a studio pattern
similar
in the direction
of portraiture appears to have taken place in Amolfo's head of Cardinal de Braye

(Plate 25B). The features are softer, fleshier, and less severely formaUzed than those of
Clement IV, but many of the seemingly most individual elements, together with
similar dry, angular folds in the draperies, recur in the
imposing seated figure of Charles
of Anjou which, on these grounds, seems to have been carved
in
Amolfo's
studio,
around 1277, when he is documented

long but slightly snub-ended nose, the
possibly, although not necessarily, in the period
The
being in Charles's service.
as
dimpled chin, the deep
cardinal's
comers of the mouth, and even, to
lines to the
a considerable
extent, despite the prince's sternly magisterial expression, the general treatment
mouth
itself,
are
of the
repeated, while the treatment of the hds and sockets of the prince's
all
on the tomb. On the other hand,

from the jutting rectangularity of the
eyes recurs in those of several of the smaller figures

the change in the general proportions of the face,
prince to the broad oval of the cardinal,
of the Angevin
may
well reflect
its
pendent upon that of Frederick
is
II's
southern kingdom, and the derivation
The
also clear.
being an
stiffer
official figure.
and
less
The pose
movement towards
nearly half a century

It is
the
To
becomes apparent
realistic portraiture that
first
impetus for
in Italian sculpture
later.
important not to read too
reaHsm.
directly de-
is
Capuan Gate in Charles's new

could hardly be more apt, for it was Frederick's
on
statue
poHtical ambition and his interest in natural history that provided the
the
human quaUty
much
into the
few
early written references to portrait
take the most clear-cut example, Villard de Honnecourt's sketch-book,
dating from about 1240, shows not only the wide range of works of art that he sketched
upon
life.
his travels
but also the severe limitations of what he meant by drawing from the
His lion 'contrefais
and to contemporary
al
vif
'
artistic
owes
more
to the visible
it
geometry of
construction
movement
already visible in
if
ideas appears to be reflected in the large-scale figures carved at
German
its
does to nature. In Italy the
anonymous, sculptured individuals on a small scale

Nicola Pisano's pulpit at Siena, and this same changing climate of
towards the creation of unique,

is
far
formulae than
contemporaries. Although these
lively individuality, there
no
is
figures that they represent.
It
German
possibility
may seem
Naumburg by
the latter's
figures of donors are startling
m their
of any portrait relationship to the long-dead
to be but a step
from vivid naturahsm of this
kind to an attempt to portray from the Hfe the unique quahtics of a particular, named
person, but
it is
one
that appears to
have been
these qualifications, the impression of individual
hundred years
in the
making. For
all
humanity created by the head of Cardi-
nal de Braye remains one of the triumphs in the histor)' of thirteenth-century Italian
sculpture. 5 Finally, although
Germany and not France was in
developments
it is
ism
is
in the
North,
connected with the
effigies
nothing
is
also
Bacon owed
Amolfo's debt to Nicola Pisano

assessed, as
this
of the similar
new
natural-
not only of a learned French cardinal and former arch-
deacon of Reims and of a French prince, but

protection and patronage Roger
the forefront
perhaps not wholly coincidental that
in the
known of Nicola's
so
with that of the French pope to whose
much.
de Braye
monument
possible activities as a
58
can never be accurately
tomb
designer.
What
is
ARNOLFO
DI
CAMBIO
that Arnolfo, in turning the static
wall-tomb into a stage for the enactment

of the drama of personal salvation, was following directly in the footsteps of the man
who had earhcr completed a similar transformation of the sculptured pulpit.
Something of this same drama may also have distinguished the tomb of Cardinal
certain
is
Amiibaldi della JVlolara, whose death in 1276 ended a career that had been intimately
of Charles of Anjou. The remains of the tomb are
tied to the fortunes
between the church and the
cloister
confirms that the severely simple

tion,
of
S.
now
divided
Giovanni in Laterano, but an early drawing
eftigy, lying
with eyes closed,
was indeed backed by the surviving processional
frieze
itself a
of clerics,
dramatic innova-
who are absorbed
in various activities connected
related to that
St
Germer
mourners
with the office for the dead. This type of rehef is closely
found upon French architraves, and, quite apart from such works as the
retable,
who
is
already well developed in the brilliantly original device of the
surround the free-standing sarcophagi of the French tombs that were
being carved from the mid century onwards.

It is
primarily through these
clerics, closely related to
the de Braye
tomb
in facial
type and in drapery cutting, that the connexion with Arnolfo can be estabhshed.*
It is
likewise against the canon estabhshed in the lower part of the de Braye
tomb
that
the authorship of the three twenty-four-inch-high Thirsting Figures in the Gallery at
Perugia must be judged. Details of carving confirm that they are from Arnolfo's workshop, and there
is
no reason
he was paid during

dramatic
desire
economy
to
doubt that they are fragments of the fountain for which
The kneeling woman in particular is a masterpiece of

25A). The bulk of the figure and its concentration on its one
1281.''
(Plate
- the plain smock taut to the point of tearing over knees and back - are reduced
to their simplest terms.
It is
female figure, in which

actually reflects a
embodiment of poverty and thirst. The second

economy is replaced by an intricacy of pose that
the stark
classical
knowledge of the Antique
river-gods,
extreme anatomical abbreviations already noted in
some uncertainty
in the treatment
of the
hips.
its
is
possibly
less
moving, and the
companion-piece give
way
Although such things may merely
to
reflect
the small scale of what
more than
were possibly minor elements in the scheme, it is imhkely that

them from the de Braye acolytes with their dazzling
The extent to which these figures can be taken to add to our
a year or so separates
anatomical assurance.
knowledge of the artistic personaUty of Arnolfo himself therefore depends quite simply
on the weight to be given to such technical considerations in the face of their undoubted power to stir the imagination.
To
reach yet farther back towards Arnolfo's origins, across a decade barren of
relevant landmarks,
workshop and
Domenico
is
to be plunged once
more
into the atmosphere
all
of Nicola Pisano's
into the problems that surround the execution of the Area di S.
in Bologna.
The Area
di S.
Domenico
At Pentecost 1265 the monks of S. Domenico asked their confreres at MontpeUier

them to complete the Area then under construction. The
for contributions to enable
59

work had probably been
set in
motion
in 1264
prior of the Bolognese brotherhood,
first
by Blessed Giovanni da
who was
elected general
Vercelli, the
of the order in
and St Dominic's body was certainly translated to its new resting place on
June 1267. Apart from a local literary tradition going back to the mid fourteenth
century and connecting Nicola Pisano and his associate Fra Gughelmo with the work,
there are reasonable stylistic grounds for seeing the Area as a product of Nicola's
that year,
5
workshop.
Of the tomb
as it
now
stands,
only the body of the sarcophagus, once supported by
caryatid figures of cardinal virtues, archangels, and deacons,
now
dispersed in various
museums, belongs to the original scheme. The rehef arrangement of the design, with
the six scenes from the life of St Dominic and the history of the order articulated by
standing figures of the Virgin and Child and of the Redeemer at the respective centres
of each long side, and by the Doctors of the Church at the four comers, is essentially
similar to that of the pulpit at Siena, wliich was probably begun less than a year later,
the two projects being carried forward simultaneously. The composition of the rehefs
on the Area is, however, very different, being for the most part based upon the repeated
verticals
of figures standing approximately two-deep in regular rows. These ranks are
gently agitated
by
the action into patterns that remain largely symmetrical even
when
by side within a single panel. The large number of relatively small figures, combined with the even surface, means, however, that the rehef
style is as distinct from that of Nicola's Pisan as it is from that of his Sienese pulpit.
Even allowing for the differing demands of the commission, it seems that Nicola must
have delegated most of the detailed work of design as well as the actual execution to his
assistants, his personal contribution, once the architectural scheme had been established,
being apparently confmed to the execution of a few characteristically superb heads.
Paradoxically, this relatively placid rehef style is in some respects closer than any
other product of Nicola's workshop to that of certain types of Antique sarcophagus.
two
scenes are depicted side
Conversely, the insistent boldness of the blood-red zigzag patterns of the almost perfectly preserved glazed pottery
backgrounds constantly
recalls
the Gothic North.^
no paradox, however, that this damping down of Nicola Pisano's fire produces a
relief style that was to become far more widely influential, because more easily assimilated by the minor artists of the following century, than his most characteristic works of
It is
genius.
Taking Nicola's named
assistants in
ascending order of importance, and leaving aside
shadowy Donato, of whom notliing consequential is recorded, it is Lapo who

remains the most insubstantial figure, since no signed or documented independent
sculpture survives to form an anchor for his work before he fades away in a small
the
sputtering of Sienese documents. These, after mentioning his presence there in 1271,
record
visor
him
of
as a citizen in
demohtion
1272, as an architect in 1281, and fmally, in 1289, as super-
project.
He
is
assumed to have been associated with
carvmgs centred on the Liberal Arts of the Siena pulpit and
on
the front of the Area, a
charming seated
group of
two
scenes
Virgin and Child in Detroit, and, finally,
the lower half of the holy water stoup at Pistoia.
60
also including the
ARNOLFO
The
of the stoup
attribution
now
Giovanni,
in S.
DI
CAMBIO
now
Giovanni Fuorcivitas
in part to Lapo, reflects
its
probable status
as a
to Nicola,
work
inspired
now
to
by Nicola
and carried out in
his workshop soon after the completion of the Siena pulpit. Its
mingling of severity and grace foreshadows the bronze caryatids at Perugia. Rising
from their hexagonal base, the triple caryatid group of Faith, Hope, and Charity
supports the busts of Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance, which open out
The whole provides a simple foretaste of the

complex, free relationship between the upper and the lower sections of the fountain at
Perugia, although, as often happens, something that seems in a later work to reflect a
like petals to disclose the octagonal basin.
purely aesthetic decision
is first
evolved hi intimate, direct connexion with an icono-
graphic programme.
The
career
of Fra Gughelmo da
Pisa, the
next of Nicola's supposed
Area, gains substance through the pulpit, likewise in

is
have borne
said to
mental conservatism
S.
signature and the date 1270 (Plate 2ia).
is
reflected in a return to the rectangular
Bartolomeo
two
The
use of figure groups to support the three
and the setting of the twelve scenes from the hves of Christ and of the Virgin
lecterns
in
in Pantano.
on the
The sculptor's fundaform of wall-pulpit

Guido da Como's work
lois
popular before the advent of Nicola Pisano and exemplified in

in near-by S.
assistants
Giovanni Fuorcivitas, which
layers also follows Guido's pattern.
The
style
depends entirely on the example of Nicola and

carving
it
vacillates
the Area di S.
between
Domenico
reflections
in others,
his
of the
rehefs,
on
of the baptistery pulpit
and in yet others
in certain scenes
hints at the
more
developed at Siena. The Late Antique and Early Christian debt
more openly than

esque in such a
ever, but
way
as to
it is
the other hand,
workshop. In composition and
is
in
and of
pictorial st)'le
acknowledged
mingled with the powerful currency of Tuscan Roman-
exclude the possibihty of understanding or exploiting the
new
coinage of French Gothic that so excited Nicola Pisano.
Of all Nicola's associates and followers apart from Giovanni, Fra Gughelmo is the
who most clearly revels in his technical dexterity. In some of the finest rehefs,
one
such
as the
enough,
is
upper half of the double scene of the
Âscension in
which, appropriately
a vertical linkage replaces the horizontal continuit}' estabhshed at Siena, there
wealth of undercutting, and similar tendencies deriving from the Romanesque
tradition are
virtuosit)^
charmingly
reflected in the flock
now chatter in the right-hand
Siena, that
of
birds,
migrated from the pulpit
of the two supporting
capitals.
at
This sculptural
was again enriched by the bold patterning of the backgrounds with heraldic
by the glazed inscriptions, red on gold;
hons, bears, and griffons, dark against the gold;
and by the
inlaid,
Byzantine fmery of ruby
reds,
deep reddish golds, and whites and
greens that decorates the lecterns.
Although the
close relations
details
with the
of design and carving in the pulpit confirm Fra Gughelmo's

of Nicola Pisano, the connexions with the Area are more
circle
general than particular, so that his hand in

It is
it is
even
less distinct
than that of Lapo.
therefore doubly fortunate that the detailed evidence for Amolfo's participation
relatively
unambiguous, quite apart from the documentation of his delayed
Siena. Although,
smce no other comparable

61
reliefs
by Amolfo
is
arrival in
survive, there are
no

strictly logical
the back
and
that they
owe
grounds for ascribing the design of the more freely rhythmic panels on
sides
of the sarcophagus to him,
their fluency.
What
is
certain
it
may
that a
is
well be that
number of
it is
to Arnolfo
figures,
and even
do appear to be connected to the

canon estabhshed in the de Braye monument. The figure of the young Napoleone
Orsini, so gracefully and so peacefully relaxed in his short sleep of death, and in facial
type so surprisingly reminiscent of the acolytes of almost twenty years later, is especially noteworthy (Plate 2ib). The most striking link of all, however, lies in the figure of
groups of figures, scattered throughout the
St
in
series
Dominic, upon whose prayer the miracle of reawakening depends. It is not merely
psychological intensity of expression or in the tense pose of the body, but in the
its
particularly vivid
and
characteristic play
of volume and of hght and shade
as the
expressive head thrusts out of the dark opening of the cowl, that this small figure shows
its
kinship with Arnolfo's independent work. Nevertheless, success in forging links of
this
kind in an attempt to trace Arnolfo's sculptural origins also underlines the even
where the influence of Nicola
greater difficulties that ensue in the Siena pulpit,
more powerful and more
The Altar Canopies
To move
ever
is
much
pervasive.
in S.
Paolo fiwri
Mura and
le
S. Cecilia in
Rome
forwards from the de Braye monument, instead of groping back into the
more
imcertain past,
of Pietro Oderisi.
'Hoc opus
fecit
It is
is
to return
from
the Pisa of Nicola Pisano to the
even possible that the
Amolfus cum suo socio
Petro'
latter
on
is
Rome
referred to in the inscription
the ciborium in S. Paolo (Plate 26a).
This ciborium, completed in 1285, formed one part of the great scheme of redecoration
on which Abbot Bartholomew was concurrently employing

results that
Pietro Cavallini with
profoundly affected the course of ItaUan painting in the
early fourteenth centuries.
But
if the
Pctrus of the inscription
Pietro Oderisi than Pietro Cavallini, the
of the sculptor,
as
witnessed by the
name remains
tomb of Clement
m the sculptural decoration of the ciborium than

that in the late thirteenth century surviving
is
IV,
that
is
late thirteenth
more
common
is
directly reflected
painter.
works should never be
be
one, and the style
no more
of the
and
likely to
It is a
reminder
attributed solely,
or even largely, on the grounds of their high quahty or historical importance. But for
the chance preservation of an effigy in Vitcrbo, no hint of the genius of Pietro Oderisi
would remain, and only the further accident that a lost inscription has been recorded
saves the surviving work from anonymity. When so much of the acliievcment and so
many of the names in a period of exuberant artistic expansion arc lost without a trace,
the question who else could have done them? never justifies the hanging of anonymous
works like daisy chains about the necks of the few great artists whose name and fame
'
happen
to
'
have been preserved.
is the supreme surviving example of

what could be accomplished through the fusion of the Roman Cosmatesquc and
Northern Gothic traditions. The profusion of spires and pinnacles, the crocketing, and
the play of pointed trefoil arch- and niche-forms, do not disguise the four-square
In architectural terms the ciborium in S. Paolo
62
ARNOLFO
symmetry of
CAMBIO
DI
of form, or the Cosmatesque
plan, the essential rectilincarity
flatness
of
no continuous flow, no blending or intcrpcnctration of part and part like

that ensured by the elastic continuity of Northern columnar forms. Instead there is a
careful separation ot parts that is emphasized by the colour of the poUshed marble
detail.
There
is
colunms and of the gUttering

white ground.
It is this
inlays
Croce -
principle to that in S.
and the gilded
this clarity
forms to harmonize with the smooth

columns.
mising
The
latter
rectilinearities
represented
creamy, grey-
within complexity - that allows the Gothic
Roman
classicism
of the main and the subsidiary
binds the canopy to the massive shapes supporting the uncompro-
of the Constantinian
basilica itself. It
is
typical
of Arnolfo,
as
well
Roman workshop, which had probably been

at least since 1277, that a heightened sense of the Roman Antique heritage
by this great fourth-century basilica should coincide with a new peak of
as a further indication
in existence
details set against the
transmutation of the Gothic elements in a manner similar in
of the structure of his
enthusiasm for the Gothic forms of which he must have gained an intimate knowledge
from the French
architects
The contmuation of
knovwi to have frequented the Angevin court.
the trend towards the amalgamation of the Gothic and the
Cosmatesque already seen in the de Braye and Annibaldi tombs seems

Arnolfo played a dominant role in the parmership
to indicate that
as far as the architecture
of the
ciborium was concerned. The careful architectural containment of the figure sculpture,
each of the four comer figures being carved in the round and set in the clear space of an
open
niche, appears to reflect the independent Arnolfo's characteristic concern for the
interplay
of void and
solid.
The
relationship
between
figures
and architecture
also dis-
from that of Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni. For both of
them the sculpture was the first concern, their figures readily overflowing or replacing
the architectural members and subordinating them to the dramatic action. For Arnolfo,
architecture could at times provide a stage for drama; but when it did, the figures were
tinguishes his attitude
constrained to act according to the rules that
Any
it
imposed.
assessment of Arnolfo's personal contribution to the carving of the figure
sculpture
extremely
is
difficult.
Closest to the de Braye canon in
the corner-figure of St Benedict,
naturahsm
is
Area
Domenico. Elsewhere the
di S.
of a fundamentally
which even
its
easy 'portrait'
carries reminiscences
of the
technical and styhstic departures in the direction
Roman classicism are such that, in the Ught of an inscription stressing
the collaborative nature of the enterprise,
it
would appear
to be unwise to indulge in
firm attributions.
The same
is
true of the signed
and dated ciborium of 1293 in
S. Cecilia in
Trastevere
seems to have been included in a major scheme of redecoration

largely carried out by Cavallini. Here Arnolfo's personal dehcacy of touch may be
revealed in the sensitive head of the aged pope with its sHghtly receding chin and
(Plate 26b),
scrawny
which
flaps
also
and folds of skin, but the draperies of
the remainder, have a type of
stifiBiess
this figure,
and the modelling of
that again suggests a massive
workshop
inter-
figure of St Martin riding forward, straight out of his niche, is, none the
less, an interesting and unusual motif. Its earUer occurrence in very similar form in
Castel del Monte seems to uinderline the extent to which the achievements of the
vention.
The
63
PART TWO: SCULPTURE I25O-13OO

who
sculptors
empire
Apart from
tions
of
S.
had furthered Frederick
remained a
still
its
diminished
which may be
size,
Romanesque
massive propor-
purely
is its
definite
tradition exemplified in the stark siniphcity
eleventh-century masterpiece at Castel
round.
a response to the less
Ceciha, the most significant feature of this second ciborium
return towards the
Roman
attempted re-creation of the
II's
vital force in the late thirteenth century.
The main
EUa.
S.
now
arches are
of the
almost
wreath-and-ribbon motif emphasizes that the inset
classical
trefoil
made round-headed, while the visual effect of its shrunken and less pointed
cusps is further diminished by their openwork design. The four simple pinnacles at the
comers have become almost stumpy, and the multiphcity of subordinate vertical elehas been
ments found
in the earUer
ciborium
now
is
the horizontal emphasis of the broad,
eschewed. There
low
is
therefore
equilateral triangles at S. Paolo. This reversion towards less strongly Gothic
proportions
may
naked
conflict
forms and
well reflect the pressure of Amolfo's workshop collaborators, since
tomb of Boniface
Grimaldi's drawing of the signed

a
to offset
little
gables that replace the relatively steep
VIII,
completed in 1300, reveals
between the Romanesque base and the Gothic top of the canopy.
On
the other hand, if Arnolfo the sculptor was indeed the designer of S. Croce and of S.
Maria del Fiore during the
nineties,
an increased severity of outlook and a renunciation
of the more extreme forms of Gothic excitement

a
what one would expect of
exactly
is
ciborium dated 1293.
Although Arnolfo seems

Boniface VIII,
There
is
it is
to
folds; the
intricacies
in
is
its
present fragmentary
heraldic in
its
when
the
tomb
The Sculpture for
great sculptural
facade of the
art,
complex
still
had
the Facade
as a
of the
Duomo m
stiff,
Florence
is
figures
provided by the
and rehcfs for the
Individually and as a group they are superb works of
Although
their
Opera
a sixteenth-century drawing in the
directly connected
name: the
group or one by one they
tion in characteristically acute form.
ments
state.
canopy and figure mosaic'
its
associated with his
Duomo in Florence.
and whether taken
shown by
The
of sumptuous brocades and the styHzed play
wholly appropriate cHmax to any discussion of Amolfo's career
last
impact.
rhythmic freedom and the overall symmetry, must have produced
magnificent effect
do with the execution of the tomb of
Uttle to
monument even
combination of severity and richness that
recumbent figure the incised

of
have had
an impressive
also raise the
problem of attribu-
former position on the facade

del
Duomo
with them are preserved, and
sr>'lc
(Plate 37B),
is
is
no docu-
therefore the only
guide.
The
surviving fragments in which the connexions with Amolfo's personal style as
estabhshed in the de Braye
tomb
are perhaps
most obvious
are the reliefs
of the Angel
of the Amiunciation and of an Adorinij Shepherd, and the free-standing figure of the
so-called S. Rcparata (Plate 27A). In
all tlirec
Arnolfo
is
recalled not only in the pro-
portions and in details of the fold-forms and the like, but in the compact naturaUsm
and
solidity
of structure and
in the easy
flow of
64
movement
that
have been directly
ARNOLFO
DI
CAMBIO
harnessed in the service of the spiritual and narrative drama.

that the almost pure classicism
become
of the head of the
a perfect vehicle for the
throughout
intensified
this figure.
even in
its
The
seems typical of Amolfo

should paradoxically
depth of Christian aspiration and emotion that vibrates
vivid, live
humanity of
these
works
is
further disciphncd,
impact, in the classically restrained Virgin and
of the Dormitkm and in the reclining Virgin of the

ally inseparable rchefs reflects
and neck and in such
Amolfo
details as the
from the
Pisano's Virgin
It
S. Rcparata
Nativity.
especially clearly in the structure
carving of the eyes.
Nativity at Pisa are reinforced
subsidiary relict of the Annuuciation
Mourning Apostle
The second of these stylistic-
to the
of the head
The recollections of Nicola

by the direct descent of the
Shepherds from the prototypes established in
Nicola's pulpits.
The
concern for the position and
artist's
within the essentially
of the various pieces
arcliitectural function
pattern of the facade
flat
vividly demonstrated in an oblique
is
view of the rechning Virgin. This reveals a selective approach to the creation of solidity
that is conditioned by the particular form of the reUef. The head is presented as a
fully modelled volume and the upper arm is reduced to almost plank-like flatness in
order to maintain the plane of the relief Indeed,
if there are
extent of Arnolfo's personal share in this figure,
it
is
any doubts about the
perhaps significant that the
pattern of the folds about the stomach and the apparent dislocation of the framed
rectangle of the upper
body closely resemble siniilar features in one of the figures from

Whenever there appears to be a deviation in detail from a
the fountain in Perugia.

strict
his
canon of Arnolfo's
the
st)de,
move seems
always to be towards the products of
owTi workshop rather than towards those of other shops deriving from Nicola
Pisano, such as that responsible for the Deposition in Lucca,

the placing but the
of these
later
The same
Roman
monumental
scale
which foreshadows not only
and emotional power,
if not the austere discipHne,
works.
is
true of the massive seated group of the Virgin and Child in
and the Romanesque have been combined to form the
of one of the great
hieratic
images of Itahan Gothic
which the
basis for the creation
art (Plate 28a). ^^
Designed for the
deep niche above the central doorway, these are figures in the round. Volume
again exploited to the
of the neck
cutting
as the
is
full.
A chasm opens where
the
arm
Hfts
dramatized by a dark sheath of space. There
which brings out the easy
articulation
of the
figures.
is
demanded by
once
a boldness in the
This
is
as typical
sinuous sweeps and jagged crystaUizations of the folds. For
styHzation and rigid simplification
is
up the massive column
all
under-
of Amolfo
the increased
their function within the archi-
tectural framework of a vast facade, the sense of drapery as clothing, as something

which can be removed - a separate material entity obeying the laws of its own nature,
yet conditioned by the forms which, for the moment, it encloses and enhances and
reveals - is just as striking as it was in the tomb of Cardinal de Braye (Plates 23B and 24).
The
relatively firm enclosure
of the sculpture by the architectural framework
is
in
accordance with Amolfo's conceptions, but the general relationship between the two
arts as seen in this faq:ade
is
the individual pieces take
new
on
for Italy, and
their full
it is
only within
this
wider context that
meaning. The lunette above the central door

65

was occupied by the Virgin and Child, possibly with
four prophets
filled
hand door there were the
by
figures
from
the Nativity, with the Annunciation
flanking
it
on
the Annunciation, and the
to the
is
as
much
as
programme
mariological
tympanum was
tympanum was
reserved for the Death
in the actual design
of the
lateral
tympana,
represents an unusually close approach to the unifying
schemes in several of the great Gothic cathedrals of France. In

pictorial tendencies, in the refusal to use figures as substitutes for
forms, the sculptural pattern
filled
can be reconstructed of the sculptural decoration of the
lower part of the facade."

In its range and its coherence, and indeed
this
and St Zenobius, and
Shepherds and the Adoration of the Shepherds
either side. Finally, the right-hand
of the Virgin. This
St Reparata
the niches above and to either side. In the niches above the left-
is,
however, wholly ItaHan. In
predominantly
its
major architectural
particular, the placing
of
which had been estabhshed by the

Romanesque sculptors of North Italy, but which was not at all uncommon farther
south.i^ On the other hand, except in terms of iconographic unity, the contrast with
rehefs beside the portals follows the tradition
Giovanni Pisano's scheme for the fa9ade of Siena Cathedral could hardly be more
extreme.
Although
it is
always
difficult to
make
direct styhstic comparisons
between sculpture
can hardly pass unnoticed that nearly aU the characteristics of the
and architecture,
it
work of Amolfo
the sctdptor throughout his career, but especially in
the combination of classical restraint and Gothic emotion
its latest
the intimate
phase -
knowledge of
Antique forms combined with an increasingly disciplined use of French motifs; the
of structure and the tendency to faceted forms and clear linear patterns
clarity
sensitivity to
control
by
of Amolfo the
all
members within a unified and often dramatic iconomight well be taken from the earher description of the work
The conclusion that emerges step by step from these analyses
these
architect.
that the sculptor
To
the
the architectural
graphic scheme -
is
massing and to movement; the tendency to subject sculpture to careful
and the architect are indeed one man.
trace the architectural
development between the tomb of Cardinal de Brayc
and the ciborium in
S. Crocc
framework
and sure sense of space in S. Croce (Plate 3) with the crisp, octagonal clarity of its
columns, is to sense the contrast and the homogeneity epitomized in the acolytes upon
the tomb of the French cardinal. To move on from the planar discipHne of the faijade
of the Badia (Plate iga) to the essential flamess and severity of incrustation that must
have characterized the original facade of S. Maria del Fiore is to prepare the mind
for the severe complexity of form and riclmess of emotional content that fmd expression
in the sculpture for the Duomo. If such imaginings seem over-fanciful, there is the comforting if prosaic fact that the search for some hint of the sculptor's personal style
reveals that the ciborium of 1285, coincident in date with the foundation of the Badia
in Florence; the ciborium of 1293, which coincides with the plaiming of S. Crocc;
and the tomb of Boniface VIII, erected wliile the Florentine Duomo was rising from the
groimd, all seem to be products of a highly organized Roman workshop and disclose
(Plate 23B)
and
S.
Maria del
Fiore.
To
S.
Ceciha (Plate 26b)
is
to
be prepared for
take in the swift-running hne, the rectilinear
66
ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO
a
minimum of
dates
With
as it
is
personal intervention
therefore
is
the
more
two complementary
seen through
its
by Arnolfo
in their execution.
aspects
of Arnolfo's genius fmally united,
few, rich remains,
years expanded the horizons scanned
is
of
that
a great sculptor
its
died
upon
conflict
of
its
purity.
It is
his career,
for
twenty
to create in
the story of a
the threshold of achieving, in his plans for S. Maria del Fiore and
sculpturally unified facade, a final synthesis for
retrospect, to
who
by Nicola Pisano, and then proceeded
Florence an Itahan Gothic architecture quintessential in
man who
The
illusory than real.
which
have been a continuous preparation.
67
his
whole
life
seems, if only in
CHAPTER
GIOVANNI PISANO
It
is
in Italy in the late thirteenth century that, for the
artist as a
of the medieval craftsman

production of
new
time since Antiquity, the
is
slowly
left
behind.
It is
partly a real change, reflected in the
new demands;
kinds of art; in the satisfaction and creation of
the beginnings of a rise in the social status of the
new
first
personaUty begins to re-emerge. For better or worse, the Christian anonymity
attitudes to art
and to each other by
of the transformation
artist
however, partly an
is,
artist;
and patron
alike.
illusion, so that
The apparent
The
distortion
of the actual
must
trickle
artist
also
be
with every
historical process occurs because
passing decade of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries proportionately
by each
rapidity
although the significance of
these developments can hardly be over-estimated, their gradual nature
underlined.
in
and in the gradual evolution of
more works
tend to have been preserved, and what was once a barely perceptible
of documents and informative inscriptions speedily becomes
hvely and varied,
if erratic, stream.
Although
and apparent changes begin to take on
these real
their full
meaning
in
the career of Giovanni Pisano, Nicola's son and pupU, the limitations of the docu-
mentary
rivulet
remain only too obvious, despite
its
rapid growth.
the only logical styhstic anchor for Giovanni's sculpture

late
work: namely the
this case are,

as
Pistoia pulpit, signed
much
however,
is
As with Amolfo,
provided by a relatively
and dated 1301. The
results attainable in
therefore seems to be reasonable,
less controversial. It
well as convenient, to follow his career in approximately chronological order.
Giovanni's signatures on his pulpits at Pistoia and at Pisa

Pisan,
and the
first
at Siena in 1265.
his
documentary reference
The
to
him
is
permissive wording and the
behalf imply that he was
still
show
payment of his
in his teens. In such a situation
whether such few resemblances to
liis
that
he was
bom
in Nicola's contract for the pulpit

salary to Nicola
it is
on
impossible to say
independent productions of twenty or even
do occur upon the pulpit are evidence of his personal contribution,

recorded in numerous payments of 1267 and 1268, or whether they merely represent
those aspects of his father's work that fired his own imagination while he was engaged
thirty years later as
in mastering every detail
Ten
of his
trade.
years of documentar)' silence follow before the mention in the
of 1278 on Nicola's fountain

ture beneath the eagles
Romana on
at
Perugia
is
main
inscription
accompanied by Giovanni's personal signa-
on the lower basin. A fairly close relationship to the Ecclesia

means that the unsigned, undocumented half-length group of
the fountain
the Virgin and Child,
now
in the
Camposanto
probably belongs to
at Pisa,
the immediately succeeding period (Plate 28b).
The
soft
round the neck, foreshadowed
in the figure
mind such French works of the
later sixties as the figure
68
this
or to
draping of the head-dress
of Humility on the Siena

of Constance
pulpit, calls to
d' Aries
upon her
GIOVANNI PISANO
tomb in St Denis, particularly as the Virgin's crown is also based upon French types.
The half-length figure is, however, common in ItaUan painting from the mid century
onwards, and something close to a three-quarter length had ahcady been exploited by
Nicola and his shop in the figures for the piimacled arcading of the baptistery at Pisa.
The originahty of
unites the child to
the
its
new group
therefore hes in the tender, smiling intimacy that
The
half-serious mother.
a rich spatial play for such a simple group,
in
three-quarter poses of the heads allow of
and that of the Virgin
clear-cut planes and boldly modelled masses.
its
of her hand
is
structure
by
the round
volumes
taken almost to extremes, and everywhere the underlying forms are firm
and clear beneath the Uvely pattern of the drapery. There
The rocking rhythm of
throughout.
particularly striking
is
The emphasis on
the folds
simple-seeming subtlety
is
combines with the firm, rectangular
of support and with the formal reinforcement of the psychological intimacy
the sweeping, natural curve of the head-dress, linking with the infant's arms and
cunningly continued in
induced by the
its
modem
cloak. Particularly
base
is
overcome,
precedes the fountain at Perugia, as
is
when
it is
the spurious impression of Harness
anything but certain that
this
work
normally assumed.
The Facade of Siena Cathedral
document of 1284 confirms
between
his sojourn in
September 1285.
the
that
Giovanni was working in the Pisan marble yard
Perugia and his transference to Siena
By then he had already been granted
immunity from taxation which was often
for his
the relinquishing of his Pisan status, Giovanni
some major
(Plate 29),
task.
that
less
as
at the latest, it
new
not until July 1290 that he
is
'caput magistrorum' - the
man
did so. Indeed, so
as a
much
architectural elements
growth
whole, though
is
in charge.
fact refer to the nature
to particular pieces of sculpture.
designed the facade
cathedral's
artist's
this
Nor
is
it
is
facade for the cathedral
It
of
Duomo by
referred to in
must
his
there any
also
work
any of the
be remembered
for the cathedral,
mention of
his
having
does not exclude the probabiHty that he
this a 'sculptural' facade, so
combined, that
payment
obhgation involving
must already have been engaged upon
This was presumably the project for a
none of the documents in
much
a residential
but although he was certainly connected with the Opera del
August 1287
documents
it
some time before
well-known
part of a
work. Since Sienese citizenship carried with
at
Sienese citizenship, together with
intimately are the figural and
seems better to discuss
this
phase of the
in a sculptural rather than a purely architectural context.
Excavation has shown that the line of the original, plain facade of the building as
completed by 1264, and even the width of the original doorways, are imaltered,i
and the work on the new front seems to have been carried forward in two main stages.
The first, probably in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, took the facade
to the level of the top of the arcades above the lateral doors.
1 3 70s,
was
chiefly concerned
feature, including the great
As
it
The
second, in the late
with the insertion of the whole of the existing central
window.
stands today the fa<;ade
is
magnificent in
69
its
cream-whites, pinks and greens,
PART TWO: SCULPTURE 125O-I3OO

yellows and reddish browns, and in the richness of the sculptural decoration that
provides so fine a contrast to the simple, banded marble surfaces that clothe the
of the building and extend into the lower flanking zones of the facade
body
itself It is also
something of an architectural puzzle. In the lowest zone the highly sculptured portals
have been drawn together to form
a mighty central group. Attention is drawTi inwards

from the simple wings, which subsequently, at the level of the architrave, appear to
open out and to inflate with sculpture. What were initially simple walls with buttressed
comers now develop into features that inevitably strike the eye as unified but asymmetrical flanking turrets in which all the weight is shifted to the outer edge. The dark
void of the open window-niches is flanked upon the outer side by a richly articulated
mass of masonry almost exactly twice as wide, and therefore twice as heavy, as its
inner coimterpart. This centrifugal tendency in the upper levels, despite the powerful
by the fact that the verticals framing

main cornice, faulting outwards to
continue in the piers that flank the central window. These upper piers, indeed, are
insecurely set upon an architectural interspace and not upon a vertical support or even
on the firm crown of an arch. Finally, a similar outwards shift is visible when the upper
pull
of the great centrepiece,
is
aided and abetted
the central door are interrupted at the line of the
flanking pediments are related to the lower lateral gables. Planned vertical discontinuities
are architecturally speaking rare,
though not unknown. Where they occur
architecture, as at Laon, they are
normally concealed, and in
displacement
is
in
context such as
Gothic
this the
unique.
The probable
explanation Ues in the original early-thirteenth-century decision to
create a close-knit central
group of three almost equal doors. This gave external
expression to the approximate equaHty of nave and
aisles in
what was almost
a hall
church, but the flanking portals were consequently offset towards the nave and broke
the generally accepted rule that lateral doors should be ahgned with the centres of their
respective
The
aisles.
was bodied out

also shifted
relative
diminution of the central portal meant that
in the late-thirteenth-centur)' facade the piers
towards the centre and no longer represented
walls. In Italy there
is
when
the idea
between the doors were
a conti:iuation
of the nave
often httle structural connexion between the facade and the
body
of a church, and even this attack on one of the few remaining links between the two
would have led to no particular difficulties, since the roof of the mid-thirteenth-century
nave would not have reached above the existing arcades over the lateral doors - arcades
which seem on
structural
grounds to be
remnant of the late-thirteenth-century
campaign. The portal zone of the facade reached almost to the
full
height of the church
The upper part of the front would therefore have appeared as a free-standing
screen-wall in the manner common in the Romanesque and Early Gothic churches of
Lombardy and Emilia and also characteristic, in a locally varied form, of those of
Pisa and Lucca. Since the whole main body of the church was already masked, the
behind
upper
it.
piers, like those
below, could have been wholly free of structural coimexion with
the building behind and
location of the verticals
most unhkcly
below them. There would have been no need for any disbetween the upper and the lower zones. It is consequently
that the original design in
any way resembled the existing structure, since

70
GIOVANNI PISANO
the narrowness of the central
feature. It
is this,
bay would have
above the roof of the nave, which
was
a variant
entailed an impossibly
together with the unlikeUhood of opening
puny central
on to the void
also excludes the possibiUty that the original design
of the Pisan-Lucchesc scheme, with
triangular buttresses in the
a central rose
manner
a central
mass supported by flanking
reflected in such late-thirteenth-
and early-four-
teenth-century frescoes as that of the Moumiiii^ of the Clares at Assisi and later adapted
to the needs
It
is
of the baptistery facade of Siena Cathedral
itself ^
scheme the existing intermediate arcading was
possible that in the original
carried right across the front, and highly probable that this
crowned
either
by
was fmally
a single great gable, as in the catlicdrals at
and elsewhere in Northern
to
have been
Crema and Cremona
on a small scale, after the turn of

by a sUghtly stepped gable. The latter
occurs both in North Italy and in Apuha, and, more significantly still, is a feature of
that same Ste Marie la Grande at Poitiers which may have so strongly influenced the
internal structure.' Some such unified form would explain the now disproportionately
Italy (a pattern reflected
the century, in S. Caterina in Pisa), or else
massive scale of the lateral turrets.
However important
for the subsequent history
matters are, of course, highly conjectural.
What
is
of Central
certain
is
Italian architecture,
that
when
such
the upper facade
was eventually completed in a period of great economic difficulty, following both the
collapse of the Sienese banking houses and the universal disaster of the Black Death,
the nave had already been heightened.
It
therefore projected well above the level of the
present arcades. In such a situation the existing solution, substantially following a

pattern possibly
at
first
planned for the
Duomo
at Florence
Orvieto, was the simplest and most economical
masking the obtruding nave, and of Hghting the
were incidental inconveniences,

ism'
as
as
and subsequently carried out
way of completing
interior.
the fa<;ade, of
That the ensuing dislocations
unconnected with late-fourteenth-century Manner'
they are with a non-existent late-thirteenth-century Mannerism,
complete avoidance of structural
illogic
is
shown by
the
of this kind in the various closely related facades
were planned or actually constructed during the later period.

fact that the existing facade does not as a whole reflect the original project does
that
The
nothing to confirm that any part of it dates back to the
late thirteenth century. Still less
prove that Giovanni Pisano was the author of the subsequently altered design,
and reasonably confident answers to such questions can only be given in the light of an
analysis of the sculptural decoration. The programme seems to have revolved about
does
it
the Incarnation, with particular emphasis
named and who was

governor of the
upon
the Virgm, after
celebrated in Siena not only as the
city. It
is,
whom
the church
mother of God but
is
also as the
however, only in the portal zone that the surviving remains
name has been connected.

of two horses
which no precise symboUc meaning
allow the reconstruction of the scheme with which Giovanni's
Immediately above the level of the
lintels there are six half-figures
and two hons, a gryphon and
a buU, a grouping to
be attached. Directly above them, in shallow niches that continue round
the sides of the turrets, there were fourteen prophets and vdse men and women of
Antiquity, each with a scroll referring to some aspect of the Incarnation. Fortunately,
can
at present
71

despite the displacement
of many of the
figures, incised inscriptions
on the facade
record their original disposition. In the three niches on the side of the
turret are Haggai, a
weakly constructed workshop production, seemingly
tion with Isaiah (Ecce Virgo concipiet et pariet fihum) and
Jacob).
Museum. Then, looking
On
and Solomon.
versation,
such
as
ex
Deus
et
Homo), which
is
each other across the central door are David
were once the
the right
figures
were Simeon, speaking
that, in
of Moses and Joshua deep in conto
Mary,
Finally,
sister
on the
flank
of Moses (otherwise
Amolfo's Florentine facade, the distribution of the figure sculpture
is
accordance with the normal ItaUan practice and in contrast to the charac-
French one, the jambs and voussoirs of the portals are
striking than the distribution
of
Stella
Miriam), and to Aristotle.
later in
teristic
at
and Habakkuk looking out towards the open square.
right, or south, turret
known
As
in conversa-
On the left of the front are Plato, looking straight ahead; a lost figure of Daniel;
in the
of the
itself
or north,
Balaam (Orietur
and, formerly, a Sibyl, probably the Erythrean (Et vocabitur
now
left,
of the
their function. In a typical
figures tend either to replace
of the doorways, or
figures, therefore,
French Gothic cathedral such
main
rigidly within the architectural
as
architectural features Like the
be ranged across the facade
else to
left
confmes of
its
niche and
whoUy
new
the radically
is
like
all
free.
More
conception
Amiens, the principal
columns in the jambs
guardsmen, every figure
of them acting
as enriched,
but fundamentally architectural, features. At Siena, on the contrary, architecture has
become
a stage, a natural habitat in
which
cliff-dwelling figures
walk and
gesture,
argue and discuss, crying their prophecies out across the architectural spaces. In French
and German doorways two adjacent figures are often to be seen in quiet conversation,
but such a general breaking of the barriers of architectural separation
The
everywhere exploited to the

imaginative stroke of
of the flanking
lancet,
all
turrets.
full in
figures
of
their message.
is
is
terms of figure movement, but the most startling
hes in the setting of the figures on the north and south sides
Here,
two
vestigial niches flank
Isaiah
an imglazed, trefoil-headed
and of Miriam have come striding out into the surJight
Miriam, in
particular,
turned, vibrant with energy (Plate 30A).
one,
unprecedented.
not indeed a window, but a door into the dark interior of the tower from
which the
with
is
shrinkage of the niches at Siena into shallow, decorative background forms
at
Laon, where the herd of
is
still
in
motion, open-mouthed, head
The only parallel, and
cattle that
that a distant if delightful
seems to have wandered up into the
twin towers flanking the facade, to peer out in bewilderment across the town, evidently
caught the fancy of Villard dc Homiecourt
as
he passed through on
his travels,
towards
the middle of the tliirteenth century.
The subordination of architecture to sculpture at Siena is visible not merely in the

moving freely on their ledges, but in the depth and richness of the decorative
carving. The apphcation of revolutionary principles, previously seen in tomb and
figures
pulpit, to the structure
and decoration of a great
fa(;-ade is
wholly consonant with
the attribution of the scheme to a son of Nicola Pisano, and Giovanni's authorship of
the figures
is
confirmed by an examination of the
The broadly
based, block-like
form with
72
its
detail.
closed silhouette, and the relatively
GIOVANNI I'ISANO
calm and
The
Perugia.
quality of the Erythrcan Sibyl, recall the figures
static
fold forms have naturally
servatism of the figure appears to
The
of the head
this early
tion, the
in each
that
which
was one of the
it
The
on the fountain
at
massive, but the general confirst
of the Sicnesc works.
the tension in the gestures and the setting

is
introduced, seem to complete
other pole of the development appears to be reflected in the
of drapery and body, the freedom from the block, the clear
complexity of movement, and the
of these
late
show
in
and the open, speaking mouth
increases
group.
clear relationship
The
Habakkuk,
Plato and the
become more
respects,
is
closely
group, centred on
comparable to the seated Sibyls
this figure,
articula-
of the Miriam, which,
spiritual intensity
at Pistoia (Plate 31B).
almost certainly includes the Solomon, the
Simeon, and the Moses. Certaiii distortions
at Siena,
curving neck which thrusts the head of the Miriam
such
as the giraffe-like,
forward-
prominence, or the
i:ito special
unusually low-set knees of the David or the Solomon, seem to betray a desire to offset
the effects of steep foreshortenmg in figures to be placed high over the spectator's
head. These devices, which are positively startling in the figures

eye-level in the
Museum, have nothing
now
seen almost
do with lowered standards of
to
from
ability.
Giovaimi's growing concern with the effects of scale and height and distance, and with
the need to
richness
of
upon broad
but also by
detail
make
the figures
tell
their surroundings,
gestures, swecpijig
is
dominate the sculptural and colouristic
against and
demonstrated not only by the increasing emphasis
movements, and powerfully characterized
expressions,
the ever greater depth of cutting in the draperies and indeed
of the
figures.
The
by every
fmaUy
breadth, the boldness, and the sensitivity that he
achieved shine through the centuries of weathering which, but for a sense of structure
rivalled
tello
only by that of Nicola or of Amolfo and already comparable to that of Dona-
or of Michelangelo in a later age,
heads
as those
Even from
of the
these
would by now have drained

Habakkuk.
few
indications
ments, Giovanni's hand
is
to
it
seems clear
of the facade
may
that, despite the
be seen in the design of
majority, of the figures that have been discussed.

Httle
the
life
out of such
Isaiah (Plate 30B) or the
actually
It
all,
and
seems no
sQence of the docu-
in the execution
less
certain that
of the
however
have been erected by the time of his departure in 1297,
the architectural design of the lower half

sculpture that plays so unusual a role
upon
is
it,
inseparable
from the planning of the
and therefore does indeed go back to the
late thirteenth century.
The scheme of
three almost equal arches, with the central one round-headed and
from Burgundy
by the Cistercians.'* It is used in the late twelfth century in S. Clemente at Casauria,
where it is also set within a flat, rectangular framework, and is later seen at Casamari
and Privemo, also on one of the borders of Frederick's southern kingdom. The deeply
carved central pair of columns with their inhabited acanthus scrolls seem, on the other
hand, to reflect the similar features on the main door of the baptistery at Pisa. The architectural derivations therefore seem to be no reason for revising the attribution of the
whole original scheme of the facade to Giovamii Pisano. Finally, for all the stress upon
its sculptural quahty, the architectural drama of the triple portals, towering above those
the outer pair just fractionally pointed, follows a pattern imported
73

entering the church and reaching ahnost to the roof of the building, gives
of the things that might have been,
in purely architectural terms,
some inkhng
had the facade been
finished to his plan.
For once the documents give some hint of the personal drama underlying the bare
physical evidence of uncompleted work. Already
by
the end of 1288, less than four
years after his arrival in Siena, Giovanni seems to have been deep in one of those fierce
which were
professional rivalries
upon
between
state
and
state, city
as
were
a larger, bloodier stage,
and
endemic in the medieval workshops of
town and country, Guelph and
city,
Italy as,
of every kind. In these the warfare
civil strifes
Ghibelline,
was
threaded through with endless personal and family feuds and with the sharpening
struggle
that
now
between manufacturer and labourer which was
Ramo
of the noble and the merchant.
beginning to replace
new
di Paganello, the
rival,
was himself
apparently something of a stormy petrel. Banished for adultery, he had returned 'de
November
partibus ultramontanis' in
1281, and the
hypcrboUc description of him
'de bonis intalliatoribus et sculptoribus et subtihoribus de
may
mundo, qui
as
inveniri possit'
partly be ascribed to the need for a convincing reason for his reinstatement.
However that may be, not only Ramo himself but his brothers and his nephews were,
in November 1288, to be assigned some 'good, beautiful, and noble work' on the
cathedral, provided
- and here, perhaps, the echoes of old struggles can be heard - that
he did not interfere with Giovamii's

Unfortunately, nothing further
shop
at Orvieto,
13 10,
is
work and
that
he carried out the
latter's
wishes.
heard of him until he reappears in 1293 in the work-
where, with the appointment of Lorenzo Maitani
he once more found himself in
difficulties, this
as
capomaestro in
time seemingly not of his
making. Since no signed or documented work survives,
it is
no more than
own
a pleasant
him the four busts in high rehef upon the inside of the lateral
doorways of the facade at Siena, although the medaUic purity of profde in the female
head undoubtedly entitles it to rank among the masterpieces of the period.'
The hints of Giovaimi's professional difficulties are followed by direct involvement
fancy to attribute to
with the law, for in July 1290 the General Council of Siena saw
fit to absolve him, on

by the Podesta. It is here that Giovanni is
referred to for the first time as capomaestro and a man most useful and necessary to the
Opera del Duomo. As is often the case where medieval, and not only medieval,
municipal finances are concerned, the situation had its comic side. When, a formight
later, the Opera was obliged to complain that without funds the work could neither be
payment of a fme, from
a sentence passed
continued nor praiseworthily completed, the General Council's only reaction was to
assign
paid!
them
a total
But even
of 800
lire
if Giovanni
- exactly the amount of the
was
at times
engaged
in
paying
fine that
Giovaimi had just
own
wages, he was also
his
buy a house hard by the Duomo. In August 1295, after a short visit
on business, he was elected, along with Duccio the painter and a number of
minor men, to a commission to decide on the location of the Fonte d'Ovilc in Siena,
and in December he was out at near-by Bagni di Pctriolo supervising the reconstruction
able, in 1294, to
to Pisa
of the fountain
Varied
as
there,
were the
and being paid for exactly fourteen and two-thirds days' work.
tasks that a
capomaestro was expected to perform, the troubles

74
GIOVANNI PISANO
soon to burst about the Opera had more serious and deep-seated causes. Something of
their nature can be gathered from the fact that between May 1296 and May 1297 it
work on the Duomo from 'a good

Nine Governors and Defenders of the Comune and the
Consuls of the Guilds should elect a good, and legal, clerk of works who could read
and write, since the present, unnamed occupant of the post could not, a situation
which was causing considerable difiiculry and damage. Worse was yet to come;
was solemnly decided

beginning to
for in
May
that, in
order to bring the
a better end', the
1297 the General Council carried out a
full
discovered that there had been no small confusion and

quantities
loss
of the Opera and
of time and money. Large
of ready-worked stone were broken and unusable, and
lying about so long that they too were useless, as
left
investigation
intact stones
had been
no one could remember what
they were for! Indeed, the situation was so chaotic that unless the 'capomaestri or
capomaestro and
his associates'
had collected
all
the material together inside the
and carried the work forward more speedily and
would
all
be open to coercive measures, not merely
of the Opera
itself,
how
whether he resigned with

his escape
dignit)' or fled
by December
how much
Giovanni
he succeeded in extricating himself from the
increasingly dangerous slough into wliich the
made good
hands of the authorities
at the
but at those of the Council of Nine. Exactly
was personally held to blame, or
Duomo
within a month, they
efficiently
Opera had sunk,
is
not
made
with ignominy, or was simply
when he
1297,
clear.
fired,
But
he had
entered into an agreement with the
managed
immunity from
cathedral authorities at Pisa.* Subsequent documents show, however, that he

to retain not only his Sienesc propert)'
and citizenship but
taxation. Indeed, as
was very probably the reluctance of the civic

was the root cause of the scandalous
is
so often the case,
it
also his
authorities themselves to vote sufficient funds that

state
of affairs which they then investigated with such indignation.
The Pulpit
It is
Andrea
in S.
at Pistoia
only in the pulpit at Pistoia that the bite of Giovanni's
imblurred by wind and weather and
his
cliisel
can at
comparable to those of Nicola and Amolfo
(Plate 32). It
is
no
himself foresaw the inevitabiUt)' of such comparisons. But
surprise that
it
is
own views on
the matter
be sensed
were recorded
Giovanni
perhaps a further
indication of his character, and of the changing times, that he also took
see that his
last
measure taken in a major work directly
good
for posterity in suitably
care to
permanent
on the pulpit, after giving 1301 as the year of its comnames of the donor and of the fmancial supervisors of the
work, firmly declares that 'Giovanni carved it, who performed no empty work.
The son of Nicola, and blessed with higher skill, Pisa gave him birth, endowed with
form.
The carved
inscription
pletion and recording the
mastery greater than any seen before.' So
much
for
any undue
fdial piety.
the pulpit took four years to
by Vasari in the mid sixteenth centurs' is correct and

carve, it must have been started immediately after Giovanm
The debt
to Nicola's first pulpit in the baptistery at Pisa (Plate 16)
If the tradition recorded
returned to Pisa.
is
as clear as that to its successor in
Siena (Plate 18),

75
still
so fresh in Giovanni's mind.

The hexagonal form and
clarity
of moulding of the baptistery pulpit are combined
with the Sienese use of angle figures

richness
in such a
way
that the sculptural and iconographic
of Siena, accompanied by a more violent scooping out of the
narrative panels,
principles
is
of the Pisan work. Whereas
at Siena the contrast in scale
and the intervening framing figures was minimized, since

the total height, at Pistoia only
in
main
which the framing
the angles of the polygon and
two of the
between the rehefs
of the eight angles were
five
occupied by groups of figures, the largest of them sometimes
The way
relief in the
given structural backbone through re-evocation of the architectonic
less
than two-thirds of
six angles contain less than full-size figures.
figures at Pistoia stand out almost in the round, stressing
completmg
the strong vertical thrust that runs
up from
the supporting columns through the angle figures of the intermediate zone, accentuates
the resulting contrast in scale.
trasted clarity
The impression of
of the horizontal mouldings,
is
verticahty, despite the boldly con-
confirmed by the sHmness of the columns
that support a casket greatly lightened in appearance by the depth of undercutting and
by the introduction of sharply pointed trefoil arches to replace the earher rounded type.
The general delicacy and lighmess of form reflects the Gothic tendencies of the day.
It
also
harmonizes with the small
lively contrast to the
The only
Romanesque
scale
of the church
at the
same time
as it
substantial iconographic innovation hes in the
accompaniment of the
twelve prophets in the spandrels by three seated and three standing Sibyls.
latter figures
makes
simplicity and severity of its architecture.
which, despite the change in function and in
scale,
and develop the achievements of the Siena facade. Each has

to the prophetic message whispered
by
its
most
its
It is
these
clearly carry
on
individual reaction
hovering, attendant angel (Plate 31B). Intense
mix with human emotions ranging from a quiet humihty

and joy to a deep perturbation. They are expressed not merely in the subtlest sensitivities of modelling in the faces but in a wealth of movement which, as at Siena,
gives corporeal substance to each shade of inner meaning. Now the earlier monumental
spiritual
communings seem
gestures flower in complex,
rhythmic
brilliance
to
momentary, twisting motions. Moreover,
the soft-flowing,
and variety of the draperies nowhere hide the sense of underlying
anatomic structure upon which the whole of
this
new
physical and spiritual world
is
founded.
His experience on the facade seems also to have freed Giovaimi for a giant stride in
the emancipation of the angle figures
Whereas
from the tyranny of
the lower angle figures in Nicola's Sienese pulpit
frontahty of the square-headed capitals on which they
sit
the single viewpoint.

still
confirm the basic
(Plate 18), those at Pistoia fully
exploit the implications of the oblique recessions of the hexagons
below (Plates 32 and

composed main viewpoint which, by its very nature,
demands that the observer explore the equally rich and studied lateral views that open
out obliquely upon cither side. Seen for itself, each figure is the centre of a richly interacting, closed or open group that takes in the two prophets in the flanking spandrels.
But if the observer, standing before the centre of an arch, turns to the right or left
from his inspection of a narrative relief, he may well wonder if the lateral views of
what are now the framing figures arc not more beautiful and more important after
3Ib).
Each figure has
a carefully
76
GIOVANNI PISANO
all.
Indeed, throughout the pulpit purely compositional means combine with glance
and gesture to fuse the separate parts into
whole.
Despite the iconographic innovation of the Sibyls, the narrative rehefs confirm that
Giovanni's originahty
lies in the treatment of his subjects rather than in their selection.

As might be expected from the figures on the Siena facâdc, his every effort is devoted
to increasing the humanity and heightening the emotional content of the scenes. In
the opening relief (Plate 31A), which shows the four scenes of the Aiwunciation, the
Nativity, the Annunciation to the Shepherds,
and the Washing of the Christ Child, and is

therefore strictly comparable to the similar reliefs at Pisa and Siena, the Virgin reaches
out with fond anxiety to her child. The maid,
who
concentrates
all
her attention
upon testing the temperature of the water, holds a kicking, apprehensive, weeks-old
baby cradled in one hand, and not a stoUd infant Hercules, symboHc of the godhead.
The humble, tender joys of hiuiian motherhood, invested with eternal meaning, have
been taken as the dramatic essence of the scene of the Nativity - of God made man.
The attempt to make the gospel story live before one's eyes; to see it as it might have
been to flesh it out with tcUing, homely detail and to tug at the heart-strings through
;
the tenderness and suffering that
it
reveals; this has
literary parallel in the exactly
its
contemporary Mcditationes Vitae Christi of the Pseudo-Bonaventure. This manuscript
growing power of the drive to popularize and humanize

by the ever-increasing army of the mendicants.
Reduced to its dramatic fundamentals, the preceding story of the Annunciation, as
told by St Luke, is that of the arrival of an angel down from heaven, bringing joyous,
overwhelming news to a young girl whose first reaction is of wondering fear. Where
is
likewise a reflection of the
religious truths, spearheaded
Nicola's interpretation
tread,
is
in terms of an imperial messenger, striding in with measured
whose proclamation
an empress-designate
to
is
greeted
by
of
a ritual gesture
down in openand the momentum of
inquiry and of grave surprise (Plate 17A), Giovanni's angel rushes
mouthed excitement. His wings are still aflutter overhead,

arrival carries on into the startled recoil of the Virgin. Whereas
anatomical description of
The forward
thrust
in relation to his shoulders
of Mary's wrist
limits
muscular, athletic build
movement
the impression of excited

distortion.
his
and to the upright
as she thrusts
of the anatomically
in Giovanni's youthful
of Gabriel's head on
his
setting
messenger
long neck
of
possible, if not
is
his trunk.
her hand in fear against her cloak
gesture of the Virgin of the Nativity.
in Nicola's angel
thoroughly straightforward,
is
is
is
heightened by
quite impossible
The tixming back
carried to the very
beyond them, and the same is true of the fond

Extreme poses and actual distortions rector
throughout the narrative scenes of the Pistoia pulpit and camiot be attributed to
incompetence or studio intervention, or to the son's growing
disinterest in
the
anatomical fundamentals so important to his father. Giovanni's interest and ability

in this respect are
shown, not only within the rehefs themselves by the innumerable

which a wealth of complex movement is
small, brilliantly characterized figures, in
described without distortion, but also
by
the fact that outside the context of dramatic,
narrative scenes such hberties are rarely taken, and then only in gestures that express
extreme emotion. The comer-figure of a Deacon which, in

77
facial type, in the setting
of

massive neck and shoulders, and above
its
and simplicity
structural clarity
Giovanni
when
there
is
all
in
its
ease
of pose,
tomb of almost twenty
Arnolfo's acolytes on the de Braye
that, if
no dramatic
so reminiscent of
is
years before, reveals a
demonstrated in an extreme form,
make him
narrative to
twist
typical
is
of
and torture physical
appearances for emotional or spiritual ends.
on the extreme right of the opening
Occasionally, as in the shepherd
there seems
relief,
to be a decorative rather than an emotional reason for the exaggeration or the dislocation of a pose.
More
often in such cases
a matter
it is
of a
partial liquefaction,
extrusion rather than a dislocation, of the forms beneath the draperies.
of this process are
visible in the leg
maiden pouring water, and
the
and foot of the reclining Virgin and in the legs of
advanced
far
it is
There the rhythmic continuities created by the

not only of the sleeping Magi on the
on
the right, require
no
More
surprising
still,
on
flowing form of the limbs,
however, only within the complex
It is,
such devices are exploited.
the Pistoia pulpit
seem
show
to
that
it
was not
and structure that could be radically affected by the
line
dramatic content of his subject matter

chisel also
in the succeeding panel (Plate 33A).
plastically
but more especially in those of Joseph lying
reliefs that
the reliefs
merely Giovamii's sense of
of the
left,
further emphasis.
decorative nexus of the narrative
an
The beginnings
as
well as by
its
decorative demands. His handling
seems to have been continuously varied in
way. Tlie head of
this
Gabriel, and the dehcate detail throughout the joyful scene of the Nativity (Plate 31 a),
Deacon or the Sibyls,

show that the value of
the careful fmish of the angle-figures of the
of modelling
sensitivity
dexterity
was not
lost
in their heads,
on
his
son, and
this
together with the

Nicola's technical
everywhere confirmed by the un-
is
move
precedented richness and variety of the undercutting. Yet, to
directly to the
opposite extreme, in the emotional violence of the Massacre of the Innocents (Plate 33B)
Giovanni has dispensed with

and tasseUed drapery that
is
all
the finish,
characteristic
all
the dehcate detail of hair and
armour
of the comparable scene on the Siena
pulpit.
The fully modelled infants have become crude, cubic block-forms. The direct furrowing
by the chisel is left almost undisguised. Forms are suggested, not described or itemized.
The extent to which Giovanni found his precedent for such expressive boldness in
Late Antique and Early Christian sarcophagi
echoes to be found in
this relief,
is
revealed, not only
by
the
many
technical devices as the channelling that isolates the outlines of the sleeping
Adoration (Plate
33A).''
studio intervention
on
is
nowhere
associated
a massive scale.
of extreme violence and tension seems to remove

It is
Magi
in the
This direct, impressionistic technique has nothing to do with the
roughness of unfinished work, and
accompany
detailed
but elsewhere on the pulpit by such characteristic
with the weaknesses
Moreover,
all
doubt about
measure of Giovanni's astounding originality that not
that
selective use in scenes
its
its
purposeful nature.
until the latest
works of
Donatcllo are such techniques again exploited, and then only in the more malleable
bronze.
The germ of the
evocative distortion in the angel Gabriel
may
well
lie
in the
ingly technically motivated dislocations in the necks of figures like the

(Plate 30A), designed to stand high
up on
a facade. Similarly, the
78
deep
drilling
seem-
Miriam
and bold
GIOVANNI PISANO
undercutting which were probably evolved to make the distant figures tell against their
background appear to undcrhe the eating out of the whole surface of the marble
which so adds to the formal excitement of the pulpit at Pistoia. Now the figures stand
out some two inches beyond the level of the frame as well as being cut six inches deep
As in the Siena pulpit, the volume of the stone has been so fully utilized
mere skin survives to form the background. Though even the most violent
predommantly in the plane, the figures arc so undercut that many of them
into the block.

that only a
gestures
lie
are left almost in the round, the folds
of drapery curving into depth and giving
their
value to the volumes they enclose.
full
The drama of deep interspaces between forms in motion and of violently contrasted
and shade would originally have been intensified by the glazed backgrounds,
of wliich many fragments have survived. The section visible in the Nativity behind the
light
maiden pouring water has
bold design with green, and with large,
patterned squares on gold. In the normal half-light of the

glazes
would have showed
as black, intensifying
brilliant, light red,
Romanesque church
these
both the projection of the figures and
the dark, suggestive quahty of the depths behind them. In candlelight or in reflected
sunUght the strengthening
and
flashes
the panels facing the nave
by
cast
shadows would have been accompanied by
of rich colour, and only
in the short
would space be
a clearly visible, patterned
time
when
the light
fitful
gleams
was strong upon
flattened out, as in a manuscript illumination,
backdrop.
Apart from the inscriptions on the
scrolls,
the colouring of the figures
was apparently
reduced to a golden rimming of the edges of the draperies, the gilding of accessories
such as crowns, and the painting of any exposed linings. Whereas the glazing of the
backgroimd would actually have increased the broken quality of the play of hght and
colour, gilding of this kind would probably have accentuated the Hnear rhythms
linking the figures across the intervenmg voids. Such linear, partial colouring, despite
the discarding of the extensive carved fringes which in Nicola's work had probably
marked its introduction, is fully consonant with French practice in the ivory diptychs
that were becoming increasingly common in the final quarter of the thirteenth century.
It is this
pattern of gold edging and coloured linings, usually blue, against the natural,
polished surface of the marble that predominates in the indoor sculpture of the early
fourteenth century.
it might well seem that the violent
combined with the disruption of the even surface
tension that unified the Sienese rehefs, must surely lead to compositional chaos. But
if the rehef style as a whole derives from the Siena pulpit, Giovanni seems to have
looked to the pulpit in the Pisa baptistery for the means to control the forces that he
was unleashing. In each design a sohd compositional skeleton is clearly visible below
In spite of this accentuation of the linear rhythms,
movement
in
most of the
designs,
the excited surface.
The
swirling,
womb-like
patterns
which cocoon the Nativity and Washing of the

on either side by an accentuated, vertical frame
Christ Child are stiffened and enclosed
of figures
most violent scene of all, the Massacre of the Innocents

of figures of the Siena pulpit has become a surging crowd
(Plate 31 a). In the
(Plate 33b), the unified wall
79

within
a real, if
undefined and steeply sloping space. Here Herod's sweeping gesture
carries the eye down from the top right-hand to the bottom left-hand
comer through a chain of action and reaction, swaying back and forth along the diagonal
of command
as
mothers intercede and
soldiers stride to the attack.
diagonal of action and of high relief leads

is
by continuous
further steadied
similar, less sharply accented
down from the top left-hand corner. The whole
verticals set,
not only
at the
extreme
left-
and right-
where a line of female heads in high reUef completes

the underlying symmetrical skeleton of this carefully organized scene of chaos.
The key to the formal analysis of the Massacre is Herod's gesture, which precipitates
hand borders, but
also at the centre,
the whole dramatic action. This emphasizes the important point that with the great
late-thirteenth-
and Giotto,
and early-fourteenth-century narrative reaUsts such
it is
terms of the essential dramatic content of the story. This was the
and
his
own
as
seldom possible to embark successfully on formal
Giovanni Pisano
analysis except in
artist's
main concern
starting point.
Working on purely formal
lines, as
many
patterns as there are observers tend to be
compositional basis of the Adoration of the Magi (Plate 33A). Verticals,

diagonals, squares, circles, triangles, large and small, abound. Yet seldom do such
put forward
as the
exercises in the abstract
central foreground
essentials
of the
manage
odd
to explain the
On
a total void.
is
story, or the stories
fact that the
normally emphatic
the other hand, immediately the dramatic
- for three separate but connected episodes are
shown - have been understood, the whole formal pattern becomes clear. The first scene
shows the arrival of the Magi after their journey, and the adoration of the infant Christ.
spread out symmetrically across the top of the
It is
relief,
and the horses' heads provide
a formal balance for the Virgin and Child about the triple vertical of the standing
and the angel. This symmetrical pattern makes

left
a steady base for the acceleration
to right, expressive of arrival and culminating in the act of adoration. Continuity
and balance are the keynotes of this joyful scene. Then suddenly, appearing
an angel warns the Magi sleeping
intentioned Herod, but to
of
Magi
from
his
urgent cry,
flee.
lower
at the
left
similarity
these
dream,
His leftwards-pointing gesture makes a shape in marble
wliile, in the far
comer, a second angel points the opposite road
and urges Joseph to escape the coming massacre and go
symmetry of
in a
not to return to the murderously
two groups
at the
lower
left
down
The formal
into Egypt.
and right expresses
of content, while the seemingly inexplicable central void
their essential
tells
in dramatic,
formal terms the whole explosive story of miraculous forewarning and of flight from
hidden danger that succeeds the earher joyful union.^
The
The
Virîin
and Child for the Baptistery
structural clarity that underlies the emotional storms
the ready adaptation of the lessons learnt

small-scale problems
of a pulpit for
contrast presented
by the
Musco deU'Opcra
del
on the
of the Pistoian work, and
vast reaches of the Siena facade to the
a parish church, prepare the
signed, full-length
Duomo
at Pisa
group of the
at Pisa (Plate 37B).
80
way
for the apparent
Virgin and Child,
now
in the
This severely disciplined group was
GIOVANNI PISANO
possibly carved while
conditioned by
the
its
work on
was
the pulpit
in progress,
and
form
its
is
almost entirely
intended position facing the cathedral in the shallow lunette above
main door of the baptistery. Only the single frontal view from the broad causeway
two buildings is at all important, and all the forms develop in one plane.
linking the
None of
drapery
made to circle round the body, and the whole pattern of the
complete upon the single surface. The hieratic treatment hkewise
the folds are
is
visibly
seems to be dictated by
its situation, and although the turning of the Virgin's head

towards the Child betrays the emotional reUgious currents of the times, there is, for
Giovanni, a minimum of sentiment and a maximum of formal discipline. There is an
almost schematic contrast between the pure profile of the Virgin's head and the stiff,
frontal pose
and
of the infant Christ
full-face stare
entering the baptistery to be reborn into a
new
as
he gives his blessing to those
The
hfe of the soul.
figures are contained
within a pair of almost perfect rectangles of which the smaller, bounded at the top by
Son and
the Virgin's glance towards her
at the
folds, concentrates the onlooker's attention.
bottom by
The
lateral
powerful
set
of horizontal
boundaries of the larger are
accentuated by
two series of vertical folds that are continued by the Virgin's arm
on one side and by the infant Christ himself upon the other. Although the group of
folds upon the right hangs from the hand supporting the figure of Christ, it becomes,
in visual terms, a
upon
pyramid or pedestal
that seems to bear the weight that actually rests

hand and hip. As is so often the case, it is this calm and technically
which Giovanni's more personal characteristics are subdued as far as
the Virgin's
simple design, in
possible, that
proved to be the most
influential
of his works.
understood and frequently copied by the minor
the one
It is
men who knew
most
readily
fame and feared
his
his fire.
The Ivory Madonna and Child
The range and
contrast inlierent in Giovamii's
work
is
by
illustrated
the unsigned
ivory Madonna and Child, once housed in a tabernacle over an ivory rehef and accompanied by
two
surviving figure
angels,'
is
which
still
is
in the treasury
of the
Duomo
possibly, but not necessarily, that referred to in
two
(Plate 37A).
The
Pisan documents
of 1299 demanding the completion of a work in ivory, and this is a styUstically conThe winsome quahty of most of its French counterparts is exchanged
for a grave monumentahty. The breadth and simpUcity of the head with its gentle halfvenient date.
smile recalls the early half-length
Madonna
grandeur of the sweeping fold-forms makes

tusk. It
is
the treatment of the figure, not
high, that begs comparison with
France
is
not an ivory
at all,
in the
a virtue
its
great
monumental
Camposanto
(Plate 28b),
size,
for the
group
so, it
to the
is
but the startlingly similar
the ivory that has the greater weight and
Northern
artist,
who was
is
almost two feet
sculpture. Indeed, the closest parallel in

full-scale Virgin
the centre of the mid-thirteenth-century north transept door of
Even
while the
of the unavoidable curvature of the
volume
Notre
in
its
and Child from
Dame
in Paris.
folds. In contrast
not restricted by the nature of his medium, Giovanni
has done his best to minimize the conflict between the anatomical
demand
that the
lower shoulder and the standing leg should coincide and the physical faa of the
81

curvature of the tusk. Normally he
is
careful to observe this fundamental rule
of
few exceptions is the signed Virgin and Child,

accompanied by two workshop angels, which he probably carved about the year 1305
for the Arena Chapel at Padua. It seems as if this marble figure with its streaming folds
and combination of formal restraint and dehcate naturalism of detail was strongly
correct contrapposto, and one of the
influenced
When
the
it
by his ivory-carving.
comes to the transmission of ideas
works involved
is
require great sensitivity in the

stylistic
modification
small-scale
work.
artist,
may magnify
is
scale to large
usually
is
and back
not to deny that a successful outcome
particularly
where
deficiencies that
predilection for the
the conception that
It is
from small
all-important to the sculptor, and transpositions
again to small are a commonplace. This
of
in sculpture, the actual physical size
often relatively insignificant.
were
monumental
mere
may
increase in size without
relatively insignificant in the
often said to explain the rarity
is
of ItaUan Gothic ivories and the apparent lack of specialists of sufficient cahbre to meet
French competition in the medium. Certainly Giovanni's Virgin and Child appears to
as well as artistically unique. It is, however, hard to accept this explanawhen, throughout the period, countless ItaUan goldsmith-sculptors were happily
producing small-scale metalwork of the very finest quality.
be numerically
tion
Besides raising such general questions, Giovanni's ivory Virgin and Child inevitably
draws attention to the problem of the nature of his

art.
own
personal contacts with French
Quite apart from things hke the steady movement towards
linear
soft,
continuous, curvi-
forms which connects Giovanni's sculptural development to the main con-
temporary
stylistic
trend in France,
particular carvings could be
many examples of
detailed similarities
added to the few already mentioned. These
merely with works of the mid century and before,
as
was the
between
links are not
case with Nicola. Several
of the figures on the Siena facade, for example, are singularly close to others on the
inside wall surrounding the
by 1290 and were probably

are
main door
at
Reims. The
comparable to Giovanni's work not only in
extent in their freedom of
latter
must have been
finished
already being carried out in the late seventies. These figures
movement within
their
formal
the enclosing
details
but also to some
framework of their
niches.
Deacon on the Pistoia pulpit has apparent connexions with French art not
only through Amolfo, but directly through the striking similarity to such figures as
the angel with a chalice in one of the buttress tabernacles on the south side of Reims
Similarly the
Cathedral.
The documentary
silence in Giovanni's career
tempting opening in which to

similar hiatus
insert
between 1268 and 1277 provides
an apprentice's journey to the North, and there
is
between 1278 and 1284. But even though such possibly fortuitous gaps
in
the record arc unnecessary, since such journeys could be undertaken in a matter of
months, there
such a
visit
is
may
no
actual
proof that Giovanni ever went to France
at all, likely as
appear to be in view of the already centuries-old tradition of such
expeditions to the North for budding or, indeed, established sculptors.
How much
of
what he seems to have known of Northern art may have been gleaned from manuscripts
and panels, from small figures in ivory and in precious metals, and from the once
82
GIOVANNI PISANO
numerous and now almost non-existent drawings of other artists, is entirely a matter
of opinion. He could certainly have picked up far more information by such means
than might seem probable from the relatively few surviving works. There, until new
documents emerge, the matter must reluctantly be left, unless a part of the inscription
on the base of his next major work, the Pisa pulpit, stating that 'Giovanni has encircled
the rivers and the parts of the world trying to learn
preparing everything with heavy labour'
Although, in
is
many
things for
no reward and
taken Hterally as referring to his travels.
medieval context, a metaphorical interpretation linking the four rivers
and four comers of the earth to the figures of the four Evangelists and the four Cardinal
Virtues supporting the pulpit might seem preferable on general grounds, the rest of the
inscription favours the straightforward reading.
The Pulpit
This, the last
December
of the
Pisani's pulpits,
in the
Duomo
at Pisa
was commissioned
in 1302
and was finished
in
The two rhymed inscriptions are unusually revealing even

for Giovanni." The upper one contains, among other things, an obHque reference
to the mounting factional struggles that were rending Pisa as its military and commercial power continued to decline, and confirms that Giovanni worked in wood and
gold
as
13 10 (Plate 34).'"
well as in marble.
of the work but
also
also states that
It
Nello di Falcone 'exercised control not only
of the laws which governed
it'.
This
is
backed up by a direct
challenge to the admirer of his 'noble sculptures and diverse figures' in the words:
you who wonders at them test them by the proper laws.' It is impossible
what Giovanni means by these intriguing references to the laws of art, and
certainly no easily reconstructed metrical systems of proportion seem to be involved.
'Let any of
to
tell
What is
imdoubtedly new, however,
between the creative
and
artist
is
the explicit recognition of a direct relationship
his personal
pubHc, as well
viding the true standards of criticism are apphed, his
upper inscription hints
at
new
relationships, the
work
one below
as
the assertion that, pro-
will pass the test.

is
a fascinating,
But
if the
open record
state of mind. After the reference to the circling of the world there come the words:
'Nunc clamat' - 'Now he cries out: I have not taken good heed while the more I have
shown forth the more I have experienced hostile injuries. But I bear this anguish with
of a
the heart of a
That
man
[the pulpit]
unwilling to fight [hterally, of a coward] and with a serene mind.
may remove
this
mahce, mitigate
him: add to these verses the moisture of
whom
his
He
sorrow, and beg honour for
proves himself unworthy
who
worthy of the diadem. Thus by condemning himself he honours

he condemns.' The somewhat querulous claim to mental calm that accom-
condemns him who
him
tears.
is
panies this outburst only sharpens the picture of a complex, persecuted character, as
busy with
forth
self-pity as
with self-advertisement,
who
from behind what might have been, but what
laudatory inscription in the
whom such
The
modern terms
new manner. Giovanni
as 'artist' are
surviving records seem to
suddenly and unexpectedly peers

is
definitely not, a standard self-
Pisano
is
the
first
medieval
man
to
appUcable on documentary grounds.
show
that trouble
83
with Burgundio
di
Tado, the

of works, possibly reviving memories of
clerk
work went forward
of Giovanni's contract
conilict
is
quickly at the
start.
But
in April 1305 a confirmation
accompanied by the further provision that in case of any
between himself and Burgundio, a good and loyal
man who was
be elected to replace the clerk of works. In
to the sculptor should
at least in
number of payments from the autumn of 1302

the making of tools, and for a journey to Carrara,
for quarrying and carting marble, for

indicate that
was
his difficulties at Siena,
part the cause of Giovanni's plaint.
this
satisfactory
same year Bur-
gundio paid for the making of documents in an action against Giovanni, part of whose
have held back and only to have made up finally in July 1307.
which explains both Giovanni's omission of Burgundio's name from
salary he appears to
It is this
his
quarrel
polemical inscription and the erection of a separate tablet by the
latter.
This records
the dates of the commissioning and completion of the pulpit and states that he,
Burgundio, was responsible for
The new
structure
Pisano pulpits.
It is
is
the
its
erection.
most sumptuous
as
well
most massive of the four
as the
developed from an octagonal plan, but except for the two reUefs
that flank the entrance to the casket, the narrative panels are
all
sHghtly smaller than that needed to enclose the whole within a
curved on a radius
The
circle.
result, a
were seeking
gentle undulation or pulsation of the forms, as if the casket walls
to
expand against the firm, restraining framework of the angle-figures, breathes Hfe
into the cold, pure circle of the base.
massive horizontaUty
dominant impression. The Gothic flavour of the spiky

replaced
by
the rich classicism of acanthus brackets.
caryatid figures further reduces the vertical thrust, and
played by sculptural forms opens out

Arts,
new
surmounted by the Theological Virtues
now
is
trefoil arches
is
great extension of the use of
by once more expanding the part
iconographic opportunities.
;
almost the
of Pistoia
Ecclesia
The
Liberal
and the four Cardinal Virtues
Christ and the four Evangehsts, St John being accompanied
by
the figure of Giovarmi
two hons and

company of Sibyls,
himself; the single figures of St Michael and of Hercules; and finally the
their prey,
make up
the
main
sculptural supports.
Prophets, and Apostles in the upper zones
Four separate episodes from the

fitted into the
Giovanni's
matched by an expanded
is
central narrative.
of the Baptist and sixteen from that of Christ are
life
two
as in Nicola's
full panels.
new commission,
like the
second and larger of his father's pulpits,
minor army of assistants, of whom Giovamii di Simone,

of the Camposanto, and Lupo di Francesco, who was later connected with
the marshalling of a
the architect
S.
increased
seven rehefs that lead up to a Last Jtidgewent spreading,
Siena pulpit, over
meant
An
Maria
della Spina, are perhaps the
most important recorded members. The
inter-
vention of these helpers seems to be very obvious in the lowered quahty of the Liberal
Arts, as well as in the
angles.
There are
also
somewhat
flaccid St
Michael and in
weakly executed passages
all
of the Innocents, although in the latter there are also parts in
blocking of the forms appears to be
For similar reasons caution

panel of the Damned.
On
is
and
which
in the Massacre
the almost brutal
continuation of Giovanni's Pistoian experiments.
needed
the other
the figures in the upper
in the Adoration
in assessing Giovanni's personal share in the
hand the studio completion of the whole of the

84
GIOVANNI PISANO
relief
of the Passion and of much of that of the Bicsscdis hardly controversial. Never-
theless, the latter serves as a further
such pure gems of invention
who
right-hand corner,
determined female
rushes forward, stomach out,
demanding entry into heaven
as
v^'aming against dogmatism, since
as the furiously
arm
raised,
for the fortunate proteg6
it
also contains
saint in the
not so
whom
bottom
much begging
she hauls along
behind her.
Apart from the matter of workshop intervention,

artist's
powers of invention to embark upon
was fmished. Since

was
his
it
must have greatly taxed the
a second pulpit almost as
soon
actually carved in Pisa, the need to create
version must have been especially pressing.
On
the structural side the challenge
triumphantly met by exploiting the rich vein of classicism always present in

clearly visible in the architectural detail
figure,
was but one
it
as his first
show that the Pistoia pulpit

something more than a mere second
other activities in the period seem to
stride
of the doorways
at Siena.
art
liis
As regards the
was
and
single
of the imagination from the Pistoian angle-figure of St Paul
to the new world of the introspective, spiritual, Pisan Hercules (Plate 36A), so different
from Nicola's muscular, nude Virtue, and so reminiscent, in its wiry Gothic naturalism,
of the similar figure in rehef upon the portal
at
Auxerre.
like progression links the
calm, structural certainty of the Deacon at Pistoia (Plate 31A) to the Pisan Fortitude
(Plate 36b)
and above
soHd virtue of whose sturdy volumes
to the Prudence, the
all
Venus Pudica from which the figure must have

been derived. In his own way Giovamii closely resembles Arnolfo in his abiHty to draw
impartially, and with creative understanding, on Gothic or on Antique prototypes. It
so transforms the sensuous Antique
is
a final tribute to the
his
two
power of Nicola's artistic personahty that he could so inspire

The Hercules and the Prudence are not merely two of the
great followers.
chief glories of Giovanni's Pisan pulpit: they rank
of ItaHan sculpture, and

and nature of Giovanni's
with
his other
it
among
the major masterpieces
seems to be no more than a misunderstanding of the range
art,
linked to misreading of the detailed technical connexions
works, that has occasionally led to doubts about
his
authorship of the
Pisan Cardinal Virtues.^^
When
it
refresh his
comes
to the narrative rehefs, the lack of a sufficient interval in
factor in keeping
which
to
new ground must undoubtedly have been a major

Giovanni from complete success in achieving a new synthesis. Undue
mind and
to consohdate
preoccupation with the detailed weaknesses of handling attributable to the workshop

can, in such a situation, lead to over-emphasis
own
immediate
past,
and consequently to
on Giovanni's inabihty
to escape his
a failure to appreciate the nature
of bold experiments on which he was apparently engaged.

In the opening rehef, devoted to St John, Giovanni intensifies
of the
series
every figure in the round; to indicate

that run
on with
a casual
its
his effort to
develop
structure clearly while creating rhythmic forms
cunning from one figure and one scene into the next. The
way is only matched by the grave
strength of the formal scaffolding erected in this

intensity
of feeluig that pervades the whole. The
free-standing treatment of each figure in
new weight and scale, and
personal creations, both in conception and in

85
the virtually
be one of Giovanni's most

execution, are general characteristics of
what appears
to

The forging of composirional unity by means which still derive, though in
form, from the columnar architectonics of Nicola's pulpit in the baptistery
however, succeeded, in many of the remaining panels, by a marked accentuation of
the piilpit.
much altered
is,
the swirling linear rhythms
more
impressive
sweeping
first
exploited in the Nativity at Pistoia (Plate 31A).
before them, rather than
all
Still
the creation of great compositional surges that unite the forms
is
by
by
additive or architectonic, constructional,
means.
The streaming
On
(Plate 35a).
linear pattern
one
side
it
of the Pisa Nativity
an extraordinary invention
is
runs up from the handmaid pouring water,
on
into the
round with the curving rock-forms and the joyous angels to

return to the point of origin. On the other side it curves up through the leg of the
same maiden to branch through the rock-forms out into the swaging figures of the
shepherds. The entire design appears to grow on a single stem, like some great, hea-vyladen vine. A similar impartial linear continuity is seen in the next panel. There the
Virgin's drapery, and
voungest Magus and the pointing angel merge into the rock in one continuous, circling
leads on into the drapery
curve. The rock becomes an angel's ^^"ing, and this in
mm
of the kneeling king, whose body seems to flow continuously out of that of the same
standing Magus who describes one segment of the enclosing circle. In the Presentatioti,
with
'portrait'
its
of the
baptister\' representing the
temple
at
Jerusalem, linear con-
combined with figure massing to create a kind of compositional umty which,

in the succeeding panel, turns the crowded ^[a5sacre of the Innocents into a human
whirlpool that revolves inexorably round the dominating figure of Herod, whose
tinuity
is
dramatic gesture
sets
the tragedy in motion.
so close to an Antique sarcophagus
and
Even the panel of the Damned, once more

turned into a swirling vortex of despair
relief, is
for the first time, formally contrasted to the calmly organized, horizontal
is,
layering of the Blessed. This visual opposition of the
two
by
rehefs, united
contrasting
content in the single scene of judgement, draws attention to Giovanni's apparently
The
increasing interest in tying separate panels into larger compositional groups.
symmetries bmlt up by the Nativity and the Adoration, and by the Presentation and the
Massacre, are particularly clear.
The
steady increase in descriptive naturaUsm
pulpits,
and
it is
revolutionary. In the Nativity an entire
and dogs
rest,
plane that
is
is
a thread that joins the four
the shepherds stand, and trees and bushes
fully visible instead
effort to achieve a
new,
remarkable, but
is
it
grow upon
of being implied behind
pictorial landscape, all-embracing in
the Crucifixion that
is
all
three crosses
is
displayed. Longinus
its
realism,
on
his
souls
of the two thieves are carried to
break their
legs,
and
in the
same sky Synagoga
space and a great, milling crowd.
As
86
is
This
indeed
full
scene of Calvar)'
horse pierces the side of Christ,
while other mounted figures in extreme foreshortening thrust their
is
ground
figures.
Giovanni's masterpiece (Plate 35b). In
crowd. The
Here
a hilly
of
a screen
accordance with, the pattern introduced in the Pistoia pulpit, the
with
Pisano
on Giovanni's culminating work are

landscape is described in detail. Sheep browse
in this respect that the rehefs
their separate
is
way among
dooms
the
as the soldiers
banished and Ecclcsia triumphs.
far as pictorial realism
is
concerned,
it
GIOVANNI PISANO
matches and surpasses the majority of the painted Crucifixions of the
first
half of the
fourteenth century. Yet the very nature of Giovanni's achievement points to the supersession
of the sculptural vision of the
fields in
which
last
half of the thirteenth century. In
the sculptors had held the primacy, the painters
now
many of the
assume the leading
role.
Giovanni's Crucifixion
is
remarkable not merely for
its
wide descriptive scope but
power with which the narrative is charged. Whether wholly or

carved by Giovaimi himself, or executed under his direction, the stretched
for the emotional

substantially
flesh
and bone of the Pistoian Crucifixion
is
now
reduced to a schematic starkness.
single plane describes the pectoral muscles as they pull
upon
paper-thin with strain as the arm-bones start out of their sockets.
growing
The dramatic crudity
the rib-cage,
of the carving in the Massacre of the Innocents is replaced by a reduction of the human
form to its bare geometric substance. Finally, the pictorial drama of the narrative
on its fullest meaning only when it is seen within the carefully calculated
framework of the pulpit as a whole, in contrast to the calm structural
of the supporting figure sculpture. Each sets off the other and gives formal
reliefs takes
architectural
clarity
being to the underlying complementaries of narrative realism and of deep symbolic
meaning.
T]ie
Giovanni's obvious dehght in
matched by
his
Mary
concern for Christ
imsigned, undocimiented painted
ivory figure.
The
Wooden
as a
as a
mother and
man
wooden
Crucifixes
crucifixes
human
child
confirmed by a
series
in Christ as a
in agony. This
is
and one small,
is
of
partially coloured
on panel is marked,
emphasis on the humanity and
story of the painted crucifix in fresco and
throughout the thirteenth century, by increasing
pathos of the suffering godhead, but it is in wood sculpture that the chmax is achieved.
The development is not confined to Italy by any means. Among the most exciting
works are some belonging to the Rhenish and Westphahan schools of the late thirteenth
century and the first decade of the fourteenth. In Italy itself a number of figures of
German or of Italo-German origin still survive, and it is against this background that
the crucifixes attributable to Giovanni must be seen.
influence
on
his
It
seems, however, that his
Northern contemporaries was greater and more
direct than
own
any that
they or their predecessors had exerted over him.
The
figure
in pose
on the
crucifix in S.
and anatomical
Andrea
at Pistoia
is
extremely close in feeling, and
detail, to that in the Crucifixion
camiot be far removed from
it
in date.
How much
on
the near-by pulpit and
the subtlety
of the modelling
in
by repainting, and therefore how much of the work is

autograph, are difficult questions. The reputation of the crucifix in the Museo dell' Opera
at Siena has certainly been greatly damaged by the burial of the original polychrome,
upon its microscopically thin, fme ground, beneath a layer of flesh-paint on a thick
and granular base (Plate 3 a). The pull of muscle on the ribs, the modelling of each
tense detail would reveal a wholly different sensitivity if freed from the present deadening overlay. The sideways swing of the body out and away from the Y-shaped tree
the torso
may have been
affected
87

of the
cross allows the generation
of enormously
effective profile
and three-quarter
views, and the great simpHfication of the figure without a complete loss of sofmess
seems to point to the period following that of the Pistoia pulpit.
design that
It is this
repeated in the ivory fragment, once again unique in fourteenth-century Itahan

that
is
preserved in the Victoria and Albert
Museum
London. There the
in
lock of hair hangs in a rather
more
of the highly poHshed
with the dehcate caging of the
of belly and
torso,
solar plexus,
is
a httle
deep folds of the loincloth
if
is
decorative and
less
more extreme. As
natural curve.
ribs
anything intensified. In both these
relationship to the even greater,
and to some extent
subtle,
less
of the figures in the Pisa Crucifixion scene
figure in Berlin
less
with the
though
clear.
rich,
works the
later
essentially
The magnificent
actively dramatic, less emaciated, but in the untold depth
matched by equivalent
spirituahty in the head,

selection in the torso,
is
falling
simphfication
and intersecting cones
a result the contrast
similar, styhzations
is
The
it is
is
art,
of
and power of anatomical
sensitivity
the suffering counterpart of the gentle Christ
who
stands
beneath the Pisa pulpit.
The Late Works

Varied movement, emotional
characteristic
sensitivity,
and rigid
of detail were evidently
selectivity
of the tomb for Margaret of Luxemburg which Giovanni
is
documented
as
having carried out in the period immediately following her death from the plague
in
Genoa
in
December
this
The
13 11.
which include two angels
surviving fragments in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa,
raising the
dead queen to eternal
life,
show
that the basis
of
wall-tomb must have been a further development of the sepulchral drama of
Amolfo's monimient for Cardinal de Braye.^^
between
Emperor Henry
VII in June 13 12 and his death of fever in August 13 13, while he was still engaged upon
the tomb, that Giovanni, once more working directly under Burgundio di Tado, started
It
was probably
in the interval
the coronation of Margaret's almost equally unfortunate husband as the
to carve the last of his surviving signed A'ladomias (Plate 37c). This seated figure with the
Child standing upon her knee, accompanied by the fragmentary kneeling figure of Pisa,
museum at Pisa, and by the lost figure of the emperor himself, was
tympanum of the Porta di S. Ranieri in the Duomo. The ruined Virgin
also preserved in the
destined for the
and Child create
main projections emphasized

is one that was becoming
towards the turn of the century, there is no curvilinear play in
a fully three-dimensional group, the
without foreshortening or evasion. Though the general pose

popular in French ivories
the
is
complex naturalism of the
folds cascading
such that a continuous spiral
is
created.
down
over the solid forms. Yet the design
The Virgin
sits
upon
a sloping scat,
producing
an organic, swaying twist within the torso which, together with the raising of one
knee, the lowering of the opposite buttock, and the contrapposto of the Child, contributes to the final effect in
to create a Gothic
work of
what
by
art
is
possibly the finest
classical
carry traces of the original colouring which
example of Giovanni's abiHry
means. Even these ruined outdoor figures

still
played so large a role in the completion
of Giovanni's sculpture.
Despite the washings documented from
as early as the final
quarter of the fourteenth
GIOVANNI PISANO
century, the Pisa piilpit
retains
still
some
traces
both of colour and of glazing to confirm
the late-sixteenth-century description of Ecclesia in a red dress and blue mantle.
Surviving colour traces

latest
are,
however, more in evidence on what
of Giovamii's extant works, the unsigned, undocumented, but
Madonna
probably the
is
styhstically secure
The statue was probably executed

connexion with the reorganization of the shrine that followed the recovery
della Cintola in the cathedral at Prato.
after 13 12 in
of the Holy Girdle stolen in that year. In this fmal figure the sweeping hem-line and
the heavy saucer folds appear to extend the hip still farther as it swings out to provide
a stable platform for the Infant's weight. Nevertheless, the ultimate effect
Gothic S-curves
is
built
on
the foundation of a figure in
of the anatomical forms are absolutely

resting leg,
which
itself
The sohd
It is
is
sensitivity
set.
The
as plainly indicated as
in such a context that high fmish
have been used to frame the mood-creating
of swaying,
the mass and placing
shoulders arc correctly
contributes to the swinging rhythm,
the one that bears the weight.

detail
clear.
which
and
fine decorative
of the modelling of the
Virgin's clear-cut features as she gazes tenderly, and a httle sadly, at her Child.
The
date of Giovanni's death
is
his Sienese property, as well as a
taxation, in spite
It
of
his still valid
now unknown,
although
document
immunity, confirm that he was
was, indeed, in his adopted city of Siena that he was buried, and
immunity from
taxation,
now
at last
no longer needed and
still
it is
alive in 13 14.
his
embattled
in 13 19 stricken
the register, that provides a postscript to his hfe, and a typical, dry,
terminus.
referring to
majority decision of the Sienese Council to exact
from
documentary
PART THREE
PAINTING
1250-1300
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
Cavallini, Coppo di Marcovaldo, Cimabuc, the Master of the St Francis Cycle,
Guido da Siena, Duccio; the very names epitomize a revolution in the art of painting.
They also arouse an expectation of the still more famous painters who succeed them. In
doing so they indicate that
another sense no
more than
their achievements, self-sufficient
though they
be, arc in
hkc the majority of great begiimings, owe

much of their greatness to the strength with which their roots are bedded in the past.
The triumph of the papacy in its long struggle with the empire, and a pope who was
himself a
a beginning, and,
Roman with unbounded personal ambition and a deep sense of the power and
of Roman history, provided the conditions that encouraged Rome as the
significance
centre of rebirth.
first
The continuing expansion and
consolidation of the mendicant
orders likewise provided both an opportunity and a spur to innovation.
The surge of
popular rehgion was accompanied by a natural desire to use increasing wealth in the
decoration of the bare walls which were a major feature of the products of a vast cam-
paign of buildmg. Economic pressures and social evolution in their most straightforward
senses
were
vital factors in
ensuring that the second main focus of the
new
artistic
de-
towns were the banking centres for all Italy and

most of Europe. The accumulation of capital and the beginnings of industrial organizavelopments should He in Tuscany.
Its
were not only generating wealth but rapidly attracting population. New, moneyclasses were emerging, and new balances of power were in the making.
The need to expiate the sins inseparable from commercial organization and success did
much to open the purse strings of fresh classes of potential patrons. A shrewd assessment
tion
rich
commercial
of the part that popular reUgion and the

did play in controlling the
new
art that
helped to render
it
attractive could
aggregations of cheap labour must be
impulse of true piety. In decoration,
as in building, civic pride
set
and
beside the
and personal ambition
were mutual and increasmg stimulants.
The artists were inevitably affected by the changes in

The new reUgious emphasis was placed on Christ as man
social
and economic outlook.
as well as
God, and God him-
be reached through an appreciation of his goodness in creation. At the same

time, a fundamentally static medieval community was undergoing the first hesitant
evolution into a society in which change and development were seen as positively good.
self
was
to
91
PART three: painting 1250-1300

were no more immune than others to the urge for social and fmancial betterment. The growth of self-awareness and of personal ambition play their part
in the first stages of the metamorphosis of craftsmen into artists. The beginnings of this
Pictorial craftsmen
process are, as has been seen, particularly clear in sculpture and in the careers of the
The attention which they focused on the scidptural innovations of the Gothic
North and on the achievements of Antiquity provided the essential basis for the intrinsically more compHcated process of devising satisfactory pictorial equivalents of the
appearances of nature. Another vital, and initially more important, factor in the evolution of new methods of pictorial expression was the influx of Byzantine art and influence in the century following the fall of Constantinople. The new vocabulary of form
Pisani.
and the
new
techniques available to the Itahan painters are the fmal elements in the
pattern that conditions, but does not explain, the achievements of the
ate late-thirteenth-century painting.
92
men who domin-
CHAPTER 10
PIETRO CAVALLINI
Some
twelve years after the death of Frederick
sunamoned Charles of Anjou

of Manfred,
who was
to
Rome
II
in 1250 the
French pope Urban IV
to lead the struggle against the
Frederick's favourite and bastard son.
To
growing power
Urban's successor,
Clement IV, the only immediate legacy of this manoeuvre was the crusliing need to
enough money to maintain the impecunious Charles as an actual power in the land.
raise
Only by strenuous
was
effort
a loan against
Church property eventually reaHzed
through the swarm of petty merchants and small moneylenders that was representative
of the weakly organized commercial hfe of Rome. The fmancial difficulties of pope and
prince alike were quickly solved, however, and the aims of papal policy attained in full,
when Manfred went

by
years later
of Benevento in 1266,
to
be followed two
Conradin, whose defeat
at
TagUacozzo was
to his death at the battle
his seventeen-year-old cousin,
the prelude to a swift judicial murder.
For the papacy the sudden extinction of the Hohenstaufen menace led to the inevit-
became the containment and if possible

now swollen power of the Angevin.
The new poHcy, inaugurated by Clement IV, was subsequently carried on by Gregory
X, and it is possible that as a cardinal, Giangaetano Orsini had influenced its prosecution
from the first. Certainly, from the day of his election as Nicholas III in 1277 to his sudden death in 1280 he became its ablest exponent in the face of a Charles who was by
this time king of Naples and Sicily, senator of Rome, Imperial Vicar of Tuscany, and
able paradox. Immediately, the pressing task
the whittling
away of the
carefully nurtured
lord of much of Piedmont.

acquisition of the
Tuscany,
As
Within the frame of Nicholas's poUcies
Romagna
Church, or
for the
as liis relationship to
a leading
and
Rome
member of one of the
itself that
his plans for
immediately
great noble famiHes of
it is
not so
much
his
extending papal power in

affects the history
Rome,
the
of
art.
advancement of
was inextricably entwined in all his efforts. His nepotism soon became a byby Dante. Nevertheless, when he had skilfully organized
the peaceful departure of Charles in 1278 at the expiry of his term of office, it was
Nicholas's careful cultivation of his personal as well as his official cormexion with the
city that resulted in his being offered the senatorship himself The ground for this unprecedented pohtical triumph had been well laid by the bull 'Fundamenta', in which
the Orsini
word
to be duly catalogued
Nicholas had played upon the role of St Peter and St Paul in making of the Romans an
elect and holy people, and in estabhshing Rome itself as a cit)' both of priesthood and of
kingship, the very
diadem of all the world.
the papal sovereignty over the city
by
No
opportunity' had been lost to vindicate
recourse to actual and fictitious histor)\ Further-
it was laid down that in view of the sufferings of Rome in the preceding decades,
no emperor, or king, or prince, or baron was henceforth to be elected senator, but only
more,
resident
Roman citizens
of whatever
birth.
93

It
was undoubtedly
and prestige of a
upon
palace for the curia
The
latter
and parcel of his plans for the consoUdation of the power
as part
politically
independent papacy that Nicholas began the building of a
the Vatican and
happened to be the basUica
in
embarked upon the restoration of St Peter's.

his family was buried and of which he
which
was himself arch-priest. Again and again it can be shown that splendour and the show
of power were essential elements of power itself in an age when actual forces were so
small and popular allegiance so precarious. When economic or poHtical, as well as
ambition or success were everywhere in Europe sanctified and given
ecclesiastical,
material expression in religious buildings and rehgious
and vigorous reign should
that Nicholas's short
see the
works of
art, it is
no
surprise
beginning of a great campaign
of decoration. Indeed, the power of Rome, more than the power of any other
city, lay
predominantly in the realm of ideas in the concept of the papacy and the empire
;
God to regulate the world.

city, may well have influenced
twin instruments ordained by
This
fact,
combined with
as
the
the concentration of the new

economic weakness of the
campaign upon the refurbishing of the most important of the many venerable churches
which appeared
spiritual
The
In fresco painting the
been the one
of the papacy's
to be a standing, visible substantiation
founded claims to
historically
and hence, increasingly, to temporal dominion.
Frescoes in S. Paolo fnori
le
Mura
in
Rome
most extensive of the new redecorating schemes appears to have

of the nave in S. Paolo fuori le Mura. Although the
that covered the walls
frescoes themselves
recorded in a
were destroyed
number of prints and
of 1823,
in the fire
paintings,
made
scenes are preserved in watercolour copies
their general
arrangement
is
and the compositions of the individual

for Cardinal Francesco Barberini in
1634. Since these drawings are but one part of an organized survey that
is
rich in sur-
viving works, their accuracy can be carefully controlled. Luckily, the comparison of
originals
attitude
and copies shows that the
latter are usually
extremely faithful
as regards the
and placing of the figures and the distribution, type, and structure of the build-
ings that are represented.
The
records
show that each wall of the nave of S. Paolo was occupied by a narrative
two unbroken layers and articulated by fictive, twisted colunms. Above
cycle ranged in
the narrative scenes, in the intervals between the windows, were the standing figures
of
apostles, saints,
and prophets. At the bottom of each wall, in the zone immediately
above the supporting arches, there were roundels with

arrangement was substantially the same
have dated back to
probability, based
upon
a mid-fifth-ccntury
Pope Nicholas
wall that
all
III
portraits
one in Old St
a ninth-century redccoration
A scries of inscriptions,
to
as the
of the
of the popes. This
Peter's,
basilica that
which appears
was itself, in
scheme.
Abbot John VI (1270-9) and implicitly

wording and by its wide spacing on the
Peter and St Paul on the left of the nave in S.
referring explicitly to
(1277-80), shows
by
the frescoes of the Lives of St
its
Paolo date from the years 1277-9.' The most likely explanation for the unevenness
style
to
all
and iconography apparent
in these scenes
94
is
that they are not the
in
outcome of
PIETRO CAVALLINI
wholly new bcgiiining. They seem instead to be the fruits of a campaign of rcdecoration in which the artist or artists concerned were both ficed with, and influenced by,
the pre-existing
patchwork formed by an originally fifth-century cycle wliich had

by later alterations. At times the work may even have
already been heavily overlaid
amounted to little more than the

The general air of uncertainty is
restoration or reproduction of the existing patterns.
strongly reflected in the architectural constructions
that are used. In nearly half the scenes the buildings are completely
the remaining buildings such sohdity as

frontal setting in wliich
one
side
is left
is
tempt
exceptional scene
is
that
is
flat.
In
all
but one of
gained by using a foreshortened
lying undistorted, parallel to the picture plane,
and anything that can be seen of the other
The one
achieved
walls, or
of the roof or
of the Conversion of St Paul,
in
to set the figures at different depths in the pictorial space
floor,
is
in recession.
is
which
a definite at-
accompanied by
bold, but not entirely successful effort to give soUdity to a building
by arranging it
obhquely, with one comer jutting forwards and with both the visible sides shown in
recession. The great size of this church, with its free-standing Romanesque campanile,
in relation both to the scale of the figures and to that of the fresco field as a whole is
another feature that
unique
is
Paul. Like the very nature

tinctive pointer to the
among
the scenes devoted to the lives of St Peter and St
of the architectural
detail that
developments that take place
is
portrayed,
among
it
the scenes
acts as a dis-
from the Old
Testament painted on the opposite waU.
Although no date
is
recorded on these frescoes themselves, the figure of St Paul on
the left-hand lower surface of the mosaic-covered arch to the left of the entrance to the
nave was accompanied by the suppHant figure of Abbot Bartholomew (1282-97).

therefore possible that the corresponding figure of St Peter
together with
It
all
work on
the
be remembered that
will
ciborimn for the high
it
altar,
the right-hand wall,
was he
figures
from
distinct
is
that the
Old Testament
scenes
latter frescoes are
examined
and homogeneous groups. The smaller of these
it is
is
clear that they fall
notable for
its
high viewpoint.
was
It
consists
left substantially
of what
is
untouched in
stocky
seemingly a block of ten fifth-century

all
the later restorations.
The
attribution
confirmed by the relationship to such surviving mid-fifth-century work
as
the
Maria Maggiore.- The remaining scenes belong with equal certainty to

thirteenth century. In contrast to their opposite numbers, they reveal a styUstic
mosaics in
the late
were
and simple, firmly constructed, foreshortened frontal buildings, invariably seen
scenes that
is
carried out during his abbacy.
about the year 1285 commissioned Arnolfo's
and the probabihty
Immediately the drawings of the
two
was
It is
the right of the nave,
out during the eighties.
also carried
into
who
on
S.
unity that thoroughly transcends the variety of influence which has been absorbed and
seems to indicate a
marked out
much more thorough redesigning of those frescoes which were

There is new confidence in the distribution of the figures and
for repainting.
greater unity within the landscape backgrounds. In

Building of the Ark, the entire depth
is exploited by
bound together by a
plane
some
designs, such as that
of the
of an extensive and firmly constructed groimd
active figures placed at varying distances firom the observer and

series
of diagonals of movement and

95
attention. In the Plague oj

Serpents there
is
even a complete
circle
of
figures extending into space in intimate
connexion with the architecture. All attention focuses across the hollow centre on the
serpents writhing in the foreground. In
of
partially digested Early Christian
of structure. Sohdly
certainty
all
these scenes the architecture has
and Byzantine
been stripped
and has grown in
detail
built foreshortened frontal settings alternate
scale
and
with bold,
oblique constructions such as that created for the scene oJoseph and the Wife ofPotiphar
(Plate 38b). In this design a single building
almost
the field, and the difficult prob-
fills
lems involved in placing figures within an interior instead of merely in front of one have
A growing naturahsm
been attacked.
now
The
fact that there
is still
eflfort
however, and the most important
composed
the scene,
in motion. Force
wife
tears the
is
the
is
also reflected in the
normahty of viewpoint
that
an uncertain relationship between the floor and the left-hand
wall serves only to accentuate the

all,
is
and Byzantine tendency to exploit a bird's-eye view.
replaces the Early Christian
way
in
that
as
which
is
being made. The most striking feature of
an indication of the stature of the
added to the swift diagonal movement of the figures
cloak from Joseph's shoulders. Here, for the
first
artist
who
whole design
the jutting architecture sets the
as Potiphar's
time in ItaHan thirteenth-
background accent, cunningly exploited by men

means of framing and of emphasizing major figures, is transcended. An inherently dramatic architectural form has been created and, intentionally or
not, is used in such a way that it intensifies and focuses attention on the drama of the
century
like
art,
the role of architecture as a
Nicola Pisano
story that
is
as a
being told.
Even the uninspired,
new
quaUty of this
art
if faithful,
bom of the
seventeenth-century copies hint at the electrifying
combination of a growing
interest in narrative real-
ism and the need to study and repaint an Early Christian fresco
cycle.
Some twenty-five
years after Nicola Pisano had used the art of Antiquity as the jumping-off point for the
Roman workshop were even now consoHOld Testament appear, in the complexity of
the ambition and achievement that they represent, to be as far removed from the small
block of mid-fifth-century designs as these, in their simplicity and certaint\% were
distant from the recently reworked frescoes of the Lives of St Peter and St Paul upon the
opposite wall. On the other hand, the formal boldnesses do not disguise the underlying
iconographic continuity. The close relationship both to the western and the eastern
sculptural revolution that
Amolfo and
his
dating and extending, these frescoes of the
branches of the great twin stream of medieval iconography

sons with such
works
as the twelfth-century decoration
is
illustrated
of S. Giovaimi
by compari-
Porta Latina in
Rome or with the Byzantine mosaics of Monreale. Direct inspiration from the common source is also clear. A number of the figure patterns, that of Joseph and the Wife of
Potiphar
among them, seem
to
show
close linkages
with the fihh-ccntury tradition
already established in the Vienna Genesis. Apart from his intimate knowledge of the
fifth-century fresco cycle that he
cycle of similar origin in
have
known
Denis which
Old
such manuscripts
is still
was actually replacing, and
also
of the Old Testament
St Peter's, the late-tliirteenth-century painter
preserved in
as the late-ninth-century
S.
Paolo, as well as other
may
easily
Carolingian Bible from St
works
in
which
the echoes of
Early Christian iconograpliy and Late Antique solidity of form reverberate with equal
96
PIETRO CAVALLINI
and unusual strength. FinaUy, on the evidence of the drawings it seems to be hkely,
although not certain, that the decoration on the two sides of the nave reflects, not two
campaigns by wholly different artists, but rather the continuous inspiration of a single
guiding hand.
The Mosaics
Lorenzo Ghiberti,
before
lini,
liis
in his
death in 1455,
Maria
in Trasteuere in
Rome
Second Commentary, which was probably written shortly
first
names
whom he also attributes
to
in S.
the painter of the nave of S. Paolo as Pietro Caval-
the extant mosaics in the apse of S. Maria in Trastevere
and the now-mutilated fresco cycle
near-by
in
S. Cecilia.
The seventeenth-century
word 'Petrus' once
copyists also record that a fragmentary inscription containing the
accompanied the dedicatory mosaic
which
still
name and
recorded
somewhat
the surviving works. In the
enough
to add.
notarial
document of October 1273 preserved
Rome,
artist
way of biographical
in the arcliives
who
It is this
uncertain bridge between the
certain Pietro dei Cerroni, called Cavallini,
probably identical with the
is
Maria in Trastevere.
to be seen in S.
constitutes the generally accepted if
detail there
who
is
is little
mentioned
in a
of S. Maria Maggiore
in
Roma
in
appears as Petro Cavallino de
NeapoUtan records of Jime and December 1308. The first is an agreement by Charles
II of Anjou to pay him thirty ounces of gold a year for his services. In the second document this arrangement is coiifirmed by Charles's son Robert and a further two ounces
of gold a year are allocated for the maintenance of a house. The fmal biographical
is
a marginal note
by Giovanni
Cavallini,
who was
titbit
the author of a Polistoria Papale and
appears to have been active between the years 1330 and 1360.
It is
a single sentence
commemoration of his father, Petrus de Cerronibus, who

hundred and never wore a hat against the cold.
written in
lived to
be a
Despite the treacherous nature of the documentary evidence and the scarcity of sur-
viving works, the skeleton of CavaUini's career emerges with an unexpected clarity.
thoroughly untrustworthy reference to
a lost date for the
mosaics of S. Maria in Traste-
vere can be disregarded without a qualm,^ for the works themselves appear to follow on
directly
scenes
scenes
from the stylistic premises estabhshed by the seventeenth-century copies of the

the Old Testament in S. Paolo fuori le Mura. The mosaics consist of six
the Life of the Virgin, together with a central votive panel in which Ber-
from
from
toldo Stefaneschi, the donor and an ex-major-domo of Nicholas IV,
is
presented to the
The Latin verses that accompany each scene may

possibly have been composed by Bertoldo's rather more famous brother. Cardinal
Giacomo Gaetano Stefaneschi, who was, among other things, the author of a long
Virgin and Child by St Peter (Plate 39).
historical
poem, the Opus Metriaim.
The new decoration was designed
to
form
a base for the existing inid-twelfth-century
mosaic of Christ and the Virgin Enthroned which fills the semi-dome of the apse.
Throughout the narrative scenes the representation of space - and this includes the distribution
them
in
of the figures and the perspective of the soHdly constructed buildings, half of
a foreshortened frontal setting - appears to be an exact
an obHque and half in
continuation of the development reflected in the copies of the Old Testament scenes in
97

The
Paolo.
S.
of the architecture, and
style
common
of the
also
soft
and heavy drapery, Hkewise
two schemes, with no
great gap in time

between commissions. The weight and sofmess of the drapery forms and the relatively
subdued colour together help to confirm that these mosaics were designed, and their
execution controlled, by a painter rather than by a man who was primarily a mosaicist
seems to point to a
Roman
in the then current
The
line.
sense
highlights
is
of
authorship for the
tradition.
The
particularly interesting.
is
strong, and the subtle use of golden
shown
has been
It
more by Hght than
draperies are modelled
surrounding atmosphere
that in the eleventh century
golden highhghts were in part a naturahstic means of bringing out forms hidden in the
By the thirteenth century what had once
darkness of Byzantine semi-domes and cupolas.
been highhghts had become a purely decorative,
hieratic feature,
portance of a given figure in the heavenly hierarchy.
Now,
symbohzing the im-
with Cavallini, the decora-
symbohc, and the naturahstic functions have been combined
tive, the
in a fresh syn-
from every aspect, these mosaics are as fascinating as a contrast to

earher work above them as they are beautiful when seen as its completion.
The nature of mosaic is such that the intervention of the artisan in transforming
Indeed,
thesis.
work may be
original artistic conception into a finished

effect. It is
artist that
dency for the small,
of any
inset cubes to fall
distortions can be estimated.
may
original conception. Nevertheless, in spite

tion,
much of the
by
the same
constant ten-
also pass a
no
tell-tale
imdercoat or pig-
veU of mediocrity across
of extensive known campaigns of
a great
restora-
subtlety of CavaUini's vision seems to have survived, and the seven-
teenth-century copies
done to
The
away, and the ease with which bad, piecemeal
restorations can be carried out across the years, leaving
ment-trace of what was there before,
the
especially far-reaching in
therefore only through comparisons with autograph paintings
the nature and extent
the
show
no
that
substantial compositional violence has since
been
his designs.
The solemn intimacy of the
Birth of the Virgin (Plate 39),
verifies CavaUini's status in the field
makes an
interesting
Pisano,
who, in his
pact in
its
of the
new
with
its
rhythmic groupiiig,
pictorial, narrative
reaUsm.
It
also
comparison and contrast with the sculptural Nativities of Nicola
restricted panels,
cohesion, yet so airy in
could never afford the luxury of a grouping so com-
its
spacing, nor, for
all
his efforts in this direction, so
and cunningly exploit the unifying and articulating possibilities of a fully visible
background architecture (Plate 17A). Indeed, with the relatively bold enclosures of S.
easily
Paolo
and
is
still
set
in
mind,
it is
behind them
of the shrinkage hes
the extent to
as a
which this small
background, that
in a desire,
is
'
interior ' fails to enclose the figures,
unexpected.
The probable
explanation
not merely to create a general harmony with the re-
maining
scenes, but to achieve some sort of balance between this opening scene and that
of the Dormition, which completes the series (Plate 39). These two scenes are specially
stressed, both individually and as a pair, by their position close to the spectator on the
planar, forward-facing walls that
the apse. In fact, because of
its
form the
left
diminutive
and right flanks of the curving
scale, the interior in
occupies about the same proportion of the total field
as
on
background of the
cither
wing and forming
a thin screen across the
98
do
inlet
of
the opening mosaic
the figures piling into depth

final scene.
A
"
PIETRO CAVALLINI
A
In
different aspect
it,
with
of
is represented by the Ammiciation (Plate 40B).

energy and mass are balanced and contrasted in the simplest terms. A Gabriel
flailing,
multi-coloured wings, Byzantine in their fmery
arm
forward,
tion, surges
Pietro's interests
pulling taut across
Ills
thighs.
Then, movement, space, and energy are suddenly con-
gealed into the massive architecture of the Virgin's throne.

furniture, this
monumental
church or palace, lends a
throne, with
static,
of acceptance. The cross-vaults

a
Gothic
colunms,
as
feeling.
it
With
its
all
tion (Plates
liim,
in the
he
may
of humility and
Cosmati
lower storey of the throne do nothing to create
inlays
and
its
coffered
semi-dome and Romanesque
newly completed ciborium
men
in S. Paolo
of the Presenta-
at the centre
26 A and 41B). Famihar as the Gothic innovations of
whom
petty piece of indoor
timeless quality to the Virgin's gesture
reveals as Httle interest in Arnolfo's
such as Arnolfo,
have worked on more than one occasion, must have been to
appears that Cavallini's inspiration lay in objects like the severe twelfth-century
it
ciborium in Castel
S.
Eha. The building on the right of the Presentation
reminder that Byzantine influence upon the formal,

Cavallini's art
The simple
it is
is,
however, a
upon the iconographic,
side
of
yet effective three-four grouping of arclutecture and figures in the
who
of Simeon,
weight,
as
must never be ignored.
Presentation imderlines the volumetric

as that
No
the architectural associations of a full-scale
does the four-square altar canopy that Cavallini places
alongside
as in their actual deriva-
outstretched, his draperies fluttering behind his back and
columnar
upon
stands
power which
Cavallini generates in figures such
the right of the altar (Plate 41B).
also in the severity
Columnar
in
its
of outline that shuts in the massive cylinder
developed by the even progress of the modelling from highhght into shadow. Colour
itself is
handled with a similar
tion of pale pink
on blue
discipline.
in the
first
Beginning on the
and third
figures,
left,
there
is
an exact repeti-
and of blue on gold in the second
and fourth. This alternation of two interlinking colour couples
is
a basic
demonstration
of the use of colour counterpoint in order to erdiven a synmietrical design. The superthis not quite simple beat on the existing three-four symmetry creates a
syncopated rhythm, lively and grave, in which simplicity and intricacy are one
imposition of
subtle,
and
discipline has
been divorced from
they are, the meaning of mosaics such

a
dullness.
Small and seemingly unpretentious
as these for the
history of Roman art
is
as
shown by
comparison not merely with the works of CavaUini's predecessors but with those of
major contemporaries such
as Jacopo Torriti.
Jacopo Torriti
It is
Torriti
who
is
reported to have signed the lost mosaic for Arnolfo's
tomb of Boni-
no biographical facts about the artist seem to have survived, his fame
rests solely on the two great Roman apsidal mosaics of S. Giovanni in Laterano and S.
Maria Maggiore and on the attributed frescoes in S. Francesco at Assisi.
The Lateran mosaic, which is signed 'Jacobus Torriti pictor', is approximately dated
by the inscription of 1291 in which Nicholas IV records the rebuilding and redecoration
with mosaic of the apse and the facade, which were the two surviving parts of the
face VIII, but since
99

The
original fourth-century basilica.
existing mosaic
unfortunately only a thorough-
is
going late-nineteenth-century substitute for the original by Torriti, which was,

ever, meticulously copied before
its
destruction.
speak of Torriti's original, for, as with
Yet
much of Cavallini's work,
wall of the nave in S. Paolo, the late-thirteenth-century mosaic
much more of a copy
been
new
or a reconstruction than a
of Christ that hovers in the clouds, the

of paradise which flow from
it,
cross,
if it
itself
design.
on
is his,
the left
appears to have
The miraculous
and the baptismal waters of the four
together with
all
their
how-
almost wrong, in a sense, to
it is
bust
rivers
wealth of human and animal hfe,
appear to have been part of the mosaic of fourth- or possibly fifth-century origin which
Torriti
was commissioned
IV, the
saints
to replace. Siinilarly, the insertion
on
of Nicholas
a tiny scale
two main
Franciscan pope, together with St Francis and St Anthony, the
first
of the order,
is
evidence of an attempt to leave a pre-existing design as far as
possible undisturbed.'*
As was the
much
with Cavallini, the role of personal invention seems to have been
case
greater in his second, and this time genuinely surviving, work, the apsidal mosaic
Maria Maggiore
in S.
lost inscription,
(Plate 41A).
with the
was replaced by
activities
new one
Torriti's existing signature

this
is
set
The commission was again connected, according to a

of Nicholas IV (1288-92), under whom the old apse
up
in a shghtly different position.
can ever have been part of the inscription as
a variant of that in S. Maria in Trastevere.
occupies the shell of the apse, and the scenes
also said that
It is
how
now stands.^ The scheme as a whole
Now, however, a Coronation of the Virgin
once included the date 1296, although
it is
hard to see
it
from
the Life of the Virgin in the lower
zone are differently arranged and only five in number. The luxuriant acanthus
inhabited
by peacocks,
boats,
fish
its
directly
from
and
and fishermen and river gods, are once more taken over more or
less
the original design
Christian
form in
a scheme
is
and despite
was somewhat
the portico
also to
symptom of the
a certain
The
latter
was
ambiguity in the wording,
similar to the
one that
of the Lateran Baptistery.
is still
its
partially described
it
seems that
preserved in Early
A partial, later reflection of such
be found in the twelfth-century apse of S. Clemente
yet another
as
conservatism and continuity, as well as of the recurrent
Early Christian revivahsm, in
que
and partridges, and the river below, with
the pre-existing fifth-century mosaic.
in the twelfth century,
life it
scrolls
birds
cranes,
classical
and
Roman art. In the brilliant, supple naturaUsm of the animal
seems, indeed, that Torriti has succeeded in retaining or recapturing the Late Anti-
vitality associated
the riverside
The
rest
life
with the
of which are
lost
still
Constantinian mosaics of S. Costanza, the spirals and
recorded in a
scries
of the design, including the Coronation in
of early-sixtecnth-century
its
celestial circle, the
copies.
supporting
row of saints on either flank, appears to be Torriti's own inventwo Franciscan saints are present on an equal footing with the others
and, though represented on the usual smaller scale, the figures of Nicholas IV and of
Cardinal Colorma, instead of being mere insertions, play a carefully calculated compositional role. An interesting feature of the lower zone, between the windows, wliich
choirs of angels, and the

tion.
is
Now
the
also clearly to Torriti's
own design,
is
the placing of the Death oj the Virgin in the large
central field immediately underneath the Coronation.
The ensuing break
in the
chrono-
PIETRO CAVALLINI
logical sequence
link to be forged
of the Life of the Virgin allows an
between the upper and the
effective decorative
lo .ver zones.
and thematic
The germ of this
idea
may
He in the thematically similar vertical linkage of the magnificent, newly finished, stainedglass
roundel in Siena Cathedral.*
Throughout the main
shows himself
apsidal field Torriti
to be the master
of a
by close study of the Late Antique naturalism of

the fourth and fifth centuries. The fact that Torriti's interest in such matters was largely
circumscribed by the nature of the work in hand is shown by the treatment of the small
supporting scenes. The immediate background out of which he rises stands out very
clearly in such a context. The direct reminiscences cither of CavaUini's compositions in
S. Maria in Trastevere or of a common prototype do not disguise the way in which
Byzantine iconography retains Byzantine forms. When thinking of Amolfo and of
Cavallini it is aU too easy to ignore the testimony of the few surviving panel paintings
and forget that Rome immediately before their coming was merely one of the weaker
throughly Byzantine
style,
invigorated
outposts of the empire of Byzantine style. In Tuscany an influx of Byzantine art and
artists
Rome
served as a revivifying force throughout the

the contacts with the East are far
during the fmal quarter of the century the
naturahsm seems either to reach back to wholly
by
fresh importations
from
first
half of the thirteenth century. In
numerous and the results less striking. Even

interest in more sculptural forms and greater
less
the East than
by
different sources or to be inspired less
the surviving artistic records of the earher
and more classical or hellenizing phases of Byzantine art. The latter were, in any case,
by now an indistinguishable part of the common Antique heritage of Rome.
The flavour of Torriti's own Byzantinism is revealed by his Atiiiuuciation. In it CavalUni's swift and urgent angel gives way to a static, doll-like figure. The Virgin stands and
gestures, upright, paper-thin, as if cut from the pages of some late, provincial pattern
book. Behind her, the Cosmati-pattemed tlirone lacks the convincing mass of Cavallini's
The weaknesses of this particular idiom are what is stressed in

Its quahties become apparent only in the more excited linear
Adoration of the Magi or in the accelerating rhythm of the folds in the
architectural pile.
such a starkly simple scene.
contours of the
crowded scene of the Dormitioti.'' In the main mosaic of the apse the freedom from the
dominance of a single, relatively rigid iconographic pattern deriving from the need both
to retain sufficient reminiscences of the original mosaic for its aura of sanctity to be
transmitted to the new design and to insert the new central subject of the Coronation, seems to have resulted in styUstic Hberation. The new feeUng is visible not only in
the observation of animal hfe but also in the increased sofmess and fullness of the
draperies, especially those
of the seated Virgin herself Here,
the supporting scenes, the
compHcated
chrysahds in the very act of transformation,
at the
material forms. In the figure of Christ, with
its
vincing pose in legs and
The
feet,
the process
is less
as in a
number of figures
symbols for the folds are caught,
linear
moment of their
shghtly
far
more
in
like
softening into rich,
conservative and
less
con-
advanced.
by the regular, sweeping curve

more or less contemporary work in Tus-
simplified modelling of the heads, characterized
of the shadow along the jaw,

cany. This seems to be
is
more
close to that in
in the nature
of
common
characteristic than a direct

reflection
of the increasing back-pressure that Tuscan
art
was exerting towards the end
of the century against the expanding influence of the new developments in Rome.
Apart, however, from the question of the modeUing of the heads, which
with
it
plain,
seems very likely
that, in the figure
Amolfo's massive, seated
figures,
of the Virgin
Torriti's real
its
achievement
contribution.
The
hes,
at least, there
is
some echo of
and possibly of Cimabue's pictorial experiments,
well as of those that CavaUini was engaged upon in
makes
carried out
is
unglazed cubes, in contrast to the glazed, translucent tesserae of the draperies,
Rome
as
itself.
however, in the decorative whole to which each
detail
deUcate colour - pearl, and rose, and hlac - that so helps to
soften and flesh out the forms with gentle hfe,
is
set
ablaze
by golds and
deepens to
reds,
azure blues, and shines out coolly in the clear, pale blues and greens. Translucent specks
of highhght shimmer over every form.
It is
the last survivor in the long
hne of Roman
mosaic masterpieces stretching back towards Antiquity. As seemingly irrational in

general structure as a butterfly, and as beautiful in
it is,
its
hke any
special
butterfly, at
quahty to the
all
that
it
The power of the new
of those
ideas
S. Cecilia in
vital
is
new
ideas
This
strip
On
which were so rapidly
continues
Isaac
on one
side wall
traces
latter,
is
the central zone of
by the Annunciation, and on the other with

now only be seen from
and Esau. These fragments, which can
enough
framed by twisted columns, ran in
Above, between the windows
to
show
that the original

least
that
parallel
have in-
New Testa-
along the side-walls of
were topped by painted
quatrefoils, are
of the painted Gothic niches each of which presumably contained the figure of a
The
saint or prophet.
development of
less
to destroy
with the remains of a
cluded a full-scale Last Judgement and substantial cycles from the Old and
The
owes
and an
fragments of the fresco
scheme, which according to Ghiberti covered the whole interior, must at
the nave.
It
Rome
the entrance wall there
the intrusive sixteenth-century nuns' choir, are
ments.
its
vividness of detail,
essentially conservative art
fully apparent in the surviving
Trastevere.
gigantic Archangel Michael, followed
Dream and
on an
exciting impact
Frescoes in S. Cecilia in Trastevere in
a Last Judgement (Plate 42).
Jacob's
its
had stood for through so many centuries.
The
decoration of
colour and
once a promise of warm days and a memento mori.
first,
essentially conservative artist
that art and
its
secure than
decorative arrangement must therefore have been an immediate
that in S. Paolo.
it is
The
frescoes are not
frequently assumed to be.
The
documented. Even
their date
is
on Amolfo's new ciborium

were completed at the same time.
date 1293
no guarantee that the frescoes

more defuiite information a tentative assignment to the
early nineties raises no particular problems.
The links between the mosaics in S. Maria in Trastevere and the frescoes in near-by
S. CeciUa can be demonstrated in many ways. If only one example must suffice, the
most rewarding and perhaps intrinsically the soundest course, since it alone involves a
strict comparison of like with like, is to examine the two Annunciation scenes (Plate
40, A and b). Despite the fragmentary nature of the fresco, it is clear that the Angel
for the church
is
Nevertheless, in the absence of
PIETRO CAVALLINI
Gabriel shares the general pose and, within relatively narrow limits, the proportions of
counterpart in the mosaic. A similar sense of structure is revealed by the way in which
its
body shows beneath
the
and the intimacy of the
the clothing.
relationsliip
The same
swift urgency of movement
between the
figures
is
is
retahied,
even intensified by the nar-
rower, vertically accented format. The tubular folds across the angel's thighs and the
fluttering drapery behind his back remain unaltered. Even the down-thrusting joint of
the farther wing, held at a shghtly steeper angle in the
damaged
nose,
fresco just to the right
luminous
its
angel's head.
latter,
somewhat
field,
with
hair,
still
visible in the
is
its
long, straight
bears a recogniz-
differently proportioned head in the mosaic.
such variations differentiate the heads of the two Virgins, which, allowing for the
medium,
altered
are transposable in general and in detail.
Comparisons such
appear to show that the mosaics and the frescoes were
as these
designed and carried out under the same
were
artist.
This does not
by one unaided man. The
entirely executed
tion is
one of several points
seems clear that
mean
that the frescoes
greatly increased sensitivity of the
seated figures in the Last Jiidgewetit (Plate 42) seems to
it
narrowed
The
and the similar general styhng of the
eyes,
able family resemblance to the
No
of the
show
that the frescoed Amiimcia-
which assistants played a major part. With this proviso,

if Cavallini was the author of the mosaics, he must also have been re-
sponsible for the frescoes.
at
The
relationship of one to the other, and of both
of them
the lost frescoes in S. Paolo, supphes the necessary confirmation of Ghiberti's

all
three
As
view
were the work of one great man.
far as the Last Judgement itself is
concerned, the surviving fragments, taken in con-
junction with the preceding and succeeding versions of the subject both in
Rome
elsewhere, have allowed of a reasonable reconstruction of the whole. Although

itself
probably sHghtly
Cami
at Istanbul
the evolutionary
Rome
to
that
is
later in date, the great Last Judgement in the
a standing
dome of the
and
it is
Kahrie
warning of the danger of seeing Cavalhni's design within
framework of
document
a too exclusively
itself the vital
is
Roman
iconographic tradition. In
neither the mid-thirteenth-century fresco in
the
church of SS. Quattro Coronati nor the possibly almost contemporary, or possibly
late-twelfth-century, version in S. Giovanni a Porta Latina.
in the Vatican,
Roman
which was signed by Nicola
citizens.^
di
Paolo and
It is,
his
instead, the panel,
This panel, probably dating from the years 1235-40,
novel iconographic features
as the
now
son Pietro, both of them

is,
despite such
dual representation of the figure of Christ, heir both
North-West European tradition, long acclimatized in Italy, and to the Venetois embodied in the mosaic at Torcello. PecuHarly, almost
paradoxically, Roman is the placing of St Paul upon the left and of St Peter on the right
of Christ, a feature which also occurs in SS. Quattro Coronati and is taken over by
to the
Byzantine pattern that
Cavallini.
On
the other hand, the representation of the altar with the symbols of the
passion and the inclusion and expansion of the Byzantine motif of the leading to salvation of
all
manner of men, though they occur
version closer to the Kahrie

is
Cami fresco.
It is
the direct prototype of Cavallini's design.
Roman
panel, are in Cavallini's
103
Roman
Both may depend upon some
Judgement connected to the Byzantine tradition

I
in the
unlikely, therefore, that the
later to
panel
lost Last
flower in the Kahrie Cami.

symmetry
In Cavallini's fresco the majestic compositional

is
peculiar to Last Judgements
primarily embodied in the great line of Apostles seated in their thrones on either side of
the mandorla with
lowest register,
its
Cherubim and Seraphim.
balanced frame of
symmetry
this
is
trumpeting angels facing outwards from the central

accents of the angels
damned upon
with
who
upon
lead in the saved
altar,
the right, despite their anguished efforts to
intensity to the continuous
width of the
is
The
wall.
The
movement
static
the
but even to the three-fold
who expel the

move back towards
unwilling
the centre
promise of salvation. This superb arrangement of the angels serves
its
now
is
the left and
strengthen the symmetrical framework of the whole and to impart
above
what
Iii
extended with unusual clarity not only to the pairs of
from left to right across the full

by the seated figures in the zone
that extends
symmetry
once to
at
new rhythm and
established
thereby both reUeved and strengthened at a single stroke.
of the existing major subdivisions and the manner of their linkage show that
scale
two striking characteristics. The first was

number of constituent compositional elements. The second was the
the entire design must formerly have possessed

the unusually small
way
in
which CavaUini seems
only remarkable for

trast to the
its
in
its
that
unity.
was not
The con-
highly compartmentahzed character of all the earlier surviving examples of
full-scale Last Judgements
naturalism
whole
to have built these elements into a
symmetry and grandeur but exceptional

is
would demand
accentuated
by
the setting of the thrones. Post-Renaissance
that they receded inwards to the centre
of the composition.
Here, instead, they are seen in regular recession outwards to the wings of the design.
In this they follow the
Dormition in
which could
pieces,
S.
Maria
two
(Plate 39).
The whole long
so easily dissipate attention to the wings, causing the
paradoxically, held together
is,
of the
small, sentry-box-hke structures that flank the mosaic
m Trastevere
part of each and every one.
The
by
line
of seated
whole design
figures,
to fall to
the ensuing half-turn to the centre
on
concentration
on the
the all-important central axis
accentuated by the three-quarter pose of many of the heads.
It is
is
re-echoed by the faces
of the seraphim and fmally confirmed by the inward-facing near-profile of the figures
of the Virgin and St John on either side of the mandorla. This steady, balanced concentration
is
itself
immediately enlivened by the contrast with the boldly accentuated out-
ward-facing symmetry of the trumpeting angels in the zone below.
The large, clear rhythms of symmetry and contrast and enlivenment that are sounded
by the drumbeats of the major compositional elements, and fluently taken up and varied
by the woodwinds of the individual drapery forms and figure poses, also constitute the
basis
of the colour harmony. In the centre
blue.
On the left this colour-couple is slightly varied in
apostle and in the

apostle
ment
one
who
is
from the centre and
that
is
now
a bluish
seated third
the last but
the figure of Christ in deep earth-red and
is
from the
one
who
green or greenish blue.
quite symmetrical in placing, this arrangement sets

that provides a
the
left
echo
framework
the
centre.
somewhat
On
repeat the
Not
up
same
grey over a deep green.
clear red
outermost
the second
over
a gar-
a repeated, coupled colour accent
The first and

The fourth and
repeat a pearl-grey over blue. Such repetitions also run
104
it is
absolutely uniform in hue, not
for less powerful repetitions.
a violet-tinted
lighter
the right,
from
fourth apostles on
sixth
on the
right
side to side as the pattern
PIETRO CAVALLINI
ranges from three unrepeated colours at one extreme to the absolute symmetries of the
white-robed central angels, with their dull-green

lozenges, and their wings that run
brown, and honey-yellow,

transition, that
and disciphnes
is
from
at the other.
There
almost atmospheric in
this brilliant
form range from dark
cross-belts,
studded with deep-red
near-white to deep, dark red, deep green, deep
play of colour
is
a subtlety in
final effect.
its
is
more
The
every hue, a delicacy in
tonal unity that controls
extraordinary
still.
The ahnost
uni-
Hght across an extremely wide spectrum seems to have few

precedents and is not matched again till Leonardo's day. In terms of hne and tone and
colour, and in the feehng of hfe and sofmess that they fmally create, these few remains
to
are truly revolutionary.
The new humanity and warmth of presentation
Roman
splendour of a setting drawn from earUer
is
not destroyed by the majesty and
and Byzantine
art.
Limitations of
draughtsmanship prevent the heads from appearing to be fully in the round. They seem
instead to stand out in rehef against the ground plane of their haloes (Plate 44A). Nevertheless, it is clear that Cavallini is striving to create, not symbols on a wall, but Hving
forms presented in the round. The convincing structure of the seated figures, each
limb clear beneath its draperies (Plate 43), can only be compared with the sculptural
of Amolfo's Virgin on the tomb of Cardinal de Braye (Plate 233). In return, the
of design and the pictorial sohdiry of these undoubtedly famihar figures may
well have encouraged the accentuated sculptural clarity and volumetric discipline of the
clarity
clarity
Amolfo was so soon to carry out for the Duomo in Florence

The obvious relationship of many of the heads to the common ItaloByzantine pictorial tradition is matched by the way in which others, notably those of
the clean-shaven Apostles on the left, seem to demand comparison with Roman portrait
Virgin and Child that
(Plate 28a).
busts.
Comparisons with tenth-century Byzantine
well be carried over to the draperies,
The weighty, woollen or
ivories are also apt,
as far as their soft
and these
and heavy texture
is
may
concerned.
velvet quahty of Cavallini's painted garments
was foreon the right wall of the nave of S.

Paolo. The development of drapery as a soft and self-existent entity can be compared
with the similar evolution in Nicola Pisano's sculpture on the Siena pulpit (Plate 19)
shadowed
in
many of the drawings of the
or in Amolfo's
work of the
may
eighties.
frescoes
As an
indication of structural
loop lazily over an arm, or hang in gende
form such drapery
sometimes between the knees and therefore parallel to the picture plane, sometimes along the thighs,
establishing the reahty of volume and recession (Plate 43). It may be pulled taut into
is
magnificent.
parallel,
It
tubular folds
by
a sudden gesture or create a tight sheath for a
reminiscent of the frescoes and ciborium in

are just as effective in building
rhythm
folds,
across the surface
up
of the
S.
a unified, repetitive, yet
wall.
It is,
hand
in a
manner
Paolo. These same form-defining folds
wonderfully varied formal
indeed, the pattern-element in this drapery,
so seemingly classical in its fundamental relationship with the underlying body, which
shows that Cavallini was deeply moved by the more purely formal aspects of the burgeoning Gothic art. The tabernacles of the painted framework of the cycle represent
of Gothic architectural forms. But now, if one looks at the folds

hang down from the wrists or sweep diagonally across the chests, or if one runs an
his first surviving use
that
105
PAST three: painting 1250-1300

eye along the form of any hem, one suddenly discovers that the broad, calm cup-folds,
first
exploited in Italy
companied by
of so original an
trends
a
artist
but in
ficialities
by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano

upon reiterated soft
with so clear a vision of his
fundamentals that
its
As might be expected
S-curves.
Roman heritage,
not in
it is
its
super-
understanding of contemporary Gothic
his
The enUvening, sinuous S-curve ceases, in his hands, to be merely

It presents no clash with the vision of Antique humanity which
budding Christian humanism of his style.
to be found.
is
Gothic trade-mark.
lies
behind the
Knowledge of
Roman paintings then surviving, but now lost, may easily

new softness and atmospheric quality of Cavallini's style. These
ancient
have contributed to the
on
quahties are certainly not based
founded on the
the
form
that
a blurred or uncertain handling
marks the structure of the composition
discipline that
is
in the Perugia fountain, are ac-
a constant emphasis
it
as a
of the brush. The
whole or of each
discipline that controls each individual stroke in
its
figure in
it
relationship to
defmes. Almost any detail, like the head of the uppermost Seraph on the
right (Plate 44A), reveals the form-creating, form-defining continuity of Cavallini's
brushwork.
A flow of individual,
brushpoint strokes
neck or shape the varying curve across the brow.

the temple over the
smooth cheek and
is
used to turn the column of the
similar current runs
mouth
past the small, uncertain
down from
into the
shadow
of the chin. The obvious limitations of descriptive power serve only to accentuate the
brilhance of attack in such things as the swelling of the large and luminous eyes within
their firmly sculpted sockets.
bring to Ufe such features
Here
at last, if
Cavallini
may
similar crisp stroke
as
It is
in S.
the hair of the Apostle
therefore possible to
Maria
and sense of decorative and de-
brushwork of the
parallel
on
anywhere, the personal hand of the
be seen.
of the mosaics
status
underHe the continuous,
scriptive function
in Trastevere.
draperies or
the extreme right (Plate 43).
artist
make
who
has been identified as
a fmal, closer
Comparison of the
check upon the
seated apostles with
the Angel Gabriel in the Amnmciation (Plate 40 b) betrays the intervention of the restorer
in the
sudden degeneration of the
amorphous
exactly
folds
between them.
how much
the mosaicist or
lower knee. Similarly,
Although the
of such close comparisons reveals almost
series
Cavallini's personal ideas
have been distorted by the intervention of
by subsequent damage.
frescoes in S. CeciHa, notably the Last Judgement
Sabine church of
traces
crisp, tubular folds beside the
nothing of the original design survives in the Virgin's shapeless knees or in the
httle or
S.
itself,
are echoed in the
Maria in Vescovio near Stimigliano, there are few surviving
of Cavallini's impact in
Rome
itself.
doubtedly the half-repainted fresco of
The most important of
Christ, the Virgin,
and
these
few
is
three Saints in the
unapse
in Vclabro. At best it seems to be no more than a workshop product and

from the period following 1295, when a latc-scvcntccnth-ccntury source
that Giacomo Gaetano Stefancschi became cardinal deacon of the church and
of S. Giorgio
may
date
declares
supervised
in S.
Maria
its
redecoration. This adds interest to the Stefaneschi origins of the mosaics
in Trastevere. Finally, there
of a Stefancschi
link
with
S.
is
rather imccrtain sixteenth-century evidence
Cecilia during the fourteenth century. If this
tinuation of a long-standing connexion, Cavallini's activit)' in
106
was the con-
Rome would seem
to
be
PIETRO CAVALLINI
an
of the power of one of the great noble famiHcs which, between

them, were the effective civic and ecclesiastical rulers of the city.
artistic reflection
The
Frescoes in S.
Maria Donna Retina
Naples
in
The last great surge of CavaUini's art is to be seen in S. Maria Donna Regina
The church was only founded in 1307 and was substantially complete by c.
in Naples.
1320.
The
extensive cycle of frescoes covering the
main walls of the nims' choir and of the nave

(Figure 20) cannot, therefore, be connected with CavaUini's documented activities in
Naples during 1308. Nevertheless, with its Last Judgement flanked by scenes from the
Old and New Testaments set in three tiers and articulated by twisted columns; with
the side-wall lighting organized as if it fell from the oculus high up in the end-wall;
with its almost, but not quite, completely consistent attempt to show all the architectural
framework, notably the complex brackets and angel-inhabited trefoil arches that supported the roof, as if seen from a low and central viewpoint, it remains one of the most
complete and most important re-adaptations of the Roman scheme reflected in S. Ceciha.
The number of hands involved in the work;

when compared with the frescoes
tions in style
early-fourteenth-century Tuscan art;
what
part, if any, Cavallini
Roman style may

men who were trained as
his
and varia-
make
it
extremely
difficult to
of
decide
himself played in the execution of these paintings. Recently
the tendency has been to give liim
with
these
all
the differences in technique
in S. Cecilia; the manifest uifluence
less
and
less.
Even those
parts
his assistants.
The
most
closely cormected
work of one of the many
conceivably be the independent
standing figure of the Prophet David
is
perhaps the finest of a nimiber of similar representations (Plate 44B), and the one which
seems to
most
fit
closely into the apparent line
combination of humanity and power, of
of CavaUini's development.
It
shows
spheric dehcacy and subtlety of transition in the modelling. These are accompanied
a strength
of characterization and a firmness
three-quarter view,
it
be
his
own
which
procedures and
artistic
in CavaUini's art.
work of a man
steeped in the
aims, the figure seems to give
It is also characteristic
some
that this set
knowledge of
It is this
nave of St
Peter's,
probably
Whether
his technical
indication of the later trends
of over-Ufe-size standing figures
'much
should recaU the figures which Ghiberti says that he painted

natural' in the
by
of the head, shown in
in the structure
certainly surpasses anything similar in S. Cecilia.
creation or the
drapery and atmo-
soft materiality in the
greater than the
many years before.
mixture of conservatism and profound originaUty
this
old schemes, to accept an iconographic pattern and to transform
it
abihty to revitahze
by
the
manner of its
execution; to see, to understand, to learn from, and to recombine the Antique, Early
Christian, Byzantine, and
Romanesque elements
in his artistic heritage in the
hght of
fundamental to CavaUini's achievement. Indeed, the rediscovery of

nature through the art of Late Antiquity is as essential an element in CavaUini's painting
as it was in Nicola Pisano's sculpture. In this particular, as in every other, Rome and
nature, that
is
Cavallini carry
on
in painting that
same revolution which,
with the town of Pisa and the name Pisano.

107
in sculpture,
is
associated
CHAPTER
COPPO
Good,
II
MARCOVALDO AND GUIDO DA
DI
better, best; the
bad
is left
behind. This
of art out of the slough of medieval barbarism

high peaks of Antiquity from which
the burden of Vasari's epic of the rise
is
tUl,
with Michelangelo,
had once
it
SIENA
it
overtops the
So irreplaceable
fallen.
is
Vasari's
knowledge of lost sources, so perceptive is his eye, so sure the scale of values upon
which he works, and so persuasive is the teUing of his tale, that his Lives of the Painters,
first pubhshed in 1550, has had a mesmeric effect on subsequent historians. Even allowing for the accidents of time, this has contributed to the relative obscurity of artists such
Coppo
Marco valdo and Guido da Siena. The natural influence of Vasari's thought
by the very nature of historical study. What is easily described and
catalogued tends to be quickly accepted and takes precedence over what is not. Line
and composition are, for example, easier to record than colour. The statements made
about them can more readily be checked away from the work of art itself As a result
the written history of art is largely monochrome. Then again, within a given class of
as
di
has been intensified
works, closely related in format and in geographical and chronological distribution, a
growing
When
interest in the representation
of the natural world
is
relatively easily charted.
great artists are abundant and an ever-increasing naturahsm
their art there
is
is
major aspect of
an inevitable tendency to think in terms, not merely of
historical
change, but of continual progress and improvement. This attitude does not, indeed,
originate with Vasari:
admirers during the
it
was already
late thirteenth
of many
characteristic
and early fourteenth
important to avoid implying that increased naturahsm

greater artistic value.
Nowhere
is
this truer
Coppo
Coppo
is first
mentioned
It is
not
signed the
del
now known whether he was,
their patrons
It is
and
therefore very
synonymous with
Coppo
di
Marcovaldo.
Marcovaldo
which culminated
Madonna
and
necessarily
is
than in the case of
of Florentines conscripted for the
as a shield-bearer in the hst
disastrous struggle against Siena
A year later he
di
artists
centuries.
Bordone in
at the time,
of Montaperti in 1260.
in the Battle
S.
Maria dei Servi
among
the
many
at Siena (Plate 46).
Florentine prisoners
taken by the Sienese or was simply a master-painter imdcr contract in the normal way.
In 1265 and 1269
Coppo was working on
lost frescoes in the
1274 the cathedral authorities petitioned that

debtors' prison for four
Virgin
months
to help his father
and St John. These were to be
intended for a
beam above
otherwise so great a
scries
set
up
Duomo
his son, Salerno,
on
a crucifix
in the choir together
the altar of St Michael.
The
at Pistoia,
and
in
be released from the
and two panels of the

with
second crucifix
authorities pointed out that
of works could not be carried out, and anyway Salerno's
earnings could be set against his debt.
The now
108
lost,
but signed and dated, panel of the
COPI'O DI
SIENA
was completed by the end ofjanuary 1275, and one of the crucifixes still
somewhat damaged state, in the sacrist)' of the cathedral. Nevertheless, in
Virgin
in a
hre paid to
lire
Coppo
which Salerno
for painting the ceiling over the choir
still
owed
the
Commune. Even the
were
set against a
survives,
1276, six
sum of
100
recent big commissions had seem-
ingly failed to set this impecunious family of painters
The
on its feet.
of Coppo's Madonna of 1261 shows how deeply ingrained the belief in tlie
improvement of the arts already was in certain ecclesiastical circles in late-
story
styhstic
thirteenth- and carly-fourtccnth-century Siena (Plate 46).

for
its
date.
two main
Yet
it
figures
It was itself an advanced work

was probably only just over half an century later that the heads of the
were beautifully repainted in the then triumphant maimer of Duccio.
Luckily the panel was not scraped before repainting, and the powerful styhzations of
Madonna and Child can
the original features of Coppo's
still
be seen in X-ray photo-
graphs.i
The panel owes

actual size.
Its
impact and
its
height of 7 feet
historical
inches and
importance to two things. The

its
width of 4
feet (2-20
by
first is its
1*25 m.) fore-
shadow the
late-thirteenth-century tendency for panel paintings to approach the scale
of
The second
frescoes.
hanced by the
is the nionumentahty of the design itself. This is greatly ensombre colour, wliich is based on gold and brown, on touches of
rich, yet
vermilion, and above
all
on the deep, browiiish
owe
purple-lilac
of the Virgin's gold-striated
draperies.
The
recalls the
technique for obtaining translucent colour which Theopliilus
latter
their peculiar ricliness partly to
in his early-twelfth-century treatise.
cately tinted varnishes,
though
however, certain that the
crisp
The
this is a
effect
may
an underlayer of silver. This
matter of continuous technical debate.^
folds,
which
deliIt is,
formahzation of the golden Hghts would once have
harmonized with the styhzation of the heads. The decorative

mental drapery
recommended
even have been enhanced by
angularities
of the seg-
reveal the styHstic premises but not the actual sources
of
the prismatic draperies of Nicola Pisano's Pisa pulpit, signed in the preceding year, are
another aspect of its decorative power. As with Nicola, though to a
much more hmited
do not disguise the quite new sense of volume and

painting from its Romanesque and Italo-Byzantine fore-
extent, these decorative quahties

solidity that distinguishes this
runners.
setting
The new
of the
The small,
link
fmds particular expression
spatial feeling
legs, as
well
as
floating, spatially unrelated figures
between the Madonna
in the convincing diagonal
of the upper torso and shoulders, of the figure of the Virgin.

del
of the angels are the principal surviving
Bordone and the large Crucifix at
S.
Gimignano which
is
The X-rays of the Virgin in Siena suggest, however, that originally the styhzations of the main heads would have provided a
major reason for assigning the two works to the same hand. The head of the Crucified
often attributed to
Coppo
(Plates
45A and
22b).
Christ has already been discussed in relation to Pietro Oderisi's sculpture
(p. 57).
Now,
and those of the styhzations of the torso or of the bright, pale, bluewhite loincloth, can also be related to the conventions which had earher been evolved in
its
linear quahties,
the
less
tractable
medium of mosaic. As
often happens,
beginning to take an interest in mass and volume

ploitation
of the
linear briUiance
who
of their predecessors.
109
it is
are
just those artists
most
who
are
sensitive in their ex-

The
Gimignano
belief that the S.
Crucifix
is
by Coppo may never harden
of the lack of strictly comparable works. Assuming that
tainty because
format of the Crucifix, which possibly antedates the Madonna

confirms Coppo's strong dependence on the
past.
it is his,
into cer-
the very
Bordone by a few years,
del
This pattern, with
its
six small scenes
from the Passion on the apron, goes right back to the Late Romanesque forms current
in Tuscany and Umbria at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Spoletan,
of these early
Florentine, and Sienese examples
fmest and most numerous
members of the group
crucifixes
have survived, although the
originate in Pisa. Indeed, the Pisan and
Lucchese crucifLxes provide a thumbnail sketch of the whole process whereby the openeyed, triumphant Christ,
artists in
which seems
to have been the sole type favoured by ItaHan

was gradually superseded by the pathetic, swaying,
closely connected to the forms becoming popular in
the late twelfth century,
dead, Byzantine Christ, so
Northern Europe.
The
figure
on
the S.
Gimignano
Francesco
There
at Assisi.
as yet
is
and almost
Crucifix only reflects the gentle curve
standing posture in such works as Giunta Pisano's signed Crucifix of
c.
1235-40 in
S.
no echo of the more pronounced sway developed
by Giunta in his later signed works in the Museo Civico at Pisa and in S. Domenico at
Bologna. The proof that this is due as much to Coppo's innate conservatism as to any
need to leave sufficient space for the subsidiary scenes that may have been demanded by
his patrons Hes in the
later
works, which
1274, in the
Duomo
weaker
rather
slimmer forms and greater sway, approximating to that in Giunta's

incorporated in the iconographicaUy similar Crucifix, dating from
The documents support
at Pistoia.
styHstic character to
The unfortunate
Duomo
is
at Siena
denial
means
of
access to the frescoes attributed to
that
Gimignano Crucifix that an

as might be expected, there
the attribution of the latter's
Coppo's son Salerno.
it
is
idea of Coppo's narrative

is little
Coppo beneath
only through small scenes hke those on the
that
is
powers
is
to be gained.
the
S.
Although,
grandly dramatic about them, a sense of live-
and an occasional narrative inventiveness are everywhere enriched by highly
liness
developed powers of decorative schematization.
The only other work with
strong claims to be
documented Madonna and Child
in S.
by Coppo
Maria dei Servi
nexion with the Florentine order for which
is
the unsigned and un-
Orvieto (Plate 45b). The con-
at
Coppo had
previously worked, and the
building of the church between 1265 and 1268, provide a prehminary framework for the
attribution. This
is
based not merely on the general resemblance to the Madonna del
Bordone (Plate 46), which includes the rich, distinctive colouring, but on numerous
points of detail in the throne, in the draperies, and above
angels.
The
works
associated with
all
in the small attendant
constant interplay between the forces of tradition and of innovation in the
Coppo
is
again apparent. As the result of a
more
pose, related to the Byzantine Hodeîtria design, the figure of the Virgin
cally coherent in the relationship
is
also a distinct return
from the
towards the manikin figure

Italy.
of legs and torso and
rule out
less
organi-
spatially less convincing.
relatively child-like Christ
common
Whether such changes
is
conservative
is
of the Madonna
del
both to Romanesque and to Byzantinizing
Coppo's authorship or merely
reflect the
There
Bordone
art in
impact
COPPO
of Guido da Siena, which

is
debatable. So also
is
DI
also felt in
is
SIENA
some of the iconographic and decorative
the question as to
whether
a five- to ten-year interval
details,
can account
for the altered proportions in the head of the Christ Child or the disappearance of the
sweeping linear curves seen
at the comers of the eyes of both the Madonna del Bordone

Gimignano Crucifix (Plate 22b). The stylistic revolution, involving even the
technical details, which is undergone by Nicola Pisano's art in the five- to eight-year
gap between the Pisan and the Sienese pulpits is a reminder that the problem is indeed a
and the
S.
problem. Nevertheless, srjHstic revolutions of this kind are

in late-thirteenth-century pamting,
more
conservative than sculpture.
attribution.
On
rarely, if ever, documented

which appears in this respect to be considerably
Such arguments inevitably cast a shadow on the
the other hand, the vigorously three-dimensional modelling of the
heads; the emergence of a spatially considered relationship between the
more convincing
angels and the throne ; the
throne
itself;
the firmer relationship
recession
between the
latter
two supporting
of the planes throughout the

and the seated Virgin, due in
upon the right, in conMadonna in Siena; these
part to the sensitive and significant contour of the drapery folds

trast to the
more purely
decorative features
are innovations that exactly
fit
Apart from the large Criidfix
of the Virgin and Child in
S.
on
the left of the
the experimental side of Coppo's artistic personaHty.

in Arezzo,
connected with Cimabue, only the altarpiece
Maria Maggiore in Florence, w^hich
executed before the end of the
sixties,
unhkely to have been
is
can reasonably be attributed to Coppo's workshop
or immediate following (Plate 47a). Part
relief,
part panel painting, the latter seems to
be the work of several hands. The naive conservatism inherent in

effort to give actual
and charm of
this
body
to the figures of the Virgin and Child
this
seldom repeated
essential to the
example of late-thirteenth-century interpenetration in the
combination of hieratic
stiffness,
of Uvely reahsm and almost

It
is
softened
by
a half-smile,
total unrealit)' in the
end
also provides a useful standard for the assessment
power
The
arts.
and of decorative animation,
result,
is
singularly attractive.
of Coppo's sadly few but
still
formidable achievements.^
Guido da Siena
A much
larger
group of works
is
connected with the
appears to have been Coppo's nearest and most gifted
name of Guido da
rival.
There
is
Siena,
who
a multipHcity
of
Guides in contemporary documents, and several unconvincing attempts have been
from his sole surviving signature,

on the enormous panel of the
Madonna and Child in the Palazzo PubbHco in Siena (Plate 48A), reads 'me guido de
SENIS DIEBUS DEPINXIT AMENIS QUEM XRS LENIS NULLIS VELIT AGERE PENIS
ANODiMCCXXi'. The inscription itself is liighly controversial because of what appears
to many to be the wild st)'listic improbabiUty, if not the downright impossibihty, of the
made
to connect the painter, kno^^Tl in the
with otherwise
date.
The
first
place
identifiable personahties. This signature,
situation
is
further
compHcated because the
authorities, in their subsequent
enthusiasm for the art of Duccio, had the throne and the faces and hands of the main
figures repainted in the early fourteenth century.
the hands and
from the
The
Virgin's head-dress, but not
repaint has been
from her
veil.
removed from
main heads
In the

the preparatory scraping of the panel
lost.
Among
means
no
that even X-rays give
hint of
what
is
the faces, only those of the small angels in the spandrels survive in their
original state.
It is,
moreover, uncertain that the separate gable originally belonged to
the panel.*
Recent technical investigations have shown that the present inscription is not painted
on top of an earher version.^ This is no proof that it antedates the Ducciesque repainting,
since there may previously have been no inscription at all. Moreover, a number of
curious pigment marks which may seriously affect the argument have not been satisfactorily explained. The inscription itself is both ill-spaced and crowded because of the
narrowness of the strip on which it stands. Furthermore, the wording is identical with
that of the surviving parts of the inscription on the low, gabled dossal with heavily
moulded, round and trilobate arches which comes from CoUe Val d'Elsa and is
now in the Pinacoteca at Siena (no. 7). The cutting of this panel, with its half-length
figures
of the
inscription.
which
Virgin and Child andfour Saints, has destroyed the beginning
The name of the
now reads as
and end of the
painter has disappeared, together with the last
word of a
Even allowing for the repainted areas in the altarpiece

the Palazzo PubbUco, the styhstic links between the two works are extremely close
date
every point, and the

fore
the
form the
CoUe Val
with the
lost
127-.
name
is
tentative nucleus
d'Elsa panel
is
five other surviving
lower quahty,
mid century.
The panel of
of Guido's surviving work. This
not only approximately dated but
members of a
fairly
shares the
dossal,
wide
styhstic group.
6, Siena,
important, since
closely connected
AU
these panels,
Pinacoteca) which, because of
the Virgin and Child
from
S.
Bernardino (no.
after the
16, Siena, Pinacoteca)
wood-carved firmness of modelling of the heads of the Colle Val
with which
it is
almost identical
relationship to the Virgin (Plate 483).
as regards the
The
d'Elsa
pose of the Cluist Child and
its
date as 1262,
than the dossal and exactly one year after the completion of
for the Servites in Siena (Plate 46).
The latter
is
Coppo
di
Marcovaldo's
the probable source both of the
pose of the Christ Child and of the accentuated diagonal placing of the Virgin's
An equally close connexion with Guido's Palazzo Pubbhco panel

dated 1221,
is
of the
latter's cloak.
precise extent
The Maesta from

amounts
panel
is
figures
legs.
(Plate 48A), ostensibly
to be seen in the detail of the back of the throne, in the pose and treatment
of the Virgin generally, and even

edge of the
its
down, but a sevensome ten years earher
panel has been badly cut
teenth-century record of the lost inscription gives
Madonna
is
is
normally assigned to Guido's workshop, date from well
is
at
almost certainly that of Guide. The two panels there-
including an almost exactly similar dossal (no.

its
in
in the dramatically
emphasized geometric play of the
Variations in the flesh-painting nevertheless leave the question
of Guido's contribution open.

S.
Agostino in
to another version
S.
Gimignano,*
now
in the Pinacoteca Civica,
of the Palazzo Pubbhco Madonna
(Plate 48A).
Although the
cut at top and bottom, the base of the original pediment with the half-length
of the Redeemer and Angels
Madonna
the pediment
is
not be contemporary, the
still
survives.
Whereas
in the Palazzo
detached from the main panel, with which

S.
Gimignano Maesta
is
in
one
piece.
As
it
Pubbhco
may
in the
or
may
Madonna
COPPO
DI
formerly dated 1262 (Plate 48B), the pose of the Christ Child
by Coppo
lished
is
SIENA
a variant
of that estab-
in 1261.^
This catalogue of repetitions and near-repetitions, containing three other closely

is enough to show that Guido is an artist in whom, far more even than
Coppo, innovation marches hand in hand with stubborn conservatism. He was openminded enough to seize on Coppo's invention and accentuate some of its salient
related panels,^
in
features. After that
new formida
he was content, with the assistance of
his
workshop, to repeat the
time and again with only minor modifications. The catalogue also demon-
Palazzo Pubblico Madonna belongs to a very closely interwoven group of

which all the other members must date from well beyond the mid century.
group includes on its periphery the horizontal, rectangular dossal of 5; Peter and
strates that the
wôrks of
Tliis
six Scenes Jrom his Life.^

last
Although the panel probably dates from the beginning of the
quarter of the century,
it
continues a pattern already popular throughout Central
mid century. The scheme goes back at least as far as the dated Sienese panel
The latter, together with the shghtly later Enthroned Madonna and Child in the
Italy at the
of 1215.1"
Opera
del
Duomo,
is
among
the only surviving early-thirteenth-century dossals
com-
bining low relief and panel painting in a manner which reveals the long tradition pre-
ceding the late-thirtcenth-century
S.
Maria Maggiore Madonna from Coppo's
circle.
Neither the Sienese panel of 1215 nor any earlier or contemporary work, nor even any
of the Sienese or other Central
Italian panels datable to the
succeeding thirty years, bears
the slightest styHstic resemblance to Guido's Palazzo Pubblico Madonna.
throughout
correct,
this period,
even an echo of an echo of what would,
have been one of the greatest
Apart from the curious nature of the

rather than into the
first
third
There
if the date
not,
is
122 1 were
explosions in the history of Italian
stylistic
inscription,
its
lettering
fits
happily into the
of the century, and many other
chronological position in the styUstic group with which
it is
features
art.
final,
confirm
so closely related.
No other
gabled or rectangular panel with an inscribed arch can be dated before the mid century. '' The type of moulding is, moreover, closely connected with other examples
from about 1270 or later. Then again, the rich sinuous naturahsm of the Virgin's
superbly decorative halo, in which line and punching are combined for the first time in
Sienese art, is only to be matched in later works. This is another innovation seemingly
derived from Coppo's Madonna of 1261 (Plate 46). Finally, there are no remotely similar
examples of the diagonal setting of the Virgin's legs or of the perspective treatment of
the throne on which she sits in any Itahan panels from the first part of the century. These
very features, on the other hand, complete the pattern of the other works ascribed to
Guido. They represent an exciting exploitation of the

in
Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna of 1261.

The whole sequence of Guido's development
del
Bordone on a hitherto conservative Siena.
ploited in a
Then
way
that
is
the figure group
stylistic
reflects the
impact of Coppo's Madonna
First, certain details
immediately acknowledged in Coppo's

is
gradually opened up
break-through achieved
of the pose are ex-
ovm subsequent works.
the perspective setting of the throne
strengthened and the interval between the figures and the frame expanded.
means the Palazzo Pubblico Madonna gains
"3
a spaciousness
By
is
such
and freedom, even an

informality, that
Guido's
is
own
(Plate 48 a). It
is
of repeated, boldly contrasted diagonals that the
a spaciousness so cunningly built

fullest values
up
both of harmony and
contrast are given to the smooth, planar arching of the back of the throne, to the even
curves of the rounded trilobe above, and to the brilhant linear zigzags of the draperies.
A similar decorative
many of the
precision
Pisan, Lucchese,
moves towards
new
the
to
is
be found in one form or another in the work of
and Florentine
who were making
artists
the
conception of pictorial and narrative reaHsm.
It
furst
tentative
recurs in the
boldly contrasted curved, rectangular, and pointed forms of the Last Judgement at
Grosseto,'^
which
probably a
is
silhouette, firm styhzation,
colour, running
from
contrast.
product of Guido's shop. These quahties of sharp
combined with
line are
intense, cold ultramarine to
which involves both
greens,
late
and sweeping
The outcome
figures
of
and architecture alike in an exciting play of tonal
the dramatic and emotional
is
a brilUant range
vermihons, yellows, pinks, and
power of
the Crucifixion gable
now at Yale,
of the shutters of the Lives of the Saints in Siena, and of the twelve scattered
narrative panels which must likewise have belonged to some large altarpiece.
The range of Guido's
narrative designs
is
wdde. At one end of the scale are the
melodious simpHfications of scenes like the Stigmatization
of
St Fraricis^^ and the vigorous
dramatic reahsm of the Princeton Annunciation or of the Flagellation
At the other
is
now at Altenburg.i'*
crowded naturahsm and dramatic invention of the
the
Christ mounting the Cross, at Utrecht (Plate 47b). Expressive gestures,
Christ and of the soldier hauling at his outstretched
arm
rare scene
of
whether those of
or of the flailing group formed
as the
Virgin rushes to protect her Son, are combined with a multiplicity of reaHstic
details
such
of the
nails.
as those
of the nude thief seated on the
The whole
fresco painters at Assisi
Only
is
The power of his
chese painters of the
more
right, or
of the energetic hammering
a colourful, small-scale prelude to the achievements
of the
and elsewhere.
a glance at the descriptive
Pisano's Siena pulpit

tor.
is
naturahsm of the Adoration
required to set the Hmits

art largely
first
upon Guido's
depends on quahties
common
A different art,
far-ranging in descriptive and associative emphasis,
is
(Plate 20a)
role as
an
on Nicola
artistic
to the Pisan
more complex
innova-
and Luc-
in ambition,
soon to follow. Neverthe-
would be hard to say that it was grander or more moving than the work of Coppo
more rich in decorative drama and deUght than that of Guido da
Siena. Between them they reveal the fundamental unity of Tuscan art in the mid
thirteenth century. It is a blend of Romanesque and of Byzantine elements, largely
untouched as yet by the new movement under way in Rome. It overrides the fortunes of
recurrent warfare and the subtle aesthetic distinctions that are often given an undue
less, it
di Marcovaldo, or
importance in the hght of subsequent events.
114
CHAPTER
12
CIMABUE AND THE UPPER CHURCH OF

S.FRANCESCO AT
The new
by Rome in the history of Florentine painting during the late

nowhere seen more clearly than in the career of Cenni di Pepi,
Cimabue. It is symbohzed by his being recorded as a signatory of a legal
part played
thirteenth century
known
ASSISI
as
is
document of 1272, preserved in the archives of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, which also
contain the earliest mention of Pietro Cavallini, dating from 1273. It is no less suggestive
that his sole surviving documented work is to be found in Pisa, the great port of entry
for Byzantine art and artists during the half-century after the
1204.
Rome and
of ideas that welded a
The
fall
of Constantinople
Byzantium: these are the formal poles between which flowed
reference in the
new art.
Roman document of 1272
to
in
a current
'Cimabove, pictore de Florcncia'
was already an independent master. The ensuing quarter of a century

of documentary silence is only broken when, in September 1301, he took over the
execution of the surviving mosaic in the apse of the Duomo at Pisa from a certain
shows
that he
Francesco di
he
is
from
S.
Simone
same Francesco
his
work on
there are
Mare. The
a Porta a
that
who
in
May
latter
is
otherwise unrecorded, unless
unknown reasons
From August onwards
1298 had been discharged for
the mosaics in the baptistery at Florence.
weekly payments to Cimabue
at the
same
rate
of ten
soldi a
day
as
previously been assigned to Francesco. These continue into January 1302. Then,
19 February, having completed ninety-four days
records, he
is
specifically stated, in
work
connexion with
in
all,
a further
had
on
according to surviving
payment, to have carried
out the figure of St John.i Finally, a document of July 1302, preserved in Florence,
shows him
to
have been
The Mosaic
member of the
in the
Duomo
Pisan miUtar\' society of the Piovuti.
at Pisa
and the
Madonna
S. Trinita
This short catalogue of fact shows that the figure of St John in the Pisan mosaic
is
the
only means by which surviving works can be attached to the recorded name. The
mosaic of Christ enthroned with

figure of the Virgin
is
the Virgin
known from
and St John
is
violently restored, and the
a lost inscription not to
have been completed
There are therefore wide divergencies of handling within an Italo-Byzantine

scheme which was originally developed for flat surfaces, and consequently looks a
Htde uncomfortable among the bold, distorting curvatures of its new apsidal setting.
until
321.
Luckily the upper half of the St John, which

in the mosaic,
tide-mark
From
is
is st)'listically
relatively well preserved, the rising flood
distinct firom
anything
of restoration having
else
left a
at the hips (Plate 53A).
this
one figure of St John
it is
possible to
115
move with
reasonable certainty

to the great altarpiece
from
S.
of the Madonna and Child enthroned with Angels and Prophets
The
Trinita in Florence (Plate 50).
detailed treatment
and especially of the nose with the V-shaped nick

well
as
of the
eyes,
mouth,
chin,
of the
features of St John,
with the forehead, as
at the junction
and neck, and even of the hands,
found in the Angels and in the Christ Child of the

heads in the Child and in St John are
The only
is
very close to that
The
altarpiece.
of the
structure
on
problem of the three-quarter view results in an almost frontal face that splays and
flattens on the right to show an almost profile head and ear. The similarity between the
draperies on the right shoulders of the Christ and of the St John is even more constrictly similar.
half-successful attack
the
by
vincing. Despite the golden highhghts in the panel, the figures are close-linked
Hvely, crumpled, textural quahty of the folds. Another not too
they share
in the
is
common
the leaf-shaped gouging of the folds in the upper left
arms of the lowest pair of angels
in scale, there
is
arm of St John and
in the panel. Finally, allowing for the
nowhere any point of conflict. Apart from
all
the
feature that
change
the positive connexions,
nothing jars, and nothing miHtates against identity of authorship.

It is
only in comparison with mosaic or with fresco that the S. Trinita Madonna
small. In terms
of panel painting
it
is
physically and compositionally
12 feet 8 inches high and 7 feet 4 inches wide (3'85
average large thirteenth-century panel.
works of Coppo
di
It
Marcovaldo and Guido da
to have been introduced in
The
feet.
Romanesque
Tuscany
2-23 m.),
it is
twice the
size
of the
continues a trend already estabHshed in the
of the earher surviving panels by over three

modification of the rectangular
by
is
monumental;
Siena,
and overtops even the biggest
There
is
altar
in the 1260s
nothing novel in the gabled
panel which seems, as has been seen,
and to have rapidly become popular.
Italo-Byzantine elements in the poses of the
two main
figures, in the schematic
highlights of the draperies, in the figures of the angels generally and in the heads of
new,
the four prophets in particular, are readily apparent. Nevertheless,
it
revolutionary elements in the design that claim attention. There
unprecedented
is
the
is
weight, solidity, and grandeur in the throne that towers up and leads the eye
in, stage
by stage, towards the all-important figures of the Virgin and the Christ Child. These
two are further accentuated by the height of the viewpoint indicated by the numerous,
firmly constructed and clearly visible receding surfaces, which do not, however,
actually focus on a single spot. The achievement of structural unity and of clear spatial
recession within so complex a piece of architecture is a revolution in itself Having
achieved so much, the artist has as yet been quite unable to include within the terms
of his construction any indication of its hind supports. The result, at once so solid and
so insubstantial, still commands a wilHng suspension of disbelief from the knowing
modem onlooker. It must have had an overwhelming impact upon men to whom
the sHghtest and least thorough incorporation even of a hint of structural reahsm was
an unexpected revelation.
As revolutionary
in panel painting as the throne itself is
for the eight attendant angels.
architecture
arc
shown
is
Once
achieved without a
to stand
on
final, logical
a firm surface.
its
exploitation as a platform
again a real relationship between figures and

explanation, for only the lowest pair
The intended
1X6
realism of the scene
is
proved,
cimabue: upper church of
s.
Francesco at
however, even by such small and almost humorous

fix the
heavy golden halos on the
How
wire
details as the
sohd and substantial these choir-boy angels
unusual in such an iconographic context,
symbohc forms appearing on
used to
clips
The very elements that recall the otherinvaded by the down-to-earth mechanics
angels' heads.
worldly insubstantiahty of angelic forms are
of the mystery play.
assisi
is
shown by
the altarpieces of
Coppo
are,
and
how
comparison with the tiny
di
Marcovaldo and Guido da
which the
Siena (Plates 45-7). Finally, the compositional cunning with
angels' heads
and hands have been arranged to give both symmetry and variety, while once more
leading the eye in with increasing furmess to the focal centres in the upper part of the
design,
no less notable.
combined with symmetry,
is
Variety,
also a feature
is
of Cimabue's use of colour.
The graduated hues of the angels' wings and robes are paired symmetrically across the
altarpiece. They also play their part in a continuous colour chain that runs from intense
coral red, through rose and
down
lilac,
saturated colour
of the Virgin's robe. Despite the linkage with
play, the golden ribbing
Coppo's
large,
on
bold patterns.
of the underlying material.
something between
tive presentation
associated
is
It
It is
acquires at times the broken, ahnost rumpled, quality
no longer purely
a naturahstic, or
sari.
this subtle colouristic
the draperies has lost the stylized a-textural clarity of
symbol, but has become
a decorative
perhaps a supcrnaturahstic, highlight and an objec-
of the golden-threaded textural dehcacy that
with the
warm and cool

down to the fully
to lilac-grey, and then through
greys to grey-blue and, progressively, through darkening blues
now most commonly
is
This softening of the symbol in the service of a
new humanity
everywhere. The linear styhzation and the almost wood-carved splendours of the
heads of Coppo's and of Guide's

softly textured faces.
The
figiures are
barely hinted at in these
figure of Christ has
moved another
work of Nicola
from manikiii to child already plotted in the

between the reahsm of the Christ Child's draperies
the underlying body, and the treatment of the
centrally placed knee, are further demonstrations
the attempt to grasp the reahties of the
Pisano.
in their relation to,

folds that
more
gentle,
stage along the path
The
contrast
and revelation
of,
hang across the Virgin's
of the intensity of
human form and fmd
effort attendant
on
a counterpart in paint.
Here, in the locahzed problem of the gold-striated draperies across the knee, traditional
decorative and
symbohc needs have
simultaneous reahzation of
new
evidently proved an insuperable obstacle to the
structural
and descriptive aims. Throughout the
first
half of the following century such constancy of effort and unevenness of achievement
are almost the
marginal
haUmark of the revolutionary genius
Cimabue's Frescoes
From
as
he
strides
ahead regardless of the
cost.
in S.
Francesco at Assisi: Attribution and Sequence
Florence and the 5. Trinita Madonna the attributional
and the lower church of
S.
Francesco at
Assisi.
trail leads
on
to
Umbria
There, upon the eastern wall of the
north transept, stands the badly damaged fresco of the Virgin and Child enthroned with
Angels, together with the now sohtary figure of St Francis. The composition is essentially
117

of the
that
ship. It
is
Madonna, and
S. Trinita
many
detailed
significant that the artist has again
Hnkages confirm identity of author-
had trouble with the Virgin's forward knee.
Similarly, although the supporting structure of the less ambitious throne
left-hand side
its
is
splayed towards the plane and
is
clearly defined,
uncertainly related to the steps.
is
Substantially similar thrones are to be seen in the frescoes of the Four Evangelists
Here the inherent
in the vaults above the crossing of the upper church (Plate 51 a).
difficulties
of the search for representational reaUsm are accentuated by the need to
fit
awkwardly shaped, triangular fields which form the apex of a

decorative scheme embracing the whole of the choir and transepts (Figure 10). On the
side walls of the latter, immediately below the vaults, are St Michael and the Dragon,
the scenes into the
The
Christ in Glory,
Transfiguration,
and a wholly
Then, behind the arcading
lost design.
that decorates the central zones in either transept stand the figures
apostles. Finally, there are the
main
of archangels and
narrative elements of the decoration. These are
divided into four parts. Firstly, the five-faceted apse
is
occupied by the Life of the Virgin.
Secondly, five scenes from the Lives of St Peter and St Paul start on the lower part of the
wall next to the apse and finish on the end wall of the north or right transept. Five
scenes
from the Apocalypse
are similarly placed in the left transept.
remaining wall in either transept, that adjoining the nave,
is
then
The lower part of the

by a single great
filled
Crucifixion.
The
entire
scheme can be connected with Cimabue not merely through the interin the lower church but by direct comparison with the Madonna from
mediary Maesta
S. Trinita (Plate 50).
To
take the
two most obvious examples,
the prophets in the
lower part of the panel painting have almost exact counterparts in the crowd on the
right of the Crucifixion in the left transept (Plate 49). Similarly, the massive throne that
piles
is
up in the centre of the scene of the
concave, semicircular base
its
styhstically inseparable in
now
Virgin in Glory
hidden by the
compare the Pisan mosaic of St John
main
the right of the
weight and structure, and in decorative
throne in the panel painting. Despite the ruined

to
on
apse,
choir-stalls that destroy its full effect,
state
of the
(Plate 53A) directly
frescoes,
detail,
it is
from the
even possible
with the similar figure in
the Crucifixion in the left transept at Assisi (Plate 49).
The
deterioration of the frescoes in the choir and the transepts,
makes both
transferred to canvas,
their
enjoyment and
many of them now
their styhstic analysis
extremely
They were already 'consumed by time and dust' when Vasari saw them
mid sLxteenth century. Now, the flaking, falhng, and fading of the paint-layer,
difficult.
in the
and the
total reversal
of tonal values
as a result
of chemical changes
in the pigments,
have reduced the greater part of them to the equivalent of faded, ochreous negatives
of unknown photographic
fitful
prints. In spite
embers. Enough survives to
show
of
that
still
glows and gleams in
Cimabue himself was
substantially respon-
this their quality
sible for painting the Evangelists in the vaults; the Life
Apocalyptic Scenes and Crucifixion in the
arcading above and,

;
right transept.
are
The
finally, the first
two
left transept,
scenes
of the Virgin in the apse; the
together with the angels in the
of the Lives of St Peter and St Paul in the

accompanying Crucifixion
three remaining apostolic scenes and the
of lower quality and seem to be no more than shop-work executed to

118
his orders.

rarly
assisi
Saints
Figure lo. Cimabue:
A. Gathering of the Apostles

B. Dormition of the Virgin
C. Assumption of the Virgin
D. The Virgin in Majesty
Assisi, S.
1.
St
Francesco, upper church, scheme of decoration,
John on Patmos
of Babylon
1.
Christ the Judge
4.
The
situation in the
four Angels
Adoration of the
c.
1280
St Peter healing the
2. St
2. Fall
5.
5.
The
Francesco at
AtiêU
Lifi of
,(/ie Virgin
artistic
s.
Lame
Peter healing the Possessed
of Simon Magus
Crucifixion of St Peter
Execution of St Paul
3. Fall
4.
Lamb
upper part of the right transept
5.
is
rather different.
separate
personahty with strong northern connexions appears to be reflected in the bright
blues and greens, strong reds and com-yellows, as well as in the use of Gothic architectural detail
above the colonnaded
to begin a decorative
scheme and
of the work preceded Cimabue's
The right transept is not the usual place

by no means necessary to assume that this part
galleries.
it is
arrival.
On
the other hand
it is
almost certainly not a
continuation of Cimabue's scheme, since practical necessity nearly always led to the
119

The newly
painting of the upper parts of a wall before the lower.
painted
work would
otherwise be liable to damage from the increasingly complicated scaffolding needed

in order to reach the higher levels, as well as
from dust and
falling debris
of all kinds.
downwards is proven
by the links between the wood-turned throne of the Madonna in the lower church
and those of the Evangelists above the crossing. In all of them Byzantine derivation is
particularly clear, and they are very different in conception from the massive throne of
the Virgin in Glory on the lower wall. Here the estabHshment of the volume and
recession of the Hmbs of the seated figures is achieved with a confidence that is clearly
That Cimabue
lackmg
in the
started at the top
lower church. In
short,
it
steadily
seems that the styHstic break in the north
one of the many instances of the collaboration of two powerful
transept represents
of
personaHties, one
and then worked
whom
eventually dropped out, leaving the other in complete
control.
The
Cimabue's
Stylistic Sources
of Ciniahue' s Frescoes
in S.
of
styUstic sources stand out clearly in the ruins
Francesco
The
his frescoes at Assisi.
Byzantine element, whether received directly or through Tuscan intermediaries,

visible in endless details.
The power of Byzantine
and south-eastern Europe in
common sources when

strated at Assisi
between the
by
this
period
is
such that
at
it is
is
and iconography in southern
often vital to allow for
surviving works seem not to be directly linked. This
unknown
demon-
is
the remarkably close iconographic and compositional relationship
Crucifixion in the right transept
temporary fresco
style
and an apparently more or
con-
less
Sopocani in Yugoslavia.
The second major element in Cimabue's artistic make-up, his intimate knowledge
is shown by the portraits of Roman monuments in the frescoes of St Mark
(Plate 5 1 a) and of the Crucifixion of St Peter, and by the many references to classical
architectural detail. The five scenes of tne Lives of St Peter and St Paul are, indeed,
directly derived from an extensive cycle once in the portico of Old St Peter's in Rome,
of Rome,
however much he may have

works from
the late sixties onwards, it is difficult to believe that the new, almost velvety softness
in Cimabue's draperies is wholly unrelated to CavaUini's epoch-making experunents
and recorded in sixteenth-century drawings.^
learnt
in
from Nicola
Rome.
The native Tuscan element
important factor
is
Finally,
Pisano's iimovations in the Siena pulpit and in other
in
Cimabue's work
is
surprisingly difficult to defme.
the lack of carher fresco cycles in
Tuscany and the extreme
even of isolated scenes or groups of frescoed images. The surviving evidence

this contrast to the situation prevailing in
entirely,
Rome
and
its
cultural dependencies
is
is
and probably on surviving indications not even predominantly, due to
Nevertheless, apart
from the many
detailed reminiscences, in
of the Tuscan panel paintings already
discussed,
in the approach to narrative, there
is
and apart
also
One
rarity
that
not
loss.
physiognomy and dress,

from a general hvelincss
clearly somctliing specifically
agonized sweep and vigour of the great autograph Crucifixion in the
left
Tuscan
in the
transept of the

upper church. Here Ciniabuc
more
specificaDy
s.
Francesco at
Marcovaldo but even
di
of Giunta Pisano.
Except in certain matters of decorative framing,

ancestry in Giunta Pisano,
that
Coppo
the heir not only of
is
assisi
Cimabue seems
whose
Umbrian
to be connected to the
probably during the
it is
largely through a
of 1236 once decorated
lost Crucifux
S.
common
S. Francesco,
Francesco Master, who,
painted the frescoes of the Passiott and of the Life of St

Francis in the lower church. This is certainly true as regards the dated Crucifix of 1272
sixties,
in the Gallery at Perugia,
attributed to the
and dramatic best are

a
dismembered
which
is
the
most important of the few surviving works
unknown artist. The powers of the S.
Francesco Master at his decorative
visible in the frescoed Deposition
dossal
now
and in the dependent panel from
partially preserved in the Gallery at Perugia. His limitations
become obvious, however, when the none the less magnificent Crucifix of 1272 is
compared to that in S. Domenico in Arezzo, or to the one from S. Croce, now in the
Uffizi in Florence (Plate 52b).
Whether or not the connexions with and divergences from the known styles both of
Coppo and of Cimabue should really be summarized by caUing the Arezzo Crucifix a
late product of Coppo's shop, an early work of Cimabue, or a painting from Coppo's
workshop in which the young Cimabue had a hand, it is certainly a work of the highest
and most moving qualit)% Possibly, counter to current fasliion, it should be placed
among the works of the many great, but now anonymous, late-thirtcenth-century
masters. Whatever the answer, it undoubtedly foreshadows the more vivid anatomy
and greater tension of pose in Cimabue's frescoed Crucifixion at Assisi. The latter in its
turn gives reasonable grounds for placing the Uffizi Crucifix in Cimabue's workshop
at a
somewhat
later date (Plate 52B). In this panel taut arms, reminiscent
of the
fresco,
have replaced the earher decorative curves. The unprecedented sofmess of the
and the diaphanous
sensitivity
the pose. In short, the
new pathetic humanity has not yet robbed
schematizations of their
power
to
work
The Stained-Glass Windows

Bare and inviting
substantially
flesh
of the draperies play against the increased drama of
as the plain walls
directly
in the
the inherited, dramatic
on the eye and
the emotions.
Upper Church of S. Francesco
must have been when the upper church was
completed in the second quarter of the thirteenth century, the subsequent
decorative campaign was not opened by the fresco painters. More pressing still was the
need to glaze the broad expanses of the Gothic windows, which were the most novel
elements in the imported northern architecture.
of storiated stained
glass
The
seems to have been taken
decision to
at
embark on
an early stage,
the expense
as the three
twin
Hghts of the choir appear, on iconographic and srvhstic grounds, to have been carried
out by
German
artists
towards the middle of the century. The architecture of the
period shows the speed with which the Franciscan order spread across the face of
phenomenon
windows seems to He
Europe. The same
is
for these
reflected in the fact that the closest styUstic
Hnkage
the glass put in soon after the completion of the
Franciscan church at Erfurt in Central Germany, probably
c.
1235.
It
was almost

certainly the international connexions
of the order that encouraged the commissioning
of extensive stained-glass windows, despite the unusual nature of such
move
in Italy
at this time.
The four-hght window
in the right transept, of
which only the upper
rose and
right-hand pair of hghts are storiated, appears to be Itahan in derivation and to date
from the beginning of the
of the century
last third
Connexions with the
(Plate 54A).
Master of St Francis in the lower church or with a Late Dugento
been suggested, though actual attribution
is
extremely
Roman
ateher have
Whatever the
risky.
reasons
for this break in the iconographic pattern, the purely decorative left-hand hghts are
probably not
a later substitution or insertion.
figure design.
Deeper and
replace the
more
broken colour
less
flickering patterns
The new
areas,
ateher
less
is
deHcate in
its
predominately blue and crimson,
and diaper designs of the apsidal windows. Never-
from the apsidal windows do reappear in the

between the latter and the window in the
which is probably rather later in date and seems to show affmities with the
of the Franco-German borderland. Again the change in workshops is
theless, just as certain
decorative motifs
right transept, so there are limited connexions

left transept,
stained glass
accompanied by
and
a simplification
clarification
of design that
is
particularly notice-
able in the border patterns. White, and bright, clear greens and yellows play a
and the general tone
role,
is
Although the manufacture of
many
probably extended over
dominant
now much lighter.

these
windows by
years, the fmal effect
at least three separate

is
workshops
remarkably coherent. The pure
and rather heavy form of the uppermost roimdel of the Fall of the Idols, the only
of the left twin hght of the apse, proves that
original fragment in the right-hand section
the six apsidal hghts
were never intended
mediate framing of the scenes
and lozenge designs that
The
is
to
form
a symmetrical group.
otherwise formed by a varied
effectively
dominate the dehcate
series
circles that
The im-
of quatrefoil
surround them.
on yellow, green, white, blue, and crimson, likewise constitutes an

of variations on a theme. In the four-light windows of the transepts,
colour, based
asymmetrical
set
on the other hand, each pair of lights presents a distinct, identically repeated pattern.
The latter is then enhvened by changes and reversals in the colour distribution. Blue
grounds with predominantly crimson-draperied figures in one half give
way
to blue-
draped figures against crimson grounds in the other. The elements of symmetry and
regular contrast in each of the transept windows, and their mutual inter-relationships,
arc
made
a httle
more
noticeable
nearest to the nave. In the

series
fill
the
of female
left
by the
restriction
of the narratives to the twin hghts
transept those nearest to the choir are occupied
saints seated in architectural settings,
by
and purely decorative patterns
the equivalent twin Hghts in the opposite transept. Leaving these four hghts aside,
whole of the choir and
scheme (Figure
Creation
11).
transepts
matched by seven of the
hkcwise embraced by
Fall.
in the left transept
Also beginning
coherent iconographic
with seven scenes of the
at the
bottom
in the northern
of the apse contain the Old Testament Foreshadowing^ of

and the Youth of Christ itself, the Foreshadowing of the Ministry and the
manner, the three twin

the Youth of Christ
is
The sequence opens

lights
Ministry, and finally the Foreshadowing of the Passion
and the
Passion.
Then,
in the right

transept, beginning at the top in the Italian
Old Testament foreshadow
s.
Francesco at
assist
manner, the Angelic Apparitions from the
of the Apparitions of Christ in which the theme

of the Ascension, occurring in the right-hand light of the apse, is both repeated and
a full series
elaborated.
Figure II.
Assisi, S.
Francesco, upper church, stained-glass windows,
c.
i24o/95(?) (not to scale)
KEY
1.
Creation
2.
FaU
Female Saints
Female Saints
Foreshadowing of the Youth of Christ
3.
4.
J.
The Decorative Scheme
6.
Youth of Christ
7.
Foreshadowing of the Ministry

Ministry of Christ
Foreshadowing of the Passion
Passion of Christ
8.
9.
10.
in the
Decorative designs
1 1
12.
Decorative designs
13.
Angehc Apparitions
14. Apparitions
of Christ
Choir and Transepts of S. Francesco
The description of the subject matter and decorative pattern of the stained-glass
windows shows the extent to which Cimabue's frescoes in the choir and transepts were
designed
continuation of a coherent, all-embracing, and specifically Franciscan
as a
plan.3 St Francis's special emphasis
on
the Passion
was perhaps already
choice of frescoes for the nave of the lower church.

saint
were almost
The
certainly the reason for the emphasis
reflected in the
mystical tendencies of the
on the
apparitions of Christ
New and of the Angels in the Old Testament among the windows of the upper
church. When St Bonaventure's Legenda Maior was established in 1266 as the official
in the
hfe of St Francis, replacing such earUer biographies as that of

certain aspects
upon
his love
of the
saint's
as
stress
Celano,
was
laid
of the Virgin Mary, the earthly mother and the heavenly queen, eternally
interceding for mankind, and this
shown
Thomas of
devotional hfe were underlined. Particular
is
reflected in the frescoes
of the choir. This love was
being inseparable from his love of the angels and, above
the apocalyptic hero
who
fights the spiritiial battle for
123
all,
of St Michael,
mankind, 'who presents
souls
PART THREE: PAINTING I25O-I3OO

to judgement
on
and
who
is
zealous that
all
should be saved'. This, in
its
turn,
reflected
is
the upper wall and in the arcading of the left transept, as well as in the apocalyptic
mysteries
on
the lower wall with their emphasis
upon
the
The
last things.
saint's
devotion to the apostles and especially to St Peter and St Paul, the leaders of Christ's
on the lower
earthly armies in the struggle for salvation, reflected in the arcading and
walls of the right transept, as well as to Christ in the Passion, and above
due weight by St Bonaventure. Pictorially
crucified, are also given
made by
the
two huge
frescoes
of the
all
to Christ
point
this last
is
which together form one of the many
Cnicifixioti
unique features of the decorative scheme. Each shows St Francis prostrate
at the foot
of
the cross (Plate 49).
Apart from
Francis's
their particularly intimate relationship to St
own
Bonaventure's record of St
devotions, the frescoes and glass together comprise an imusuaUy self-
contained and concise distillation of the four main sections of the Bible.
Testament and the New, the Apocalypse and the Acts,
all
The Old
find their allotted place.
however, the imaginative power with which the painter has translated and transformed the given content into one great, many-sided work of art that takes the breath
away. The decoration of the walls does not merely endow the architectural shell,
It is,
already fraught with symbolism to the thirteenth-century mind, with added meaning.
It
becomes an expansion and completion of the previously 'unfmished'
architecture.
by brilhantly coloured patterning, suggestive of rich

then flanked by wide strips of fohate design. The effect is both
In the vaults, the ribs are stressed
marble
and are
inlays,
to emphasize the structural, linking, and supporting function
them
to the decorative field created
mark
on the
of the
surface of the vaults.
and to bind
ribs
At
lower
level,
narrow
passage running continuously around the church and passing behind the clustered columns
arcades
the stepping back of the upper walls and reveal the presence of a
Here the enrichment of
that articulate the walls (Plate ib).
elements gives
way
to the simulation
of new architectural
expansion of the real architectural space. This
is
existing architectural
features.
There
is
a positive
particularly clear in the left transept
where, upon each side wall, stand the brooding wing-spread figures of three angels
(Plate 5Ib).
Canopied, yet casually related to the six-part openings, the painted figures
freely stand within the

is
shadows of
real architectural space.
Immediately above there
of angehc half-lengths in a painted colonnade. The intention
a painted series
unmistakable, and in transept and choir alike there
is
of real and painted space, of actual and painted architecture. The

apparitions
is
in regular recession
away from
it
into
row of voluted brackets has been painted

The real setting back of the upper walls
The
passage
distinct parts,
but
is
envisaged, not as cutting into the
as jutting
outwards from
a single unified
even, parallel recession of the brackets outwards from the central apse,
instead of inwards to
as
two
the central apse.
thereby partially painted away.
wall and breaking
The
of angehc
symbol of his heavenly home.
Immediately below the circling passage
surface.
real presence
suggested. Choirs of angels mingle praise with the monastic choirs within
the earthly house of God and
is
is
an astonishing sense of the equation
it,
harmonizes with the outward flow of the narrative sequences
they round the transepts. Even
this detail
124
demonstrates the
artist's
vision ot the
CIMABUE: upper church of

complex
area
unbroken
of the choir and
S.
FRANCESCO AT
ASSISI
and probably of the whole church,
transepts,
as a single
space.
The bold
illusionism
of the central zone gives way upon the lower wall
acceptance of the decorative surface.
The
narrative scenes are framed
by
flat
to
cahn
bands of
putto-inhabited acanthus pattern which form a visual link with the similar elements
in the vaults.
The
flat,
banded inner framing of these scenes seems to show
that their
contents were not envisaged as illusory real presences, but were seen as tapestries or
pictures
The
hanging
flatly
on
the
flat
walls of the church (Plate 52A).
represented space within the individual fresco
is none the less presented with a

vigour and immediacy which brooks no comparison with previous or contemporary
works, apart from Cavallini's lost designs in S. Paolo. Li these respects the scene of
St Peter healing the Lame is typical of Cimabue's organizational methods (Plate 52A).
The triple grouping of the buildings is directly used to emphasize the three-part distribution of the figures. The arcliitecture is all in bird's-eye view, and, like the illusionistic
cornice overhead, the flanking structures recede outwards. Instead of being urged
towards the centre by the receding elements, the eye

parallel to the surface
centrally disposed
main
is
held there
and by the planar concentration of

action.
Only
at the
all
by
the verticals lying
the figures
very edges of the composition
upon
is
the
the eye
allowed to run on into depth, to be almost instantaneously stopped by the decorative

framing.
The
focused action and simple, heavily stressed, rhythmic pattern of these
invariably symmetrical designs encourage the onlooker to see each scene as a unique
and self-contained experience.

This concentration on the individual event
conception of the decorative unity of the

his pictorial
journey along the choir
becomes aware
side
is
balanced by Cimabue's revolutionary
series as a
whole (Figure
10). In the
course of
of the right-hand transept the spectator soon
that the entire compositional structure
of the St
Peter
liealiiig the
exactly repeated in the next scene of St Peter healiug the Possessed. Then,
upon
Lame
is
the end
wall of the transept, two similar, synunetrical, tripartite compositions, the Fall of Simon
Magus and
is
itself
the Execution of St Paul, flank a central scene, the Crucifixion of St Peter,
The figure of the

fulcrum upon which the
symmetrical.
design and the
sequence
is
crucified apostle
entire wall
Christ the Judge
are so alike as almost to be mirror-images

hills
own
balanced. This same symmetrical
and of the Adoration of the Lamb
of each other. Furthermore, the V-shaped
of the central scene repeat the pattern of the
The shallow polygonal
On
which
both the centre of its
essentially repeated in the apocalyptic scenes in the opposite transept,
where the flanking compositions of

background
is
is
choir itself
is
Crucifixion of St Peter*
decorated by four scenes from the Life of the
framework of the Last Hours and the

They camiot, on the other
hand, be equated with the Assumption and the Virgin in Majesty, which form a definite
but not rigidly repetitive pair upon the opposite wall. At the one point at w'liich awareness of the architectural and spatial symmetry of the church is inescapable, pictorial
symmetry has been relaxed. The cumulative effect of the balanced relationships which
have been described is already so strong that any further emphasis might well become
Virgin.
the
left
the massive architectural
Dormition ensures that they are seen as a strictly related pair.
125

now
oppressive and reduce the echoing symmetries and repetitions that
complex
spaces
of the choir and transepts
mechanical exercise.
windows
It
unite the
and
to elements in a mathematically rigid
was, moreover, noted earUer that whereas the six hghts of the
on
in the apse present a series of variations
theme
in
which there
are
no
both the transept windows depend
repetitions either in colour or in decorative detail,
on contrapuntal colour and contrasted pairs of exactly repeated patterns.

disciplining of an entire narrative cycle, its careful symmetries calling
out across wide architectural spaces, is unprecedented in the history of Itahan art. The
ensuing sense of order, and of unity without rigidity, makes it diificult to beheve that
Cimabue did not see the whole of the choir and transepts as a single space to be en-
for their effect
Such formal
The culmination, both in beauty and in meaning,

The one in the left transept is, indeed, a microcosm of the whole (Plate 49). Its firm, symmetrical design provides the framework
within which the emotions seethe. The swaying S-curve of the crucified figure with its
sweeping draperies, the violent gestures of the crowd below, and the threshing circle
hvened by
a single decorative design.
hes in the twin scenes of the Crucifixion.
of tormented angels complete the picture of an

and transcendent.
It is
an
art as
conquest of new realms of reahsm and illusion
an
earlier
age have gained a
new
art
both grave and passionate,
boldly experimental
begun. The decorative
is
human
The
as it is severely disciplined.
sensitivities
of
dimension.
The Siena Window and
the
Dating of Cimahue
Frescoes at Assisi
The question of the date of Cimabue's activity at Assisi bristles with difficulties yet
upon their resolution hangs the whole conception of the curve of a career that is one
:
of the controUing factors in the development of Itahan painting, stained

mosaic during the
The
glass,
and
late thirteenth century.
scanty documentary evidence opens with the Brief of Innocent
panied the consecration of the church in 1253.

structure and to decorate
it
with outstanding, but unspecified, works.
Then
the retention of offerings for these purposes.
IV
that
accom-
speaks of the need to complete the
It
in 1266
It
also authorizes
Clement IV
issued a bull,
valid until 1269, permitting funds to be collected for the completion of the structure.
Finally, in
May
1288, Nicholas IV,
who had
been Minister General of the order, issued
words
a further bull. His intention
is
emendare, amphare, aptari
et ornari praefatas ecclesias'.
stated in the
'
facere conservare, reparari, aedificare,
Though
primarily concerned
document surviving from

the last quarter of the thirteenth century, when Cimabue must have done his painting.
This is no proof that his frescoes date from Nicholas's reign (1288-92). The subsequent
history of S. Francesco is full of instances in which there is no record of the financial
with building and repair-work,
basis for decorative
The only
fresco
it is
the only such fmancial
campaigns.
piece of internal evidence bearing
on the date
of St Mark upon the vault of the crossing
vincingly identified as the Palace of the Senators
some bearing
is
is
view of
(Plate 51 a). In
it
Rome
con-
decorated with a series of shields,
the letters S.P.Q.R. and others the Orsini arms. Since Nicholas
126
in the
a building
was the
CIMABUE: upper church
OI
S.
FRANCESCO AT
ASSISI
C
mi senators in Rome during his reign,
been taken to confirm the date -238 92.5 The argument is weakened by the
Franciscan pope, and there were thr
first
this has
were Orsini
facts that there
many
senators at
other times in the
century and that neither Nicholas IV nor Nicholas
last
quarter of the
(1277-80), the Orsini pope,
III
appear in the medaUions in the decorative borders. These contain only the
tectors
of the order, Gregory IX and Innocent IV.
any significance
to
which
as
Nicholas
Rome
at
might
it
III,
for the
there
all,
refer.
This
It
the civil and ecclesiastical
time in history. Nevertheless,
reference to the reign of Nicholas

invisible
pro-
the offer of the senatorship to Giangaetano Orsini,
would thereby have united
first
first
of the Orsini arms has
one, and only one, really important historical event
is
is
If the presence
if the intrinsic probabilities
minute
III,
who,
government of
detail
of
this kind,
which
is
favour a
virtually
from the ground, may be entirely without chronological or other significance.

than refer to some past personal connexion with the Orsini family,
may do no more
or merely be the only senatorial coat of arms that
Outside Assisi three important works
affect the
Cimabue could remember.

problem of the dating of Cimabue's
The first is the lost cycle of the Lives of St Peter and St Paul, painted by an
unknown artist in the portico of Old St Peter's in Rome. Unfortunately, though they
frescoes.
seem
to
be the prototypes of the relevant scenes
their date except that they
second major relevant
work
is
this
work, which
nothing can be said about
final quarter
of the century. The
the panel painting of the Rucellai Madonna,
much argument,
Uffizi in Florence (Plate 63). Despite
doubt that
at Assisi,
probably belong to the
there
and sixteenth-century
fifteenth-
now
texts
now
in the
seems to be
mention
as
little
hanging
Maria Novella between the chapels of the Bardi and the Rucellai, is that referred
document of April 1285. In it the Compagnia dei Laudesi di Maria Vergine
commissioned Duccio di Boninsegna 'to paint with the most beautiful painting a great
in S.
to in a
Madonna
panel in honour of the
Almighty Son and other

chronicler, mentions 'a
figures'.
with the figure of the Virgin
Oddly enough,
Duccio of the people of
Mary and of
her
Baldinucci, the seventeenth-century

S.
Maria Novella', and the
st}'hstic
documented works of Duccio is sufficiently close to render

Master of the Rucellai Madonna. Accepting the connexion with
relationship to the other
nugatory any separate
document does not actually date the

was painted after March 1285.
the commissioning
shows that
it
panel,
however.
It
merely
is the great round window in the choir wall of the Duomo at

The decision to glaze this window was taken in September 1287, and
a reference to the work in May 1288 is followed, later in the year, by payments to
Fra Magio, the Cistercian operaio. The window contains the Burial, Assumption, and
The
third
key work
Siena (Plate 54B).
Coronation of the Virgin, one above the other in three large, almost square,
These are flanked

and
at the centre
The windows
progeny outside
at
by
top and bottom
by
fields.
the four EvangeUsts in separate compartments,
the four saintly protectors of Siena.
in S. Francesco
Assisi.
That
probably in any case one of the
menon, the design of
form an isolated group without significant ItaUan

on the other hand, is the first surviving, and
at Siena,
earliest,
stained glass
by
examples of that thoroughly Itahan pheno-
a fresco painter w-orking largely
1-7
on the
scale

and in the manner appropriate to
new
his customary'
medium. Despite
the nature of the
material and the inevitable extremes of height and distance, the result
effort
is
required to take in both the figures and their actions. There
ship to the traditions of design in

fortuitous, earher parallel
windows
no
is
that
no
direct relation-
European Gothic windows. The only, and possibly
with such grandly and simply designed Romanesque
is
oculus in the cathedral at Poitiers.
as the great early-thirteenth-century
intricate niosaic
is
The
of contrasting colour and the minute complexity of leading and of
by the windows in the

by broad, calm areas of colour.
The individual pieces of glass, selected for their evenness of tone, hue, and texture, no
longer rely upon a jewelled inconsistency for their fuial decorative effect. They are
bounded by a leading now so broad, so simple, and so carefully calculated that it is
decorative framing, characteristic of the tradition represented
apse of the upper church of S. Francesco,
replaced
is
almost, but effectively not quite, submerged into the natural contours of the scenes and
objects that are represented. The general tone is of a maytime clarity and hghmess.
The restricted range of colour is based upon a clear, hght-blue ground that is reminiscent
of the fresco
painter's sky
and
is
also used for the Virgin's draperies.
sparingly distributed white, the fmal effect depends
on
Apart from a
the bold juxtaposition of a
bright canary and a golden yellow, a pale green, a pale but sometimes darkermig winepurple, and a blood-red ruby. These five basic colour notes are used to play a
Assumption. In the Coronation (Plate
a) the
Virgin has a ruby vestment and blue
mantle, Christ a ruby mantle and blue vestment.
vestment and
The
com-
on the simple, contrapuntal melodies of the Coronation and the
position founded
wine mantle,
that
upon
The
left
foreground angel has a green
the right a green mantle and a
wine vestment.
more complex time that results in a

diagonal symmetry. The top left and
angels of the Assumption play a similar but
horizontal and vertical counterpoint and a
bottom right-hand angels have green vestments and ruby mantles lined with yellow,
while those on the top right and bottom left have wine vestments and yellow mantles
lined with ruby. In the wings of all four these same colours are analogously ranged.
The
result
is
that in this, the central scene, the
maximum
contrapuntal variety
is
obtained along the vertical and horizontal axes already stressed by the rectangular
framework of the
scenes.
At
the
same time the diagonal syirunetry
calls
attention to
its
function as the centre of a circle and emphasizes the links with the Four Evangelists.
The fmal
colouristic
simple melodies as
Assumption.
The
is
harmony
is,
however,
Dormition
is,
five deep,
More
startling
and complex in relation to these
indeed, an imprecedented tour de force in terms of spatial
structure and variety of pose (Plate 55b).
and
as rich
the spatial design of the Dormition in comparison with that of the
The
figures stand
still,
there
glowing colour of the
is
no
original,
loss of clarity, although this fact is only apparent in the

which identifies the spatial relationships without destroy-
ing the decorative integrity of the coloured surface. There
way
in
one behind the other, four
with no hint of the monotony of the usual row-by-row arrangement.
which the
architectural solidity
Coronation (Plate 55A),
is
is
a similar
cimning in the
of the thrones, and notably of that in the
combined with an apparently
casual tendency for thrones,
books, and angels' wings and haloes to overlap the decorative borders. This binds the
128
FRANCESCO AT
S.
ASSISI
narrative and decorative elements together and prevents the individual
from taking on disturbingly
compartments
illusionistic qualities.
This windov^', wliich must rank
as one of the most important single monuments

of latc-thirtecnth-century Itahan art, is generally accepted as the work
in the history
of Duccio.* Nevertheless,
work of Cimabue. The
almost every point the main links are directly with the
at
powerful construction of the various marble thrones

and the natural disposition of the angels around that of the Coronation (Plate 5 5 a)
would fit exactly into Cimabue's development a few years after the painting of the
S. Trinita
transition
spatially
Madonna (Plate 50) and the completion of the work at Assisi in which the
from Byzantine, wooden chair-thrones to marble structures was taking place.
Furthermore, the habit ot allowing thrones, wings, and haloes to overlap the decorative
borders
a constant feature
is
work of Duccio,
at
Assisi
of the frescoes
the panel painter.
The
at Assisi (Plate 51 a).'' It is
unknown
in the
presence of large schools of northern glaziers
and Cimabue's presumably close acquaintance with them and with
work, to which
his
own was
complementary,
their
thoroughly compatible with the
is
subsequent expansion of the r\pical fresco painter's vision into the related but hitherto
wholly
to
distinct field
o stained
fmd Cimabue obtaining
glass.
Duccio carrying out an iniportant

modelling of
in
many of
St Luke, are as typical
less
of the
it is
no more
in Duccio's Siena than
it is
is
closer to Assisi than to anything
and
at Assisi, as also
of
as that
they are incompatible with Duccio's
angels, as well as their stance
in S. Trinita
to find
Cimabue's Florence. The surviving
straightforwardly traditional heads, such

as
strange
and proportions,
style.
fits
the
does the convincing treat-
folds along the Virgin's foreshortened thighs in the Coronation (Plate 55a).
In short, there are
good
hi any case, despite
its
window, and even

Cimabue himself and not to Duccio.
reasons for attributing the design of the
some of
the actual modelling of
least a
altarpiece in
of Cimabue
development adumbrated
ment of the
such a background,
the heads in the Donnition
Duccio, and certain of the
Similarly, the drapery
With
major commission
the heads, to
geographical location, the
window seems
product not of Duccio's but of Cimabue's workshop or close
to
be
very
at the
circle.
The final work to be considered in estabhshing Cimabue's chronology is the Madonna

from S. Francesco at Pisa, now in the Louvre (Plate 53B). In scale, in type, and in style,
the connexions between this altarpiece, the S. Trinita Madonna (Plate 50), and the
Assisi frescoes are obvious. It
is,
however, almost certainly a work of Cimabue's
atelier
or immediate circle and not a panel on which he worked himself. Despite enlivening
and continuous colour variations over relatively small
metry in the angels upon
left
and
right,
areas, a
complete colour sym-
with even a tendency to
vertical
symmetry
in
example in the wings, strengthens the compositional s)Tnmetry.

The imposing grandeur of the altarpiece is accompanied by a notable turning away
from the soft flesh modelling of the 5. Trinita Madonna towards the more woodeach row,
as for
carved appearance
less a
child
and
rj^pical
much more
of an
the
earlier tradition. Similarly, the Christ
young man or manikin of Cimabue's
Child
throne, in contrast to the latest pattern at Assisi, resembles that in the Rucellai
(Plate 63) or in
Cimabue's lower church Madonna.

129
On
is
much
predecessors.
The
Madonna
the other hand, the revelation

of form by means of drapery and the powerful structure of the Virgin's receding
thigh are far in advance both of the S. Tritiita Madonna (Plate 50) and of the latest
developments
The
at Assisi.
moreover, seem to be
latter,
reflected in the
abohtion of the
knowledge of Cimabue's most advanced characelements, is combined with archaism in others. When
gold-striated mantle. In short, the

teristics,
revealed in certain
accompanied by
a relative stiffness
to a late product
of a great master's shop or
of the Louvre Madonna,
it is
of handling, such contradictions nearly always point

circle.
In
view of the
relatively late position
particularly interesting that the small saints in the roundels
on the frame should acknowledge a major innovation in the Rucellai Madonna (Plate 63).
Trinita Madonna similar roimdels have no figure content and therefore
remain directly in the tradition of Coppo and Guido and the artists of the mid century
(Plate 50). Since there is no trace of the influence of the Rucellai Madonna in the panel
from S. Trinita, which appears to be directly related to Cimabue's Madonna in the
lower church at Assisi, it seems likely that the Rucellai Madonna (of 1285 or later)
In the S.
follows the S. Trinita Madonna.

influence
the frescoes at Assisi
is
Not
unexpectedly, Duccio's painting then exerts
his ateHer.
1387-8. In matters of reahsm, large-scale altarpieces tend to be
of tradition than the individual elements of a fresco
works
therefore likely to follow the latest of the
linked
earliest
at Assisi
less flexible in
The
with which
the face
Madonna
S. Trinita
it is
is
so closely
upper church before, and possibly considerably before, 1285. They
well date from
1280, the end of the reign of Nicholas
c.
evidence points, if it means anything at
places him,
III,
which the
to
may
internal
all.
and inevitably controversial chronology of Cimabue's career therefore
tentative
work
cycle.
on every count. In any case it cannot precede the Four Evangelists, which are the
of Cimabue's works in the upper church. This line of reasoning places the
frescoes in the
its
The early date of the S. Trinita Madonna and of

confirmed by the advances in naturaHsm in the window of
on Cimabue and
on documentary grounds,
at Assisi,
even of CavaUini's
as
almost certainly being in
Rome
in 1273. His
many reflections of the new developments in Rome and possibly

early work in S. Paolo, comes at the end of the seventies or in the
with
its
Domenico
mid seventies, and that in
the Uffizi into the early or niid eighties. The S. Trinita Madonna then immediately
precedes the Rucellai Madonna. Cimabue's engagement on this major task may even
early eighties. Because of the relationship to the frescoes, the Crucifix in S.
at
Arezzo
fits,
whatever
its
attribution, into the early or
have helped to influence the Laudesi to commission Duccio for

although, with a pious confraternity, the only consideration
very
fact that the
major values of Duccio's
may
their
easily
own
then lay in other reahiis than those of
art
The work on the window at Siena begins

the early or mid nineties, by the Cimabucsque
1287-8 and
is
now
in
representational realism.
in
followed, probably in
altarpiccc
the Louvre. Then, in
surviving, fully
of Cimabue's
301-2, the story closes with the Pisan mosaic which,
documented work, provides the
sole
as
the one
foundation for the reconstruction
career.
Whether or not
added
project,
have been the
participation in the mosaics
to the catalogue
of the baptistery
of Cimabue's extant work,

130
at Florence
should be
his influence appears in certain
of

Naming of the
the latest scenes, such as the
of the
was drawing
ASSISI
These probably date from the end

the work, already in hand in 1271,
Baptist.^
when
quarter of the fourteenth century,
first
FRANCESCO AT
S.
The scheme, with foliage and angels in the uppermost zone,

from the Old Testament, the Life of Christ, and the Life
downwards through the four narrative tiers, which are, how-
to a close.
contains extensive sequences
of St John. These
circle
by
two
ever, interrupted
a great Last Judgement
octagon. In the
tiers
nexions are
as
occupying three of the eight
of the Old Testament scenes
strong as those with Venice, which
particularly, the
may have
provided
facets
of the
Roman conmany of the
The narrative style throughout is more the fmal flowering of a long

tradition than the germ of new developments. Apart from the teeming decorative
splendour of a scheme unparalleled in Tuscany, wliich marked yet one more claim to
regional supremacy, its organization is significant. Like the mosaic on which Cimabue
worked at Pisa, it had been designed for other purposes. The standard Roman pattern
artisans involved.
of the
side and end walls of a normal nave has been fitted into a cenYet this very adaptation has its own creative aspects, for the tiers
of twisted columns that articulate the scheme in the traditional Roman manner and
for the decoration
tralized structure.'
divide each of five facets of the octagon in three, are the exact continuation of the real
columns and
pilasters that
support the
dome
(Plate 145A).
The
floating,
immaterial
heaven of the Byzantine formula has become an architectonic system. The architectural
structure of the building
mental to the
pattern
is
extended and completed by
pictorial art
must have been fixed
one respect
In their
S.
new
of the
fairly early,
at least its influence in
own way
final quarter
its
its
decoration in a
manner funda-
of the thirteenth century. Since the
chronological priority means that in this
Tuscany and Umbria must not be underrated.
the frescoes of the Lives of St Peter and St Paul in the nave of
Piero a Grado, near Pisa, are an equally attractive combination of archaism and
modernity. The main subjects derive from the
But
it is
the decorative
lost cycle in the portico
framework of the scheme which makes
spandrels of the nave arcading light
is
it
of Old St
Peter's.
memorable. In the
used with arbitrary brilliance to bring the forms
of painted platter-mouldings into sharp reUef Above them half-length figures of the
popes stand in a painted arcade which is seen from the left on both walls of the nave.
Above and below
the
main
scenes,
with
their gaily decorative architectural confusion,
boldly three-dimensional beam-ends are no

the right.
Over
aU, a line
less
consistently painted as if seen
of deeply recessed, painted windows
carries
on
from
the line of the
windows. Sometimes the painted windows are completely shuttered, sometimes

one leaf swings half open or both shutters open wide, not on the sky, but into a dark
void within which every now and then a bright angehc figure suddenly materiahzes.
real
Throughout,
combined with
maximum of startlingly convincing detailed architectural illusionism is

a minimum of narrative reaUsm in total disregard of any thought of
'viewpoints' or, indeed, of any attempt to link one wall wath another in a visual
organization corresponding to that of the real three-dimensional enclosure as a whole.
Whoever
the designer
may
have been, there
is
no doubt
that this, the
surviving Tuscan fresco cycle of the end of the thirteenth century,
inventive and naive enthusiasm.'"

131
is
most complete
monument to his
CHAPTER
13
THE LEGEND OF ST FRANCIS AND THE COMPLETION

OF THE DECORATION OF THE UPPER CHURCH
OF S.FRANCESCO AT ASSISI
It
is
probable that Cimabue's vision of the arcliitectural and decorative unity of the
choir and transepts of S. Francesco originally extended to the whole of the upper
church (Figure
Certainly the
12).
many men who worked upon
the nave both under-
The newcomers were mostly

either Romans or, like Cimabue himself, Tuscans who were deeply influenced by Rome.
Once again the paintmg of the frescoes seems to have been preceded by the glazing of
the windows. The glass mainly consists of paired monumental figures of apostles and
saints surmounted by scenes from their lives. Apart from a group of scenes of French
derivation, the stylistic links in these much-restored windows are predominantly with
the late-thirteenth-century Roman school. The appearance of St Francis and St Anthony,
together with scenes from their Uves, may well show that at first the decorative plans
stood his aims and harmoniously expanded his ideas.
did not incorporate so extensive and so iconographically original a fresco cycle of the
Legend of St Francis
as
was eventually evolved.
Painting appears to have been started in the vaults nearest to the crossing.
is
blue with golden
stars,
busts of Christ, the Virgin, St Francis, and St
supportmg
angels.
The
painted
framework
by
first
John the
Baptist, together
and the
sides
of
illusionistic brackets similar to those
with
pairs
of
by Cimabue.
accompanied by increased
elaborates the pattern evolved
In the fohate borders the added richness of animal Hfe

classicism in the nudes,
The
only the second being decorated with roundels containing
all
the ribs are
used by
is
now
Cimabue
'structurally' articulated
to support the gallery
and
to
unify the lower walls of the choir and transepts.
Jacopo Torriti
The Roman connexions of Cimabue's work
are emphasized by the fact that the artist

was probably Jacopo Torriti (see above, p.
99 ff.). Another name much canvassed is that of Filippo Rusuti, whose signed mosaic in
the portico of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome is topped by an inhabited foliate band almost
who
so readily took over his conception
exactly comparable to that at Assisi.
The ruinous
many
stylistic links
complicates the
issue,
but the
of most of Rusuti's work

between the figures of Christ, of the
restoration
Virgin, and of the attendant angels at Assisi, and the central figures and supporting
angels in the mosaic of the Coronation in S. Maria
Maggiore seem,
for example, to be
strong enough to justify a very tentative attribution to Torriti. Allowing for the restrictions
of
imposed by the format,
Torriti's
work
in S.
a certain stiffness
more comparable
Giovanni than to the more supply natural

132
to
what
style
is
known
evolved in
S.
COMPLETION OF THE DECORATION OP THE UPPER CHURCH

Maria Maggiore seems
The much
right, a series
ning
to point to a date just before or just after the period
f.
1290-2.
ruined decoration of the upper side walls of the nave comprises, on the
of sixteen scenes from the Old Testament ranged
at the crossing.
opposed upon the
The
left
series
wall
by
in
two
registers
begin-
runs from the Creation to the Story of Joseph and

a similar
New
is
Testament cycle ranging from the
Annunciation to the Resurrection and continuing
and the
short.
on the entrance wall with the Ascension

Umbria seems to have been extremely
of the stylistic bonds with his Roman work
Pentecost (Figure 12). Torriti's stay in
drop in quaUty and a relaxation
show that only the first four scenes of the Creation are predominantly executed
by his shop or his immediate followers. The four lower scenes in the first two bays
from the crossing seem to be the work of yet other Roman masters. Here some fitful
hints of Cimabue's influence are accompanied by fleeting but occasionally magnificent
reflections of Cavallini's new, soft style. A similar, somewhat unstable Roman eclecticism
is apparent on the left walls of these same two bays. But if the styhstic character is
shifting and uncertain, the iconograpliic parentage is not. The dependence on the great
paired cycles of the Old and the New Testaments in Old St Peter's in Rome, and on the
recently refurbished Old Testament series in S. Paolo, is unequivocal.^ Where, as in
the Building of the Ark or the Sacrifice of Isaac, direct comparisons can be made through
appear to
Roman works, the compositional relationship

now survives, the links with Cavalseem to indicate a similar common parentage
the seventeenth-century copies of the lost

is
striking.
lini's
Where,
mosaic in
S.
as
with the Nativity, no record
Maria in Trastevere
in the lost basihcan cycles.
Such novel elements
coffered ceiling in the Feast at Cana,
which can
manuscripts like the Vatican Virgil,
may
lini's
work, be taken to
therefore,
reflect lost features
The
as
now
the unified and visibly receding
be paralleled only in fifth-century
hke the similar elements in Caval-
of the Early Christian fresco
Isaac
cycles.
Master
The members of the second Roman ateher stayed Httle longer than Torriti. No sooner
had the first two bays from the crossing been completed and the third begun than
they too left, to be succeeded after an unknown interval by yet another Roman workshop. This was headed by a painter of a whoUy different caHbre who is usually called
the Isaac Master, after the scenes o Isaac and Esau (Plate 56A) and Isaac and Jacob which
mark the quaUtive peak reached in the two bays nearest to the entrance of the nave.
He himself probably carried out not only the design but part of the execution of some
of the other scenes such as the Lamentation. In most cases, however, the styhstic variations
of a large, well-organized workshop. The formal recog-
clearly reflect the intervention
nition of the pre-eminence of the Four Doctors of the
Church and the
declaration
of a feast-day in the Liber Sextus of 1298 does not mean that the frescoes representing
them in the vaulting of the fourth, or entrance, bay were necessarily painted after this
date. The work of the preparatory commission of 1296 was one of codification, and
this
apparent innovation was but one example of the tidying up of a long-established
doctrine.
133
.
.

pvV\
Figure 12.
//vV\
//i'vVX
/A?v
Francesco, upper church, scheme of decoration of the nave
Assisi, S.
Right upper wall: top row from crossing
World
Creation of the
4.
FaU
2.
Creation of Adam
5.
Expulsion
Creation of Eve
6.
Destroyed (Adam and Eve labour)
7.
Destroyed
(Sacrifices
of Cain and
Abel)
8.
Cain
killing
Abel
Right upper wall: 2nd row

9.
10.
Building of the Ark
12.
The Ark
11. Sacrifice
of Abraham
Abraham and
Isaac
14. Isaac
the three Angels
and Jacob
and Esau
15.
16.
Jacob lowered into the Well

Jacob and his Brethren
Left upper wall: top row, from crossing
Annunciation
Destroyed (Visitation)
4.
Adoration
7.
2.
5.
Presentation
8.
3.
Nativity
6.
Fhght into Egypt
1.
Left upper wall: 2nd

9. Feast at
Cana
10. Resurrection
of Lazarus
13.
Way of the
15.
Cross
16.
Ascension
Lamentation
Resurrection and the
Holy
Women
14. Crucifixion
Entrance
17.
row
12. Flagellation?
11. Betrayal
Teaching in the Temple

Baptism of Christ
trail lunettes
18. Pentecost
THE LEGEND OF ST FRANCIS

Right lower wall
1.
St Francis and the
Madman of
Assisi
2. St
6.
Francis giving
away
his
Cloak
y.
Dream of the
4.
St Francis before the Crucifix in

S.
5. St
Palace
-.
S.
p.
Francis repudiating his Father
Dream of Innocent
Confirmation of the Rule

Vision of the Flaming Chariot
Vision of Fra Leone
Damiano
Entrance wall
14.
Miracle of the Spring
I}.
Preaching to
tlic
10. St
Birds
Francis and
the
Demons
at
Arezzo
III
11. Trial
by
Fire
12. St Francis in Ecstasy

I
J. Institution
of the Crib
at
Greccio
COMPLETION OF THE DECORATION OF THE UPPER CHURCH

The quality of the Isaac Master's brushwork and the power of his artistic vision can
be seen in the heads of Isaac and of Jacob (Plate 57B). In the latter the continuous flow
of the form-following, form-creatmg, brushpoint stroke is notable for its simplicity
and
directness. Firm, yet painterly,
There
calligraphic outhnc.
is
betrays
it
no
linear harshness
of the
instead a sensitive awareness
and no emphasis on
role
of light, whether
on the hair or modelling the face with its crisp highhghts. This sensitivity
wedded to a sculpturally decisive feeling for the firmly cut block of the head,
falling softly
to
hght
with
is
well-defined and often boldly stylized planes.
its
The
and the sharp characterization of the pull of skin from nose
cliiselling
of the nose
itself,
to cheek, are notable features
of the gravely majestic head of Isaac. This method of modelhng, paradoxically characterized by the very smoothness of the paint with its liquid individual strokes, is quite
from
distinct
quality
that
of paint
of Cavallini,
which
in
is
and heavily bodied, near encaustic,
more smoothly rounded, gently
flowing,
comparable gulf between Cavallini's heavy velvet drapery
and the
Isaac Master's sharply creased
feature
which the
folds
a dry
used, in contrast, to create
There
fleshy forms.
is
Isaac
and
flatter patterns.^
Master does share with Cavallini, quite apart from a
number of detailed borrowings,
is
the majestic classicism of
many of his
figures.
The
looping swing of the bed-drapes, taking up the rhythm of the gestures in the scene of
Isaac
and Esau (Plate 56A), and the joy in patterned surfaces like those of the curtains are
of the century, by Arnolfo's shop. They are seen in intomb of Boniface VIII as well as in the work of many lesser
sculptors active in Rome. The flat folds bring to mind the carving of Arnolfo's Virgin
in the de Braye tomb of the early 1280s (Plate 23 b), with which, in its gravity and
restraint, the fresco is more fully in tune. The sometimes grave and sometimes eager
gestures, the firm stance and structure of the figures, clearly revealed by the carefully
qualities shared, at the turn
tensified
form
in the
articulated draperies,
and
architectural space that
their
now
calm grouping within the simple, boldly constructed
completely and convincingly encloses them,
of grandeur and of human drama. In
create a sense
his concentration
on
the
all
help to
human and
dramatic interest of the twin scenes o Isaac and Jacob and Isaac and Esau; in his sensitivity
to subtle compositional
and in
rhythms and
their role in reinforcing psychological distinctions;
his feeling for proportional relationships, as well as his frequent
boldnesses, the Isaac Master
who
must be counted among the
greatest
iconographic
of those few, excep-
new school of ItaHan painting. The pathos and unease

by the intensity of gaze in the two figures by his bed; the
urgency of Esau's movement, and the secretive subtlety of gesture and expression on
the part of his companion, mark this as among the most intensely moving and dramatic
tional geniuses
of the blind
foimded the
Isaac, set off
compositions in the history of Italian
art.
Although the outside of the building
is still
plainly visible in both scenes,
its
structure
Left lower wall

itf.
Death of the Knight of Celano
io.
17.
St Francis preaching before
2t. Apparitions
Honorius
22. Funeral
III
Death of
St Francis
of St Francis
of St Francis
i.
Apparition at Aries
^5.
Mourning of the Clares
19.
Stigmatization
14.
Canonization of St Francis
135
25.
26.
27.
2S.
Dream of Gregory DC
Healing of the Man of Uerda
Resusciution of a Woman
Liberation of Peter the Heretic

marks
a further stride
towards the achievement of a true
conflicting viewpoints, the expansion
The avoidance of
interior.
of the building in relation to the figures
until
it
up against the frame on ever)' side, and the more naturahstic treatment of the
recession in the upper surface of the bed, combine to increase the reahty of the space
presses
portrayed.
The Isaac Master's consistent use of the low viewpoint, developing but not yet
worked out in the complex architectural aggregations of the vaults of the Four
Doctors, is another sign of an advance beyond the stage reached in the extant works of
Cimabue or CavaUini. The development of architectural and spatial reahsm is, however, at its most interesting in the Pentecost on the entrance wall (Plate 56b). The
fully
beginnings of a centrally viewed interior, comparable to that in the ruined scene of the
Teaching
in the
complexity
as
Temple, are firmly estabhshed, and the architecture
well as for
directly reminiscent
its
soHdit)'
Roman
of Amolfo's
is
notable for
its
and coherence. Gothic pinnacle and gable forms,

ciboria and tombs, have been
combined
with Antique vase and flower motifs and with the sturdy, coffered barrel-vaults that
recall the painted architectural illusionism
S.
of the fresco-framing
Maria Maggiore. The shrunken quahty of the building
awkward, L-shaped
field. It
is,
however, emphasized
invention of the figure grouping.
to the onlooker all facing inwards
if
is
in the transept
partially explained
by
of
the
anything by the remarkable
complete rectangle of figures, those seated nearest
with
their backs
completely turned,
now
gives an
impressive sense of reaUty to the space which they enclose. Comparison with the
wholly forward-facing figure rectangles of Cimabue's Gathering of the Apostles and

Dormition in the apse reveals both the relationship to Cimabue's st}'listic world and the
advance beyond it in terms of visual realism. It is, however, symptomatic of the priority
which the sculptors maintained in many aspects of descriptive reahsm until the fmal
decade of the thirteenth century, that it is only towards the end of the century that compositional ideas already explored by Nicola Pisano in the Siena piJpit of the late 1260s
are being exploited and further developed by the painters. Plithcrto only isolated examples of inward-turning figures occur in painting, although the enormous percentage
of losses means that this is possibly not the earhest revival of a motif previously popular
in Pompeian, and presumably in coeval Roman, painting.
The Pentecost clearly lacks the simple-seeming power and harmony of the Isaac and
Esau and Isaac and Jacob or the pathetic intensity of the Lamentation. Nevertheless, in
architectural style
and structure, in the harnessing of figures and architecture
the service of increased narrative reahsm, and in

figures,
it is
many
details
the immediate prelude to the frescoes of the Legend of St Francis.
The Organization of the Legend of St
The
is
Francis
painting of the Legend of St Francis on the lower walls of the nave of S. Francesco
one of the supremely important events
pean
alike in
of the treatment of those
art. It
is
also
in the history
one of the most controversial. The
a prelude to the veritable wars
not only of ItaHan but of Euro-
battle
over dating
of attribution which have raged, and

136
is
no more than
rage, round
still

these frescoes.
A date in
the 1290s seems to represent the
and one wliich
solution,
evidence.
may
come
well
on
seems quite possible, on the other hand, that the question
It
Giotto was or was not responsible for
of the frescoes
The
most reasonable chronological
to be generally accepted
all
the existing
as to
whether
or any part of the planning and execution
will never be definitively settled unless fresh evidence
is
uncovered.
nature of the problem, and the factors that must be considered in any eventual solu-
tion,
An
can however be laid out, and a tentative solution proffered.
will be
made when
the major
all
works
attempt to do
this
attributed to Giotto have been surveyed.
In the meantime, references to the painter as the Master of the St Francis Cycle merely
reflect the existence
of an unresolved dilemma
in
which the
probabilities
seem to
favour the currently unfashionable view that Giotto was not the painter of the frescoes
in question.
Whoever
the presiding genius
may
illusionistic
He
not orJy sympathized with Cimabue's
extension of the existing architecture of the church but fully understood
The new
revolutionary significance.
is
Roman
have been, he was famihar with the great
schemes of painted architectonic decoration.
aesthetic starting point
the division of the nave into four vaulted bays (Plate ib).
The
clustered
columns that
and support the vaults accentuate the contrasting
articulate the side walls
its
and the controlling factor
flatness
of
intervening surfaces which, below the level of the circling passage, are otherwise uninterrupted.
As
in the choir
the decorative scheme.
and
Above
transepts, painted
this level
painted architectural cornice are replaced
hangings form the lowest element in
Cimabue's
by
relatively flat
framing and
a magnificent colonnade (Plate 60).
single,
Now,
massive twisted columns stand above rich mouldings and support a coffered architrave
topped by the painted brackets which hold up the
of the
field.
articulation
The
real
moulding of the upper margin
majestic verticals of the columns echo and extend the real architectural
of the wall, and the unbroken painted cornices are powerful enough t
eqmhbrium out of the interplay of vertical and horizontal painted and
forge a fmal
architectural forms. There is a crispness and a clarity, a decisive quaUry, that reaches
back beyond the world of Cimabue and of Cavallini, and of the great refurbished
schemes of Old St Peter's and of S. Paolo fuori le Mura which inspired them. The similar
elements in the late-thirteenth-century decoration of
Maria Maggiore in
the
scheme in
of the
seem
lost
Rome and TivoH,
S.
Saba or in the basihcas of
S.
and the complete tenth-century foreshadowing of
Crisogono in Rome, appear to dwindle in importance. Even the echoes

Temple ofJunius Bassus
S.
fourth-century decorations of S. Costanza or of the
memory of the
to fade before the
real
and painted architecture of the
villas
and
town houses of Pompeii.

In S. Francesco the division of the wall-space into bays
accepted.
Now,
is
more than merely
within the obvious architectural unity of the nave, the
painted architecture in each bay recede in parallel towards

a separate focal point.
The apparent
by Cimabue,
by
is
is
replaced
recession outwards
new naturahsm, and
centre,
from
of the
which becomes
the centre, favoured
the close relationship to the observer
low viewpoint. Nevertheless, determined as the artist

Cunabue before him, to bring the painted histories to Hfe before
strengthened by the reaHstic
evidently was, like
its
passively
details
137

the very eyes of the
amazed observer, he was no
Upon
less
concerned with the purely decora-
by Cimabue
complex volumes of the apse and transepts, the younger master seems to
have evolved a freer and more subtle system to enliven the strict spatial unity of the
tive pattern
of the whole.
the basis of the rigid symmetries evolved
for the
nave.
The
on the right of the first bay from the crossing, circles

on the left of that same bay (Figure 12). Immediately, as if to emphasize the overriding architectural and iconographic imity of the church as the observer
passes from the vortex of the crossing into the calm reaches of the nave, the three-fold
story of St Francis opens
the nave, and closes
grouping of the compositions
at the
end of the neighbouring transept
is
reiterated. Just
Roman monuments carried the eye down towards the figure of the
crucified St Peter, so now the V-shaped Umbrian hills in the St Francis giving away his Cloak
as the
bold
of the
on the haloed head of the young saint standing at the very centre of the
The rocky patterns of the hillside catch and echo in the folds of the saint's
cloak. The balanced masses of the landscape background form a natural foil for a foreground group in which the cloak and the poor nobleman on one side and the palfrey
on the other are in perfect equipoise about the axial figure of St Francis. Here, as in the
transept ends, the flanking compositions, weighted now by similar architectural masses,
focus attention
bay
(Plate 58).
balance everJy about the central scene.^
The next bay seems
to
show
that this
is
no chance equilibrium. Despite
their
wholly
disparate narrative content and distinctive architectural structures, the flanking scenes
St Francis before the Crucifix and the
Dream of Innocent
of St
visual equipoise about the balanced central composition
Father (Plate 60).
The fact
that the
of
III create an instantly appreciated
heavy mass of the obhquely
set
Francis repudiating his
church of S. Damiano
on the left is designed to form the visual counterpart of the toppling Lateran Basilica
upon the right is stressed by the broad red bands that draw attention to the base-lines
of the two buildings. These, despite their differing descriptive function, run in to the
centre at identical angles to the lower border. Even divested of all colour in a reproduction they confirm that these three very different narratives
architectural
Once
strictly
were intended
to
be seen
of one united, balanced pattern, emphasized by the perspective unity of the
as part
framework.
the decorative unity of each
bay has been estabhshed by the repetition of
symmetrical designs, the pattern
is
softened and varied in the
two remaining
bays of the long wall of the nave. Here there are themes and counter-themes, contrasts
and echoes, and cunning repetitions both

figures
and architecture ahkc.
in either bay. Consequently, the
Two
in the details
On the other hand
it is
and
in the general disposition
impossible to sec
grouping of the wall
as a
whole
strict
tails
of
symmetry
into clearly
by
more open, freely rhythmic pattern. These arc followed by concentration
on the problems posed by the end wall. The latter forms the narrative hnk between the
two main walls. It is also a static, balanced frame for the centrally placed twin doors,
and is the last thing seen on leaving the church.
The two scenes of the Miracle of the Spring and the Preaching to the Birds which flank the
asymmetrical halves.
two with
rigidly centralized and symmetrical bays arc succeeded
138

doors arc perfectly adapted to their several functions (Plate 6i, A and b). As two of the
most popular episodes in the Franciscan story, they leave the happiest and longestlasting
free
memories with the
faithful as they
of architecture. They therefore make

This visual relationship
tinctive.
go away. They
formal pair
are also the only landscapes
as nicely
balanced as
dis-
it is
strengthened not merely by the perspective unity
is
of the unbroken painted cornice that climbs above the arching doorways, but by every
detail in two compositions carefully calculated to express the linking function of the
wall.
Just as the cornice rises to

figures enter
on the
the
left,
surmount the doors, so, in the Miracle of the Spring, the

mule still only half in view (Plate 6ia). They then move
upwards to the right until the upturned face of the petitioning saint, the long diagonal
of his companion's body, and the jagged uprush of the mountains thrust attention up
and out over the doors and past the painted central roundel of the Virgin and Child to
which St Francis seems to pray. When the St Francis preaching to the Birds is reached
(Plate 6ib), the
uprushing outward movement, bursting the bounds of the design, gives
way
downward-floating motion
to a soft,
down
to bless the birds, assembled for the
ground.
The
fmal stop
thematic symmetries,
by
The crux
forward, looking
time in Itahan painting on the level
then provided by the thick trunk of the unusually massive
St
tree.
in
is
stressed
by
any attempt to
on the opposite
their
removal from
their correct places in the official
Bonaventure on which the cycle depends.

assess the artist's
in the succeeding bay, the first
III,
first
calculated quality of these frescoes, with their varied functions and their visual and
narrative
lies
is
as the saint leans slightly
upon
the
The
wall, contains four scenes.
and the Apparition
at Aries,
which
is
formal intentions for the
left
scries as a
wall of the nave. This, like the
whole
last
bay
central pair, the Preaching before Honorius
the one remaining scene
moved from
its
chronological position in St Bonaventure's text,' create a single architectural block
by
articulated
similar Gothic arches (Plate 62b).
The
form one continuous hne, and the perspective of

wards the dividing column
in the centre
cornices of their respective roofs
the architectural frame recedes to-
of the block. The visual hnkage of the scenes
by the placing of their two main figures. In cither case the one stands facing
inwards on the left, comiected by the action to the other, who creates an even stronger
formal accent just to the right of the centre of the design. The flanking stories of the
Death of the Knight ofCelano and the Stigmatization are distinguished by the fact that one
is
stressed
takes place in an interior

'
enclosing
'
and the other in the open countryside. The shrinkage of the

its coved ceiling of sky blue, an unusual choice of
building and the use for
colour which reduces the conflict with the landscape of the Stigmatization to a
may
well show, however, that the
about the heavy central core. As
artist
far as the action
and to the right in the opening scene
is
minimum,
wished to balance these two hghter wings

is
concerned, the
movement down
balanced by the upwards and outwards motion in
the closing fresco.
The
probability of the correctness of an interpretation of the visual facts which might
in isolation
have seemed dubious
bay are seen to be arranged
is
confu-med
in strictest
when
the three scenes in the succeeding
symmetry. In the two flanking

139
scenes, each

element in the one
is
faithfully
echoed in the other. The division into upper and lower
zones; the distribution of the colour; the massing and disposition of the figures as a
whole
the placing and poses of the principal and even of subordinate actors in the
drama - each detail of design is
carefully repeated to build
up the balanced pattern of the
bay. Then, in the third, as in the fourth and final bay, which brings the series to a fitting
two end bays on

no question of a general symmetry, and in the last three
frescoes a steady decrescendo and asymmetry in the main architectural masses is accompanied by a balanced grouping of the figures, and by the introduction of two secondary
scenes in which the action runs against the general left-to-right flow, helping, in visual
formal
close, there
is
a clear return to looser linkages like those in the
the opposite wall. There
is
movement of the
terms, to bring the
story to a fmal, gentle halt.
In short, there seems to be a definite attempt to supplement the spatial and proportional
harmonies of the nave by a Hvely decorative balance. Within each architectural
bay a group of
again,
sequence and the

linked
by
time or
symmetry is opposite a freely rhythmic group. Then

symmetry is observed in the first two bays in the narrative
second two are free. Consequently, whether the opposing side walls,
frescoes in strict
upon each
wall, strict
the carefully calculated pattern of the entrance wall, are considered half at a
whole, there
as a
and freely designed
is
areas.
volume of the nave and
a similar contrast
The
telling
and
a similar
fmal balance between
strictly
of the story of St Francis has allowed the entire
the spatial play and structural function of
its
main
articulating
elements to be exploited and enhanced.
Within so broadly conceived and

innumerable
as
by
details
the narrative
is
as
much
demands of the
disagreement that
exists
about the
to apply.
eye.
It is
it
the decorative
particular scenes in
artistic
If Sf Francis repudiating his Father
incident,
by
were an
to discuss each composition as if it
is
isolated
phenomenon
much of the
considered as an isolated illustration of a dramatic
clearly leaves a lot to be desired (Plate 60).
between the obhquely
has led to
value of the frescoes.
The heavenly Hand of God, to which

more of a literary symbol than a formal
central gap
form of
demands of the larger units
which they occur. The tendency
carefully controlled a scheme, the precise
controlled
Dramatic
is
hardly the adjective
St Francis prays, scarcely attracts the
factor in the design.
set, self-isolating
The width of the
groups of buildings, close-linked in
Cimabue's manner to the densely packed crowds of figures that they support,
portionately large.
The
is
dispro-
restrained gestures of the largely static figures appear to be in-
capable of forming a dramatic bridge across so wide a chasm.
Such
partial,
inappropriate methods of analysis have often relegated the Master of
the St Francis Cycle to a place
often only spring to

in the context
life
when
among
seen
on
the
its
minor followers of Giotto.
own
terms in
its
own
A work of art will
frame of reference. Seen
of the grand design created by the three hnkcd frescoes of the bay, the
its purpose. If it were
gap becomes the central focus of a triptych, scaled exactly to
less sharp in definition, it would prove inadequate upon this larger scale.
would become not more but less dramatic. The thrust of the perspective in the architectural framework of the bay, and the action and the formal structure of the flanking
scenes, exert strong centralizing pressures. These augment the forces tending to set up
narrower or
It
140
COMPLETION OF THE DECORATION OT THE UPPER CHURCH

The
a bridge across the central gap.
not
possess. Li
terms of what the
design achieves a tension which in isolation
artist
was attempting,
it
it
does
becomes the worthy focus of a
masterpiece.
To
is
take another extreme example of the same
virtually nonsensical in isolation (Plate 6ia).
walk
from the
in
Their
movement
phenomenon,
the Miracle of the Spring
A half-seen donkey and
two
Franciscans
up and
outwards and the mountains sweep to the top right-hand comer of the scene. Below, the
thirsty
layman
left.
is
continued
stretches out full length to peer in
confmes of the composition. Although the

carefully balanced pattern,
it is
contained. Yet as soon as
its
as the
praying saint
wonder down and out beyond
saint provides a satisfying
hard to imagine any scene
linking function
is
stares
less self-sufficient
remembered and
the
formal centre for a

or
the saint
less self-
is
seen as
praying, not to the top right-hand corner of the frame, but to the roundel of the Virgin
and Child above the doors, the fresco
transformed from a loose though pretty pattern
is
into a tight construction beautifully designed to satisfy the numerous, seemingly conflicting
demands presented by
its
narrative content and
its
seeming weakness suddenly becomes a source of strength.

less
architectural situation.
What
or misconceived in formal terms takes on dramatic overtones.
becomes
new
and much the same
design,
is
Each
had seemed meaning-
The
fresco practically
true in differing degrees of every
com-
position in the cycle.
The existence of a
general scheme does not imply that one
man
painted all the frescoes.
Indeed the problem of the nature of medieval workshop organization and of what
meant by
of frescoes
attributing a series
to this or that
hand
is
raised in
its
is
most acute
form. Three main groups of works have been distinguished within the St Francis cycle,
and each of them contains considerable

of many men, not merely the
stylistic
stylistic variations
evolution of one
(Figure 12).
artist,
The
or of three,
collaboration
is
revealed
by
examination of the brushwork.
The
first
group of works, comprising the opening scene of S(
Francis and the
Madman
of Assist and the three concluding frescoes of the cycle, have been convincingly attributed
to the so-called St Cecilia Master.* The Master of the St Francis Cycle himself appears
to
be generally responsible for the frescoes, numbered 2 to
19,
running from the Donation
of the Cloak to the Stigmatization. Finally, a third controUing hand
succeeding frescoes.
The
and the activity of the Master

its
is
visible in the six
borderlines between these groups are not clear-cut, however,

after
whom one group is named can readOy be traced into
neighbours.
The St
The
St Ceciha Master
is
Cecilia in Florence and

in 1304
named
now
from her
Hfe,
it
after the altarpiece
in 1341.
With
its
once in the destroyed church of
The
altarpiece
its
The church was
S.
earher burnt out
panel was therefore probably painted
enthroned central figure, flanked by eight scenes
belongs to a type that was
half of the thirteenth century, and
Comparison of the
Master
in the UfFizi (Plate 59).
and only reconstructed
either before 1304 or c.1341.
Cecilia
common
in
Tuscany throughout the
latter
appearance favours the earlier possibiHty.
with the four related frescoes

141
at Assisi
immediately

reveals a cleavage in the treatment
both different
in type
much
and
of the architectural forms. Those
less reahstic,
terms of a sense of enclosure within an actual
whether considered
room or building.
in the panel are
in themselves or in
Against these
difficulties
must be set. Firstly, differences in scale and medium often make an artist
greatly modify his work. Secondly, whenever an artist joins a group, and particularly
two
facts
when
he plays a subordinate
role, his style
is
hable to an often radical
group idiom. Since the St Ceciha Master's work
at Assisi
is
shift
towards
both architecturally and
in
from his panel style, it is extremely probable that

was the dominant figure in establishing the group
certain other respects so very different
the Master of the St Francis Cycle

style at Assisi.
is
appHed
process
day's
This
is
to a layer
means
confirmed by the technical evidence. In true fresco the pigment
of damp
that this plaster
work and varying
of these patches
plaster,
in size
that
Master's opening scene, comphcated
stylistic
which
the three
amalgamates. The natural drying
one
with the one major exception of the St CeciHa
by
the intrusion of the rood-beam, the
carried out according to the natural sequence
support the
it
in successive patches, each corresponding to
with the complexity of the painting. The overlappings
show
at Assisi
with which
apphed
is
on
the wall.
The
work was
technical facts therefore
probability that this entire group of four frescoes, and not merely
close the cycle,
was the
last,
and not the
first
Attempts to bridge the gap in the St Cecilia Master's

gerous but for the close
frescoes.8 Nevertheless,
ties
between the
style
work to be done.''
would be extremely dan-
figures in the altarpiece
and those in the
throughout the panel the tendency to rounded,
though often extremely simple drapery, exactly Uke that
softly falling,
in the frescoes, seems to reflect
the influence of Cavallini as well as that of the Master of the St Francis Cycle. In panel
and in fresco alike the figures in the narrative scenes tend towards elongated, moderately volumetric, sack-like
forms with very small heads and hands. The various types
of profile are closely matched, and there

face views in
seas,
which
revealing yet again the
structure.
is
the individual features

artist's
a similar leaning
seem
to float
hkc
towards moon-like,
httle islands in large
limited interest in the fundamentals of anatomical
Comparison of any head from the opening
fresco
of the cycle with the
Master's Jaco^ (Plate 57B) emphasizes the St Cecilia Master's drier,

less
blended brush-stroke, and
line.
In terms of structure and
to considerable heights in
his
full-
empty
less
Isaac
continuous and
reduced feeling for hght and greater dependence on
volume he
many of the
tends to
do
his best
work
in the panel, rising
smaller figures and sculptural details. That he
was primarily a panel rather than a fresco painter seems to be confirmed by the richness
of colour, set against a miniaturist's tooled golden backgrounds, and by the liveliness
and variety in architectural design and figure grouping which make the St Cecilia
altarpiece a significant landmark in the history of Itahan art.
by the altarpiece in S. Marghcrita a Montici, which is

main works attributable to the Master. Here the severe
forms of the Romanesque low, gabled dossal arc echoed by the bold contrast between
the standing central figure and the flanking scenes. They are reinforced by a new economy, severity, and discipline in architectural forms and figure groupings alike, and
rendered lyrical by new interest in the play of light. The damaged Madonna and Child
These
qualities arc shared
possibly the latest of the three
142

same church may be
enthroned in the
close in date
and
is tlic
remaining reasonably
last
secure attribution.'
The
St Ceciha Master's
knowledge of Rome
Column and of other Roman monuments

charming abihty
Peter the Heretic. His

it
sudden knowing
in a
facts, is
shown
of Minerva
in the
still
detail
proved by the
reflections
in the fresco,
tion,
show
to characterize a building or a scene, to crystallize
and yet to maintain the widest freedom
opening scene of Sf Francis and the Madman
and the substitution of a central column for
that archaeological accuracy
this early date. In the face
in the face
of the
The Temple
(Plate 58).
portrayed on the
for the painting
left
was no concern of
known
physical facts
of the Palazzo del Comune,
in 1305 to the campanile
of this same fresco, does not provide
of the
a central intcrcolumnia-
architectural portraiture at
of such extreme reinterpretations of the
of the storey added
a reasonable terminus ante qtiem
scene.
The probabihty that the up-to-date architectural portrait element found in

but not in the panel paintings,
group project
of Trajan's
of the Liberation of
stands at Assisi, and the Gothic rose and flying angels added to the pedi-
ment
the omission
is
in the fmal Assisan fresco
a sensitive artist's response to the special
is
in S. Francesco,
is
to
some extent confirmed by
the frescoes,
demands of the
the figure designs.
The
strictly
symmetrical arrangements consistently used in the four frescoes, and consum-
mately
fitted to the
grand design of the cycle, are strikingly different from the free
groupings characteristic of the panels. Faced with the problem of the discipUned subordination of each composition to the complex whole, and tackling the wide expanses
own
of a wall, the St Ceciha Master's
solution
but thoroughgoing exploitation of the space
is
a lyric
naturalism of setting and a calm
at his disposal.
The
figures stand in
solemn
groups within the slender, airy cages of his architectural interiors or before the back-
drop of his townscapes. Just as the small features map the detail of his faces, and small
heads and hands articulate the broad and sack-like bodies, so small gestures seek to span
wide voids.
the compositional
It is
skill
evinced, the deHcacy of design and the calm
beauty of pictorial space, and not the d)Tiamic tensions of dramatic narrative, that hold
the individual scenes together. This calm and this restraint stand out against the bolder
gestures and the swift, free
movements
that break out
among
the almost identical
figures in the compact, relatively closely packed scenes of the panels.

stature
and the flexibiHty of an
acterized in terms
artist,
sometimes over-praised, but
The Roman background of the Master of the

his
the other
hand
reveal the
of negatives and hmitations.
The Master of the St
On
They
far too often char-
whole approach
Francis Cycle
St Francis
Cycle needs no further emphasis.
simple comparison of heads reveals

to
form and
how much
structure differ, not only
Master, but also from those of the Isaac Master with
his
brushwork and
from those of the
whom he has
St CeciUa
often been confused
(Plate 57, A and b). A more organic relationship between the features and the basic
volume of the head, which is more firmly carved in space, distinguishes him from the
first. The drier, less fluently continuous stroke and the greater emphasis on contours
143

separate
him from
painters
grouped under the name of the Master of the St Francis Cycle. They are un-
affected
by
the second. These distinctions are true of nearly
all
the individual
the closeness of the draper)' patterns in the earUer scenes to the sharp-folded
forms of the Isaac Master or by the
similarities in architectural design.
bay, in which the master's wider aims stand out most clearly,
The second
is
the
of those for which he himself appears to have been almost wholly responsible. In
first
it
the
novelty and Umitations of the portrait naturahsm echoed by the St Ceciha Master are
immediately
visible.
The
painting of the ruined church of S.
although completely different from the
an actual ruin, lovingly described in
surviving church,
real,
Upon
all its details.
Damiano on
is
the
left,
no mere symbol but
the right the major features of
enough recorded to disclose that the fresco cannot have

been painted before c. 1291. It was then that Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope,
added a rebuilt portico which was, according to sixteenth-century descriptions, of the
type shown in the fresco. Furthermore, a still extant inscription refers specifically to the
Dream of Innocent EI, which is the subject of the painting.'" This date therefore prothe Lateran Basilica are well
vides the one and only secure terminus post quern for the cycle as a whole.
The
structure of the buildings in these scenes
quite as interesting as their portrait
is
quaUry. Within the rigorous general pattern of the bay the jutting, extreme oblique
construction in the
left
and central frescoes
is
combined with
frontal construction in the right-hand scene. This
Pietro CavaUini's
work between 1280 and
Wife ofPotiphar in
Paolo (Plate
S.
3 8b).
a calmer, foreshortened
the combination that occurs in
The ruined church of
which Pietro was evidently seeking
precisely the solution for

the
1300.
is
the jutting, spatial soHdity of the church thrusts
home
The self-isolating quahty of the extreme obHque

realize that all the buildings
is
Damiano
is
oJoseph and
The residual structural difficulties have now
been overcome. The containment of the figures by the architecture
tectural horizontals shde off into depth,
S.
in his fresco
is
fuUy reaHzed, and
the poignancy of its present ruin.
construction, in
which
evident in the central scene.
all
the archi-
quite hard to
It is
could be standing parallel to one another on the opposite
from the left foreground into the right background.

The mixture of the extreme obUque and the foreshortened frontal perspective settings,
combined with a now consistent use of the reahstic, low viewpoint, seems to reflect an
early stage in the close observation of the visible world. The leading pictorial innova-
sides
tors
of a
street that ran diagonally
were evidently becoming increasingly aware
solid, all the visible sides will
them comes
into view.
every point
as
soon
as
Another aspect of the
intensity
any cubic
more than one of
of the problems facing painters
at
they returned from the symboUzation to the representation of the
three-dimensional world
St Francis's
that if one actually looks at
recede and be foreshortened as soon as
nude torso
is
is
seen
when
the patent struggle involved in the depiction of
compared with the soUdity and confident anatomical control
attained in Nicola Pisano's sculpture over thirty years before.
One
demonstration of the stature of the Master of the St Francis Cycle
speed of his
artistic
development. The relatively timid
his first five scenes arc

hall. Its
is
the meteoric
half-interiors, half-exteriors
of
followed in the sixth, the Confirmation of the Rule, by a great
barrel-vaulted roof-supports develop the
144
Roman theme
of the
Isaac Master's

Pentecost (Plate 56B).
The
in the ceiling area
there
that
is
is
and the floor arc not cut by the frame, and only
side walls
still
By the time the left-hand wall is reached,
so rapidly expanding into a true interior.
with the frescoes of 5f Francis preachinj^

62b),
and a reminiscence of the old box-building
a hesitation
still
more
reahstic detail has
Honorius and the Apparition
before
at Aries (Plate
been added, although the basic formula remains the
same. Furthermore, the spatial disposition of the figures, wholly contained within the
architectural space in
one case and completing
similar development.
The
of the group
figures to the concept
becoming merely the sum of

Nevertheless,
of the
loss
much
less
marked.
of the Crib
Institution
at Greccio, at the
ing long wall, that the greatest stride towards a true interior
wholly
is
on the way
compose
is
to
it.
end of the preced-
made, although along
different route (Plate 62a).
In this alternative tradition, represented
by
the altar and ciborium that stand for the
temple in Cavallini's mosaic of the Presentation in

interior
crowd
the well-defined and soHd individuals that
perhaps in the
it is
is
definition in the other, undergoes a
its
and personal identity of the individual
solidity
is
Maria
S.
in Trastevere (Plate 41B), the
symbolized by means of its internal furniture. There
architectural shell.
of the
consisting
view of the
The same is
altar
crucifix
with
its
of the
true
Institution
no hint of tlie enclosing
now
the furnishings,
canopy, the lectern, and the choir-screen, and the back
and of the pulpit and
that the spectator seems indeed to stand
some small church, looking towards
have been so cuimingly disposed
its steps,
among
the
crowd assembled
in the choir
of
women
pressing in out of the
main master
tried to carry the idea
the nave and to the
darkness. Later, in the Funeral of St Francis, the third
Not only
is
of the Crib, but
rood-beam with its images, but also the lower side wall and
the structure of the apse are shown. The roof is even imphed by hooking the sanctuary
lamp to the plain blue reaches of the sky. The residt is, paradoxically, less real. The
still
farther.
the
modern onlooker is suddenly less free than in the Institution of the Crib to 'see' the plain
blue sky in terms of actual, though indefmite, architectural enclosure. The very
attempt to venture farther
down
the cul-de-sac
is
proof that the late-thirteenth-century
saw things very differently. The behef that the Listitution of the
Crib indeed reflects the apphcation of a new sense of spatial design to an ancient formula; that it carries with it no anachronistic implications; and that it does not, as is
sometimes argued, necessitate a late date for the frescoes at Assisi, is confirmed by the
creators of these scenes
knowledge
that
it
leads
nowhere. Although
the history of narrative description,
succeeding
artists that it
now is
it
to the
it
ranks
among
was never the
the great achievements in
inspiration to
modem onlooker,
contemporary or
famiHar with six centuries of
the sUce-of-hfe, the sudden partial view expressive of the whole.
The
idea
of the
in-
an enclosed, and enclosing, box was already well enough developed at Assisi
to carry conviction. It is this conception which is echoed and developed throughout the
terior as
fourteenth century.
The same
advance,
is
backdrop,
of continuous, explosive, but by no means regular

Master of the St Francis Cycle's landscapes. Landscape as a
sense of excitement,
visible in the
as in the St Francis giving
away
his
Cloak (Plate
58),
or landscape
as
void, as in
the wholly unformed space of the gap between the buildings in St Francis repudiating
145
PART THREE: PAINTING I25O-I3OO

his Father (Plate 60),
is
replaced, in the Miracle of the Spring (Plate 6ia),
continuum. Then,
a platform, a
with the
as
tradition. In the Preaching to the Birds (Plate 61 b), instead
and developing the
backdrop into
vertical
of the actual land- or ground-scape
little
a series
is
by landscape
as
interior, the artist turns to the parallel
of showing more and more,
of horizontal platforms, extremely
to be seen. Instead, the trees, the isolated,
outdoor furniture of the Romanesque versions of the scene, are planted firmly in the
They
foreground.
saint
and
his
are given scale and
companions can be
seen'
'
volume, and they take on such reaUty that the
by
the imaginative eye to be enfolded in the
wide
space of a landscape. Such a tree and such a 'landscape' are not found again for a hun-
dred and
fifty years
or
so.
More
than a century of experiment with the simple landscape
platform and the Romanesque-Byzantine bird's-eye backdrop
ground continuity can be given
foreground such
to a
as this
is
needed before back-
without destruction of its
magic.
Despite a drop in quaHty, a similar sense of growing ambition and achievement
characterizes the third
tural control
of the
and fourth bays on the left-hand wall. The balancing and struc-
designs,
and the open repetition or the cutming echoing of formal
elements from one scene to the next, remain
may
figures
be
of such scenes
to create
bitious.
less certain,
as clear as ever.
as the Apparition at Aries (Plate 62b)
and to
articulate
The wealth of
by
strong,
articulation
continue to be attempted.
deep space by means of figures alone become

observed
faithfully
detail,
of the
the careful disposition of a
few
still
The efforts
more am-
whether of church furnishings or
multiply until crowds, formerly sug-
dress, continues to increase. Indeed, the figures
gested
The
but the increasingly complex foreshortenings characteristic
participants, are actually enumerated, ninety
and the balance between drama and description carefully maintained by the
leading master
is
manner
destroyed. Albeit in a
that
was revolutionary
in
its
day, the
gossip has replaced the story-teller.

It is a
measure of the Master of the St Francis Cycle's success
his frescoes
were completed
as a narrator that since
has largely been with his eyes that the story of St Francis
The wealth of sometimes
has been seen.

detail
it
simple, sometimes not so simple, descriptive
seems to be ideally suited to the story of a saint whose love of God expressed
itself
so clearly through the love of his creation. Other major factors in the hold exerted
by
the frescoes are their location in the central shrine of the order and their close adherence
to St Bonaventure's official Ufe.
Difficult as
it
now
is,
it is
important to forget for a
embroideries upon St Francis's
of his
own
life as
Canticle to Brother Sun, which
nacular poetr)'.
Its
shining simpUcity
To
complexities of
S.
St Francis's
rule for the Friars
shall carry
staff.
.';
first
Francesco.
such influential
later
among
is
slices like a
stand
amid
the
the earhest glories of Italian ver-
knife through the artistic subtleties and
wonders of the upper church and read
Minor: when the brothers go through the world they

'
nothing for the journey, neither purse, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, nor
or to walk
down
the
dours of S. Maria degli Angch,

rule
moment
the mid-fourteenth-century Fioretti and to think
hill
is
to the tiny portiimcula engulfed within the splen-
instinctively to understand the internal strife over the
of poverr\' which rent the order
in the thirteenth
146
and fourteenth centuries.
S.

Damiano, the
small,
smoke-blackened
of
cellar
church outside Assisi in which St
life. He
He would have
Francis prayed before the speaking crucifix, gives the true scale of his personal
had no thought of building, and much

hated
S.
Francesco for
So simple and so
its size, its
strict
was
of decorating, churches.
less
ostentation,
expense.
its
own hfetimc his intiwho wanted some relaxation of its
St Francis's rule that already in his
mate companions began to separate from those
The explosive growth of the order meant that attitudes apt enough
wandering band of friends soon clashed with the need for proper administracontrol over a vast European organization. Four years after St Francis's death
saintly extremes.
for a small
tive
Gregor)'
IX
The
dated by the legal device ot turning over
Soon
rule
all
of poverty
Franciscan
itself was at first
moneys
the literal
accommo-
to a papal 'nuncius'.
who
who did
the opposing factions hardened into the distinct parties of the Spirituals,
wished to observe the

not.
which he commended
declared not binding the testament in
observation of his rule to his followers.
Even
strict interpretation
the bull of 1322 in
by
a decretal
making
it
his apostles
end
a battle at the heart
of which stood such achievements
at Assisi. Yet, if the story
of the Franciscan order
is
some of
the
most sumptuous churches

art.
The
as the
be
in scripture, failed to
church of S. Francesco
a harsher reflection
which eventually turned the followers of
masterpiece of truly religious
legal fiction to
heretical to assert that Christ
were not the owTiers of the property mentioned
and
builders of
and the Conventuals,
rule,
which Pope John XXII declared the
fiction indeed, followed in 1323
pressures
of the
of those same
the ascetic St Bernard into the
in Europe, S. Francesco remains a
Franciscan order, though
no longer
that en-
shrined in St Francis's httle band, was one of the greatest spiritual forces in the later
Middle Ages, and
S.
art, its secret lies in
Francesco
is
the totahty
one expression of that power. Like all great works of

which so outstrips the mere summation of its parts.
Cimabue, Torriti, the Isaac Master, the

Cycle, and many others all contributed
St Ceciha Master, the Master of the St Francis

to the pictorial, decorative,
and didactic unity
of the architectural structure. The emphasis upon

the apocalyptic mysteries and apostoHc narratives, on the life of the Virgin and on the
Passion; on all those things which were especially dear to St Francis himself and parthat enriched the pre-existent clarity
ticularly suitable for
and
transepts.
monastic meditation,
The famihar
is
seen in the large-scale frescoes of the choir
typological parallels of the
Old and
New
Testaments are
coniined to the small panels of the windows. Together, they compose a scheme that
complete within
Old and
New
itself
Beyond
Testament
stories are
story of St Francis himself and
Again
it is
then writ large in fresco, and completed by the
by an assemblage of the
a satisfactory, self-sufficient
saints in fresco
its
and stained
is
as
rounded and com-
decorative aspects. In the church as a whole this lesser unity
sumed within a greater, the full range of the

ground upon a grander scale. ^^
If the function
glass.
scheme. If the choir and transepts are considered
a<an architectural and Hturgical unit, the content of the scheme

plete as are
is
the rood-screen, in the area reserved for the laity, the
frescoes covering the
is
then sub-
same fundamental
and hturgical divisions of the church are borne in mind, the element
a symptom of confusion. The architectural and decorative
of repetition ceases to be
147

unity can be seen in
its
true light as the
embodiment of the thematic and
doctrinal unity
of the church militant. Each meaning and each visual consonance, each structural
ele-
ment and each decorative detail plays its part in the creation of one of the most compeUing monuments of European art. And yet, by looking back towards the architectural structure
and forward to the frescoes and stained
be seen that the upper church and
its
glass
of the lower church,
decoration are themselves no
it
more than one
can
part
of a greater complex. It is one in which the coherent organization of the upper church
becomes a foil for the hvely decorative and thematic confusion, for the sense of unplanned growth that is inherent in the lower church as in so much of medieval Hfe itself.
148
CHAPTER 14
DUCCIO
All
liistory
DI
BONINSEGNA
It is a new reality, or at worst an unrcaHty,

much as a landscape painting to a landscape. Each can
the creation of historians.
is
linked to the happenings of the past
be no true reflection but
new,
if meaningful, creation,
or of paint, of personality and viewpoint. Tliis

reflex that
make
makes Padua spring
to
is
bound by the laws of language

shown in the conditioned
clearly
mind on mention of Assisi. Many things conspire to

may just as easily move on to Siena. The 'Giotto
simple to forget that one
it
problem' and the nature of the ingrained concept of artistic progress are among the
most important of them. Even less commendably, there is the tendency to make separate
mental pigeon-holes for frescoes and for panel painting. Yet
from
Assisi to Siena that establishes
Duccio not only
as a
it
dimensional counterpart of a three-dimensional Giotto, but also
novator that he
and that he seemed
is
'Duccio pictori'
book
from
cases,
is first
mentioned
to be in his
in a
for painting twelve account
and again in 1279 for painting the covers for such books. Similar records
unknown misdemeanour, and
picture
two-
as the glorious in-
day.
payment of 1278
the eighties and nineties are interrupted only
for an
own
the direct journey
is
great conservative, the
now
in 1285
by
by
a substantial fme, levied in 1280,
the commissioning in Florence of the
Madonna. In 1295 he cooperated with Giovanni

A number of
identified as the RiiccUai
Pisano on the preHminaries for the erection of the Fonte d'Ovile in Siena.
other documents deal with the acquisition of property, with loans by Duccio, with
debt and for not going with the
citizens' militia to fight in the
for activities connected with sorcery. In
December 1302 Duccio was
fines for
on
a Maesta for the
stored, for
unknown
October 1308
for the
Maremma, and
paid for work
Chapel of the Council of Nine which appears to have been rereasons, by Segna di Bonaventura in 1319 and 1321. Then, from
June 13 11, there are documents concerning the still surviving Maesta
of Siena. Finally, in 13 18-19, the painter, who left behind a wife and
to
Duomo
seven children,
is
referred to in the past tense.
Only two points of contact between the documents and existing paintings emerge.
The first is the controversial Rucellai Madonna of 1285 (Plate 63). The second is Duccio's
masterpiece and
(Plates 65-7).
latest
The
surviving work, the signed and documented Maesta of
latter
is
depend the dozen or so surviving works which are

to
him and
308-11
the only sure foundation for a concept of his style.

all
that can reasonably
On
it
be attributed
to his shop.
The Maesta
Notwithstanding Masaccio's Pisa polyptych of a centuryMaesta, preserved for the most part in the Opera del
the
most important panel ever painted
in Italy.
149
It is
later,
the
Duomo
certainly
now dismembered
is
probably
most
beautiful.
in Siena,
among
the

Compressed within the compass of an altarpiece is the equivalent of an entire programme for the fresco painting of a church. The main frontal panel with the Virgin
enthroned (Plate 65), attended not merely by a discreet group of angels but by a thronging court of worshipping and interceding saints, is revolutionary in itself It is a major
milestone on the road from the medieval, hieratic image to the fifteenth-century sacra
The
conversazione.
inclusion of the four patron saints of Siena, and the inscription,
interceding for the city and for the painter himself, both reflect
replacement for the famous Madonna
Occhi Grossi, through
dcgli
the Florentines were routed at Montaperti fifty years before.
function as a
its
whose mediation
The
great Cosmati-
Gothic marble throne records the impact of the Roman school, transmitted, probably,
through Cimabue and Arnolfo. The obvious Byzantinism of the heads combines
harmoniously with the Gothicism of the
hanging draperies, epitomized in the
softly
sinuous rhythms of the golden edgings. Throughout there

attainable in fresco.
There
deep and pale blues,
lilac,
no words
are
is
glowing colour un-
for the dehcacy, range,
and richness of the
cinnabar, wine-red and ohve, ivory, golden brown, pale
green and yellow. So endlessly exciting
is
the play of line and colour that Duccio's
work, which seems to have been entirely confmed to panel painting, is often seen
exclusively in terms of decoration. The cnhvening function of his subtly Umited
espousal of the new, humane reaHsm, associated primarily with the Roman and Florentine fresco painters, tends to
the
flat
be undervalued. The decorative piling of the figures and
pattern of the elaborately tooled, pale golden haloes, set against the dark gold
of the ground of the main frontal panel of the Maesta, are balanced by the open spacing
of the foremost, kneeling, row of saints; by the firm, though only moderately receding
platform of the throne
and by the
and Child. The part played by

Duccio's art
is
and halo, the
visible
soft
clear,
but never massive volimies of the Virgin
this subtle sense
of volume in the
not only in the whole but in each
detail.
final
The
harmony of
pattern of cloak
flow of fold and edging in the head-dresses, the hair-fme delicacy of
make Cimabue's panel paintings seem to have a heavymonumental fresco; all these depend for their comdelicate suggestion of humanity, even of actuality, conveyed by
parallel brush-strokes that
handed vigour better
upon
plete effect
the
suited to
subtle textural variations, or
half-indicated
the careful drapery tenting of the half-hinted and
by
volumes of a head or of the firm half-column of
a neck. It
is
typical
Duccio's decorative sensitivity that the general symmetry of the attendant

reinforced
the result
by
is
the absolute
symmetry of the angehc
richness without chaos
seldom consciously aware of the
The novelty of the Maesta

frontal panel.
struction,
altarpiece
it
It
who
discipline
rigidity, since the
is
a design
observer
is
extent of the symmetrical repetition.
not confined to the scale and complexity of the main,
clearly boasted a prcdclla.' This
commissioned
in 1302,
new
and once more
a predclla
feature
it is
in
common
The predella, most of which survives,

150
is
earlier
recorded in the
lost
Duccio, or possibly Cimabue, from
was commissioned
seems to have established the pattern
Itahan altarpicces.
without
Within so varied
of
extends to the whole altarpiece. Despite the uncertainties of recon-
whom an altarpiece with

year,
is
and
full
heads.
saints
November of
to the majority
the previous
of subsequent
consisted of seven episodes
from
DUCCIO
the Early Life of Christ, separated
BONINSEGNA
DI
by standing
figures
of prophets. Overhead, some eight
or nhic scenes from the Last Days of the Virgin presumably culminated in
a lost Corotia-
tioii.
was the continuation of this already extensive programme on

from the Passion and the
Resurrected Life were probably supported by a predella dealing with Christ's Ministry
and were certainly surmounted by further illustrations o{ Christ's Apparitions following
the Crucifixion. With the addition of the angels mentioned in a payment of 1308-9,
this means that the thematic unity of the whole was emphasized on front and back by
further iimovation
the back of the altarpiece (Plate 66). Here the twenty-six scenes
the coherent
upward progress of
a story starting
with the earthly scenes that form
the base and ending with the heavenly episodes and figures that once
crowned the
Such grandeur and complexity of structure and of content are unprecedented.
The Passion cycle, which is a recension of all four gospels, is among the most com-
pimiacles.
prehensive to have survived.

before Pilate, Herod, and the
The imusual weight given to

High Priests is possibly only
may
smaller selection of episodes, but
it
scenes in medieval mystery plays.
The
also reflect the
Christ's several appearances

a fdling out
of the normal,
emphasis on these particular
Passion certainly seems to have been performed
in Siena at least
from the beginning of the
possible to say
much more
thirteenth century. Unfortunately,
it is
im-
than that there must have been strong visual and icono-
graphic links between the early mystery plays and the panel paintings which were
likewise being produced in ever increasing
On
numbers
in the later thirteenth century.
the visual side the paintings are just as likely to have influenced the rudimentary
of the plays
settings
as the
other
way
about, as
common
is
so often assumed. So
many of the
Duccio and to all the more progressive

artists, seem to be closely comiected with Late Antique and Early Christian art. It is
therefore dangerous to presume that their roots he in the new forms of the popular
box-like, open-sided interiors,
mystery play. The
human
to
scenes of the Infancy and Passion
and
of Christ were already

of contem-
stressed in the abbreviated cycles
of the
porary rehgious movements
natural that in this fuller cycle the emphasis
it is
Pisani's pulpits,
in the context
on the
Passion should be correspondingly increased.
The invention of an iconographic scheme unique

is accompanied by abundant innovation in
altarpieces
less,
just as the
the Itahan
dominant
Romanesque
rectilinearity
added Gothic complexity, so Duccio's
revolutionary approach to narrative description
The
by
his refusal to
The
that
cast aside
extent of even the largest altarpiece
fresco cycle.
therefore
is
The problem of binding many
less acute.
On
is
firmly based
on
the closest under-
speed of his advance was only rendered possible
abandon the conventions
Master of the St Francis Cycle and
whole history of Itahan
and angularity of structure reveal a cleaving to
tradition, despite the
standing of Byzantine prototypes.
in the
the individual scenes. Neverthe-
were challenged by Cavallini and by the
by fundamental
restricted
reaUsts such as Giotto.
when compared with
that
of a
separate scenes into a decorative unity
is
the back of the Maesta (Plate 66) the strong central landscape
accent of the Betrayal, the
Agony
in the
Garden, and the Crucifixion
would once have
extended upwards through the contrasted settings of the Pentecost and the Ascension.
151

There
is
no attempt, however, to form
into Jerusalem creates
many
panel, and the
a total
symmetry about
the centre.
The Entry
an asymmetric accent in the bottom left-hand comer of the main

centralized and foreshortened frontal interiors are freely inter-
mingled without optical relationship to one another. The Entry
is,
however, visually
balanced by the landscapes in the upper right-hand comer. Similarly, the lowering
of the roof-line in the scene on the right of the Betrayal allows the six scenes on the
bottom right to form an ahnost perfect counterpoise for those on the upper left, in
which the Way to Calvary alone lacks architecture and therefore reveals a comparable
expanse of golden sky. Nevertheless, apart from hne and colour, the main unifying
factors are the constant left-to-right faU of the Hght upon the architecture and the
careful observation of the unity of place, which means that a single interior may
reappear as
many
Cimabue and
as six times.
This unity of place, although already observed by
the Isaac Master at Assisi, and
by Giotto
at
Padua,
is
in itself a novelty in
panel painting.
The Byzantine elements

figures, as well as in the
in the type
and structure, and in the movement, of Duccio's
iconography of many of his
scenes, are so strong that
may
he
himself conceivably have travelled to one of the Near Eastern centres of Byzantine
To mention
trade
between
Siena's ally, Pisa,
that painters fired
flowing into
still
how
art.
only the nearest of the great commercial ports, the constant to-and-fro of
by
and the Eastern Mediterranean makes
the example of the Byzantine
Italy,
it
artists, artefacts,
highly probable
and works of art
made such journeys to the East. The Entry into Jerusalem shows
is bound to his acceptance of the Byzantine and
closely Duccio's achievement
Italo-Byzantine heritage which was ahnost certamly reflected in lost Byzantine or
Byzantinizing manuscripts and pattern books (Plate 67 a). Comparison with the relevant
mosaic in the Cappella Palatina
at
Palermo shows
that the figure types
and the
dis-
welcoming crowd, and of the hillside and the

city gate, aU follow the Byzantine models. Yet out of these traditional elements, however handed down, Duccio creates an organism far beyond the reach of any earlier
medieval artist. The climbing composition of the Byzantine pattern is not merely
accepted: it is accentuated by conversion into a tall, rectangular design. At the same
position of Christ and his apostles, of the
time the cumiing readjustment of the placing of the buildings and the estabhshment
of
their
make
it
uniformly low viewpoint, together with a novel sense of
spatial continuity,
possible to see witliin this surface-cHmbing composition the reaUty
road winding up towards, and finally levelling out within, the
liill
of
town of a
a steep
Sienese
Jerusalem.
The
temple-baptistery that dominates the
knowledge of such buildings

painting and goldsmithery.
the
The Gothic
Rehquary of S. Galgano with
red and blue enamels, and
of a
solid,
detail
and
its
town may
as the baptistery at
its gilt
well reflect not only a personal
Florence, but the constant interplay of
detailing recalls the
and
more sumptuous forms of
silver gilt, its precious stones, its
oriental delicacy
of incision
(Plate 64A).
green and
The combination
bulky central structure, decorated by rounded trilobate arches, and the lacy
fully
Gothic form of the niches
at the angles; the
Cimabuesque arcaded
lengths; the Byzantine undercurrents in the heavy relief with
152
its
half-
massive figures and
DUCCIO
BONINSEGNA
DI
simple narrative realism almost wholly devoid of Gothic elements

thirteenth- or early-fourtcenth-century origin.
It
represents the
from Romanesque weight and gravity to Gotliic grace and

imminent flowering of the Sienesc goldsmith's art.
The simple
confirm
all
a late-
transition
and presages the
lightness,
scenes of the rehquary accentuate the subtlety and boldness of Duccio's
Entry (Plate 67 a).
The
crowding out of it,

themselves,
moment of
as
scale
of the
city gate in relation to the
well as to the near-by
compared
trees, is as
town and
remarkable
to the people
as that
of the
trees
to the children clambering in or standing underneath them.
Alongside the achievement represented by the suggestion of extensive countryside
and teeming
viction in
as
low viewpoint
the contradictory
or the insubstantiality and lack of structural con-
at the roadside
many of the
of
figures are
compromises with an
encies, these
Only
such minor inconsistencies
city,
of the small gate
little
consequence. Indeed, these very inconsist-
earlier tradition, lie at the root
of Duccio's
success.
the partial incorporeahty of the individual figures and the lack of a consistent
logic in the details
make such crowd
scenes and such compositional daring possible
at all.
A comparison with
in
which an attempt
the St Francis and the
to represent a city
is
Demons
at
Arezzo in
combined with
S.
Francesco at
change of
Assisi,
scale suggestive
of diagonal movement into depth, confirms the quality of Duccio's achievement.

There
is
Agony
in the
a similar relationship
between the Assisan Miracle of the Spring and Duccio's

66). Both artists accept exactly the same Byzantine
Garden (Plates 61A and
rock conventions, yet Duccio substantially resolves the uncertainty

or mountains are intended.
The convention
is
handled with
as to
new
whether rocks
sofmess, and the
presence of two episodes within a single scene does nothing to detract from the way in
which the figures now inhabit almost the full depth of a substantial landscape platform.
Even the reaUstic blue of the fresco painter's sky, as agamst the panel painter's gold,
does not redress a balance weighted even further by such added touches as the clovered
carpeting in this scene, the scattered bursts of flowers in the Noli me Tangere, or the
sudden contrast between living
The
trees
and dead, found
in the Entry (Plate 67A).
St CecUia Master's interest in including figures in a townscape,
though not
his
behind in the predella panel of the Healing of

the Blind. The large figures, reasonably in scale with the clearly coordinated buildings,
full of openings and views into depth, almost conceal the fact that only the well on the
detailed portraiture
of buildings,
is left
far
The self-isolating, extreme obHque patterns of the

show how much Duccio's success in organizing complex
right reaches the very foreground.
Repudiation at Assisi (Plate 60)

scenes depends
on
his
complete acceptance of the foreshortened frontal architectural
construction.
The rapidity of Duccio's artistic growth under the stimulus of a great comimission
can be seen not only in the novelty of the whole design but in the further development that took place during execution. A startling number of original compositions
are included
among
main panel of the
the subsidiary scenes,
altarpiece.
They
which were probably designed
after the
once distant baptistery of the Entry towers in the

153
huge,
which the
foreground, more than two full
include the Temptation on the Temple, in

Its roof is now truncated by the frame and the action takes
on an upper balcony. Both main storeys of the complex, vaulted interior can be
ghmpsed through door and window, and throughout there is a new sense of soUdity
storeys high (Plate 67B).
place
and grandeur.
similar partial view, a suidlar boldness
closeness to the onlooker are
foimd in the
and complexity, and a corresponding
interiors
of the
Presentation
and the Teaching
Temple. Nevertheless, the dual scene of the Denial by St Peter and Christ before
in the
Annas on the main panel is the most extraordinary, and yet in many ways the most
typical, of Duccio's compositions (Plate 66). Below, a courtyard opens through an
archway into the farther court of an obviously extensive building. Behind the figures
up to a balconied landing and to further

which Christ meekly stands for questioning
denial in the courtyard below. The accusing fmger of
beneath the high priest, forms a visual Hnk with the
seated in the nearer space a stairway climbs
room
These lead into the upper
steps.
moment of Peter's
very
at the
the serving-woman, vertically
diagonally
chmbing
balustrade.
The
in
unity, not merely of the architectural structure,
but of the tragic content of the two scenes
several kuads
of structural
is
pressed
home.
It is
momentary drama Duccio
intensified visual reahty to this
There
logic.
is
There
woman
is
visual
rough-shod over
uncertainty in the relationship between the
uprights of the lower archway and in the perspective of the

seat.
typical that in giving
rides
stairs
and of the circular
ambiguity in the intensely meaningful juxtaposition of the serving-
and the stairway. The relationship between the upper and the lower rooms
of the former reach the borders of the composition,
shifts constantly, for the side walls
so that
it
appears in one respect to be behind and in another to be immediately above
the lower courtyard. Yet
all
The overriding concern is

moment. The end result hes far
such ambiguities are ignored.
the imaginative recreation of one supremely pathetic
beyond the reach of any of Duccio's contemporaries.

There are many similar structural inconsistencies among the Passion scenes on the
main panel. Columns have capitals in one plane, bases in another. Important figures
standing in the middle-ground quite often overlap the architectural features in the
foreground. Yet Duccio also shows a thoroughly up-to-the-minute tendency to

the receding lines of single planes
It is
mark of Duccio's
all
stature that
The
make
vanish to a point.
it
was by no means
his
most adventurous designs
unambitious Annunciation of the Death of the

Virgin fired the imagination of Pucelle and all his school, setting the pattern for a century
that
were most
in France.^
Tino
di
It
influential.
was
relatively
in simple scenes
Camaino found
a gentle dramatist -
hke the Noli me Tangere
their starting points (Plate 66).
it is
that Itahan sculptors such as
Often - for Duccio
in quiet scenes, such as the Maries at the
Tomb,
is
in
essentially
which the
reminiscences of the calmest of Giovanni Pisano's Gothic figures, the Sibyl for the
facade of the
Duomo,
blend with the general Byzantinism, that
his
most memorable
drama as controlled, as delicate, and as devoid of all

extremes as is the sense of form and line and colour out of which it is created. Only
extraordinary subtlety of treatment prevents the nine different scenes of Christ before
Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate from becoming monotonous, despite a sixfold
visions are
embodied. His
is
154
DUCCIO
BONINSEGNA
DI
one setting and a threefold repetition of the other. Within a dramatic

range that has none of Giovanni Pisano's violence, the gradually intensifying pathos of
repetition of
St Peter's three denials
The second
scenes.
is
moving
is
in the extreme.
The
first
two whole
spreads over
then concentrated in a single episode. In the third, St Peter
is
brought almost shoulder to shoulder with the blindfolded, beaten Christ. As the
complexities of the rhythm of his art reveal themselves, it gradually becomes selfevident that Duccio's experiments in naturalism, his formal division of the panel as a
whole, and
detailed use
liis
of hne and colour only achieve
full
meaning
hght of
in the
the narrative that they serve.
The doubled
Hfe and bustle,
of the Entry, with
size
is
a peal
its
glorious natural detail and
ofjoy that echoes through the panel and
its
emphasis on
mount-
intensifies the
ing tragedy of the Passion scenes that follow. First conies the quiet sadness of Christ,
still
surrounded by
in the
his
loved apostles,
lower half of the great central
and the hiunan
bitterness
tragic counterpoint
itself.
is
the spiritual crescendo of the
The upper
left-hand section sees the continuation
of question and answer and has
and the Mocking. The Passion culminates
in the Scourging
Agony
In the succeeding section of six scenes
contains the rising tension of the three denials and of
the beating and derision of Christ.
of the
the preparations for betrayal are begun. Then,
of the Betrayal
rhythm of questioning
the quieter
as
axis, there
its
own
chmax
dramatic
in a Crucifixion almost as
extensive as four normal scenes. There follows the sad aftermath that gradually gives
way
to puzzlement and then to joy, until fmally the firm
the up-sweeping road o ê Journey

piece and reached their
section
chmax
final
Nevertheless,
its
movement
golden edging of the Virgin's cloak

It is,
and
own
narrative crescendo as
perhaps fmally upon the quaHty of each scene, on
it is
that Duccio's dramatic
where
Just such a touch occurs in the Deposition,
ness
and
altar-
it
mounts
triumph.
deUcacies of expression and of
curve.
figures
crowned the
in the joyous Resurrection and Ascension. In short, each
of the comphcated whole contains
towards the
movement of the
Eniaus lead to the scenes that
to
is
little
power
things,
is
on
founded.
the normally sinuous flow
of the
suddenly drawn taut into a single sweeping
throughout, a combination of simphcity and sophistication, adventurous-
diffidence,
of spatial and descriptive range, of linear and
and narrative subtlety, that gives the Maesta, and Duccio's
colouristic sensitivity
art as a
whole,
its
hold on
subsequent generations.
The Panel Paintings

If the Rucellai
and
if the
Madonna
is
the
work
Duccio mentioned there
is
less
Maesta
document of
some twenty-five
referred to in the Florentine
the Duccio of the Maesta,
of intense development separate the two.

of that observable within the
other than the
Its
likely range can easily
1285,
years
be assessed in terms
than three-year time-span of the painting of the
Maesta. Given the lapse of time, the closeness of the facial types in the
two works
is
notable indeed, particularly in the lesser figures of the angels, which are those least
subject to
development
(Plates 63
and
65).
The innovation
155
represented
by
the
some-

times swiftly sinuous, sometimes convoluted flow of the golden edging of the Virgin's
cloak in the Rucellai Madonna
is
the perfect prelude to the
and carefully generalized Gothic rhythms of the
The
many
more
consistently disciplined
similar edgings in the Maesta.
and structural coherence of the throne in the earUer altarpiece;
spatial
boldness for
its
date;
its
combination of small Gothic
details
its
very
and Byzantine general
form, are exactly what might be expected of the adventurously conservative Duccio.
The same
true
is
of the fundamental contrast between the developing earthly reaUsm
of figures and throne
and the wholly visionary and supernatural placing of the
alike,
angels.
This being
late seventies
them
so,
and given the tentative placing of Cimabue's frescoes
or early eighties, the S. Trinita
at a sHghtly earUer date than that
while Duccio
nor yet in the colour, which
point, does
(Plate 50)
of the Rucellai Madonna,
at Assisi in the
being bracketed with

it is
no
surprise that,
Cimabue's extreme experiments with the
initially resisted
massive throne, the influence of the

line
Madonna
latter's
is
new
organized in terms of straightforward coimter-
Duccio succumb to Cimabue. Nevertheless, Florentine influence
main poses
type of
angels should be clearly visible. Neither in
is
at its
combined with the strongest reminiscences of

Guido da Siena. The inherent quahties of the Rucellai Madonna are such that its echoes in
the Louvre Madonna (Plate 53b), which probably emanates from Cimabue's circle at
a shghtly later date, are as strong as, or even stronger than, those of Cimabue's S.
peak, although in the
it is
Trinita Madonna itself. Such closely related works as the stiffly draperied Crevole
Madonna in the Opera del Duomo at Siena can be no more than roughly contemporary
workshop products. This seems to be confirmed by the outstanding dehcacy of handling
in the tiny Madonna of the Franciscans in the Siena Gallery (Plate 64B). Here a miniaturist's
touch is accompanied by a sweep and grandeur of design and by a compositional
inventiveness that quite transcend the hmitations of objective scale. The Gothic diaper-
ing of the ground, the augmented depth and spatial

increased swiftness and fluidity of the linear rhythms,
after the Rttcellai
Madonna but
still
fairly early
power of the throne, and the

combine to place this panel
all
on the road
that leads to the Maesta.
wooden as opposed to a marble throne points to a probable dating

before the mid nineties. The subtlety of the design is timeless, on the other hand. The
volume of the throne seen from the left is balanced by the enveloping, linear do\vnThe
retention of a
sweep of the Virgin's cloak and by the three small, kneeling monks. This latter major
diagonal within the balanced whole is reinforced by the iconographically original
position of the Virgin's hand,
by
the inclination of her head,
and by the sweeping gesture
of Christ's benediction.
Far closer to the Maesta in
melting Gothic rhythms
is
its
the
combination of a basically Byzantine tormula with
Madonna
in the Stoclet Collection, in
balancing of architectural and figural forms
is
parapet with foreshortened brackets reminiscent of Assisi.
by
which
a similar
achieved by means of a Cimabucsque
The fmal
link
is
provided
the triptych in the National Gallery in London. Here the facial types and linear
play in the main figures are extremely close to those of the Stoclet Madonna.
other hand the female saint on the right wing
156
is,
in the
On
the
almost purely Gothic rhythm
DUCCIO
DI
BONINSEGNA
of her draperies, the prelude to such figures
of the Maesta.
all
as that on the left of the main frontal panel

works do indeed stem from the early years of the new century,
If these
that remains
of Duccio's reasonably
pletion of the pattern
shows
that
ccrtaiia work has been assembled. The comCimabue's impact was no momentary matter. It is only
Duccio is finally able to make use of Cimabue's monumental throne

and to exploit and to expand the idea behind the latter's soUd, standing angels.
Seen in this context, the great window of 1287 in the Duomo at Siena becomes a
in the Maesta that
natural
The
medium
vertical
narrative
for the transference
hnkage of
its
scenes
of Cimabue's vision
may
(Plates
54B and 55, A and
b).
well have inspired the axial stiffening of the
compartments on the back of the Maesta
(Plate 66).
At the same time the
catalogue of Duccio's remaining reasonably certain paintings seems to confirm that

the
window
is
not to be placed immediately
after the Riicellai
Madotma, commissioned
Madonna of the Franciscans (Plate 64B) as one of Duccio's

own works. The thrones of both the latter Madonnas are very different in conception.^
in 1285 (Plate 63), and before the
Furthermore, in Duccio's output of the eighties there
mental
is
no hint of the broad, monu-
connected with fresco painting. Even in the Entombment of

the Virgin in the Maesta, painted over twenty years later, Duccio the panel painter
style so intimately
does not achieve the variety and complexit)' of spatial grouping seen in the stained-glass
Throughout the window
from the tightly

nowhere are there any indications of the linear
sinuosities already apparent in the RuceUai Madonna herself and so increasingly obvious
in all Duccio's later works as almost to become an artistic trademark.* For the development of Duccio during the late eighties the window represents a veritable cuckoo in
the nest, and any consideration of the several charming but more doubtful attributions,
such as the httle Maesta in Bern or the Madonna in Perugia, only accentuates the gap
which separates the rhythmic character of Duccio's own work from that of the great
window which inspired him.
Dormition.
the drapery forms differ widely
creased folds of the RuceUai angels, and
In the end
it is
more than ever
anchor of Duccio's career but

httle
warning of what
very obvious
fact that
is
to
clear not only that the Maesta
also that the
few reasonably
the attributional
is
certain additional
works give
come. They do, however, demonstrate the otherwise not
Duccio's Sienese roots
lie
firmly in the age
still
dominated by the
of Guido and enriched by the recurrent Florentine influences which, for him, were
represented not by Coppo's waning star, but by the ascendant Cimabue.
art
157
PART FOUR
ARCHITECTURE
1300-1350
CHAPTER
15
INTRODUCTION
During
as a
whole
rival the
the half-century that precedes the Black

a thing
of beauty
importance of the need to make
Death the
perhaps for the
at least begins,
first
desire to
make
the city
time since Antiquity, to
strong against internal and external enemies.
it
grow more palatial and less fortress-Hke and multiply in

number. The first tentative moves towards conscious, visual organization accompany
a changing attitude to practical considerations, and the idea of town planning begins
to take on a new meaning. The building or the reconstruction of a major church or
It is
not merely that palaces
becomes the occasion for a conscious effort to impose a certain visual order on
outcome of long centuries of unplanned growth. What had been a mystical ideal,
palace
the
an inarticulate urge, or an unwritten code, begins to find a place in written regulations.
outcome may have fallen short of the intention, the

fmd a counterpart not merely in the architectural symbohsm of the individual church but in the shape of streets and squares.
The first faint stirrings of ideas that flower in the formal concepts of the Renaissance
are apparent. The desperate struggle for survival and salvation is slowly modified by
However much
the practical
theologians' ordered universe begins to
more ambiguous
rivals the
attitudes. Increasingly, the organization
hope of heaven
as a social force.
159
of the
affairs
of
this
world
CHAPTER l6
SIENA
The Palazzo Pubblico
The new ideas
take shape most clearly in Siena. The starting point lies in the plans for
PubbHco (Plate 68 and Figure 13). These were first mooted in 1282, although
a definite decision was not taken until 1288 and building seems to have started ten
years later. In 1297, before the palace in the sheU-hke Campo or main square had even
been begun, it was ordained j' that if any house or building should ever be built around
the Palazzo
Figure 13. Siena, Cainpo, Palazzo Pubblico, and Cathedral. Plan
(i
3500)
the Campo, each and every window of such house and building, which should look out
upon the Campo must be made with columns and without any balconies'. This is
precisely the form of window estabUshed in 1298 by the central section of the Palazzo
Pubblico. Undoubtedly what was plarmed from the first was an entire new city centre
that would gradually take shape around the seat of government.
The original square central section of the Palazzo, with its stone ground-floor loggia
and the rose-red brick of its upper storeys, is a cross between the Tuscan and Lombard
forms previous discussed. Relatively low two-storeyed wings, intended as the quarters
'
of the Podesta and of the Council of the Nine, were added

160
in
307-10 and only extended
SIENA
upwards
begun
in 1680-1.
The
spacious upper loggia at the back of the central section was
framing a superb view of the coimtrysidc
in 1304. In
provides vertiginous
it
evidence of the scale of the substructures needed before the palace proper could be
The new
started.
were
prison and the Salone del Gran Consiglio along the Via di Salicotto
and 1330-40 respectively, but the most spectacular addition was the
built in 1327
Torre
Mangia, founded
dclla
period that the
latter's
in 1335
but only built in 1338-48.
crown should have been designed
in 134T
It is
of the
typical
by the famous
painter
Memmi.
Lippo
In the
mid fourteenth century
contrasted skylines in Italy.
the palace
Its effect is
must have presented one of the most boldly
hard to imagine
when
faced with the relatively
simple massing of the present building, in wliich a substantially horizontal main body
and slimly-soaring angle tower are juxtaposed. The height, not only of the tower
but of the kccp-hke and
accentuated by the
initially free-standing central
low wings,
i:a
the lines of arches and first-storey

a break. Nevertheless, the
Umbria confirms
view
which the horizontal
stress
was further increased by
windows running through from end
76 and Figure
tower
is less
The extraordinary
15).
end without
a novelty than a reminiscence
Gubbio
with extreme horizontal and
breaks and contrasts, were well in tune with current taste in Central,
Italy (Plate
to
uphill towards the Palazzo dei Consoli at
that such staccato elevations,
of past
itself,
clement, must have been greatly
if
in
vertical
not Northern,
height and slimness of the Sienese

glories.
Like the tower that juts un-
compromisingly from the rectangular bulk of the Palazzo Vecchio
at
Florence,
it
recalls
when Siena, like S. Gimignano and hke every major town in Italy, resembled a
forest. The Torri degli Asinelli in Bologna, though decapitated, show that towers
the day
stone
on this scale had long been built. It was indeed the menace to the Commune represented
by such private fortresses of the nobility and of the major family clans that led increasingly to their destruction. As a graceful record of the grim reahties of a past by no means
wholly exorcized, the Torre dclla Mangia stresses that the whole palazzo with its numerous wide, tripartite windows and the open arches of its loggia is much more a symbol of
the power of government than an actual fortress. To look back at the grey stone facade
of the Palazzo Tolomei (after 1267), with its uncompromising flatness, its thin cornices,
and
wide
its
areas
of unbroken masonry,
changed even in twenty
is
to see
how much
the atmosphere had
years.
The inside of the Palazzo PubbHco is unusually well preserved, and its complexity and
its external dimensions. The housing of all the
magnificence arc commensurate with

offices
and hving quarters for the Podesta and for the Nine,
as
well as of the usual
council chambers, in a single building created a unitary seat of government without
precedent in Central
wdth
its
groin-vaults,
fine detailing
every
Italy.
The wide ground-floor arcading of the
Cortile del Podesta,
octagonal brick columns and stone capitals supporting round brick arches and
size
is
impressive in
its
scale
of the windows, has
and shape achieve
customary large and well-ht
and regularity, although the well
a rather bitty quaUty. Successions
cHmax
in the Sala del
itself,
despite the
of fme rooms of
Mappamondo,
hall gains architectural interest
in which the
from four massive arches
opposite the windows. These lead off into the entrance hall and into the dark and
161
PART four: architecture 1300-1350

heavily vaulted chapel and ante-chapel.
by men Hke Simone
decoration
Taddeo
di Bartolo
The survival
Ambrogio
were
as
incomplete
had successfully met the challenge of the

is
vast,
as
many rooms of the
frescoed
Lorenzetti, Spinello Aretino, and
however, a reminder that for
is,
the great civic palaces of Italy
eye
in so
Martini,
all their
architectural grandeur
any church
until the fresco painter
bare surfaces to which the
modem
so responsive.
The
Pubbhco
designer of the Palazzo
reflections
unknown. The building
is
of earher Sienese practices such
as
however,
is,
were embodied, not only
full
of
in such relatively
recent brick constructions as the late-thirteenth-century Spedale di S. Maria della Scala,
but in early-thirteenth-century structures hke the travertine Casa di Via Cecco

Angioheri.2
The most
interesting
and sculptor Agostino
men
of the
he seems to have been dead by
late 1350.
involved in
mentioned
di Giovanni. First
its
completion
in 13 10,
He worked on
is
the architect
when he was
married,
the Palazzo Pubblico in 13 31
and again in 1339, when he was also concerned with Lando di Pietro and others in the
construction of the Fonte Gaia immediately in front of the building. In 1340 he was
busy with two other architects on the projected reconstruction of the Palazzo Sansedoni,
and
a sketch establishing the detailed
treatment of the street facade of this, the grandest of
the private palaces that overlook the
brick construction
several sections
its
hug
Campo, has survived on
only slightly simplified
Campo,
the contour of the
obey the
all
Palazzo Pubblico. Indeed, the only significant change
dows
in comparison with the storeys that they light.
dwindled into
framework
the original contract.^
window design and

is
the
Its
way in which its
rules estabhshed in the
the increased scale of the win-
The intervening
areas
of wall have
for thirty-six elegant triple openings. Elsewhere in the city
the palaces of the Salimbeni, Chigi-Saracini, Capitano di Giustizia, and Buonsignori are
only the most splendid of a century-long
set
of variations played in brick, and brick
and stone, upon the themes estabhshed in the Campo.
The Gates and Fountains
The
this
city's gates
period goes
and fountains show that the homogeneity of Sienese architecture in
much
deeper than such surface symptoms
tions. In 1325 the architect
as the
and sculptor Agnolo di Ventura,
few surviving regula-
who was
active
between
and 1349, provided plans for the largely destroyed Porta S. Agata. He was on the
Council of the Duomo in 1333, and in 1334 was associated with a certain Guidone di
13 12
Pace in the building of Grosseto Castle, the surviving tower of which dates from 1345.
The Sienese Porta Tufi of 1325 is sometimes attributed to him, and in 1327 he provided plans for the Porta Romana.
ceded by
a curtain wall
The
machicolations and frescoed tabernacle,

Pispini
of 1326, attributed
to
Muccio
is
with
a constant feature
is
its
stylistically
di Rinaldo. It
similarly solid brick construction,
arch which
latter,
kccp-likc
and outer defensive rectangle, with
is
its
structure prefalse
extremely close to the Porta
also related to the Porta Ovile.
and the greater willingness to use the pointed
of non-military construction, arc
long hne of city fountains. These were
main
battlements and
all
built in the
162
characteristic
of the
form of vaidtcd chambers with
The dark and massive Fontc Branda,
arched openings.
within rcHcving arches, leads the way.
and rebuilt
of wall
is
in
First
1246^ In the closely related Fonte
accompanied by
simple pointed openings
its
mentioned
in 1081,
di Follonica
it
was enlarged
of 1249
a similar
a less oppressive arch-within-an-arch design
set
in 1198
weight
and by heavy
ribbing of the vaults.^
This Sicnese pattern was followed in 1265 in the Magazzino dell'Abbondanza at

Massa Marittima, in which three simple, pointed arches, many feet thick, lead to the
vaulted chambers of the fountain and support the public granary above. The six round-
headed windows of the upper storey are linked by two plain cornices, so that the
whole not only resembles the Central ItaUan versions of the Lombard
possibly reflects a Siencse practice
now
civic palace
but
obscured by the destruction of the upper levels
of Siena's thirteenth-century fountains.
The
earlier Sienese
format
is
replaced
wider and
formula
by
arches of the
taller
the short sides. This pattern

(Plate 69B).
is
modified in the Fonte d'Ovile of 1262. The long, low

almost cubic design in wliich the two
a vertically accented,
main
front are flanked
by
a similar
opening on one of
then followed in the Fonte Nuova, begun in 1298
is
Here the massive brick dividing column of the Fonte d'Ovile, and
rectangular section of the arches,
common
to
all
the earher fountains, give
the plain
way
to
an
extensive series of decorative mouldings that lend an air of solemn, almost ecclesiastical
sophistication to this, the
most imposing of the
S. Dotnenico
The
S. Francesco
variety of civil building and rebuilding in early-fourteenth-century Siena
matched by the multipHcity of churches
Among
the latter, S.
Domenico and
brick constructions in Central Italy.

ings,
The
and
later Sienese fountains.*
that
were being
S. Francesco rank as two of the most important

Both were replacements for more modest build-
and both flow directly from the thirteenth-century Tuscan mendicant

existing S.
Domenico seems
was
either started or enlarged.
to date
from
after 1309,
when
end were being amassed. Like the Palazzo Pubblico, the enormous brick
choir and transepts, towering above the Fonte Branda,
is
built
tradition.
materials for the east
up from the
pile
of the
hillside
on
high substructure (Plate 69A). Here, in the simple pointed openings into the substructure and choir chapels, in the enormous buttresses and vast, unbroken areas of
a
transept wall,
is
brickwork on
a scale that echoes ancient
adorned simpUcity of the whole

this
is
Rome. The
massive, un-
epitomized in the great central window. In
has the quality of a brick wall set within a great reheving arch and pierced
storeys
itself
by two
of round-headed openings which are themselves surmounted by one large and
Even more monumental and impressive in its absolute simplicity

which the prism of the nave is shafted into that of the uninterrupted
volume of the transepts. It is this relationship that dominates the interior. The nave,
with its pitched roof and simple, pointed windows, is separated from the crossing by a
massive pointed arch that is a httle flatter in its ciu-ve than the one which leads to the
two
is
small roundels.
the
way
in
choir chapel.
No
arches separate the transepts
163
from the
crossing,
and
a single pitched

roof runs from end to end. The expectation of a relatively sharp reduction in
from nave
to transepts, with an
immediate subdivision into
lesser
confounded, and does not take place until the choir and the
been reached. Even
SimpHcity such
in
many larger and more
as this is
of the chapels and
scale
indeed
six flanking chapels
richly detailed
not to be confused with mere
their openings
is
have
themselves create a sense of mass and of sheer scale
so, the chapels
which is not achieved
volumes,
and articulated buildings.
insensitivity.
The
relative sizes
become
The
so calculated that the inner, flanking pair
is
the intermediaries that link the smaller, outer four to the great central square.
harmonious grouping of the arches of the crossing, the chapel openings, and the
windows is particularly striking when once the mid-point of the nave is reached and
the pair of flanking chapels
is
fuUy
visible. It
is
not only in reUgion
itself,
but in
its
architectural expression, that disciplined simphcity can be a vital force.
The new S. Francesco was founded in 1326. Although the church is longer and wdder
S. Domenico by some 7 feet, its main dimensions being 191 feet and 72 feet
6 inches (58-3 m. and 22* i m.) respectively, it is also lower and hghter. The nave,
which was heightened by Francesco di Giorgio in 1475-84, was always higher than the
transepts. As a result there is an easier hierarchy in the external forms (Plate 70a).
It is only partly because the hill upon which it stands drops down less steeply that the
than
buttresses are hghter
and the sheer mass of the brickwork
Domenico. The choir chapel
steps
up
and the transepts once more to the nave, in
The windows
forms.
general
that
effect,
more dehcate
are
although
imposing than in
S.
restful stages that are
made up of repeated
in their vertically accented tracery
and the
much
closer to
far less sophisticated
of the Florentine church. There
less
to the nave, the flanking chapels to the transepts,
than in
Crocc,
S.
is
very
a similar internal relationship (Plate 70B), since
is
the nave runs to the choir wall without the intervention of an arch before the crossing,
and the openings of the eight

and sUghter than in
transepts are the
lighter
The
when
the
It is
as the
seen in foreshorteniiig
window
minor
identical chapels flanking the choir are altogether slinuner
Domenico.
same height
relationship
in the arches and
choir
S.
also noticeable that
although the arches into the
choir arch, they appear to be both narrower and
from
the nave.
between the choir arch and choir window
windows of the
flanking chapels.
that mediates in scale
There
chapels.
in the entrance wall
of the
is,
It is,
is
ahnost exactly repeated
indeed, this dehcately traceried
between the choir arch and the entrance arches of
however, a rather loose-knit quality about the openings
choir. This
is
chiefly caused
by
setting the vertical axes
upper windows shghtly outside those of the openings of the
first
two
Nevertheless, the general coherence of internal and external relationsliip

is
not nccessarOy a simple lapse in
sensitivity.
central chapels and the entrance wall

is
not immediately obvious
transepts
becomes
central rose
is
As soon
as
the nave
of the choir are seen
as a
is
is
such that
this
entered the three
framed group. What
the fact that, both externally and internally, as
visible, the setting
of the
flanking chapels.
more of the
of these upper windows ahgns them with the
and with the windows of the third pair of flanking chapels. This creates
triangle similar to that
which
links the central chapel to
its
Externally this establishes a continuity in the surface pattern of the
164
immediate neighbours.
windows
similar
SIENA
to that
which binds
volumes of the building
the
the visual linkage of the nave and transepts.
to each other. Internally
The
latter,
it
encourages
being partly cut off by their
entrance arches, are otherwise in danger of becoming
somewhat disconnected spaces.

As often happens, an apparent failure in some single detail is the clue that leads to
an understanding of the struggle to achieve some greater goal.
The Duomo
It
was not merely into
these
two
churches, linked to the cathedral only
by
their internal
zebra stripes, or into the related churches of the Austin Friars and the Servites that the
Sienese poured their energies. In 13 16, under
Camaino di Crescentino, only twenty

work on the facade, they began to
years after Giovaimi Pisano's sudden desertion of the
extend the existing
Duomo by
new
building a
baptistery' at the foot
of the
hill (Plate
155 and Figure 143). This was to provide substructures for a two-bay extension of the
choir above (Plate
men
women
and
7).
By
1322, despite a
and a commission was summoned for
commonplace, and
Sienese architect
one owes
this
whose
associated
led squads of
came crowding in,
Such corrunissions of inquiry were a
a similar case.
with him, and
incisive presentation
its
advice.''
interest to the presence
position as capomaestro at Orvieto
and subsequent action in
were
communal enthusiasm which
to assist in excavation, second thoughts and fears
The
Sienese Nicola di
their report
is
model of
of Lorenzo Maitani, the
stemmed from his advice

Nuto and three Florentines
clear thinking
new foundations are inadequate and already sinking.

new walls are not thick enough. They are to be much
Item, the
Item, the
should therefore be thicker, to bear the weight. But they are not.
Item, the unsettled foundations
Item,
it
and of the
of unpalatable truths:
\vill
higher than the old and
They
are thinner.
not bond into the old and settled ones.
seems to us that the work should not proceed farther because of the necessity for
demolition in the existing structure.

Item, that
it
should not proceed because
this
would gravely endanger
the vaults and cupola
of the old building.

Item, that
centre, as
it
it
should not proceed because the cupola would no longer stand at the cross's
should.^
Item, that
it
should not proceed because
when completed it wall not have
of a church in length and breadth and height

Item, that
it
and height
the measurements
by church law.
should not proceed farther for the old church
parts agree so well in breadth, length,
would be
as postulated
is
so well proportioned
that if anything
were added
better instead to destroy the said church completely, -^vishing to bring
it
to
any
and
part,
its
it
reasonably to
the right measure for a church.
This concern with proportion and 'with
all
the measures that pertain to a beautifiil
church' recurs in a further, separate recommendation that a wholly
new
building
should be imdertaken.'
In
view of Maitani's
similar call to Orvieto and
165
of the enthusiasm and confidence
PART four: architecture 13OO-135O

which he had aroused
is
in the authorities there, the skilful ordering
particularly interesting.
anybody
else,
theoretical
new
he had,
at
It is
rendered doubly so because,
of this second report
unknown
to himself or to
Orvieto, provided tangible evidence both of his lack of
knowledge and of the Umitations of his craftsman's

it advances from a series of purely
report gains force as
structural shortcomings to reiterated
culminating argument, which
The way
expertise.^"
factual statements
warnings not to continue
impressive.
is
the
about
The
now appears to be wholly aesthetic, must have been given
added weight by the philosophical and symbohc importance of medieval systems of

proportion. One cannot, however, help suspecting that the advice to start again at the
beginning with an entirely
building
it
new
cathedral
may have been
influenced
>(
Figure 14. (a) Siena,
Not
Duomo. Diagram of projected
II
;<
the
hope of
II
plans
taking the advice of specially convened expert commissions was already a well
estabUshed governmental pastime in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless,
almost
by
himself.
as
much
courage to go on
in the face
it
must have taken
of such an imequivocal condemnation
as
would have done to stop and start afresh. In fact, they carried on, and the vaulting
of the baptistery was fmished only three years later.
Maitani's visual sensitivity is wimcssed by his work at Orvieto, and the effect of the
existing building at Siena when Duccio's Maesta was fla:iked by Nicola Pisano's
pulpit and almost immediately surmounted by the glow of Cimabue's window, only
it
166
Rgure
just
beyond the
architecturally
14. (b) Siena,
Duomo.
dominant vortex of the
Plan
crossing,
must have been some-
thing which was neither soon forgotten nor easily relinquished. As at Orvieto, however,
Maitani's structural forebodings were evidently
less
building, with an even greater overburden than
well founded, for the whole new-
was
originally intended, has already
survived for a matter of six hundred years.
The
desire to outshine Orvieto; to
gathered
Duomo
N
upon
state occasions;
accommodate
the ever-growing
and to avert the increasing
of Florence by means of a building of unrivalled splendour,

167
crowds
artistic threat
may
from
that
the
well have

influenced the project for enlargement. If so, that desire was not yet satisfied.
evaporation of one
set
of dangers, and the
initial
triumph of courage over
The
calculation,
apparently gave the impression that the laws of gravity were in abeyance.
In 1339 the authorities decided, amidst general acclaim, to expedite a grandiose plan
had been gradually maturing throughout the preceding decade. To supervise the
that
Lando di Pietro, who is documented as

making drawings, but who died in the following year, to be
succeeded by Giovanni d'Agostino, who in 1347 became capomaestro at Orvieto.
The whole of the existing and still unfmished structure was to be no more than the
choir and transepts of a monstrous new cathedral. The drawings for two versions of
the project still survive in the Museo dell'Opera (Figure 14A). One, which was fmally
discarded, apparently envisaged the abandonment of the two new, uncompleted bays
of the choir and the suppression of the first three bays of the existing nave, though all of
them are shown on plan. A great radial choir on the hnes of Notre Dame in Paris, or of
Pontigny, was to be the culmination of a unified, but no longer cruciform space. The
support of the existing cupola would have entailed the substitution of a pier for the
window that normally marks the longitudinal axis of such plans. It also generated most
pecuhar relationships between the hexagon and circle. A large smudge seems to express
the reluctance to accept the setting of a pair of pillars almost back to back along the central axis of the building and immediately behind the altar. Such structural confusions,
and the root and branch approach to the existing church, must have influenced the
approval of the second plan, which is the one substantially embodied in the surviving
ruins of the scheme. The old cathedral was to provide the uneven transepts, four and five
bays long respectively, of a new, cruciform church. The new nave was virtually to
double the height of the old and was to be nearly as wide as the cupola. The latter would
have been buried almost to its lantern. The effects of heightening what were to be the
scheme they sent
to Naples for the Sienese
receiving parchment for
transepts are visible
throughout the surviving building, and
of the drum appears
inside the
much of the original exterior
church above the original arches of the crossing. Already
what was once intended as a vertical expansion appears as a great prismatic shaft sunk
into the heart of the main body, and this impression would have been immeasurably
intensified when the same forms were viewed from the projected nave.
The effect on Giovanni Pisano's facade of the heightening of the present nave, completed in 1359-60, has already been discussed.
a
few of which
survive,
embedded
in the walls
The form of the
new nave,
much more
piers for the
of the Opera del
Duomo,
is
extraordinary. In accordance with the plan, they have exactly the same section as those
of the
is
relatively
shown by
strikes far
its
humble arcading of the
sur\'iving entrance wall.
below
that
by
is
easily
the
all
the
new
structure
wide vaulting of the
aisles
so great that the piers
is
fmancial
work. The
disaster
difficulties
of
which might
imagined, and the innumerable defects of the half-
completed structure are inexorably
Two
The height of
from
strain. Fortunately, the
the Black Death, stopped
otherwise have occurred
di Cionc.
thrust
from the projected main vaulting, and
have bent hke willow twigs under the

the forties, capped
original nave.
The
listed in a
report of 1356
by
years later Francesco Talenti, the capomaestro
168
the Florentine Bcnci
of Florence Cathedral,
SIENA
was paid for consultations, but the decision to demolish the obviously dangerous sechad already been taken in 1357. It is uncertain whether the abortive scheme was
planned by Lando di Pietro, whose chief claim to fame is otherwise the fashioning of
the crown of the emperor Henry VII, or by Giovanni d'Agostino the architect and
tions
by some adventurous unknown. It is

was actually carried out with such unfortunate
sculptor, or
clear,
however, that the work which
results
is
as
nothing to the
feats
of
The plan involved no less than the removal

of two of the pillars supporting the cupola. These would otherwise have blocked the
vista down the nave, and were to be replaced by a pair of intersecting arches. Imagination boggles at the thought of Maitani's reaction, had he Uved to see what was proposed.
This almost incredible saga of ambition and incompetence is revealing. The erection
of the new baptistery and the successful grafting of the choir upon the original building
engineering that should have followed.
of architectural engineering. Yet the Umitations of their

knowledge were such that these same men pressed on for twenty years with
the structurally preposterous folly that still dominates Siena like the skeleton of some
long-stranded whale. Nevertheless, theirs was an airy if impracticable vision of a
Gothic architecture wholly lacking in the Gothic structural elements that alone could
make it viable. It was a dream of slender members and round arches soaring weightless
over mighty spaces. The classical detail of the surviving parts shows their instinctive
are extraordinary feats
theoretical
feeling for the
forms that they were
underlines their sense of
Petrarch and
Ambrogio
stretcliing far
harmony with
beyond the
limits
the Antique world with
Lorenzetti were familiar.ii
It is
a tribute to the quahties
fourteenth-century Sienese that their most ignominious failure
than
many
other men's successes.
169
of the possible and
which such men

is
as
of these
more memorable
CHAPTER 17

The Palazzo Vecchio and
Palazzo Davanzati
the
in Florence
It was in 1258 that the great GhibeUhie clan of the Uberti had been expelled from
Florence and their towers and houses razed. For forty years the ruins lay as a mute
warning, and Giovanni VUlani, the Guelph historian of Florence, writing in the early
fourteenth century, says that it was to ensure that they could never be rebuilt that the
area
was chosen
when
1299,
strife
itself was
The Palazzo Vecchio
meant
that the Priors could
house of the White Cerchi. The
safety in the
leaders
for the Piazza della Signoria.
continuing internal
latter
were
founded in
no longer
banking
stay
fainily
with
and the
of one faction in the ferocious struggle between the so-called White and Black
mid nineties this had replaced the earUer warfare between Guelphs and
Guelphs. In the
were marked by a succession of atrocities and

The peak of violence was reached with the triumph of the Blacks in 1 301, and
Ghibellines, and the years 1299 and 1300
tumults.
the ensuing terror lasted throughout 1302.

for his actions as a Prior
Ghibellines; nearly six

scattered
The
throughout
two
It
years earhcr.
was then
that
Dante
fled to escape a trial
The White Guelphs were
proscribed as
hundred death sentences were passed, and the White
exiles
Italy.
perilous times explain the speed with
which the new Palazzo was
erected.
They
The Priors were already installed in 1302 and the tower was
up by 13 10 (Plate 71). The contrast to the slow rise of S. Croce and of the Duomo,
both begun only a few years earher, is extreme. The architectural conservatism of
also render
the
also
remarkable.
it
grim and
fortress-like exterior, reminiscent
of Volterra and of the Bargello, must
be related to contemporary events, although these cannot completely explain
newer and more open forms appearing in towns like Siena which
Villani's discussion of the new palace is interesting evidence of the strength of the general desire for regularity of form wherever it
could be achieved. He attributed the trapezoidal plan to the wish to avoid building on
the contrast with the
were no
less
land once
prone to internal warfare.
owned by
the hated Ghibelline exiles, and
saw
it
as a
major imperfection
in a
building which 'should have been given a square or rectangular shape'.' Nevertheless,
the slight sharpening of the
main angle
increases the rock-hke, jutting quality
building already notable for size and grandeur of conception.

is
accentuated
by
the texturing of
its
overhang of the macliicolated upper

bifore,
which with
there
is
a feeling
finely proportioned rustication

fortifications.
Although
their voussoirs set the pattern for
Italian buildings, that regularity
is
of architectural
and progressive diminution
in the
The
it is
of
volume
and by the heavy
only in the principal
innumerable subsequent Central
approached and, on the short

discipline
sense of
side, actually achieved,
and control throughout. Clear definition
height of the three storeys and the regularity of the
170

fortified
upper gallery contribute to the
adventure
final effect.
the partial seating of the campanile
is
however, not merely in the tower
It is,
of
own
its
its
visual quality
of the whole
combination of
characteristic
asymmetrical siting and in the relation
its
subtly balanced proportions to those of the
of the
secret
with
itself,
strength and hghmess, but in the precision of
The only clement of architectural
on the overhang of the machicolations.
main block below,
that the
resides.^
The Sala d'Armi on the ground floor provides the main internal evidence of the
quahty of the greatly enlarged and thoroughly transformed original structure (Plate
72a). There is a subtle blend of masculinity and grace in the six bays of the vaulting,
which are supported by round arches resting on pilasters and upon two central, freestanding, octagonal columns.
The
sturdincss
and severity of form do not disguise close
kinship with the crispness and simphcity of detail, the precision in the use of sharply
defmed planar forms,
that are fundamental to
His influence seems undeniable, although the
Amolfo's sculpture and architecture.
late tradition
of his personal responsibility
carmot be confurmed. The general Tuscan predilection for such forms

the severe, planar, and prismatic details
is underlined by
of the courtyards of the pubUc and private
palaces of Siena.
The
creation of the Palazzo Vecchio
civic pride. It
was external danger,
was
first
deeply rooted in internal faction
as
from the emperor Henry
as in
VII, and a decade
from Castruccio Castracane, that led to the completion of the third circle of the
between 13 lo and 1328. Villani, who was in charge of operations, vividly
describes these massive fortifications.^ Surrounded by a moat, they were some five miles
later
city walls
in circumference.
fifteen gates
The
hardly be enough to
civic
walls
were nearly
six feet thick
and forty high and boasted
and seventy-two towers. Even the surviving section on the Oltramo would
make the enterprise imaginable if such gigantic

a commonplace in the Late Middle Ages.
expenditures of
energy were not
It is
in size
and
Vecchio
situation, rather than in external style, that the Palazzo
from
the private palaces
Lana.
The
and minor pubhc buildings such
possible extent
but both in quahty and
of such constructions
state
is
as the
shown by
Palazzo
differs
dell' Arte della
the Palazzo Spini-Ferroni,
of preservation the Palazzo Davanzati, which was prob-
ably built towards the middle of the century,
is
perhaps the most impressive of these
bmldings (Plate 72B). The facade, topped by a loggia that evidently replaces the original
castellation, is notable for its severity, its absolute regularit)', and its harmony of form.
Three wide arches, leading into

five exactly similar
windows
a cross-vaulted loggia,
in each
mark
of the three upper
the
ground
storeys.
floor.
There are
Firm demarcation of
is provided, not only by the cornices that form the bases for the
windows, but by the fme gradation of the stonework from the smooth rustication of
the groimd floor to the squared facing of the first floor and the rough infdling of the
upper levels. A small and seemingly crowded cortile, its arched loggia resting on
succeeding levels
octagonal columns with richly carved capitals, and

leaping upwards
on
a variously
to the internal richness that
is
supported
series
its
busy stairway bouncing and
of segmental
arches, serves as a prelude
seemingly behed by the austere facade. Each floor has
main room running the whole width of the building, together with other
171
smaller, but

The
the less imposing, chambers.
none
of their handsomely carved and painted
survival
viôoden ceilings, and of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century fresco decorations that
include illusionistic brackets of the kind that earher decorated the ribbing of the vaults
in churches such as S. Francesco at Assisi, hints at the past splendours
of Florentine
city
The running of a well-shaft through the main rooms of the house from top to
bottom and the provision of lavatories on every floor reflect the standards of comfort
and convenience maintained by the rising commercial classes, not merely in the general
Hfe.
disposition
of their houses, but in every aspect of domestic architecture.
The Campanile of the Duomo and Orsanmichele
The only
this
surviving purely ecclesiastical
period of continuous
civil
monument of major
expansion,
is
in Florence
importance, dating from
the campanile of the
Duomo
(Plate 74A).
Designed by Giotto and founded in 1334, it seems that only the first storey of the socle
was completed by his death in 1337. Andrea Pisano was probably responsible for the
doubling of the base and the continuation of the work, with only minor modifications
in the Giottesque sobriety
of form,
second main cornice. The upper storeys
as far as the
were then completed by Francesco Talenti during the

Giotto's project
Siena (Plate 74B).
extremely
As the
The resemblances to the lower parts of the existing structure are

fundamentally Amolfan style of incrustation is developed in a
way in the linear,
basic square design
is
decorative elements of the lower half of the drawing.
repeated storey
Gothic windows gradually take
by
command and
storey, the architectural features
and
less
its
slender pinnacles and gables
is far more planar

The gradual multiphcation of the window
emphasis on the vertical elements in the drawing,
achievements of the Sienese goldsmiths, the drawn design
fussy than the executed building.
openings, which steadily increases the

is
of the
the structural and decorative patterns
are substantially equated. Except that the octagon with

recalls the
The general form of

Museo dell'Opera at
close.
highly painterly
fifties.
probably reflected in a Sienese drawing in the
is
thoroughly traditional.
On
the other
hand the steady development
in decorative
complexity and the gradual increase in the weight and richness of succeeding cornices
are anything but usual.
which the
lace-like
The outcome
is
a steady crescendo
of architectural
interest in
octagon and spire are the cHmax to which every element in the
carefully graded unity
of the design makes
Although surviving
its
preparatory contribution.
ecclesiastical projects are
few, there
is
abundant architectural
evidence of the continued interpenetration of civil and reUgious hfe. There are obvious
hnks between the loggie of the larger palace court)'ards, such
begun
in the late thirteenth century,
and the traditions of the
as that
cloister.
of the Bargello,
The
ecclesiastical
connexions of the two massive vaults, ballooning over the wide spaces of the Salone
del
Consigho Generale,
built
by Neri
di Fioravante
had destroyed the Bargcllo's upper
storeys,
grandeur of the space that he created
(at a later
time)
lines
is
a far cry
from
of the great
are
some ten
no less
years after the fire of 1332

evident.
The volumetric
date four storeys were inserted for a
the scale of the original rooms. Just like the ever-expanding out-
cathedrals,
and
like those
172
of the mendicant churches of Tuscany,

hundred years of constantly increasing architectural confidence and
reflects
it
ambition.
The
close
bonds which continued to unite so much of civil and
confined to the realm of architectural form.
They
religious hfe arc not
are enshrined in the very history
of
Orsanmichele. In 1285 the original small church, destroyed in 1239, was replaced by
an open hall for selling corn. The latter became a place of pilgrimage when, in 1292, a
painting of the Virgin started to
Laudesi.
The
In 1337, a
hall
new
only in the
was burnt
work
miracles and gave rise to a confraternity of
in 1304 and partially but insecurely rebuilt in 1307-8.
was founded. This was completed after twenty years, and it was
and seventies that the corn market was finally closed in to become a
loggia
sixties
church. Even then the upper storeys, added at the end of this same period, were destined
for grain storage.
Despite a wide-ranging network of stylistic linkages and the mention of many names
in later documents, the original designer
six
its
of the loggia, with
bays of vaulting resting on round arches,
externally
its
is
original elements testify that the
Florentine architecture depends as
vocabulary of form
as
on
much on
unknovm
its
two
central piers
and
development of fourteenth-century
the refinement of the
the evolution ot a specifically Gothic idiom.
of the simplest rectangular and polygonal arch and
rib sections,
Romanesque
The retention
and the classicism of the
almost square central piers and of the twin rows of acanthus foliage in their
are
capitals,
of untold significance for the architecture of the second half of the century.
more immediate
interest
the attitude to architectural decoration revealed
is
and
(Plate 73). Internally
planned sequence running from the deep external niches, intended from the
Of
by
the
first
for
sculpture in the round, through the shallow framed recesses set into the surfaces of all
internal piers
and
on the
of the
soffits
pilasters, to the
arches.
Giottesque pierced lozenges of the painted decoration
The middle term
is
particularly significant.
Its
hexagonal
upper elements are directly related to the socle decoration of Giotto's campanile
to become the apparently
The impact of the recent revolution in the
visual arts was such that the architectural forms no longer merely passively facihtated
subsequent painting: they actively demanded it. In so doing they provided a semithree-dimensional transition from the volumetric world of the sculptor and the architect to the pure illusion of three-dimensionahty which was by now an important
(Plate 74).
Its
principal,
lower panels only needed to be painted
fully three-dimensional niches
aspect
of the
saints.
of the painted decoration that completed such buildings. In the
late thirteenth
century the genius of the Pisani led to the creation of a sculptor's architecture.
Now
the creative
dominance of the
painters
an architecture in which the unity of
and was not merely arrived

church scarcely hints
in
moving from
at the
at
by
all
a process
was encouraging a move towards

arts was asserted from the first
the
of accretion. The present, fully-enclosed
range of sensation which must once have been experienced
the sunny street into the half hghts, the deep shadows, and rich colours
of a loggia which was both
market and
a place
of pilgrimage. In
this
one building
the extreme commercial and rehgious poles of early-fourteenth-century Florentine

Hfe were brought together and the full range of the major arts explored.
173

and Lucca
Pisa, Prato, Pistoia,
The
Florentine conservatism
tionary change
is
which
creates a sense
point towards continuous decHne. There,
between them, are

first,
in a time
S.
Caterina and
text-book of the simple subtleties that
of revolu
now far past the turning-
as Pisa,
work was continuing on
century Dominican and Franciscan churches of
In the
of continuity
very different from that of a city such
make
S.
or
the thirteenth-
Francesco which,
mar such buildings.
the nave seems to be too high and the chapel openings too squat for mutual
harmony, and the wide arches of the four flanking chapels are unhappily related to the
The arches that surmount the transepts seem to strike uncomfortably
upon the outer curves of those that flank the choir. Even the two vaulted bays that have
central opening.
been opened in the right wall of the nave, fme though they
new
grandeur of the main space, yet estabUsh no
columns of the added space diminish the importance of the choir. In

the other hand, the relationship of nave and chapel arches
ness
and simphcity of the nave
transepts.
itself
is
from the bare
are, detract
spatial concept. Indeed, the
is
massive
Francesco,
S.
imipressive,
on
and the vast-
capped by the high and airy spaciousness of the
Moreover, the width of entrance and small depth of the transept chapels give
the altars a feeling of openness and nearness that immediately expresses the ideals of the
Franciscan order.
The oratory of
(Plate 75a). It
glance
of
it
basic
S. Maria della Spina presents a total contrast both in scale and style
was probably an open loggia before its enlargement after 1323.* At first
apparently depends for its effect upon the interaction of extreme simphcity
form and extreme complexity of decorative overlay. The depressed Pisan
arches, the coloured marbling,
richness
is
and the pitched wooden roof are
traditional.
The
surface
provided by a forest of pinnacles and crockets, of tabernacles piled on
tabernacles or balancing
upon
the points
of gables corbelled out over the void or run

;
by
enough for
the audacities of the metalworker to survive in stone on what might seem to be no
more than a rehquary upon an architectural scale. In spite of this, it is by no means
goldsmith's or even sculptor's architecture. The figures no longer wander freely through
an architectural landscape: they are instead confmed, in the French manner, by their
together into an arcading. This then becomes a habitat for a wealth of sculpture
Giovanni Pisano's immediate
circle
and close following. The
architectural surroundings. This does not
of early-fourteenth-century Itahan
fire,
now
visible
which
all its
all
small scale, this
is
small
reflect the increasingly
arcliitecture or the flickering
only in the tendency of
towards the centre. For
merely
size
Gothic quaUty
of Giovanni's dramatic
twelve figures in the main arcade to look

is
architect's architecture. Its complexities,
are fundamental and not merely superficial, arc introduced
by the three overlapMost Italian facâdcs are designed to enlarge the apparent scale
of the building behind them, which is therefore, if anything, an anticlimax. Here, both in
the facade, in which the triple gables arc seated far below the actual roof-line, and in the
ping gables of the
fa(jade.
analogous treatment of the right flank,

smaller,
much more
much
like a jewelled casket,
result the plain interior has
is
done
than
its
to
an unexpected spaciousness.
174
make
the building
seem much
actual dimensions warrant.
As

The
facade itself
They
interior.
is
notable for
its
complexities of line and plane.
between the twin doors
the relationship
into,
Its
forms express
and the single roof above, the unified
and entrance arches that
also reflect the triple vaults
sanctuary within. Externally this triple rhythm
is
articulate the
immediately reiterated in the fantasy
of the three polygonal pyramids
in their framework of single lateral and triple endhowever, only when such things as the four-five rhythm of the lower
lateral arcade and upper tabernacles, and the three-five of the middle zone of niches, have
gables. It
is,
been noticed that the

be seen.
full significance
central focus
Its
is
of the facade, both
as a
key and
summation, can
the tabernacle of the Virgin and Child, framed
by the
five
supporting tabernacles. In the interlocking, one-two, two-three, thrce-four-five-six
rhythms of
monies and
There
is
its
major elements,
contrasts,
it
in
proportional relationships and
its
its
srj'Ustic
har-
template for the whole.*
acts as a
sophistication of a different kiiad in the choir and transepts added to the old
Duomo
at Prato from 13 17 onwards.* As at Massa Marittima thirty years

marked attempt to harmonize old and new. The added parts have a
coherent structural logic. The existing spatial continuity is maintained and an im-
nave of the
before, there
is
created as the raised floor and the rising sweep of the
pressive vertical acceleration
is
pointed arches act together.
The
vaulting of the transepts and of the bay before the
of the flanking chapels, creates an impression of articulated unity.
crossing, as well as
The only element of discomfort Ues

as the pattern
is first
of the nave, with
its
in the detailed structural adjustments that are
needed
smooth columns and round
arches,
striped stone,
its
modified and then transformed.
rather cold elegance characterizes the baptistery at Pistoia
was commissioned
to
complete
in 1338.
Here
which Cellino
octagon and ribbed
a Florentine
di
Nese
dome has
been given greater verticahty and hghtness, while the external marbling and the upper
bHnd arcade have
clear
connexions with the
thirteenth-century traditions
Pistoia,''
is
as clear,
Duomo
enlarged in 1348-53 by Michele di Scr
active as a sculptor
and goldsmith,
as
at Siena.
The continuation of
Comune at
who was also
or even clearer, in the Palazzo del
well
Memmo
as in the
da Siena,
opposing mass of the Palazzo del
Podesta of 1367.
The
centres
styhstic conservatism
of expansion
Pisan system of
tall
is
of Tuscan private
well illustrated
by
architecture outside the
few great
the persistence of the thirteenth-century
reheving arches with stone or brick
infillings.
This method, seen
which has pointed arches running up the full three

storeys of its fa9ade, Hghtens the walls, and by concentrating the vertical stresses
facihtates the use of piles in the foundations. The Lucchese variant with separate arches
in the Palazzo
Mediceo
in Pisa,
for each storey also retained
its
popularity and reached
its
century complex of the houses of the Guinigi in Lucca. In
apogee in the fourteenththis
magnificent and rare
reminder of the great clan concentrations which dominated and bedevilled Hfe in the
Tuscan towns, the brick construction creates a unified wall. The regular repetition of
the round reheving arches over the
effect that
is still
vwde Gothic
redolent of the parent system.
175
qiiadrifore
none the
less
creates a visual
CHAPTER
l8
ANGELO DA ORVIETO AND THE BUILDINGS OF

GUBBIO AND OF UMBRIA
The Palazzo
The Umbrian town

Whereas
dei Coiisoli
of Gubbio
is
and Palazzo
a stone cascade
del Pretorio at
upon
in Siena the Palazzo Pubblico closes in the
Gubbio
the lower slopes of
Mt
Ingino.
lower boundary of the main
Piazza (Plate 68), hiding the drop beyond, so that the inward-looking
main facade gives
Gubbio
the fact that the
no
hint of the
Palazzo dei
tall
Consoh
substructures
upon which
it
(Plate 76), the Palazzo del Pretorio,
della Signoria are a single vast construction built
Figure 15.
(a)
stands, in
Gubbio, Palazzo dei Consoli, begun
and a large part of the Piazza
out from the
after 1322,
hillside
is
the
dominant
and Palazzo Pretorio, begun 1349, with
intervening substructures. Elevation
feature of a great design (Figure 15, A and b).

scale
and
medieval
The
is
among
It is
a piece
of engineering on
Roman
the most remarkable single feats of civic planning in the history of
Italy.
project
was already under discussion
soon afterwards. The
in 1322
and building
may have
been started
unfmishcd palace was inaugurated on 21 April 1338, the

anniversary of the foundation of Rome, which had two senators from Gubbio at the
time.
The
still
controversial,
'this
up residence in 1346, and in 1349-56 the aqueduct

chamber was completed. Although the matter is highly
consuls actually took
leading water to the upper

it is
likely
on
styUstic
work', begun in 1332, and of
grounds that Angclo da Orvicto, the author of

'this arch',
176
fmishcd in 1337, according to the in-
ANGELO DA ORVIETO
scription over the
mam
whole of the Palazzo

Angelo da Orvieto
door, was responsible for the entire scheme,
well as for the
as
dei ConsoU.*
is first mentioned in 13 17, working on a fountain in Perugia

with
Lorenzo Maitani, the capomaestro of Orvieto Cathedral.- The Orvietan parentage of
the Palazzo dei Consoli appears not only in such details as the cornice that surmounts
and links the upper windows but in the fundamentals of construction. The whole
first
floor
is
precedents.
taken up by a single barrel-vaulted
The
hall itself rests
on
hall, for
which there
are
of transverse barrel-vaults
a series
good Orvietan
manner of
in the
the Palazzo del Capitano at Orvieto (Plate tia). Each of its long walls
is
articulated
by
three blind, round-headed reheving arclies, their seating corresponding to the external
buttressing.
The windows
displacement
is
are eccentrically set within this system, although the relative
reduced to a
of the building in which
minimum on
strict overall
r.
1}
Figure 15.
The
structure
on the
the main facj-ade.' The latter

symmetry is even approached.
l'\
'ri
(b)
l-\
:]
main body was probably added
minimum of subsidiary
very
structure.'* In the
lower
two cross-vaults, and there are four transverse corbelled barrelupper. At the top, a loggia with a lean-to wooden roof provides one of the
a barrel joins
vaults in the
best-exploited panoramic views in
The
at a
chambers, notable for their
continuation of the play of vaulting characteristic of the main
room
the only part
Gubbio, Piazza della Signoria. Plan
valley side of the
early date in order to provide a
V,
is
Umbria.
entrance stairway of the palace, with
sees the traditions
of Umbria and Lazio
of the semicircular
first flight
its
intersecting, flat segmental arches,
at their finest (Plate 77a).^
The
to the rectangular, arch-supported balcony
is
aerial linkage
triumphant
problem involved in providing a ceremonial entry to the main

hall without impeding access to the two lower central chambers. The forms are such
that the stairway seems to gather in the free space of the wide piazza and channel it to
the arched doorway. In doing so it softens the impact of the flat, calcareous cliff of the
solution to the technical
it volume. The single complex movement that fulfils so many functions

an ideal prelude to the austere, barrel-vaulted council chamber. In grace and majesty
facade and gives

is
177

of architectural form,
procession,
it is
widest range of ceremonial function and
as in its fitness to the
unsurpassed.
The interior of the unfinished Palazzo Pretorio, begun in 1349, is no less interesting.
The existing three-storey building is almost square in plan. The height of the second
storey
is
such that a further floor could be inserted at a later date, and a single central
octagonal column runs from top to bottom of the building. Three times
it
branches
out into the simple rectangular and near-rectangular ribs of the cross-vaults that divide
room into four smaller squares.* Despite the use of banded stone,
minimum of sculptural and decorative detail. As everywhere through-
the ceilings of each
there
is
again a
out the complex,
it
is
in the architectural conception as such
engineering of its execution that Angelo da Orvieto's genius
The adventurous
design of the existing fragment
is
and in the structural
expressed.
is
an indication of the internal
involved in the failure to complete the Palazzo Pretorio. Externally, existing traces
loss
show
main front should have extended as far as the first of the four enormous open
latter, though only completed in 1481, indicate the outlines of the original scheme. Although no wider, the completed Palazzo Pretorio would
have been twice as long as at present and somewhat higher. It would have divided the
Piazza della Signoria into a major and minor square, and from the town below its
broader, shghtly lower form would have provided a dynamic counterweight for the
narrower vertical of the Palazzo dei Consoh. The detailing of the surviving windows
confirms the sensitivity of the free relationship which was to have united the two
that
its
vaults
of the substructure. The
buildings.
It
is
only a partial compensation that the still-open vaults beneath add
greatly to the play of hght and shade as well as to the change
of scale and the variety
of arch-form in the unfinished whole.
Although the
precise function
substructures of the Piazza
is
now
of the internal organization of the barrel-vaulted
Some twenty-seven
Pretorio was begun.

lavatories
is no doubt whatsoever about the

must have been completed before the Palazzo
uncertain, there
architectural ingenuity of those parts that
built-in lavatories survive and,
like
the
and slotted urinals of the Palazzo dei Consoh, they were cleaned by flushing
rainwater through channels built in the thickness of the wall. Such sophisticated
sanitary engineering
is
is
unusual even in an age
usually reaUzed. For a similar
lection and control
though
more notable
for such achievements than
differently intentioned ingenuity in the col-
of water within the structure of a building,
a century to the Castel del
Monte of Frederick
it is
necessary to go back
II.
The ramp that leads up under the tall, pointed arches, recalling those at the base of
Pubbhco at Siena, is another unfmishcd clement (Plate 76). Its completion
would have added a sweeping diagonal to the general rectilinear design. Nevertheless,
the Palazzo
despite the blurring of the intended spatial, volumetric, and proportional relationships, the
fmished and unfmishcd parts provide a unique record of the breadth of vision
and the unity of purpose with which
civic planning could
be approached in the early
fourteenth century.
The
scale
of the existing achievement can be measured by comparison with the earhcr
buildings of
Gubbio
itself
The
small thirteenth-century Palazzo del Bargello, with
178
its
ANGELO DA ORVIETO
main room,
pleasant, irregularly shaped
cornices,
except for the
many
windows of
thirteenth- and
its
simple
the main,
similar in almost
first floor, is
all
respects to the
fourteenth-century private palaces and smaller houses that
survive in the Via Baldassini and elsewhere.
window
plain dresscd-stone exterior,
its
gently pointed and virtually unadorned openings, irregularly placed
its
in a single opening,
which
The
occasional combination of door and
found
in Perugia, goes back to the shopof Antiquity. The so-called 'doors of the dead', placed high up in the wall,
are merely doorways that have lost the movable wooden steps or ladders that were
the first line of defence not only here but in innumerable fortified town towers. Although their influence is clear in certain constructional details, the many features which
is
also
fronts
distinguish such houses
from the buildings
attributed to
rather than decrease the likelihood that the civic centre
Angelo da Orvieto
was designed by an
increase
architect
from outside Gubbio.
The Palazzo Comuiiale
in Citta di Castello
The only other building with which Angelo da Orvieto can certainly be connected is
the Palazzo Coniunale in Citta di Castello. The inscription on the main door refers to
him as 'architector' and couples his name with those of Baldo di Marco and Bartolomeo
di Gano, who are described as 'superstite'. The date is made uncertain by the perishing
of the first line of the verse. The favoured nineteenth-century reading was 1322, but
attributions vary from 13 12 to 1352. What is certain is that the outside of the palace
(Plate 77b),
built,
is
of which only the ground and the greater part of the
directly developed
from
that
of the Palazzo Vecchio
first
floors
were ever
in Florence (Plate 71).
The forms of the Gothic hi/ore and of their voussoirs are extremely closely related,
although the main arches of all the doors and windows of the Palazzo Comunale are
much the more sharply pointed. Although pointed forms were fully acchniatized in the
civil and ecclesiastical architecture of Gubbio long before the building of the Palazzo
dei ConsoH, they were never used at all in the main body. The rounded forms of
Orvietan
civil
architecture
were evidently
preferred.
Assuming
that
the Palazzo
mdeed Angelo da Orvieto's work, it seems that it should be dated after

the Palazzo dei Consoh and either just before or just after the Palazzo Pretorio. The more
subdued external forms of the latter would then be explained by their incorporation
Comunale
in
is
an overall design estabhshed
The main
at
an earHer date.
feature of the facade of the Palazzo
Comunale
is
the interplay
between the
minor openings below,

and the offset and unevenly sized pair of doors (Plate 77B). The regular, embossed
pattern of the weathered, grey-beige, sedimentary stone is a polished variant of the
Florentine rustication. It creates the impression of a greater symmetry and regularity
than the building actually possesses. In combination with the simple block-form of the
symmetrical
whole,
it
first-floor
windows, the
virtually symmetrical
presages the fifteenth-century Florentine Renaissance palaces.''
The main
internal interest hes in the interaction
between the almost glacial flow of a

flights and the low, vaulted
broad stairway of shallow, sloping, stone-faced brick

179

entrance chamber with
The
round-arched
its
ribs
and two octagonal columns
(Plate 78A).
vault itself creates a framing arch immediately before the stair turns to the right
and disappears towards the upper room. This cunning solution of a difficult problem
has a curious effect when one is walking up the stairs, since it accentuates both the
lowness of the chamber and the great weight of
the
downwards view from
the landing
is
its
vaulting.
On
extraordinarily effective.
the other hand,
The broad flow of
the steps, the bold diagonal shaft of the simple balustrade, the variously ht facets
of the
massive polygonal columns, the complex interplay of shapes in vaults which, being
only partly
into a
visible,
memorable
become impressive
rather than oppressive in their weight,
combine
vision.
The Churches ojGuhhio

growth in population which had such dramatic consequences for the
also reflected in its churches. The outcome is a group of
buildings that are closely related among themselves and yet belong to a type which
has its regional variants throughout Italy. Their main features are the diaphragm
The
prosperity and
civil architecture
of Gubbio are
wooden roof in the manner already familiar in late-thirteenthThe local styhstic source Hes in the tiny early-thirteenthcentury Romanesque church of S. Donato. In this simple rectangle, measuring some
5^ by 13^ yards, two plain arches of rectangular section provide a practical solution
to the structural problem in a way that hardly gives rise to considerations of aesthetic
purpose. Despite a certain amount of very simple carving and the addition of a crossvaulted, rectangular choir, the situation is hardly more comphcated in the modest
arches used to support a
century
civil arcliitecture.*
late-thirteenth-century church of S. Giovanni Battista.
Here four simple, pointed

on twin colonnettes, have been so widely spaced as not to give rise
to a ribbed effect. The notable feature in what is virtually a plain, rectangular hall is the
careful way in which the entrance to the choir reflects the proportions of the diaphragm
arches, corbelled
arches.
There
is
a similar
concern for simple relationships in
consecrated in 1294, was
still
S.
Agostino, which, though
unfinished over half a century later. Originally the
seven pointed diaphragm arches that lead to the rectangular choir appear to have been
corbelled
from the
walls,
but an earthquake seems to have necessitated a reduction in the
lateral thrusts externally
to the
The
more robust forms

potential of the
absorbed by a
series
of semi-cylindrical buttresses analogous
seen in S. Francesco at Assisi.
diaphragm arch
is
fidly exploited in the
1366 (Plate 75b). In spite of some controversy,

fourteenth-century building.
The
it
seems
virtual engulfing
as it
of the
Duomo,
now stands
left flank
consecrated in
to be a
by
wholly
the hillside
probably explains the placing of the bell tower immediately above the choir. The side
walls are buttressed by deeply recessed, round-headed blind arcading. This recalls such
thirteenth-century South French churches as those of the Jacobins and the CordeUers
(destroyed) at Toulouse and their Carmelite and Augustinian successors, rather than
the
Romanesque
cathedrals of
Apuha, and
it is
180
possibly significant that similar external
THE CHURCHES OF GUBBIO

buttressing
is
found in
S.
Chiara, begun in Angevin Naples in
310.
It is
in thirteenth-
century Catalonia and southern France, moreover, that the internal diaphragm arch
attained
greatest popularity.
its
At Gubbio
there
is
a swift succession
of ten such
pointed arches running virtually uninterrupted to the ground. Their plain, rectangular
forms are unembeUishcd but for simple mouldings acting
as vestigial capitals.
Except
manner only
possible in stone, the effect is reminiscent of an upturned boat. There are no windows
in the left wall and those on the right are few and small, so that the large choir-window
that
is
the
of
the forms are crisp and regular, sharp-edged and planar in a
all
main source
for the cool,
window and
this
of
failings
calm hghting of the nave. The
modem glass and
tracery
the atrocious frescoes in the choir accentuate the architectural
this eastern
end.
The wide
such a contrast to the steeply pointed
arches of the nave and of the chancel entry are
window
that the latter seems an intrusive rather
than a variant form. Since every other volume in the building, from the five chapels
into the thickness of the left wall to the arches of the nave and the very roof beams,
let
is
rectangular in section,
greater effectiveness
shown by
much
the
same
true of the curved ending of the choir.
is
of a rectangular, or
the churches of S. Agostino in
Gubbio
itself
The
polygonal, ending
at least a planar, if
is
and in Massa Marittima.' The
between 1299 and 13 12, except that the polygonal choir

of the Duomo, was added in 1348. The rustic mass and
grandeur, the sheer peasant weight, of the six arches of the nave reiterate that beauty
latter
was
largely carried out
chapel, dependent
on
that
and sophistication are not necessarily synonymous.
Two
of the most interesting churches of
Umbria
of
Assisi,
spring
this r\'pe to
have survived elsewhere in
are S. Francesco in Picdiluco, inscribed in 1339 as being built
and
by Petrus Damiani
Francesco in S. Gemini. In both cases plain, pointed masonry arches
S.
from high up on the
walls,
and
at S.
Gemini
the relationship
between the swift
succession of the ribs of the nave and the arch and vault forms of the five-sided apse
is
particularly happy.
Perugia
The outside of the centraUzed S. Ercolano in Perugia, built between 1298 and c. 1326,
when Ambrogio Maitani, Lorenzo's brother, was working on it, is closely related
to the churches of
Gubbio and
French forerunners by the
their
pointed blind
tall,
arcading that enfolds and buttresses the octagon. Even if Angelo da Orvieto was not
M. Angelo who
in fact the
relationship
clear.
On
between
its
supervised the early stages of construction, the family
doorway and
that of the Palazzo dei
Consoh
at
Gubbio
is
the other hand the original rib-vault of the interior recalls the Tuscan
baptisteries.
The enormous
pile
of S. Domenico
at
Perugia seemingly provides a direct continua-
tion of the thirteenth-centur)^ mendicant tradition.

interior originally appears to
equal height.^"
It
was therefore
Umbrian experiments
It is
historically
important
have been a vaulted haU with nave and

heir to the
same
in hall-church design that
aisles
as its
of almost
distinctive late-thirteenth-century
fmd
a simpler
outcome
in S.
Maria
di

Monteluce. The red and white marble squaring of the
also in Perugia,
of the
practices
is
no
less
of earUer
typical
of local
new
traditions. Indeed,
centuries, not only in
it is
facade of S. Giuliana,
the quiet continuation
innumerable minor churches, but in the
mass of private houses and small palaces, that provides the firm base for experiment
and innovation.
182
CHAPTER 19

The
half of the fourteenth century
first
throughout the North ItaHan
on
its
plain.
is
time of relative architectural quiescence
Except in isolated instances,
north-eastern fringes, that the
of
fires
it is
only in the Vcneto,
seem to have more than
creativity
smouldered. Even the surviving evidence of the constant activity of the mendicant
orders,
much of which was
tinuation in a
subsequently destroyed or overlaid, points rather to con-
minor key than
ambit of the mendicants there
new forms of expression.
to adventure into
is
Outside the
an inescapable fechng that the great creative period of
the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries,
which saw the flooding of
Cistercian
Gothic forms into a wide, west-central area and the creation of such masterpieces
Andrea
at Vercelli
or the baptistery at Parma,
moment when
Gothic vigour at the very
In poUtics
it is
compare with
capital to
the
as S.
The dying upsurge of Late
past.
no economic
that in
moment of ebb-tide,
long
Renaissance forms are sweeping Tuscany
yet to come. In the area as a whole there was
of industry or
is
is
no development
Umbrian border towns.
revolution,
Tuscany and
its
at least as far as social
consequences are con-
The vigour of the communes in their struggle for emancipation from imperial
control was largely dissipated by the bitter feuds and the ensuing disillusion of disorganized freedom. The tide of the new local despotisms was still gathering, and power
cerned.
was
still
too newly gained or insecurely held to have, as yet, resulted in the ostentatious
splendours of estabHshed tyraimy.
One of the few important civic survivals of the period is

degh Osii
in Milan,
Visconti, the Capitano del
elements
by
Popolo. The
begun
in 13 16
Lombard
resulting
blind arcading
is
It is
The renovation of the
at Asti
Matteo
two
storeys
of wide arches that
trifore
and statuary niches, that
with the lower storeys and an abrupt change
of scale and rhythm in the openings betray
The Cathedral
for
only in the uppermost storey, in which
developed into Romanesque
a rather curious proportional relationship
Gimignano
combination of Tuscan and Lombard
notable for the airiness and grace of the
is
reduce the wall to a mere framework.
the carefully restored Loggia
a certain Scoto da S.
its
hybrid origins in
and S. Francesco
in
a less successful
manner.
Piacenza
cathedral at Asti in the eastern borderland of Piedmont, south-
west of Milan, begun in 1309, was followed by complete collapse in 1323, and the
existing main body was probably up by about 1348, the year of the death of Bishop
Amoldo
de
la
the windows,
Rosette,
whose arms appear on the dome.^ The height and slimness of

in an unbroken sweep almost from ground to roof, are
which once ran
the only hint that an undistinguished outer shell enfolds a lonely masterpiece (Plate
78b).
Even
a seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century fresco decoration of the most carefree

183
PART four: architecture I3OO-I35O

inappropriateness and marvellous completeness cannot hide the quality of the interior.
made vestigial by the raising of the

grow out of the ground and soar into the vaults, which were originally
by plain ribs. The height of the aisles is such that there are no clerestory
Clustered brick columns with base-mouldings

floor appear to
articulated
windows, and the
great,
up-sweeping lancets are the only source of Hght. Five bays
precede the octagonal crossing and three

repeated
on
a smaller scale at either
tudinal balance
of a
more
end of the
lead
tall
similar order to that linking
on
to the five-sided apse,
transepts.
nave and
The outcome
aisles.
ning continuity, enlivened by articulating pauses, embraces
all
A feeling
The fundamental
and the
its
fullness
classicism
of the
of firee-run-
and sometimes
Lombard and Emilian Romanesque
detail,
is
a longi-
three spatial axes of the
building. In plan, and in internal and external treatment, the close

scarcely modified connexions with the
which
is
are obvious.
the calm treatment of the original vaulting
of the rounded forms necessitated by the brick construction,
geographical location. At the same time a
community of outlook
contemporary northern Gothic masterpieces such
as those at Esslingen
also reflect
unites
and
it
Erfurt.
with
They
too are dependent upon the sensitive exploitation of simplicity.
begun in 1278 and largely

from the earlier Gothic of S.
In the case of the brick church of S. Francesco in Piacenza,

built during the fourteenth century, the derivation
is
Francesco in Bologna. Massive drums replace polygonal columns, and the transepts are
now
the same height as the nave.
The
proportional relationships of wall and void are
now no longer radiate beyond the ambuon the same axis as the nave. Finally, the campanile is an integral element of the main body of the church. Such changes give distinctive character to a building that is none the less a set of variations finely played upon a given theme.
altered in the choir,
and the polygonal chapels
latory but are set
The Facades and Towers of Cremona, Crema, and Milan

It is
in architectural elements like facades
and towers that the innate conservatism and
ambition of Lombardy unite with the most extraordinary'

screen facade
was already well
defined tripartite vertical divisions; the
gable-top
The simple, gabled

The flatness the well-
results.
established in the twelfth century.
bhnd arcading following
the line of the
the openings peppered into a blank face of wall, and the relative inde-
pendence of the main body of the church, are
of S. Michele or the brick of
all
exemphfied in the
soft stone facade
Tcodoro, both of them in Pavia. The facades that were

added to the north and south transepts of the Duomo at Cremona in the late thirteenth
and the mid fourteenth centuries reveal no change in pruiciplc. The height and narrowness
of the new transepts are
S.
reflected in a
change from a horizontally to a vertically
accented basic form. Turrets at the ends and centre of the gable carry
movement. The
latter
is,
however, somewhat softened,
as in
the
on
the
Duomo
upward
and in
S.
near-by Piacenza, by tapering away the iimer buttresses before the now
unbroken upper arcading is reached. The separation of the screen from the building
is more extreme than ever. Even where the windows arc not actually dummies, looking
Francesco
at
out upon the void, they arc not, for the most part, used to light the interior.
A more
of
modest and even more old-fashioned but more compactly designed variant
without the upper arcading, occurs in the Badia
this pattern,
dated 1348. Here the openings of doors and
main
the
windows form
rose and create an interesting counter-rhythm to that
framework. The facade of the
Duomo
at
Crema
striking
of these ncar-mid-century examples
take the
form of columns and the
velops ideas nascent in the

sense of light and shade and
Duomo
at Casalc
movement
by
size
manner
Piedmont,
in
rectilinear
central buttresses
arches in a
Monfcrrato
is
that de-
1200.
c.
The
total effect
of the odd relationships

is
much
whole makes an unusually well-calculated contribution to the

building in which it is balanced by a campanile which is part of the main
facade as a
of a
body and represents a more modest version of the tower at Cremona.^

The celebrated Torazzo at Cremona is only one of the scores of
among
towers that are
not only on
The
greater compact-
and shape and placement of the windows of most of these facades
reduced.
is
round
however, the most
Here the
(Plate 79).
ness and control in the general design, and the haphazard effect
of
is,
thereby increased. There
is
Viboldonc and
of the simple,
(1284-c. 1341)
verticals are linked
at
a continuous circle
size
its
the most singular features of the Italian scene.
spectacular bell
Its
effect
depends
but on the contrast between the simple rectangular thirteenth-
century main body, with
its
relatively small, infrequent openings,
and the wide-arched
complexities of the octagonal upper storeys added about the turn of the century.
Nevertheless,
in
Milan
it
cannot compete in elegance with the octagonal tower of
(Plate Boa). This tower,
which
is
likewise set
on
S.
Gottardo
a rectangular stone base,
was inscribed by Fra Pecorari in 1336. There is great decorative sophistication in the
enormously elongated and substantially free-standing angle columns that run the full
height of the main drmn. All vestiges of structural function are denied
bases.
There
is
the severe control of details and of colour contrasts that could easily
fact
do
not.
by
their corbelled
further evidence of sophistication in the proportions of the
There
is
whole and
grow
even greater fantasy in the treatment of the main arcade, in which
an outer garland of columns stands on beams that jut out from an inner ring.
complex play of planes

level.
The
in
fussy but in
results, since the
iimer octagon
is
highly
outer angle columns are also terminated at this
visible within three separate outer shells, each
demarcated
by their own columniation. This drum then rises to support the double columns of the
open upper chamber, and a further simple cylinder supports the roof-cone. The fmal
touch is provided by the way in which the lower windows spiral up the octagon to meet
the circling upper openings. The clarity and detailed quaUty of the design, its elegance
and gravity, for all the architectural wit that it displays, are imderlined by an architectural
joke of a different kind.
The seemingly
early-fourteenth-century octagonal lantern towering above the cross-
ing of the modest abbey church of Chiaravalle di Milano (Plate Sob) owes
to the traditions of
Lombardy and
its
general
form
to those
its
detail
of the Macormais and of
Toulouse.^ Despite the extraordinary proportional relationship to the church beneath,

its
very multiphcity of storeys, windows, and arcadings,
richness, create a feeling
of exuberance that holds
cunningly considered structures are forgotten.

185
it
in the
its
textural
and colouristic
mind when many much more
CHAPTER 20
FORTIFICATIONS
AND CASTLES
No
history of the Middle Ages is complete without the history of its castles. Their
was not peripheral but central to the social, economic, and poHtical history of the
times. In their combined defensive and offensive roles, as last retreats and as strongpoints for the control of trade routes or the domination of a town or territory, their
influence was all-pervading. Not only are they architecturally interesting in them-
role
selves,
but they play a fundamental part in the evolution and design of the majority of
medieval towns and
villages.
In southern Italy one great age of castle buUding passed with the death of Frederick
II
in 1250. In the north, however, during the next century
and
continuing
a half, the
of renovation and replacement gradually rose to a new peak. The progressive

echpse of the free communes went hand in hand with the growing ascendency of such
great families as the Scahgeri, the Carraresi. the Gonzaga, and the Visconti. The latter
activity
were not members of the ancient feudal aristocracy, but emerged, hke the Medici
of a later age, out of the urban classes who eventually submitted, either willingly or
unwillingly, to their rule. In Tuscany, on the other hand, the castle, as the citadel of the
was in
local lord,
decline. Instead, the
civic castles, exercising
towns and
over the surrounding
lordly castle. In particular, they brooked
nobihty
who
essentially
overlaid
had themselves developed into

of the
no competition from the private fortresses of a

commune's supervision
had, increasingly, been forced to hve under the
and within the
Ambrogio
cities
territories all the classic functions
circle
of
walls.
its
The
relationship
of town to countryside depicted
in
of Good Government in 1338-9 (Plates no and in) is

a development of the ancient Roman pattern, which had never been entirely
Lorenzetti's frescoes
by
continuity.
feudal concepts.
The
The growth of the
possession of a
Roman
a towTi wall during the long struggles
The medieval
walls
at Viterbo, they are
were always
works of
art in
Italian
towns was greatly aided by
wall was of inestimable help in gaining
this
title
to
and are often picturesque. Sometimes,
as
with successive emperors.^
practical
every sense. The organization of defensive duties
and the rebuilding or extension of the walls continually preoccupied innumerable

ItaUan towns.
The very
continuity of habitation means, however, that there are few
fourteenth-century examples of the planned estabhshment of a
new town
to set beside
the great bastides of mid-thirteenth-century France, and
none which can compare with

them in grandeur. The Sicnese townships of Paganico, planned at the turn of the
century and walled in 1333, or Talamone, derided by Dante as a monument to vain
ambition, are hardly rivals to Aigues Mortes. As in the French examples and in the
further Sicnese projects of Tcrranuova Bracciolini or the
both begun
new town
at
Massa Marittima,
in 1337, the rectangular street plans reflect the general desire for a
regularity wherever possible.
At Massa Marittima the way

186
in
which
convenient
the severely

practical
demands of military planning can give
striking quality
rise to abstract architectural
ring-walls and the inner guard-tower of the gate.
of the
forms of
seen in the great arch that leaps across the void between the outer
is
faintly pointed arch,
The
slimness and apparent tension
and the contrast with the
static
sohds that
it
links, are
heavy prose and business-like complexities of the via-
architectural poetry beside the
duct that leads beneath a massive arch to the main entrance of Castruccio Castracane's
fortress
of Sarzancllo.
1322 and subscquendy modified, retains the
Tills castle, built in
mass but not the quahty of masonry of the carher Hohcnstaufcn

Indeed, rough stone of various kinds
is
castles in the south.
used in most of those late-thirteenth- and early-
fourteenth-century castles which were not brick-built. Even the castle Frederick built
in Prato
is
by
fine masonry of the Torre

one of a few notable exceptions.
and the
largely in unfaced stone,
Cagliari, built
the Pisans in 1307,
is
dell'Elefante in
Montagnana
Although most of the major walled
defences, there are a
most notable of these
is
served
by
the
Two
possess only a fraction
complete
sense
stretch
two
of compactness and protective
gates,
further gates
in France.
now
isolation
dry moat
The
pierced,
side
is
is
pre-
(Plate 81 a).
one of them, the Porta Padova, guarded by
were subsequently
a beautiful proportional relationship
is
of their medieval
any to be found
of open space beyond the
mostly pentagonal, guard the walls. The south

there
as
Montagnana, where the ferocious Ezzehno replaced

some time between his capture of the town in 1242 and his
The medieval
unbroken
Originally there were

scale fortress.
now
as
possibly at
the original breastworks at
death in 1259.
cities
number of survivals
a full-
and twenty-four towers,
particularly fine. Externally
between the walls themselves and the
regular succession of pentagonal towers. Internally the repeated voids of the open,
inward-facing sixth sides of the towers arc linked
which support the passage
at the level
by
the regular
of the battlements.
Its
rhythm of blind
arches
circumference of over
A similar survival on a
which was fortified by the Scahgeri and
boasts a completely square plan and a rectihnear network of streets. There are also
minor rustic centres such as the tiny hilltop circlet of Monteriggioni, near Siena,
which caught Dante's eye and which was walled and towered in the early thirteenth
century. The walls of Staggia, also in Tuscany, probably date from the second half of
a mile
is
some 220 yards longer than
that
of Aigues Mortes.
smaller scale occurs at Villafranca di Verona,
the fourteenth century, as do those of Soave in the Veneto.

hillside variant
castle,
of Montagnana
in the flat lands,
of uncertain origin but largely modified by the
dominated by
it is
The
latter
is
a large-scale
and the relationship between the

Scaligers,
and the walled town
instantly appreciable.
Gradara
The
classic relationship
veloped
by the
between the
castle
early-fourteenth-century form
brick-built
complex
at
and the
is
fortified
township in
its
fully de-
given small-scale, textbook illustration
Gradara in the Marches (Plate 8ib). The sloping

187
PART four: architecture I3OO-I35O

site,
commanded by
some
later
the
main building of the
castle itself,
is
such that the whole plan
without the aid of wings. Although there are naturally

modifications and the upper parts of the walls are heavily restored, the
can be seen
at
a glance
substance of the existing scheme was apparently devised for the Malatesta c. 1307-25.
The only important deviation from the situation illustrated in the Httle Lorenzettian
Townscape
109 a)
at Siena (Plate
is
the replacement of the old-fashioned arrangement,
by one in which the rectangular

comer towers, has only two of its sides within
the walls. Ezzelino's fortress at Montagnana is similarly disposed in principle. The
survival of the older pattern is illustrated in the castle at Este, rebuilt by Ubertino da
Carrara in 1334-9 after being sacked successively by the Scahgeri, the Carraresi, the
with the keep
at the centre
main block, with
its
of a
circling curtain wall,
courtyard and four
ScaUgeri once more, and the Visconti,
matter of twenty years.^
At Gradara the principal Hving quarters and the dominant tower or keep take up
the outer comer of the main rectangular structure. The exposed flanks, with a major
and a minor gate, were protected by a moat. Endless variations of this basic pattern
were evolved in order to replace the static defences of the earUer keep-and-curtain-wall
castles by a dynamic system. It had been recognized that a prime need in any defensive
scheme was a built-in faciUty for outilankmg the attacker and for making sorties in
defence of any threatened section of the perimeter. The relation of the main buildings
at Gradara to the walls as a whole therefore elaborates that between the regular series
of towers and the intervening sections of wall which they permanently outflank. For
similar reasons the polygonal comer tower of the main block is so situated that an
inner ring of curtain walls strikes at the angle of the second and third faces from the
left,
and the outer ring attaches to the centre of the fourth
facets
is
right outside the walls. In this
way,
a sally port
face.
is
The
fifth
of the exposed
provided both for internal
reinforcement of the outer ring, which encircles the houses of the Httle township, and
for the outflanking of the inner curtain wall, containing the castle enclave proper, should
the breaching of the outer defences subject
it
to attack. This castle, with
living-rooms in the storey beneath the machicolatcd battlements,
common
to
many of
contemporary
its
late-thirteenth-
its
reflects a
pleasant
tendency
and early-fourteenth-century fellows. As
ecclesiastical architecture in its
developed Gothic form,
its
in
effectiveness
depends on richness of articulation and on the great elaboration of certain
details.
There
Romanesque and Frederican
castles,
which
is
none of the sheer mass
are
no
less
fortresses
either
of the
earlier
closely linked to the ecclesiastical
of the age of
dynamism of the
artiller)'.
societies that
forms of the day, or of the
The complex forms
reflect the military
later
and
pure
social
such castles were built to serve.
Sirmione
The late-thirteenth- and carly-fourtccnth-century stone-built Scahgcr castle at Sirmione on Lake Garda is a fascinating variant of the keep and curtain wall design
(Plate 82a). Like so many of the outlying strategic fortresses built by the Scahgeri and
their rivals, it was, unlike their central scats of power, intended more for purely military
188

purposes than for residence.
An
interesting feature,
number of Italian castles, is the close

the fortified town tower. The keep
is
which Sirmionc
between
relationship
unusually
shares with a
keep and the tradition of
its
shm and extremely
liigh in relation
from which it is carefully isolated, if only by a matter

main entrance, originally reached by a wooden ladder, is
to the surrounding curtain walls,
of a foot or two in
twenty
places. Its
above the groimd, and
feet
of a
interior consists
its
the castle boasts a trapezoidal fortified harbour.
sliip,
The
walls and towers, surrounding the keep and courtyard,
and harbour by a moat. Since the
ward end,
The
it
latter
is
becomes an enclosed water
priorities
of defence are neatly
series
of barrel-vaulted, cross-
from the walls
vaulted, and wooden-ceilinged chambers. Apart
itself protected
is
town-
that enclose the
of
from both town
principal near-rectangle
separated
by
a fortified wall at the lake-
barrier alongside the harbour wall.
illustrated
by
the various gateways.
The southern
entry from the mainland consists of a fortified road over a stretch of water cutting
There are then
across the isthmus.

II yards
by
5;
by
5; a further
and fmally
drawbridge and
a portcuUis
and a
of doors opening inwards within
a gate; a trap or courtyard,
few inches of each
other, their vuhicrable hinges
being protected from the outside by the stepped recession of the wall. The other
whether from the mainland to the town or from the town into the
single
drawbridge and
single
and double
the towers
a single
gates.
As
castle,
entries,
have only a
courtyard in addition to a system of portcuUises and
in the majority
on the curtain walls
about
door or gate; another court, about 4 yards

double door or gate. The latter consists of two sets
drawbridge and
are
of the
open on the
fortifications
of the period, most of
inside, so that in case
capture by assault they could not easily be used against those
manning
of treachery or
the inner court-
yards and defences. At Sirmione this defensive complexity results in a massing of successive walls
is
and towers that is outstanding
in
its
visual quaUty.
Whereas
at
Gradara there
picturesqueness but not for the most part beauty of proportion, here, as one
moves
aroimd the asymmetrically related walls and towers, the natural attractions of the lakeside setting are
enhanced by a seemingly unending succession of finely related groupings.
Fenis
Although the day of

less in
that
very
castles
such
as
Sirmione was by no means done, the future lay
the direction of a fmally self-defeating complexity of walls and towers than in
of a reversion to compacmess. At the same time the demand for comfort at the
least, and often for a luxury comparable to that in the palaces of the commercial
and fmancial princes, was becoming ever more
insistent.
The
castle
of Fenis
illustrates
working of both these pressures (Figure 16). It was built

c. 1340 for Aimone de ChaUant on a sloping meadowside in the Val d'Aosta. It still
possesses a much restored set of outer and inner curtain walls (Plate 82b). These have,
a transitional stage in the
however, shrimk to
is
mere
fifteen feet or so in height,
such that the steeply sloping upper
throw of the main building

the gate
is
meadow comes
and
their closeness to each other
to within a very
that provides the real defensive strength.
flanked immediately
upon
the left
by
modest
stone's
The tower above
a massive rectangular tower,
which

earlier date. A further round tower is only a few feet distant
A series of such towers dominates the irregular mass completely enclosing
probably survives from an
on the
right.
a small trapezoidal courtyard.
However much
restored or reconstructed,
two wooden
balconies that surround the yard undoubtedly represent the principal inner ring of
communication and contain the only major stairway between the three main levels.
The first stage of the stairway consists of eight semicircular steps, leading to a small
landing from which straight stone flights run upwards left and right to the first floor.
Like everything else about this miniature-scale fortress, it constitutes a rustic echo of
events in
more
sophisticated centres.^
The main
Figure 16. Fenis,
castle,
functional divisions of the building are
c.
1340. Plan
The soldiery were housed on the ground

The whole of the first floor was devoted to
horizontal.*
tory.
administrative rooms. These ranged

takes
up one
side
of the
castle, to
themselves, not one of which

the walls
is
not oppressive.
is
from the grand
other.
a second-floor
hall,
some two
dormi-
storeys high, that
regular in plan, are pleasant, and the six-foot thickness of
The
tortuous circulation from one

is,
room
to the next, with
however, such that the need for
of balconies, making nonsense of the internal defensive maze,
is
even more
was in the sophisticated symmetries of Castel del Monte a century

The demands of normal hfe and of defence continually run counter to each
apparent than
earher.
and in
the principal suite of hving and
minute bed and inner council chambers. The rooms
deviations into guarded strong points in the towers,

a ring
floor
it
It is this
conflict that
is
largely resolved in the great casde-palaces
fourteenth century.
190
of the
later
CHAPTER 21

Sea and
hinterland - the history of any port
is written by the interaction of these two,

no exception. Ringed though she was by the
power of the ScaUgeri of Verona, which at one time stretched from Parma
and early-fourteenth-century Venice

hostile
is
in the west to Treviso in the east and even included a Tuscan outrider in Lucca, the
architecture
Paolo,
the
ties
is
of the two important churches of the period, the Frari and SS. Giovaimi e
evidence not only of the ubiquity of the Franciscans and Dominicans but of
stretching
from the Lombard and Emilian
of war. Conversely, the influence of the
wooden
sea
of so many churches
roofs that are the glory
SS. Giovanni
The
by
tradition estabUshed
followed in
many of the
S.
details
plain across the shifting boundaries
and ships
Paolo
Corona and
of
S.
S.
in
is
surely visible in the
compHcated
in the area.
Venice
Lorenzo in Vicenza
(Plate 6b)
and
Anastasia in Verona, a building notable for the
fme external massing oi^ the transept, choir, and campanile, reaches its climax in the
Dominican church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice (Figure 17). It was founded in
Rgure
17.
Venice, SS. Giovanni c Paolo, begun
191
c.
1333. Plan

mid thirteenth century, but the present structure seems to have been begun about
1333. The choir is apparently late-fourteenth-century, and the consecration took place
only in 1430. The external connexions with the brick and stone constructions of the
northern plain are evident. The choir and transepts form a richly articulated group in
which the massive central polygon is flanked by the swelling and receding surfaces of
four chapels, leaving no straight wall before the ends of the transepts have been reached.
The verticals of the flanking chapels in particular are emphasized by the simple buttresses
the
and by the repeated subdivision of the windows.

Internally the
first
impression
is
of hght and
origins of the plan are as clear as in
air (Plate 83).
many of the
of Tuscany. The unity of the main space
The
ensured by the narrow
is
ultimately Cistercian
thirteenth-century mendicant churches
and wide inter-
aisles
columniation. Here, however, the effect of the transepts only builds up slowly as one
moves along
considered
ment of
the nave, and there
vistas.
is
The height and
no attempt
at a clear
framing of the
lateral chapels in
verticaHty of the nave are emphasized
by
the treat-
the later choir, in spite of the horizontal accent sUghtly over half-way up.
Indeed, the relationship between nave, choir, and transept chapels results in a series of
fmely balanced contrasts. The massive simphcity of round stone columns, leading up
to simple brick pilasters
and calm areas of
\/all, is set off"
by
the almost skeletal delicacy
of the choir. The lace-hke, Hght-fJled quality of this seven-faceted polygon

ated
by
the preceding areas of blank, fresco-begging wall.
extent in the supporting chapels.
The same
is
is
accentu-
true to a lesser
The
residual plain wall surfaces half-way up the apse

Without them there would be no link with the
main body of the church. The contrasts which have been discussed would lose their
tension and no fmal balance would resiJt.
are vitally important in this context.
Interesting comparisons can be

earlier (Plate 2a),
Piacenza, and the extent to
wall surface
is
made with
S.
Francesco in Bologna, of a century
or even with the derivative fourteenth-century
which
assimilated in this
S.
Francesco in
Northern Gothic verticaUty and dissolution of

brick and stone Venetian building is remarkable.
the
Nevertheless, the structural difficulties involved in building
wooden
piles that sink into the
ing of the nave and by the forest

ensure stability.
total impression.
tall, wide arches on the

of the lagoon are dramatized by the wooden vaultof lateral and longitudinal wooden ties inserted to
mud
The caging and scaffolding of the upper spaces greatly modifies the
At times it almost entirely destroys the effectiveness of the dome above
the crossing, which, related though
forms,
is
it is
also clearly connected to the
to the Venetian taste for
domes of
the
Romanesque
domed Byzantine
cathedrals
of the
northern plain.
5.
Maria Gloriosa
dei Frari hi Venice
Tie-beams, reaching across every arch and banked in double tiers across the nave, are
no less obvious in the Frari. Once again stone columns are surmounted by the lighter
brick pilasters, and the decreased height and vcrticality, together with the greater sense
of breadth and thickness

pendent on
in the
a differing aesthetic
forms of the Franciscan church,

than on greater caution in the
192
may
first
well be
less
de-
place and a wish

to
have stone vaulting
in the second.
Whereas
in SS.
Giovanni c Paolo the nave seems
of the Frari (Figure
to be earUer than the cast end, the opposite appears to be true
The main
whole
i8).
apse was, however, reconstructed in the fifteenth century, and the church as a
replaces an earlier building facing in the opposite direction.
started in the 1330s
and finished
The
in the 1440s.
particularly
Work
seems to have
fme campanile with
its
main body and octagonal upper element, recalling the towers in Crema
and Cremona, was begun in 1361 by Jacopo Celcga and finished by his son in 1396,
The change from the clustered columns of the chapel entries, reminiscent of Northern
Gothic architecture, to the simple drums and brick pilasters of the nave was probably
influenced by the earlier parts of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, which is closely similar in basic
rectangular
plan.
Figure 18. Venice,
The
S.
Maria Gloriosa dei
Frari,
begun
1330s. Plan
survival of the fifteenth-century choir enclosure in the
the crossing
is
a relatively rare reflection
of an extremely
mendicant churches of the period. Visually

spatial organization
Architectural!)',
of the church
of the whole and mcreases the complexity of
(Plate 84A). In
every case the central element
As none of the chapels
is
window
The outcome
is
almost certainly
its
ultimate effect.
is
crowded
a concertina pattern
or angle, not in a
flat surface,
193
is
city, are often
of pierced
muUion, not
a Hght,
and
reflects the original pattern.
straight-ended the external effect
in the near views, which, in such a
'apse' in a point
arrangement in the
reduces the immediate impact of the
however, the chapel windows are probably the most interesting features
in this respect the later central
building.
it
bay immediately before
common
extraordinary, especially
an important aspect of
surfaces.
The ending of each
greatly accelerates the rapid
rhythm of

the eye runs on from plane
advancing and retreating forms. Especially in the main apse,
of orientation can only be
problem
the
times
At
termination.
expecting a flat
to plane
solved with confidence
by checking on
the line of the
main wall of the
transept.
S. Nicolb at Treuiso
In both of the
massing of
hemmed-in Venetian churches

ends becomes
the east
related to the
major forms of the
much
less
that
have been discussed, the external
impressive
when
the chapel shapes are
transepts. In this the otherwise closely related
Domi-
The church
nican church of S. Nicolo in Treviso presents a total contrast (Figure 19).
was seemingly begun c. 1303, although work continued throughout the century and
of the choir, the
the nave was not completed for four hundred years. The massing
transepts,
and the campanile is one of the fmest architectural achievements of the

(Plate 85). There is a notable compactness in the movement from the
mendicant orders
Figure 19. Treviso,
Romanesque
Nicolo, begun
c.
1303. Plan
through the inner pair of apsidal chapels to the great nine-faceted

ancestry of the entire scheme in the central tradition of ItaUan
rectilinear transepts
central polygon.
S.
The
architecture
is
stressed
the softening of the angles of the polygonal
by
chapels until a virtually cylindrical effect has been obtained.

jecting side chapels arc
no
less
backing them. The clarity and simplicity of the Romanesque

intrinsic verticahty
of tall volumes
hght and shade and
linear
The volumes of the pro-
cumiingly related to the steppcd-up rectilinear masses
in repose
is
is
not destroyed, but the
turned to a dynamic purpose through the
movement of the unbroken,
constantly repeated, upward-
streaming accents of flat buttresses and narrow lancets.
The outward form of
the church
is
an accurate expression of the main internal
volumes. The simple cylinders of the columns, with the tie-beams

interfere
with the
spatial
dynamism;
lighting; the extreme, accentuated verticahty
windows
of
its
at the east
end;
all
set so
as
not to
of
of the transepts; the undulating wall of
these contribute to a final impression
distinctive character to the
high
the plain wall surfaces; the crystal clarity
which owes much
capping of the nave by a fivc-lobed keel-roof. The

194

complex forms of the
an interesting play of wave-shapes where they run

form a series of narrow, tramline surfaces with a shm
central rail-bed of cross-ties, which has the curious effect of greatly accelerating the
movement normally created by continuous ceilings of this type. Not only are the
breadth and spatial freedom of the lower volumes counterbalanced by the pilasteraccented verticality of the upper nave, but the steady march of columns is replaced by
into the end walls.
latter create
They
also
headlong rush.^
The Wooden
of such wooden roofs
series
is
Ceilings at Verona and Padua
one of the Veneto's most interesting contributions
to
The most ambitious of them is the extraordinary

polylobe construction hanging, dark and low, hke the wings of some great bat, above
the short, wide nave of S. Fermo Maggiore in Verona (Plate 86b). Red and black diamonds and diaper designs upon the ridges of the panelling, the painted busts of saints
in the two vertical arcadings on each wing, and scroll designs in red, grey, black, and
ItaUan fourteenth-century architecture.
blue, add gleams of colour

this,
which were once undoubtedly much
the sense of breadth and weight
Nicolo
at
brighter. In spite of
must always have reduced the swift flow of
S.
Treviso to a heavy surge.^
The hkehhood
that the local popularity
of such
roofs,
and the traditions of
manship involved, are connected with Venetian ship-building
is
crafts-
perhaps increased by
the existence of the vast upturned-boat construction covering the Palazzo della Ragione
in
Padua
(Plate 86a). Tlais ribbed
wooden
hull, restored
the eighteenth century,
continues curves built into the upper walls of the storey added by Fra Giovanni
degh Eremitani c. 1306, when he also built the double-tiered arcadings that lend light
and shade and dehcacy to the stark mass of the outside of the early-thirteenth-century
structure. The trapezoidal upper hall, some 90 feet high and averaging 260 feet in
length by 90 feet in breadth (27 by 79 by 27 m.), is the most imposing homogeneous
volume
built in fourteenth-century Italy.
essential link
between the roof-ribs and the
It is
characteristic
buttresses
upon
of the period that the
the lower wall should be
provided by the painted architectural framework of the three hundred and

astrological scenes
basis
which were apparently repainted
thirry'-three
in the early fifteenth century
on
the
of the original fourteenth-century scheme.
The Duomo
The fourteenth-century
at
Venzone
Duomo at Venzone, inscribed by Giovaimi Grigho da Gemona
in 1308, typifies the variety and beauty, partly achieved
by design and
partly
by
Veneto but throughout

end are flanked by a pair of relatively
accretion, in inniunerable smaller churches not only in the
The heavily buttressed polygons of the east

shm towers recalling S. Abbondio at Como and the northern Romanesque traditions.
They create an interesting play of void and volume, particularly in three-quarter views
Italy.
that include the gabled ends
of the
transepts.
195
No
less interesting,
though possibly
less

calculated in
its
outcome,
is
the stepping up of masses, and the
in the height and sUmness of the openings, created

the south side of the church.
by
accompanying growth
were added on
the chapels that
The continuous group formed
in this
way
includes the
transept and the southern tower.

Internally the addition
of open chapels on the nave
side
instantaneous contrast to the firm enclosure of the nave
broken walls
(Plate 84B). Since arches
open from
into either transept, the fuU width of the latter
expansion and release of energy.

transepts being visible
these
of each transept creates an
by
its
these chapels
tells
bare and virtually un-
both into the nave and
immediately and gives
complex play of arches
is
a feeling
of
created, those to the
through the ones that open from the nave. The pointed forms of
nave openings are succeeded by the heavy, rounded arches leaping almost pon-
volume of the nave to the

The weight of form which, for the most part,
of interpenetrating volume is similar to the
derously across the transepts to connect the truss-roofed

rib-vaulted polygons of the eastern end.
marks these unsophisticated

rustic
charm and sudden
subtleties
sensitivities
of the sculpture which enUvens the interior and
decorates each door and pinnacle outside. In
whole church becomes
microcosm which
its
planned and unplaimed beauties the
reflects the centuries
of instinctive visual
acuity that have invested every vista, each turn of a comer, in innumerable
villages
and
is
and country lanes in
not art seem
futile
Italy,
towns and
with a quahty that makes considerations of what
and the writing of art history a hopeless
196
task.
is
CHAPTER 22

There
is
an almost democratic
when compared with
air
about the growing local despotisms of North Italy
the entrenched autocracy of the south.
the Angevins in Naples,
no
occupation, if in gentler terms.
No
Neapohtan
century has survived, and the churches that
of the
by
house
as
clustered churches
of
civil architecture
of before the fifteenth

campaigns
reflect the great constructional
and early fourteenth centuries are only a fraction of those built
late thirteenth
a ruling
To
The
than the scattered castles of the Hohenstaufen, speak of
less
notable for intcnsit)' of personal devotion as for temporal ambition.
the Hohenstaufen, in the
first
half of the thirteenth century, the mendicant orders
power of the papacy and were treated accordingly. Charles I

of Anjou (r. 1266-85), the champion of the papal cause against the empire, had naturally
reversed this poUcy and opened up his territories to the friars, who were initially installed
had represented the
rival
in existing monasteries. Their presence then led, under his successor Charles
1309), to the building
of a
Whereas under Charles
distinctive series
I
II (r.
1285-
of Neapohtan churches.
the docimients speak exclusively of French architects,^
except in connexion with the southern
castles, it
seems clear that under
his successor
an increasing share of the work was done by Neapohtan masters. Although
their st)'le
moulded by that of the northern immigrants, it was by no means

wholly divorced from the local traditions wliich had already influenced the nave of
S. Lorenzo in Naples. The richness of French detail is subdued. The homogeneous
was
substantially
complexity of articulation, inherent in a fully vaulted building even

the Cistercian
manner
to
its
structural fundamentals,
is
when
refined in
exchanged for a seemingly
simple contrast between wooden-roofed main volumes and vaulted secondary spaces.
The outcome
parts
of the
fact, arising
developed
is
a characteristically ItaUan separation
interior.
Something
primarily from an interrupted building sequence, seems later to have been
as a positive aesthetic preference.
5. Pietro a Maiella in
The
particular lucidity
Naples and the
of Angevin architecture
Maiella, founded early in the century (Plate 87A).

its
telling interplay
clear
is its
of plain arches and plane
Duomo
The
latter are
of the plan in the mamier of
Lucera
at
at its best is
evident in
Pietro a
S.
The simple volume of the nave, with
surfaces,
is
expansion into the richer darkness of the vaulted
vaulted chapels beyond.

outlines
and accentuation of the various
Lorenzo to be merely an architectural
that seems in S.
clearly demarcated.
aisles
No
less
and of the rectangular
contained within the originally almost square

S.
Lorenzo and of the preceding mendicant
tradition. Longitudinally, the crossing arch leads past the caesura
of the
tall,
wooden-
roofed transept to a rectangular choir in which the combination of wide surfaces of
197

window, and plain vaulting, mediates between the contrasting extremes of
aisles. The single detail that epitomizes the sunple, balanced contrasts of the
building and contains within itself the essence of the transition from the wall-domiwall and
nave and
nated, planar spaces to the rib-dominated aisles

flat piers
in the
however, the fusion of columns and
is,
nave arcading. This feature has
South Itahan history reaching back
to the predominantly French forms of S. Sepolcro in Barletta in the late twelfth century.
It
was evidently present
Domenico Maggiore
in
its
in Naples.
developed form in the subsequently transformed
The
latter
1289 and 1324 and was the model for the
was
built at the behest
much
of Charles
II
S.
between
smaller S. Pietro a Maiella.
simpler variant of the flattened pier and half-column motif (simpler because the
aisles are also,
Charles
in
II
hke the nave, unvaulted) occurs in the Duomo at Lucera, founded by

and completed in 1 3 1 7. The width and thinness of the nave piers give
1 3 00
them an unusually strong
directional thrust. This helps to bridge the
gap created
between the nave and the polygonal apse by the powerful transverse accent of the
transepts
with
their single uninterrupted pitched roof. Particularly at the eastern end,
there are close relationships vidth the
which boasts an extremely
Francesco,
cool clarity of the interior of the
Duomo
of the brick and stone facade with

and of the
east end, in
more or
fine
which the
its
less
contemporary
hall
church of
S.
polygonal choir. The impact of the chaste,

is
increased
single,
by
the relative complexity both
asymmetrically incorporated tower,
internally separated chapels are fused into a single
undulating mass.
S. Chiara in
Naples
is undoubtedly the most impressive of this group of

was founded by Sancia di Maiorca, who was Robert's queen from 1309 to
1343. She had sacrificed an early vocation to the order, and her fervent support for the
Franciscans was only matched by that of her husband, who died in the habit of the Third
Externally S. Chiara in Naples

buildings.
It
Order. The church, begun in 13 10 and substantially completed during the twenties,
may
and
have been built by Gagliardo Primario of Naples. Detailed reflections of S. Ehgio

Lorenzo are, however, accompanied by many seemingly direct connexions with
S.
Provence. These include the original arcaded buttressing of the flanks and the bold
massing of the facade. Seen from close
at hand, the latter is one of the most imposing

whole of Italian Gothic architecture. The stepped,
rectangular outline of the grey stone entrance makes a dramatic contrast to the dark
shapes of the three plain entrance arches. Its hollowed block-form is accentuated by the
way in which it overlaps the solid verticals of the tower-like, rectangular buttresses.
exercises in solid
These he
rose.
The
porch.
It
in a
geometry
in the
shghdy deeper plane and extend to the level of the mid-point of the central
of the window is cradled by the rectilinear solids both of buttresses and
circle
enlivens the actual plane of the facade and gives
it
focus as
it
rises
towards
simple gable from behind the interpenetrating solids that support and introduce
There
is
a similar
interior (Plate 88a).
but rather stranger and

It is
less fully
integrated play
of shapes
its
it.
in the
not merely in plan but in three-dimensional terms that the lateral

198

chapels are almost entirely contained within the
stressed
by
structure other than the four feet or so

galleries thus
The
lack
tall,
rectangular hall.
The
total
the slim lancets in the upper wall, and since the chapels support
formed
of wall that crowns
create a curious impression
of any form of chapel
at the eastern
height
is
no super-
their arcaded entrances, the
of internal viaducts leading nowhere.
end of
this
extremely long and anything
but centralized building intensifies the impression. In conjunction with the setting of
small
windows high on
of Robert of Anjou,
it
the end-wall and the backing of the altar
by the enormous tomb
even creates a sense of disorientation and lack of focus.
to have entered only to confront another entrance wall.
The need
One seems
to allow for the en-
by Leonardo da Vito at the same time as the main

odd arrangement. Although it is only two bays deep, this choir
closed nuns' choir, seemingly built
body, explains
tliis
has a central section with a pitched roof and
from the main body of an

airiness
and space
is
increased
two vaulted
aisled, longitudinal
by
the three large
Figure 20. Naples,
S.
The
were
a slice cut
windows
in the straight end-wall.
Maria Donna Regina, founded
1307. Plans at upper and
5.
aisles, as if it
church, and the resulting sense of
ground
Maria Donna Regina
in
levels
Naples
other church of the Neapohtan Poor Clares, S. Maria
Donna Regina
(Figure 20),
founded in 1307 by Mary of Hungary, the wife of Charles II, and evidently fmished c.
1320, presents a very different internal structure. Here the entrance hes beneath the
even groin-vaults of the nuns' choir (Plate SyB).^ The
effect
is
to
draw
the observer
forward through the dark but by no means heavily constructed forms of a low, vaulted
hall towards a blaze of Hght. This Hght floods down into the expanding spaces of the
wooden-roofed nave from the soaring windows of a sanctuary bay that leads to a
five-sided apse. If, as seems likely, there were originally seven Ughts instead of five,
the upper elements of the eastern end would have been a veritable cage of glass above
the simple facets of the lower wall.
As
it is,
the contrast
199
between the
vertically accented

forms of the windows and those of the low, preUminary vaulting is dramatic. Despite
the even lighting, the forward pull is no less marked in the nuns' choir itself, since the
promise of the verticals plunging to the unseen altar is not fulfilled until the forward
balustrade
is
reached.
The
sharpness and simplicity of the fundamentally French detail
of the windows are such that, wliile they contribute to the contrasts inherent in the
mterplay of wooden-roofed and vaulted spaces, of interpenetrating and expanding
volumes, there is no disharmony with the plain areas of wall which were to be so
notably enriched by Cavallini's followers.
Southern Italy and Sicily
very different architectural climate
founded
c.
is
reflected in S.
1320 by the Angevin Phihp of Taranto.
Maria del Casale
The grey and gold
at Brindisi,
stone striping of
the facade breaks into a patterned fantasy that recalls the geometric pottery of Greece.
The pendent
protiro, for all its
blind arcading
is
now
simple Gothic forms, recalls Byzantine ambones, and the
Early Gothic and
nothing very surprising about

cathedral of Bitonto
and Altamura
was
designers of the
like
of
hving idiom
were being
few great
echoes of the Arabic and

Sclafani
still
(after 13 16)
now Romanesque
palaces
in
its
for the late-twelfth-century
this,
when
allegiance.
the cathedrals of Bitetto
built. Similarly
past in the interlaced
(c.
Sicily.
is
the
1335)
worked on
strong traditions
of the period that have survived in
Norman
There
Romanesque of
the
There are
round arches of the Palazzo
1330 in Palermo. The massive, brovvoiish-grey stonework of the block-
c.
Chiaramonte palace of Lo
the traditional
Steri,
begun
Arabo-Norman dark brown
of the window
arches.^
in 1307
and
also in
lava uilays that
Palermo,
is
notable for
enhven the successive planes
Other windows, facing the courtyard, have heavily channelled
dog-tooth and concertina patterns of similar origins. The two types between them
forge the closest of links with a whole series of buildings connected with the Chiara-
monte
family. Lava inlay
fourteenth-century
and concertina
is
at
its
most
patterns,
details
at
The
of the planar early-
organization of dog-tooth
peak of richness in the Badia of
founded in the 1290s. In terms of

Francesco
in Palermo.
found in the late-thirteenth-century parts of the Chiaramonte
castle at Favara, reaches a
S.
effective in the chaste design
doorway of S. Agostino
Palermo represents
clarity
S. Spirito at
and refinement the doorway
a similar
climax (Plate 88b).
It is
in the
of this kind that the history of fourteenth-century architecture

out like sand between the fmgers.
trickles
Agrigento,
of
few surviving
(after 1302)
in the far south
PART FIVE
PAINTING
1300-1350
CHAPTER 23
INTRODUCTION
In
during wliich
this half-centur)',
tions
of the Renaissance were
Italian painting
laid.
dominated European
The achievements of the
art,
the founda-
sculptors during the pre-
fifty years were matched in painting. New and specifically pictorial realms were
opened up. The structure and appearance ot the human form were explored with grow-
ceding
ing intensit)% and the range and subtlety of psychological description so extended that
a
new
pictorial
dimension was created. The principles of dramatic narrative painting,
imphcit in the work of Giotto, were elaborated, but hardly superseded, even in the High
Renaissance.
The
constant background to these experiments was the exploration of pictorial space.
Increasing mastery in the representation of a three-dimensional world
upon
two-
dimensional surface necessarily led to a fundamental re-evaluation of the roles of line
and tone and colour.
New means had
to be devised in order to control the increasingly
complicated relationships between the decorative and two-dimensional aspects of

painting and the
spatial unity
had
growing appearance of three-dimensionahty. The simple and
which
is
characteristic
of so
much of the
aesthetic as well as practical attractions. It
is
architecture
insistent
of the period
clearly
not surprising that the extension of that
unity to include the complexities of the pictorial world should be a major goal. Indeed,
something that had
at first
sacred stories quickly
came
been primarily designed to increase the impact of the
to be appreciated for
esque dehght in patterned surfaces was giving

patterns
of
its
way
owai intrinsic quahties. The

to the
Roman-
enjoyment of the descriptive
The revolution which was under way is comparable to

by Dante and by Petrarch in the handling of the still youthful verbal
pictorial illusion.
that achieved
language of the vernacular.
The growth of civic

led to the evolution
organization and the expanding
framework. The period

grounds into landscapes.
growth
programmes of civil building
of secular themes within the previously almost exclusively rehgious

is
also notable for the first attempts to
It is
only in historical retrospect that
develop landscape back-
this era
of unprecedented
appears, in certain contexts, as a closed compartment. In the
mid 1340s
the
immediate potential of the experiments in which the Lorenzetti brothers were involved
appears to have been unbounded.
Men
must have wondered what new miracles of
PART five: painting 1300-1350

pictorial invention the
killed the
coming decade held
in store.
Then,
in 1348, the
Black Death
dreamers and the dreams.
Even catastrophes on such a scale do not, however, break the continuity of history.
The cutting of w^hat seem to be the major lines of growth merely leaves room for other
strands to swell and take on a new vigour. The influence of the great artistic innovators
of the early fourteenth century was in many cases fully operative only upon a rigidly
restricted circle
of wealthy and of cultured patrons. Their
their fellow artists should
effect
on the majority of
not be ininimized and cannot be denied, but the tendency
is
always to lay emphasis on what they changed. The historian of the fourteenth century
inevitably feels the pressure to prepare the
events.
Moreover,
at a
time
when change
ground for the chronicling of subsequent
is
in the
air,
great art and great innovation
The fact remains that ways of seeing, gradually

evolved during a thousand years, do not change overnight. Apart from the extent to
which even the greatest innovators stiU remain within conventions handed down from
the immediate past, the degree to which their fellow artists were unmoved by what
are particularly prone to coincide.
they did
is
as
notable as their often very partial borrowings. This great, slow-moving
current of conservatism must not be forgotten. In addition to
and
its
of the
significance as the
artistic
environment of revolution,
its
intrinsic
circle
importance
alone explains the greater part
evolution of the later fourteenth century. Eventually
background against which the tiny

understood.
it
it
becomes the
of Renaissance innovators can alone be
CHAPTER 24
GIOTTO
O vana gloria deU'umanc posse,
Com' poco
se
non
verde in su
la
cima dura
e giunta dall'etati grosse
Credette Cimabue nella pittura

tener lo
si
che
la
campo, ed era ha Giotto
fama
grido
il
di colui e oscura.
Purg.
When
Dante, in these famous
lines
upon
any sense stand on
a level
with
increased instead of diminished
although Giotto plays what
is
his
own of a man whose

;
by the achievements of
for an artist an uniquely
and hterary sources, our knowledge of his hfe
one of his surviving works

Giotto
is first
mentioned
is
is
91-6
of fortune, spoke of Giotto,
the fickleness
he was recognizing the newly gained pre-eminence of the one

in
xi.
artist
whose name can

his, would be
fame, like
his successors. Nevertheless,
prominent role
in early chronicles
not commensurate with
his
fame.
Not
documented.
in 1301, as living in the parish
of S. Maria Novella, and the
documentation of his presence in Florence in 1307 and in eleven of the seventeen years
from 131 1 to 1326 mainly concerns his family, which eventually totalled eight children
by two wives, and his extensive business activities. He made his will in 13 12, and in
13 13 a claim for the return
very recent stay in that
of household property in
city. In 13
Rome
imphes
a longish but
not
14 six notaries were pursuing debtors in the courts
on his behalf. Various dealings in land are recorded of him, and he also hired out looms.
The latter was a standard way of putting money to work without infringing the
ecclesiastical prohibition
of usury, and work
it
certainly did, at a rate
of about 120 per
on Poverty which
ascribed to him,
cent a year! If Giotto did indeed write the song

his distaste for the evils
flowing from that Christian
state
is
is
logical.
The first list of painters enrolled in the Guild of Medici e SpeciaH consists of Giotto,
Gaddo di Zanobi Gaddi, and Bernardo Daddi.^ The entry seemingly refers to 1327,
and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Taddeo Gaddi, and Francesco di Giotto, who are listed
sHghtly farther on, were probably enrolled in the same year. In December 1328
Giotto was assigned a monthly salary by Robert of Naples.
He became
member of
the royal household, and payments for lost frescoes and panel paintings are recorded
from September 1329 to April 1332, when he was granted a pension. In April 1334 he
became capomaestro of the Duomo in Florence. He died in January 1337.
203

The Arena Chapel
at
Padua
Despite the dearth of documents, the reconstruction of Giotto's

generally agreed,
on
artistic
the evidence of the secondary sources, to be founded
personaUty
on the
is
fresco
decoration of the Arena Chapel. This leads, as will be seen, to the paradox that he
probably signed the three surviving works that bear
his
name
precisely because
he had
most part, actually painted them himself ^

Giotto is one of the earhest artists to have left his documentary mark, not as a craftsman, but as a man of affairs manipulating capital in the then nascent world of industry
not, for the
and commerce. Fittingly enough
his
major surviving commission came from Enrico
Scrovegni, heir to the greatest fortune in Padua, and the Arena Chapel
been built to atone for the usury,
by which Scrovegni's
latter in the
made
officially
his
money.
condemned yet
It
was for
may
unofficially
this that
well have
condoned,
Dante placed the
seventh circle of Hell. According to a lost inscription the foundation stone
seems to have been
were
father
still
laid in 1303,
and in March 1305
lent for the consecration. Giotto's frescoes
tapestries
from
Marco
S.
in Venice
were therefore seemingly painted
between 1304 and 1312-13, the probable date of Riccobaldo Ferrarese's Compilatio
Crotiologica, in which he states that Giotto worked in the chapel. By 13 13, moreover,
Francesco da Barberino had, in his poem, Documenti
d' Amove,
described the figure of
Envy, which he attributed to Giotto. This was, because of its position

the wall,
among
at the
bottom of
the last parts of the decoration to be completed.^
The keynote of the existing chapel is its internal and external simpHcity.* The main
body consists of a modest, barrel-vaulted rectangle some 67 feet long, 28 feet wide,
and 42 feet high (20-8 by 8*5 by I2*8 m.), preceding the simplest of Gothic choirs
(Plate 90). Externally the bare brick surfaces are articulated by plain pilasters linked by
pendent blind arcading. Inside there are no pilasters and no columns, nowhere any
cornices or mouldings, no ribs running in the vault. Six plain, round-headed windows,
without surrounds, are the only interruption in one otherwise unbroken side
Nothing interrupts the other. Without the painter there is only the inarticulate,
bare wall. So clearly is the building plamied for painting that it is conceivable that
totally
wall.
Giotto himself designed

is
it.
On
the other
hand
it is
obvious that
tliis
rich man's chapel
the heir to a long tradition of bare, fresco-begging, tunnel-vaulted coimtry chiurches
own S. Damiano, the Portiuncula, or the Vittori:ia in Gubbio.' A

argument against Giotto's architectural authorship is the dislocation in the
like St Francis's
more
direct
ordering of his fresco cycle caused by the interruption of the south wall of the chapel
by
six
openings instead of five.
no competition from the building itself, the painted architecture of the

if for no other reason, very different from the massive fictive structure
which both complemented and completed the real architecture of the nave of S.
Since there
Arena Chapel
is
is,
Francesco at Assisi (Plates ib and 60). Here everything
is flat,
frotn the painted marble
panelling that lines the bases of the walls to the thin, shallow mouldings and Cosmati-
work
that frame the individual scenes (Plate 95). Similar flat bands of painted marbling
run up over the blue barrel of the vault to mark the ends and centre of the space. Com-
204
..
GIOTTO
petent realism, strictly limited depth, and absolute subordination to the needs of the
narrative scenes are the essence of Giotto's painted architectural scheme.
decorative unity
is
frescoed architecture in the chapel as

entrance.
seen
by the way in which the

if from a single source in
The marble framing
The inherent
upon all the
light falls
the
window
everywhere foreshortened approximately
is
from normal head-height. The centre of the chapel
is,
moreover,
over the
though
as
stressed
by
the
centraUzed recession of the painted pilasters framing the choir and entrance walls, and
by
the
two
attempt
The
at a
small painted chapels
thoroughgoing
story told within this
Judgement (Figure
which
illusion
flank the choir.
The
latter represent the sole
of deep, three-dimensional, architectural space.
framework
that
is
of man's Redemption and
his fmal
and the Virgin, Saints and Prophets occupy medallions
21).* Christ
\
"
Nfrfh M'jII
>
'
>
,0
'
Figure 21. Giotto: Padua, Arena Chapel, scheme of decoration, between 1304 and 1313
Soulh Wall
1.
Expulsion of Joachim
7.
2.
Joachim's Return to the Sheepfold
8.
6.
Annunciation to Anna
Sacrifice of Joachim
Vision of Joachim
Meeting at the Golden Gate
1.
Perspective of chapel
2.
Judas receiving the Bribe

The Angel of the Annunciation
3.
4.
5.
9.
Birth of Christ
12. Last
Adoration of the Magi

Presentation of Christ
13.
Feet
14. Judas' Betrayal

15. Christ
10. Flight into Eg>'pt

1 1
Supper
Washing of the
16.
Massacre of the Innocents
before Caiaphas
Mocking of Christ
East Wall
3.
4.
God
the Father sending the
Gabriel
Angel
6.
The Virgin of the Aimunciation

The Visiution
7.
Perspective of chapel
5.
North Wall
1.
Birth of the Virgin
7.
2.
Presentation of the Virgin
8.
Teaching in the Temple

Baptism of Christ
13.
Carrying of the Cross
14. Crucifixion
Wooers bringing
Wooers praying
15.
Lamentation
4.
10. Raising
16.
Resurrection and Noli
5.
Marriage of the Virgin
1 1
17.
Ascension
6.
The
12.
18.
Pentecost
3.
the
Rods
Bridal Procession
9. Feast at
Cana
of Lazarus
Entry into Jerusalem
Cleansing of the Temple
me tangere
* The decorative dividing panels betw een the separate story panels are not included, and account for the blank spaces
marked * on the extreme left and right of the south wall.
205

in the vault. Their scrolls occasionally
Over
holes in the sky.
hang over the roundel-rims
God
the choir arch
the Father, painted
upon
as if
through port-
panel, presides over
which the Virgin was appointed as the instrument

Here Giotto makes immediate use of the brand-new text of the Pseudo-
the meeting of the heavenly hosts at
of
salvation.
Bonaventure's Meditationes Vitae

wards, and was
itself
verisimilitude and
human
This
Christi.
an attempt to
interest.
work only appeared
in 1300 or just after-
out the sparse gospel narratives with added
flesh
Then, in the uppermost row of frescoes on the
side
of the Virgin. Starting on the right of the choir arch with

the Expulsion ofJoachim, the story circles the nave to finish on the left with the Bridal
Procession of the Virgin. Here again the story is elaborated. Tliis time the source is chiefly
walls, there follows the Life
that
more
ancient gold-mine, the Apocryphal Gospel of St James the Less, into which,
>with the surge of popular rehgion, preacher and painter alike were digging with an
enthusiasm only matched by that for Jacopo da Voragine's Golden Legend (1263-73).''
On the choir arch itself,

above, leads, by
stemming from the scene of heavenly decision

on the right face of the arch, to the succeeding
the Annunciation,
way of the
Visitation
Youth and Ministry of Christ, beginning with
eleven episodes of the
the Nativity and
ending with the Expulsion of the Adoney-Changers. Judas receiving the Bribe, on the left
face of the arch, then leads on to the third mn.in row, with scenes of the Passion running
from the Last Supper on the right of the choir round to the Pentecost on the left. In the
small quatrefoils between the major scenes appropriate Saints and Prophets and the
Old Testament prefigurations of the neighbouring New Testament stories are presented. Then, at the base of the whole scheme, the painted marble dado is interrupted
by grisailles of the Seven Virtues on the right and the Seven Vices on the left. These are
the spiritual quaUties that govern
human
occupied by the Last Judgement. At

in the
upper sky two angels
is
away
the curtain of the heavens.
moon are folded up. The

Now, eternity begins.
of the sun and
transient features
of material being
is all
ended.
man by the story of

whole entrance wall is
drama of mankind is fmished, and
Finally, the
the spiritual
last
start to roll
represent acceptance or rejec-
presented to fallen
and Resurrection.
Christ's Incarnation, Death,
They
destiny.
tion of the opportunity of salvation that
flux
With them
of history and the
the
flurry
framework that was to set the pattern

hundred years was based upon the almost purely decorative articulations of preceding centuries, so too the content of Giotto's scheme derives from earlier models,
though the balance has been changed. The Annunciation on the choir arch and the Last
Just as the revolutionary painted architectural
for a
New Testament stories in between,

South Itahan and Byzantine schemes. Judging from
the existing fragments, this may also have been Cavallini's plan for the decoration of
^s^^^^S. CeciUa. The coherence and many-sided completeness of the scheme are once again
Judgement on the entrance wall, with the Old and
is
a pattern
common
in surviving
compact
reflection
of the
stress
is
heavily
on
Christ's
late
version of the vast stained-glass
North. New, in
made
to
move
this
in a
medieval encyclopedic tradition.
redeeming
context,
continuous
is
Though now
the
modest frescoed chapel is a pocket

and stone compendia of the Gothic cathedrals of the
role, this
the calculated cunning with
spiral
down
which the narrative
is
the walls, revolving about the onlooker as
206
he stands at the clearly indicated centre of the chapel, or leading him from scene to
much
scene,
way
in the
Dante and
that
them ever
paths that led
guide were soon to follow the circling
his
closer to the visionary heart
germ of Giotto's innovation is, however, present in the

represented by the then unfmished downward-circling
dome of the
new in treatment is the personal secondary theme
and
in history
been woven into the decorative pattern. Enrico Scrovegni,
Padua, himself appears in the Last Judgement, on the same scale

to offer
upon
banished from
later
as the Saints, as
he kneels
an accurate model of his chapel to the welcoming Virgin. The special emphasis
which stands immediately opposite the hell

prominent Judas, may also refer to usury
the diabolical nature ofJudas's Bribe,
of the Last Judgement with
side
problem
narrative mosaics in the great
baptistery in Florence.
Another element long

that has
of the Divine Comedy. The

solution of a special
its
own
and to the expiatory purpose of the building. Whether or not the two illusory chapels
framing the choir arch originally represented painted funerary chambers for Scrovegni
and
his consort, the
subsequent erection of Enrico's
Brilliant as
is
its
itself.
own
Within
Each story has
its
the centraUzed and unitary
own
scheme each
fresco
completeness. Each individual frame
is
discloses the essentials
Pisano's sculpture,
it is
be understood. Here
to Jerusalem to
to a single
man, only
On
world
how,
at the feast
their offerings,
As
(Plate 9Ib).
the eye
in
Giovanni
of Dedication, the Jewish people came up
and Joachim alone, because of
The throngs of those whose

his
head appearing
as
offerings
his childlessness,
Priests.
Giotto has cut
were accepted are reduced
he kneels within the sanctuary to receive
the right a second priest turns Joachim away.
the stark contrast of acceptance and rejection -
is
reduced to
formal, visible expression to a state of mind.
The High
his
The fundamental drama its
simplest terms. Further-
more, by leaving a void upon the right of the design, Giotto has found
Priest,
who
is
way of giving
pushing Joachim
away with one hand and wrenching at his cloak with the other, and Joachim's own
furrowed brow and his unwilling turning motion are expressive enough. It is, however,
the ensuing compositional hiatus that brings out to the full the pathos of this dark night
of the
soul,
and the emptiness of
temple there
of earth and
is
not a chance
life.
When
he steps
down from
the platform of the
nothing, nowhere any hope or consolation, only a dead,
endless,
effect,
"^
only through the story that Giotto's compositions can properly
an open sign of God's displeasure, was turned away by the High

the story to the bone.
of Joachim from the Temple, immediately
of Giotto's narrative approach
it tells
make
is
viewed from
draw
centre-line, so that the architectural perspective never tends to
away towards some other focus of attention.

The opening earthly scene, the Expulsion
blessing.
the altar completed
the decorative and thematic planning, only the individual scenes fully
reveal Giotto's stature.
unto
tomb behind
of this private chapel.*
the coherent pattern
brown
strip
empty blue. That this is in fact a planned compositional device, and

is indicated by its uniqueness. It is the only example of an open-
sided composition in the
whole of Giotto's surviving output. This extraordinary
formal counterpart in terms of areas of paint and colour for the

intangibles of spiritual and psychological states, whether by conscious planning or by
ability to find a
207

means,
intuitive
demonstrated over and over again upon the walls of the Arena
is
Chapel.
Every
detail
of the Expulsion of Joachim reveals
same fundamentahsm and
this
economy of means. Physically, man has weight and volume. He is vertical. He stands
upon the horizontal and unyielding earth. So Giotto concentrates on simple, soHd
volumes in his figures and gives them the firmest and most clearly horizontal platform
that he can. Since the temple
the
is
essential to the story, a
manner of Cavallini or of the Master of the
jutting angle
testifies
it
the compositional difficulties
which he
platform for the action
abruptly at
frame
strikes the
is
eloquent of the
is
set himself.
At
by
ing a building
cunning in the
is
obhquely
Its
in
every
purpose and of
estabhshment of
the term of his ambition and abihty. Space ends
to the Early Christian
the principal objects
way
which
and high medieval tradition of representit
contains, there
unprecedented formal
is
that Giotto has used his simple elements to enclose
of
significance
and formal. The temple,

pulpit. It
artist's
this stage the
two
separate and yet connect, to frame and emphasize, the
The
set
provided.
boundaries, clinging to the sharp edges of tangible reahry.
its
Although he cleaves
figures.
is
The blunting of the forward
to volume, solidity, and recession.
corner of the platform as
sufficient
platform-temple,
St Francis Cycle,
this
pecuhar building
like the action,
is
is
reduced to
not,
its
and exclude, to
contrasting groups of
however, solely structural

- to an altar and a
essentials
seen as the prefiguration of the Christian church of which the
aspects are the sacramental
and the predicant.
Firstly the
church
is,
two
central
through the sacra-
ments, the only chaimel of God's grace to fallen man, and the prime sacrament
is
that
embodied in the sacrifice of the Mass upon the altar. Secondly it has to tell mankind
the good news of redemption and of possible salvation through God's grace: hence the
pulpit. As always, every element in Giotto's spare and economical design is fraught
with meaning both for mind and eye.
It is
already clear
how thorouglily,
how
httle the descriptive incidentals
in his reading
of the
text, the
of
Assisi
Paduan Giotto
mean
for
Padua and
strips the narrative to the
dramatic core. Wherever he does add to or depart from the written sources,
underline the spiritual significance of the episode or stress the
central to
it,
and often to do both
of the transposition of the

indoor scene with
is
specified at
all.
its
at
once.
incidentals
significantly
The Amumciation
of a story
empty bed
The dramatic fundamentals,
heaven with glad tidings for
is
to
human drama
Anna
is
(Plate 92 a). In the
set in a
the arrival
a suppUant, are brilhantly
courtyard,
on
it is
that
to
is
good example
Apocrypha this
when
the location
earth of a messenger
from
reahzed in the sweeping diagonal
that knits the whole design together. The structure of the building, the presence of the
serving-maid mentioned in Pseudo-Matthew, each plays its part in setting the necessarily
static areas of immobile paint in motion. If the stairway and the maid are blanked out for
a moment, the sense of rushing movement dwindles to a hesitant trickle. The angel
window, and static verticals dominate the architectural design and its
unbalanced figure content. Awareness of the serving-maid's vital role in building up
the continuous diagonal that runs down to the spindle hanging from her outstretched
sticks in the
hand, creating a sense of
movement
in the
mind,
208
also reveals the
purpose of the par-
GIOTTO
form of the enclosing building. The placing of the geometric
spatial openings on the all-important diagonal
connecting the figures becomes as obvious as the function of the parallel diagonal
created by the relationship between the high-Ht frontal areas of pediment and balusticular architectural
centres
trade.
of the main and secondary
The geometric and
is
visual centre
main opening
centre of the
of the building
as a
whole
towârds the haloed head of Anna.
emphasized and movement
again created,
is
tliis
shifts
Her
down from
the
central significance
time in the purest geometric terms.
Again, the maid has more than merely formal meaning. Taking up the imphcations of
mankind outside the

Through her
the text of Pseudo-Matthew, she represents
knowing and unmoved by
revelation
the sacred mysteries.
is
man un-
fmally created a
dramatic contrast that gives added poignancy to the joy that struggles to the surface
of the barren Anna's careworn
face.
This same Httle building reappears in the Birth of the
Duccio in the
anticipates
many
structure as
strict
times
as three
Firî/j. (Plate 92B),
for Giotto
observance of the unity of place, repeating a single
when
necessary. Instead of vitiating the preceding
formal analyses, the repetition strengthens their vaHdiry by showing that

vincing spatial enclosure
used, but
one that
is
is
con-
this
not merely a single building that happens to have been re-
is
ideally suited to
its
dual role. Birth takes place in bed.
Con-
sequently the bed, once empty, which in the previous scene was realistically foreshortened,
is
now
revealingly up-tilted.
With
simple logic, everything in the main
scene of the Presentation of the Child and in the secondary episode beneath
zontally disposed
and
is
hori-
the incidental furnishings are similarly rearranged.'
all
The
repeated verticals of the figures and the horizontal line of heads, enforcing the horizontal of the bed, are carried
by
the action through the
space. EveryAvhere the rectilinear relationship

is
of
doorway
into the subsidiary
and dominant horizontals
verticals
emphasized. The geometric separation of the two spaces, which was so obvious
before,
is
now
destroyed, and the diagonals inherent in the architectural structure are
damped down. So firm
a vertical
seems specially designed for
this
and horizontal grid
is
formed
that the building
now
one purpose.
jrhe frequent use of geometric terms
in analysing Giotto's compositions
sympto-
is
matic of the importance of the positioning of figures and architecture upon the pictorial
surface, in relation
both to each other and to the various compositional diagonals and
other obvious dividing lines and subdivisions that reflect the inherent geometrical
properties of the pictorial rectangle.^"
It is
almost
as vital to the
fmal
effect as are the
individual soHdity of the figures and their interaction across convincingly described
pictorial space.
is
Yet for
the
all
The
softer
essential. It
new
role
both
of Giotto's carefully
in
range of colour
restricted
descriptive naturalism
with which
it is
employed,
it still
the decorative functions so familiar in the older art. Identical colours are
for figures
is
no
less
hue and texture than that of his Romanesque predecessors.

performs
still
used
and for buildings, and for the intervening architectural framework of
the scenes, and every aspect of the chapel's decoration

clear-struck notes. But, in addition, colour
is
is
united in a
often used directly as a
harmony of
Hnk between
one closed and carefully focused composition and another. Time and again the
209

flanking figures in
one scene are dressed in the same colours
as the central actors in
the next.
The
basic attitude revealed in the three designs already discussed
is
both confirmed
and amphfied in the Massacre of the Innocents (Plate 94B). Comparison with the organized
chaos of Giovanni Pisano's sHghtly earUer Massacre at Pistoia (Plate 33B), which Giotto
almost certainly knew well, or with the swirling drama of the probably more or less
contemporary Pisan version, accentuates the fundamental quahties of Giotto's art.

Like the sculptor, he concentrates upon the essential ingredients of the gospel story and
upon the visual interpretation of its inherent dramatic potential. Herod's order,
army of his executioners, the murdered infants, the resisting mothers; these provide
starting point.
Unlike Giovanni,
the
only builds a compositional scaffolding sufficient
and the wild emotion unleashed by the violent action, Giotto

of a mathematical
to sustain the horror
endows
who
the
the self-same narrative ingredients with the abstract clarity
Herod is set apart upon the left. His clear and lonely gesture sets the tragedy
The opposing forces are then marshalled, with the horrified onlookers and
the soldiers chiefly on the left and the innocents and their mothers crowded on the
right. The conflict of opposing forces is compressed to flash point at the centre in the
single stabbing thrust of the foremost soldier's sword, and in the immobile and eternally
hopeless running pose created momentarily by the foreground child as it is done to
death. The bodies of dead children are piled up immediately below to emphasize that
this dramatic concentration signifies not murder but a massacre.
Once again each secondary detail has its formal and symbohc meaning. The secular
palace on the left, the source of human evil, is opposed to the transcendent spiritual
power of the church upon the right. The latter is not just a church but recognizably a
Tuscan baptistery. It symboHzes baptism and the accompanying promise of salvation
cruelly denied to these unknowing protomartyrs. Whoever will may also read in a
contemporary relevance to the continuing struggle between emperor and pope, between Guelph Florence and her Ghibelline enemies and neighbours. These same buildings are not only full of meaning but are formally essential to the design. Seen by
equation.
in motion.
themselves the foreground figures create a continuous wall or bas-rehef, closed in at
opposing clash of forces is by no means fuUy expressed in comon the other hand, the figures are ignored for a moment, there is
no rest, no centre in the upper half of the design. The empty blue is
either end, so that the
positional terms.
no
continuity,
If,
instantly appraised,
poles.
It is this
foreground.
and attention then inevitably
ceaseless
It splits
background to-and-fro
between the
which
the tragic action
is
architectural
of forces in the
attention, adds unease to the closed formal unity
design, and isolates the central figure in
Such an elaborate
oscillates
that activates the clash
of the figure
epitomized.
analysis of so simply subde a design might seem at first to have

do with the probable methods and intentions of an early-fourteenth-century
fresco painter. Its relevance becomes more obvious when it is seen that, just as the
open-ended composition of the Expulsion of Joachim (Plate 91B) is unique at. Padua,
so this single scene designed in terms of open conflict is the sole example of the inclusion
of two separate buildings that create opposing centres of attention. Elsewhere through-
litde to
GIOTTO
out his carefully closed designs, with their framing, inward-facing figures, he permits
liimself only a single building
a
much
skill,
and
later stage in his career,
does Giotto seem to have
demanded of
that he
a single point
and
felt that
his architecture
the
of architectural concentration. Only
at
Hght of a greatly increased compositional
in the
new,
reahstic,
and even aggressive
solidity
allowed him to incorporate more than a single
structure without endangering the unity of his designs. Indeed, if Giotto's architecture,
like his landscapes,
always plays
several levels,
it is
The twelve
early Hfe
first
of
always something more than a mere attribute or habitat, and
is
a positive role in building
most revealing
also
his unified
and in
may
confmed
and meaningful design, often on

its
own
uppermost
architectural constructions in the
of the Virgin,
these,
up
in itself
development.
registers,
devoted to the
main groups. The

the Aiimwciation to Anna and the
for convenience be divided into four
to the building repeated in
Birth of the Virgin, maintains the surface-stressing, foreshortened frontal construction.
This was invariably used by Cimabue and
obHque
It is
setting, in the
the latter construction that
upper
registers.
is
regularly seen, together with the extreme
work of CavaUini and of

is
These include the
the Master of the St Francis Cycle.
used by Giotto in five of the remaining scenes in the

Presentation, in
which he
elaborates the jutting sohdity
and forty-five-degrees' recession of the architecture of the Expulsion ofJoachim. Now

only the cunning disposition of the enclosing figures, standing to left and right and
forcing attention inwards towards the central figure of the Virgin, stops the plunge
into depth along the
main Unes of recession and
on
blunts the sharpest edges of the for-
ward-thrusting cubic masses. In such a design only a system of checks and balances,
of thrust and counter-thrust, allows the self-same
moniously both
and
pictorial elements to function har-
of the three-dimensional reahsm of the individual scene
as the basis
an integral part of the overall, surface-respecting decorative pattern of the wall.
as
Much
the
the St
Andrew's
central
figural,
same composition recurs in the Meeting at the Golden Gate. Here one arm of
cross which forms the ground plan and concentrates attention on the
action is estabhshed by purely architectural, and the other by predominantly
means. The close relationship between both scenes and that of the Mourning
The weakness of connexion, introat Assisi made a formal link with

the adjoining scenes, no longer exists. Here each enclosed and concentrated composition is balanced in and for itself. The figures move convincingly across the bridge
of the Clares
at Assisi is
consequently underlined.
duced by the absolute horizontal of the bier which
or up the steps that stand unambiguously at right angles to the dominant architectural
mass.
As always
structed space.
work
in Giotto's
The Meeting
Assisan fresco and the
at the
Paduan
there
is
clear
movement through
clearly con-
Golden Gate does, however, differ both from the
Presentation in that the steep forty-five-degrees' recession
of the architecture has been modified.
Its
main
front has been
swimg round
closer to
the plane, and the shormess of the secondary receding faces, together with their nearness to the border, restrains
any apparent tendency for the architectural masses to burst

is the one which is consistently
through the surface of the wall. This modified setting
developed and perfected by Giotto in the scenes from the Childhood, Ministry, and
Passion lower dov^Ti the walls.
f-

It is ill
this
Giotto's
work
that
at last
it
Giotto's architectural designs,
and
real
is,
connected with a
at Assisi,
when
Virgin
Rods
bringing the
(Plate 93c).
like the
new
test
the vahdity of the beUef that
extreme oblique constructions seen in
Rome
awareness of the actual recessions that are visible
The crux
sohds are examined.
of the Wooers
the
seems possible to
modified, or softened, obHque construction, which becomes almost the hallmark of
to the
hes in the thrice-repeated temple in the scenes
Temple, the Wooers praying, and the Marriage of
Here the approximations to an accurate vanishing point
set
shghtly to the right of centre, and even to an accurate proportional diminution of the
two succeeding squares of the coffered ceilings, are landmarks in the evolution of
perspective.il They are, however, accompanied by a minimal recession to the left in
all the seemingly frontal surfaces of the building. The threefold repetition of this shght
but definite recession, which recurs in the seemingly foreshortened frontal balcony of
the neighbouring Wedding Procession and is quite uimoticed by the casual observer,
precludes the possibihty that
it is
an accidental rather than an intentional
seems to be no escaping the conclusion
that, as
effect.
he worked on the upper wall
at
There
Padua,
Giotto was trying out the possibihty of combining the wall-hugging quahty of the
foreshortened frontal construction with the immediate truth to nature which he saw in
the
obHque construction.
alone that can have
It is this
when
the latter's pecidiar quaHties even
made
it
worthwhile
so refmed as to have ceased to
all
to preserve
intents
and
purposes to be a visible factor in the composition. Reduced to a mere intellectual trace,
they form a valuable clue to the fundamental nature of the

reahty
as the
artist's
vision of pictorial
counterpart of nature.
Apart from the development of increasingly soHd and capacious softened obHque
exteriors, the spaciousness
down
and complexity of
his interiors
grow
as
the wall. Beginning with the representation of the interior
internal furnishings, as in the Expulsion ofJoachim (Plate 91B),
Giotto works on
by means of
its
and continuing with the
cut-away constructions of the Birth of the Virgin (Plate 92B) or the Marriage of the Virgin,
Giotto rapidly develops a near approximation to a true interior. The Teaching in the
Temple reveals a broad and rhythmicaUy articulated space in which there is abundant
head-room
extending to the
full
The outer boimdaries of sides and ceiling only

of the frame, which speedily cuts short the vaulted aisles
for the figures (Plate 94A).
just remain within the Hmits

left
and
right.
depth of the construction
As
is
in all
but the very earHest of Giotto's buildings, the
inhabited
by
the figures.
The curve by which they
carve out and define the reality of the space they occupy immediately recalls the
Now it is more promore significantly, it has been organically conhanging curve created by the succession of round-headed arches. The
Assisan composition of the Preaching before Honorius (Plate 62b).
nounced and
is
nected with the
uninterrupted. StiU
fact that all these space-creating curves also possess a decorative fmiction in the build-
up of a
surface pattern
on
the wall
completely in the plane. Caught

ceiling, their
swinging forms
is
indicated
at the
by
the green festoons above. These
hang
ends and centre of the foremost edge of the
and
stress the architectural pattern of the arches.

same green swags hang right across the major
three-dimensional junctions formed by the meeting of the side walls and the ceiling,
The cunning,
casual
way
reiterate
in whicli these
GIOTTO
mask an otherwise too abrupt intrusion of rectangularity into the
curving pattern of the scene. They stop the composition puncliing out a box-Uke cavity
in the wall. Instead, the whole design is tied together. Spatial simphcity combines with
decorative subtlety. The interplay between, and actual visual equation of, curves lying
on the surface and curves set in space leads to a full appreciation of the alternate, dual
means
role
that they
of each and every part of the design.
An even more
Feast at
Cana
the impact of wliich

the angle and
right.
example of the same compositional process occurs in the

Here an L-shapcd tabic creates a clearly defined figure-space,
sophisticated
(Plate 95).
by the
is
carefully softened, but not destroyed,
disposition
by
the servants masking
of the wine jars and of further standing figures on the
This arrangement simultaneously permits the estabUshment of a complex,
rhythmically articulated grouping of the figures
counterpomt of
for a varied
miracle.
The
interest
as a
whole and becomes a vehicle
and attention, and of individual reaction to the
space so carefully estabhshed and controlled in the lower part of the design
strengthened by the deeply shadowed ceiling canopy. Here again, however, the
is
finials
and a taU central vase are used to maintain contact with the
surface-stressing,
patterned red and green separation bands that mediate between the pictured scene and
the reahstic marbling of
its
architectural frame.
upper and lower areas of controlled
demarcation
between these
line
formed by the top of a gaily

striped wall hanging. The sharpness of the contrast in terms of colour and of pattern
make it a striking element in the design. Indeed, a special emphasis is placed upon a
spatial
virtually straight line that
none the
room and
whole pictured
so encloses the
precisely because
of the
new
less
spatial
defmition
is
turns through a right angle at each corner of the
become significant
The way in which they are
space. Features like these
content of such scenes.
compositionally stressed places them in a wholly different category from the incidental,
space-enclosing straight hues that are hidden in almost any sufficiently
complex
arclii-
tectural perspective.
The emphatically
as Christ before
ambivalent, space-enclosing straight line recurs in such later scenes
Annas and Caiaphas.
It is
among
the most revealing of the constant signs
of Giotto's concern for the decorative integrity of the wall
At
as
an architectural reahty.
concern was expressed by the visual balancing of scene against scene

within a larger decorative pattern. Here, with sixteen or eighteen compositions set
Assisi this
in three tiers
on each
wall, such simple symmetries are
essential that the decorative control
of
no longer
possible.^^ It
more and more convincing
becomes
pictorial space
should be obtained within the confmes of each individual design. Nevertheless, whenever opportunities do occur to link one scene with another, whether in terms of
composition or of meaning, they are invariably taken." The offsetting of the frescoes
by the windows in the south wall more or less prevents connexions across the chapel.
The most obvious linkages are therefore vertical. The Raising of Lazarus is above the
Resurrection
(Plate 95).
Furthermore, the bold diagonal of the Raising runs down

itself creates a single formal triangle with the adjacent
through the Lamentation, which
gospel meaning of the Raising as a prefiguration of both lower scenes
Resurrection.
The
together
thus visually exphcit. Similarly, the Entry into Jenisakm
is
213
is
above the

Ascension; the Cleansing of the Temple above the Pentecost; the Baptism of Christ above the
Crucifixion; the Adoration of the Magi above the Washing of the Feet; and the Massacre
of the Innocents above the Mocking of Christ (Plate 94B). In the last three cases the relationship in terms of content is underlined by the clearest compositional connexion. In
others,
where the
link
is
superficially less obvious, as in the Teaching in the
upon some
the Carrying of the Cross, the formal emphasis
special
Temple and
element points to a
theologically or devotionaUy important connexion such as that of the Seven Dolours
of the Virgin which was taking defmitive form about this time. There are enough such
linkages to make it likely that the choice of subjects was influenced to some extent by
a desire for maximum frequency. It does not seem to be merely a question of exploiting
such casual coincidences
as
were bound
to occur in
any extensive cycle ranged
upon a wall.
However much pre-planning may have been involved,
Giotto's vision and ambition as
weU
as his technical
there
is
in tiers
clear evidence that
powers expanded rapidly
as
work
growth was seen within the framework of a team of

powerful individuals held to a master's plan. At Padua a single artist with a small group
of assistants grapples with a complex problem. There is the same fertile inconsistency,
the same shifting, mobile attack, characteristic of expanding genius, which, two
centuries later, leaves its mark upon the Sistine ceiling. There is abundant technical
progressed.
At
Assisi styhstic
evidence of Giotto's wiUingness to change his
mind and modify
composition during
execution, and his expanding powers reveal themselves not only in the increasing
subtlety and
reaHsm of
but in his growing abihty to
his architectural constructions,
handle comphcated figure foreshortenings and to use the overlying draperies to describe
Those parts of the relatively restricted

which the uppermost layer of pigment has fallen away to reveal
the underlying forms.
areas painted a secco in

a
fuUy modelled imder-
Whereas such brilHant, descriptive

tours deforce as the sleeping Joachim of the fourth scene are rare upon the upper wall,
the boldest of foreshortenings become increasingly common lower down. Conversely,
the sack-hke standing figures in which the draperies reveal Httle of the underlying
drawing are
especially interesting in this respect.
anatomical structure, their smooth, rounded surfaces broken only by the gentlest of
fluted or tubular folds, are
common in the upper scenes. Lower down there
and complexity
is
increasing
The drapery becomes more

obviously the covering of an underlying form and not a fuU description of the form
itself As the looping patterns created by the stress of movement increase in depth and
softness, depth,
richness, they tend to lead
sight instead
round into
of lying, more or
surface plane. In
its
in the
less
hanging
folds.
space, creating volimie as they disappear
completely
visible,
fundamentals the evolution of Giotto's fold forms
close to that revealed
when
Nicola Pisano, and after
from
within the confines of a single
him Giovanni,
is
extremely
tackled this
same
problem.
growing mastery of the human form
is
accompanied by increasing compositional
fluency. Often, in the earUcr scenes, the inward-facing flanking figures
which emby a strong caesura. In the lower,

concentration and emphasis upon the centre is obtained within
phasized the central group were isolated from

later episodes a similar
214
it
GIOTTO
a
more supply rhythmic and continuous grouping. The simple ground-plans that
way to the
described the spatial positions of mdividuals or comicctcd groups give
complexities exemplified in the Mocking of Christ (Plate 94B). Although the boldest of
individual foreshortenings play their part, such scenes as this are chiefly remarkable for
the intricacy of the spatial pattern created
by
the figures, and for the extent to
which
the group has ceased to congeal into a solid entity, a sort of complex single figure, and
has become, increasingly, a gathering of physically separate but dramatically connected

individuals.
The growing formal complexity of Giotto's compositions never becomes an end

itself It
is
merely the vehicle which he uses in
his efforts to
in
extend the psychological
content and increase the subtlety and variety of individual reaction to a dramatic
event.
The
struggle to increase the emotional and spiritual range of his designs reaches
climax in the Lamentation (Plate 95). Except upon the extreme left, each member of
a single, rhythmically connected group is an individual entity. Each is individual not
its
merely in the physical terms of volume and

reaction, expressed
by
spatial setting
violent gesture and sometimes
is
so rigidly restrained
and deeply buried
physical outlet only in the tilting of a head. Each figure

alone.
Each makes
own
its
distinctive contribution to a
moment of tragedy which is

to
which
The
rendered
pictorial expression
its
but by virtue of a personal
the inner anguish that sometimes bursts forth into extremes of
the
all
is still
is
as to
worth studying
fmd
its
for itself
complex, tightly concentrated
more moving by
the severe formal control
subjected.
landscape of the Lamentation shows that at Padua a growing technical mastery
not expressed in
mere
natural appearances,
it
increase
of naturahstic
detail.
As
a description
hardly goes beyond the early scenes. There
is
is
place, or
of
no attempt
to
of a
emulate the detailed descriptive reahsm of Duccio or the Master of the St Francis Cycle.
There
is
a single, leafless tree. All nature
is
in
mourning.
A single sweep
the great cry and intensifies the anguished gesture of St John.

together, thrusting to
of rock echoes
pins the
whole design
dramatic heart, where the Virgin cradles her dead Son.
its
function of the landscape
primary purpose, which
It
is
is
The
minimum that is demanded by its

of the human drama and the visual ex-
descriptive only to the
the intensification
much of physical movement, as of spiritual outpouring.

The conquest of new heights of naturaUsm is nevertheless one of Giotto's main
pression, not so
achievements.
It
was
seized
an end and justification in
upon
upon by
itself.
the earUest
That
it
commentators and extolled
was never seen by him
in such a
as if it
Ught
is
the choir arch of the chapel. In the Annunciation (Plate 90) the primary need
enforce the connexion across the intervening space.
them harmonize with
the
awkwardly shaped
field,
It
was seemingly
were
proved
in order to
is
to
make
and to emphasize the flow of the
coimecting arch, that Giotto constructed his buildings with their side walls receding,
not towards the centre, but outwards to the wings, in the manner of the thrones in
Cavallini's Last Judgement in S. CeciHa in
two painted
with
this
ease, instead
device
Rome
(Plate 42). This allows the gaze
of the
figures, as well as the spectator's glance, to shp across the sloping inner walls
is
of being
shown by
hemmed
in
by
The dehberate nature of

two small funerary chapels
the jutting balconies.
the almost perfect naturaUsm of the
215

down
lower
the wall.
Here
there are
no human
figures,
no dramatic
narratives,
no
psychological dramas. Consequently nothing interferes with the demands of reahsm,
and the two chapels both recede convincingly towards the centre of the space in which
the spectator stands. It was apparently neither ignorance nor disinterest in distinctions
were unimportant
that
of realism:
it
was
his
to
him
own
that led Giotto to the suspension or reversal
of the
rules
acute though probably intuitive awareness of the role
As yet there were no theories of

Methods were stiU empirical, still based
on inherited skill, on personal observation, and upon the craftsman's sense of what,
in any given situation, would produce the most satisfactory total outcome. While the
greater part of Giotto's hfe was occupied, upon one level, by an attempt to see and
represent the natural world with ever greater luiderstanding and fideUty, on another
it was principally concerned with translating human spiritual values into visual terms.
Upon those rare occasions when there is a direct conflict between physical reahsm and
which naturalism played
perspective,
no
set rules to
of
in the totaUty
hypnotize the
his art.
artist.
the compositional service of spiritual or psychological ends, Giotto
is
never in the
means and not an end.

Although the Arena Chapel everywhere reflects the impress of a single personahty,
this does not mean that there is everywhere an absolute uniformity of brushwork. After
slightest
full
doubt that reaUsm
in art, a
is,
allowance for damage and restoration, there are
still,
to take a single example,
quahtative and technical differences between the superb head of the Virgin (Plate 91 a),
leading the blessed into judgement, and those of the
scene.
Such things could be
affected not only
of execution. The areas of plaster
laid
down
by
less
important figures in the same
change in hand but
work show
for a day's
also
by
the speed
the great divergence
between the slow care with which the most important elements were painted and the
rapidity with which the less significant were finished. Nevertheless, there are none of
the extreme divergences of handling that are characteristic of Assisi. Furthermore,
comparison of a single head with any of those in the St Francis Cycle (e.g. Plate 57A) is
enough
to
show
surface,
is
only the beginning of the distinctions that must be made between the two
sets
that the different texture
of frescoes. At Padua there
is
of paint, attributable to a different underlying
great continuity in the form-following, form-creating
brushwork. The treatment of the
fall
of light
is
more organic and more
subtle.
There
is
of flesh and a more dramatic sense of volume, based

approach to form and contour, and accompanied by changes in
a greater feeling for the softness
upon
a different
proportion
as radical as those
Marked changes of
apparent in every individual brush-stroke.
a different kind,
and different brushwork, despite
involving altered stylization and proportion
of stroke, also distinguish the

Paduan Giotto from the Isaac Master (Plate 57B). Nevertheless, the Roman origins of
many aspects of Giotto's style are evident enough. The debt to Cavallini can be seen
throughout
ments.
It is
his
a similar continuity
work, and not merely
often hard to
tell if
source or indirectly from the
between the two Last Judgemotif is derived direcdy from.a lost Roman
in the relationship
a particular
latter's reflection in S.
Francesco at
Assisi.
The
thrice-
repeated temple in the upper register at Padua appears to be a development of that

seen in more purely Roman form in the Teaching in the Temple at Assisi. There the
216
GIOTTO
placing of the figures, but not their relation to the architecture,
close to the
Paduan version of
Paduan Lamentation
is
the Teaching.
is,
moreover, extremely
The sweeping rocky diagonal of
of the potential of the
a briUiant realization
largely unexploited, rock-form in the Isaac Master's Lamentation at Assisi.
Paduan Cosmati work
With
certain
yet another direct or indirect reflection of
is
of the architectural forms
recalls similar
it
The
Roman
the
though
similar,
elaborate
influence.
developments during the
previous twenty years in the arcliitectural and funerary sculpture of Arnolfo di Cambio.
form
Giotto's essentially sculptural attitude to
between
close similarities
own
his
Giovanni Pisano, however
is
obvious enough. In view of the
approach to dramatic narrative and that of

the formal result, it seems to be more than coinci-
basic
diflferent
dental that Scrovegni should have chosen Giovamii to carve the Virgin and Child and
the
two attendant
Acolytes for the
main
of his chapel. The flowing
altar
vertical folds
of
the sculptured Virgin's draperies, breaking as they reach the ground, resemble those of
the central figures in the Marriage scene.
The looping
folds over her hip occur again
and again in Giotto's paintings. Although Giovanni's work
Padua in time to influence Giotto

famfliar
with the pulpit in
directly,
Pistoia,
it is
may
Ukely that the
not have arrived in
latter
was thoroughly
only a few miles from Florence. If Giotto was
patently disinterested in the extreme dramatic Gothicism of Giovanni's narrative

figures, there
was
stfll
much
have leamt from the
that he could
pulpit.
The
forward, sohd naturalism, the simple folds and bulky forms of figures such
Deacon (Plate 31A) lead directly to the
As always
in an artist
many
Paduan
similar figures in the
of Giotto's cahbre, the contributions of
straight-
as that
of the
frescoes.
his predecessors are
often so thoroughly absorbed that they are difficult to trace. Although the Gothic
quadrilobes of the subsidiary' fields are French in origin, they had already
become
windows of the
choir of
acclimatized in Italy through such

S.
Francesco at
much of
works
Assisi. Just as ivories
Gothic sculpture
as the
well be explained
hfe-size
well have been styUstic intermediaries for
Queen
cj
by such small
articulated clarit)'
line
stylistic links
between Giotto's paintings
naturahsm of such mid-thirteenth-century French

Sheba (Plate 93 a) from the west portal at Reims
ivories as that
Collection (Plate 93B).i*More subtle
of
may
the stained-glass
Giovanni's sculpture, so the close
and the plain-speaking,
plane,
as
still is
the relationship expressed in the carefully
of parts, the emphasized duaUty and coordinated
and volume, and the growing sense of geometric
common both to
may
of the Angel formerly in the Demotte

and
which are
unit)' ot space
discipline,
Giotto's painting and to the finest flowerings of Itahan Gothic archi-
tecture.
The Navicella,
the
Arena
Crucifix,
and
the Ognissanti
Madonna
Leaving aside the problem of Assisi, the only reasonably firm point in Giotto's earHer
career
is
the cut-dowTi mosaic of the Navicella in St Peter's in Rome.''
dates preceding and succeeding the

tion.
Paduan
The Holy Year of 1300 was only
traditional
frescoes has
officially
its
of
execu-
decided upon in Februar)\ Despite a
connexion with the Jubilee, the immediately succeeding

217
A wide range
been suggested for
years, therefore,

mosaic, which was commissioned
by Cardinal
provide the
earliest likely date for the
Stefaneschi.
A fairly early date seems, moreover, to be supported by the increased range
of gesture and of psychological reaction achieved in the Paduan frescoes.^* The originally
rectangular design
was on
it
was evidently
comparison with Michelangelo's
a scale so vast as to invite
Last Judgement, and as with so
much of the Roman work of the
preceding thirty years,
a replacement for a late-fourth- or early-fifth-century forerunner.
tondo heads of angels,
Two
now in the Vatican Grottoes and at Bovile Emica, have been con-
vincingly connected with the decorative framework of the design. If the attribution
correct, they
inspired
by
is
which Giotto,
the extent to
the surviving fifth-century
much
quahty of
The
show
late-thirteenth-
Roman mosaics. The relatively schematic, linear
and early-fourteenth-century work
much
wholly absent.
is
from the
impressionistic technique and range of colour both derive
impossible to say
is
him, had been
like Cavallini before
century.
fifth
It
how much this technique reflects the ideas of Giotto himself and how
working under him. The two heads are, however,

art still dominated the Roman scene,
and to the basic type of physiognomy developed on the walls of the Arena Chapel. Like
the Paduan frescoes they confirm the extent to which Giotto's early style was influenced
by the greatest painter of late-thirteenth-century Rome.
Turning from this sole possibly pre-Paduan work to the period contemporary with
those of the skilled mosaicists
both to the work of Cavallini, whose
closely related
and immediately succeeding Giotto's activity in the Arena Chapel, two paintings claim
attention.
The
by
Crucifixion
from
the Crucifix
first is
a virtual identity
of
the
style
Arena
and
is
Sacristy. It
of Giotto's workshop. The quiet spirituahty and pathos, the
and
flesh
which
separate Giotto's pictorial 'dolce
thirteenth-century
formahsm
soft
naturaUsm of anatomy
from
nuovo'
stil
marked
that remains so
linked to the frescoed
is
undoubtedly a contemporary product
a feature
the
dramatic
of Cimabue's crucifixes
are notably translated into terms of panel painting.
Although
certainly
it is
no minor workshop product, the
personal contribution to the Arena Crucifix

in the great altarpiece
is
precise extent
problematic. This
is
of Giotto's
emphatically not so
of the Virgin and Child enthroned from the Church of Ognissanti
in Florence (Plate 89). Apart
from
the frescoes of the Arena Chapel

closest possible affinities
God the Father embedded in

which everywhere reveals the
the ruined panel of
itself,
this painting,
with the Paduan
frescoes, provides the
one and only touch-
work on panel. Not only is its general form so closely

Justice low on the Arena wall, but the character of the
stone for the quahty of Giotto's
developed from the

facial details
is
grisaille
so similar to that at
Padua
that
it
must
at least
belong to the immediately
succeeding years.
The
panel
is
still
cast in the late-tliirteenth-ccntury
mould and demands com-
parison with Cimabue's S. Trinita and Duccio's Rucellai Madonnas (Plates 50 and 63).
The loss of rhytlimic drama and the decreased power of the linear stylization are com-
pensated for by the increased humanity and by the calm rationahty of clear volumes
set in a clear space.
retained,
and
is
The
reinforced
symmetry of the earhcr works is

most of the colour and by a careful
few asymmetrically disposed areas. The fresh, pale
absolute compositional
by
a simple
balancing about the centre of the
symmetry
218
in
GIOTTO
clarity
of the reds and greens and yellows
Whether
whole or any
the panel as a
fresco painter's art suffuses
it
an ideal
is
detail
new
and gains
is
foil for the
new
inspected, the
simplicity of form.
calm grandeur of the
from the delicacy

no wonder that it
sharpness and intensity
and precision of stroke permitted by the different medium.
It is
should be the most influential single painting of the entire fourteenth century. Like
the major
its
own
works of Coppo and of Guido, of Cimabue and of Duccio,
it
has never, on
terms, been surpassed.
The Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels

Complete
uncertaint)' surroimds a possible trip to
The documented Neapolitan works of 1328-32
Avignon of which
are
Giotto's culminating achievement as a fresco painter
all
destroyed. This
all
now
lies
trace
is lost.
means
in the decoration
that
of the
adjoining chapels of the Bardi and Peruzzi famihes in Amolfo's then unfmished church
of
S.
Croce
more than
of documentation and the probable lapse of
in Florence. Despite the lack
a decade, the st^'hstic links
with Padua are so close
as to
allow no doubt of
Giotto's authorship, although the hands of several helpers are particularly apparent in
the Bardi Chapel (Figure 22),
which
is
almost certainly the earlier of the two.*^
LEFT WALL
J?m ..,..,....
%'
I'ton
RIGHT WALL
at Arlfs
Trial hy fire
VilhnlofSlFrmns
Funfral
ENTRANCE
ENTRANCE
Figure 22. Giotto: Florence,
S.
Croce, Bardi Chapel, scheme of
decoration,
c i3i5-2o(?)
Here, in the monastery which was the 'university' of the Franciscan Order, Giotto,
for two of the richest of the banking houses on
empire was based. Both were leading bankers for the
papacy and for the aUied kingdom of Naples. Ridolfo de' Bardi was, indeed, an especially
favoured agent of King Robert. The desire to forge yet closer hnks between Guelph
the artist-businessman,
which the Florentine
was working
financial
Florence and Angevin Naples, as well as the completion of the iconographic pattern,
was
clearly furthered
brother.
by
the chance to depict St Louis of Toulouse,
tendency to use haloed representations
219
as part
King Robert's
of a propagandist process for

promotion of a canonization renders it uncertain that the Bardi Chapel was painted
was canonized in 13 17, although on styUstic grounds a latish date involves
no difficulties. The same crisp, pale Cosmati work as in the Arena Chapel reiterates the
colouristic play of the figures and architecture incorporated in the narratives. It enlivens
a painted framework that is used as a positive support of the real architecture of Arnolfo's
the
after St Louis
Gothic chapel. The ribbing of the vaults
is
now
held up
by painted columns, and
the
painted niches of the saints elaborate the interaction of the real architectural forms.
Within
this crisply illusionistic
the hfe of St Francis alternate
and yet largely planar framework the
from wall
The
to wall.
Francis's Reimnciatioti, demonstrates Giotto's ability to
mass that fully exploits the semicircular

fills
the forward plane.
While
combine
six scenes
on the
lunette
left,
from
with St
a jutting architectural
with a centraUzed figure design that
field
the architectural knife-edge, blunted
by
the figure of St
Francis himself, emphasizes the all-important centre of attention, the receding side-
wall of the massive structure bridges the dramatic gap across which the straining father
tries to rush.
The
contrast with the composition at Assisi, the wholly different principles
of design and of narrative description evolved

enough. The question
lem
offered
by
is
whether the
lapse
at
Padua and here confirmed,
are clear
of years and the altered organizational prob-
this restricted cycle are a sufficient
explanation, or whether a different
guiding hand must be envisaged.
A Paduan economy and concentration are combined with a new sophistication in the
Apparition at
Arks
(Plate 96a).
The
planar stress and careful hmitation of clearly defmed
the Bardi frescoes the concentration on the

growth of a design that fuses figures and architecture for a single, meaningful, dramatic moment, are present in all their simpleseeming subtlety. Plane succeeds plane within an almost wholly unadorned architectural structure. The building provides a frame for each of the main figures. The
triple arches pull attention in from either wing. The simple vertical formed by St
Anthony on the left runs up into the Unking arch above, and a horizontal cornice gives
architectural space, characteristic
of
all
central figures ; the seemingly organic
material substance to the direction of his gaze.

close
The hands of the
and repeat the curve of the arch above hmi. Over
looms
a frescoed Crucifix. Considered
so well adapted to
principal figures
its
own
and the
by
itself,
his
stigmatized St Francis
shoulder in the background
the comparable scene in S. Francesco,
particular context, seems, despite the similar
semi-arcliitectural function
framing of the
of the audience, to be
cluttered,
gay, and casually descriptive (Plate 62b).

Nevertheless,
it is
perhaps the Trial by Fire on the opposite wall that
Giotto's narrative genius (Plate 963).

right
first
the Sultan giving the
Assisi the design
command then
MusHms
;
and fmally the
his faith; the fire itself;

a simple, flowing,
At
St Francis
placing the Sultan high
upon
his
walking to the
S.
from
fire to
on
the
prove
fear. It
is
Croce, on the other hand, by
throne at the centre of the shallow courtyard space,
right, facing
inwards to the
Giotto has given formal being to the latent drama.

idea of judgement.
sets the seal
steadily
turning from the flames in
non-dramatic sequence of events. In
with St Francis on the
moved
The eye goes back and
forth,
fire,
It is
and the MusUms on the

the very
left,
embodiment of
back and forth, from
left to
right
the
and
GIOTTO
right to
scales will
ward and
moment of decision,
during the endless
left,
his
Maria Novella
solution to
which way the
century and a half
and Raphael was happy to adapt
later,
this
same
cloaks, freed
from
scene of Judgement in the Sistine tapestries.
liis
An interesting detail of the
Trial
form-defming fimctions,
strictly
scarcliing to see
and savouring the instant of dramatic resolution as the saint steps foradversaries shrink away. Domenico Ghirlandaio could do no more in S.
tilt,
is
fall
the
way
which the Mushms'
in
into Gothic folds of an unprecedented decorative
quahty. Indeed, the treatment of these figures recalls the back of Duccio's Maesta
(Plate 66), and Giotto may well have seen and appreciated this recently completed
work, which must have been the talk of Tuscany. Certainly a new dehcacy and sensitivity of colour distinguish the entire scheme. The only other point at which Giotto
seems to have
felt
liimself free to experiment
in the figure of St Ehzabeth in her niche.

figures
on
the entrance wall of the nave at
The
with the northern decorative forms

similarity to the niche-enclosed
Reims
is
striking.i^
The
is
rows of
equally close styhstic
bonds between the Reims figures and those of Giovanni Pisano, and the abundance of
French Gothic ivories imdoubtedly available in Italy by the second decade of the
show
fourteenth century, seem, however, to
that here
In the Peruzzi as
real
m the Bardi Chapel, Ught
falls
windows, and the perspective of the scenes
is
one more witness to the
is
with which the patterns of French monumental

Europe.
fulness
art
faith-
could be transmitted across
on the painted
architecture
approximately related to
from
the
a spectator
The decorative separation bands that intervene between

framework and the scene itself are only dispensed with in the uppermost frescoes.
The meaningful nature of this distinction in degrees of illusionism, already observed
upon the side walls of the Arena Chapel, is stressed by the fact that it is only where the
standing just inside the chapel.
the
frame becomes an unmodified
window through
whether in the Paduan Last Judgement or

overlap
it
down
and break
into a
Paduan, softened obHque construction that
there
work
was
reahty that the figures,
the separation of the real and the pictorial worlds. Instead
of the centralized constructions of the Bardi Chapel,

Giotto's
new
in the Peruzzi St John on Patmos, are allowed to
the architecture of the scenes
is
is
it
is,
with one exception, the
developed here. For the
first
time in
boldly cut by the frame where formerly
mere truncation of subsidiary elements. This may well
reflect the
super-
imposition of Duccio's bold imiovations on Cavallini's isolated experiments with similar

effects.
Now,
carefully coordinated architectural complexes can be incorporated in a
single fresco,
and the domination of the
The Dance
of Salome at the base of the
single, isolated
left
wall,
which
block
is
is
broken.
devoted to three scenes from
the hfe of St John the Baptist (Figure 23), that opposite being given to St John the Evangehst, exemplifies the
The
central
theme
is
new, controlled complexity and continuity of design
(Plate 97A).
picked up by the dancing dehcacy of the architectural forms with
their numerous classical reminiscences. The loss of the decapitated body of St John
from the facsimile of the Roman Torre delle Mihzie upon the left destroys the balance
of this rare example of Giotto's use of the multiple scene. Nevertheless, the rhythmic
linkage of the figures, cunningly related to the smoothly articulated flow of architectural

space,
is still
appreciable.
The sweep of drapery which
unites the
two
representations
same imaginative subtlety as the diagonal stripes on

the musician's tunic which, when seen together with the cocking of the wrist that
in rapid
signifies the end of one stroke and the beginning of another, sets his bow
motion. In the Assumption of St John upon the opposite wall it is a similar flight of
of Salome on the right
reflects the
genius to have devised the optical trickery of converging golden rays to hft the sackhke figure of the Evangehst into leaping movement through the air. Here, however,
psychological response to a
it is the fmal flowering of Giotto's abihty to display the
miraculous event that is all-important. The range of gesture and reaction constitutes
one of the early textbooks on the subject. It is one which Michelangelo was not ashamed
to use almost
two
centuries later.
Raising of Dnis
Asstintplion of
Dance pj Saiomt
SI John
ENTRANCE
Figure 23. Giotto: Florence,
S.
decoration,
Croce, Peruzzi Chapel, scheme of
mid
I320s(?)
Nevertheless, the peak of Giotto's achievement

(Plate 97b). Here,
not
a single
is
possibly the Raising of Drusiana
massive building, but a fortress
city,
towering above the
mighty figures gathered in the foreground, is suggested. It is a long stride from the
world of Cimabue to these buildings that are hkewise used to emphasize and to express
the relative masses of the foreground figure groups. Stretching continuously in soft
recession to the left, from one side of the composition to the other, the central reaches
of the wall make an ideal, calm foil for the dramatic moment of return from death.
The frame
no way marks the hmits of the wall or suggests that its ends he just outside
The t^'ranny of the single sohd, with its limited, clinging envelope
ended. The spatial continuity towards which Giotto had been striving from
in
the picture space.
of space,
the start
is
is
finally established,
and
and coordination characterizes the
The Paduan experiments of such scenes as the Aiocking oj Christ (Plate 94B)
have been consolidated. Not only strictly Hmited groups but crowds can now be
represented without danger of congealing into sohd blocks. The sense of interpcncfigure groups.
GIOTTO
and of the individuality of the grandly monumental figures
trating space
maintained.
The
structure
of each figure
defining folds to be allowed
new
is
richness, bistead
Trial (Plate 96b), they invariably curve
round
consistently
of hanging
free, as in the
formBardi
in space, establishing the underlying
volumes from which they themselves are none the
The
is
sufficiently secure for the Gothic,
less distinct.
frequent mention of the great Renaissance
artists reflects
both Giotto's stature
and the fundamental nature of his achievement. These small chapels were the schools of
the Renaissance.
They were used by
artists
whose own
technical powers, even in their
youth, extended far beyond the range of Giotto's dreams. Nevertheless, a comparison
between the Raising of Drnsiana (Plate 97B) and Duccio's Entry into Jerusalem (Plate
67A) shows exactly at what cost in terms of discipUne and concentration Giotto's
advances were achieved.
Nowhere
in Giotto's output are there such a sense
of landscape,
such reflections of the pulsating, casual multiphciry and varied beauty of the natural
world. Yet these are equally vahd aspects of experienced reahty. For Giotto the
hill-
cHmbing compromise derived from the tip-tilted flatness of Byzantine prototypes

was inconceivable. The fundamental physical reaUty of man is vertical solidity upon a
sohd, horizontal ground. The fundamental quaHty of the earth is flamess, and no
depth was meaningful to him unless it could be measured out on level ground. No
modified solidity in his figures was acceptable for the sake of greater numbers. His
dogged assault upon the representation of certain fundamentals of the physical world,
upon the portrayal of man's spiritual and psychological reactions to events, and of the
deep significance which he saw in these events, was only rendered possible by a concentration of interest and effort similar in intensity to the concentration of attention
of his compositions. It was through the creation of a strictly limited ideal

was able to encompass so much of the real.
To turn from the Roman, pre-Renaissance gravitas of the Peruzzi Chapel firescoes to
Giotto's three major signed panel paintings is to move into another world. The weak-
characteristic
that he
of the actual brushwork of the Stigmatization of St Francis in the Louvre (Plate

when set against the handling of the Ognissanti Madonna (Plate 89) the stiff,
almost unmodified Assisan pose of St Francis when compared with the Hvely torsion
ness
98a)
and iconographic originaHty of the fresco over the entrance to the Bardi Chapel, are
is no more than a workshop product. The abysmal
alone enough to prove that this
drop in quaHty in the signed altarpiece in Bologna
Even
S.
is
redolent of the same state of affairs.
in the quaHtatively superior Coronation of the Virgin in the Baroncelli Chapel in
Croce,
its
particular quaHties
appear to stem from Giotto's
of colouristic deHcacy and structural sofmess do not

hand. Undoubtedly his alone, however, is the
own
compositional imiovation of turning the five compartments of the Gothic polyptych,
now
encased in a Renaissance frame, into a unified arcade through which a single space
and one continuous composition, concentrating all attention on the central action, can
be gUmpsed. It is the counterpart in panel of the spatial and decorative unity which
he alone could have achieved in the frescoes of the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels.
AttributionaUy speaking, the prime significance of these three panels
that they
seem to show
that Giotto signed those
223
major products of
his
is
precisely
workshop

which he himself had not painted.i' These were the works that were in need of the
protection of a signature to prove their provenance. In the panels that he carried out
himself his brushwork was its own endorsement. This, if true, reveals the not unexpected extent of the commercial organization of his workshop. It also shows, though
paradoxically, the degree to
his great excellence
was
conscious of the nascent
which
Uttle
this artist,
of
understood by the
modern concept of
whom
Petrarch says in his will that
common
run of men.ô was himself
personal style
which Giovanni
Pisano's
querulous inscriptions had already partially expressed.
The
extent to
gerated.
new
the
sculpture this
a veritable
was
conceptions had taken hold, or to which they corre-
concept of personal production, must not, however, be exag-
normal quota of
fresco painter's
become
Assisi,
which
modem
spond to the
also true
army
assistants
might,
of Nicola and Giovanni Pisano's
the tliirteenth and fourteenth centuries a
number of hands would

upon
masters. In
Throughout
later pulpits.
or a lesser role in the actual painting of a single fresco or panel.

execution of a fresco was a rough, sinopia sketch
Francesco at
as in S.
number of independent
that contained a
often play a greater
The
first
the wall itself or
stage in the
on one of the
underlayers of plaster that provided the foundation for the fmal surface.^^ In
fresco painters substantially followed the mosaicists'
be carried out in one of two techniques.

while the plaster was
became bonded
still
It
this,
method. The actual painting
could be done in what
the
coiald
called true fresco,
is
wet, so that the earth pigments, suspended in the
into the surface of the plaster. This difficult technique,
hme
water,
which demands
became popular in the late thirteenth century. The

on the other hand, be done a secco, after the drying of the fmal layer of
case some organic glue, often of egg-yolk, as in tempera painting upon
great speed and accuracy, only
painting could,
plaster. In this
panel,
would be added
in order to obtain adhesion to the
remains, however, as a superimposed layer, and

effect
such
it is
and consequent durabUity of true fresco by these means. Since certain colours
as
vermiUon, azure blue, or verdigris could only be painted a
of late-thirteenth- and fourteenth-century frescoes

in a
hardened surface. The paint
impossible to match the bonding
mixed
plaster. It
are, if
only for
secco,
the majority
this reason,
painted
Often the heads and hands alone would be painted in the wet
because of this, and not because of the selective zeal of generations of
teclinique.
is
restorers, that the heads
may
stand out as if freshly painted
from an otherwise
entirely
ruined fresco. Apart from the completion a secco of forms begun in true fresco, there
fmally a compromise,
known
^s fresco secco, in
which
the previously dried plaster
is
is
re-wetted before the pigments, suspended in lime water, are appHed.
Arena Chapel an unusually high proportion of the work was carried out in
confmed to the colours which it was technically impossible to handle in this way. As at Assisi, this meant that only enough of the
fmal layer of plaster for a single day's painting could be laid at once, so that the progress
In the
true fresco, a secco painting being largely
of the work and the divisions of day stages can still be estimated. Particularly where
numbers of assistants were involved, however, much more work would be done
large
a secco
on the
basis
the final surface,
of the imdcrdrawing. Giotto's undcrdrawings, usually executed on
were often much more than mere compositional sketches to be used

224
as a
GIOTTO
general guide for himself or his assistants: they were frequently fully
workcd-up drawwhich could play their part in the final modelling of a set of draperies. In the Bardi
Chapel rather more work than at Padua was done a secco, and in the Pcruzzi Chapel the
plaster was applied half a scene at a time and almost all painted a secco.
ings
Except that in panel painting the wooden surface was covered by a layer of gesso
the underdrawing or the incised guide-lines; that all the painting was a
which bore
secco
and that between the underdrawing and the fmal processes of modelling, various
kinds of underpainting, as for example a
flat
layer
of green beneath the
areas reserved
would normally intervene, the sequences of work in the two media were
similar. Even in panel painting several hands could work at one time or another on
different, often closely adjoining, areas of design. The various subsidiary techniques of
gilding, such as the punching and incising of designs on draperies as well as on haloes,
for flesh,
further
men
compHcate the division of labour.
It is less
immediately obvious that different
could also carry out successive stages in the painting of the same area. This
vitally
is
important in matters of attribution and of the separation of hands, which are too
often considered solely in terms of area.
The
extent to which the succession of processes
within a single area or detail can render confident assertions meaningless
is
seldom
recognized. Similarly, innumerable permutations could, and evidently did, occur in
wall paintings executed in a mixed teclinique. As will be seen in discussing the facade
of Orvieto Cathedral, the succession of processes

concerned.^-
is
The
resulting situation
is
These purely technical considerations arc

certain
artist's
is
stiU
more complex where sculpture

more confused.
therefore correspondingly
a
major factor in creating the aura of un-
and continually contested attributions that surrounds each fourteenth-century
name. Even an unqualified attribution to
given
artist
amounts
to
no more than
the assertion of a certain degree of styUstic similarity, and while the continuing effort
to refine the concept
be
a large
of an
artist's style is
always valuable, there
will, inevitably,
always
proportion of late medieval works of art for which the attributional definitions
can only be given greater precision exactly in so far
way
meaningless in relation to the
in
as
they
grow more and more
which the work involved was
actually produced.
These observations are directly relevant to such apparent products of Giotto's Florentine
workshop
as the
panel of the Donuition from Ognissanti in Florence, which
in Berhn. This panel,

last
with
its
important work that can with any confidence be attributed to
altarpiece which, in 1342,
who was
stated, in the
comphcation. Styhstically
workshop.
this source.
the
The
necrology of the same Cardinal Stefaneschi
If the
altar
of St
Peter's presents a different kind
can hardly be the
it
necrology
is
right,
it
of attributional
work of Giotto, nor yet of his
up by Giotto during one of his
seem to
Renaissance.
reflect the artistic
To move
attributed to Giotto
still
Florentine
can only be the product of some temporary
Roman
sojourns.^^
The shop may well have
been commercially controlled by him, but only in the vaguest sense does
altarpiece
now
is
so closely connected with Pietro CavaUini, to have been commissioned
from Giotto for the high
ateher set
was
is
grandeur of conception and fluctuating quaUty,
personahty that
farther afield, the S.
at the
this
2*
imposing
foundations of the
Maria Novella Crucifix,
on uncertain documentary grounds

225
lies
persistently
and reminiscent both of the

Isaac
Master and of work by various hands in the Legend of St Francis
fies a class
of major paintings of all kinds which are clearly related to
other, yet are
at Assisi,
exempli-
this, that,
and the
of patently uncertain authorship. The understanding and appreciation
of such works are better served by

some famous name.
reahstic
anonymity than by
226
irrational assignment to
CHAPTER 25
THE
The first
PROBLEM
ASSISI
of the interlocking questions involved
of whether or not Giotto
in
man
one and the same
any reasoned attack on the problem
Master, or the Master of

of the date of the Legend of St Francis at Assisi.
The obvious possibihty is that the iiutial source of the commission was the Bull promulgated by Nicholas IV in May 1288- 'facere conservare, reparari, acdificare, emenis
the St Francis Cycle, or both,
is
as the Isaac
that
dare, ampliare, aptari, et ornari praefatas ecclesias'. Certainly the Dreant of Innocent III
(Plate 60)
reasonable proof that
is
this,
the sixth fresco in the series, was not carried out
before the completion of Nicholas IV's reconstruction of the Lateran portico in 1291.1
If
on
the other hand, the fresco of the Four Doctors in the entrance vault
have been painted before the institution of their

frescoes
on
feast
in 1296,
the side walls are also placed after this date, then
of St Francis was painted
much before
however, anything but
secure.^ Despite the story
also shghtly unlikely,
the turn
it is
and the
is
held not to
Isaac Master's
unUkely that the Legend
of the century. This chain of argument is,

promulgated by Vasari in 1568,
it is
although by no means impossible, that the commission followed
the installation of Fra Giovanni di
Muro
Marca
della
as
Minister General of the Order
any case he can hardly have been directly coimected with
in 1296. In
specifically
day
it,
since he
was
appointed to try to close the widening breach between the Observant and
Conventual factions
in the
Order over the meaning of Franciscan poverty, and such
commission would have been well calculated
to exacerbate an already difficult situation.
no longer be argued to refer to events preceding 1305,

by which the cycle was completed.'
The earhest terminus is provided by Giuhano da Rimini's Boston altarpiece, signed and
dated 1307 (Plate 123B). It is, however, only vahd if it is accepted that, in a panel revealSince the opening fresco can
there
is
no
secure internal evidence about the date
ing a general dependence on fresco painting, the extremely close, detailed relationship
Stigmatization of St Francis and the corresponding scene at Assisi demonGiuhano's direct dependence on the fresco cycle. Nevertheless, the relative rarity
between the
strates
of the particular iconographic pattern estabhshed in
this,
the last of the scenes normally
attributed to the Master of the St Francis Cycle himself, and the undeniable dependence
of the figure of St Clare on that
in the
Chapel of St Nicholas
increase the likelihood that the supposition

jected, then the only other possible
is
and reasonably early terminus
lower church,
none the less, re-
in the
correct.* If this date
is,
is
that provided
by
was work by
Giotto at Assisi. This appears to have been written between 1312-13 and c. 1318, with
the probabihties favouring the earher date.^ Unfortunately, there is no proof whatsoever
the assertion in Riccobaldo Ferrarese's Compilatio Cronologica that there
that the statement refers to the Legend of St Francis.

Isolated
from purely
stylistic considerations,
St Francis leads to the conclusion that
it
was
227
the dating evidence for the Legend of
carried out certainly after 1290-1, not

and very probably before 1307. The
necessarily after 1296,
bracket for Giotto's decoration of the Arena Chapel
foundation of the chapel in 1303 and
consecration in
its
similar,
from
is
c.
but completely secure
1304 (that
March
is
between the
1305) to 13 13.
By
that
time Francesco da Barberino's Documenti d'Amore, in which one of Giotto's lowest and
therefore latest frescoes
If the Bull
of 1288
is
is
had
described,
Cycle, the question then arises
as to
is,
then
this entire
it is also the source of Cimabue's work in

whole of the decoration of the upper church.
whether
the choir and transepts and, indeed, of the

If it
been written.*
definitely
accepted as the source of the commission for the St Francis
sequence of work with
considerable styhstic range, involving
its
main groups of painters, must be seen as representing, not a chronological

sequence, but a more or less contemporary confluence of masters, belonging to separate
though related schools, whose differing styhstic backgrounds were reflected in varying
degrees of conservatism or modernity. Such a view would be more tenable were it not
for the seemingly quite steady styhstic development that stretches from the vault of
the choir to its lower walls, and onwards from the vaults of the nave to its own lower
surfaces. It is rendered even more improbable by the evidence, in the Presentation on
the upper left wall of the nave, both of an mterruption or cessation of the work and of
at least four
the actual over-painting of the styhstically

either
removed from
tic
more
antiquated elements.'^ If the
of Cunabue or of the Master of the St Francis Cycle

the shelter of the Bull of 1288,
work
on the other hand, to be

the movement must be made upon styhsis,
grounds alone. This would lead to the not unusual situation that neither the source
now
of the commission nor the method of payment could

points need any substantial modification if attention
is
be explained.
None of these
switched from the Master of the
St Francis Cycle to the Isaac Master.
has already been
It
of St Mark probably
Nicholas
III
shown
that the reference to the Orsini family in
(i277-8o).8 If it does not,
spamiing the whole of the
last
nexion with the Bull of 1288
between Cimabue's
of 1287-8.' There
frescoes
is,
is
it
may
refer to
On
Master
the other
spiritual
quarter of the thirteenth century. Furthermore, a condifficult to
and the
no
therefore,
maintain in face of the apparent relationship
spatially
more advanced design of the
Siena oculus
particular reason to dispute the actual existence
the apparent chronological gap that separates the

Isaac
Cimabue's fresco
power in the person of

any of a number of scattered dates
union of temporal and
reflects the
work of Cimabue from
that
of
of the
more radically still, from that of the Master of the St Francis Cycle.
hand the acceptance of such an interval does not necessitate a dating later
or,
than the early nineties for cither of the
might well be modified by
latter artists' frescoes in the
five or ten years for other reasons.
rather than modification, could, however, only be justified
by
nave. Such a dating
Complete
rejection,
the impossibihty
of
accepting the vahdity of the historical development sketched in the preceding chapters,
and by refusing to bchcve that such narrative richness and such detailed multiphcity of
natural observation could have been achieved so early.
If,
despite the inherent difficulties, rejection of the idea of a simultaneous
throughout the upper church

activities
with the Bull of 1288,
is
still
combined with
number of further
a desire to
factors
campaign
connect Cimabue's
must be considered.
If cither
THE
PROBLEM
ASSISI
of the
scries of frescoes attributed to the Isaac Master or to the Master of the St Francis
Cycle are to be assigned to Giotto, they must, upon styhstic grounds, be dated before
Arena Chapel
the
frescoes
of between
c.
1304 and 13
13. It
is
inconceivable that any of
the frescoes at Assisi coidd have intervened at any subsequent point in his career. Prob-
lems of date and
style can seldom be divorced, however, and the attribution of the Assisan
pre-Paduan Giotto immediately involves the problem of his date of birth.
frescoes to the
Acceptance of the birth date of 1266-7 implied in the Ottimo Commaito, which was
probably written by Ser Andrea Lancia,
lifetime,
being
as
would
'satis
Imola's Dante
of an
tion
no
entail
who was active in Florentine affairs in Giotto's
difficulty at Assisi.
On the other hand
Commentary, might seem

of at
artist
least forty.
If,
with the
Isaac
Benvenuto da
to be rather unusual as a medieval descrip-
instead, rehance
given by BiUi after the lapse of a hundred and

fication
the reference to Giotto
juvenis' - 'young enough' - at Padua, contained in
fifty
is
placed
on
the birth date
years and repeated
Master or the Master of the St Francis Cycle
of 1276
by
Vasari, identi-
may
entail Giotto's
being in control of an extensive workshop or of a large team of independent masters

while still in his late teens or early twenties.
As
comiexion with
far as Giotto's
Assisi
is
concerned, the early hterary sources pre-
The author of the Ottimo
Comniento, who hved in Florence,

knowledge and stressed that Giotto 'was and is amongst
the painters known to men the most outstanding and is of the same city of Florence',
nevertheless fails to mention the artist's activity at Assisi. No modern concepts of the
sent
one major
who
difficulty.
emphasized
his personal
of juvenilia would have influenced a medieval commentator

what must then have ranked among the most important modem
significance or otherwise
when
dealing with
fresco cycles in Italy

specifically
and among the largest of the
mention is Giotto's
With
the exception of Avignon, for
other
now
exists, all these references
works. The omission of Assisi

It is,
however, on the
What he
does
is
therefore extremely serious.
styhstic level that the difficulties entailed in accepting Giotto's
responsibihty for any of the firescoes at Assisi

identified
painter's commissions.
Rome, Naples, Avignon, Florence, and Padua.

which no reasonable evidence one way or the
are confirmed by surviving or by documented
activity in
become
acute. If his personal
with that of the Master of the St Francis Cycle himself, the
hand
is
many important
between Assisi on the one side and Padua and Florence on the other
must be explained. Although the radically different approach to painted architectural
styhstic variations
framing and to compositional methods, whether within the individual scenes or in the
cycles as a whole,
may well be linked
to
some extent
to the contrasting characteristics
of
the real architecture, the profoundly differing attitudes to narrative and to the portrayal
of nature are not so
easily reconciled.
tion of the brush-strokes and in the
matters
still
as facial
the paint, as well as in such
proportions and the detailed drawing of eyes and mouths and so forth,
need explaining, even
concept of an
Furthermore, the transformation in the organiza-
manner of laying on
artist's
when
made for the modifications that the

when dealing vdth the cooperative
workshop. Notwithstanding the memory of
allowance has been
personal hand must undergo
craftsmanship of a medieval painter's
Nicola Pisano's styhstic transformation in the short five years between the Pisan and the
229

Sienese pulpits, this
parallel
when
is
no mean
task.
Even Nicola Pisano himself can provide no ready
the apparent styUstic development at Assisi
is
correlated with that seen at
Padua and continued in S. Croce. It involves accepting the idea of an artist who, having
at Assisi tentatively begun to tackle the detailed problems of descriptive naturaHsm,
gradually developed an increasingly complex and controlled technique for handling
anything from crowds to landscapes or interiors or anatomical foreshortenings. Then,
moving on to Padua, he totally discards the descriptive richness already achieved in
order to restart a precisely similar advance from simphcity and hesitance to complexity
and confidence in natural description. This he steadily maintains for the succeeding
twenty years. The Giotto that emerges has no parallel whatsoever in thirteenth- or
fourteenth-century Italy and few
age or country.
If,
among
on the other hand,
the major representational artists of whatever
identification
with the Isaac Master
is
preferred,
same considerations apply with almost equal force, since the illustrative complexity
of many of the scenes executed under his direction is much greater than that of those
the
in the upper registers at Padua.
again considerable, and

that the gaps,
If this kind
of the Assisan
instead.
it is
though of a
discrepancies in technique and in styhstic detail are
different nature, are substantially reduced.
of uniqueness
frescoes,
The
only in dramatic power and in the basic attitude to narrative
is
but not
considered too improbable, Giotto's general supervision

his personal intervention
The problem of detailed
styhstic variations
has been seen of the frescoes themselves,
of the
closest supervision
it is
is
with the brush,
may be
posited
then evaded, but in view of what
replaced
by
the extraordinary hypothesis
of the general design of every fresco in the cycle and of per-
sonal intervention in the execution of none. Moreover, the larger problems of the
cleavage in descriptive, narrative, and compositional approach, and of a disjointed

pattern of artistic development, are only shghtly modified. If Giotto
is
equated with
the Isaac Master, the supervisory hypothesis becomes almost entirely meaningless.
If such difficulties appear to be insurmountable, a
pre-Paduan dating
tained while denying Giotto's connexion with Assisi.
explained.
during the
98a) with
The
first is
artist's
its
Riccobaldo's attribution of unspecified Assisan
hfetime.
repetition
The second
is
of compositions
compositional similarities between a
may
be main-
Three things then have
work
the signed Stigmatization in the
to
be
to Giotto
Louvre
(Plate
in the St Francis Cycle. Finally, there are the
number of the Paduan
frescoes
and designs in both
the Legend of St Francis and the Isaac Master's frescoes.^" In each case the explanations
seem
to be
much
simpler than those called for under any of the previous hypotheses.
Riccobaldo Ferrarese says in
his Coiiipilatio Cronologica of between 13 12-13 ^nd 13 18

were works by Giotto 'in the churches of the Minors at Assisi, Rimini and
Padua and ... in the palace of the Comune at Padua and in the Arena church at
Padua'. Although Giotto's frescoes in S. Croce were probably not yet painted when
that there
Riccobaldo wrote, the omission of the Navicella, almost certainly completed during the
first decade of the fourteenth century, casts some doubt on his rcliabihty. In the eyes of
his contemporaries and of the chroniclers who followed, the Navicella was Giotto's
most famous and important work. It is, for example, the sole achievement mentioned
by the fourteenth-century historian, Villani. There is, moreover, naturally no mention
230
THE
of Giotto's
later
documented
PROBLEM
ASSISI
activity at Naples,
Rimini cannot be confirmed. In short, there
and the assertion that he worked
no
is
external check
ments about work outside Padua which, since they
all
on any of his
at
state-
may
concern the Friars Minor,
conceivably derive from the Chapter General of the Franciscans, held there in 13 lo.
Even as regards Padua itself, only the reference to the Arena Chapel can now be demonstrated to
known
latter,
be right. Finally, quite apart from Riccobaldo's poor showing against the
when compared with the author of the Ottimo Commento, he, hke the
facts
never indicates the nature of the works concerned, which need not have been
frescoes at
The
all.
significance
cussed."
The
of the signed Stigmatization in the Louvre has already been disand sixteenth-century traditions associating Giotto with Assisi
fifteenth-
have not been considered because the subsequent attribution of an important monument to the greatest, roughly appropriate name is a recurrent historical phenomenon
that
is
as
The day
often misleading as revealing.
became the canonical

ture's official
pictorial version
of the
it
was completed, the
St Francis Cycle
saint's story. It illustrated St
Bonaven-
account and was hallowed by association with the main shrine of the order.
Although the
Stigmatization
often accepted as conclusive proof of Giotto's responsi-
is
bihty for the St Francis Cycle, there
is
therefore
no
difficulty, in the
hght of contem-
porary attitudes to art and of medieval workshop practice, in beheving that an

such
as
Giotto might be
panel in which the

in
some of the
offi:red,
official
details
artist
and be prepared to accept, a commission to produce a
Assisan iconography was reproduced.
of the smaller scenes
is
The
reahsm
intensified
compatible with the theory that Giotto
as
was, consciously or unconsciously, modifying a pattern not completely in accord with

his
own
effijrts
pictorial vision, as it
in the light
and of the imphcations of

credited
that
by
is
with the behef that he was reworking
of greater knowledge. That
later writers,
is
his
own
his
own
his
conception of the
own
genius was not the one with which he
shown by
the fact that
it
earher
artist's
is
role
often
was only the workshop products
needed the protection of his name that seem to have been given the honour of his
signature.
Thirdly, the similarity between various compositions at Padua and in the

cycles under consideration can very reasonably be explained
by
two
Giotto was personally famihar with the revolutionary, late-thirteenth-century

school of painting and had studied and learnt
much from
Assisan
the supposition that
its latest
Roman
achievements in
S.
Francesco.
The
last
of the possible solutions to the problem
is
to exclude the attribution
of the
workshop by dating it after Padua and even moving

it as far as the 132CS or beyond. 1^ The usual accompaniment of this hypothesis by types
of formal analysis that are excellently designed to reveal the greamess of the Paduan
frescoes and to mask the very different qualities of those in S. Francesco is neither here
nor there. Any solution involving a misunderstanding of the Assisan achievement or an
St Francis Cycle to Giotto or his
assessment of the frescoes simply as

of hard-won development, seems
plications introduced
late,
derivative works, ignoring the internal evidence
to be thoroughly unrealistic.
by GiuHano da Rimini's panel of

231
1307, the
Apart from the com-
main impediments
to

the theory are the close connexions between the Isaac Master's frescoes and the earher
scenes attributed to the Master
between the
latter
of the
St Francis Cycle; the intimate relationship
and the St Cecilia Master; and the seemingly close
St Francis Cycle to late-thirteenth-century
remove
developments.
the St Francis Cycle to a radically late date must,
work of the
ing
Roman
more
it
than
it
solves.
There
is
that bind the
Any
attempt to
seems, carry with
Isaac Master, thereby breaking these apparently close
difficulties
ties
it
the
connexions and creat-
of course no possible justification for con-
sidering the Isaac Master to be a late Giottesque or even to be Giotto himself at a late
stage in his career.
The very process of setting out the several major possibihties and the chief objections to
which each
is
open shows the extent
to
which
remain so in the absence of fresh evidence. The
the situation
is
stiU fluid
fact that the solution
currently unfashionable view, firstly that the St Francis Cycle dates

is
not by Giotto, and secondly that Giotto
alternatively,
with the Isaac Master,
interim decision one
way
is
is
and
is
likely to
favoured here
from
is
the
the 1290s and
not to be identified, either conjointly or
of much
less
importance than a reahzation that an
or the other must be made.^'
The
historical pattern,
and the
very nature, of the development of late-thirteenth-century ItaUan painting, and of the

careers
and personahties of artists of the highest rank, hang on the answer that
232
is
given.
CHAPTER 26
SIMONE MARTINI
It
is
for the ethereal qualities of his art; for the other-world liness and the imaginative
poetry praised by Petrarch; for sensitivity and grace; for harmony of line and colour
that
Simone
chiefly
is
should
make
remembered.
and of Siena in
Italy in general,
his entrance
It is,
however, typical of early-fourteenth-century
particular, that this
seeming paragon of the ivory tower
with two major paintings, one of wloich embodies a
civil
ohgarchy's ideals of statecraft, wliile the other has the openly polemic aim of bolstering
an ambitious king's pohtical legitimacy.
Nothing
is
known of Simone
which almost
PubbUco
the
fills
in Siena (Plate 100).
orbit of Duccio,
was
before he signed and dated the frescoed Maesta of 13 15
whole of the end wall of
By
mature
this
artist.
His fresco
master's altarpiece of 1308-11, but one in

as
immediately apparent
There
is
the Council
time Simone,
is
who
Chamber
in the Palazzo
had evidently grown up in the
almost a commentary upon the older
which his own
as his feeling for the subtleties
sense
of scale and proportion
of space and
line
is
and colour.
harmonious grandeur in the rectangle created by the wide, wall-clinging
marble frame within the near-square of the wall, and the roundels of the
saints recall the
roundel-studded frameworks of the Rucellai and S. Trinita Madonnas (Plates 50 and 63).
The
general richness of this painted marble frame acts as a
moulding
Much
as,
in perspective, heralding the illusion of a

in S. Francesco at Assisi,
foil for
the chaste inner
sumptuous extension of reaUty.
Cimabue's choirs of angels supplement the
friars'
chorus, here the saints have gathered to preside over the earthly conduct of affairs of
state.
A gaily patterned,
curves.
The
latter
russet
canopy
softens a rectangle in space into a set
of flattened
mediate between the rectilinearity and flamess of the architectural

figures gathered in the space beyond.
The
kneeling and the standing groups, recalling Duccio's Maesta at Siena (Plate 65), are
now
framework and
the
complex rhythms of the
ranged not in horizontal ranks but in rows curving into depth and softly echoing the
space-defining contours of the baldacchino overhead. The rhythmic patterns of the
draperies,
which
as in the variety
disciplined
by
are as unprecedented in complexity
of fold and
and the harmonious depth of
now
symmetry
that
is
almost
their
fall
and
linear pattern
largely perished colour, are
as absolute as that in
Duccio's altarpiece.
The
painting of the mural largely a secco rather than in true fresco, and the hberal use
of gold on every surface must, when it was new, have given it a texture and a sumptuousness to rival that of any tapestry or golden-threaded, oriental hanging.^ It is no
wonder that so magnificent a scheme was echoed within only two years in near-by S.
Gimignano.
matched by
The bold massing of the composition and the isolation of the
both as Queen of Heaven and as earthly Governor of the city, are the
The breadth and

its
the unusual decorative weight of Simone's design are
gravity of content.
Virgin, present
233
1300-1350
PART five: painting
formal embodiment of the solemn message spelt out in a long inscription
realistically
enclosed in the pictorial space.
The angelic flowers, the rose and lily

With which the heavenly fields are decked
Do
not delight
But some
Despise
And
The
fields
see
me more than righteous counsel.

who for their own estate
and deceive my land

most praised when they speak worst.
me
are
of heaven could not be more
words have
generaHties.
a bitter taste,
It
took to arms
was
in April
than fourteenth-century Siena. Yet these
and they were probably intended to be more than pious

of the very year that they were painted that the entire
city
long-smouldering feud between the famiHes of the SaUmbeni and
as the
the Tolomei once
fair
more
burst out into open fighting.
Twice
in the next ten years this
blood-feud led to insurrection, and in 1326 the Sienese, like the Florentines before them,
sought
duke of Calabria, son of Robert of Naples, to impose the
relief by calling in the
peace they could not keep themselves.
Simone's Maesta
which
late
is
to
is,
some
extent, yet
To
the historian, as to
its
earhest admirers,
one more monument to the
part and parcel of the achievements
and
suicidal warfare
disasters that are characteristic
of the
medieval history of almost every town and city in the land.
Simone
Simone
the painter and the Cavaliere
to
whom
King Robert of Naples
assigned an annual grant of fifty ounces of gold in July 13 17 are probably one and the
same. About Simone's signature on the panel of St Louis of Toulouse in Naples there is
no doubt whatsoever (Plate loi). Although its rich, deep reds and browns and russets
are
now
flaked and faded, and the lavish jewellery and goldsmith's
huge, dynastic icon,
ground,
still
its
broad frame embossed with the French
of King Robert
frame of fleur-de-hs
space,
profile
much
and
still
still
on
line,
retains
cunning.
march of
to his brother
the insignia and the burden
all
The punched
tooling of the inner golden
who
time.
The
saint
who
sacrificed his earthly
so unwiUingly received the bishopric of
which
but hide the simple habit he fanatically sought and loved,
impassively receives the greater
brother
The
and silhouette survives. The hook-nosed portrait
background to the outer frame, annihilating

gesture and the motionless, medaUic contrast of pure
as the frozen, ritual
it
its
a blue
it.
links the deepest
full-face arrests the
crown and gave
macy of the
are lost, this
smoulders with the power and beauty that once blazed within
sinuous counterpoint of contour,

profile
work
lihes set
crown of sanctity
who was none
as
he unendingly confirms the
legiti-
by his enemies. As countless

actions following his death confirmed, the saint had now become a major weapon in
the struggle to assert Angevin supremacy, not merely in its Neapohtan stronghold, but
across the whole of Central Italy. The man who scorned all worldly power became not
merely the celestial champion of the Franciscan Strict Observants but the patron of the
Parte Guclfa. The latter, besides being Robert's instrument in Florence as well as in
the
less called a
usurper
previously GhibeUine Siena and throughout Tuscany, was the omnipresent symbol of
^34
SIMONE MARTINI
the ceaseless fight for
level
from imperial
power
that
to personal.
ebbed and flowed and eddied and dissolved on every

probably this same effective combination of reli-
It is
gious cult and temporal necessity that put St Louis and the red and white associated
with the Guelph
Commune of Florence so prominently on the walls that Giotto painted

Croce
for the Bardi in S.
in Florence.
Economic
the sin essential to his trade, thus add further
no
forces,
less
and the usurer's need to expiate
paradoxical dimensions to the role
when the rite of canonization, for which his

moment of his death exactly twenty years before, was
played by St Louis from the day in 13 17

family had laboured from the
fmally performed.
The
five supporting predella scenes
spective grouping
tionship
frescoes
S.
of the story of St Louis mark
They
evolution of pictorial organization.
are the
of several scenes about
and further developed in the

unequivocally defined.
is
a rigid, vanishing axis system.
The new
rela-
Paduan
of the Serving of the Poor reveals
parallel recession replaces Duccio's tentative
advance towards the focusing of receding

otherwise directly derived from Duccio
stage in the
of the Bardi and Pcruzzi Chapels in
central panel
Uniform,
new
narrative, nascent in Giotto's
vertical ranges
The
surviving example of the per-
a clearly defined central axis.
between the observer and the painted
Croce,
first
lines
it is,
upon
a single point. In a
composition
however, no surprise to find a contra-
fills the centrally designed room.

by the emphatic horizontals of their architecture, are structurally more consistent. The orthogonals of each recede in parallel towards the centre of the predella. The outcome is emphatic visual unity. The stress
already placed on the central axis of the altarpiece by the division of the predella into
five is reinforced and a firm base is provided for the shghtly offset balance of the main
dictory, foreshortened frontal setting in the table that
The four
flanking scenes, linked as they are
design.
Simone's next signed work, the polyptych declared by a fourteenth-century chronicler to
have been
installed in the
complicated in appearance as
Dominican church of S. Caterina
it is
in Pisa in 13 19,
straightforwardly devotional in content.
is
as
The con-
figures, framed by rounded, trilobate arches, is transby the sensitivity of the forms and by the subtle combinations of briUiant colour set off by the simple blacks and whites of the Dominican
saints. Simone's linear and chromatic magic sets a personal seal upon this work, in
which an intrinsically more conservative form and function is accompanied by an increase in the openly Ducciesque quahties. A year later, Simone, who seems on documentary grounds to have been in Orvieto, where work on the facade of the cathedral was
stant repetition
formed from
proceeding
mondo
of the half-length
dullness to deUght
at full speed,
appears to have painted an exacdy similar altarpiece for Trasi-
Monaldeschi, the Bishop of Soana and a
in Orvieto. Five of the
intervention
is
main
again appreciable. Since there
the inscribed date of 1320
member of the most powerful
panels and the date and signature survive, and
on
is
some doubt about
the unsigned panel
o( St John
in the
family
workshop
the authenticity of
Barber
Institute at
Birmingham, the next securely dated and also documented work is the fresco of
Guidoriccio da Fogliano of 1328 (Plate i02a), high on the wall of the Council Chamber
in the Palazzo PubbUco at Siena, directly opposite his owti Maesta of 13 15 (Plate 100).
235

Apart from documentary references to
tasks
years
such
is
The
Simone married Giovanna, the
that in 1324
important
artist in his
immediate
was painted
Guidoriccio
tion of the small
document.
more
marks
of Lippo
example of a form of portraiture which
is
and referred to
Sassoforte, visible in the fresco
a return to painting as an instrument
art, is
the most
of the great condottierc's victory over
more
of politics
The
undiluted than ever before in Simone's surviving works.
and which, in either
Mcmmi,
celebrated GhibeUine general, and of his libera-
towns of Montemassi and

It
sister
circle.
in the very year
Castruccio Castracane, the even
in a
works, including very minor decorative
lost
the gilding of hhes and hons, the only certain fact about the intervening
as
fresco
in a
is
form more
also a
unique
often seen in sculpture than in painting
otherwise confined to a
strictly
funerary context during the
Late Middle Ages. There were, indeed, to be funerals enough in 1328-9, both in Siena and
throughout the land,
and repression; by
as
general famine added to the miseries of interminable petty war-
was followed up by
fare. Inevitably this
institutional
possible solutions; and, not least,
untouched by
by
pestilence and, in Siena as elsewhere,
rioting
incomprehension both of the ensuing problems and of
by heroic personal attempts
to alleviate the suffering
and economic systems ill-equipped to deal with such calamities.
social
Nevertheless, if Giovanni di Tese Tolomei, the Rector of the Civic Hospital, was, in
human terms,
the Sienese hero of these years,
it is
no
loss to art that, as the grip
tightened, Guidoriccio should already have been immortalized as the
symbol of pohtical and mihtary

In
many ways
success.
single fresco
tliis
of famine
much needed
is
a distillation
of the fimdamental quahties of
Sienese painting. Profound conservatism and imaginative innovation, fact and fantasy,
more
which new heights are reached, not by resolving, but by intensifying the contradictions and contrasts inherent in late medieval art.
The simple architectural framework of the scene is reaUstically foreshortened. The
plump condottiere is portrayed with a truth to life which is still unusual at this date. The
decoration and illusion, are combined in a poetic vision far removed from, yet
real than, the reahty itself. It
detail
is
work
in
of the Sienese encampment on the right
of town and
castle, stark against the
is
faithfully reproduced.
The
silhouettes
deep blue of the sky, grip the imagmation, and the
sudden change of scale accentuates the vasmess and recession of the empty landscape. Yet,
same time, this is a cardboard cut-out world of symbols. Who can say exactly
where the charger walks or glides; over or on the landscape or the frame, or pardy
at the
upon both? Whether
the foreground paHsade
the high-stepping hooves

is
intensely meaningful
is
human
spears, flags fluttering in the
beings.
Each
detail
set in front of,
and, in
Abundant
wind - accentuate
drained by war. Here Guidoriccio alone

alive.
is
tell
its
or beyond, or under
context, immaterial.
What
the heightening of Guidoriccio's importance and reahty
is
the total absence of other
both impossible to
of design
is
is
signs
of hfe - abandoned
the emptiness and stilhicss
sliields
by
and
of a landscape
commanding, vividly
moving actuality as he
in the present; real,
used to emphasize
liis
living,
parades, caparisoned in gold, across the foreground. Facing the sunlight, horse and rider
wind
movement, and
breast the
that stirs the distant flags. Their draperies blend into a single flow
the
of
sweeping curves of the compelling diamond pattern, echoing the
236
SIMONE MARTINI
decoration of the architectural frame, increase the sense of forward motion. Even the
of the landscape works to the same end. The paUsade becomes a sinuous,
The larger town ahead, though balanced by the smaller camps
and castles scattered on the right, attracts attention forwards. There is greater space
structure
forward-leading path.
before the rider than behind

reached.
The
sweeping
hill-slope.
silhouette
longer pause before the
of the horizon
The descending
accelerates in sudden, swift descent

side
of the
sense of
hill is
closes
on the
line that runs
and
left
is
static verticals
through the large town upon the
of what
all
increase the
none the less a balanced and harmoniously

the briUiance of its colour and the boldness of its styhza-
at the heart
centraHzcd design, heraldic in
left
sharp against the sky, whereas the right
blurred by flags and spears and paHsades. Such details
movement
of a towTi are
right with a steep, leftward-
is
tions.
Five
more
years of documentar)^ silence follow.
They
are
moderated only by
num-
ber of tantahzing references to lost works which include a figure of Marcus Attilius
Regulus. Then, in 1333, Simone and Lippo
Uffizi Aummciatioti.
Nuovo
the Palazzo
states that
Already in
13 17
del Podesta at S.
he collaborated with
Lippo
Memmi,
Memmi
his brother-in-law,
Gimignano on which
his father,
Memmo
signed the
had signed the frescoed Maesta in

a
contemporary docimient
di Filipuccio.
The outcome was
reworking of Simone's Maesta of two years earher. Apart from a signed fresco
fragment in Siena, the core of Lippo's other surviving work is represented by signed
stiff
Madonnas
in Orvieto, Siena, Altenburg,
a gro%ving elegance
of Simone's
and Berlin.
certain stiffness in execution,
and decorative brilhance in design, and increasingly
art are characteristic
grouped around them, such
of these panels.
Many of the
as the St Peter enthroned
Chiaramonte Bordonaro collection in Palermo and
close reflections
further attributions to be
and the St James enthroned in the
in the Pisa Gallery respectively, are
works of imposing quahty. Like the Orvietan polyptych now in the Gardner Museum
in Boston, Mass., which is often attributed to Simone himself, they show the heights to
which men working in Simone's shadow could aspire. In Lippo Memmi's case the final
proof of quality hes firstly in the several works attributed in this way, now to him and
now to his more famous brother-in-law, and secondly in his much-argued collaboration on the Uffizi Annunciation (Plate I02b).^
The endless, seemingly contradictory permutations that result from attempts to divide
the Annunciation into patches attributable either to Simone or to Memmi again reflect
the dangers inherent in too keen a desire for attributional certainty or in an oversimplified
view of the ways
ornamenting the
which
in
the only specific reference to
late
Memmi
lateral panels
of the
medieval
in the
artists
documents
could collaborate. Although
is
lost original frame, the
payment
for gilding and
modelling and tonality of
common with Lippo's work. A simple attribution of

however, to be extremely dangerous when the general,
volumetric design and the drapery construction of the S. Giustina are compared with
those of Simone's St Mary Magdalen at Assisi (Plate 103A), or when the St Ansanus is
the flanking saints have
these figures to
much
in
Memmi seems,
compared with the Altomonte St
Ladislaus or wdth the St Louis of France at Assisi.
Similarly, the strongly oriental cast
of the Virgin's head has

237
at least as
much
to
do wdth

Memmi's
usual
manner
to the latter. In
its
whole
altarpiece as a
with Simone's, even
as
conception and in
is
its
brushwork be
if the final
subtlety
certainly outside the range
largely given
of silhouette and rhythmic flow the

of anything of which
Memmi would
otherwise seem to be capable. Nevertheless, there are everywhere innumerable hints of
both men's normal
styles
whole may be Simone's.
and
also
inmunerable departures from them. The design
On the other hand, however strong and eloquently argued
as a
the
convictions of opposing factions, the proof of who
ment
to
what
layer
of which part of the
to completion seems in principle to be
About
altarpiece
may have contributed which eleduring the many stages of its journey
no longer
susceptible
of logical demonstration.
the subtle placing of the figures in relation to the frame; about the quality and
almost abstract purity of a linear rhythm that paradoxically helps to turn the golden
ground into an ambient atmosphere; and, fmally, about

as richness, there need be no argument.
its
decorative sensitivity as well
on through various Sienese legal documents and

Avignon and to his death there in 1344. The only
signed work from this latest period is the little Holy Family of 1342 at Liverpool (Plate
104B). Apart from the lyrical subtlety of the simple-seeming design with its vibrant
For Simone himself the
trail leads
payments of 1340
to his departure for
interrelationships
of blue, vermUion, and deep
a polarity that
key to the understanding of Simone's evolution
is
lilac,
the panel
is
important in revealing
as
an
artist.
St Joseph
has a rhythmic insubstantiality and lack of structure reminiscent of the shepherd

right of Giovanni Pisano's Pisa Nativity (Plate 35A). In principle, such a figure
on the
would
among the works of Jean PuceUe or of the Maitre aux Boquetaux.

however, no such insubstantiahty about the figure of the young Christ, and
hardly cause surprise
There
is,
providing that the

art
is
modem
tendency to observe only the linear elements in Simone's
countered for a moment, a soft soHdity and mass become apparent in the modelling
of the main volumes of the Virgin. Just such a contrast reappears in an acute form in
the frontispiece to Servius's Commentary on Virgil, which Petrarch lost in 1328 and recovered in 1340, and which was subsequently decorated by Simone (Plate 105A). The
couplet:
Mantua Virgilium qui

Sena
tulit
Symonem
shows the depth of the great humanist

hand, reveals the length of the road
Gothic world gives
way
talia
carmina
poet's esteem.^
still
finxit
digito qui talia pinxit
to
The miniature
itself,
be travelled in the visual
on the other
arts
to that of the Renaissance. Petrarch's friendship for
proved by references in Sormets 57 and 58 (77-8), particularly that beginning:
Ma
certo
Ondc
il
mio Simon fu in
Donna si
qucsta gentil
paradise
parte;
Ivi la vide, c la ritrasse in carte;
Per far fcdc qua giu del suo bel vise.

L'opra fu ben di quelle che nci cielo
Si
poiino imaginar, non qui tra nci,
Ove
Ic
membra fanno
238
a I'alma velo.
before the
Simone
is
SIMONE MARTINI
'L'alto concetto', to
which Petrarch
later refers,
was embodied
in a lost portrait
Laura which Simone evidently drew or painted for the poet.* There
conceit in Scrvius's drawing of the veil
is
is
cunning
of
literary
from the recUning
Virgil. The surviving colour

more reminiscent of Giovanni
problem posed by the need to incorpor-
deUcate, and the continuous figure circulation, once
Pisano's Pisa pulpit,

ate
is
the integrity of the
of the
a brilhant solution
and emphasize a written

flat
text.
Changes of scale
of the page
surface
is
are handled with such subtlety that
recognized despite the continuous re-
The latter is not merely undisturbed by the floating cartelwinged hands but is in harmony with them. There are even reminiscences of Ambrogio's peasants in the landscape of Good Government completed just
cession of the landscape.
linos held
by
the
before Simone's departure for

linked with
within
many
Avignon
detailed points
itself exactly
(Plate iii). Considerations
of style, seem
to
of this kind, when
confirm an attribution that contains
the polarity observable in the Liverpool Holy Family of these
years (Plate 104B). This time the contrast
is
between the
poetic,
same
swaying insubstantiality
of the main figures and the tub-like bulk of the seated peasant in the foreground. This
tension in Simone's late work - this emphasis upon opposing extremes - is fundamental
to the
problem of the three great unsigned and undocumented works which must,
fmd
despite their bitterly controversial dating,
growth
so far estabhshed.
Agostino Novello
frescoes in the
Of
a natural place
within the tenuous
these three, comprising the altarpiece
the six panels of the
Chapel of St Martin
in the
dismembered Antwerp polyptych
lower church of S. Francesco
lines
of
of the Blessed
;
and the
at Assisi, it is the
which appear to hold the key to the problem.

Simone Martini was probably directly or indirectly responsible for every part of the
decoration in the Chapel of St Martin (Figure 24). The patterned marble inlays on floor
and lower wall, the frescoed vault and upper walls, and the glowing stained glass of its
three twin-hghted windows therefore make it the most unified, as well as the most comlatter
plete,
Gothic decorative scheme to have survived in
Italy.
Paired saints in niches have
been painted on the under-surface of the entrance arch, and St Martin
receiving Cardinal
Ten scenes from the Life of St Martin

are so arranged that either side wall contains two tiers of two scenes each, a fmal pair,
adjoining the entrance wall, continuing upwards to meet at the crown of the vault.
Gentile da Montefiore occupies the inner surface.
Painted half-length saints in niches

the colour of the frescoes to a
fill
new
the
window
embrasures, and the glass
pitch of intensity and luminosity.
itself raises
Compared with
windows, the clarity and discipline of the designs, extending even to

complex patterning of the surrounds, is notably increased. Though white is used
consistently in all six hghts, the impression, as in French glass, is of rich, full colour.
the earUer Assisan

the
is dominant, and also used consistently. Otherwise, a constant counterpoint,

emerald for purple, blue for crimson, red for deep green, deep green for light blue,
enlivens the like details in each pair of hghts. The whole scheme throbs and glows. The
Yellow
frescoed story of the saint, as
magnificent chivalric
it
ascends
by
stages to
its
heavenly climax,
tale that fully exploits the sophisticated
coloured fantasy of contemporary high fashion (Plate 103B). There

uncontrolled about
its
planning.
is
told as a
extremism and
is,
parti-
however, nothing
The centralized perspective of the three interiors among

239

the frescoes nearest to the entrance arch estabhshes the onlooker's position immediately
in front of them.
The foreshortened
frontal settmgs
of the four buildings
in the frescoes
window-
nearest to the altar, and the reahstic foreshortening of the niches in the
embrasures, complete a coherently organized perspective scheme which elaborates the
by Giotto in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels. That perspective organizawas possibly more, and certainly not less important to Simone than perspective
illusion is shown by the way in which the parallel recession of Duccio's vanishing axis
ideas formulated
tion
is so standardized that in the Death of St Martin the axis itself materializes. The
receding lines create an even herringbone pattern within the confmes of the architecture
system
itself,
instead
of merely meeting invisibly when extended in the mind,
as
is
the usual
RIGHT WALL
Ohseqiiie^ of
Death of
St Marttn
Si Martin
St Martin
resuscitates
St Amhrose's
Mass of
Meditation
Albatga
Chili
St
St Martin
honoured by
the Emperor
MaHin
Dream of
St Martin
TnveslUiire
of
St Martin
divides his
Si Martin
Cloak
renounces the
Sword
Figure 24. Simone Martini:
decoration,
c.
Chapel of
St Martin,
scheme of
i33o(?)
The impact of the St Francis Cycle in the upper church is especially strong
crowded compositions of the upper and presumably earher frescoes such
in the
as
the
Obsequies of St Martin. In the lower frescoes the alternation of a dream-like, solemn
pageantry with scenes of the utmost
economy of
design reveals Simone at his most
impressive and most personal. Styhstic contrasts of the kind
now
add to the
already mentioned
of the dating problem. The form-concealing, almost formdestroying, simplification of the drapery folds of Christ in the Dream of St Martin is
difficulty
reminiscent of St Joseph in the Liverpool Holy Family (Plate 1043). At the other end of
the scale a highly
complex and
intensely decorative play
richest
and most magnificent of
his
of
line
Mary Magdalen and

creations (Plate 103A). The
to give impressive bulk to the figure of St
240
is
paradoxically used
places her
among
the
suggested dates range
SIMONE MARTINI
from just after 13 17 to shortly before 1339,' and the situation is further complicated
by the existence of the altarpiece of Blessed Agostino Novello in S. Agostino in Siena
(Plate 104A).
This altarpiece, with
huge
its
central figure
and small flanking
century continuation of an early-thirteenth-century pattern.
It is
scenes,
is
a fourteenth-
characterized through-
out by an extreme sophistication and clarity of design. In terms of abstract formal values,
and in the pure geometry of spatial composition and figure grouping,

the peak of Simone's achievement.
complex
by
whether
architecture,
is
enough
is
figures. It
seems that the
many
blending of Assisan formal experience with a
so, the
which he may well have encountered by
work
of
Simone Martini
Ducciesque sense of
detailed points
to justify the attribution of this masterpiece to
placement and design in some respects

to allow the
everywhere remarkable. The abstract pattern
complex, box-like building of

matched by the purity of silhouette and by the sure-
and simpHcity of volume in the
contact are
golden distance, creates an
in the street scene or in the
the Miracle of the Fallen Child,
himself If
at
unprecedented in Simone's work. The exploration of the
is
of the golden ground
spatial possibihties
ness
any
comphcated and coherent background architecture
its
a passage leading past a silhouetted tree into a
architectural depth that
of the
it seems to mark
more clearly massed and more
Assisi. The extended ground plane of
buildings are
in their volumetric pattern than
the Miracle of the Wolf, with
pierced
The
recalls the early

this time.
works of Bernardo Daddi,
Since certain details of dress seem
to be placed with unusual accuracy in the years 1333-6,* the
most
probable, if tentative, chronological position for the Assisan frescoes appears to be the
period following the painting of the Guidoriccio in 1328.
The fmal problem,

less
that of the signed but
thorny. In the Procession
Duccio accompany
dismembered Antwerp polyptych,
is
no
Calvary and the Crucifixion the closest reminiscences of
to
once more, to
a figure treatment that seems,
reflect Assisan
con-
cepts of bulk. These latter elements are combined, in the Entombment, with a landscape
in
which
the tree-forms and the high horizon are intimately related to the Virgil
frontispiece. In
represents a
scapes.
and richness and
softness
its
wholly
new
departure
The powerful, obHque
its
of Hght and atmosphere,
sense
among Simone's
setting
of the throne of the
Liverpool Virgin of 1342

early
make
their
of the head of Gabriel to that of the
also notable. Despite the forceful
arguments supporting an
Antwerp altarpiece, with its constant swings between decorative

and an emphasis on simple bulk, between a by now almost archaic treatment
of space and
powerful definition of abrupt recession,
period of Simone's career.
French
closeness
the
date,''
linearity
is
The
scene
Virgin Annunciate (Plate
105B) also seems to develop perspective patterns which, not unexpectedly,

earhest tentative appearance at Assisi.
this
otherwise arid and restricted land-
art,
It is at
Avignon
may
well belong to the final
of his contact with

most apparent and are com-
that, possibly as a result
the conflicting currents in his style are at their
bined with an unsurpassed brilHance of colour and dehcacy of detail.
Simone's stay
a
at
Avignon
is
marked by
the ruined frescoes in the cathedral, including
Redeemer and Angels under which a magnificent
covered,^ and
by
series
of sinopie has recently been
dis-
the iconographic invention of the Virgin of Humility.^ This design,
241

dependent Virgins Annunciate
reflected in the
at
Leningrad and Brussels,
tion of a constant tendency to accentuate the gentle,

Christ, the mater
is
the cuhnina-
human quaUties of the mother of
omnium and supreme mediatrix, which was already apparent
hundred
years earlier. The styhstic affinities of the various dependent versions of the fully develop-
ed form, in which the Virgin feeds Christ at the breast, appear to show that a lost panel
by Simone was the origin of what proves to be one of the key symbols of Itahan panel
painting for the rest of the century. The earUest dated example is that in Palermo, signed
by a certain Bartolomeo da Camogh in 1346 and inscribed 'nostra donna de Huimlitate' (Plate pSs).!" It has a predella with the symbols of the Passion flanked by kneeling members of a flagellant confraternity. Four of the latter wear the hooded robes
with
circles cut into the
a painting
Actually the
intensified
an existing urge to violent self-mortification.

this
Two years later such
a response to the cataclysm
which was only the worst of many
disaster,
century onwards
societies
backs to bare their bodies to the scourge.
might have seemed to be
of the Black Death.
similar visitations,
From
the
mid
merely
thirteenth
compulsion had not merely involved the formation of small
of zealots, but had
led to intermittent popular frenzies that seized
whole towns
and regions and were often accompanied by rioting and violent outbursts of anticlerical feeling.
It is
typical
of Simone, and of Siena, that the painter of the courtly and
civic propagandist,
chivalric, the
and the master of the massive pubHc altarpiece should
have
also
Madonna of Humility one of the most tender images of an age of personal

devotion. This aspect of his work is so important that it has coloured the whole subsequent approach to his art. The shape and significance of his career has been distorted,
and the isolated panels of dismembered altarpieces are predominantly seen in terms of
his few surviving intimate productions. In reaHty an increased intimacy is only a single
created in the
new monumental
element in the
work,
that the links
become
art. It is,
between panel and
increasingly strong.
The same
however,
true, particularly in
fresco painting
holds
good
verses
its
by Cardinal Giacomo
Avignon Madonna of Humility,
itself
later
for associated artists like the closely
dependent Master of the St George Codex. Indeed, the

Dragon}^ with
Simone's
and manuscript illumination
latter's
St George killing the
Stefaneschi, the probable
donor of the
appears to be derived from a lost fresco in the
cathedral.
The
influence
of Duccio and of Simone Martini on the development of French
illumination, and the importance of Avignon and
of the papal court
as
an
artistic
melt-
ing pot, can hardly be exaggerated. Yet httle enough of any consequence survives of all
the comet's-tail of
minor masters who followed Simone North. Matteo Giovanetti da

somewhat mannered grace, is perhaps the most
minor luminaries. Even so, the most intrinsically interesting of these
Viterbo, with his dchcate colour and
important of these
scant remains are possibly the
anonymous hunting and
fishing scenes in the
wardrobe
tower. Being in fresco, they recall Pompcian garden rooms while presaging the glories
of the Gothic
mille-fleurs tapestries. In Siena,
tirely different.
ests
There,
men of equal
from Simone's, were coming
if
on
the other hand, the situation
not greater
stature,
was en-
and of very different inter-
to the full height of their powers. Nevertheless,
242
it is
SIMONE MARTINI
Simone's art, the supreme
in a shifting
own
embodiment of
of grace and waning chivalry
set
borderland between a secular and a religious world, which has, in
its
way, exerted
as
a vision
powerful an influence on history
as
the
economic and
political
actualities
of the time. In delicacy of line and colour,
and in
the indefinable subtleties of style that grip the imagination, Simone's
stands
all
on
its
own.
243
in pageantry, in spiritual
emotion,
name
CHAPTER 27

In the range and quality of
last
his
fourteenth-century painter
Giotto, Duccio and
surviving
who
work Ambrogio
Lorenzetti
possibly the
is
can reasonably be placed alongside Cimabue and
Simone Martini. The intertwining of
his career
with that of
brother Pietro emphasizes that the history of fourteenth-century art
is
his
not only the
growth of given personaHties, great or small, but a constant flux of interimpingement as infmitely complex as the individuals who contribute to it.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti's known career begins with the uncompromising statement of
the unsigned but reUably attributed Vico 1' Abate Madonna of 13 19 (Plate io6a). The
story of the
action and
commission for
Pietro's signed polypt)'ch in the Pieve at
Arezzo follows in 1320
(Plate
some of Ambrogio's goods were seized for debt in Florence, and

a sale of land in 1324 is followed by evidence of continued Florentine connexions
through his matriculation in the Guild of Medici e SpeciaH in 1327. Next comes Pietro's
signed and dated Carmehte altarpiece of 1329 in the Siena Gallery, and in 1335 a joint
inscription recorded for the lost frescoes on the facade of the hospital of S. Maria della
Scala in Siena implies that Pietro was the senior. In 1 3 3 7 Pietro was Hcensed to carr)' arms
within Siena, and during the two succeeding years Ambrogio was at work on the frescoes of Good Government and Tyranny in the Palazzo PubbUco. Pietro signed his small
io6b). In
Madonna,
321
now in the Uffizi in Florence, in
1340, and his fmal masterpiece, the Birth of the
Virgin (Plate 113A), belongs to 1342, the year
of Ambrogio's panel of the
PrciCHfaf/oM
The latter's last surviving dated work, the Annunciation, follows in 1344
(Plate 114A), when Pietro is fmally recorded in connexion with a sale of land on behalf of
Tino di Camaino's children. After a reference to an address in CouncU in 1347, Ambro(Plate 113B).
gio too fades out of sight.
The Romanesque
Both may have died
frame of Ambrogio's early Vico

severity
and area
1'
is
Black Death of 1348.
Abate Madonna are accompanied by a diagrammatic
of spatial construction and of geometric inlay
curved and
(Plate io6a). His sense
of interval
such that the position of each form from hand to halo, every relationship of
straight,
each silhouette and sohd, has the aura of inevitabiHt)^ The thrust
of the wooden arm-rests has

and naked hand,
and
in the
of the Virgin and the Romanesque angularity of the
frontalit)'
in the grasp
plete control
as
its
counterpart in the bold foreshortening of the Infant's foot
well as in the glove-like tension of the cloak on
its
clenched
fist
of the Madonna's fmgcrs. The absolute evenness of stylization and com-
of representational means give unique impact to the human quaHties
dis-
cipUned within the hieratic image. That Giotto and the Florentine Romanesque should
dominate Duccio's Siena
in this
work from
the immediate
does not betray a malleability of artistic temperament:

to be, throughout his
life,
and to
a greater extent than
it
neighbourhood of Florence
indicates that
most of the
Ambrogio was
artists
of his day,
freeman not merely of Siena nor of Tuscany, but of the whole of Central
244
Italy.
The

catalogue of his surviving inscribed or documented paintings is such that tliis first panel
can only be authenticated through a chain of reference leading to the signed works of
1338-44- The ease with which this can be done immediately estabhshes the artistic constancy of a
man no two of whose
surviving works emerge from the same mould.
infant Christ carries the artist's personal
The
stamp more clearly than do the majority of
by those who seldom strayed outside the hmited and lucrative field of Malatter was only one of Ambrogio's interests. Its importance to him
is, however, shown, not only by the many workshop and related panels grouped under
the names of the 'Petronilla', 'Roccalbenga', and 'Rofena' Masters, but by his own
shghtly later Madonna del Latte in the Seminary at Siena (Plate 107A).
Ambrogio's subject is the love that hints at the Divine and fuses all the richness and
paintings
donna-making. The
human
complexit)^ of
means of expression
of the frame are
feelings into passionate simplicity.
The forms
that are his sole
with the elegance of a great equation. The angularities

against the rhythmic interaction of curves ranging from slow
are handled
set
modulations in the Virgin's head-dress to the liquid sinuosities of the Infant's robe.
rectUinearity
picked up in her
is
arm and
in the formal harshness
Its
of her straining hand.
symmetry and
its rigidity play against the Virgin's offset pose and complete the
of the rocking rhythms and dyTiamic balance that distinguishes every other
asymmetric form. Volume and silhouette, hght tones and dark, are held within a
Its
discipline
similar dialectic.
By methods
such
as these the
tender sweemess of the curly-headed
Child, kicking against his mother's arm, and the gentle gravity of the Virgin's loving
gaze are given their transcendent meaning.
The
extent of Ambrogio's early independence can be measured through his elder
brother's Pieve altarpiece
of 1320
(Plate io6b).
The
predella
missing, but despite a
is
greater rhythmic interpenetration and variety of architectural form, derived
Duccio's Maesta,
it
Simone
closely resembles
vanni Pisano's influence in the central figures
is
as clear as
references to Giotto and the Florentines as well as to
humanity of the Virgin and Child

plasticity
is
the pervasive, but selective,
Duccio and Simone. The grave
given transcendental meaning by the moderate
and subtle linear rhythms. The colour harmonies, with
Hght grey, and yellow for the major
The hghmess of Pietro's colour
is
figures, are the
which
is
their
emphasis on white,
crowning glory of the
altarpiece.^
prophetic of the major tonal change which was to
transform the appearance of fourteenth-century Itahan stained
another Sienese paradox, to
from
Martini's Pisa polyptych of 13 19. Gio-
the primary visual characteristic
is
glass.
Prophetic also of
motivation of so
set beside the poUtical
many works
in
an other-worldly sense of grace and colour,
the combination of the latter wdth a Uvely interest in illusion.
At
first it is
the gravirv' of the Annunciation, and the subtle asymmetries that set
against the rhythmic balances of its surroundings, that attract the eye.
deur, enhanced
by
sensitivity' in the relation
of the
here as everywhere throughout the altarpiece.
figures to the frame,
Only
a closer
The precedent of so many

real space
earUer frescoes has been followed.
of the observer and the carefully unified

245
is
wooden
architectural supports.
The
pictorial
off
apparent
as
look reveals the
columns of the frame to be the forward elements of the painted
it
A sense of gran-
barriers
between the
world, with
its
eager,

rhythmically solid and majestic figures, have been
set aside.
This small scene
portent of the possibility of fruitful, close collaboration between

artistically diverse as the
two
is
major
characters as
brothers Lorenzetti.
Apart from the frescoed Crucifixion in
S.
Francesco at Siena, Pietro's next important
surviving works are probably the frescoes in the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi.^
from the mid twenties
Parts of them have been dated
and Child with St John and St Francis, which

piece for the Chapel of St
closely Ducciesque
at least partly his
John
at the
no
is
graphic base
is
own work,
it
cannot be dated
reflection
may
which
much
The Madonna
upper part of a frescoed
end of the south transept,

Pietro.
later
is
certainly the
seems
as
If,
than 1320.
The
altar-
most
likely, it
frescoes
is
on
well themselves belong to the twenties,
of Simone's Chapel of St Martin. Their Ducciesque icono-
progressively refmed
by profound understanding of
of dramatic concentration. The process reaches

for
to the early forties.
in effect the
of all the paintings connected with
the entrance arch of this same chapel

since there
is
the iconographic starting point
is
its
Giotto's principles
peak in the Deposition (Plate 1073),
the comparable fresco
by
the lower church
St Francis Master. In mass, simpUcity, and linear clarity, these figures are the direct fulfil-
ment of the promise of the Annunciation
in the
Arezzo altarpiece
and surface pattern; space and plane; the momentary and the
human and
(Plate io6b).
eternal,
Volume
no less than the

of compromise.
combined and yet there is no sense

which links the figures to the bare verticals and horizontals of the cross was still complete, the sinking drama of the pyramid in space or of
the triangle upon the surface of the wall, the blending of time past in the eternal present,
would have been immeasurably increased. The visual means by which the progress
When
from
the visionary, are
the diagonal of the ladder
stark horror to a tender,
the subtleties
whereby
straight hnes, are here
curves which none the
numbing sorrow
the forms
which
in
has been captured are epitomized in
an actual pyramid or triangle would be
compounded of innumerable
less
interpenetrating, overlapping
maintain an everpresent hint of rectilinearity. The closed
contours that enfold the unbroken chain of action are held together by a figure of
Christ
charge.
which is dramatic in its bold distortions. There is no dissipating the emotional

Each figure of compassion and each tender action adds intensity to the next.
The human and
the spiritual content are as inexhaustible as the formal discipline
unsurpassed. Inevitably there
is
anticHmax when
this single
episode
is
is
seen as but one
element in the carefully balanced pattern of four frescoes that enframes the central arch.
Nevertheless, to return from the softer, more continuous curves of the Entombment,
where the pyramid of figures almost sinks to the low rectangle of the sarcophagus into
which Christ's body gently disappears, is to re-experience the mounting pressure of
new formal and new narrative dimensions

with which Pietro must have studied the careful decorative
balancing of the upper church becomes the basis of a drama of design that far outstrips
emotional and visual excitement with
added.
The
sensitivity
the sources of its inspiration.
similar sense
Ambrogio's
may owe something
to
of the frescoed altarpiece
in
of quaUty and of concentrated power, which
influence, recurs in the very different context
the opposite, north transept.
The huge
Crucifixion in the
246
main body of the south
tran-

sept seems,
tions
however, to betray massive workshop intervention. Not only arc
of the upper church continued, but certain elements

well as the ruined and
Assisi, as
much
restored scenes
tradi-
tlic
Simone's frescoes
reflect
from the chapter house
at
in S.
Francesco at Siena, attributable to Ambrogio.
Ambrogio's Reception of St Louis extends
ideas
embodied in Simone's Neapohtan

S. Croce in Florence. Reces-
version of the scene and in Giotto's Apparition at Aries in

sion
estabhshed plane on plane to a far greater depth and
is
is
fully articulated
by
a rich
complexity of vaulting. The forward limits of the space and the intervals between each
plane are established with fresh clarity, and the variety of pose in the serried ranks of
figures
a
The
unprecedented.
is
discipline
comparison with the predella panel in
of 1329.
mg
and logical crispness of this scene

Pietro's signed
muddled attempt
Pietro's version seems to be a sUghtly
stressed
is
by
and dated Carmehte altarpiece

to
reproduce the exist-
complexities of the fresco and not a prior stage in their achievement. Indeed, the
which apparently confirms
altarpiece,
the early dating of the Sienese as well as of the
memorable for its luminous colour and atmospheric dehcacy.

The second of Ambrogio's frescoes, the Franciscan Martyrdom, is notable for the coher-
Assisan frescoes,
is
chiefly
ent extension of a hollow square of figures
by
the architectural perspective of a
complex
Gothic building. The figures themselves display innumerable complexities of movement
and foreshortening, and
also reveal
Simonesque delight
contemporary fashions
in
an
interest in Eastern
physiognomy
visible in the
that matches the
preceding fresco.^
reverberations of the expansion and poHtical consoHdation of the
The
Mongohan empire;
the opening up of trading and missionary activity in Central and Far Eastern Asia
series
of pubHcations, culminating in Marco Polo's
works
Travels, issued in 1298,
Oderico da Pordenone's description of the Far
as
activities increased the fascination
East, written in 1330; all
of the oriental world. Not only
and jewellery, but Mongol slaves were imported in increasing
and in such
such
carpets, spices, silks,
quantities.
The
thirteenth-
century aboHtion of indigenous slavery in Italy seemingly began a process greatly

accelerated
by depopulation following
the plague of 1348. Special legislation for the
regulation of slavery was introduced in Siena in 1356 and in Florence in 1369, and the
show that there must have been many thousand male and female
Mongohan slaves in late-fourteenth-century Northern and Central Italy. In his oriental
figures Ambrogio was evidently drawing on personal experience of a growing comresulting records
monplace of Tuscan
Far and
ever,
its
away
the
impact on
city Hfe.
most important artistic

textile design.
mirroring the closely
woven
effect
of the Mongohan expansion was, how-
Byzantine, Persian, Arabic, and Moorish patterns,
threads of Mediterranean culture, had
the splendour of the twelfth- and thirteenth-century silks
South ItaUan centres estabhshed by Frederick
many of
the South Itahan weavers evidently
With
moved to
II.
from
the
fall
all
Sicily
contributed to
and from the
of the Hohenstaufen
the great Tuscan-Ghibelline
of Lucca, and the fresh impulse which they gave to local manufacturers
prepared the way for a vigorous response to the challenge of Far Eastern textiles flovnng
in through Pisa at the tium of the century. The process which had freed the heraldic
textile centre
beasts
of Middle Eastern
textiles
from
their
framing roundels
247
is
accelerated. Horizontal

ranks give
way
to free diagonal patterns. Heraldic
forms take on the vividness of
Hfe.
Swift running movement, flowing curvilinear forms and spiky, energetic patterns,
often incorporating actual or
mock
cufic lettering (Plate 99A),
add
new
excitement to
the brilliant play of colour in a rapidly expanding repertory of designs.
The Chinese
Western terms, but the trailing ribbon clouds and

oriental animals are sometunes directly copied. Almost invariably the technical refinements of diasprimi and silk damask are the occasion for new ventures in design. This
changing pattern of external influence is symboHzed in the imported textiles buried with
Cangrande della Scala (d. 1329). The intricate patterning of his tunic has Middle Eastern
contributions are often translated into
origins,
and the Far Eastern patterns
visible in the
brocaded surcoat mingle, in the
funeral drapes, with Arabic inscriptions.
Well before
workers,
this
the
mid
century, probably assisted
by
migration of
a further
in Florence and in a nimiber of North Itahan centres, the
textile
woven
time out of Lucca, cloth of similar design and quaUty was being
most important of which was
Venice. There the Lucchese and the South ItaHan streams appear to have intermingled
to produce a
no
less
increased naturahsm
sumptuous, but
is
The importance of
at
times a broader, cahner style in
which
a softer,
apparent (Plate 99b).

ItaHan fourteenth-century production does not end with
unique position in the history of European
textile
its
design or with the impact of imported
Burgimdy and England to the Balkans.

Whereas ItaHan embroider)', wliich reached its quahtative peak in Florence and is best
represented by the altar-frontal now in S. Maria in Manresa, worked by Geri Lapi and
Jacopo Cambi, is notable for its direct translation of the new pictorial styles into a
Itahan cloth on every major cultural centre from
textile
mediimi, the Lucchese and Venetian
silks
and damasks make
significant contri-
butions to contemporary painting and sculpture. In sculpture the survival of
poly-
full
chrome is largely confmed to a relative handful o( wood carvings, but as the century
wears on the actual treatment of the stone or marble surface is increasingly affected by
concepts of patterning that derive from
design
is
textiles.
not confined to the splendid costumes
brogio's dancing maidens. In Ambrogio's
In painting, the part played
worn by Simone's
by
textile
courtiers or
Am-
own small Maesta in the gallery at Siena (Plate
ii2b) and in innumerable altarpieces of the second half of the century, \yhether in
Orcagna's Florence or in North Italy from Bologna to Milan, or in the Venice dominated by the shimmering tradition cstabhshed by Paolo and continued
Veneziano, the whole surface of the panel

pattern. In
many cases the designs used by the painters may have been directly taken from
contemporary
silk textile
fabrics,
and the general influence which the subdeties and brilhance of
colouring had upon the painter's palette
vividly alive, yet higlily stylized, textile patterns

terval
by Lorenzo
often virtually transformed into a textile
is
and two-dimensional design must
also
is
incalculable.
on the
Sicncsc frescoes of the
may wcU
mid twenties during
effect
of
of the
line
now
and in-
have been profound.
In Pietro's Crucifixion at Assisi the sudden change to

to an interest in contcmporar)' fashion,
The
painters' sense
reflect
crowding and complexity, and

acquaintance with Ambrogio's
pause in the Assisan operations.
Ambrogio
himself may even have helped to plan the composition, and the maintenance of separate
248

workshops would have been no bar
to an intermittent sharing
of
assistants. Pietro's
straightforward compositional borrowings and the details of facial type in either

brother's
works show
twenties than
is
therefore
it
no
surprise
The remaming
upon styhstic grounds.

on the walls and barrel-vault of the south
scenes
church appear, from
their enthusiastic fussiness
the thirties at the earliest.
members of Pietro's
trol.
own
transept of the lower
They seem to have been painted by followers or former

by men who were working under his direct con-
shop, rather than
Nativity of the Virgin of that
Assisan frescoes lack in
The
greater in the late
and multipHcity of detail, to date from
In certain respects they point as clearly towards
as to Pietro's
was much
that styHstic ijiterpenetration
had been ten years earhcr. The documented collaboration of 1335
drama and
same
Ambrogio's
year.
Presentation
Whatever
in formal concentration they
of 1342
these derivative
make up
in
charm.
putting of Giovamii Pisano's Pisan pulpit to a novel architectural use in the Last
Supper (Plate io8a)

Palazzo
PubbHco
is
reminder that from Pietro's Arezzo altarpiccc to Ambrogio's
frescoes, there are constant references to the sculptor's
Lorenzetti brothers' paintings.
The
fire-Ht
secondary scene, with
its
work in both
the
contented cat and
with a puppy doing the washing up with its tongue while a servant does the drying with
Taddeo Gaddi's experiments with Hght in S. Croce in Florence.

from the second quarter of the century onwards architectural adventure,
structural jumble, and a keen eye for attractive detail are the characteristics of innumerable minor masters.
The two brothers' close relationship during the thirties, at least as regards facial types,
is confirmed by Ambrogio's Massa Marittima Maesta (Plate io8b). Here, the Virgin
sits upon a cushion held by angels. Their wings form the curving back-rest of her
throne. Faith, Hope, and Charity are seated on the massive steps, and they transform
the meaning of the altarpiece. The transcendental emphasis and the unusual depth of
theological significance are matched by striking compositional originaHty. The weighty
figure of the Virgin becomes the apex of a formal pyramid of unprecedented grandeur
and sohdity. The white of Fides and of the step on which she sits is a dramatic contrast
a dishcloth, recalls
Indeed,
steps. The
upon this basis is as complex and original as the formal
structure, and both are dominated by the broad, calm areas of the Virgin's dark blue cloak.
The volume of the pyramid is accentuated by the firmly spatial setting of the flanking
figures, and it is typical of Ambrogio that its diagonal thrust in depth should be completed in the purely surface diagonals of the winged back-rest of the throne. The
pyramid in space becomes, alternately, a triangle upon the surface. In its subtlety and
deUberation this design prefigures similar experiments which later taxed such painters
to the black
colour
as
of Spes and to the apple green and pinkish red of the succeeding
harmony
that
is
built
Masaccio, Leonardo, and Raphael. Even the early-fourteenth-century
difficulties in
handling crowds have been transformed into a virtue. Although no reahstic change of
scale occurs,
Ambrogio's compositional manipulation
is
so delicate that
bank on bank
of half-glimpsed heads and haloes seem to bring about, not the collapse of otherwise
convincing space, but a suggestion of infinity, as tiers of heavenly hosts stretch back
into the distance. Needless to say, the splendour of tooled gold and the
249
numerous
small,

broken forms intensify the calm simplicity of mass, of contour, and of colour in the
central figure. Characteristically,
it is
in this intensely Christian context that the study
of Antiquity, for which Ambrogio was still famous in Ghiberti's time, led him to create
the diaphanous, close-wrinkled robe through which the underlying female forms of
Charity are faintly
The
visible.
by
Birth of the Virgin painted
Pietro in 1342 (Plate 113A), at the height of his
powers, proves that compositional originahty was not Ambrogio's monopoly. The
altar-
embodied in the Arezzo Annunciation (Plate

io6b). The painting and its frame become the elements of a single architectural construction, convincing in its simulated three-dimensionaUty. The framework of the
piece
a full-scale elaboration of ideas
is
triptych
is
so cunningly extended into the articulated vaulting of the
oddly enough,
onwards
it is
only the further depths of space upon the
left,
where
bedroom
that,
a corridor leads
many-storeyed courtyard and to the temple beyond, that prevent the
to a
from degenerating into a well defmed and shallow, open-sided casket. As it is,
ghmpse into a much more extensive architectural complex, derived from that in
altarpiece
this
Duccio's Denial of St Peter (Plate 66), successfully maintains the association with a
monumental
reaUty. Approximations to actual vanishing points hold
good
more
for
all
but the left-hand section of the design, and these intensify the unifying action of
the succession of planes in floor or chest or gaily chequered bed.
The
horizontal ex-
tension of the bold perspective pattern of the coverlet into the right-hand section of
the triptych, or the unprecedented daring
which allows the bisection of one figure by
column of the frame

complex yet coherent
no less carefully calculated to create

The precision with which the simple
contours of this figure also help to emphasize the centre is only matched by the subtlety
with which the whole design is balanced. Within the framing symmetry the perspecthe right-hand central
itself, is
the impression of a
space.
tive centre has
been
offset slightly to the right
A similar asymmetric balance

sensitivity
of design
figures; the majestic
is
and the figure centre shghtly to the
left.
maintained by the two flanking panels. The instinctive
the Giottesque simpUcity of the
calm with which they
volumes and contours of the
permit the vivid colour, the bold pat-
act,
terning and multipHcity of observed detail, to bring a sense of gaiety into this solemn
moment without
detracting
from
its
meaning or diminishing the awe of great and
supernatural events.
The
marks the surviving peak of Pietro Lorenzetti's career. Such

Madonna enthroned, in which the absolute identity
of shape between the opening L and the fmal numeral of the inscription leaves no alternative to a date of 1340, assist the many associated signed or reasonably attributed works
Birth of the Virgin
charming minor works
as the Uffizi
body of Pietro's artistic personality. They no more add to his artistic

do the intrinsically fascinating, related groups of paintings attributed to
in fleshing out the

stature than
Ugolino Lorenzctti and
to the
Ovile Master. Despite continuing attributions to Pietro,
the stylistic character of the altarpiece of the Bcata Umilta (Uffizi), with
effective simpUfications
little
that
of light-fall and of architectural form,
reasonable doubt that

it is
it is
neither
from
250
as
indicated
its
brilliantly
such that there can be
a workshop product, and

by the repainted inscription.
hand nor yet
his
not to be dated 1316, instead of 1341
is

a masterpiece in which the reflections of Simone Martini and of Pietro Lorenzetti,
mingled with certain Florentine elements, are as clear as the prefigurations of the
It is
colouring and doll's-house clarity of form of fifteenth-century Sienese
Sano
artists
such
as
di Pietro.
Although there
works, there
is no interior hkc the Birlh of the Virgin among Ambrogio's surviving

every reason to beheve that he was the leader in the perspectival studies
is
underlying such achievements. There
of the Presentation
is
some evidence of this
(Plate 113B). Despite retention
formula of a building that
is
of the
in his
contemporary panel
relatively archaic compositional
half-interior, half-exterior,
contains a
it
number of im-
portant innovations. Whereas the normal Sienese or Florentine interior of the time has
much more width

six
than depth, Ambrogio's temple, which
The
bays deep.
disposition
is
of the weighty foreground
three bays wide,
unusually accurate and insistent vanishing-point perspective of the floor.
tomed
richness
figures
and
of the massive
reminiscent in
is
its
of observation.
Among
fully
The unaccus-
which allows new head-room for the

decoration both of Giotto's Dance of Salome
architecture,
sculptural
and of Giovanni Pisano's Sienese facade,

subtlety
is
figures adds thrust to the
is
matched by firmness of construction and by
the figures, both these latter quahties reach their peak
in the thumb-sucking infant Christ, kicking against the swaddling bands.
Ambrogio's
last
surviving
The approximation
work
is
his majestic Annunciation
well as in the complex system of preparatory experiments

surface, confirms the intensity
hard to guess
of 1344
(Plate 114A).
to true vanishing-point perspective in the completed flooring as
how many
still
of his investigations during the
discernible beneath the
last
years of his hfe.
It is
Renaissance technical advances might have been anticipated
Black Death had not intervened. The self-deprecating, homely gesture of the
whose compact bulk was originally completed by wings of comparable grandeur,
blends with the Virgin's concentration on the supernatural event, the coming of the
Paraclete. The massive volumes and calm silhouettes accentuate the simple spatial
clarity. There are no distracting architectural incidentals. It is a grave, compelling image,
and it is typical of Ambrogio that his earhest and latest works should both combine a
if the
angel,
sense
of rigid
The
discipline
seal is set
with the excitement of unusual experiment.
upon Ambrogio's
intellectual
and
almost introspective panel of the Annunciation
is
artistic stature
when
the thoughtful,
placed beside the teeming Allegories
of Good Government and Tyranny in the Palazzo PubbHco in Siena. The frescoes, which
he painted in 1338-9, cover three walls of the Sala de'Nove. The fourth is taken up by
The Allegory of Good Governon town and countryside are illustrated on the right-hand wall (Plates no and iii). The left-hand wall displays the
Allegory of Tyranny, followed by Ill-Governed Town and Country. Each wall therefore
contains a major and a minor centre. The primary centres of the side walls are, moreover, exactly opposite each other. In the main allegory the labels of the various figures
and the lengthy rhymed inscriptions give the meaning. On the left, Justice in her distributive and commutative aspects leads to Concord, seated at her feet. The citizens, umted
windows opening on
ment
by
itself is
the
panoramic view of the
opposite the windows, and
common
contado.
its effects
cord that stretches from the

251
scales
ofJustice through her hand, choose

for their ruler the
Common Good, who holds
right. Charity, flanked
by Hope and
the other end and
above
Faith, hovers
enthroned upon the
is
his head.
upon
He is
surrounded by
by Prudence,
by Magnanimit}', Temperance, and Justice. There
are, moreover, hterar)' counterparts for the t)'pical medieval play on words involved in
the repainted initials aroiuid the rider's head. These seem originally to have read CSCV
- 'Comune Senarum Civitas Virginis'. The Common Good and The Good Commune
the governmental virtues. His bench-Uke throne
on the
Fortitude, and Peace, and
is
shared
the left
right
are identical.
Ambrogio's approach
to the Vices
round the throne of Tyranny
than his treatment of the Virtues, in which pubhc blessings such

are added to an
expanded
hst
as
is
no
less
interesting
Peace and Concord
of the predominantly private. Christian virtues of scholas-
sits side by side with War and Treason and Division.

The enc)xlopedic summar)' is then completed in the framing medallions, some of which
have been destroyed. The Trivium and Quadrivium of the Liberal Arts are there, and the
benign planets of the Sun and Moon, Venus and Mercury, and the fruitful seasons,
Spring and Summer, are opposed to Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars; to Nero and the
Tyrants of Antiquity to Autimin and to snow-swept Winter. The close st}'Hstic links
between the figures of the Liberal Arts and their counterparts on Giovanni Pisano's
Pisan pulpit draw attention to the extent to which Ambrogio, like Giotto, drew on
sculpture for his inspiration. Even more striking is Securitas' dependence on a Roman
ticism.
Among the Vices,
Cruelty
Victor)'
still
most deeply
preserved in the Pinacoteca at Siena. Indeed, her

felt
sister
figure
Pax
the
is
and thoroughgoing re-evocation of Antique, close-folded, sculptural
forms in pre-Renaissance painting
(Plate ii2a).
of her robe echo the figures of Security on
Her pose and
the diaphanous simphcity
Roman coins.
Despite the reference to ideas embodied in Simone's and in Duccio's versions of the
Maesta, these firescoes constitute an essentially secular
ing emphases of mid-fourteenth-century
world of allegory blends into
a vision
Florentine constructive compositional
life.
On
programme and
of observed reahry
tion radiates
Lucchcse
from
silks
no
(Plates
and in). The
is
r\-pically Siencse. Subtle
from Giotto and Maso permit the fidfihnent of
implicit in Duccio's Entry into Jerusalem
chang-
and powers of abstraction become the
skill
foundation for an all-embracing natural panorama that

structions that derive
reflect the
the right-hand wall the medieval
of thirty years before
(Plate 67 a).
con-
the promises
The composi-
where the maidens dance in

point that the pamted hght shines
the centre of the well-governed city,
of the very
latest fashion. It
is
from
this
and right over the houses, on into the countryside, running against the
natural flow of hght from the windows on the farthest right. Here too is the perspective
centre of the wall. The buildings all reveal a highly developed version of the naturalisout to
tic,
left
softened oblique setting developed
a reahstically
low viewpoint and
all
by
Giotto.'*
slope
down
The main
roof-lines are
gently to
left
all
or right.
seen
The
from
figure
diminution docs not merely run from foreground to background in the usual way:
it
also spreads
from
this
same
focal point to left
and right across the surface of the
fresco,
ending, on the far right, with the tiny figures in the foreground of the countr\sidc.
Pictorial
duninution follows the same laws
as natural
252
diminution.
It
radiates in all dircc-
AM15KOGIO AND PIETRO LORENZETTI

tions
from
the onlooker. This reading of the composition
encouraged by the figures
is
moving out to either side as if cast off by the snaking, whip-hke motion of the central
dance. They arc, as always, large for their surroundings, yet their placing and apparent
movement play a fundamental, not an incidental, part in the compositional subtleties
that control so
wide an area of wall.
Just as the well-governed
scape
is
the one
to
still
town
panorama was undoubtedly
trait
is
Ambrogio's
hill-city
of Siena, so the painted land-
be seen outside the windows. The original purpose of this por-
Now,
to
emphasize the home-town relevance of the pohtical
mine of information on the fourteenth-century

town and country are portrayed.
A building still under construction even shows one of the chmbing platforms of the
scaffolding. The anchorage for the supporting beams in this extremely economical
system is provided by the pigeon-haunted holes which pock the faces of so many
ideas that
it
The
scene.
embodied.
it is
fashions and occupations of each class in
medieval buildings. The builders used the unfmished walls of church or palace
as their
own
scaffoldings, reducing
struts
and balconies which once sprouted in profusion even from stone palaces are
carefully portrayed.
temporary timber-work to the minimum.^ The wooden
They were once common
but now, apart from
modem
in Siena, as in
also
every medieval town,
by
reconstructions, they are represented only
few
The emphasis throughout is heavily upon town

The flying figure of Securitas and her inscription,
survivals in such centres as Bologna.
commerce and
agricultural base.
its
and the entire compositional and thematic structure of Ambrogio's allegory, express
the achievement of the total military and economic domination of the surrounding
countryside for which the towns had struggled over the preceding centuries.
fresco illustrates the fundamental
out Central
Italy,
whatever form of government held
an almost perfect depiction of the governance of Siena
upon
More than that, it is

The diminished emphasis
local sway.
itself
the fully fortified country castles that had been the seats of feudal power; the
confinement of the nobles, whether by statute or from economic preference, to

castellated city palaces; the stress
are
all
The
economic changes which were taking place through-
on commerce and the doininance of a
civil
their
ohgarchy,
shown.
However much
is
to be learned of Sienese hfe and customs
from
this fresco, it still
represents the ideal, rather than the real, state of affairs. There had, indeed, been peace
and
relative stability in the preceding decade.
and the frescoes are
a firm
Enormous wealth had been accumulated,
reminder to the ruling
classes that
cohesion and the
common
common good
of the commercial ohgarchy, were the only

means by which the supremacy of the Nine, who acted as the guardians of their interests, could be maintained. It is a call to unity, and there is naturally no reference, even
good, which meant the
in the scenes of Tyranny
itself,
to the real nature
divided the upper and lower levels of the
of the constant struggles which by now

society, and which had long
new commercial
replaced the battles between the emergent bourgeois classes and the feudal aristocracy.
The almost unheralded emergence of a unitary landscape panorama on this scale is a

reminder that the decades which precede the Black Death are a revolutionary period in
Tuscan art. Time and again experiments which had been begun were never finished
253

in the changed conditions, whether theological or social, econonoic or
Time and
second half of the century.
of the
artistic,
again the surviving achievements of the major
masters are not followed up for fifty years or
more and
therefore appear as isolated
phenomena. They may even seem to be anachronistic if ill-founded formal canons are
arbitrarily estabUshed and the history of the period misread. The Httle Maesta in the
Siena Gallery, assignable to Ambrogio, is a case in point (Plate ii2b). The attempt to
create a coherent, circular space, and the Hmitations to which the attempt is subject,
attribution. Similar experiments occupied Pietro
and
are
wholly compatible with the
his
shop and are echoed in the Ovile Master's Assumption. Although accentiuted by
the
way
which the heavy
in
of the
dissolution
angels'
incisions
the treatment of the figure of

(Plate 114A).
The
have increased the fragiUry of the paintwork, the
forms by the golden rays of majesty
God
in the spandrel
is
strictly
of Ambrogio's
comparable to
own
Atmunciation
innovations in the Maesta are thoroughly consistent with the experi-
ments in composition, in perspective, and in the use and control of hght on which
Ambrogio was engaged. The

as
remarkable
alone, objective size
becomes
Whether or not
two
himself, they
109,
A and
fit
the
retain the convention

is
in the description
is
both truth to nature and remarkable economy
towers and palaces and
its
lesser
gates within the encircling walls even include the
by
its
is
of the
is
encircling walls,
its
centrally
The various
complex Sienese type of the
as
obvious
as its
centres throughout Italy

local overlord
upon
of a protective system against
demonstrated.
The way
interruption of the outer wall, yet
The moated
actual
own
is
in
itself
which
it
its
which
are con-
natural or artificial
common
holds the
foes
town
and
as a
defenceless
defended from the insurrection of the
internal hierarchy
of defence and domination.
keep, defended against internal treachery or the breaching of the outer
walls, yet subject to the

seat
minor
castle
castle's role as part
refuge in defeat
subject citizens,
its
churches (Plate 109A).
textbook could describe more briefly or more clearly the arrange-
and dominated by, the
eminence. The
final
No
the innumerable major and
to,
of the bird's-eye panorama, and the
of a typical medieval town with
placed cathedral, and
nected
by Ambrogio
closely related to those in Duccio's Temptatioti of Christ.
Despite the doll's-house quaUt)', there
ment of
scale.*
small landscapes in the Siena Gallery are also
walled city of the townscape
Porta Romana.
and in such hands
artists,
of monumental
irrelevant to a sense
extremely well into the pattern of his career in the mid twenties (Plate
Both of them
b).
of design and pose within so small a format are
richness
demonstration that in the hands of great
as the
of power,
is
clearly
menace of the
shown.
It is
central
tower which
is
against this feudal pattern
the ultimate retreat and
of control that the com-
munes had long fought. It is the destruction of this pattern that Ambrogio's city of good
government celebrates. And finally, it is to this pattern that so many communes,
weakened by misuse of freedom, were reverting.
In contrast to the Townscape, wliich boasts a virtually obliterated
tree
the right foreground,
it is
the
way
in
nude beneath the

which the all-pervading signs of human
husbandry and habitation are accompanied by an absolute emptiness of animal or human

hfe that lends the
is
the
first
little Landscape its particular hold on the imagination (Plate 109B). It

pure landscape painting since Antiquity to have survived. Although, like
^54

many of the most remarkable
rediscoveries and inventions in the history of art,
it
has
no immediate progeny, it remains one of the many indications of a changing attitude

to the natural world. The boldest of late medieval experiments in theme or composition
are often attempted in such
minor panels or
border, so that
no horizon and no sky
and both these paintings arc
in miniatures,
remarkable for the continuity of the ground plane.
rmis unbroken to the upper
It
are to be seen. In the landscape there
is
even an
ingenious attempt to explain the bird's-eye view by means of jutting foreground
mountains, on some higher peak of which the onlooker
These same rock forms play

balances
a vital role in the
may
see himself as standing.
system of compositional checks and
by which each seemingly haphazardly placed or casually truncated form is so

The outcome is an apparently unpremeditated shce of Ufe in
exquisitely controlled.
which each element contributes

acterizes so
similar
many of the
of wholeness and inevitabihty

works of art.
to the sense
greatest
combination of control and casualness
Goverued Town and Country
(Plates
no
is
the secret of
Ambrogio's Well-
and in). The road that climbs to the
provides a coherent explanation for the landscape panorama.''
from the
that char-
The
right foreground to the centre of the far-offrange of hills
is
hill-city
planar continuity
an achievement not
more remarkable, the hills themselves sit in the

landscape, as do real hills. They represent no break in continuity and no reversion to
Byzantine, surface-climbing formulae. The road that casually runs from the plains to
disappear among the whaleback contours only underlines a point made in the very
to be repeated for a century or so. Still
structure
of the
hills
themselves.
It is this
Florentine feeling for the structural qualities of
observed phenomena that gives Ambrogio, the imaginative heir of Duccio, the basis for
an evocation of the
parallel in
free
and teeming multiphcity of the natural world that has no
range or quahty until the time of Bruegel. In
visual analysis,
with
its
had been, and remained, incapable of capturing the

unlikely that the lost scenes of
attributed to Giotto
the Florentine system of
fertile casualness that
of the natural world. The Florentine achievement lay
aspect
it is
itself
creative simplifications and logical reconstructions of essentials,
by
Vasari,
Good Government
were Lorenzettian
is
one major
in other fields entirely,
and
in the Bargello in Florence,
in character. Indeed,
it is
precisely
because he harnessed Florentine analytic powers to the Sienese synthetic vision that
Ambrogio's accomphshments
are, in their
omti way, far beyond the reach either of
Giotto or of Duccio.
The
barren, war-torn landscape and ruined
Ambrogio's suppleness of mind and
his
town under
the rule of
Tyranny
reflect
determination to give intellectual concepts
formal counterparts well able to support intense emotional charges. Light
now
flows
windows. Tyraimy, unlike the Common Good, spreads

only blackness and despair. In contrast to the bmldings on the opposite wall, Duccio's
foreshortened frontal pattern is exclusively employed. There is no linear continuity.
No window-line or balcony runs onwards from one building to the next. Changes of
naturally, as if
from
the real
tone and colour are incessant and abrupt, and in conjimction with the flow of hght
create a flickering jazz-pattern
ment
in the figures. Isolated
from the jimibled forms. There
is
no easy flow of move-
warring groups are in deUberate disharmony with their

255

architectural surroundings.
The
distribution
of the figures in the main piazza
empty, hollow look. In order to transform the
Simima
into art,
stituted ruins for
Ambrogio
intellectual dialectic
creates
an
of a medieval
has not merely illustrated the thematic contrasts and sub-
sound houses: he has contradicted, broken, or inverted each one of the
canons of harmonious design estabhshed with such care and sensitivity upon the opposite wall.
The
principles
which Giotto formulated with such
clarity,
and which proved
so entirely enigmatic to the great majority of the contemporaries and followers
aped the husk and surface of his
style,
who
have been appUed with a deep luiderstanding to a
under what might seem to be the most unpromising

by a weight of interlocking allegorical, poHtical, theological, and
philosophical meaning; hedged about by the hair-spUtting subtleties of logical distinction, Ambrogio once more demonstrates the inseparabihty of form and content in great
works of art. The deeper the famiharity with the texts, the clearer it becomes that art is
wholly
different context. Here,
conditions; burdened
untranslatable and that the forms create a content set outside the realm of words.
poem
has a prose equivalent, and visual beauty has
256
no verbal counterpart.
No
CHAPTER 28
TUSCAN PAINTING
There
art
is
an inevitable conflict between the splendour and complexity of the works of
with which the
liistorian tries to
come
words with which he must communicate

struct; to bridge
some of tlie
barriers
to grips and the poverty and paucity
his
fmdings.
of prejudice;
when
not impossible,
all
tend to
faced with the few paragraphs
called miiaor masters or
of the
to relate, to recon-
an introduction to direct
become more
which must
difficult, if
sufiice for the so-
with the sentences by which whole schools of painting are
The beauty and
strait-jacketed.
to provide
They
experience; these are the art historian's tasks.
To rediscover,
works concerned, and
variety of the
the subdc develop-
ments within the output of the most cautious and conservative of painters, are not
real
less
because they are to some, or even to a large, extent conditioned and inspired by the
achievements of still greater men.
The Sienese
The intertwining of
Maesta in
S.
the
Painters
works of Cimabue and Duccio is reflected not only in the

at Bologna, which is predominantly coimected with the
Maria dei Servi
former, but also in the Maesta at Badia a Isola and in the related Maesta once in the
Argentieri Collection at Spoleto.
The
latter
is
normally associated with Duccio's out-
put during the fmal decades of the thirteenth century. The Cimabuesque elements in
these
works extend beyond the derivations from the window of 1287
Siena,
in the
Duomo
at
and the general pattern remains Florentine even in the highly Ducciesque Maesta
in the gallery at Citta di CasteUo. This painting
group of works, and the rhythmic
sinuosities
forms the nucleus of another restricted
and the
fullness
Duccio's later style are the catalyst through which the
grandeur
is
achieved.
From
this
work
it is
no great
of drapery
final synthesis
step to the
characteristic
of
of elegance and
more massive forms of

by Segna di
the Ducciesque Maesta in the CoUegiata at Castighon Fiorentino, signed
Bonaventura, Duccio's cousin (Plate 114B). The close packing of the figures,
gold striation of the Virgin's cloak,
like the
recalls the thirteenth century. It greatly increases the
impact of the central paradox whereby material bulk has been aUied to a visionary
abruptness in the change of scale.
posed not merely with the smaller
of the donors
at
her
feet.
latter's
influence
the Seminary at Siena

series
of large
saints
figure of the Virgin
and angels
is
is
immediately juxta-
her side but with the tiny figures

Virgin and Three Saints
Ducciesque elements with traces of Simone's early
paramount
in the draperies
st)'le,
of the Christ Child in a panel in
which may be connected with a document of 13 17. An important

one of them, in Moscow, including a signature, and the signed
and Saints in the MctropoHtan Museum in New York, complete
crucifixes,
triptych of the Virgin
at
Another of Segna's signed works, the
in the Pinacoteca at Siena, aUies
and the
The huge
257

works may be attached. Most of the documentary refrom 1298 to a final mention in 1326 and to a death
some time before November 13 31 are to modest activities like the painting of book
covers. The lost signature on a fragmentary painting in the Prepositura at Casole d'Elsa
is much more significant. It reportedly ran 'Hec in Apothega Segnae pictoris Senensis'.i
the nucleus to
which
further
ferences to a career that stretches
The
relatively
germinating
low quahty of the work imphes
modem
on
that the inscription bears
the then
between personal and workshop production. It adds

discussing Giotto's surviving signatures and represents
distinction
point to conclusions reached in
a refinement of the sense of personal achievement so richly
documented
in Giovanni
Pisano's sculpture.
lost inscription
possible
on the dismembered
documentary mentions
in 13 17
from
altarpiece
and 1325 are
all
S.
career of Ugolino da Siena. Allowing for a reduction in artistic
sonal flavour that attaches to the output of even the

is
virtually Duccio redivivus.
and
who
The case of Meo da
Croce in Florence and
that survive to stabiUze the
power and
for the per-
most derivative of artists, the
Siena,
latter
who was active in Perugia in
13 19
signed an altarpiece preserved in the gallery there, must, however, dispel any
misconceived idea that only the great are influential or that beauty only lurks in masterpieces.
The Umbrian
reverberations of his charming,
stiif eclecticism,
based, but only
on Duccio, echo down into the Marches, the Abruzzi, and beyond. They form
the basis of a whole vernacular lovingly spoken with the various inflexions of their local
dialect by iimumerable minor artists.
based,
The
Giotto's
Florentine Painters
acknowledged pre-eminence among the Florentine painters
psychological difficulties for the historian. There
was not
the founder
existence of a
is
creates certain
a tendency either to forget that
of the early-fourteenth-century Florentine school or
non- or even anti-Giottesque school of painting in the
city.
he
to assert the
There
is
also
more homogeneous and more clearly

bounded than is justifiable. It seems to be more reasonable, on existing evidence, to see
Giotto as gradually achieving dominance in a school founded as much on late-thirteenthcentury Roman style as on native Florentine tradition. It is a school, moreover, that is
more or less continuously fertilized by contact with the art and artists of Siena. From
his experience of Rome itself, of Pisan sculpture, and of the Umbrian melting pot of
Florentine and Roman trends in S. Francesco at Assisi, Giotto evolved a monumental
personal style. From the second decade of the century onwards this, to a greater or
a temptation to see Florentine art as being far
lesser extent, directly

least affected are
work of every Florentine artist. Those

They were simply continuing, with
of which Giotto's own style is in some senses
or indirectly affected the
not to be seen
as anti-Giottesque.
relatively htde disturbance, in a tradition
the
most extreme and most important development.
this
all-pervading influence, as the
maker of
To view
Giotto, in the hght
programme which
his Florentine
temporaries and successors then attempted to follow as best they could

distort his real significance.
is
of
con-
likewise to
To do so is to imply that most of his fellow Florentines before

2j8
TUSCAN PAINTING
of Masaccio are
were not. They were, instead,

what they needed, and each making his own
contribution to a stream enriched by a man whose work was probably as little and as
seldom understood in its full implications as his fame was great. Florentine art in general
was at once less intellectual and less austere than Giotto's. More limited in its departure
from tradition, it was correspondingly more popular in its appeal.
One of the most obvious characteristics of all European Romanesque and Northern
the advent
men
taking
to be seen as failures. This they
what appealed
Gothic painting
is
that
to them, and
it is as
at
home upon
the manuscript page as
thirteenth- and early-fourteenth century painting
Antiquity to evolve a style which
is
the
is
on the
wall. Late-
non-Byzantine
first
not merely happy on the wall but
respects increasingly incompatible with a miniature format. Conservatism
panel and fresco painters of early-fourteenth century Florence

style that
is
easily transferable to
have painted a miniature in

sign of modernity
is
parchment, even
Among
his hfe.
is
if the artist
art since
many
among the
is
in
therefore reflected in a
may
not be
known
to
on the other hand, the

reproduce the breadth and sweep of fresco
often an attempt to
the miniaturists,
painting.
The
Crucifixion page (Plate 115A) in a late-thirteenth-century Missal in the Lauren-
tian Library in Florence (ms.
structure that
The
da Siena.
recalling
is
Conv. Soppr. 233,
f.
127
r.)
has a breadth and clarity of
only matched in the fmest of the panel paintings by such

brilUancc of the colour
Cimabue's
accompanied by
is
frescoes. Nevertheless, in the subtle,
a sense
men as Guido
of monumentaUty
plane-harmonious interleaving
of the sequence of elements that runs from the outer bordering and inscription to the
Crucifixion, and thence to the inner bordering, to the supporting figures, and finally
from the innermost border to the architectural background and gold ground, there
most sensitive accommodation to the decorative demands of the illuminated page.
is
Pacino di Bonaguida
Strong
tic
Roman
iconographic echoes
elements derived from the
wth
circles
occasional Sienese inflexions, and even stylis-
of Cavallini and
Torriti, can
mination and panel paintings of Pacino di Bonaguida.
and was probably active during most of the
first
He
is first
be seen in the
mentioned
illu-
in 1303
half of the century. His one signed
painting, the polyp tych of the Crucifixion, confirms the attribution of his
major surviving
work, the panel of the Tree of Life which is likewise in the Accademia in Florence. The
line leads from the latter to the series of illuminations in the Pierpont Morgan Library
in
New York
As
significant
script
and thence to a long
series
of more or
in the late-thirteenth-century miniature
is
and not
of the
less
closely related manuscripts.^
Crucifixion, already discussed, the
uncommon feature of the full-page miniatures of the Morgan manu-
that the compositions are simpler
and
less
fussy than those in the majority of
The colour is brilliant, but Umited in range, and is distributed in broad and simple areas. The feeling for space is sometimes quite strong, and
there are seldom more than four or five figures in one scene. Although few vigorous
movements are depicted, the result is an effect of boldness, even of drama, that is beyond
equivalent panel paintings.
259

the ability or interest of fresco painters of like calibre. The Tree of Life itself is virtually
an niuniinated manuscript both in intention and in treatment. It follows every detail

of St Bonaventure's text and illustrates each of his fort)'-eight chapters in a separate roundel.^
These pictograms are notable for
manuscript and
its
fellows, they
their simphcity
owe much
to Giotto
and
Morgan
clarity and, like the
and the fresco
painters.
Pacino's combination of Hne and soft bulk; the sense of decorative abstraction that
accompanies the earnest didacticism and fmally

;
his
dogged
textual faithfulness are seen
peak in the large gold rehef of the Communion of the Apostles (Plate
115B). This forms the centrepiece of the Tabernacle of the Blessed Chiarito. The formal
at their imaginative
inventiveness with wliich the mystery of the Eucharist
is
given visual body
is
typical
of
wide range of popular devotional works created by minor masters throughout Italy.
A special quahty is achieved by the union between the abstract gold rehef and the panel
painting of the mass below. The change of medium and of scale as the heavenly vision
gives
way
to the earthly celebration
is
the perfect counterpart of the inherent contradic-
Whether intentionally or otherwise, it

from extreme metaphysical abstraction to
tion of the theme.
change of plane
at the heart
of each great mystery.
conflicts that paintings
To
a lesser extent
it is
hke the Tree of Lift depend for
exactly expresses the abrupt

intensely felt reahty that
precisely
on such
lies
ever-shifting
their often curiously
haunting
power.
The
Frescoes in the Loiuer Church of S. Francesco at Assisi
The speed with which

most
news of Giotto's Paduan achievements was disseminated is

of the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi. Giuhano
the
easily seen in the decoration
da Rimini's panel of 1307 proves that the Chapel of St Nicholas in the lower church, in
which
reflections
of the Paduan
style are
Cycle, was likewise painted before this

the altarpiece, dated 1308, in S.
Me
Maria
combined with reminiscences of the
date."*
This
at Cesi.
An
is
St Francis
confirmed by the similar echoes in
artist
of very different cahbre,
who
from the Arena Chapel,

painted the Chapel of the Magdalen at Assisi, probably between 13 14 and 1329, during
the episcopate of Tebaldo Pontano, the donor. There is a notable concentration and
stillness in the scene of St Mary Magdalen u'ith a Hermit, and a charming fantasy in the
panoramic seascape and harbour of 5f Mary Magdalen s Journey to Marseilles. The survival
of the hieratic principle whereby the various figures are scaled according to their im-
derived his Noli
Tangerc and Raising of Lazarus directly
portance, and not according to any law of lateral or inverted diminution, and certainly
not according to their distance from the main figure,

strated in the latter.
many
single figures
The
painter's
of the
saints. In the
abrupmess of the change of

donors. Here, in the St
scale
is
particularly clearly
most remarkable achievements

majority of panels and in
are,
demon-
however, the
many
frescoes the
merely accentuates the manikin minuteness of the
Mary Magdalen
(Plate ii6a), the kneeling figure of Tebaldo keeps

superhuman grandeur to the massive saint. Both figures
overlap the painted framework, and the sheer bulk of the Magdalen is intensified by the
realism of the painted marbling that seems to thrust her forward into the spectator's
world. Yet in the last analysis it is the gravity and calm, the quahty of tenderness, that
its
human
scale
and lends
260
TUSCAN PAINTING
what might have been
such memorable heights.
raise
mere eye-level
essay in the handling
of pictorial
No similar qualities transform the crowded Allegories of Franciscan

ing of the lower church.
and
overpowered
his associates,
fmd
abstractions,
The gendc, even
their
own
lyrical,
minor
talents
illusion to
Virtues in the cross-
of their unknown painter
they are by the demands of complex theological
as
level in the Early Life of Christ in the right transept.
Where-
ever possible the borrowings from Padua are direct, but Giotto's compact compositions
have been loosened up and fdled with incident.
which
is
almost identical with the frescoed
directly Giottesque proportions to the figures,

reveals exactly the
drawing
Visitation,
is
in the Uifizi (Plate ii6b)
but which gives broader, more
especially interesting, as
same approach to the building up of form
as
do the
its
penwork
parallel striations
of the claw-chisels used in the penultimate stage of the carving of the figures on the
facade at Orvieto.' In the work of the master who completed the cycle, presumably
during the early
Giottesque elements take second place to the reflections
forties, the
both of Simone's frescoes in
S.
Francesco
nexion between the Presentation
between the Christ among

Francesco in Siena,
is
the
itself
and of the Lorenzetti's work. The con-
Temple and Ambrogio's similar panel of 1342, or

Doctors and the fresco of the Reception of St Louis in S.
more than
in the
Both
skin-deep.
scenes are notable not merely for the
depth, the richness, and the clarity of architectural space, but for the incorporation of
an accurate vanishing point. The distance-point construction which was subsequently

popular throughout Northern Europe was almost certainly the method used.* In
rate
of diminution
squares.
The
is
controlled
by
result, particularly in the Christ
seated figures
and succession of receding
cross-vaults,
among
is
the
it,
the
the convergence of the diagonals of the receding
among
planes,
most remarkable of the
its
wdth
the Doctors,
its
rectangle of
firmly constructed coffering and
spate
of perspectival experiments that
characterizes the decade preceding the Black Death.
Bernardo Daddi
The
vigoiu:
of Sienese
artistic
hfe in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, as
is shown by their ability to work alongside

Simone Martini without being drawn into his orbit, and to take nourishment from
Giotto with no trace of indigestion. In Florence, there were no men of such stature
working side by side with Giotto. Only the sculptor Andrea Pisano stands direct comparison, and it is significant of the relative strength of the two great schools of painting,
in quahtative if not in quantitative terms, that, next to Giotto, Bernardo Daddi has
well as the stature of the Lorenzetti brothers,
reasonably been acclaimed as the major Florentine painter of the

tury.''
Daddi's prolific output
Florentine art in the

is
is
first
half of the cen-
indeed the clearest illustration of the general drift of
two decades preceding
the Black Death.
The
catalogue of his
work
based on the reasonable styHstic association between the documented altarpiece painted
in 1346-7 for Orcagna's Tabernacle in
signed 'Bemardus de Florentia'.

UfFizi. It
was painted
The
Orsanmichele and the several panel paintings
first
of these
in 1328, the year after his
261
is
the Ognissanri triptych
name was entered
now in
in the Guild
the
of Medici

e Special!,
down
and the spacing of the inscription indicates the possibiUty that it is not a cutnew form of altarpiece. Daddi's
polyprych but one of the earhest examples of a
career
often arbitrarily fragmented
is
by
a false contrast
between
period and a Sienese late phase, but the contrast between the
stiffness
a Florentine early
and remoteness of
the half-length figures in this altarpiece and the intimacy of the tabernacles and altarpieces
of the
carmot be explained in these terms. In
thirties
St Ceciha Master, and to a lesser extent
the decade-old pattern estabHshed in
diluted reflections
it,
Arezzo polyptychs of 1319-20. The pose of the central figures
from the
reflects
to the
The
Tuscan
S.
the fusion of the specifically Sienese and Florentine contributions
of the Martyrdoms of St Lawrence and St Stephen in the Pulci-Berardi

in Florence show Daddi's limited abiHty to cope with the problems
Croce
of the new monumental
style.
but Bernardo's architecture
Although there are
is
There are hints of the St Cecilia Master's sense of space,
both fussy and inconsequential in its relation to the
reflections
of Giottesque soUdity, the physical
busyness, and abundant use of gesture are

sity
almost exactly that of
results
tradition.
frescoes
chapel in
first
is
from the concentration from

form. Far from imdergoing a sudden change of orientation, Daddi
Simone's work, and the increased centraHzation
polyptych to triptych
of the
of Giotto, are combined with the retention of

Simone Martini's Pisa and Pietro Lorenzetti's
no
figures.
activity, anecdotal
substitute for Giotto's psychological inten-
and cannot hold the over-extended compositions together. Their beauty hes in such
details as the
man intent on
poiuring out his coals, or in the ritual ballet of St Stephen's
empty backcloth of the sky.

on a very different kind of achievement. This stems from
a swift conversion firom the somewhat remote conservatism of the Ognissanti triptych
and an appreciation of the growing needs of personal devotion. He so transformed the
small-scale, portable tabernacle, with which Duccio and his circle had already experimented, that from being a relatively rare form it became the centre of an industry. To
executioners set against the
Bernardo's reputation
rests
the already intimate scale and jewelled colour he added intimacy in design and icono-
The demand
graphy.
for small altarpieces for personal use
century-long emphasis on the personal and

the fervent
human
aspects
grows naturally from the

of the divinity, backed by
emotionahsm of contemporary preaching, on the one hand, and the connew wealth and the enlargement and diversification of the newly
tinued creation of
emergent middle
the
new form
The
pattern that
the century.
rehable,
is
classes in the great cities
it
Its
is
all
it
successful innovations
was designed
to satisfy.
though unsigned, surviving ex-
now in the Bigallo, or Foundling Hospital of Florence, for which

(Plate 117). In the central panel spatial
insistent surface pattern.
monumental
throne.
The
It is
latter
is
intensified
curves and pinnacles and gables, and of

trefoils
demand
the earhest securely attributed and dated,
was evidently painted
planes of a
the other. Like
Daddi cstabUshed was repeated in innumerable variations throughout

developed form emerges in what, if its heavily restored inscription is
ample. This triptych
with an
on
greatly increased the strength of the
grandeur
partly estabUshcd
by
by
is
combined
the steeply rising
the cuiming interplay of the latter's
trefoil arches, with the repeated

and plain arches of the framework of the pinnacled and gabled tabernacle itself
its
plain
262
and
TUSCAN PAINTING
The clement of three-dimensional rcahsm
is
also balanced
by
the decorative separation
and wholly unnaturalistic disposition of the rim-like arch of attendant
saints
and pro-
The monumcntahty of design and the association with the theme of the Queen of
Heaven is countered by the intimacy of scale and by the fond humanity of the relationship of mother and child. This intimacy is accentuated in the Virgin humbly seated on
phets.
her palliasse in the Nativity.

hi the last analysis the visual quality
of the triptych depends upon
its
clarity
of design.
This clarity, harking back to Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna (Plate 89) and constituting
Daddi's true debt to his great contemporary, embraces both the pictorial content and
the colour, and extends to the
detail to
form of
the tabernacle
be accommodated without descent to
itself. It
fussiness.
There
alone allows a mass of

is
great subtlety in the
symmetry of the central panel is enlivened

by an emphatic diagonal of movement. The elements of symmetry and counterpoint
are no less skilfully combined in the colour. The accentuated contrast and asymmetry of
the Nativity and Crucifixion are similarly disciplined by the virtual, yet not total, symmetry of the remaining elements upon the shutters. In all these things the triptych is
the antithesis of Daddi's huge yet muddled frescoes.
apparently simple device whereby the rigid
To
speak of industry in connexion with Bernardo's tabernacles, altarpieces, and devo-
no mere form of words. Of liis four surviving signed works, only the
reveals no obvious workshop intervention. Indeed, the S. Maria
Novella and Gambicr-Parry altarpieces of 1344 and 1348 respectively may have been
almost entirely executed by an assistant to whom a whole group of further paintings
tional panels
triptych
is
of 1328
has been assigned.^ Bernardo's attitude to the
meaning of a signature therefore seems
to
be very like that previously attributed to Giotto. In catering to what was by earher
standards a mass market, Daddi, too, estabhshed a large workshop, and the contributions
of
his
many
assistants are
shop's output. There
is,
apparent in innumerable permutations in most of the
however, further confirmation that the attitude ascribed to
Giotto in connexion with the Louvre Stigmatization
deo Gaddi, Giotto's most important
assistant
is
not improbable.' In 1334, Tad-
and pupil, was perfectly happy to sign
what amounts to a straightforward copy of Daddi's Bigallo tabernacle of 1333. It is true

that it has no gable and no pinnacles. The arches and the mouldings of the frame arc
heavier and rounder. The figures are, as might be expected, somewhat bulkier, and the
throne has been sUghtly reduced in scale in order to accommodate a disproportionately
heavy pair of twisted wooden colimms. The
latter,
though virtually the trademark of
the Giottesque fresco painter, serve only to upset the intricate checks and balances of
None of these minor changes affect the fact that Gaddi was active in
world in which the craftsman's largely unchanged attitude to his work was still the
Bernardo's design.
a
background
The
for the
major
social
and
artistic revolutions.
Bemardus and dated 1334 in the Accademia

by Cimabue and Giotto. This
surrounded by saints and angels, remains the
centre panel of a tabernacle signed
in Florence reverts to the
main
tradition estabhshed
pattern, in which the Virgin's throne is

most popular among the many related and derivative
pieces as that
from
S.
panels,
and in such major
Pancrazio, probably painted in the early forties and

263
now
altar-
in the

UfFizi.
Though crammed
into a misbegotten nineteenth-century frame, the latter
most complete surviving

such scenes
as the
work
full-scale
Meeting
Golden Gate in the predella, the
at the
is
the
by Daddi himself In
backwash from Taddeo
substantially painted
Gaddi's frescoes in the BaronceUi Chapel in
S.
Croce
may now be added
to the famihar
com-
blend of elements from Giotto and the Lorenzetti. The fluency and occasional
plexity of design seen also in the Vatican predella, datable to the late forties, clearly
show
The nature of Daddi's
the influence of fresco painting.
tion of space as such
is
charmingly
illustrated in the tiptilted
interest in the representa-
bed of the
Birth of the Vir-
of figures, similar to that which harmonizes with the landscape of
gin. Here, a chaplet
the Nativity,
is
contrasted with the rectilinear architectural setting.
As might be expected
in a period
dominated by the fresco
painters, narrative plays
an increasingly important role in the predellas of polyptychs and the wings of tabernacles. Daddi is, however, typical of the vast majority of Florentine panel painters and
miniaturists in that his approach
in the construction
is
episodic rather than dramatic. This
of single scenes and in
positional sequences.
He
reflected
is
equally disinterested in balancing or contrasting scenes in
is
order to create a compositional counterpart for the narrative as a whole.

individual design
is
It is
reduced to the simplest possible terms and no attempt
indicate locale or to incorporate descriptive detail that his art does take
quahty.
both
of concern with the creation of com-
his lack
The much damaged
on
when the
made to
is
a dramatic
Vision of St Dominic, possibly belonging to a lost altarpiece
of 1338, is one example (Plate 11 8b). The outcome is not psychological but visionary
drama, and the vehicle is the abstract play of colour, hue, and silhouette. The rushing
figures
of the two apostles gain acceleration from the sudden tightening of the curve of
the containing arch.
bulky,
The black of the Dominican cloak
The interlocking
of ground.
It is as
the Baptist's
Head
curves give positive compositional force to the stark, rectangular strip
memorable
in
(Plate 146A),
The peak of Daddi's

shutters
drama of the
stresses the visual
once accentuated the needle-sharpness of the proffered sword.
static silhouette that
its
very different
which
way
as
Andrea Pisano's
surely played a part in
its
narrative invention occurs in the Adoration
of the tabernacle of 1338
Presentation of
creation.
on the outside of the
in the Seilem Collection (Plate ii8a).
The
camels'
heads are virtually reduced to abstract, disembodied shapes against the elaborate tooling
of the golden sky. The sweeping, bare, diagonal union of the two compartments and
the cunning compromise between the needs of either leaf and of the whole design, the
subdeties in the placing of each element, are only
matched by the continuously
fertile
balancings of decorative and descriptive needs. In the left-hand panel the tension be-
tween the
central placing
effective as the reiteration
of the figures and the outward sweep of hand and rock is as

of the pyramid of mountain in a pyramid of figures on the
right. In the latter case there
but in those of volume and
is
mutual reinforcement not merely in terms of silhouette
spatial disposition.
The
relationships that bind the columnar,
half-seen figure of St Joseph to the horizontals of the shed roof, and then,
similarity instead
of contrast, link
compartments, are no
witliin these
less
this
same roof
to the
subtle or less visually taut.
upper compartments
is
The
exactly calculated to
264
by means of
ground planes of the upper

placing of the single
draw
the eye to
saiiats
God
the
TUSCAN PAINTING
trefoil. In this way the final bonds of form and content and of
and decorative patterns have been forged. A total arch or pyramid
Father in the crowning

architectural, figural,
of figures
is
created,
of the frame, or
ties
and the tension that unites the linked and yet contrasting arch forms
the pyramid of mountain to the upper pediment, or, through the
pimched work in the haloes and the sky, unites die individual figures
comes an all-embracing principle of design. The self-same elements
coincidcntally combined in other tabernacles of the type are raised
level
of existence in the seemingly calm context of this
The
little
to the frame, be-
inerdy or
that
lie
to a
new, vibrant
altarpiece.
of several hands both here and in the Bigallo tabernacle confirm that even
on the smallest and most intimate scale the cooperative processes that created monutraces
mental masterpieces
were
like the
Orvietan sculptures or the frescoes of the St Francis Cycle
The gulf that
separates Bernardo Daddi from Taddeo Gaddi

them can be seen in the new elegance of the reiteration of Taddeo's twisted columns on the main face of the tabernacle. Here, too, the complicated
counterpoint of Daddis colour scheme can be fully appreciated.'"
The constellation of lesser lights profoundly influenced by Daddi's liiglily sopliistiat Assisi
and the
ties
used.
still
that bind
cated and yet seemingly luidemanding response to the changing and continually increasing
demands of private devotion and pubUc worship
not bounded by
is
his assis-
and anonymous immediate followers. Jacopo del Casentino, who probably died
in 1358, seems to have been active throughout the first half of the century. His ocuvre is
tants
based on the signed tabernacle in the Cagnola Collection in

variations
on
an
manner, based in the
eclectic
St Ceciha Master
and
in
IVlilan
and includes such
It moves from
on the tradition epitomized in the work of the
the second on that of Duccio and his circle, towards a fluctuat-
theme
a thirteenth-century
first
as the S.
Miniato altarpiece.
place
ing style in which Sienese and Giottesque elements mingle with the closest reflections of
Daddi's manner.
The
latter's
immensely
embodied in
successful formulae are
number
of his altarpieces and tabernacles.
Both Daddi and Pacino contribute to the

Domenico Lenzi's Biadaiolo Fiorciitiiw (Bibl.
artistic
formation of the illuminator of
Tempi 3)." This Mirror of

must surely rank among the most attractive
manuscripts ever produced in Italy. In the full-page scenes of Harvest and of the Com
Alarket in a Year of Plenty nature sings, the angels trumpet, and the sky is sown with
Humanity,
treating
of the
flowers (Plate 119A). His
and besides the
detafls
of
sale
work
is
Laur. MS.
grain,
fuU of humorous observation and precise description,
of commercial hfe there
full-page townscapes. Especially interesting
is
are three broadly patterned,
the
piece or tabernacle of the Virgin in the Market
indistinguishable
from
that
insists
on
slip
Above
which he
sits
sacks
between the patterned
all
he
is
a Year of Famine are given a reality
notable for the breadth of his design and
creates, abohshes,
the firmness of his figure
corn-tubs, and then
in
gailyjumbled
the figures in the altar-
of the crowd that struggles round the corn-bins or of the
devfl hurtling through the sky.
for the boldness with
way in which
and figures
stripes
and recreates a
volumes or upon the
down upon
circular
the wide,
flat
or walk across them on to the
In front of or behind, under or over,
on or
into,
265
it is all
the
spatial situation.
He
grouping of the heavy

border.
flat,
The
figures
parchment page.
same to him, and yet the

vigorous associations with the three-dimensional world of day to day still seem to grow.
Such wit and gaiety, such happy juggling with pattern, form, and colour and the visual
they are unusual in the
facts
of life, are
The
proUfic and closely related but distinct
Dominican
restraint,
as irresistible as
with
Effigies,
perhaps
is
more
his
more
field
of Florentine illumination.
pcrsonahry of the Master of the
artistic
limited solidity and his tempering of gaiety with
fully representative
of the central stream of Florentine illumi-
nation.
Taddeo Gaddi
The only member of Giotto's immediate

in a convincing
form
is
of
that
his
circle
whose
artistic
personahty has survived
reputedly long-time pupil and
assistant,
Taddeo
Gaddi. His earhest dated works are the frescoes of the Life of the Virgin in the Baroncelli
Croce
Chapel in
S.
1338, and
Taddeo
the
(Plate 120).
is
likely to
They are documented between October 1332 and August
have helped in the painting of Giotto's
same chapel. The triptych
dated 1334, and Vasari
which only the
in Berlin, derived
from Daddi and
states that the frescoes in the
figures in the vault remain,
choir of
S.
own
altarpiece for
discussed above,
is
Francesco at Pisa, of
were signed and dated August 1342. In 1347,

Taddeo at the head of a short
the authorities of S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas at Pistoia placed

list
of the best masters of painting

'
who are in Florence'. The four remaining names were
those of Stefano, the far-famed but elusive follower of Giotto

ized as 'the ape of nature',
working
Andrea Orcagna,
in Andrea's shop.
his
Taddeo received
whom Ghiberti character-
brother Nardo, and a certain Francesco,
the fmal
payment
for the still-surviving
was two years before he signed and dated the Madonna enthroned
Finally, in 1359, 1363, and 1366, the year of his death, he was a mem-
altarpiece in 1353. This
now in the
Uffizi.
ber of commissions called in to adjudicate upon the plans for the
Compared with
in the Baroncelh
(Plate 120).
Chapel are characterized by two apparently conflicting developments
growth
in both the quantity and complexity
accompanied by increased emotionaHsm.

a tendency to mysticism develop
of
his
own
hand
of the descriptive
detail
is
on human intimacy and

respects Gaddi is both typical
greater emphasis
in hand. In these
time and the source of one of the main streams of later-fourteenth-century
Tuscan painting. In
an almost
new Duomo.
Giotto's concentrated and severely disciplined works, the frescoes
abstract, architectural terms,
it is
noticeable that the introduction of
and a-structural twist into the famiUar motif of the
spiral columns is
accompanied by the painting of two small but startUngly rcaUstic shelved niches in the
fictive marble dado. The disposition of a few Hturgical necessities that include the bread,
febrile
decanters for the water and the wine, a pyx, a prayer-book, and a paten give full value
of empty space and simple solids. Historically, these aumbries form a

between the similarly disposed still-lives of Antiquit)' and the illusionist intarsia
cupboards of the Renaissance. 'to the interplay
link
The way in which St Anne in the Birth of the Virgin squats hke a peasant on the floor,
dandling her swaddled infant, while her companion, kneeling on one knee, leans forward with a sweeping gesture of affection to grasp its hand in hers, is typical of the
human
intimacy shared with Daddi and the Lorenzctti. There are even overtones of
266
TUSCAN PAINTING
melodrama
and ovcr-lifc-sizc quality of the gestures
in the theatrical
Joachim. Here, however, the transition

is
from
in the Expulsion of
the merely theatrical towards the visionary
accomplished partly through the lighting and partly through the strangeness of the
of the temple. This resembles nothing so
soaring, spidery architecture
bays cut from the nave and
aisles
impact of the then unfinished
of an uncompleted church, and
may
much
as three
reflect the visual
Duomo. The immediate juxtaposition of the
rocky
lurid,
landscape o{ Joachim's Vision adds a fmal unexpected touch.
The
which
use of hght for
its
emotive quahties recurs in the Aiimmciation
the barren landscape and contorted figures startled
an unearthly glare that marks
The
to the
of the
in the treatment
symbolism. Hope, reaching for the crown that
floats
beyond her
within the spinning treadmill of desire (Plate iiqb).

realistic
total spatial situation
bathed in
The
clash
Virtues in the
demands of mere
vibrant intensity of the figure of Faith far outstrips the
dimensionally
Shepherds, in
their sleep are
advance in the exploration of night lighting.
a definite
Emotional and descriptive aims are similarly linked

vaults.
from
grasp, seems caught
between the thrce-
foreshortening of the barrel-openings and the unreaUty of the
becomes
a positive factor in the
impact of these memorable
images.
Taddeo's interest in descriptive detail reaches

Presentation
and the Marriage of the
base for the increasingly
less
Virgin.
its
climax in the
Together they form
crowded and more
latest scenes
vertical designs
on
the upper wall. In
the marriage scene the introspective, grave procession and solemn
Arena Chapel are telescoped into
of the
weighty compositional
ceremony of the
thronging carnival. The sacramental core
is
vir-
submerged by the external trappings. On the other hand, for all its complicated
unreality, the architectural structure of the Presentation constitutes a new development
in the coordination of sohd objects. The perspective is less consistent than Giotto's and
tually
far less subtle. Nevertheless, the jutting
sohdity of the extreme oblique construction
by CavaUini, by the Master of the St Francis Cycle, and by Giotto in his earlier
Paduan frescoes is fully exploited. Every variant of the Giottesque obhque construction,
from an almost imperceptible modification of the foreshortened frontal setting onwards,
is used with fme impartiahty in the Baroncelli frescoes. Yet this particular composition,
used
recorded in a remarkable fourteenth-century drawing that

introduced into the fresco during restoration, '^
artists
such
Pol de Limbourg.
as
fourteenth-century designs,
its
it is
is
Though such
the one
is
free
of the confusions
later
Northern
seldom seen
in later-
which excited
theatricahty
the extreme version of the
is
obHque
setting, rather
than
subsequent refmements, that was most often intermingled with other, contradictory
constructions.
It
was seemingly valued
for
its
direct
impact by a host of minor
artists
who were little concerned to analyse the representational subtleties of the visual world.
To turn from the frescoed Presentation to the twenty-six pierced quatrefoil panels
and two semi-lunettes of the cupboard that Taddeo painted, presumably at about the
same time, for the sacristy of S. Croce is to move from one extreme to the other. In the
Ascension there
is
unprecedented clarity in the
looking up in amazement
at the flying figure
spatial disposition
of Christ.
of the
crowding, a cunning disposition of simple, architectural elements and

267
circle
of apostles
A notable economy and
lack of
a concentration

on dramatic
essentials characterize
each of the twelve quatrefoils of the Life of Christ. As
image of the Christ Child in the star in the BaronceUi Story of the Magi,
the tendency towards increased humanity is illustrated by the kneeling Virgin of the
Adoration of the Magi or the kneeUng Christ in the Baptism of Christ. Like the continued
in the striking
use of emphatic, emotionally charged gestures, such things appear to be connected with
Taddeo's personal friendship for the Umbrian mystic Fra Simone
was
certainly in Florence at least
parallels for
from 1333
to 1338, and his
De
Fidati.^'*
The
friar
Vita Christiana provides
such changes. The scenes of the Life of St Francis, on the other hand, are for
from the Assisan canon and its Giottesque modifications
the most part closely derived
Croce
in S.
itself.
The
Franciscan patrons or
tions in the
from
contrast seems likely to stem
from
own
less
with certain notable exceptions such
fit
their
compHcated frames, whereas,
as the Stigmatization, the
the air of being scaled-down frescoes, ill-adapted to their
By
Andrea Pisano's
contemporar)' reHefs for the baptistery doors. In their compositional cun-
ning they seem to be specifically designed to
1347-53,
when he was
Taddeo had,
Pistoia,
his
recent inven-
neighbouring Bardi Chapel, or from both. Despite their understandably
greater descriptive content, the gospel scenes are strictly comparable to
more or
of
the specifications
the overwhehtiing impact of Giotto's
like
on
active
all
have
surroundings.
the altarpiece for S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas at
most of the Tuscan
Martini and the Lorenzetti,
Franciscan scenes
new
artists
under the influence of Daddi and
moved towards a highly decorative style with transcendental
overtones. Elaborate damasks and a decorative play of folds, together with a cunning
relationship bet^veen pictorial masses
tive complexit)'
ficant
is
of the gilded frame,
and the greatly increased structural and decora-
are noticeable features
of the work.
No
less signi-
the replacement of the corporeal, earth-bound, standing angels that traditionally
surround the Virgin's throne by the disembodied, winged heads of the Seraphim.
in his
Madonna of 1355, Taddeo followed more
When,
directly in the trail that Giotto blazed in
was no longer spiritually transway. In a society increasingly concerned with a S)Tithesis of the practical
of commerce and the transcendental demands of religion, the Sienese contribu-
the Ognissanti Madonna, the decorative elaboration
muted
in this
reahties
tion to
its
art
was
clearly an essential
and invigorating
supposed, a softening and weakening element.
It
force.
was
It
was
not, as
is
commonly
internal need and not external
chance that motivated the eclecticism of Taddeo Gaddi and Bernardo Daddi. Taddeo,
in particular, was successful precisely in so far as he escaped from Giotto's towering
shadow to create his own union of opposites.
The fresco combining the Tree of Life with the Stories of St Benedict, St Lotus, St
Francis, and St Mary Magdalen and with the Last Supper reflects a shghtly different aspect
of the general trend of Florentine
art (Plate 121). It
fills
the
whole end wall of the
refec-
tory of S. Croce like an enormous frescoed altarpiece, and the differences which separate
it
from such works as Pacino's panel of the Tree of Life are as important as the
which link them. The general sophistication, and the conscious decorative
ties
the handling of the writhing scroll-work, arc quite
constant juggling with shifting levels of reaht)'.

the reahstic grouping of the figures at
its
feet
268
is
unknowTi
to Pacino.
similari-
intent in
There
is
The transition from the mystic tree to

no less complex than that between the
TUSCAN PAINTING
mystical and didactic central scene as a whole and the complex spatial settings and de-
of the flanking
tailed landscapes
carefully contained within the
histories.
flat,
The
from
sliift
these contrasting forms, so
coimnon framework, to
on another trestle table set
even more extreme. The confidence with which
decorative marbling of the
the Last Supper, spread before the entire structure as though
within the real space of the refectory,

such
of illusion could
feats
much both
pubUc had
the painters and dieir
from allegory and pure
range,
is
now be attempted,
virtually at eye level,
is
an earnest of how
learnt in a httle over half a century.
didactic painting to illusion,
is
The
wider, and the balancing
of three-dimensional with planar, decorative considerations
is more complex and more

any other fourteenth-century Florentine fresco. Whether
carefully controlled than in
is more moving than Pacino's comparatively restricted image, it is

more daring and more revealijag of contemporary complexities of thought
or not the outcome

certainly
and of artistic vision.
Maso
Except
Banco
di
that his belongings, including his painting
sequestrated
by Rodohb
de' Bardi in 1341,
and
is
known of Maso
di
Banco. There
he appears in the Guild Books in
Compagnia
1343 and 1346, and in the Register of the

factual
equipment and unfmished work, were

that
di S.
Luca
in 1350,
however, an uncontested
is,
nothing
tradition, origin-
ating with Gliiberti, that he painted the frescoes of the Life of St Sylvester in the Bardi
di
Vemio Chapel
in S. Croce.
of quite another order. The

compass of
Comparison with Taddeo's work
claritv'
a quatref oil, but
on
reveals a sensitivity
of design, not merely within the carefully
monumental
scale ; the subtlety in
restricted
composition and
the feeling for the structure and appearance of the natural world are such that Giotto
and Ambrogio Lorenzetti come immediately

the late thirties.
to
mind. The frescoes probably date from
therefore significant that there are soft lateral recessions, strictly
It is
comparable to those in Ambrogio's Well-Governed Town

centralized interiors
and
is
as
Dragon (Plate
the
parallel to the plane
well
flect a
as the
(Plate
no), in both of the
main wall, as well as in the fmal, outdoor scene of 5( Sylvester

I22b). None of the main frontal surfaces of any of these buildings
on
the
of the wall. The recessions to
normal diminutions towards
way of seemg normally ahgned
left
and right across the surface,
a vanishing axis, therefore inescapably re-
objects.
They cannot simply be
objective relationships of an obhquely disposed series. Since the chapel
narrow, the fmal
effect
pattern estabhshed
by
is
is
and
artist
The
has imphed, and an apparently completely curvilinear
generated. Such thoroughgoing exploration of the meaning of Giotto
of the
also taken
of the
tall
remarkable. Strong vertical foreshortenings complete the
pioneering investigations into the subtleties of visual appearances are rare.

tions
both
the painted recessions into and across the surface of the wall.
eye supphes the curves the
world
a record
is
lateral recession in the
up by the
artist,
upper part of the Feast
closely related to
recessions into the Latin-cross
Maso,
church in the fresco oi St
lower church of
S.
separation bands
between the frescoed
Francesco at
Assisi.
at
who
Cana
at
269
however,
of lateral
Stanislas raising a Youth in the
Moreover, in Maso's case the

architectural
are,
series
Padua
introduced a
The imphca-
framework and
total absence
of
the painted scenes
PART FIVE: PAINTING I3OO-I35O

shows
hundred years before Alberti gave the idea geometric definition,

opened up as windows through into a new, if not yet scienti-
that already, a
the soHd walls
were
fully
fically organized, reaUty.
Maso's compositional
fresco
o( St
skill, as
well as his acuity of perception,

(Plate i22b). Here,
Dragon
Sylvester and the
two
is
demonstrated in the
successive episodes involve
At first the action is compositionally

upon their backs before the emperor
and his retinue, and St Sylvester calms the dragon on the left. A moment later, and the
saint comes to the centre; the magicians wake. The discrete elements are drawn tothe dual representation of
On
relaxed.
most of the
figures.
the right the stupefied magicians he
gether and attention focused at the apex of a formal triangle that coincides with the
The
perspective centre.
puU and
architectural recession to the
wings then
the perpetually self-energizing cycle can begin again.
awareness of the subtle part played by each casual-seeming
reasserts
its
Every return
detail.
The
gentle
increases
arch that frames
from the earher action, yet

fmal climax the foreground column and the broken arch that
the central figure of the saint; the linking figure, half turned
fully a participant in the
draw
the eye towards the
left
and help to frame, but not to
isolate, the action; the
asymmetric balance that includes both form and colour the alternating tonal contrasts
;
between
the
light
windows
that reach their chmax in the stark forms of

bHnd and empty eyes pierced by the darkness of
and dark, and dark and hght,

cut into a white wall -
the sky; the process of discovery
with freedom and
clarity
is
as
never-ending
with complexity
is
as the
paradox uniting
discipline
complete.
Restoration has greatly altered the quahty of the actual brushwork. Fortunately the
decoration of the chapel
o( Trajan, wliich
sliip
can
still
is
is
completed by the stained-glass windows. Here, in the head
one of the best preserved
be seen (Plate i22a).
the quahty of a
monumental,
Though
sections, the
painted in
finished drawing.^'
power of Maso's draughtsman-
monochrome upon the

The full force of the
glass, it
has
Florentine
draughtsmanship, so often softened by the transition into paint, has been retained. The
colour scheme of the
pairs
windows
is
based upon symmetrical contrasts. In the three lower
of figures the dominant green and yellow of the emperors on the
left
is
balanced
dominant red and purple of the saints upon the right. The transposition of
the upper pair of St Sylvester and the Emperor Constantine also creates a cross-over of
against the
colour.
Any
rigidity in the pairing
dominant by small
at Siena,
ness
areas
every pane
is
is,
however, obviated by the interpenetration of each
of its opposite. As
notable for
of the frescoed colour
areas
its
is
in the great
round window
in the
absolute evenness of tone and colour.
Duomo
The calm-
ennilated in a heightened key of brilliance and
translucence.
Maso's originality
of the tombs in
is
no
less
evident in terms of more familiar subject matter. In one
same chapel
a fresco fills the niche above the sarcophagus and commonument. In it the dramatization of the theme of personal salvaattempted by Amolfo in the tomb of Cardinal dc Braye is carried a stage farther.
this
pletes the sculptured
tion
The dead Bardi kneels in prayer on his sarcophagus before a desolate, rocky landscape.
The trumps of doom arc sounded in the sky and an impassive Christ in a mandorla,
flanked by angels with the symbols of the Passion, makes the ritual gesture, palm up270
TUSCAN PAINTING
turned and palm depressed, of welcome and of condemnation.
and of the load of guilt and of uncertainty,
age,
banking famihes, that

reward.
It is
in
afraid,
The
well
is
as
It is
significant
of a new
hope, sustained by the great
should be no simple scene ofjoyful introduction to a merited
every sense a personal Last Judgement.
awful day each soul
and
this
as
for a
moment
It is
a recognition that
upon
that
quite alone, stripped bare of all pretence, uncertain
under the gaze of God.
sense of personal involvement,
of personal participation in the narrative of salvawhich was the theme of so much of contemporary preaching takes on a different
but no less original form in the closely related Pieta di S. Remigio in the Uffizi (Plate
123A). In this panel, which is the subject of continuous attributional controversy, two
tion,
donors kneel,
They
a saint's protecting
are there.
And
hand upon each head, and pray among the mourners.
yet in the same breath, the so real scene with
all
corporeal actualit)' has become, once more, a mystery and a symbol.

intensely
felt,
particular historical event that a preceding generation
the trappings
It is
no longer
of great
artists
of
the
had
become eternally
actual and eternally remote. As men felt the practicalities of this life draw them farther
from a natural and unquestioning godliness, the urge for union became more fevered.
struggled to portray and to transpose
by
art into the present:
it
has
Here, the Giottesquc gravity and the calm corporeahty remain, but the changing
tudes that dominate the next half-century are already immanent.
The
atti-
cross stands as a
pregnant symbol, bare against the intricacies of the surrounding frame. Joseph of Ari-
mathaea holds the

ing in a solemn
is
a stLUness over
intricate
nails
ritual.
all.
upright and undefiled by contact with his hand, as
The no
less
columnar figure of St Peter
timeless, quiet
rhythms of the composition.
sorrow
It is
is
faces
him and
271
prays.
There
beautifully expressed in the slow and
a fitting close to the chapter
teenth-century Florentine achievement.
if participat-
of mid-four-
CHAPTER 29
The Riminese School

of the group of small panels which
form the nucleus of an early-fourteenth-century Riminese
School, but which have also been attributed in part to the Romagna.i They are linked
to each other by their miniature scale, by their ahnost jewelled execution, and by the
iconographic originahty of the multipUcity of small scenes into which the majority
There is
as yet
certainty about the provenance
no
are usually considered to
of them are divided. Whatever solutions are eventually accepted, they are closely
connected with the documented works of known members of the Riminese School and
their styhstic origins are certainly as
hybrid
outcome
as the
Ravenna
the influence of the mosaics of Venice and
is
distinctive.
Although
so transmuted as to be barely
is
definable, Byzantine elements are as obvious as the relationship to miniature painting

and to the tradition of the many-storeyed Romanesque panels of Umbria and the
Marches. In the earUest examples, produced about the turn of the century, the influence
of Cavallini's
soft style
is
extremely strong. Very soon, however, reminiscences of the St
CecUia Master and of the

distant,
Roman
painters
working
sometimes direct echoes of Giotto and
Nevertheless,
tributions
it is
not so
much
at Assisi,
together with sometimes
his early followers,
begin to predominate.
the ingredients as the blending and the personal con-
who
of the anonymous minor masters
created
them
that are important.
A vertical panel with six scenes from the Life of Christ in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome
is
typical
of these early Riminese works. The deUcate shell-pink and varied shades of
blue vie with Byzantine golden highhghts
set
on
a dark
ground, and the emphasis on
many
tonal contrast and gradation constitutes another distinctive feature of the school. In
similar panels
panel in
earUest
the interplay
it is
Rome
is
of hght and dark that dominates the whole design.- The
also interesting for
named members of
its affinities
with some of the output of one of the
the school, the miniaturist Ncri da Rimini. Signed
of 1300, 1308, and 13 14 survive, and his consistently conservative

an almost purely Bologncse to a substantially Riminese extreme.
The impact of the new
Assisan style
upon
the School of Rimini
works
from
st}4e fluctuates
was such
that direct
copies of Assisan frescoes were incorporated in GiiUiano da Rimini's signed and dated
altarpiece
of 1307
latter the insistent
(Plate 123B)
and in the anonymous Cesi altarpiece of 1308. In the
volumes of the standing
the perspective of the Virgin's throne.
The
saints
accompany
violent contradictions in
greyish bone-white of the complexions in
Giuliano's panel and the richness of the colour scheme are typical of the finest Riminese
productions.
When
the gold-patterned
damask of the Virgin's cloak
retained the
still
original deep crimson that contrasted with the grey-white of her tunic, she
apex of a central triangle of white based on the inner pair of female

272
saints.
became the
Her crimson
cloak was a similar focus for the concentration of bluish-reds in the three upper and
outer right-hand figures. The vermiUon cloak and brown tunic of Christ become
respectively the apex of a triangle of red, both based on, and confined to, St Catherine
and St Agnes, and the focus of the greys and browns that dominate the three remaining
upper and outer saints upon the left. These principles of concentration and of linked and
balanced contrasts form the disciphned base on which the further intricacies of the
colour harmony are built. They enhven and assist the centralizing tendencies of the
figure poses and add a
new dimension
to the simple formal symmetry of the design

framework and hmitcd interest in volumetric structure.
It was probably only a few years later that an unknown master painted the much
damaged scenes from the Life of the Virgin on the walls of a chapel in S. Agostino at
Rimini. His talent, not unhlce that of the St CeciUa Master, was essentially for static,
widely spaced designs. Where crowds occur, as in the Doriuition, they are ranged in
orderly, calm rows. The various episodes in the scene of the Nativity, Washing, and
with
Assisan architectural
its
Annunciation
to the
Shepherds are imusually dispersed.
the Presentation that his quahties are

(Plate 124A).
The four
affection, slow,
pattern,
all
however, in the one scene of
It is,
summarized and
his
very hmitations act
as virtues
figures are spaced as evenly as columns. Small gestures
of
grave movements, echoes of Giottesque ideals of bulk and drapery
contribute to the solemn ritual taking place before the slender, gay, and
soaring architecture of the temple.
The
of Giotto's temple in
detailed reminiscences
the Arena Chapel (Plate 93c) and the analogies with Herod's palace in the Peruzzi
Croce
Chapel
in S.
rhythm
that recalls the paintings
mon
a
(Plate 97A)
the basis of a quick and
complex
architectural
both to Giotto and to Ambrogio Lorenzetti seems indeed to argue not so
mutual interaction
lost.
form
of Pompeii. The appearance of so many elements com-
No
as a
common
much
source in Late Antique designs then extant but
now
long journey separates the pure, calm colours, the restraint and lyricism of
Tablinum of the House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto

Pompeii from the chaste and Christian gaiety of the Riminese design.
the Third Style decorations in the

in
more
no exception. The miniaturism charscale is matched by gigantism at the other.
Provincial schools of painting often tend to venture to extremes avoided in the

sophisticated centres.
acteristic
The
The School of Rimmi
of so many works
at
sheer size of the figures
particularly
panied
by
one end of the
on the end wall of the choir
of the Enthroned Christ and
great bulk.
They
is
are
still
the
in S.
impressive in their mass and colour
the entrance to the church, the better part of 180 feet away.
static style
Agostino
at
Rimini, and
two St Johns at the top of the wall,
The
is
accom-
when seen from
contrast
between the
of the somewhat CavaUinesque Last Judgement on the triumphal arch,
as
well as of the presumably slightly earlier frescoes of the chapel previously discussed,
and the paintings on the
side walls
of the choir
is
no
less
extreme. Here, crowds and
rushing movement, riotous activity and eccentric formal accents are the rule.^
Apart from Pietro and Francesco da Rimini, Giovanni Baronzio, who, like his
circle, is chiefly remarkable for iconographic originaHty, is the only remain-
immediate
ing
named personahty of any importance. Giovanni was
possibly died
much
earUer. Setting aside the Crncifix
273
certainly dead
by 1362 and
of 1344, signed by a Johannes

Pictor,
who
is
by no means
certainly Baronzio, the nucleus of his surviving
the polyprych in the Gallery at Urbino, signed
notable for the naive incongruity with which
Thrown
is
and dated 1345. Visually, the

its
The
is
is
various elements are thro\vn together.
the operative word, although the iconographic
coherent and the outcome charming.
work
altarpiece
scheme
thoroughly
is
closely related altarpiece in the
church of
MercateUo shows an even greater tendency to lateral extension, but is considerably less
interesting. It lacks such wholly original iconographic touches as the Christ Child
standing
on
the
almost sideways
of the added
ground and
at
reacliing
upwards
to
embrace a Virgin
who
one end of the happy architectural jumble of her throne.
of the narrative scenes which, in the Urbino
interest
It
altarpiece,
is
seated
none
form the
has
number of related panels. The dipt)'ch of the Dormition and the Crucifixion
is among the most extraordinary of these latter works. In the Dormition,
the frenzied ]ev.'s attempt to tear the coverlet from the bed. In the Crucifixion (Plate
124B), small originaUties in the treatment of the main scene, such as the figure carrying
the ladder with his head stuck through the rimgs, accompany an enumeration of the
full hst of fantastic happenings associated with Christ's death. The relative quiet of the
casting of the lots is over. Now, the soldiers slash the seamless robe. The temple veil is
rent. The dead rise from their graves and chiasms open in the earth. Such iconographic
boldness does not stand alone. The sudden change of scale, dependent not on relative
position but on relative importance; the arbitrary piling of the crowds beside the cross;
the patchwork briUiance of the colour and the emphasis on strangely shaped and
bridge to a
in
Hamburg
powerfully contrasted silhouettes, Hkewise contribute to the fmal fantasy.
similar breathless narrative invention characterizes the
mid century
painted soon after the

tino.
in the
These have been attributed not only to Baronzio or
more
reasonably, to the following of Pietro da Rimini.
St Francis dated 1333, signed a Crucifix in
Chiara in Ravenna,
as
crowded
Chapel of St Nicholas
frescoes probably
m S. Nicola at Tolen-
his followers
The
but
also, possibly
latter, besides
painting a
Urbania and probably painted frescoes in
S.
well as a panel of the Deposition in the Louvre. Whatever the
is no gainsaying the ebulUence of a decorative scheme in which black

dominant role alongside deep red, blue, and ochre. The Evangelists in the vaults,
books piled helter-skelter in and on a plethora of desks and shelves and tables,
answer, there
plays a
their
faldstools, footstools,
cupboards, drawers, chests, and boxes, instruct the Doctors of the
Church with wide, pen-wielding

being gently hauled
flower in his
fist. It is
home
gestures.
High upon one wall
very small Christ,
after teaching in the temple, turns to clutch
in the accumulation
ing and activity, that these late
of genre
another wayside
of this kind, in constant crowd-
detail
members of the School of Rimini
express themselves.
The Bolognese School
The medieval fame of Bologna

In art
its
glory
lies in its
is
inseparable
from
that
of its university and law school.
illuminated manuscripts. As elsewhere in Northern Italy, a
Romanesque idiom, strongly indebted

formulae, was dominant in the
at
times to direct injections of Byzantine
late thirteenth
^74
century.
The most remarkable of
the
several
major
groupings that have been distinguished
stylistic
on
centred
is
bibles in
(BibUotheque National, Lat. i8; Plate 135A) and London (British Museum,
Add. 18720) and includes that in the cathedral at Gcrona, signed by Bernardino da
Modcna. The expansion of the figure decoration to the margins, previously reserved
Paris
for foliate designs,
in a
like certain
show
Jerusalem, these bibles
working
whole development of fourteenth-century
significant for the
is
Moreover,
illumination.
very different
manuscripts illuminated in the Latin
the extent to wliich the supposedly
backward
prefigure the interest in anatomical sohdity that
style,
often too exclusively associated with the frescoes of Cavallini and Giotto.
background and hnked roundels

stained glass
and
is
The diapered
mind French manuscripts and
call to
direct or indirect derivatives in centres like Assisi.
its
kingdom of
miniaturists,
French
also
Although the
deUcacy both of drawing and of colour, and the balanced relationship of text and
decoration, are outstanding,
it is
the strength and nature of the Byzantine borrowings
most extraordinary feature of
that are the
the draped figures
naked limbs. The

doubtedly have
is
these manuscripts.
startling.
construction of
and complexity of movement and foreshortening undo with the bold inventiveness of Giotto's teeming Hell
ricliness
much
to
Arena Chapel. The almost Carolingian
in the
The sohd
only matched by the firmly shaded volumes of the heads and
One wonders
if the scholarly
nated manuscripts of this
The
class.
classicism
Ambrogio
of certain figures
Lorenzetti
may
have
Book of Canons
The
(ms. Vat. Lat. 1375) signed
of Bologna does
less
illumi-
much
is
reflected
byjacopino da Reggio.
existence of such traditions in the late-thirteenth-century
tine ateliers
no
influence of the style extends, indeed, into the field
of iUuminated legal codices for which Bologna was already famous, and
in the
is
known
Romanesque-Byzan-
to explain Giotto's almost instantaneous impact
on what is often considered to be a highly conservative art. As Cimabue was surpassed

by Giotto, so, in Dante's view, did Franco Bolognese outshine Oderisi da Gubbio.
Unfortunately there
no
is
why
particular reason
the manuscripts already discussed,
or the further group connected with the droleries, the genre scenes, and the mixture
of French and Byzantine

Naz. ms.
(Bibl.
e.
i.
8),
stj'hstic
elements in the Infortiatum of Justinian
Turin
at
should be assigned to Oderisi. Similarly, no documentary
evidence hnks Franco Bolognese with the rich, Giottesque volumes, the broad brush-
work and bold compositional sweep of

(Este. Lib.
long
list
the miniatures of the Gradual at
Modena
manner occur
of early-fourteenth-century Bolognese manuscripts. Many of them
ms. r.
i.
6)
often associated with him. Variants of this
notable not only for the richness and invention of their architecture, but for the
plexity and
competence of the
spatial settings
of large groups of
figures.
The
in a
are
com-
Hst in-
cludes legal codices and secular romances, as well as service books and bibles, and
extends to such prosaic products

soft,
as
guild statute and matriculation books.
The new,
volumetric style derived from Giotto, yet retaining hints of earher traditions,
particularly fmely represented in the Stattiti dei Merciai
The
of 1328
is
(Plate 1253).
influence of the Bolognese School of manuscript illumination
was
felt all
over
Angevin Naples. There, it blended with French forms and

with the echoes of the style of CavaUini, and above all with the Sienese maimer, to
Italy
and spread
as far as
275

its products. Numerous versions of Peter of Eboh's
poem on the baths of Pozzuoh were illuminated. There is a copy of Boethius (Bibl.
Naz. Napoh MS. v. A. 14) in which the miniature of Music and her Court represents
create a school hardly less varied in
somewhat
isolated
peak in the achievement of the court
There are important
style.
versions of Dante, of the tragedies of Seneca, and a full range of ecclesiastical

scripts.
In particular, a
fme scriptorium
active far into the second half
Beauvais (Badia di Cava MS.
workshop,
this
typifies a
in the Badia at
Cava
of the century. The Speculum
Membr.
whole
manu-
dei Tirreni remained
Historiale
of Vincent of
1330 and reasonably attributed to
26), dated
of NeapoUtan manuscripts characterized by
class
multipUciry of illustration and liveliness of invention.
Outside the
painter to
field
emerge
of illumination, Vitale da Bologna
is
the only important Bolognese
in the first half of the fourteenth century.
Two
1334 and had died by July 1361.
He was already a painter by
paintings, seemingly
with strong Sienese con-
form the nucleus of Vitale's surviving production. The first is the signed
and much repainted Madonna dei Battuti in the Vatican Gallery. The second is the
signed Madonna dei Denti of 1345 in the GaUeria Davia-Bargellini in Bologna in which
the splendid golden gryphons on her cloak recall the heraldic patterns on contemporary
Lucchese sUks. The rather uncertainly documented polyptych of 1353 in S. Salvatore
in Bologna may be added on styUstic grounds. The lateral panels, in which the central
figures compare in dehcacy and in decorative intensity with such works from the
nexions,
Loren2etti circle as the Ovile Master's Assumption,
form the
essential link vidth several
some of which
Pomposa, the earhest
other works. These include the frescoes from the church of Mezzarata,
are
now
in the Pinacoteca Nazionale at
Bologna the
;
frescoes at
of which is dated 1351; and the attributed panels of the Adoration of the Magi in Edinburgh and of St Anthony in the Pinacoteca Nazionale at Bologna.
The Edinburgh panel is the calmest of these latter works (Plate i26a). Its colour is
briUiant and
relative
any
its
tooling rich.
The
diminution of the figures, dependent on their
hieratic
importance and not on their imagined separation from the onlooker or from
spatial centre,
is
of volume and
strikingly
interwoven with
The
now coherent, now fragmented indica-
by no means flat, either in terms of individual figures or of general structure. The way in which space is continually created and
denied generates an unusual decorative and associational tension that infuses the whole
panel and is not merely dependent upon the intense and burning glance of every figure.
The spatial disconnexion in the panels of St Anthony Abbot is more violent still. Each
gesture and movement has the strange exaggeration of a dream. The spatially coherent
maelstrom that surrounds the Virgin in the Manger scene from Mezzarata is also comtions
distance.
pattern
is
posed in terms of surges of emotion (Plate I26b). Sweeping, melodramatic gestures
accompany each
slightest action.
No
figure of St Peter cutting off the car of
Malchus
moved with more dramatic sweep than Joseph as he pours the water for the infant's
bath. The swarming turbulence of the angels at their joyful prayers is more commonly
ever
associated with the
parox7sms of grief
in a Pieta or Crucifixion.
The running of
greens and yellows, reds and blues, into intense white highlights,
now much
must have added
clearly aimed.*
to the strong emotional charge at
276
which Vitale
the
perished,
Emotional intensity
the
mandorla
is
again apparent in the burning glance and the bold striping of
in the Christ in Majesty that
dominates the frescoes of 1 351
of
in the apse
Pomposa (Plate 137). Vitale was probably personally responsible

for this section, but the Old and New Testament scenes on the side walls and the Last
Judgement on the end wall, on all of wliich a number of men imdoubtedly collaborated,
may be shghtly later in date. The decorative scheme is still remarkably complete.
Again it is a crowded, animated world of sweeping and dramatic gestures. At times the
abbey church
the
at
simply modelled figures achieve a sack-like volume, and simple folds create a certain
grandeur.
More
often there
is
a naive excitement as
of some violent movement. There
is
Hmbs
dislocate in the
wealth of colourful iconographic
on
typical that in the Baptism Christ stands
achievement
detail,
and
it is
midst of the fish-swarming
a serpent in the
river.
The
free
and rapid rhythms of the individual compositions are accentuated by

of the
conti:iual variation in the size
needs, and there
is
never any vertical coincidence between the borders of the upper and
the lower rows. There

either in the frames
no attempt
is
mass of imitation marbling
to achieve sohdity in the
of the main scenes or in such elements
of the arches that take up and vary themes estabhshed
as the gaily
in the
decorated
The
of the Romanesque
in the direct line
frescoes are a perfect
nothing so Gothic
as to
destroy the calm of the
the layered apse.

altar. It
and
by
is
its
cycles, set the
Early Christian prototypes.
complement to the simple architectural forms. There is

Romanesque structural severity or so illusionistic
continuous surfaces of wall. Even the dominant earth-reds
warm
enhanced by the
The
story in the
red brick of the external structure, and the
way
main
in
which the layer-cake Last Judgement echoes

from the right of the
scenes runs continuously
begins with the Creation and the History of the Maccabees in the upper register
finishes
with the Life of Christ in the lower. The reading of the stories is encouraged
rhythms of the continuous frieze that occupies the spandrels and
the free-rumiing
surmounts the arches of the nave. They estabHsh

ment, enlivened by sudden
With one
exception, every
Similarly, the great size

is
and
as to disturb the
and ochres harmonize with the

decorative imity
tradition
soffits
mosaic and Cosmati
pavement. The nature of the decorative unity, and the disposition of the
scheme
depends on compositional
scenes. Tliis entirely
reversals.
column
of the
is
Even
created
is
move-
a certain discipline.
which accentuates
Presentation,
with
its
the centre of the left wall,
heavy architecture and
its
on the other. Time and again a single, balanced comout of two or more designs.^ Elements from Bologna, Rimim, and
altarpiece in actual
is
a generally swift left-to-right
however, there
continued in a single stationary or moving figure.
Crucifixion,
matched by the formal weight of the
position
here,
low
rehef,
Romagna, and distant echoes of Assisi or the work of Giotto, are as gaily intermingled as the Romanesque past and the unmistakably mid-fourteenth-centur)' present.
The spell is so complete that even the inset majoHca plates and the patterns of red and
the
a running interlace, of the eleventhand twelfth-century exterior become a presage of the internal combination of sensitivity and almost rustic charm.
yellow brick and yellowish stone, carved with
277

Venice
The
political history
of Venice in the fourteenth century
soUdation of its oHgarchic governmental system and
by
Genoese for a maritime supremacy fmally achieved in
is
dominated by the con-
the continuing battles with the
13 80-1.
The system of consulta-
on which the doges had previously reUed was given definitive form by the estabHshment of the Maggior ConsigUo in 1297.* The pattern of Venetian rule was completed when a further Council of Ten was set up in 13 10 to ensure the security of the
tion
state.
Although the
statutes
of the Venetian
painters,
in Italy, the immediate results of their institution
outlook of those covered

'escutcheons, shields,
shown by
is
chests,
artisan status
and
the undifferentiated hsts of products, such as
patens,
caskets,
going back to 1271, are the earhest
were minimal. The
mentioned in various regulations. From the
last
tableware,
dining-tables,
altarpieces',^
quarter of the thirteenth century until
fifties, when the mosaics of the baptistery and of the Chapel of

were midertaken, there even seems to have been a lull in the work on the
mosaics of S. Marco. Only a few fragmentar)' late-thirteenth- or early-fourteenth-
the thirteen-forties and

St Isidore
century frescoes, such
as the Deposition and Entombineiit in SS. ApostoH,

and the most striking of the few remaining panels is that of S. Donate in
now
survive,
Donato in
Murano, dated 13 10. The mixture of coloured rehef and pure painting recalls the more
complicated late-thirteenth-century Tuscan essays in the same technique. Its historical
interest hes precisely in the extent to which the dominant Romanesque and Byzantine
elements are modified by echoes of the new style spreading out from Rome and Tuscany and already firmly entrenched
in
S.
Padua. Echoes of an earher Padua, that of the
illuminator Gaibana, seem to survive in

early fourteenth century.
some of the fmest Venetian miniatures of the

is marked
conservative Byzantinism, refreshed by continual impulses
Throughout
by the interplay between a

from the hvely empire of Byzantine
the period Venetian illumination
art
covering the eastern Adriatic, Aegean, and
eastern Mediterranean coasts
on the one hand, and the influence of various Itahan

centres of illumination in or on the confines of the Veneto on the other.
The modification of a dominant Byzantinism, which is the main theme in the
history of painting throughout the period, is nowhere more obvious than in the career
of Paolo Veneziano. He has the distinction of being not merely the first named Venetian
whose work has survived in any quantity, but of representing the highest
painter
achievement of an otherwise modest school. The panel from the Area di
Bembo
S. Leone
Vodnjan (Dignano), which is dated 1321 and already shows
mingling of Byzantine and Central Itahan srj'hstic elements, is
in the cathedral at
the characteristic
possibly his earhest
four
later,
known
painting.
The
core of his achievement hes, however, in
signed and dated works. In the earliest of these, the altarpiece of the Death
of the Virgin of 1333 in the Gallery at Vicenza, Byzantine iconography and rhythms
dominate the central panel and simple Giottesquc modelling begins to be apparent in
the flanking figurcs.s The panels of the covering of the Pala d'Oro in S. Marco in
Venice, with their reminiscences of the St Ccciha Master and liis circle, which Paolo
278
signed together with his sons Luca and Giovanni in April 1345, are followed, in 1347,
by the Madonna enthroned in the parish church at Carpincta. Finally, in 1358, 'Paolo
and
now
son Giovanni painted' the Coronation
liis
in the Frick
Museum
in
New
York.
Paolo liimself died before 1362, and one of the most interesting, undisputed additions
to the
group of signed works
the lunette of the
is
cophagus of Doge Francesco Dandolo

(Plate I28a).
The tomb
sculpture
is
Madonna and
Saints
over the sar-
1339) in the chapter house of the Frari
(d.
notable not for detailed quality of carving, but for
the fine sense of rhythmic grouping, the clear pauses and bold contrasts that enliven
basic symmetries. Similar qualities
tribution. Originally,
however, the blue and gold of the
and the
golden yellow of the painted curtain held by the angels, with
rich, reddish,
its
of symmetry and rhythm undcrUe Paolo's confully
polychromed sarcophagus
its
by the sombre browns

and greys and grey-whites of St Francis and St Elizabeth, and of the doge's wife, must
have made its colour the crowning glory of the monument.
The links between the polyptych (no. 21) m the Accademia in Venice and such signed
works as the Coronation of the Virgin in the Frick Museum allow of none of the uncertainties reflected in the varied attributions of the altarpiece of 1349 in the oratory of
S. Martino in Chioggia or of the group of works dependent on the polyptych of
1354 at Piran (Pirano). Vivid colour and sumptuous decorative quahty; an almost harsh
green and blue sunflower pattern and vermilion lining
brilliance, as if of precious stones
set off^
or metal; and an intermingling of Byzantine elements
and Umbro-Tuscan iconography and decorative
detail are the principal features
Accademia polyptych. The
of the framework have
architectural forms
complexity reminiscent of S. Marco, and the painted panels yield to no mosaic

brilliance.
Their original
effect has
now
of the
a decorative
in their
been restored by the replacement of the central
panel of the Coronation of the Virgin formerly in the Brera in Milan (Plate 128B). In
the latter, such is the intensity of golden patterning in damask draperies wliich rival
the
most sumptuous creations of the Sienese
that Christ
and the Virgin in
their
round,
star-spangled glory almost blend into each other and into the backcloth of their thrones.
In the narrative scenes of Christ and of St Francis even the landscapes

colour.
An
apocalyptically red
mountain frames the
the Baptism of Christ one river-bank

altarpiece in S.
George
in blue
is
glow with
Stigmatization of St Francis,
and in
red and one a golden yellow. In the related
Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna, a similar Byzantine fantasy sets

on a vermiHon saddle and pink horse to kill a grey-green dragon.
279
St
PART
SIX
SCULPTURE
1300-1350
CHAPTER 30
INTRODUCTION
The
between sculpture and painting which generally holds good
relationship
Tuscany throughout the second half of the thirteenth century and the
the fourteenth
is
had unlocked the
much
their
secrets
of
monumentaUty and soHdity of form, so Giovanni Pisano

pictorial narrative. The painters had previously looked
to sculpture as to earlier painting for a lead, while sculptors largely turned to
own
sculptural heritage.
for their inspiration.

arts,
in
decade of
fundamentally transformed in the succeeding period. As Giotto had
finally achieved a sculptural
as
first
now,
Now
the latter tend increasingly to lean
in sculpture as in architecture, linearity
vehicles for the
on painting
Where mass and volume had once been the formal goal of both the
new humanity
in an age
still
standard and in any context, scidptural masterpieces.
281
and grace become the primary
notable for works which are,
by any
CHAPTER
TINO
DI
3 I
CAMAINO AND THE MINOR SCULPTORS OF

SIENA AND FLORENCE
Tifio di
Camaino
of Giovanni Pisano echoes through the history of early-fourteenth-century

Not only is Tino di Camaino, son of Camaino di Crescentino, longtime servant of the Opera del Duomo in Siena, the most gifted of his many followers,
but his work epitomizes both the continuity that Unks the master to his pupils and the
The name
Itahan sculpture.
contrasts that so clearly separate
them from him. Out of the Pisan power and passion
sudden stops and surges, Tino abstracts and gradually elaborates a hlting
melody. It is a deUcate, Sienese refrain that runs unbroken through a hfetime punctuated
with
its
by a reasonably documented series of sepulchral monuments.

The earUest work generally attributed to Tino because of rather tenuous connexions
with his later sculpture is the altarpiece of S. Ranieri in the Camposanto at Pisa. This
which on documentary grounds
altarpiece,
is
probably of c. 1306 and
is
complete with
manner soon to be so generally accepted by the panel painters, differs

fairly radically in style from the surviving fragments of a font for the Duomo of Pisa,
recorded in a lost inscription as being signed and dated in 13 11. It is somewhat closer
to a signed Madonna and Child now in Turin, in which, however, the reflections of
Giovanni's emotional force are much stronger. This residual charge left by undoubted
contact with Giovarmi, and possibly by direct collaboration with him, is again apparent
in the dismembered tomb of Henry VII (Plate 129A). Tino, referred to for the first time
as capomaestro of the Opera del Duomo, signed the contract in February 13 15, a little
more than a year after the emperor's sudden death during liis expedition from Pisa to
destroy the power of Robert of Anjou in Naples. The sarcophagus itself, with the
a prcdella in the
recumbent
etfigy, is still in the cathedral, and the free-standing figures of the emperor
and four of his councillors, together with some minor figures likewise
the Camposanto, were probably also part of a tomb which in effect elaborated the pattern
established
by Amolfo's monument
to Cardinal de Braye.i
To what
extent there were
connexions with the original form of the even more fragmentary tomb of the Empress
Margaret of Luxemburg, which the emperor himself had commissioned from Giovanni
Pisano in 13 12, there is now no way of telling. Giovanni's influence is, however,
obvious in the reUef of eleven standing figures on the face of the sarcophagus.
At
sight the simple, block-like bulk
and the austere simplicity of dress and foldof the emperor's councillors seem to behe the previous
generalizations. The most severe of Giovanni's figures appear to be richly articulated by
comparison, and the superficial relationship to the simplest and weightiest examples of
form
first
in the life-size figures
Giotto's early
Paduan manner, wliich must by

282
this
time have been widely
known
in
THE MINOR SCULPTORS OF SIENA AND FLORENCE

Central
Italy,
is
this is no matter of Pisano's sense of strucThe cross-legged incomprehensibility and

figure on the right of the emperor show that bulk
very striking. Nevertheless,
ture allied to early Giottcsquc simplicity.
fundamental
of pose
instability
in the
and organic structure arc not the same thing. Even the pot-beUied, bulldog figure of
the Podesta of Pisa
on the extreme right, which
completely successful on
is
its
own terms,
reveals the extent to w'hich, in every case, the features tend to be scratched into the
surface
of the stone instead of emerging from the underlying structure. Only in the
head of the recumbent emperor himself do the general massing and the individuated,
bony
structures
role.
Significantly enough,
emperor's
later
and
simplicity,
compared with
on
the
times the almost sketched-in quaUty, of these major figures,
at
the fully detailed
likehhood that they were
The
the thinly aristocratic, wholly imstable figure
and not the jowly, four-square Podesta, prefigures the male type which
becomes Tino's principal stock-in-trade.
The
as
left,
of cranium, jaw, and cheekbone clearly play the fundamental sculptural
minor elements of the tomb, may well
set at a relatively
reflect the
high level and were entirely polychrome.
on which the painters

by the documents
which show that six painters worked on the tomb for forty-five days. They must in
that time have produced a blaze of colour startling to contemplate in view of the existing drabness. The fmal point is that the entire monument was substantially completed
between 12 February and 26 July, upon which date TLno, for reasons now unknown,
sculptural forms probably provided
subsequently worked.
failed to collect a
The
no more than
fmal five days' wages. His disappearance
which Uguccione deUa Faggiuola,
after
may
well be comiected with
of Montecatini. This was the batde
internal pohtical disturbances preceding the Battle

in
the base
existing traces of colour are supported
ravaging the
territories
of Volterra,
S.
Miniato, and Pistoia, and being forced to raise the siege of Montecatini, suddenly
doubled back and routed the superior forces of the Guelph League imder the Angevin
Philip of Taranto.
tomb, and
it is
It
took place on 29 August 13 15, five days
typical
of the
fratricidal times,
turmoils intermittently erupting into full-scale war, that
was fighting
for the
after the dedication
of the
with their endless internecine routs and
when
the armies met, Tino
Guelphs of Florence and Anjou, together with those of his native
Siena and even of Pisa
itself,
against the victorious Ghibellines,
back in triumph to fmd awaiting them the
monument
who
that he
then marched
himself had just
erected to their erstwhile iinperial champion.
Although he escaped capture, Tino was naturally deposed from
his
job
as
capo-
maestro.^ Despite the shock of batde, his subsequent return to his native Siena coin-
cided with a period of intense cultural activity.
The
complete reorganization. Duccio's Maesta was by

13
the
5 itself
Simone Martini's frescoed Maesta was
Duomo
university
now
was on the verge of a

wonder, and in
a four years'
painted.
Overshadowing the town,
was, within a year, to start expanding Uke a gorgeous plant, sickly from
Tino was soon erecting a monument to Cardinal Petroni,

who was re-interred in Siena in March 13 17.
This tomb, though reconstructed, is the best preserved surviving evidence of Tino's
work in Tuscany (Plate 129B). Its shape appears to foUow the tradition already reflected
overgrowth, and on
who had
died in
its
walls
Genoa
in 13 14 and
283
PART six: sculpture I3OO-I35O

in that of
Henry
VII. Artistically,
it is
the series of reUefs
on
which
the sarcophagus
forms the high-point of this layer-cake construction, in which the feathery pinnacle is
balanced vertically by caryatids that give grace to the somewhat heavy central section
and
not merely Giovanni Pisano's pulpits, but the pattern
recall,
set
by
Domenico of fifty years before. The simple seriousness of these

such goldsmith's work as the panels which Jacopo d'Ognabene completed
Area
altar
di S.
of S. Jacopo
at Pistoia in 13 16,
although the Noli
Me
his father's
scenes recalls
for the silver
Tangere and Doubting Thomas
both derive from Duccio's Maesta, while the Resurrection carries on the pattern of
Ugolino da
who appears
moved
to Florence.
to
of Aquileia,
move and immediately
working
of Siena Cathedral in succession to
have been appointed in
Whether or not
della Torre, patriarch
as
altarpiece.^
referred to as capomaestro
is
father,
before the
Croce
Siena's predella to his S.
In 1320 Tino
in that
same
year, he
the
who
13 17.
By February
tomb which he
his
321 he seems to have
erected in S. Croce for Gastone
died in August 13 18,
after the Petroni
was
actually carried out
tomb on which Tino
is
documented
had certainly completed the signed, and likewise
dis-
membered, monument to Antonio degh Orsi, bishop of Florence, by mid July 1321.
The inscription on this monument in the Duomo reads 'Tino, son of Master Camaino
of Siena, carved every
side
of
work on
this
In characteristic
this site in Florence'.
contrast to the burning egotism of Giovanni Pisano, Tino's deference
was such
that he
evidently did not wish to be called Master during his father's lifetime.
In spite of this the Tuscan fires
original
still
smoulder in
this
monument. The seemingly
motif of the dead, seated figure of the bishop, the head developed and refined
through the experience gained in the previous
eifigies to which it is so closely related,

moving achievement in Tino's whole career (Plate
raw-boned strength, combined with sensitivity, in the simple head
perhaps the most powerful and
is
There
130A).
of
this
death, as if
linear
is
heav)--handed and severely frontal figure,

still
seated
on
the throne
it
now
occupied in
and decorative subtlety and control that is
life.
relaxed in the calm sleep of
There
is
at the
same time
also apparent in the flatter, Lorenzettian
of the Virgin and Child upon the Sedes Sapentiae. Here, the planar accent is
by the sharp diagonal of attention. Weight is indicated not by depth of carving
but by breadth of form. The garment-folds of mother and child are united in a single,
figures
offset
swinging, rhythmic pattern similar to that wliich flattens and breaks up the
structure
of the caryatid
figures.
The
latter are
bony
transformed into drawn silhouettes or
arabesques in stone, mere decorative symbols of support, though none the less dehghtful
for so being. Here too, in the sarcophagus reUef, the Ducciesque device of symmetries
complex that they barely reach the consciousness of the beholder points the static,
decorative road that Tino was to travel when, early in 1323, he set out for the cultural
so
hothouse of the NcapoUtan court. The Franco-Tuscan atmosphere of Naples seems to

have been exactly calculated to bring out the lyrical tendencies of his art and to
suppress
the elegiac severity that
fundamental aspect of his carUcr v/ork. Tombs without

tragedy, death without drama - a serene and lilting life and a calm
sleep - this is the
message of his Neapolitan monuments.
is
Tino's responsibility for the
tomb of Catlierine of Austria

284
in S.
Lorenzo, wliich was

under construction in
is
it is
May
Although on
1323, has been contested.
by GagUardo Primario,
unlikely to be
stylistic
grounds
the probable architect of S. Chiara, to
it
whom
sometimes attributed, the severe and rather heavy Gothic architecture of the open
double-sided tabernacle
Tino,
is
NeapoHtan.
is
alone, of
It
the
all
monuments connected with
not a wall-tomb in the Romano-Tuscan maimer. Nevertheless, the Tuscan
form of the sarcophagus and the carving of tlie elaborate, mosaic-backed rehefs, of the
recumbent eifigy, of at least one of the four accompanying saints, and of the caryatid
figures of Hope and Charity with their rich foliate backgrounds all betray the hand of
Tino and his shop. Moreover, the elegantly elongated, moon-shaped faces, derived from
Simone Martini and characteristic of the greater part of Tino's Neapohtan production,
appear for the
glowed
figures
first
time.
The
may
similarity
when
well have been increased
these
all
adding their decorative brilliance to the
in their original full colour,
forms of this free-standing tomb.

Gaghardo Primario and Tino di Camaino conjointly that the tomb of
Mary of Hungary, widow of Charles of Anjou and mother of St Louis, was entrusted
clear, uncluttered
It
was
to
in her will of
March
The
1323 (Plate 130B).
existing
wall-tomb in
S.
Maria Donna
Regina was under construction in February 1325, and marble for it was bought in
Rome by two of GagUardo's assistants. A crisp, linear Gothic, scintillating with mosaic
in the
Roman
mamier,
now
variation
on
the
though no
replaces the soHd, almost rustic,
monument. Beneath
decorated forms of the earHer
less
canopy Tino plays
the
theme of the Petroni tomb. Four caryatid Virtues
now
heavily
a courtly
support a
sarcophagus on which the gospel stories have been replaced by seven of the queen's
eight sons, flanked
is
by four counsellors on
changes in the disposition of the features.

as
the shorter sides.
certain portrait quality
achieved by minimal adjustments of the contours of Simone's basic oval and

It
may well be
the intervention of assistants that for the
inner
glow of Ufe which
curtains
is
common
most
of the tented baldacchino. Nevertheless,

is
slight
much
part drains these heads
to the Virtues
Charles Martel, the brother of St Louis,
by
the effort of portrayal as
of the
soft,
and to the angels holding back the

in
its
cold elegance the head of
memorable image.
How great the role of colour must have been and how far Tino's interests are
removed from the fundamental realism of Arnolfo's generation are disclosed by many
details. The curtain which the left-hand angel holds is, for example, virtually indistinguishable from the drapery which he wears, so smoothly do the wax-like forms
flow into one another. The fmal vestiges of the drama of the Orso
monument have
ebbed away.
Now
devised to
so perfectly into the volumetric harmonies of the Pisan baptistery (Plate
16) or
fit
made
all is
elegance and splendid show.
to interact with the twelve-sided crossing
aroused enthusiasms that soon led to pulpits such
polygon
is
wholly unrelated to
moving drama of salvation

first
its
has
of the
Duomo at
a tableau. In all the
or fifteenth hand the formal patterns of the
on
Siena (Plate 18)
Giovanni's at Pistoia in which the
architectural surroundings (Plate 32).
become
acolytes that closed the curtains
as
The polygons which Nicola
monument
Now,
to Cardinal
285
Yet
it is
at
de Braye, the
a mortal life fade into angels holding
draperies for the benefit of the pious and the peering.
Arnolfo's
myriad tombs, echoing
back the
only by draining formal
PART six: sculpture 1300-1350

realism and dramatic content
from the
sculptural
that the untrammelled, elegant
image
serenity of Tino's art could be achieved.
workshop
Repetitive
disturb the calm of the
reliefs
of king and coimsellors and mourners do nothing to

in S. Chiara (1332-3) or to reverse
tomb of Charles of Calabria
the tendency for the architectural framewôrk to play an increasingly important role.
The
architecture
as it
was with the
is
no longer primarily seen
Pisani: figures
Although
painted, fundamentally pictorial group.
of Tino's
interest in sepulchral
lacklustre
Tino's
workshop,
widow was
sculptor
is
it is
still
mentioned
as
on
or habitat for figures,
as a scaffolding
and architecture have become equal partners in a richly
monuments
is
the neighbouring
being paid
it is
here that the final thinning out
tomb of Mary of
Valois, for
June 1339, almost eighteen months
iii
by a
which
evident, the aesthetic impact dulled
after the
being dead, that three of his fmest figures can be found.
The
melting innocence and sweetness in the head of the recumbent effigy (Plate 13 ib) and
the tranqmlUty and freely articulated grace in the supporting figures of
13 1 a)
and Charity are unsurpassed in Tino's
draperies and a
clarity
new
linear play,
altarpiece in
following the
Cava
latter's visit in
the chapel of the Castel
of
compared with such works
dei Tirreni,
Hope
(Plate
A crisp incisiveness in the cutting of the
variety and suppleness in the disposition
and logic in the
membered
art.
may
well
mark
as
their folds, a greater
the reliefs for a dis-
Giotto's impact. In 1336,
1329-33, Tino was supervising the execution of frescoes in
Nuovo
in
which Giotto had worked, and
comparison be-
tween Tino's Hope and Giotto's St Elizabeth of Hungary shows how much the
infusion of new vigour into Tino's art may be dependent on this contact.*
late
The seemingly innumerable tombs and altarpieces carved with gradually increasing
by Tino's modest and conservative followers for NeapoHtan churches such as
crudity
S.
Chiara until
as late as the
end of the
enduring influence.' In Southern
Italy,
first
quarter of the fifteenth century
show
his
outside Naples, Niccola da Montcforte's graft-
ing of Gothic figures and minor decorative detail on to the fundamentally mid-
now destroyed, which he carried out in the cathedral of

symbol of a sculptural tradition which remained substantially untouched
by the Angevin dominion over Sicily and Naples or by the visits of a few gifted artists
thirteenth-century ambones,
Benevcnto
is
from the north. In a land where seventeenth-century Romanesque is not unknown,

it is no surprise to find that the Romanesque Hvelincss of the portal of Altamura follows
the earthquake of 1316, or that the slightly more firmly pointed arch of the Bitetto
doorway, which is fundamentally Romanesque both in its general disposition and in its
but which is tinged with Gothic sofmess in the figures, was
not carried out until 1335, when it was signed by Lillo di Barletta. In Siena, on the
other hand, the situation was very different, and Tino's birthplace produced a number
lace-likc, repetitive detail,
of men of lesser but by no means inconsiderable
stature.
Gatw da Siena
The first of these is Gano da Siena, who probably died in 13 18 and whose only certain
work is the signed monument to Tommaso d'Andrea, bishop of Pistoia, wliich from
286

the
wording of the
1303.
inscription
must have been executed well after the latter's death

the portrait quahty of the recumbent figure
The breadth of treatment and
in
in
Romanesque-cum-Gothic wall-tomb in the Duomo at Casole

d'Elsa have led to his being credited with a far more impressive monument. This is
the near-by upright, fully Gothic wall-tomb in which the equally portly figure of
Ranieri del Porrina (d. 13 15) stands hatted and cloaked and book in hand (Plate 131c).
Echoes of Giovaimi still persist in the supporting figures, but those of Tino no longer
dominate the straightforward, wholly unmaimered naturalism of the main figure.
The vivid characterization of the pensive, yet half-smiling, plump-faced Podesta,
with its suggestion of sensitivity as well as scnsuaHt}' imprisoned in the porcine flesh,
is a milestone in the art of portraiture. It has the immediacy ot a life-mask and is a
this rather pedestrian,
unique prefiguration ot late-fourteenth-century northern and mid-fifteenth-century

Itahan portraiture. If
praise
meted out
it is
by Gano, he indeed deserves a measure of

on his one signed work.
the fulsome self-
in the inscription
Goro
di Gregorio
The Area di S. Cerbone in the Duomo of Massa Marittima (Plate 132A), which
Goro di Gregorio signed in 1324, reflects a very different side of the Sienese approach
to nature. The scenes from the saint's Hfe are characterized by an almost naive attempt
to carve the figures in the round and to endow the buildings in the pilcd-up settings,
otherwise almost devoid of any depth, with a straightforward, three-dimensional
actuaUty.
At
grounds,
is
first
sight the result, in
combination with the boldly patterned back-
an anecdotal, doll's-house unreahty. Manuscript illumination springs
immediately to mind, and the similarity must have been
polychromy
state.
The
reflected in surviving traces
of blue, green,
much
red,
soapy, alabastrine surface and the sketchy crudity which
much of the
closer
when
and gold was

is
in
its
the full
pristine
particularly notice-
to do with Giovanni Pisano's

would then have been disguised. The jagged,
zigzag prisms of the rocks and the multifarious decorative repetitions would have told
to the full. The clean lines of the sepulchre as a whole and the careful way in which,
able in
figure detail and
purposive boldness with the
which has nothing
chisel,
despite the fact that his narrative ambition far outruns his compositional abihty, the
masses and main lines of the three scenes on front and rear are balanced about a central
caesura in the
manner of the second bay of the
eloquent of Goro's
sensitivit}'.
St Francis Cycle at Assisi (Plate 60) are
His quaUties and Hmitations are again apparent in the
signed wall-tomb of Archbishop Guidotto de'Tabiati, dated 1333, in the
Messina. Here,
among
the detail and less
piece
of
his
the four scenes
from the
Life
Duomo
at
of Christ, a greater delicacy in
overweening narrative ambition enable him to make
minor master-
Anmmciation.
Agostino di Gioi'atmi and Agnolo di Ventura
similar ambition, greater
masterwork which Agostino
competence for the most

di
Giovanni and
287
part,
his alter ego,
and
less
Agnolo
charm
invest the
di Ventura, signed

is the tomb of Bishop Guido Tarlati in the Duomo at Arezzo (Plate 133).
Many-tiered and soaring slab-Hke up the wall, to be topped by an airy, pedimented
barrel-vault, it must in general design be among the most uncomfortable concoctions
in 1330. This
of ItaUan fourteenth-century art. Seen for
two
itself,
however, the main
relief,
containing the
halves of a funeral service or procession, attains a rhythmic unity and emotional
intensity
unmatched
in the
remainder of the tomb. The swaying linear pattern of the
simple forms in low rehef the sense of scale and grouping and dramatic purpose,
all
reach far beyond the garrulous puppetry of the remaining narratives in high rehef and of
the repetitive columns of supporting bishops.*
The Tarlati monument may have hmitations as a work of art, but as a social document and symptom of a changing chmate of ideas it has few equals. The calm civic
and rehgious symbohsm of the
Pisani's
Perugia Fountain or the quiet concern with
personal wisdom, personal sanctity, and personal salvation enshrined in the
Amolfo's monument to Cardinal de Braye no longer

sixteen stanzas of a
happy anthem
to the facts
serve.
Their place
of medieval city
life;
is
drama of
taken by the
to the brute force
and cunning which, in prince or bishop or condottiere, meant the difference between
survival and expansion or subjection and destruction. Tarlati made a Bishop (13 12),
proclaimed Signore of Arezzo (1321), the

Tarlati
- the first four scenes provide a
Commune
despoiled, the
Commune
restored
by
quiet, partly historical, partly allegorical opening.
Then
the fun begins. The Rebuilding of Arezzo' s Walls (13 19) ; the Surrender ofLucignano
(supphant burghers kneeling, 13 16); the Siege of Chiusi (suppUant soldiers kneeling);
the Siege of Fronzola (1323); the Taking of Castelforcognaiw (further suppHants, 1322);
the Assault on Rondine (the bishop,
hke an emperor,
sits
enthroned beneath a canopy,
of Caprese (1324) then give way

to the last stanzas celebrating further triumphs. The Razing ofLateria (1325) is followed
by that of Monte S. Savino, with the enthroned bishop supervising every detail of
directing operations); the Conquest of Busine and that
fmaUy after the Coronation of Louis of Bavaria (1327) comes 'La Morte
- unhappy death after a hfe well spent. It is on such a record of achievement,
destruction, and
di Miseria'
replete
with every evidence of divine approval, that innumerable medieval prelates
must have claimed

faithfully executed
by
his
enemies,
is
their entry into heaven. Here,
Hke
commissioned by
his partisans
and
manuscript in marble, surviving the subsequent mutilation

a monument without hypocrisy. It is a simple and self-confident
a
proclamation of the laws by which ItaHan cities, towns, and castles, and their rulers,
lived and died, each, when they thought of it - which was often - confident
that God
was on
their side. If
much
impact of commercial and

that such a
monument and
the
same was true of earlier
social revolution,
centuries, it was only under the

and of the increasing secularization of Hfe,
so naive an ecclesiastical catalogue of secular
have been conceived and executed.
It is
triumph could
the fourteenth-century counterpart of Trajan's
Column, which in many ways it much resembles. Its very simpHcity sets off the range
and depth and subtlety of the theories and the dreams ofjustice, peace, and
civic dignity,
built on similar factual foundations, that were painted
ten years later in Siena by
Ambrogio
Lorcnzctti.
Both Agostino
di
Giovanni and Agnolo
di
288
Ventura were probably more active
as

architects than as sculptors,
and the remaining sculptural attributions are unimportant.
Only the tomb of Cino de'Sinibaldi in the Duomo at Pistoia which, if it docs not come
from their workshop, is closely related to its products, has any distinction. In 1337, the
year of Cino's death, Cellino di Nese, himself a mason, wrote that the work was to be
carried out by a Siencsc master. The austere, seated figure of the poet, towering above
his standing
audience of scholars or talking to his
severely sculpted
illustration
relief,
of the growing secular
mental attempt in
it is
compels attention both for
Italy to
interests
class in the
show a scholar in his setting,

its
as a further
As the earUest monuactive in pursuit of his life's work,
of the Tuscan
well able to withstand comparison with
equally smoothly and
formal quahties and
its
numerous
cities.
successors in the genre.
Giovanni d'Agostino
Giovanni d'Agostino was,
like his father,
architecture as well as in sculpture. His
Agostino
Giovanni, continuously active in
di
documented
career,
when he was working
in the Pieve at Arezzo, to a fmal
period as capomaestro,
firstly
of the
(1340-5). His one surviving signed
Duomo
work
is
a small
before his stay in Orvieto. In the search for a
Simone Martini and of the
early
more obvious
high reUef of the Madonna and Child
tinguished
reHefs
tional
work of Tino
S.
Maria del Pieve
work
in Arezzo.
from those on the main body of the
of spiritual intensity
increased
is
attributable to him,
The
modem eyes,
is
rapture in the Angel appearing
to
Francis's Canticle to
carried out
redolent of
by
moving
namely the
three storiated reHefs are dis-
monument and from
Tarlati
Duomo
clerics
the related
of Volterra by the emo-
of the Aretine tomb. The
the heavy crudity of the carving and
rudimentary, almost rustic anatomical structure of the figures.

lyricism that, to
it is
Camaino. Giovanni's technical
di
of the Lives ofSS. Regolo and Ottaviano in the

qualities which they share with the mourning
feeling
was probably
rhythmic grace,
soft,
judged by the highest standards, are extreme, are even
in the only other important
hexagonal font for
in 1347, includes a
of Orvieto, and secondly of that of Siena
with Angels in the Oratory of S. Bernardino in Siena. This
limitations as a sculptor, which,
which runs from 1332,
mention
The
result
is
by
the
a naive
There is a kind of
few works of the period do, St
in the extreme (Plate 132B).
St John that recalls, as
Brother Sun.
Giovanni and Pacio da Firenze
The tomb of Robert of Anjou
in S. Chiara in Naples
Giovanni and Pacio da Firenze,

Gothic tabernacle
Niched
itself
at
figures
are
is
also the principal
m the documents
mentioned
monument
an elaboration of that in Tino's
to
monument
to
of 1343-5. The
Mary of Hungary.
and reHefs cut into every available architectural surface, and the tomb
has been expanded into a four-storeyed structure with the dead king prominent
every
level.
enthroned
takes
is
who
At
among
up the next
the centre of the arcaded reHef

his family.
level.
On
The recumbent
on
the front of the sarcophagus he
effigy
is
with the mourning Liberal Arts
the third, he reappears, a grandiose figure almost in the
289

round, enthroned
is
among
presented to the Virgin
his courtiers. Finally,
by
St Francis
on
more
suitably discreet scale, he
and St Clare. With every
detail carefully picked
topmost level and with imitation
at the
out in colour, replete with frescoed angels
mosaic and frescoed courtiers immediately below, the tomb makes up in

splendour what
it
lacks in grace
and subtlety of design. In the fmest
parts,
pomp
which
and
are
presumably by Giovanni and Pacio themselves and which include the sarcophagus and
efEgy with
from
its
attendants and the Virgin and Child above, the styhstic currents deriving
the circle of
Andrea Pisano and from Tino
di
Camaino
are blended
with a high
degree of technical accomplishment. Occasionally, as in the curtain-holding angels or

certain
of the somewhat
repetitive figures
of the Arts, there
is
even an element of
spiritual expressiveness.
Apart from
fragment of the tomb of Louis of Durazzo
only other important attribution
from the
is
the
now
(d.
1344) in S. Chiara, the
largely destroyed series
Story of St Catherine of Alexandria wliich
was once
of eleven scenes
built into the choir
of
S.
Chiara. DeHcately carved in white marble against a dark green marble ground, these
simple-seeming scenes possess a cameo-Uke quaHty, a clarity and sophistication that
confirm the heights to which Giovanni and Pacio could

is
rise (Plate
134A).
The medium
derived from Tino, but the precision of design recalls Andrea Pisano's doors, and
the comparison with, and contrast to, the narrative styles evolved
sculptors just discussed
is
fascinating. Freed
from the need
by
the four Sienese
for courtly splendour and
economy of movement, setting,

and expression, and the clear-sighted exploitation of the simplest colour contrasts
reveal a very different aspect of the art of these two Florentines.
conspicuous expenditure, the clear-cut gestures, the
290
CHAPTER 32
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FAQADE OF

ORVIETO CATHEDRAL
No
more than an inkHng of the rumbustious, ant-heap

Italy. The pullulation of ideas and works of art,
short history of art can give
turmoil of the fourteenth century in

the surge and
sway of populations, classes,

from a scctliing, cut-throat,
glories shilling
factions, systems, the cost in failure for the

vital
age
is
hard to capture. Even the great
on
cathedrals such as that of Orvieto, brooding stalagmitic
gold from
its
mosaics in the sun, can
frenzies, the sustained
now give httle
its
tufa island or flashing
hint of all the
momentary
fears
and
excitements of whole populations, wliich were part and parcel
of their building. Occasionally, and
this
is
so at Orvieto,
documents provide haphazard,
dehydrated evidence, and then the chanciness, the flcxibihty of mind and
vitaUty that underhe the seeming calm of the completed
monuments become
communal
apparent.^
was agreed on in 1284 and founded in 1290. By 1309 the first

roof-beam was up, and exuberance was giving way to panic. The new building was
The new
still
cathedral
Romanesque
in form, round-arched,
and anchored in
a centuries-old tradition
of
masonic craftsmanship, and architectural ambition was expressed in terms of scale. The
vast dimensions
for vaults
of the plan and great height of the nave
and arches of unprecedented height and span.
led, at the crossing, to a
No sooner were
need
they going up
than the authorities began to fear an imminent collapse and called on the Sienese
Lorenzo Maitani for advice. Apart from
document of
first
13 10,
which already
marriage in Siena in 1302, the Orvietan
his
him
refers to
as 'universahs
caputmagister',
is
the
surviving reference to this enigmatic man. After mentioning the reasons for his
summons, and
his success in the
breathless Latin that since
work of building and
Lorenzo was and

'
is
repair, the
document
states in
thorough and experienced in buttresses
roof and wall figured with beauty which wall must be made on the front part and with
all
the other masteries and ornaments appropriate to this
same
fabric',
he should be
granted Orvietan citizenship, together with the privilege of carrying arms at will, and
should remain in Orvieto with his family

overseer of bridges and civic buildings.
all his
To
hfe as capomaestro of the cathedral and
secure his interest in the city, Lorenzo
promises to invest a substantial sum, and further on
he
shall
is
authorized to retain the disciples

'
have desired for the designing figuring and making of stones for the above
mentioned wall', which
is
undoubtedly the
new
facade (Plate 135).
The lower part of this faq:ade, as it now stands, consists of four almost flat piers
decorated by marble reUefs. These cover Genesis the Tree of Jesse and the Old Testament Prophecies of Redemption; the Prophets and the Life of Christ; and the Last
Judgement. Four bronze symbols of the EvangeHsts stand on the cornice immediately
overhead, and in the lunette above the central doorway a bronze baldacchino and
;
flanking angels shelter a marble Virgin and Child.
291

Apart from Maitani's activity in Perugia in 13 17 and another call for help in 13 19,
is documentary silence from 13 10 to 1321. From then until his death in 1330
there is a massive but haphazard record of the work on the cathedral. The four Evangelthere
istic
symbols were being made by the end of 1329 and during 1330, and the assignment
odd pounds of bronze for the casting of the Eagle of St John is
to Lorenzo of 1,400
specifically
than some
mentioned. The question
unknown
modelled the
the
is
therefore whether Maitani himself rather
or one of the minor masters referred to in the documents, actually
eagle. If
it is
Angel of St Matthew
assumed that he
(Plate 134B),
did,
on the
and further assumed that he modelled
logically tenuous
grounds that
this
is
also
an Evangehstic symbol, there can then be httle doubt that Maitani was the principal
on the first pier and the Last

on the two central piers, since
these rehefs are closely linked in style to the bronze Angel of St Matthew and to the
angels of the baldacchino. There is no documentary proof that Maitani was a sculptor,
and none that he was not. All that is certain is that he was in complete control of all
the multifarious activities on the facade in the twenty years between 1310 and 1330.
The controversies surrounding the facade are greatly compUcated because the major
sculptural workshop was certainly not responsible for most of the carvings in the
lower registers of the two central piers. It has been suggested that these rehefs were
sculptor in the ateHer
Judgement on the
which carved
the Genesis stories
fourth, as well as the upper scenes
planned, and probably carried out, before Maitani's arrival in Orvieto. This raises the
whole question of how the sculpture was planned and executed.
The Planning and
The
first
distinctive feature
the Execution
of the Orvietan plans
of the Reliefs
is
that
out in pen on parchment, are preserved in the Opera del

It is
the earhest case in the
two
large drawings, carried
Duomo
whole history of Itahan architecture
(Plate 136,
in
A and
b).
which preliminary
designs for an entire project have survived.
The first of these two drawings differs from the existing structure in its emphasis
upon a soaring central mass, reinforced by the absence of lateral gables and by the
dominance of the main portal over the relatively narrow embrasures and steeply angled
gables of flanking
The hncar
clarity
doorways for which the main piers leave comparatively httle space.and crispness, as well as features hke the piercing of the horizontal
by the gables over all three doors, create close Unkages between the lower parts
of the design and the ends of the transepts of Notre Dame in Paris. The increased planar
emphasis in the simple rose and square of the upper section nevertheless
reflects an
openly pictorial tendency exploited with the utmost briUiance in the
mosaic of the
Coronation in the main gable. The architecturally massive,
pinnacled throne plays a
gallery
dehghtful spatial variation on the theme of the four similarly

pinnacled and detailed
piers that modulate the plane of the facade. This
fundamentally Italian scheme is based,
much of die fmcst art and architecture of the age, on deep awareness of French
forms and on abihty to blend them into a fresh artistic synthesis.
Many of the existing sculptural features already approach
like so
their
292
fmal form in
this
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE PA<;ADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

drawing. The Evangelists and their symbols,
be replaced by the symbols

on the platform of the lower
cornice. The ancestry of the free-standing stone and bronze group of the Virgin and
Child Enthroned with Angels in the painted altarpieces and stained-glass designs of
Cimabue and Duccio and their circle is revealed. The project for a scries of reliefs on the
main piers is adumbrated. Their subject matter and general disposition have been
first
alone, already stand, in a
manner reminiscent of
later to
Siena,
estabhshed, although the geometrically perfect circles that enclose the figures at this
stage are reminiscent
of the French manuscript and
Though
stained-glass traditions already
of S. Zeno in Verona and of

Romanesque decorative schemes, there are no precise protor)'pes for the
final design. The reminiscences of the freer patterns of Antelami's rehefs on the baptistery at Parma or echoes of the fohate columns on the Pisan model, introduced into
Siena by Giovanni Pisano, do not, however, disguise the possible influence of the great
areas of relatively freely flowing inhabited acanthus that were common in mosaic from
Antique and Early Christian times, and were re-estabhshed in the pubhc and artistic
eye by such major late-thirteenth-century reconstructive and recreative schemes as
that in S. Maria Maggiore in Rome.
The second drawing is even closer to the existing facade in general and in detail
accUmatized in
Italy.
it is
clearly in the tradition
other similar
(Plate 136B)
ment by
and
the
may
well be that described in an inventory of 1356
A new
hand of Master Maitani'.
Florence Cathedral.
reflect Arnolfo's project for
as 'a large
parch-
breadth and horizontahty possibly
Compared with
the previous design,
shmmer, leaving more space for the wider and more flatly
splayed embrasures of the flanking doors whose broader gables no longer pierce the
horizontals of the gallery above. The piers themselves no longer taper, and the needlethe articulating piers are
sharp subsidiary pinnacles have been replaced

set in
by
relatively blunt, cap-like features
horizontal ribbons that accentuate the stopping effect of the cornices with
they are
much more
The
intimately linked.
which
general reduction in vertical thrust
is
by a gable and
containing three wide niches. The reflection of the central feature on either wing
increases the apparent breadth of the facade and draws attention outwards. The previous
concentration is dispersed. Even the directionally neutral circle within a square of the
accentuated
by
the broad, rectangular flanking elements, each capped
central feature itself is
now
enclosed within a horizontally accented rectangle.
Another noticeable change

simple parts gives
finished sections
way
is
that the interpenetration of a
to a multipHcity
of the drawing show
few
relatively large
and
of clearly bounded minor elements. The un-
how
smaller units are bmlt up within the firmly
closed and frequently rectangular compartments.

separation, and the consequent measurabflity of the
The new
minor
divisibiht)% the clarity
parts are
of
once more strongly
Amolfo and reflect an attitude that prepares the way for the modular
of the early Florentine Renaissance. Indeed, the second project seems, in
the first, to be governed by an adaptation of an ever-popular medieval
reminiscent of
architecture
contrast to
proportional formula.^
It is,
perhaps, significant that
declared of the extension of the
church would so disturb
its
Duomo
was Maitani who, in 1322,

any addition to the existing
which 'its parts agree so well in
it
at Siena that
harmony of proportion
293
in

length and breadth and height' that
it
were
better to destroy
it
utterly
and
start
again/
Whether or not this second drawing is actually by Maitani, its forms are almost identical
with those embodied in the lower parts of the facade, and these were erected under
his supervision. Substantial deviations
only occur in the upper areas, executed after his
death by Andrea Pisano, Orcagna, and others. These deviations constitute a partial
return towards the principles, though not the pattern, of the
furst
design, and chiefly
concern the increased verticaUty of the redesigned central feature and
its
flanking
gables.
The words first and second carry no necessary chronological impHcations. There is
no way of teUing whether the obvious differences between the two projects should be
attributed to a lapse in time or merely to the different interests
men competing
the
first
scheme
and backgrounds of two
simultaneously for a commission. Certainly, the French elements in

in
no way justify
attribution to the
its
shadowy Ramo
di Paganello,
whom no certain work of scidpture or of architecture is now known.* His recorded

presence in one of the multitude of quarries supplying stone for the Duomo means
by
httle in this context.
Alps, this
was no
tecture at
first
Although
a Sienese
rare occurrence,
and
docimient refers to him
having crossed the

art
and archi-
commonplace among leading Itahan

de Honnecourt were already being made
or second hand was almost a
Sketchbooks such
as that
of Villard
artists.
in the
half of the previous century, and the very existence of the Orvietan drawdngs
first
shows
how easily and how accurately knowledge coidd
absolutely clear
from changes
in the design
extreme unlikelihood that any part of the

tive
as
thorough knowledge of French
be spread. The one thing that
of the base-moiddings of the facade
first
is
is
the
project had been bmlt before the defini-
scheme, associated with Maitani, was produced.
The most
were never
striking fact
finished.
The
about the actual execution of the Orvietan rehefs

resulting opportunity to
is
that they
examine almost every phase of the
individual and group activities within a team of medieval
important and extensive project
is
unique. Here, as
workshops tackling a really

nowhere else, the chisels still ring
in the inner ear, and the honey-coloured marble, amber-like, reveals
tide-mark of completion, running across
but the
first
of many indications that the
all
entire
its
secrets.
four piers just under half-way up,
work was both begun and
is
carried for-
ward
as a single enterprise. The frequent adjustment of the outhnes of the

blocks to
follow die contours of the figures and avoid the cutting of some detail (Plate 139B),
and the few surviving errors and discontinuities between adjoining slabs, prove that
most of the carving was done on the ground before erection. This, together with the
cvidendy regular progress of the work, impHes extensive planning. Such planning did
not extend to anything like modern quantity surveying or to the careful
calculations
that produced the even stonework of Antiquity. There seems
to have been no ordering
of blocks of standard size, nor even any detailed correlation between
the shape of a
given block as it left the quarry and its eventual use. The endlessly
varied shapes and
sizes
of the blocks,
an apparendy haphazard relationship which has little connexion

with the symmetry of the subscqucndy carved designs,
argue a patchwork process
in
which the
set in
available and rouglily appropriate material
294
was
fitted
togedier so as to
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FACADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

minimum of difficulty
cause a
led, as
on
it
inevitably did, to
first
Whenever
as
this resulting jigsaw-
Orvietan sculptors relied
fantastically difficult join, the
almost unbelievable competence
their
craftsmen to redress the balance upset
by
undeveloped organizational powers.
their relatively
The
in carving the figures.
some
of the surviving projects was probably preceded by
from the
sculpture itself Since the executed reliefs differ
presumably succeeded
it,
and these
may
lost sketches for the
project, further
way
well have given
drawings
to fairly large-scale
A superbly detailed mid-fourteenth-century Sienese pen

and brushpoint design for a storiated and elaborately decorated polygonal pulpit,
presumably to be erected in Orvieto, is now dispersed between Orvieto, London, and
studies for the reliefs alone.
done.'' How much the fmal

wooden panels of the kind used for
stained-glass designs, or how much it consisted of summary indications on the surface
of the stone itself, is uncertain. The host of men known to have been involved, and the
extreme complexity of the maze of stone through which they had to work with pin-
Berlin,
and
it
some
gives
idea of
what may have been
planning was consigned to parchment or to rough
point accuracy, argue prehminary plamiing.
existence
Its
is
confirmed by Maitani's
authorization to retain disciples for 'the designing, figuring and
Although the planning process
is
making of stones'.
only partially recorded even
at
Orvieto, the
sequences of execution are laid bare in their entirety. In places the rough surface of the
block, squared off with a variety of heavy tools - the adze, the trimming
and the punch - survives
An
much
hammer,
the
hands of the quarrymen (Plate 137).

instance of the second stage, the trimming of superfluous stone and the general
chisel,
as it left the
blocking out of areas of high and low rehef,

stage, visible in
many
details
is
also to
be seen (Plate 137). At the third
of the upper sections of the
first
three piers, the
whole
design was evidently roughed out with a heavy punch. Then, progressively lighter and
more
of this same simple tool, held at right angles to the surface of

manner favoured by the archaic Greek sculptors, were used to define
delicate varieties
the stone in the
the final forms with quite extraordinary precision (Plates 137 and 13 8a). In the process
the previous heavy pitting gives
part of this third stage
treated as a whole.
surface
to an even stippling
last
The succeeding major
with the aid of a
delicacy of the task
way
was evidently the

series
was such
than millimetres deep.
The
process
stone.
was the smootliing of
of progressively fmer claw-chisels
that the skin

tools
of the
The
earlier
point at which the block or scene was

this
granular
(Plate 137).
The
of stone to be removed was usually no more
seem mostly to have been only 3-5 mm. wide, the

less than a miUimetre, with intervening
four teeth of the standard chisel measuring

gaps of half the
the
way
size.
The
the fourteenth-century
his
unity of the arts
that the modelling
is
nowhere
to be seen
more
of the figures was developed with these
draughtsmen modelled with
clearly than in
tools exactly as
their pens or as the painter
bmlt
forms up on the under-plaster or carried out the fmal brushpoint modelling of the
The corduroy-like, evenly striated surface left at the end of the fourth main
working stage can be compared, in its form-following, form-creating regularity and
precision, with the brushwork of the greatest painters, such as Giotto, Duccio, or
Simone, or of any of the men who were continuing and refining the unbroken modelling
flesh.
295

much the bold
It is impossible to say how
stroke of Cavallini or the Isaac Master.
the clear-cut chiselling
influenced
have
may
stage
third
this
in
simplifications introduced
fourteenth-century painters tended. The noses, for
of form towards which major
ridge
example, are reduced to three clear planes, and the
appears as a smgle,
itself
flat,
processes
which the intermediate

and straight-edged surface (Plate 137). The extent to
another in its completed
influenced
have
may
art
of
one
forms
finished
as weU as the
underrated. At Orvieto, pen and
forms as well as m its working stages should not be
brush
may
Certainly the
well hold precedence over the handHng of the claw-chisel.
on the sculptural vision bodied out in the completed compositions
influence of painting
o( Creation and Last Judgement needs no emphasis.

forms,
The fifth and final stage in execution was the smoothing of the rounded
the sharpening of
apparently with pumice or some other abrasive for the most part, and
of what had gone before was
linear details with the straight-edged chisel untfl no trace
upon the marble.

The piecemeal process
left
that begins with the completion of the roughing out with the
as
heavy punch is particularly interesting. In many cases a half-finished block emerges
Each detail of the
a veritable patchwork of differently workcd-surfaces (Plate 137).
composition is held at some distinctive poirt in its journey to completion. The mass of
to be revealed. After the
is such that the whole process of work-sharing seems
blocking out was done, presumably by a Hmited circle of the leadmg men, the minor
and repetitive jobs appear to have been handed on to the recorded army of assistants.
evidence
Their very numbers meant that the

the
work advanced more
invariably finished or
all
rapidly.
less artistically
complex and
The backgrounds and
significant sections
of
the decorative rinceaux are
but complete (Plate 137). Landscape and architectural forms
provided further clearly defmed areas of speciaHzation and, since trees and buildings
are relatively rare, moved far ahead of the figures (Plate 137). Even within the confmes
of the
latter,
work was
shared. Hair speciahsts used their
straight-edge chisel and the
drill,
remainder of the figure. They consequently

the
more
Wings,
extensive and
were
too,
on
smooth blanks
men
main
stage
state
of the
responsible for
draperies (Plate 137).
and every one of the
processes involved, after the completion of the tliird
drapery,
particular tools, the
far outstripped the
more compUcatcd carving of bodies and
treated as a separate task,
to convert the plain,
own
and worked away regardless of the
six or
seven further
of their design, in order
into the fmishcd product, can be seen. In flesh and
the other hand, even the least finished parts of the design are never separated
from each other by more than
a single stage (Plate 137).
Pimch-stippled heads are
coupled with striated draperies. Striated hands emerge out of pimch-stippled sleeves.
Completed forms accompany others still in the penultimate stage. The diaphanous
draperies and the forms they covered were probably not handed out to different
men, but worked impartially by a small group who, whether they shared a single
figure or took one or more through all the final stages to completion, still habitually
fmishcd one stage on drapery or flesh before beginning the same process on the other.
At Orvieto, minor never means inferior, and it would take a bold man to distinguish one
hand
in the faces
and another
in the hair, or the possible intervention
296
of
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FA(;ADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

many
as
as
four separate individuals, in such perfect, fmished figures as the angels in the
Creation of Eve (Plate 139B).
mised in painting and
Its
sculpture
the
is
proof of something that can only be sur-
never to be doubted in the minor
is
arts
namely, that tasks in
medieval workshops were not invariably shared only in terms of areas.
A single fmished
detail
of a single figure could involve the separate contributions of a number of men,
and
completed Orvietan figure would inevitably do
pictorial attributions
activities
therefore often wise to
of a group and the
apparent precision
that,
it is
when once
may
be more impressive but
work
the
stylistic variations to
is
so. In
venturing on sculptural or
do no more than
to distinguish the
be seen within their products. Greater

relevant to processes so
less
fmished, the detailed chemistry of
its
complex
creation cannot be
unscrambled.^
The styhstic bonds comiecting
the output
of the major Orvietan workshop, seemingly
responsible for the bronze angels, for the reHefs of the

the
two
first pier,
for the upper parts
the upper parts of the fourth pier should be attributed to the group itself or to affJiates
much
less clear.
Since the figures on the upper areas of the
first
confidence
works of consummate
at the base
upper parts of the two central
might have brought them
of the fourth. As they
much, or even more,
genius and astonishing anatomic
have the finished figures of the Last Judgement
as
pier (Plate 138B). In the mifmished
processes
artistic
is
pier are only in the third
stage of their preparation (Plate 13 8a), they undoubtedly have as
right to be seen as
of
lower parts of the fourth are very obvious. Whether
central piers, and for the
of the fourth
remaining
piers the
closer either to the first pier or to the
upper part
seems to be no reason to distinguish them from the
are, there
products of the major workshop. Nevertheless, even within the most restricted, seem-
homogeneous areas, many nuances and variations of srs'le occur.

The entire output of the main group is notable for its pictorial subtlety. In this it
follows the tendencies not only of Giovanni Pisano's late work but of the whole
ingly
development of late-thirteenth-century ItaHan sculpmre. Actual reminiscences of

Giovanni's manner are, however, largely confined to figures seen in violent action,
such
of Cain and Abel on the
as those
Damned on the fourth

to
Antique
as
(Plate 13 8b).
first
Only in
pier (Plate
13
8a) or the Resurrected
the latter, with their direct
st}"listic
and the
references
well as to French Gothic sculpture, do deep cutting, crowded figures,
and emotional intensity bring the reUef

general, Trajan's
Column and
stucco decoration
sr\'le as
whole
at all close to Giovanni's. In
the atmospheric deUcacy of Late
comes more readUy
to
mind.
It is
a sign
Roman
of the
and Pompeian
artistic stature
of this
workshop and its leader that individual figures such as the angels of the Creation conjure
up the late work of Ghiberti. In reproduction many a detail from the lower part of the
Last Judgement, so admired by Pius II during his mid-fifteenth-century travels, might
be passed as a Renaissance work by the imwary. The series of bronzes in the round
produced by
this
same group and
unique in fourteenth-century
its
Italy.
speciaHst collaborators
is
technically and artistically
The degree of reahsm and
the decorative
skill
with which the figures in reHef are placed in their extensive landscape settings are
sculpturally unprecedented. The sense of atmosphere and recession is only matched
by
the melting, dream-like linear grace and elegance of the figures in the Creation.
297

These very
qualities
have often led to an underestimation of the physical,
if
not of the
violence and brutaUty

emotional, power which this same workshop generates when
for landscape, reminiscent more of
are demanded by the story. Grace and a feehng
the Sienese
Duccio than of Assisi, make it quite hkely, though they do not prove, that
must also have
Maitani was indeed the leader of this major group of sculptors, who
wooden
carved the closely related
crucifixes in the
Duomo
and in
S.
=.
Francesco in
Orvieto.
The minor group responsible for the lower scenes in the two central piers (Plate
design. The
139A) presents a very different approach within the Hmits of the overall
figures are heavier in build
and
less graceful.
The
and higher in reUef They are more solemn, more imposing,
draperies are less diaphanous and sharply Hnear. In contrast,
they are softer, richer, and
detail,
in their fold-forms.
The depth and
richness
is
replaces atmosphere.
Museo
more complex
accompanied by a denser grouping of the figures, by a greater interest in

and by less concern for the relationship of figures to environment. SoHdity
of reUef
dell' Opera at
panies a basically
As
in the closely related
wooden
Virgin and Child
now
in the
Orvieto, the highest quality in conception and execution accom-
more
conservative approach. In scenes such as the Visitation (Plate
139A) direct reflections of Giovanni's Pisan pulpit,
which was imder construction
in
1303-10, coexist with a solemnity akin to that of Nicola Pisano.
Between
the major and the
minor groups, and straddling the dividing
the finished and unfinished areas
on both the
working sequences and procedures

that they
may
are unchanged,
and the
easUy reflect the cooperation and interaction of the same
pier. If the supposition
two workshops.
can only
mean
that
left
of a steady upward progress of the work
the appearance of the sryUstic influence of the
no work was begun
at
main group
The
styHstic affiliations are such
Furthermore, the transitional areas include the two lowest blocks on the
of the third
between
line
central piers, Hes a transitional area.
at the
and right
is
bottom of
correct,
this pier
any point before the major ateUer, associated
with Maitani, had arrived.

Finally, the
documents concerning
activity
on the facade support
a relatively late
dating for the sculpture, since the portals were under construction throughout 1321
and were not yet finished in 1337. In 1325-30 the bronze figures at the top of the zone
occupied by the reliefs were under way, and the level of the main transverse gallery
seems only to have been reached in 1337-9. The documentary and visual evidence
therefore combines to place the reUcfs substantially within the period
confirmation
as
capomaestro in
13 10
and
his
death in 1330.
that if the sculpture cannot definitely be assigned to Maitani,
It is
between Maitani's
also reasonably clear
none of the
rival attribu-
tions carry conviction. Fra Bevignatc, although responsible for the early stages
Duomo,
of the
nowhere documented or referred to as a sculptor. Ramo

di PagancUo's candidature is supported only by wisps of conjecture. Finally, the only
surviving documented works of Nicola di Nuto, who is repeatedly mentioned in the
Orvictan documents between 1321 and 1347-8 and who is the last of the seriously
construction of the
is
supported candidates, are the busts of St Francis and St Dominic which he carved for
the choir-sulls in 1339. These
show
liim to be a
298
man of very minor
talent.'
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FACADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

Wood and Mctalwork and
Stained Glass
Although they are predominantly concerned with the facade, the interest of the
Orvictan documents is not confined to their bearing on an unsolved attributional
problem: they give a fascinating insight into the extent of the organization that enabled
a small
medieval town to engage successfully, with the help of the surrounding
on the erection and decoration of
so vast a building.
Among
coiitado,
swarms of names
the
Rollando di Bruges and a Pictro Spagnolo, and men from Siena, Gubbio, Assisi,
Como, and many other centres are recorded. A long hst of quarries to supply the
many different kinds of marble, stone, and alabaster that were needed involves not only
the provinces of Orvieto, Siena, and Pisa
Rome
also
and Castel Gandolfo. At
At Montcpisi there were
and
five
at
- Carrara being
many of them
Albano
nine.
specifically
several
There were carpenters
build the work-sheds and the scaffoldings. Payments were

for the fragile leaves of alabaster for the
mentioned - but
masons were employed.
made
to
at
Orvieto to
smooth the roads
wuidows. Eight names other than Maitani's

worked not only on the archi-
are recorded in connexion with the bronzes. Others
but to make the tesserae for the decorative mosaic that enlivens
almost every architectural moulding. Andrea Pisano was paid in 1347 for colouring
tectural structure
the marble statue over the
main doorway and, although there
is
no
certain
where, the coloured inlays of the sarcophagus hds in the Last Judgement
proof else-
may mean
that
were fmally to be painted to complete the variegated pattern of the

coloured marbles and the architectural and pictorial mosaics. Another small army of
men, including Nicola di Nuto, worked upon the choir-stalls. Many of these were
Sienese, like Giovanni Ammanati, who was predominantly a wood carver and directed
all
the rehefs
operations in the early 1330s.
The
choir-stalls,
now
in the apse,
were formerly before the
altar,
and though much
restored are possibly the finest extensive examples of fourteenth-century Italian
work
They
to have survived (Plate 140A).
are
predominantly
rectilinear
conception. Their carefully differentiated surfaces are decorated

foUate designs in
figures
of the
low
relief,
saints in
baldacchino, supported
ling
high
on
wood-
and planar in
by dehcately complex
The half-length
picked out in variously coloured woods.

relief are
its
overshadowed by the chaste trefoil arches of the

These choir-stalls, with their interming-
foliate brackets.
of classical severity and Gothic articulation and decorative
detail,
take their place
on the one hand, and the finest of Itahan goldsmith's

work upon the other as key examples of the peculiar qualities of Italian Gothic art.
The intarsia gable of the Coronation of the Virgin is a complex variant of the design for
the mosaic on the main gable of the facade. It is linked in feeling with the art of the
alongside S. Croce in Florence
miniaturist and of the enameller, as well as

the massive lectern also preserved in the
of the fresco- and the panel-painter, and,
Museo
dell'Opera,
is
like
prelude to the fifteenth-
century triumphs in the medium.
The
chasteness of design, the hnear purity, the carefully controlled complexity that
leaves a final feeling
of simphcity
screen (Plate 140B). This
was
all
these are seen again in the
wrought-iron nave
carried out in 1337-8, with the aid of his son
299
Giacomo,

locksmith who had two years earher signed a grating
of S. Croce in Florence. The ascendancy of Sienese craftsmen in the socalled minor arts is epitomized in the two masterpieces which the goldsmith Ugolino
di Vieri and his fellow workers contributed to the enrichment of the Duo mo. The whole
by Conte
di Lellio Orlandi, the
in the transept
cathedral
was
a shrine for the blood-stained
Corporal of the Miracle of 1260,
bleeding Host restored the wavering faith of a

the facade, with
may
its
be considered
gold and
pictorial
as
mosaic decoration and
priest. If, in
its
and content,
Holy Corporal with
its
when
the
form and colour,
narrative reUefs (Plate 135),
an altarpicce or rehquary on an architectural
silver shrine for the
in colour, form,
German
scale, di Vieri's
translucent narrative enamels
a facade in little (Plate 141A). Indeed,
nothing
is
is,
more
some respects, the growing unity of the arts

which pirmacled and gabled screen-facades and
through almost identical formal means, the same visual
revealing of the fundamental and, in
throughout the period than the

metal reliquaries alike express,
approach
as
way
in
does the typical painted altarpicce or carved polyptych. These in their turn
repeat and elaborate the arch-forms and the planar grouping of the chapel openings
characteristic
so
of the
east
many of them were
ends of a high proportion of the mendicant churches for which

intended.
Dated 1338, the reliquary of the Holy Corporal falls quite early in the known career
who is recorded from 1329 to 1385. The rehquary is 4 feet 7 inches (i*39 m.)
of Ugolino,
in height
and contains thirty-two main narrative scenes which deal with the Miracle
Bolsena, the Passion,
and the Early
of
Life of Christ. Pictorially these reliefs outstrip the
majority of contemporary panel paintings and even frescoes in the spaciousness and
complexity of their architectural

the
crowded
settings, in the soft fullness
livehness of their figure designs.
of
their draperies,
the direct inspiration for most of the Passion scenes, although the
criptive detail recall the Lorcnzettian frescoes in the
Assisi. In the
and in
As might be expected, Duccio's Maesta

lower church of
S.
Francesco at
nine scenes of the Miracle and in those of the Early Life of Christ,
other hand, the relationship to Simone Martini and above

particularly as seen in his frescoes in S. Francesco in Siena,
all
to
is
crowding and des-
Ambrogio
on the
Lorenzetti,
becomes extremely
clear in
general and in detail. Nevertheless, the goldsmith's joy in minute patterning and linear
excitement, together with the translucent brilliance of the colour, creates a feehng more
akin to northern Gothic art, and the same is true of many of the figures in the round.
The
earliest example of transluccntly enamelled silver relief is Guccio di Mamiaia's signed

chahce of between 1288 and 1292, wliich was produced for Nicholas IV and presented
by him
to Assisi, where it is still preserved. Comparison with such earher masterpieces

demonstrates the explosive growth of technical and aesthetic ambition and achievement
that
is
characteristic
of early-fourtecnth-century Sienese goldsmithery.
the grievous nature of the loss of
Lando
di Pictro,
Toro da
Siena,
all
the certain
and Pietro
di
influence not only throughout Italy, but
It
underhnes
works by men of such great fame
Simone.
It
also explains their
as
widespread
on European goldsmith's art in general.

Ugolino's second work at Orvieto, the reliquary for the cranium of S. Savino, was
carried out together with a certain Viva di Lando, who is otherwise
imknown (Plate
142). The latter may, however, well have been responsible for the main statuette of the
300
LORENZO MAITANI AND THE FAQADE OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

its Giottesque solidity and calm, differs so greatly from the
on UgoUno's previous work. Nevertheless, the change in style
may also partly derive from the relationship with the airy three-dimensionality of a
truly architectural space. Standing before this calm and graceful shrine with its restraint
and clarity of arcliitectural detail, its set of variations on a hexagon focusing by way of
the twelve-sided inner cupola on the columnar figure group, it needs no great imagination to see why the master goldsmiths were so often called on to design and execute
Virgin and Child which, in
free-standing figures
great architectural projects.
There
between the translucent hues of Ugohno's enamelled

window completed by Giovanni di Bonino in
a close relationship
is
reliquary of 1338 and the vast choir
1334 and strongly influenced,
if
not designed, by Maitani, assuming that he was the
leader of the major sculptural workshop.

technical innovations
from France,
estabhshed Itahan tradition (Plate 141 b).

design and colour massing.
The
The
glass,
which incorporated the

main stream of the
stands squarely in the

It is
characterized
basic rectangle
by
clarity
latest
now
and simpHcity of
of the individual compartments
is
no undue attempt at three-dimensionahty in the

architectural and landscape backgrounds. The inherent conflict between narrative and
decoration which so often rises to the forefront in stained glass is masterfully controlled.
The gospel stories, alternating with the figures of prophets, cUmb up each of the four
stressed.
main
There
is
no
vertical lights
figure crowding,
and are so arranged
The backgroimds of
as to create a similar alternation horizontally.
rimmed with ruby and those of the

rimmed with blue, in the first and third, and
the narratives arc sapphire
prophets ruby, starred with white and
an unbroken, blue-rimmed ruby in the second and fourth hghts. Since the backgrounds
of the narratives are

lying
much more
symmetry becomes
heavily masked
by
figures
and architecture, the under-
the basis for a sustained yet subtly varied counterpoint
enriched with white and golden yellow, hght blue, emerald, and purple.
It
must not be thought
each unique in
more than
its
own
that this succession
field
half a century,
of so many and such varied masterpieces,
and representing a sustained cooperation in the
was merely
arts for
growth
during which
the reflection of a period of peaceful civic
There were ten years of unity, beginning in the early nineties,

Angevin domination was succeeded by cooperation between nobility and people,
Guelphs and Ghibellines, in the face of varying external threats and ventures, but
in Orvieto.
the
these
were followed by ten years of internecine struggle.

Henry VII's armies, the Guelphs succeeded,
the threat of
strife
When
finally, in 13 13,
after five full
under
days of bloody
and fluctuating fortunes, in shattering the forces of the internal and external
of the two opposing factions, the Monaldeschi and the FiHp-
Ghibellines, the leaders

peschi,
had become enough of a byword to be used by Dante as a symbol of such

The rule of the Five, an ohgarchy of Guelph nobles, lasted from
fratricidal warfare.
i3i3toi3i5. It was succeeded by Poncello Orsini's Popolo, which lasted seven years,
marked by the increasing power of the artisan and trading classes and followed by a
gradual reassumption of power by the nobflity. All the time, external wars and miHtary
excursions, for one of which Lorenzo Maitani was himself conscripted in 1325, are the
background for the endless crises and coups d'etat of internal economic and political
301

struggles. It
is
typical that
throughout
this
half a century or
more of ferment, one of
Orvieto's constant poHtical enemies was that same city of Siena

a
which provided such
high proportion of the architects and masons, master goldsmiths,
workers, and
realization
lived
its
wood
carvers
who, from capomaestri
to
of a dream of piety, of civic grandeur and
glaziers,
metal-
quarrymen, contributed to the
artistic unity, that
has long out-
dreamers, and which, hke the fmished sculpture from the teeming Orvietan
workshops with
through which
their
it
was
economic and
artistic rivalries,
created.
30a
shows few
traces
of the processes
CHAPTER
3 3
ANDREA PISANO
One
of the
ironies
of the history of
Italian thirteenth-
and fourteenth-century
art
is
where so much is known about so many unimportant details, the greatest artists
and the finest works of art so often still emerge unheralded. The first surviving record
of Andrea d'Ugolino da Pontadera, known as Andrea Pisano, is the masterpiece of his
that
maturit)', the
bronze doors, signed and dated 1330, for the baptistery

seems to hang upon their hinges and
(Plate 143). His entire Hfe
whole
his
be compressed within the compass of the great cathedral with
its
Florence
at
hfe's
work
to
baptistery and
campanile.
The
new
project for
baptistery doors, probably
broached in 1322, when Tino
di
1329, however, that the goldsmith Piero dijacopo
which are in
some master
that city
to
and portray
work on
the
of wood sheathed
Camaino was working on

[ritragga]
said
was
was only in
in metal,
It
sent to Pisa 'to see those [doors]
them and then
moulding of the
the paucity of skilled workers in Florence,
was
the building.
go
to
to Venice to look for
metal door'.^ This document shows
which had no hving
tradition in the
medium,
whereas the openwork intricacy of Bertuccio's signed and dated doors of 1300 for
Marco
helps to explain the current reputation of Venetian masters.
It is also
S.
the earhest
surviving dociunentary proof in Italy of the practice of drawing existing works of

art for
comparison or record, or
as the basis for a
such proceedings must have been
common by
new
creation.
this time.
On
already referred to as 'maestro delle porte', began his work.

for the entire
door was
finished,
though
this
On indirect
evidence,
22 January 1330, Andrea,
By 2
April the
wax model
presumably only concerned the frame-
work. In 133 1 two assistant goldsmiths were appointed, and in 1332 Leonardo
d'Avanzo, a Venetian who, with two assistants, was in charge of the casting, is mentioned.
The
first
was being gilded
leaf seems to
have been finished by the end of 1332 and the second
in the latter half
flaws had to be remedied
of 1333. In 1335 unspecified but evidently serious

himself, and it was not until June 1336 that the
by Andrea
weighing of the waste bronze dust and chippings signalled the completion of the work.
Four years
later, in
1340,
Andrea
is
mentioned
as
capomaestro of the Opera del
Duomo,
and in 1347 he took up a similar position at Orvieto. By July 1349 he had been succeeded by his son Nino, and it is generally assumed that he was carried off by the
Black Death.
When
Andrea accepted the commission for bronze doors, appropriately decorated

titular, he faced a set of problems
severe as any that have ever confironted a sculptor. The technical difficulties were
with scenes from the Hfe of St John, the baptistery's

as
more than matched by the aesthetic problem. The need to send to Pisa for information
shows that then, as now, there were no more recent patterns to consult. Bonaimo's lost
Porta Regia of the Duomo is recorded as dating from 11 80 and was probably close in
303

Furthermore, cycles of the hfe of the
time and style to the surviving Porta di
S. Ranieri.
Baptist such as that in the baptistery at
Parma were
surprisingly
uncommon
in Itahan
Andrea, with no alternative source of inspiration, was therefore faced on the one
hand by the recently completed but styhstically archaic cycle of fifteen mosaics in the
art.
dome of the Florentine baptistery itself, and on the other by Giotto's three presumably
newly painted and certainly revolutionary frescoes in the Peruzzi Chapel in S. Croce.
Three further considerations undoubtedly added to his troubles. Firstly, Giotto's originahty in these particular frescoes lay in their liitherto undreamt-of architectural, spatial,
and descriptive reahsm. Secondly, on technical if upon no other grounds, there was not
of matching, much less of surpassing, such pictorial
at that date the remotest possibiHty
realism in terms of bronze. Thirdly and possibly the
known
have
that
whatever
Giotto at the hands of the most

conscious city in
Andrea's
fields,
was
critical,
most dauntingly, Andrea must
he would inevitably face comparison with
his solution,
the
most
sophisticated,
and the most
initial
stroke
of genius was
that,
by reducing
the rectangular 'pictorial'
which he took over from Bonaimo, by means of decorative
able both to use the source material ready to his
painter's
ground. The diminution of the narrative
by the seemingly
possibihties
artistically
Italy.
hand and
field
intrusive angularities
inset quatrefoils,
to avoid
he
competing on the
and the hmitation of the
pictorial
of the immediate framing
is
not
a disadvantage suifered for the sake of fashionable Gothic decorative quahties, but an
actual hberation and the necessary condition for the
concentrated narrative
By
date there
this
development of Andrea's uniquely
style.
is
no need
to search the sculpture
of
Paris,
Bourges, and Rouen
or to turn to northern metal work or miniatures for the source of the pierced quadrilobe.
Giotto had used it in identical form fully twenty years earher to frame subsidiary scenes
Arena Chapel, and it was probably famihar to Andrea in lost Florentine works
by Giotto and his circle. Since Andrea eschews the wide upper and lower horizontal
fields used by Bonanno to vary the purely rectilinear grid of his design, the quadrilobes
in the
effectively
enUven the potential monotony of the twenty-eight identical rectangles
which he decided
to divide his own doors. They also allow liim to give unprecedented depth and strength to the rectangular framework itself EnHvened as it is
by the decorative studs and embossed Hons' heads that replace Bonamio's relatively
into
flat rosettes,
the
framework acquires
contact with the narrative rcUefs.
It
powerful
arcliitectural
quahty without losing
can support a gilding of the studs and bosses, as
well as of the figures in the narrative scenes, that
connotations of Bonamio's
trast
flatter
would have swamped the architectural

framework. Witliin Andrea's scheme the crisp con-
between gold and bronze is alUcd to the similarly balanced contrasts

between
and flat, rounded and pointed, rough and smooth, linear and planar,
raised
discontinuous
and contiiiuous forms. They

the figural and abstract,
fmal
harmony
Of the
is
of them enhance the fundamental balance between

and the decorative and structural elements from wloich the
all
built.
fourteen panels on each
Virtues, with
HumiHty bringing
leaf,
bottom four contain the single figures of the

up to eight. The narratives read like a book
the
the total
304
ANDREA PISANO
from
left to right
and in Giotto's
and top
to
bottom on each
frescoes, there
is
leaf or page.
As
in the baptistery mosaics
adherence to the gospels and virtually no
strict
broidery from apocryphal or legendary sources.
Though many
em-
scenes are cunningly
adjusted to the points and lobes of the quatrcfoils, the essential contact with the structural
framework of
the doors
maintained through the rectilinearity of compositions that
is
The figures stand, in all but the five

on wedge-and-polc-supportcd platforms that tantahzingly recall
are chiefly built of simple verticals and horizontals.
landscape scenes,
stage structures. Their proportions arc such that the resulting compositional rectangles
Once
softly stress the horizontal.
with the gently
vertical stress
again the outcome
of the main
in the single figures of the Virtues at the
structural
is
balanced contrast,
compartments which
is
this
time
only echoed
bottom of the doors.
Despite Andrea's Pisan background, the direct reflections of Giovanni's
work are
com-
few, apart from a general similarity between the Birth of the Baptist and the
parable scene
upon
the Pisa pulpit.
As with Tino, the rehef style marks the end of the
of Nicola and Giovanni Pisano's neo-Antique, continuously carved
era
relief
and a
Romanesque and French Gothic traditions with which they had

on the Perugia Fountain. The contact with northern metalwork is
return to the Itahan

so briefly flirted
clearest in the extraordinary crispness
was
felt
by almost
all
than particular. Andrea
with French
and dehcacy of the fmal
chiselling.
the greatest Itahan goldsmiths of the period and
may
owe
therefore
as
much
artefacts. In figure style the influence
is
This influence
generic rather
to indirect as to direct
of Giotto's fold-forms
connexions
is
supreme,
but where the painter has to fight for three-dimensionality, the sculptor has
right.
it
as
of
Andrea's swinging, hnear rhythms, in which hints of Duccio and of the Orvietan
carvings flicker, consequently quite transform the sombre, relatively static Giottesque
The resultant meUifluous plasticity is Andrea's own. Although such figures

Hope may be connected in detail with their Paduan counterparts, much as the
Visitation is linked by the positioning of the hands to the Orvietan version, external
patterns.
as
influence
It is
is
so digested as to be of Httle
more than academic
in compositional matters that Andrea's art has
interest in the
end
result.
been most open to misunder-
standing and in which his independent genius paradoxically shines most clearly,
although of the twenty narrative designs only the Carrying of the Baptist's Body is
without a counterpart in the baptistery mosaics or in the Peruzzi Chapel. The subtlety
of
his
compositional methods
is
most
easily seen in the
landscapes in the middle of the left-hand leaf (Plate 144).
continuous sequence of five
They form
two baptismal
the gospel order has been changed to bring the
group in which
scenes together as the
culmination of the opening chapter of a narrative continued at the top of the right-
hand door. In the scene of St John

ship
between landscape and
man-sized youth upon the
on the
right.
On the doors,
entering the Wilderness the sense
figures
left
is
of intimate relation-
already intense. In the comparable mosaic a
advances swiftly towards the formal rocks assembled
a httle
boy
appears, already buried in the craggy depths of a
wild landscape, marching forward, head down, with his cross held boldly to the fore.
casually placed,
tinuous forward
unbroken precipice provides
movement
is
suggested
frame for the small figure and con-
by diagonal
305
rock-clefts.

In the mosaic version of the next scene, the Preaching of St John (Plate r45A), the
on the
crowd
is
centre,
and
succeeded by a central
left,
rocky mass on the
a tree-clad
John
tree. St
of the
stands to the right
an empty formal
far right attracts attention as
As almost invariably when Giotto
offers no alternative
The subsequent transformation is always considerable, however, and in the rehef each figure group is backed by a rocky outcrop in
the manner of Cimabue in his frescoes at Assisi. The crowd upon the left, reduced to
four, stands on a lower level than the Baptist on the right (Plate 144). Behind the crowd,
balance for the people on the

design,
Andrea
starts
from
left.
the mosaic.
a low, diagonally-topped rock mass
and
a tall tree lead
upwards
helps the eye to leap the central cleft towards the higher,
of the
isolated figure
Baptist.
in a single
shmmer
sweep
that
pinnacle behind the
Each seemingly casual element of landscape
designed to
is
emphasize, to separate sufficiently, and at the same time to connect, the figures.
In the Presentation of Christ (Plate 144) there
none the
psychological
a similar tightening
is
expressive mosaic design (Plate 145A).
less
moment
is
defmed
as the Baptist points
of the loose but
Each nuance of
a complicated
towards 'one mightier than
whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose'.^ The Baptist

drama upon these, his doors, and he stands clearly isolated
the latchet of
actor in the
He
is
emphasized not merely by
shghtly higher level than the
his central placing,
crowd upon
his left,
and by being
set in
is
The
latter balances the
extreme
right.
important element, the crowd upon the
most important form of
all,
is
The mountains and

The unwavering gaze of the
directed past the Baptist to him, and the meaningful diagonal

staff"
which
that the cross
the Baptist holds, symbohcally clear,
upon
its
head
is
closer to the Saviour.
is
stands at
tree.
upon
the
haloed and alone
stands clear against the sky in contrast to the rest.
the
left,
the figure of Christ
Standing high above the other figures, he alone
ascending rock floor lead towards him.
but by a great bare face of rock that
given landscape emphasis by the relatively soft forms of a
The
at the centre.
towers up behind him.
least
high rehef at
the lowest level and
is
the central
the steadily
spectators
is
by
between himself and Christ, so

not merely the Baptist's firm
It is
I but He'. The swinging drapery folds lead upwards to the

from the foremost member of the crowd and on through those of St John himself.
gesture that declares 'not

right
The goal once
reached, straight-hanging folds enclose the static column of the imposing figure of Christ, encouraging the eye to go no farther. Each detail of design is
subtly differentiated
from the
similar element in the preceding scene.
aspect of a composition cut to the bare
bone
Each formal
calculated to bring out the inherent
is
of the story at the same time as it builds a satisfying visual harmony. Andrea
does not copy the surface incidentals of Giotto's art: he apphes its underiying principle.
subtleties
The
St John baptizing again reveals Andrea's varied skill in using

landscape to dis-
tinguish and to emphasize the figural
components of
his
compositions (Plate 144).
Here, a single figure out of the anonymous, bystanding
crowd assumes importance

exactly expressed by the way
through the act of baptism. This subdcty of meaning is

which his lower body merges with the crowd behind him, while his
head stands clear
and separate in the baptismal act. The conncx-ion with the
flowing water and the
in
Baptist's
bowl
creates a vertical, accentuated
306
by
the
smooth trunk of a
tree. It
forms a
ANDREA PISANO
visual
and significant central
axis for the
asymmetric balance of the whole design. The
comparison and contrast with the traditional iconography of the next-door Baptism of
Christ needs no elaboration, and the landscape backgroimd once again gives visual
expression to the inner meaning.
on
the Baptist higher
The fundamental
The angel on
the
left is
lowest, Christ
is
central,
and
the right.
role played
by
which by their freely flowing yet

rhythm quite unknown in Giotto's
Body (Plate 145B). The swinging folds
the draperies,
descriptive lines enrich the doors with a decorative
Carrying of the Baptist's
art, is at its clearest in the
of the left-hand figure suggest

bearer until, in the figure
an almost
attention
static
on the
of movement.
composition
on
its
rapid motion.
The rhythm slows down
the right, the hanging folds loop vertically
column. The three left-hand figures
all
means
these
a sense
of rhythmic motion
comfortably within
its
frame.
How
is
form
incorporated in a balanced
rich and full of interest for
themselves, as well as for description of the imderlying forms
shown
to
glance back and concentrate
Baptist's face, while the right-hand three look forwards in the direction
By
sitting
how complex
in the central
down
Andrea's draperies could become
in the single figures
of the Virtues. The
when
freed
difficult
how
softly falling
and
of narrative demands
is
problems involved in fore-
shortening the thighs of seated figures in relief have not been
whoUy
solved, but the
form and pose within a necessarily restricted compass is remarkable. Such

formal subtlety, combined with naturalness and freedom in the fall of folds, is nowhere
seen again before the flowering of the Renaissance in the early fifteenth century.
variety of
The Burial of the Baptist is among the fmest examples of Andrea's use of the mosaics
while maintaining his independence both in detail and in principles of design (Plate
wide canopy supported by thin columns upon
145B). In the mosaic a

creates
either
an a-b-a compositional rhythm.' The massing of the figures on either
with the single mourner

and seems to carry out
visible corpse, creates a
at the centre,
who
wing
side,
emerges from behind the sarcophagus
symboUc rather than an actual lowering of the Baptist's fully

rhythmic contrast - b-a-b. In Andrea's design, however, the
pierced quatrefoil of the frame allows a
complex Byzantine-Gothic canopy
to
form
an almost abstract, floating, and yet wholly stable architecture for which the two
columnar framing
combine
figures supply the 'structural' support. Figures
to orchestrate a single
of the Baptist's body

the bearers.
is
ignored. His head and feet alone appear.
The slow bending of their backs
The
rest
that concentrates attention
head so vividly expresses the whole theme of the eclipse of Hfe, of
solemn ceremonial, and of physical and emotional

sink before us.
and architecture
a-b-a rhythm. The hieratic demand for the
on
full visibihty
is
hidden by
the Baptist's
burial,
of
body almost seems

but made actual in all
to
loss
strain, that the
and
The theme of burial is not merely represented

its
economy of means that Giotto himself could never have
overtones, and with an

surpassed.
The
is
subtlety and depth
of the true relationship between the painter and the sculptor
apparent in the Presentation of the Baptist's Head, in which Andrea
most dependent
is
superficially at
Chapel Dance of Salome (Plate 97A)

Giotto's compositional problem was the imification of three separate episodes. These
his
(Plate 146A). In the Peruzzi
307

comprised the Decapitation
o/z/jeBa/J^/rf,
occupied the tower on the
left,
on
The
the right.
verticals
of the
known from a copy by Lorenzo Monaco
the Datice of Salome
necessary interconnexion
figures,
by
is
itself,
and the
principally achieved
the freely continuous line of heads, and
continuity of roof and cornice.
The need
to
have
Presentation to Herodias
by the repeated
by the unbroken
for a firm horizontal linkage leads Giotto to
Salome into veritable Siamese twins, linked by their

trailing robes. The vertical of the dancing Salome is matched by that of her kneeling
counterpart. Herodias sits on a low throne, reducing the disparity of head-height to a
turn the
two
representations of
minimum and
allowing the flattened curve of arms and hands to
horizontal balance.
Baptist's head,
figures
comer of
halo and the
the
room
settle
almost into
itself attract attention to the
and the semicircular arch above echoes the figure-curve below. The
and the architecture blend into
in the top right-hand
much
comer, Giotto
a single,
mutually supporting whole. Finally,
inserts a flight
of steps and the
side wall
of an upper
somewhat wide, as to
provide an end stop for the gently sloping, downwards recession of the main roof-line.
The latter would, without them, seem to shde away uncomfortably towards the right.
storey, not so
Andrea, in
his version
building into straight
of the doors. The
upon and turned

It
to accentuate Herodias, the interval being
of the scene
lines.
steps
(Plate 146A), transforms the curves
of Giotto's
These forge the necessary links with the rectilinear panelling
and wall, which are a functional
into a castellated tower
which forms
detail in the fresco, are seized
major element in the design.
gives a strong diagonal accent to the entire architectural pattern
emphatic canopy for the enthroned Herodias. The
latter,
and
creates
an
by suborning her unthinking
daughter and subjecting the weak king to her will by trickery and strength of persets the tragedy in motion and provides its driving force. The subtlety with
which Andrea bodies out this drama makes his painted prototype seem stiff and hfeless by comparison. SimpUcity and grace blend in a manner that is not Giottesque.
sonahty,
The young
princess kneels low, subservience in every curve,
upwards Uke the
fihal slave she has
and proffers the head
become. Pensive, Herodias bends her gaze
down
to
her daughter. As their glances meet, the severed head materiahzes as the thought that
lies
between them. Salome's swinging draperies pick up the rapid rhythm of linked
hands and wrists which then reverberates throughout the framing quatrefoil. The
figures merge in one diagonal of movement and emotion which is strengthened by the
architectural
forms. But for the unusually complete description of a rectangular
no such sweeping stroke of compositional genius could have

been achieved without destroying the rectilinear pattern carefully maintained throughout the narrative designs and stressed in the surrounding architectural scenes. After a
architectural enclosure,
hundred years Andrea's doors were

the
to be taken
from
their place
of honour opposite
Duomo to give way to the first of two sets by Ghiberti. Nevertheless,
their balancing
of structural and decorative elements remains imiquc. However far they were eventually
left bcliind in terms of technical aclucvcment, artistic
values are not necessarily subject
to a similar evolution. As doors, and in their combination
function, Andrea's masterpieces
Since
may
no other documented works
of narrative and architectural
never have been surpassed.

exist,
any further attributions
308
to
Andrea must be
ANDREA PISANO
tested
by
their stylistic relationsliip to his
bronze doors. The two small, higlily polished
marble standing figures of Christ and of
Duomo
have
all
as the Christ
the requisite quaUties.
of the
Rcparata (Plate 146B) in the Opera del
S.
They
are stylistically identical with such figures
Presentation of Christ (Plate 144),
and every formal element can
be matched upon the doors. The draperies are not deeply cut and the detail has a
goldsmith's deUcacy of touch.
The
sUghtly curving, tubular mass
is
underline
how
unbroken and the soUdity of the
outlines are
undisturbed. These
two
exquisite,
solemn figures
Andrea's Gothicism in the doors depends upon extravagant or
Httle
swaying forms.
Antonio Pucci
attributes the first
the campanile of the
Duomo
of the rehefs
set in
two ranges round the base of

them first to Giotto
to Giotto. Later on, Ghiberti gives
and then, elsewhere, to Andrea. The lower part of the campanile certainly seems to
from 1334 to 1337, when Giotto is rehably

However much Giotto may have intervened in the
reported to have been in charge.
date
a supervisory capacity, the
and
his circle.
st}'le
arts
and
sciences.
The
on
in
of the rehefs appears to show that they were by Andrea
The lower, and presumably
Creation of Man and to man's
early stages of design or later
earher, set
own subsequent
three scenes
from
of hexagons
activity as a creator
Genesis,
is
devoted to the
and inventor in the
which Pucci and Ghiberti both
connect with Giotto, are those in which, allowing for the change in scale and medium,
the general figure style and the carving of hair and similar details are virtually identical
with that on the doors. The unaccustomed lushness of the vegetation simply
the subject matter of the earthly paradise.
The
reUefs
of Hercules and
Cactis;
reflects
of Dedalus;
which is among the most attractive compositions and is st)'Hstically

from the doors; of the Horseman, the Ploughman, the Navigator; and finally
that most subtly monumental of all Andrea's rehefs, the Weaver (Plate 147A), are all
convincingly attributable to his own exertions. Whether here or in the fourteen
scenes in which the variously lowered vitaHty of the carving seems to indicate that
workshop intervention was extensive enough to affect the final outcome, the sensitive
of the
Sculptor,
inseparable
shaping of the figure content to the
new
design of frame
is
very
noticeable."* It
is
this
short canon, estabhshed in the doors, confirmed in the Christ and the S. Reparata,
and continued in the

Pisano of his place
finest
among
of these rehefs upon the campanile,^ that assures Andrea
the greatest of ItaUan sculptors.
309
CHAPTER 34
DI BALDUCCIO AND
NORTH ITALIAN SCULPTURE
GIOVANNI
Giovanni
While
Tino
di
Camaino was
di
BaUuccio
echoing the Pisan sculptural message at the
softly
Neapolitan court, Giovanni di Balduccio was proclaiming
it
in similarly dulcet tones
Lombardy. The documentation of his career is sparse. He is known to have worked

in a minor capacity in the Opera del Duomo in Pisa during 13 17-18, shortly after
Tino's departure. There foUow the signed tomb of Guamerio degh AntelmineUi, the
son of Castruccio Castracane, in S. Francesco at Sarzana, probably, judging from the
in
inscription, carried out after his father's death in 1328; the signed wall pulpit in S.
Maria del Prato
at S.
Casciano Val di Pesa; the Area di
S. Pietro
Martire in
S.
doorway of the destroyed

and dated 1347. The fmal record is the
Eustorgio in Milan, signed and dated 1339; and lastly the
church of
S.
Maria di Brera in Milan, signed
Pisan decision to elect
The wall-tomb
him capomaestro
for Castruccio's son
in 1349. His answer, if any, has not survived.

is
a heavy,
somewhat piecemeal concoction,
loaded with distant reminiscences of Giovanni Pisano and, in the reUefs, of Giotto.
The
and
pulpit,
its
on the other hand, with its marble polychrome, its clear rectangular form,
Romanesque tradition that preceded the Pisani. The deHght
clean lines, recalls the
in drill-work looks
back to the self-same sources, but the Gothic figure
with the tomb, the busy draperies and the dehght in
style,
still-life detail, all
shared
bespeak the
non-dramatic, narrative interests of the minor masters of the third decade of the
fourteenth century.
identical
lost
high
works
Maria
The
reUefs
of St Dominic and St Peter Martyr are
with the figures of St Dominic and St Petronius which

altar
of S. Domenico in Bologna, commissioned
also point
to
derive
The
and forward to the figures of the BaronceUi
of the Virgin Annunciate in the round in
powers
after 133 1.
from
its
soft
S.
Croce
reason for, his transfer to
its
intensity
latter gives the first liint
moved away from Tuscany. The

Milan arc unknown. He may have been
be released once Giovanni
S.
monument and
in Florence (Plate 147B). In
complexity of fold form the
the
early signed
back to the somewhat Lorenzettian Madonna and Child from
della Spina in Pisa,
of expression and
styhstically almost
may
of the
date of, and the
called by Azzo
whose multipHcity of Pisan connexions included Castruccio Castrapossible that his move was linked with the construction of the 'most
in vvliich Beatrice d'Este was buried in S. Francesco Grande in Milan
Visconti himself,
cane.
It is
also
beautiful' area
in 1334.
The state of Lombard sculpture when Giovanni and his by then extensive
workshop embarked upon the Area di S. Pietro, which he signed in 1339 (Plate
may
be gauged from the major works of the
310
first
local
150),
The opening

decade
MUan
is
represented
by
the
tombs of Ottonc Visconti
and of Bcrardo Maggi
1308) in the
(d.
(d.
Duomo
1295) in the
Duomo
of
Vccchio in Brescia. The
smoothly poHshed forms of both arc hard-won from the tough, red marble of Verona.
Only in the latter do the Lilliputian mourners catch a purely iconographic whisper of
Arnolfo's distant innovations and reveal in dress that these are not pure masterpieces of
the
Lombard Romanesque, but works contemporary with Giovaimi Pisano's Pisan

Paduan frescoes. Hardly more disturbed in their slow course are the
pulpit or Giotto's
masters likewise probably from Campione, near Lugano, the ancestral breeding ground
of Lombard
sculptors,
the sole concession of a heavy, pointed arch, carved
who, with
out the simple, massive, and harmonious forms of GugUelmo Longhi's canopied wall-
on the Veronese model in S. Maria Maggiore at Bergamo c. 1320.1

background Giovamii's Area is as revolutionary an intrusion of Pisan
sculptural innovation as was Nicola Pisano's Area di S. Domenico in the Bologna of
three-quarters of a century earHer. The latter is the prototype of Giovanni's more
tomb,
built
Against
this
elaborate construction, but there are
now
eight caryatids instead of sLx, and a tripartite
tabernacle recalls that on the facade of the

Camposanto at Pisa, and the general outlines are almost exactly those of Tino di
Camaino's tomb of Cardinal Petroni in the Duomo of Siena (Plate 129B).
The Seven Virtues and Obedience, each standing on their paired symbolic animals,
form the caryatids. The eight scenes from the hfe of St Peter Martyr on the casket are
articulated by Sts Jerome, Thomas Aquinas, Eustorgio, Augustine, Ambrose, Peter,
Paul, and Gregory. Above them, eight of the angelic choirs - Cherubim, Thrones
vertical division
created.
is
The crowning
and Dominations, Virtues, Powers,
from
Priiicipalities,
Archangels, and Angels, derived
from Gregory
was not yet dead.
the Areopagitka of Pseudo-Dionysus with the aid of symbols taken
the Great - prove that the iconographic originahty of the Pisani
The Seraphim,
closest to
God, then fmd appropriate place beside the Saviour on the

Cliild, together with St Dominic and St
topmost flanking pinnacles. The Virgin and
Peter Martyr, are housed beneath, in the tripartite tabernacle, and
upon
the
hd of the
sarcophagus are representations of Milan, a king and queen, and suppliant laity and
clerics.
The Area was
flame-Hke quality
backs are slotted.
embeUished both with coloured marbling and with
originally
blue and gold paint, and
its
rising iconographic
temperature must have achieved a fmal
when aU the angeHc figures had

The wings would have reiterated
and given an added
and
airiness
still
the
open base and
which
their
upper ranges of the tomb.
vertical acceleration to the
The impression of lighmess which

free-standing upper figures
the metal wings for
the spiked forms of the pimiacles
top, the slender caryatids,
engender, despite the heavy
and the
body of the tomb, would
have been greatly enhanced.
The
for the
intervention of a massive
monument
quaUty of its
detail.
in 1335
The
and
workshop
its
in the years
signature in 1339
is
between the
first
proposal
demonstrated by the variable
quaUtative peak Ues in the caryatids. These
show every
sign
of
being substantially executed by Giovamii himself Only the Hope, and Justice (Plate
150,
extreme
left)
with
its
long neck and small head, show structural imcertainty. The

maximum of graceful sHmness in the
backing of each figure by a colimin allows a

311

apparent supports, and
this is
accentuated
by the
allegorical beasts
beneath their
feet.
suavity without sway, sufScient but never obtrusive anatoinical descripviolence or passion.
tion, and a constant variation of expression and emotion without
The eager Charity, with its upturned face and parted Ups, and the Prudence, with its
The
result
is
neat solution of the problem of the double visage (Plate 150, extreme right) and smooth
subtlety of sculptural simplification in the main face, are especially notable. The fmest
all is possibly the Temperance (Plate 148A). It is among the loveliest, the fullest,
and the most subtle evocations of feminine grace and spiritual tenderness since Nicola
Pisano's HumiHty on the Siena pulpit of 1268. There is a shining sunpUcity and quiet
naturalism in the smooth, rhythmic flow of the freely hanging drapery folds, developed
from the earUest figure of St Peter Martyr. These quaUties are for once combined with
of them
a sense
of void and soHd which, in
its
way,
gentler
cutting in Arnolfo's Virgin and Child for the
recalls the
Duomo
humanity
that infused such Early Gothic statuary as the
west door
at
Reims
(Plate 93A)
or Petrarch's Laura are not
is
more
here restated in
is
to be
The
Queen of Sheba on the main
subtle terms. Dante's Beatrice
beautiful in the mind's eye.
one such figure out of the reluctant stone

terms of quaUty, a major
more
dramatic depth of under-
in Florence (Plate 28a).
To have
chiselled
even
proved no minor sculptor but, in
artist.
Except in the figures in the tabernacle, the intervention of Giovanni's Lombard work-
shop
and
is
more
or
apparent throughout the remainder of the Area.
less
in the reUefs
it is
overwhelming.
Among
the saints
tendency to elongated bodies, long necks, and
small, thin-faced heads in certain figures contrasts
with the heavy hands and pendulous
com-
jowls of another extensive group. The chief executant of the crudely piled up
and squat figures of the Burial and Canonization reUefs
positions
dominate the highly coloured tomb of Lanfranco

closer in certain
of the heads to Giovanni's
own
Settala in S.
style,
later
Marco
appears to
Much
in Milan.
but evidently almost wholly a
workshop product, is Azzo Visconti's (d. 1339) own tomb in S. Gottardo in Milan.
The one reUef upon the Area which moves appreciably beyond the range of the Area
Domenico of so many years before is that of the Miracle of St Peter Martyr, which
filled by a great ship on a surging sea (Plate 150). The figure of the saint and
the lovingly described intricacy of detail make it likely that Giovanni liims'elf was more
than usually concerned in the execution of this vivid narrative, which calls to mind so
many later panel paintings of miraculous salvation from marine disaster.
di S.
is
almost
Reminiscences of the relief style of the Area,
work, together with

specifically
still
as
well
as
of ivory carving and metal-
simple narrative garruhry that recalls the panel painters and
Lombard schools of miniaturists,

Magi which is also in S. Eustorgio.
the Bolognese and
altar triptych of the Story of the

independent work of the sculptor
who
collaborated
more
recur in the marble

It
on Giovanni's
may even
relief
be the
of St
curing the
Dumb.
If so, his natural, naive vivacity
free rein
among
the teeming figures that invigorate the balanced repetitions
Peter
and technical dexterity are given a
of
his
altarpiecc.
In practical terms nothing certain

as a sculptor after
is known of Giovamii's personal development

completing the Area. With the possible exception of the Virgin
312

from the doorway of S. Maria di Brera of 1347 seem hardly
Hkely to be more than independent workshop products protected by his signature. If
Atmunciate, the fragments
the tliree wafer-thin free-standing figures above the
mona
by him,
are indeed
factions
of the
as
may
they
folds, their uncertain,
doorway of
the
Duomo
of Cre-
conceivably be, judging from certain lique-
swaying stance reveals
a diminished interest in
on French Gothic art. The Virgin, in particular,

her monumental scale. Yet if structure takes a second place to
structure and an increased reUance

recalls
an ivory, despite
decorative grace, the detailed portrait realism of the clean-shaven figure of 5/ Oiiwboiio,
aged
his
flesh
fundamentals
sagging on the strong bones beneath, accentuates the grasp of anatomic

well as the ever-present technical
as
of these figures could
summon up when
it
skill
was relevant
which
the Tuscan sculptor
to his purpose.
Giovanni da Campione
Campione, on the shores of Lake Lugano, already famed for

sculptors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, comes into its
builders, masons,
own
once more
and
in the
mid fourteenth century. Giovanni da Campione is the only Lombard rival of Giovanni
di Balduccio whose styUstic personahty has in any sense survived. The inscription
'mcccxl iohannes' on the baptistery at Bergamo probably refers to Giovanni da
Campione and to the reworked figures of the Virtues in the external niches at the angles
of the bmlding
shown by
as
well as to the reconstructed building
the siniilariry
Maggiore with
its
between
these figures
1483). This
is
expHcit lower and upper inscriptions of 1361 and 1363. Since, in
docmnents reterring to the doorway, Giovanni
the
itself (Plate
and those on the north portal of S. Maria

figures chiefly as the entrepreneur
of the whole work, the carvings may, on the analogy of Orvieto, merely
reflect his
employment of the same workshop for the sculptural elements of both projects.
The baptistery Virtues are closely related iconographically to those on the Area di
S. Pietro, presumably completed only a year before. The extreme elongation of
these figures, carved in brownish Veronese marble and dominated by the Procrustean
dictates of their architectural setting, is accompanied not only by a stiffening of form
and
hardening of expression that are undoubtedly due in part to subsequent tampering,
but also by a tendency towards a
rhythms of Balduccio are
flat,
Romanesque
clearer in the
linearity in the drapery.
Angels within the
baptister\', as
The
well
soft
as in the
four opening rehefs of the eight panels of the Life of Christ, influenced though they are
by
local traditions
of the kind that
scenes of the Betrayal, Crucifixion,
affected Balduccio's
berations of Giovanni Pisano's reHef style are
The
latter are a
Ten
work. In the violent fmal

distant rever-
combined with strong Germanic
accents.
Lombard sculpture. Combined with reminiscences

they appear somewhat earHer in the figures of the Loggia degU Osii
recurrent element in
of Nicola Pisano,
in Milan.
own
and Last judgement, on the other hand,
years later they re-emerge in the silver altarpiece in the
Duomo
at
Monza, signed by the Milanese Borgino dal Pozzo.

Although the heav)% free-standmg figures of the parti-coloured north door of S.
Maria Maggiore reflect exactly the same stylistic point of departure as the baptistery
313

Virtues, the less restricted situation allows
of an increased
its most
be at
draperies. Giovanni's art appears, however, to
fullness
and
and
artless
softness in the
its
most
effective
Alexander. If the
block-Hke figures of St Stephen and of the equestrian St
fully-armoured, smihng rider once
ultimate sources of this rigid group of horse and
more He in Germany on the one hand and in the Romanesque ItaHan equestrian monuprototype seems to be the
ments, rooted in Antiquity, on the other, the immediate
Scala
(d. 1329) on his monudella
Cangrande
of
figure
infinitely more sopliisticated
in the
ment
stiff,
of S. Maria Antica in Verona.
in front
Tomb
Veronese
The
close sculptural ties
centuries are
still
visible
Sculpture
which bound Lombardy and EmiHa during the preceding

the early-fourteenth-century sarcophagus of Alberico
when
Suardi in the Villa Secco-Suardi at Lurano
is
compared with
that supposedly belonging
to Alberto della Scala (d. 1301) in front of S. Maria Antica in Verona. In the latter
the
Lombard
equestrian figure
on the forward
face
is
linked to the Byzantine decora-
the short sides and to the firmly Veronese reHef
on
tive elements
massive, squat, and
even beyond the
uncompromising
vital
still
rectilinearity
Romanesque
of
tliis
of Northern
past
upon
the rear.
The
sarcophagus reaches back

Italy
towards the
latter's
Byzantine and Early Christian origins. The same red marble of Verona and the same
fundamental form, with figured antefixes at the corners, can be seen in the sarcophagus
in S.
is
Giovanni in Canale in Piacenza.
there
A similar equestrian reUef,
this
time upon the hd,
combined with reminiscences of goldsmiths' work or of
late-thirteenth-
century polyptych forms in the reHef arcading and in the openly byzantinizing character
of many of the
figures.
Byzantine elements are no
rectangular and higlily decorated

the
waU of
S.
Pictro Martire in
Verona beneath
architectural elements arc exploited in the
free-standing
(Plate 149A).
less
strong in the firmly
tomb of Bartolomeo Dussaimi, which

a pointed,
is
set against
cuspcd arch. Very similar
presumably more-or-less contemporary
tomb of GugHelmo di Castclbarco (d. 1320) outside S. Anastasia in Verona

The four decorated gables of the canopy are surmounted by a severely
simple pyramid with

massive,
a cubic base that recalls the even simpler pyramids that cap the
many-columned, late-thirteenth-century Tombs of the Glossators outside S.
Francesco in Bologna.
The sarcophagus
itself
is
Hghtcr derivative of the
Lombardo-
Emilian types of those of Berardo Maggi and Alberto della Scala.
The
basic formula
grande deUa Scala
of the Castelbarco tomb
(d. 1329),
wliich
is
is
set against,
vertically elongated in that
of Can-
and fmally soars above, the wall of
Maria Antica,
also in Verona (Plate 192B). The new feeling of pomp and solenmity
monument by the recumbent figure stretched on the draped bier above the
sarcophagus gives way to sheer pleasure when the somewhat crudely carved, dead
figure of Cangrande down below and the living, fully-armed equestrian figure up
S.
lent to the
above arc seen

feature seems to
to
lie
be grinning Hke a pair of Cheshire
cats. The inspiration for this

Romanesque wooden image of S. Zeno in the
No more deHghtful memorial to a triumphant
in the substantially
Veronese church named
after liim.
314

despot can well be imagined than the plump and beaming visage of Cangrande
leans
back in
stirrups to survey a
liis
1493).^ Personally brave, a bold
as
he
suddenly truncated Hfetime of achievement (Plate
and clever miKtary leader and despite
his
youth an
invariably skilled and often wise politician, as well as a patron of the arts and sciences
Bartolommeo,
who,
like
time,
Cangrande represents the
his
century, gradually gained
brother and predecessor in power, gave Dante shelter for a

finest
power in
autocratic rule of the Scahgers
of the
was characterized,
and of the Carrarese in Padua, by
who
all
conferred a personal dictatorship
that a hereditary principle
like that
was estabhshed
in
of them elected by a general council of
upon them, and
Verona. In
administrative, legislative, and judicial powers, the

its
organization and identity and sent
The outcome was
a kind
preservation and, imder
of the Caminese in Treviso
broadly democratic base. These neighbouring
and therefore often warring dynasties were

citizens
of despots who, in the late thirteenth

Lombard and EmiUan communes. The
class
the once free
its
spite
commune
it
of
was not
until 1359
their fully dictatorial
under them
stiU retained
representatives for such acts as treaty signing.
of constitutional dictatorship, maintained for motives of self-
men of the
cahbre of the Scahgers, as popular as it was absono simple war-lord who is represented on Cangrande's tomb, but
a singularly complex representative of a class of rulers who embodied one form of the
aspiration to good government in a part of Eiurope which was both the most civihzed
and among the most unstable of its time.
The quahry of carving in the equestrian group matches the skill of its design. It is the
counterpart in stone of Simone Martini's fresco of Gtiidoriccio da Fogliatw which, with
its very similar sense of hne, was painted only a year before Cangrande's sudden
death (Plate I02a). A feeling of life is achieved by balancing the charger's forwardlute. It is therefore
leaning posture and gently curving neck against

lean.
The
its
rider's straight-legged,
horse's four-square stance, required for structural stability,
in the
wind and,
movement and
like the similar elements in
potential locomotion.
The
backwards
not allowed to
The heads of horse and

on every square inch of their
root the group in Bergamasque immobiHty.

turned, and the horse's trappings, incised
is
rider are half

surface, ruffle
Simone's painting, suggest both
later
life
and
Scahger tombs are more elaborate,
but they are not more vivid in their portrait quahty or more effective in their contrasts
between hfe and death or between the

rectilinear severities
of the
fluttering sinuosities
architectxoral forms.
315
of the figures and the largely
PART SEVEN
ARCHITECTURE
1350-1400
CHAPTER 35
INTRODUCTION
As
far as architecture
is
concerned the second half of the fourteenth century
is
largely
a period of consoHdation and of the completion of unfinished business. There are

several reasons for this.
The most obvious
the nimiber of major projects
is
been begun when both the Central Itahan towns and the
new
which had
reUgious orders had been
from Naples to
more than a few hundred yards before
Well before the middle of the century,
in the midst of vigorous expansion. In the majority of towns and cities
the Alps
it
must have been impossible
to
walk
for
encountering an unfmished church or palace.
the mendicants had been nearing saturation poi:it, and
slowed the
were
in
of
spiral
any
new
case so small,
building
and
starts in
is
difficult
difficulties
centres.
their resources often stretched to the
constructional campaigns, the effect of the Black
every two
economic
many Tuscan
even to imagine,
let
alone
Death
assess.
When
utmost in grandiose
in sweeping off
Only
in the
had further
populations
Duomo
one
man
in
at Florence
does the slow process of completing a major project seem to have led to a transformation so complete as virtually to create a
The
social and
new design.
economic disruption following the plague was naturally most noticeable
where new methods both of poUtical and of economic organization, involving greater
segments of the population, were most highly developed. Men whose trade is war fmd
profit in disaster,
to autocracy.
and in Northern
The
their position.
Italy the effect
was
chiefly to
complete the regression
survivors of old ruling houses and the leaders of the
new consoUdated
Their subjects were more disorganized than ever, and civic leaders were
more than ever
willing to shelter
greater war-lords
who
from
the forces of disruption beneath the wings of the
alone were able both to control the rabble and to exercise
some
check upon the swarms of lesser tyrants. The refurbisliing and strengthening of existing
fortresses to
and
meet the ever-changing needs of defence and the building of new castles
were not merely continued but if anything accelerated. At one end
castle-palaces
of the
scale the increasing
tendency for mihtary needs to be accompanied by a demand
for greater comfort affected even the
other
it
led not so
much to
ago in Frederick's southern kingdom

Venice, as always,
is
most severely
practical
of such buildings. At the
the construction of palatial fortresses such as had existed long
a special case.
as to the
The
evolution of the fortified palace.
rapidity and strength
317
of her recovery, based on
PART seven: architecture 1350-1400

a flourishing oriental trade
system,
and secured by a
reflected in the splendours
is
relatively stable, oligarchic
of the doge's palace.
however, well estabHshed tyranny was providing the
ground
for general prosperity.
century, the
Duomo in Milan
The two
and
S.
rest
By
the end
of Northern
governmental
of the century,
Italy
with a back-
great churches founded in the last years
of the
Petronio at Bologna, yield no groimd to Florence
in terms of sheer scale of endeavour. Their different geographical location and differing
social foundations condition
Gothic architecture
at the
be capped by the great

fifteenth century the
if
them
very
dome
as the
fmal and triumphant flowering of ItaUan
moment when
the Gothic cathedral of Florence
that heralds the Renaissance. In the first quarter
was
Gothic architecture of North Italy had no future, but a glorious,
dependent, past and present. That of Florence was already being blended into a
style that
seems at
first
finally to transform.
articulation, scale,
was, at least
tecture for
new
owe nothing to the transalpine North which it was

much Early Renaissance architecture does in fact owe in
sight to
How
and
initially, a
its
to
of the
linear grace to earHer experiments
with the ingredients of what
foreign style, only the sympathetic study of ItaUan Gothic archi-
own sake can
reveal.
318
CHAPTER 36
FLORENCE AND SIENA; CENTRAL AND
SOUTHERN ITALY
The
of Florence and Siena
differing fortunes
duri:ig the half-century following the
Black Death, the changing balance of economic power between these thirteenth-century enemies and fourteenth-century
allies,
are
summarized
coincidence. In 1357 the Sienese cut their losses and began,
down
most dangerous
the
cathedral. In that
new and
same
parts
in a single chronological
on Florentine
advice, to tear
of the grandiose, half-fmished extension of the existing

of Amolfo's
from the mid century
year, in Florence, the plans for a further expansion
partially erected
Duomo
were fmally
passed. Indeed,
onwards neither the aftermath of the great plague nor
of
a recurrent series
lesser
plagues, nor virtually continuous war, whether against the papacy or Pisa or against
the steadily encroaching
power of the
Visconti, nor even the increasingly violent inter-
manual workers against the tyranny of the

growth of the cathedral. From its inception it became the
symbol of Florentine power. Although in 1330-1 responsibility for the building had
been transferred to the Arte della Lana, the richest of the guilds, it was to the citizens at
nal struggles of the lesser guilds and the
greater guilds, could stem the
large that the administrators turned at every
The Duomo
fascinating picture
moment of decision
in Florence
of the general procedures followed in erecting the new building
emerges from the surviving mass of documentary
detail,
the key problems remain unsolved.^ Francesco Talenti,
maestro in 1350,
or of crisis.
when Neri
many of
but unfortunately
who
is first
di Fioravante, Alberto Arnoldi,
and
recorded
as
number of
capoother
masters are also mentioned, succeeded Andrea Pisano during the early forties. During
most of the
fifties
he was seemingly engaged in completing the campanile, but in August
1355 he was also commissioned to supply a

at the rear
wooden model
to
show 'how
the chapels
should be correct without any defect, and the defect of the windows cor-
rected '.^ There are
no good grounds
original design, since docimientation
for assuming that this refers to defects in

is
sparse before the
mid
fifties
and there
Amolfo's
may easily
have been intervening modifications of the original project. The wording, which
possibly implies but does not state that the defective
windows were
in the choir, says
nothing about the shape of the choir and crossing, since any conceivable arrangement
would have involved 'chappelle di dietro'. By mid July a commission of twelve, including prominent lay members from the Portinari and Albizzi families, was appointed
to consider the model. It included not only Giovanni di Lapo Ghini, who was to play a
leading, if losing, part in the subsequent struggles for control
Jacopo Talenti of
S.
Maria Novella,^ but
also
319
of the design, and Fra
Neri di Fioravante, Alberto Arnoldi,
PART seven: architecture 135O-I4OO

others,
Benci di Clone, Taddeo Gaddi the painter, and several
of the commission that emerged
victorious
some
who formed
the nucleus
ten years later.
three-bay long nave, together with its 3419 June 1357 the dimensions of a
by a full commission and the furst main
settled
fmally
braccia intercolumniations, were
On
pier
'
was founded (Figure
that
day
is
again expressly referred to as capomaestro, and
together they measured the church.
all
the chapels.
25). Talenti
Wide 66i
was long 164 braccia exactly within

below
It
braccia net in the front part. In the part of the chapels
braccia.''* These have

the cupola must come, wide exactly from the chapels 62
since three
been taken to be the measurements of the existing 'Amolfan' church, but
is very Ukely that
braccia,
it
to
come
164
braccia
62
of
cupola
bays of 34 braccia and a
where
Figure 25. Florence,
Duomo,
original plan
they refer to the marking out of Talenti's

refer to a standard cruciform plan
c.
1294, redesigned 1357,
new
plans 1366. Plan
new scheme.* In either case the wording could
with chapels off the
aisles
of the nave and a cupola
over the crossing;* to a miniature version of the existing building (Plate I52a);^ or to
radial or not, which would both differ
from the existing building and allow of longitudinal measurement from
the chapels'. At this stage the new building was rising all round, and even within, the still
one of the innumerable other designs, whether
'
substantially
standing church of S. Reparata.

nave. Every so often,
the roof, and
tion
it
still
The width of the
August 1357,
was only then
of all the houses
entirely
as in
a wall
latter
had
that the destruction
standing within the
to
was roughly
of the present
that
be breached without disturbing
of the old campanile and the demoli-
new walls was ordered.^ A
fascinating yet
normal picture of piecemeal growth out of the midst of older and decaying
structures therefore emerges.
The
decision to
go ahead with the nave and the founding of the
not even mean that Talenti's scheme for
this part
first
of the building was
main
settled
pier
do
m detail,
many competing drawings and models in plaster and stone for capitals and bases
were considered, and decisions taken and reversed, before one of Talenti's offerings was
and
320

Andrea Orcagna, the
finally accepted.
the
time, both as a
first
even when
at
member of the
one point
his
own
painter, sculptor,
facjade
had been commissioned
model was
plaster
he had incorporated were rejected. This
is
appears for
which
view of the subsemeantime a design for the
another general discussion.
traditionally
served in a sixteenth-century drawing in the
many
now
preferred, the tabernacles
Milan. In the
at
as the basis for
mentioned, but the appearance of what

seems that
architect,
particularly interesting in
is
Duomo
quent design of the capitals in the
and
relevant sub-committee and as a competitor, but
Museo
known
dell'Opera (Plate 27B).
had been introduced into
detailed modifications
No name
as Talenti's facjade
By
then
jumble of incoherent
centres of
Northern
detail that
Italy or in the
would seem extraordinary

mountain fistnesses of the
but even the original design can have reflected

siderations.
The
little
interest in
projected sculptural decoration was clearly
in the
east
it
scheme which was
never carried higher than the compHcated tabernacles above the doors. The outcome
a
is
pre-
is
is
most provincial
or extreme south,
broadly arcliitcctonic con-
more compHcated and
the
coloured marbling more intricate than anything envisaged by Amolfo. If the design
had ever been completed,
its
complexity would have rivalled Orcagna's taber-
florid
nacle in Orsanmichele (Plate 73) and
made
the Loggia del Bigallo look extremely
restrained (Plate 153 a).
decision not to increase the height of the columns
November
dow
commission decided
that the
for each bay, and that Talenti's design
Ghini, his constant rival.
The
seemingly throws a
He
first,
was
to
internal construction
continued throughout 1359, and
it is
the chronicler
tantalizing shaft
was taken
nave was to have one
in
October 1358. In
and one win-
pilaster
be followed rather than that of
and external cladding of the nave
Marchionne
Coppo
di
Stefani
who
of light on the kind of plan that was in the
it was decided that a cathedral 297 braccia long, with a main

wide and 62f braccia high, was to be built. It was to have a cupola no
less than 72 braccia wide and 144 braccia high. These are the internal measurements of
the existing cupola, completed by BruneUeschi in the fifteenth century. Whereas the
present building has three tribunes and fifteen chapels, tliis design had 'five chapels at
air.'
says that in 1360
body 62f
braccia
the crossing', each of them 72 braccia high, and fifteen chapels 'round the choir beneath
the cupola', each 14 braccia wide.
braccia,
and the
altar
was
The
total
width of the 'crossing' was
to be beneath the centre of the cupola, as
design appears to have been a
it
be 190
to
now is. The whole
more complex version of what was eventually carried

dome would have been surrounded by a complete ring
out (Plate 152A). If so, the great
of supporting elements. Marchiorme's

tion
Duomo
chapels at the crossing
'
is
not a very precise
is
at Siena.i"
There
first
'
meant may even be a fantastic version of a northern radial terminaof the kind developed in Northern Italy and considered for the extension of the
term, and what
is
no vahd reason
mentioned
as
for thinking that this project
was evolved by Ghini,
capomaestro in February 1363. Nevertheless, the description
cumstantial that the plan seems almost certainly to have existed."
form
it
shows that
promise between a
Whatever
is
its
who
is
so cirprecise
key feature of the existing building, the comlongitudinal and a centraHzed church, was being discussed. By
at least
by 1360
the
321
PART seven: architecture I35O-I4OO

September 1364 the gallery round the interior and the question of whether the upper
Hghts of the nave were to be oculi or normal pointed windows were being discussed.
made
In October a commission
the existing hmitations
on
cussed, positive decisions.
Orcagna and
number of vital recommendations. They show that

outcome of carefully dis-
the verticaUty of the nave are the
The commission not only decided, against the advice of

of the main vaults was to be as low as possible
others, that the springing
above the cornice or gallery surrounding the nave, but that the brackets supporting the
gallery were to be set as low as possible on the wall.i^ Both recommendations were
carried out in the existing
bmlding
(Plate 152A).
The
brackets run immediately above
crown of the main arcading, and the springing of the vaults begins so rapidly that
it is hidden from the ground by the overhang of the gallery.
In the meantime Francesco Talenti was gradually losing his position. In December
1364 it was decided that he should cease work in January. The following July Ghini is
the
again referred to as capomaestro,

trol,
and a year
later Talenti
summer of 1366
tliis
time in a context clearly implying general con-
confmed
expressly
is
to
work on
the gallery.i^
Then
was estabUshed by
the final shape of the present building
in the
a series
of
defmitive decisions.
On 20 July
1366 three separate advisory panels of sculptors, goldsmiths, and painters
were appointed. i'* The

time,
first
painters included
Andrea Bonaiuti, known
Taddeo Gaddi, Andrea Orcagna, and,
for the
Andrea da Firenze. The goldsmiths made the
as
subsequently adopted recommendation that there should be four nave bays instead of
three,
and
all
three panels advised that
a beginning should be
made
work on
the nave should be suspended and that
either behind, or at, the 'capella maggiore'.
use of a term associated with a normal Latin-cross plan
shows the care
Again the
that
must be
taken in drawing precise conclusions from the imprecise terirmiology of these particular
documents.
It is
of course conceivable
with
that a Latin-cross plan
the official project even at this late date. Certainly, the painters
recommendation, asking that
month be allowed
A week
that the said building should proceed'.
painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, arcliitccts,
'
for
cupola was
how it seemed
drawing
later a
added a rider to
to
still
their
them
commission of twenty-five
and laymen was appointed to carry out the
On 3 August a 'little church', evidently a

model by Ghini, v/as rejected, and on the 13 th the assembled experts considered not
only Ghini's model but one by Talenti's son, Simone di Francesco, as well as the comrecommendations of the
painters' panel.
mission's design. The commission's model was the one chosen, and Francesco Talenti
added a separate, concurring opinion. The destruction of all the unsuccessful designs
was ordered a week later. Even so, the controversy continued. The chosen design was
said
not to be strong enough, and further models were
large
was
called in to adjudicate,
and long
Usts
made
of those
who
in stone.
The
citizenry at
gave their opinion were
December 1368, after a further order for the destruction of all

formal declaration was drawn up to bind all future capomaestri
under oath to do no work of any kind except in absolute conformity to the commisrecorded. Finally, in
competing designs,
sion's model.*'
This formal injunction was administered to
ous subsequent occasions, and
it is
new
capomaestri on numer-
clear that, except for the part
322
of the nave which had

already been completed, the existing building substantially follows the comnoission's
design.
The fourth bay of the nave was being
erected
iji
the late seventies, and
work on
the eastern end continued steadily until, at the end of the second decade of the fifteenth
by Bruncllcschi.
The documentary evidence that the main lines of the commission's project were
never altered is confirmed by Andrea da Firenze's fresco of the mid sixties in the chapter
century, the technical problem of the cupola was solved
house of S. Maria Novella (Plate 171). In
it
the
the external marbling are ignored. Pointed
of ocuh, and there
stead
is
a simplified
'
Amolfan'
windows
are
first
bays of the nave and
shown
all
in the clerestory in-
and fully Gothic treatment of the flanking chapels.
The omission of the tambour may, like the removal of the campanile to the eastern end,
be intended merely to leave more room for the other elements in the fresco.'* Whether
the deviations in the fresco represent the usual artistic licence or indicate
Firenze's personal opinion
of what the commission of which he was
have proposed, the main distribution
The whole
which
is
Andrea da
member
should
fundamentally that of the existing building.
story of the building of the cathedral demonstrates the intensity with
architectural controversies
were fought. Even
after the delivery
of a seemingly
furm verdict, defeat might not be accepted. Substantially the same decision had often
to be reached several times before the lobbying ceased.
Only
the full weight of pubUc
opinion was fmally enough to silence the arguments between the experts.
the
new
grow up piecemeal
cathedral
in the midst
Not only
did
of existing buildings, but major
changes of plan could be, and were, proposed long after construction had begun. There
unknown. Each teclinical problem was

came and not before. Each successive stage was fundamentally rethought
when the time came to begin construction. Procedures which now seem extraordinary
were then commonplace. When the commission's model was accepted in 1368 not a
was an
endless willingness to venture into the
faced as
man
it
in Italy, let alone in Florence, can
could actually be
Even
tion
built.
the baptistery
of the height.
even then
among
No dome
dome was
When
the
have had the remotest idea of how the cupola
on such
a scale
had been attempted
since Antiquity.
only shghtly more than half the width and a mere frac-
Brunelleschi solved the problem, half a century
wonders of the
later, it
was
age. Indeed, the later Milanese controversies only
confirm the existence of the ways of thought and patterns of procedure that the Orvietan, Sienese,
and Florentine documents each reveal in
Brunelleschi's completion of the building
is
their
own
way.
not the only thing that underlines the
gradual emergence of Renaissance architectural concepts from the preoccupations of

the fourteenth-century architects.
The replacement of pointed windows by ocuH and

by Gothic pedimental
the external pattern of firm horizontal cornices, unbroken
forms, accentuate the
classical strain
already apparent in Amolfo's Gothic. There
severity, almost austerity, in the internal
emphasis on the
flat
surfaces
forms of piers and
of walls and on the planar
capitals,
discipline
of every
redolent of the same tendency (Plate 152A). Crisp angles are the rule, and there
single softly-rounded supporting
form
in the
is
and the Amolfan

detail
is
is
not a
whole building. The weight and commakes S. Croce seem Hght-hearted,
plexity of the piers create a gravity of feeling that
even lightweight by comparison. The heavy horizontal of the gallery, the massive
323
PART seven: architecture 13 50-1400

capitals
down
of the supporting
and the low springing of the main vaults all damp

wide intercolumniation, remi-
pilasters,
the vertical thrusts of the nave. Together with the
movement through
niscent of earUer mendicant designs, they also encourage

spaces of the nave and
expansion
ally
as the
aisles. Finally,
space beneath the cupola
is
reached.
open
indeed the latter which, intern-
It is
that the cathedral takes
and externally, ensures
the
they increase the contrast and the sense of vertical
its
not merely
place,
among
the
most remarkable of all late-fourteenth-century Italian churches.

The Hturgical and distributional quahties of the Duomo represent a wholly new
departure.!'' The cupolas of Romanesque and Early Gothic Latin-cross churches nor-
largest,
but
among
the
mally only extend the width of the nave. Even in the
of the
aisles is
not attained. At Florence the
of the main body, but the build-up from the

bunes to the cupola
buildings.
It is
itself has a
fifteen outer chapels
coherence and compacmess that
The outcome
of a Latin-cross design. There
a climax
at
Siena the full width
extends across the fuU width
is
through the three
tri-
unprecedented in such
only comparable to the volumetric hierarchies characteristic of wholly
centrahzed structures.^
tages
Duomo
dome not only
is
of unusual grandeur when
is
a building that retains all the liturgical
a steady crescendo as the altar
fmally reached.
it is
The
is
setting
advan-
approached and
is
ideal for civic
ceremonies and processional occasions. Tbe retention of a kind of crossing and the
placing of the altar at
its
centre, underneath the
faithful to assemble in close contact
surpasses that in S. Vitale at
Ravenna and
most such buildings the high

space that opens
becomes
from
with the
altar
is
in
dome, allow huge concourses of
altar.
many
The
sense
the
of focus on a central event
other famous centrahzed designs. In
either at the entrance of, or actually within, a lesser
the central core. In functional terms the centrahzed
main
area
bulbous nave and the architectural and visual centre no longer coincides with
the Hturgical and functional focus. In Florence, moreover, the system of circulation
virtually ideal.
is
steady stream of people can enter through one of the lateral doors of
the facade and then
move up
and back along the opposite
the aisle and
aisle to
leave
round the central altar, past the tribunes,

by the other lateral door. The lesser altars can
be used without impijiging on the central space, and pilgrimages to the various shrines
flow smoothly in and round and out.
Whether
compromise reflects Amolfo's plan or whether, as appears to

it was gradually evolved in the course of the innumerable
attended the slow growth of the cathedral, the move towards Renais-
this brilhant
be slightly more probable,

discussions that
sance
ways of thinking
is
remarkable.
The fourteenth-century architects and citizens of

on the way to reahzing the advantages, while
Florence were, in practical terms, well
avoiding the disadvantages, of the centrahzed constructions that Albcrti upon parthistorical, part-aesthetic, part-philosophical
a church or temple.''
as positive,
The dome
Not unexpectedly,
grounds was
marks of the fundamental compromise

buUt upon a plan and to
that BruncUcschi
in the fourteenth century
grandeur, and the
is
landmark
to
propose
form for
as the ideal
the building also carries certain negative, as well

that
is its
a scale
most distmctive quaUty.
akeady
visible for miles. In visual
awkward
basically estabUshed
terms
its
mass and
nature of the junction at die upper levels, turn the nave into
a kind of architectural udpolc's tail. Whatever its
deficiencies in other respects, the very
324

different
seem
nave-to-dome proportions
avoid
specifically designed to
building has
outgrown the
scale
in
Andrea da
Firenze's painting in S.
this difficulty (Plate 171).
The
Maria Novella
extent to which the
of the original marble cladding and the deficiencies of
the nineteenth-century completion of its outer skin are also evident.^" In compensation,
the build-up of the masses of the eastern end (Plate 151), the sohd seating of each form,
the interaction of repeated and contrasted shapes, the towering
provide one of the major architectural experiences
iji
compacmcss of
plexity and imity, such weight and sensitivity, such flexibihty in the handling
tectural
volumes on so grand
incidental faults are
a scale
had been
above the
If
level
it
were
into
is
to
The
remained for Alberti to declare
of the square in wliich
early-fourtecnth-century Florentine sense of the dramatic impact of
about
aU,
of archi-
built for a thousand years in Italy.
dwarfed by the achievement.
that every temple should be raised
it
Europe. Nothing of such com-
it
stood, the
what they were
shown by an ordinance of 1339 declaring that the levels of surrounding streets

be lowered to give the height of the new building maximum effect as it came
view along the narrow network of approach
roads. In
fifteenth-century state the greatly enlarged church
uncompleted early-
its still
must indeed have been an awe-
inspiring sight.
Figure 26. Florence,
S. Trinita,
nave begun 1350. Plan
S. Trinita in Florence
The
years
which saw the
S. Trinita, the fourth
26).
The long
first
three chapels
Duomo
church on
taking fmal shape were those in which the present
its site,
was slowly being
controversies surrounding
its
chronology
on the left of the nave appear
built (Plate 152B
now seem
and Figure
to be settled. ^1
The
to be late-thirteenth- or early-fourteenth-
century additions to the preceding late-twelfth- or early-thirteenth-century structure,
and work on them appears to have continued in the twenty years preceding the mid
century.
70,
The
and the
first
rest
three bays
of the
of the church was
ing a long delay,
it
was
still
existing nave
roofless
were seemingly
carried out in 1350-
completed between 1383, when, followand in danger of ruin, and c. 1405. The series of
substantially
325

chapels flanking the nave connects the plan,
Maria Novella, with the
S.
Duomo. The
kind.
The
which
is
otherwise loosely related to that of
Amolfo's plans for the
traditions possibly reflected in
only other link with the cathedral
is
the absence of columnar forms of any
square piers, which so greatly emphasize the effect of the
the choir, to
Maggiore,
some extent
also in Florence.
The width of the
transepts
and the
tinuing the
aisles.
The opening of the
last pair
of nave chapels into the transepts
accentuates the effect of the side chapels.

its
the
main
The
It also
resulting sense
of lateral expansion
surfaces.
How much
the
is
demonstrated in the
aisles.
by
its
relatively
unbroken sweep of
of the vaults hghtens the general
pilasters to the springing
well
counterbalances any tendency for the
progress towards the raised choir
narrow arcading and omnipresent planar

butes to the verticahty of the nave
as
of the transepts to be seen from half-way dowTi
the nave and further stresses their importance.
nave to be too sharply isolated in
of the openings of
no impression of con-
size
the transept chapels are such that the inner pair of chapels gives
as into the aisles allows the full extent
termination of
flat
:nid-fourteenth-century church of S. Maria
recall the small
and contri-
effect
There, the close succes-
sion of emphatic lower and upper capitals creates an effective break in the vertical flow.
Successive horizontal mouldings likewise slow the vertical thrust of the piers supporting
the arcading of the nave.
Everywhere calm sohds and simple
of line-created movement. Whereas in

effect,
here the quiet soUds that enclose
The Loggia
S.
it
surfaces restrain the sense
Croce space was the dominant architectural
tend to take the eye.
del Bigallo and the Loggia della Signoria in Florence
complementary trend towards increasing decorative intricacy
Loggia del Bigallo, built
between 1359 and 1364

an external lunette,
in 1352-8 (Plate 153 a). Alberto
as
may
working on the
Amoldi,
is
to be seen in the
who
is
documented
closely related sculpture for the altar
well have been concerned in
its
design.
The porch
is
and for
so intri-
low rehef that it almost quahfies as sculpture. If the blank pierced quatrewere indeed meant for paintings, like the shallow niches on the inner piers, this
would be a further stage in the blending of pictorial, architectural, and sculptural effects
cately carved in
foils
attempted
at
Orsanmichcle.22
On
the other hand, for
framework of the Loggia, with
architectural
round-arched openings, remains severe.
work of Francesco
the gratings
Pctrucci (1358),
of the crypt
in S.
It is,
whose
Miniato
al
all its
decorative complexity the
of the
however, in the Sienese wrought-iron
its
careful rectilinear enclosure
father, Petruccio di Betto,
Monte
in 1338
had constructed
and had worked with him on
those of the Duomo of Fiesole in 1349, that intricacy, grace, and

discipHne have been
combined in a mamicr that, by contrast, draws attention to the heaviness of the sur-
rounding forms.
Not
heaviness but grandeur
of the Loggia
Simone Talenti from 1376

related to those
which
is
is
the
outcome of the height and span of the round arches

under the supervision of Benci di Cione and
della Signoria, constructed
of the
to
c.
Duomo;
1381 (Plate 71).
The
gravity of the pier forms, closely
the severity of die upper horizontals and
barely and yet adequately softened
326
by
of a roof-line
a decorative reminiscence
of the mili-

tary past
the height and breadth
of space beneath the cross-vaults the contrast with

;
the impenetrable mass of the Palazzo Vecchio, arc such that reahzation of the spatial
meaning of the whole Piazza - of the streets that open from it and of the volumes that
it - is intensified. Here the heritage of the Roman and the Romanesque
impinge upon
grows ever more insistent. Although the forms are not yet those of the Renaissance, the
pressure of the forces soon to work that transformation is already manifestly growing.
The Duomo,
and
the Baptistery Facade,
The abandonment of the
the Cappella di
great enlargement plan for the
Piazza
Duomo
in
Siena
of Siena was accom-
panied by the heightening of the existing nave and by the completion of the enlarged
and heightened choir. In 1376 the sculptor Giovaiuii di Cecco began, as capomaestro,
to heighten Giovanni Pisano's facade in order to mask the bare mass of the nave then
visible
above
(Plate 29).
it
The breaks
in articulation necessitated
new rose-window have aheady been
wealth of sculpture round the window,
however, no denying Giovanni's

details as the niche forms.
The
The
discussed.^'
now
by
the framing of the
qualitative limitations
of the
replaced by copies, are severe. There
is,
up such earher architectural

texture and colour is memorable, and given
sensitivity in picking
richness in
the intractable nature of the problem, Giovanni di Cecco's essentially sculptural con-
ception represents no
The determination
mean achievement.
to respect Giovanni Pisano's architectural forms as far as possible
of the pier and niche forms and of the tabernacles of the gallery on the
is no less obvious (Plate 155). The interest of the executed
in the design
unfmished baptistery facade
fragment
is
increased
by
the survival
of
complete design in colour by an
author probably working soon after the mid century (Plate

surviving
work enhances
the significance of
clearly set themselves to adapt
to a situation involving
its
deviations
154).^'' Its
from
it.
unknown
closeness to the
The
Sienese
had
Giovanni Pisano's original design for the main facade
two new elements:
the
first
was
a great increase in height; the
second the incorporation of a large rose-window. In view of comparable attitudes in

Florence,
extreme
it is
the piers and
The
was made to damp down the

shown in the drawing by the shmness of
by heavily capped niches and by cornices.
particularly interesting that every effort
verticality
by
of the basic form. This
is
their repeated interruption
horizontal banding of the marble and the accentuated horizontaUty of the three
main storeys beneath the rose-window are even more apparent. Finally, the broad,
low form of the pediments above the central door and over the rose-window; the
suppression of those over the lateral doorways; the square frame of the rose
even the gentle slope of the flanking buttresses with
their alternative
itself;
and
schemes of decora-
The contrary is true only in the free-standing

The form of these pinnacles is, however, wholly imterms. They seem to represent a goldsmith's or a painter's
tion, all help to reduce the vertical thrust.
continuation of the main piers.

practicable in architectural
concept, and in Siena at least the unquestioning assumption of the unity of the arts did
not inevitably lead to happy consequences. The pictorial quaUty

the dravdng and in the incomplete
z
work by
is
emphasized both in
the extraordinary Harness of the design.
327
AU

Giovanni Pisano's deep recessions and contrasts of light and shade (Plate 29) have been
so thoroughly attenuated that even the facade at Orvieto (Plate 135) becomes threedimensional by comparison. Structural necessity undoubtedly played its part in re-
of the doors and in replacing Giovanni's real arcade by an almost

bhnd arcade. It may also have influenced the substitution of three windows
flanked by sohd wall for the four windows linked by deeply recessed niches shown in
the drawing. This latter alteration tends to reduce the lateral spread of the design and to
increase its verticaHty, and aesthetic intent as well as structural necessity was probably
stricting the recesses
depthless
involved.
The more
sharply pointed central gable and the diminution in the importance
of the continuous blind arcading, through
its
reduction from parity with the upper
storey to the equivalent of half the height of a doubled upper storey with
breaking through the median cornice, accentuate the trend.

are
more
The
windows
large units thus created
keeping with the massive scale of the whole, and incidentally involve the
in
The enormous
suppression of the gesturing half-length figures of the prophets.

tured figures of the Antiunciation, wliich takes place across the
bottom of the
sculprose-
window, would possibly also have disappeared in execution. In the drawing these
figures carry on Giovanni Pisano's theme of sculptural intercommunication across wide
architectural spaces.^ Their loss would mein that only the architectural incidentals of
Giovanni's scheme would have survived. The triumph of pictorial and decorative
values over sculptural and architectural drama would have been complete.
Another drawing in the Opera del Duomo at Siena, this time for the Cappella di
Piazza, reveals a decorative fantasy
makes Andrea Orcagna's
and
a profusion
of essentially
closely related tabernacle in
pictorial sculpture that
Orsanmichele in Florence seem
almost restrained. The exuberance was, however, confmed to parchment. Apart from
the wrought-iron
work by Conte
di Lello
Orlandi and Petruccio di Betto, the sculp-
ture-encrusted piers of very different design
were the only
parts
which Giovanni
di
Cecco, working from 1376 onwards, completed of a project started almost twenty years
before
as a
thankoffcring for deUvery from the plague.^*
The Rest of Tuscany; Central and Southern
Italy
Elsewhere in Tuscany and throughout Central and Southern Italy the surviving
non-military architecture of the late fourteenth century consists, with a few notable
exceptions, of often attractive continuations of earlier traditions and of sometimes
strange and occasionally distinguished architectural details. The isolation of these details
usually stems from the completion or re-adaptation of an existing structure or from the
subsequent completion or transformation of the building in which they are embedded.
One of
the
Duomo
at
most
attractive architectural oddities
is
the internal reconstruction of the
Lucca (Plate 153B). This was started in 1372 and finished in the fifteenth
century." The piers supporting the round-arched arcading of the nave are closely related
Duomo at Florence, but the distinctive feature of the design is the system
roughly corresponds to the triforium in northern Gothic architecture and
runs without a break across the transepts. There arc two
wide, traccricd openings to
to those in the
of arcading.
It
328

each bay, and
it
almost seems
and built in overhead. The

the nave,
becomes extraordinary
each has been divided

off at right angles
down
from the
of a
(Plate 153B). It consists
by the
now
strangeness
and the
The
effect,
latter are
form
already striking in
unusually wide, and
membrane
centrc-hne by a free-standing
its
that runs across the
that branches
opening of the transept
sequence of round-headed main arcadings, surmounted
like
crowned by
oculi. Tliis visually
also increases the slimness
and apparent height
sharply pointed triforium traceries and
of the end-forms of the

is
Camposanto had been transported bodily
in the transepts.
similar
strange solution to the vaulting
There
Pisan
as if the
traceries are paper-thin,
problem
transepts.
of
a different kind in the seemingly early-fifteenth-century
CoUemaggio at L'Aqmla in the Abruzzi. Its rose and white marble

patterning is as insistent as that upon the Palazzo Ducale at Venice is subtle. Gothic
niches burrow into a main portal which is otherwise as Romanesque in outline as the
flanking doorways. Just as the Romanesque was still a living force throughout the area
in the fourteenth century, so Gothic detailing of doors and windows is a major element
facade of S. Maria di
in fifteenth-century
There
is
Abruzzan
architecture.
d' Alessandria at Galatina, dating
and conservatism in the south. Even in
from
S.
Caterina
1391, the fleshy, Gothic impression of the in-
terior with its massive vaulting is achieved much more by clustering a series of simple
Romanesque columnar forms than by espousing northern or acclimatized Itahan Gothic
details. The capitals with their interlace and their heraldic beasts are purely Romanesque.
Despite the discreet inclusion of some pointed trilobes in the decorative detail, the external shell of the unusual octagonal choir chapel, which expands both laterally and
vertically beyond the boundaries of the nave, is also Romanesque in its essentials.^^
comparable continuity binds the rough stone structure, the
intricate lava inlays,
and the elegant tracery of the pointed windows of the Badia Vecchia
its
is
long line of Sicilian antecedents. In architectural terms the
nowhere
to be seen
that occurs as
more
relativity
at
Taormina
clearly than in the almost geological faulting
one moves out from the
restricted centres
329
to
of historic time
of seismic change.
of its
strata
CHAPTER 37

The military architecture of the later fourteenth century is dominated by the emergence
of a new type of fortified palace or
palatial fortress. It consists
of an
isolated,
more or
compact symmetrical block, enclosing a rectangular courtyard and reinforced by

comer towers. In flat country it was normally surrounded by a moat. In the hiUs a
stepped-up platform provided a prehminary obstacle. Additional towers were often
less
incorporated, and there were usually detailed deviations
or the palatial aspects could be stressed. Nevertheless,
from symmetry. The miUtary

this basic pattern which is
it is
then developed in innumerable fifteenth-century castles throughout North and Central

Italy.
where an older
Particularly
castle
was being
rebuilt,
the keep-and-curtain-wall
design continues to be elaborated alongside the newer patterns. There are also innumerable intermediate designs, since the borderhnes
but clear-cut. The possible
between the main categories are any-
by looking at only three of the

Albemoz in his campaign to secure the papal territories. The hiU above Assisi is dominated by a stone keep-and-curtain-wall castle, rebuilt in 1367 and supported by a smaller fortress on a secondary summit. Apart from its
picturesque quaUties, the main complex is notable for the 300-foot-long wall and
tliing
many
castles erected for
diversities are indicated
Cardinal
covered passage-way to the outriding, dodecagonal tower immediately overlooking

S.
Francesco.
The mid-fourteenth-century
platform stepped out from the
castle at
Nami,
partly seated
much more of a compact
on
a fortified
main
form two sides of the courtyard, and external symmetry' is destroyed by
the keep-Uke dominance of the south-west angle tower. The tendency to self-containment and to symmetry is even more marked in the castle at Spoleto (Plate 156A).
hillside, is
block, but the
buildings only
This major
fortress, dominating the town was substantially carried out for Cardinal
Albemoz by Mattco Gattapone, who is documented as working on it intermittently
from 1362
to 1370.
Apart from a distant outer
hillside, it constitutes a
circle
of wall, again forming
a step in the
completely regular, six-towered, double rectangle. Extemally
the domination of the lower, south-western rectangle
and
its
sists
of an outer ward for the soldiery and
by
the liigh north-eastern block
dividing wall and angle towers exactly expresses the internal division. This con-
arcade, supported
a main castle-palace. A spacious, two-storeyed

by simple octagonal brick columns, extends along three sides of the
courtyard. Despite the great height of the walls, particularly in the main building, the
extreme length of the main sides of the double rectangle gives the external impression
of
low silhouette, and the unrelieved

what is has become.
a long,
which
is
SimpHcity upon the grandest

feet
long and 260
feet high,
scale
which
is
severity
of the design
also characteristic
carries
water to the
330
of the Ponte
castle
recalls a prison,
delle Torri, 750

and the upper town. Its

may have had Roman forerunners, but as it stands its gently
monument to later-fourteenth-century civil engineering. The ex-
massive masonry piers

pointed arches are a
tent
of Gattapone's possible comicxion with the aqueduct
is
as
the superbly simple, arched and buttressed substructures that are
ing features of such
The
diversity
Umbrian towns
Northern
in
among
the
most
strik-
and Perugia.
as Spolcto, Assisi,
of military architecture
debatable as that with
Italy
and the range of miUtary
ambition are reflected in the ten-mile-long wall which the Scahgcri put up to link
casdes at Nogarole, Villafranca di Verona, and Valcggio.
Although most of
vanished, an extraordinary 550-yard section between Valcggio and Borghetto
ably well preserved.
azzo Visconti by
Known
Domenico
as the
Ponte Rotto,
80 feet wide at the top. There are
was indeed
at either
end and
to act as the
was seemingly
dam
which
turrets,
straddles the valley
it
appears to be.
The
I
56b)
is
of the
some
and imposing
is
Ukely that one of its functions

reducing or even temporarily
Mantua could be drained and
the
of its main defences.
earlier complexities
(Plate
fall
By
at the river crossing. It
that
side,
has
reason-
Gian Gale-
of the Mincio,
80 feet apart, along either
cutting the flow of the Mincio, the lakes protecting

city thereby stripped
built for
Fiorentino in 1393, a Httle over a decade after the
della Scalas. This massive structure,
block-houses
it
is
their
it
wth which
of Sirmione
(Plate 82A) are recalled
Francesco da Carrara
by
the Porta
Legnago
(1350-80) strengthened the perimeter
(Plate 8ia). The work was possibly carried out by Francesco Schicci.
form re-emphasizes the constant preoccupation with defence not only against known
of Montagnana
Its
enemies, both outside and inside the gates, but also against treachery.
A gated
entrance
courtyard or chamber, supported by two arches over the moat, was succeeded by a
drawbridge and a main gate, opening inwards. The
latter led to a square chamber

by superimposed roimd-headed arches, and then to a portculhs, followed,
eighteen inches farther on, by another, inward-opening gate. A second chamber, again
with superimposed arches bearing passage-ways, was closed by another portcuUis and
gate. Since this gate opened into the chamber and away from the town, it was from the
latter that its vulnerable hinges were protected. It was followed in its turn by a third
chamber with a similar gate, again protected from the to%vn, and fmally by another
fortified entrance court or chamber similar to the one across the moat. The defensive
sequence adds up to five chambers, two portcullises, one drawbridge, and at least six
gates and possibly eight. The vertical massing, dominated by the tall, square tower that
flanked
and guards the central chamber, exactly expresses the
flanks
of command which link the hierarchy of separate

sequence of defence. The gateway has
itself
become
rising
units
a
htde
and descending chains
and control the horizontal

castle
with two semi-inde-
pendent outworks.
Another unusually interesting

structed fortified bridge
of the
cases
which
della Scala dynast)',
'survival'
is
the completely but accurately recon-
links the Castelvecchio at
with the
far side
medieval bridges were defended by
Verona, the central
of the river Adige (Figure
a single
fortress
27). In
many
tower straddling the road about
midstream. Here, however, the three unequal spans are fully castellated and are
guarded by two successive drawbridges. The defences

331
at the city
end include another

drawbridge and
keep of the
a taU,
acts
massive tower which flanks the road and
between c.
BevUacqua, seems to have occurred
II
cobbled courses, the castle
tempt
at
as
the
main
Cangrande
The bridge and most of the castle were constructed for
the castle, probably by Francesco
of
completion
The
and
1356.
1354
castle.
is
c.
and stone and

1375. Built in a mixture of brick
characterized
by
its
long,
low
profile.
There
is
Httle at-
A
at maintaining any
successive
of function, subsequently given defmitive form in the
palace into two parts by
Spoleto, is here facihtated by the division of the
abstract geometric pattern in the plan.
symmetry' or
partial separation
courtyards at
Figure 27. Verona, Castelvecchio and bridge,
the fortified road to the bridge.
c.
i354-f- i375- Plan (Scale 1:2000)
To the north-east are
the barracks. These
form two
sides
of a near-rectangle completed by defensive walls. To the south-west, the more or less

similarly disposed buildings of the palace proper are defended on the landward side by
a
more complex system of walls. The principal tower, guardmg the bridge, thus conmovement between the two main blocks of buildings. A mucli more radical
trols all
approach to the distinction between
tempted by Castruccio Castracanc

plans
show
at
a palace
Avcnza,
that a towering, six-storeyed
and
c.
a strong point
had carUer been
at-
1322-4. Detailed nineteenth-century
and round-bastioned keep of extraordinary
a narrow passage to a much more hghtly

The Castelvecchio at Verona is, indeed, something
of a half-way house between the two main currents of fourteenth-century mihtary
architecture. A succession of pleasant rooms, with low doorways and small windows
mass and irregular plan was connected by

constructed, thrcc-storcycd residence.
33:2

set
high in the thick walls, overlooks the river. Although
less
markedly so
tlian in the
outcome is more fortress than palatial dwelling, and

palace of the Visconti at Pavia is extreme.
smaller Scaliger castles, the

contrast with the fortified
the
The
Castello Visconteo, substantially biult c. 1360-5 by Galeazzo II Visconti and comby Gian Galeazzo, fully merits Petrarch's praise as 'the most noble production of
modern art.' 1 It marks the farthest point reached in the fourteenth-century metamorphosis of castle into palace. Although the most important side, containing the main
buildings, was destroyed in the sixteenth century, enough remains to show how much
pleted
the castle
was
now
being influenced by the traditions of the
one hand and of the monastic
enormous
scale
is
a foretaste
cloister
on
civil,
town
palace
on the
the other. Originally 155 yards square,
its
not merely of fifteenth-century Itahan developments but
of those embodied in the European palaces and chateaux of succeeding centuries. The
main defences were manpower and a wide, deep moat, and the entrance was guarded
by
a fortified bridge
and double drawbridge
(Plate 157A).
The
low, and the squat corner-towers do httle to dispel the general
The
latter
walls and
silhouette
effect
is
long and
of horizontaUty.
is accentuated by the regular succession of the windows in the plain brick

by the unbroken line of castellations and machicolations below the roof. The
external severity
is
reheved, but not dispelled,
by
the
two
storeys
of wide, twin-lighted,
pointed windows. These give promise of large, well-Ht rooms within and are a sym-
bol of good hving and of the world of civil rather than of mihtary architecture.
Internally
it is
only the brooding comer-towers and the Ghibelline castellations that
show concern with matters of defence (Plate 157B). The surviving parts are characterized by regularity on the grandest scale. Each structural and decorative detail Ues within
the main tradition of Lombard civil and ecclesiastical architecture. The continuous
ground-floor arcading is composed of stone arches of imposing height and breadth,
supported upon sturdy columns. The gently pointed ground-floor openings are succeeded, in the loggia on the upper floor, by a correspondingly regular series of rounded
forms in brick. These frame quadruple trilobate openings, surmounted by roundels with
elaborately patterned
a
openwork
infillings.
Since the existing regular cortUe acted as
frame for the main palace building on the north
the constant repetition
of these
basic elements
side,
would
at
any monotony engendered by

once have been dispelled. The
symmetry as an intrinsically valuable aesthetic goal is reflected

in the false, and near-false, windows on the exterior. The latter mask the interruption
of the regular room-sequence by the stairs as they trace their repeated rectangular paths
up through the two main storeys. The insertion of the comer-towers, which do not
strength of the desire for
break the line of the internal courtyard, causes a sUght dislocation of the internal and
external features.
AU the
doors are therefore opposite the outer windows and
in relation to the inner arcading.
There
is
a succession
off"-centre
of square vaulted rooms, one to
which back
window, they
fulfil the expectation of internal grandeur aroused by the outward shell. The entire
building is a symbol of a power so entrenched that military considerations, though by
no means totally ignored, no longer seriously interfere with gracious Hving. Symmetry
each window, on the ground floor. Like the great continuous vaulted
the upper loggia, their transverse arches again framing
333
one bay
halls
to each

and appearance, spaciousness and splendour, have become more important than defensive ingenuity or
An
even practicaHty.
urge for ease and splendour
much more
heavily encased within a carapace of fear
evident in the castles of Ferrara and Mantua. These
is
pattern
its
and
definitive form,
subsequent buildings.
The
known
Novara, whose
architect Bartolino da
castles
gave the compact

innumerable
was begun by Nicolo
brick-built Castello Estense in Ferrara
in 1385 as a result of a popular uprising, and
II
two
their essential features are repeated in
was rapidly completed by the miUtary

from 1368 to c. 1410.
career stretches
Despite additional upper storeys and constant internal modifications, the essence of what
The main buUdings completely surround a square courtyard and

The whole is dominated by the much higher towers
at the comers. Of these, the Torre dei Leoni dates from a pre-existing tliirteenth-century
structure and is larger than the others. The moat is spanned by entries on three sides,
and the form and placing of the outworks and related structures which protect them
Bartolino did
is
clear.
act as curtain walls (Plate 158B).
introduce further variations within the general symmetry. Although there
no
direct connexion, the
altered
miHtary and
scheme
is
reworking in
new
is
probably
idiom, and in the hght of
of the Frederican pattern, estabhshed
social circumstances,
in such
buildings as the Castel Ursino at Catania.
The
Castello di S. Giorgio,
which Bartolino
wards, boasts a similarly compact square plan.
built for the
The four
Gonzaga from
c.
1395 on-
angle towers again dominate
the entire defensive organization without the aid of intervening secondary turrets.
Defensively there
is
Aesthetically there
is
Internally there
is
the
the
the
same concentration on moat and mass and machicolation.

same sharp-angled play of interpenetrating rectangular solids.
same allowance,
in the varied suites
functions of a building designed to be at one and the
barracks, and a palace.
similar variety
similarly complete exploitation
of
of rooms, for the multifarious
same time
a fortress, a prison, a
of purpose on a more modest
scale
and a
compact, square plan, are to be seen in the
late-
fourteenth- and early-fifteenth-ccntury castle of Quattro Torri just outside Siena.
more extended
square,
more towering
characterize another variant

at the
The Val d'Aosta
Ibleto
built
and shmmer, rounded comer-towers
by Amadeo VI of Savoy
in 1358 at Ivrea,
entry to the Val d'Aosta.

itself is
ItaUan medieval castle.

in the
which was
walls,
notable for at least one example of almost every type of
Of all
of them, the one wliich holds least architectural promise

uncompromising block of its exterior is the castle at Verres. It was built for
di Challant from 1360 to 1390. Its form is so compact as to resemble a broad,
square tower, and no defensive subdivision into wall and turret
is
required.
The
soldiery
were housed on the ground and second floors, and the first floor was devoted to the main
living-rooms and their lavatories and ancillary services.^ The thickness of the walls, the
compact
rooms
efliciency
all reflect
of the defensive arrangements, and the well-plaimed sequences of

competence of the unknown architect. The thing which places the
the
of Verres among the masterpieces of Italian fourteenth-century arcliitecture is,

however, the treatment of the sequences of stair and balcony that surround the tiny
central courtyard and complete the system of internal circulation (Plate
158A). The pascastle
334

sage through the outer defences and preUminary defensive courtyard confirm the
first
impression of almost oppressive military severity. Then, suddenly, one stands by a

square water-well witliin a greater well around the walls of which the massive stairs
and balconies are borne up on segmental arches in

interpenetrating curves.
angles
upon
cony
sits
segment
in
its
seemingly unending variety of
flight of stairs rests at right

Another right angle, and the first length of balturn on the shoulder of the fmal climbing segment and upon that of the
the shoulder of the
level
The climbing arch of the second

first.
that supports the second length
been inverted.
again, but each relationship has
the opening section of the balcony
on
of balcony. The sequence then begins
To
take a single case, the arch beneath
the second floor supports the stair arch and the
neighbouring balcony arch, instead of being supported by them. Although the stairways of Vitcrbo and the interiors of the bell towers at Assisi and Todi come to mind,
there
is
nowhere anything
that exactly matches the interpenetrating curves
and the sensation of freedom and confmement, mass and movement,

courtyard of Verrcs. Unlike the
castles
of Ferrara and of Mantua,
no long hne of subsequent development.

that in architecture, as in sculpture
It is
simply a great
to
be measured by their subsequent
as
pointers to their
own intrinsic quaUties.
none of them transcends

is
effects
that
irreplaceable, as timeless as
artistic
They
reminder
values are indepen-
are not in the first place
on other works of art. The latter can but act

A work of art may have innumerable values:
of its quality
it is
the prototype for
work of art and
and painting, the primary
dent of position in some sequence of significant events.
it is
and planes
in the well-like
as a self-sufficient statement, as
inseparable
335
from
its
time.
unique
as
it
CHAPTER 38
AND NORTHERN ITALY
MILAN, BOLOGNA, VENICE,
The last years of the fourteenth century in Northern Italy are dominated by three buildings, each extraordinary in its own way. They are the Duomo at Milan, the church of S.
Petronio in Bologna, and the Palazzo Ducale at Venice. Of these, the Duomo at Milan
holds a unique position in the history of European architecture. This
strangeness of
its
form but
to the insight into medieval
European
due not
is
to the
architectural theory
provided by the surviving documents.
The Duomo
in
Milan
Externally, the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century elements in the facade
The
spire
is
of the
Duomo
of the centuries-long process of completion.

eighteenth-century and the lace and pincushion effect of the innumerable
most obvious
in Milan are only the
signs
crocketed pinnacles and gable forms that sprout firom every available surface, blurring
the contours of the squat,
Lombard
outline,
is
almost entirely eighteenth- and nine-
teenth-century Gothic (Plate i6oa). Nevertheless,
of the building
may have
envisaged from the
however much
abundance of carved
altered, a similar
was
detail
certainly
first.
The story seemingly
starts in
1386 under the dual impulse of Gian Galeazzo Visconti's
personal ambition and of the growing prosperity of a city

ministrative centre
the intended flavour
of
a pohtical
which was by then the ad-
and mihtary hegemony extending to the borders of
Venice and even into Tuscany. In 1387 Simone da Orsenigo was appointed capomaestro, and in 1388 Giacomo, Marco, Zeno, and the celebrated sculptor Bonino, all
from Campione, and
several other
irregularity in a transept wall.
By
North Itahan masters investigated
were seemingly beyond the scope of local

called in from Paris. In 1390 he was sacked,
subsequent events.
By
a constructional
1389 the problems posed by so ambitious a project

experts,
and Nicolas de Bonaventure was
for reasons that can easily be guessed
from
then the painter Giovanni dei Grassi had been mentioned in
connexion with certain drawmgs and the Bolognese architect Antonio di Vicenzo had
arrived to study the
new project and to take notes. Luckily, two of his annotated sketches
have survived, and they reveal that the main

cstabhshed (Figures 28 and 29).'
with
aisled transepts as in the
The
Duomo
lines
decisions to
at
of the existing plan had already been

have a nave and four
aisles,
together
Piaccnza and subsequently at Cremona, and a
polygonal choir and ambulatory, recalling North Itahan Franciscan plans, had
taken.
The
were added
transepts
all been
were subsequently reduced by one bay and polygonal chapels
at the ends.
the twelfth-century
In decreasing the previously striking resemblance to the plan of
Duomo
at Piacenza, this created a
compensatory
set
linkages between choir and transepts again analogous to those at Piacenza.
of formal
The wealth
336
MILAN, BOLOGNA, VENICE, AND NORTHERN ITALY

of Gothic
detail in
Antonio's elevation of the sacristy proves that the existing external
horror vacui reflects late-fourteenth-century intentions. Nevertheless, surviving structural

traces
do appear
to
show
that the original
North ItaHan engineers and
architects in-
tended something far closer to the relatively simple Romanesque and Early Gothic
compromises of the Lombard tradition and
less
reminiscent of Strasbourg and the Late
Gothic North. The enlargement of the crossing
piers, decided on in 1390, and also the

main proportions of the elevation, reflected in Antonio's composite sketch, are probably the work of Nicolas de Bonaventure (Figure 28(3). The whole design appears to
have been based on a basic unit of 10 braccia, and although the
total height
of the nave
was to have been 90 braccia, and therefore approximately equal to the 96-braccia width of the building. The tall nave would have been
beautifully supported by the regular diminution of the aisles, and the elevation as a
whole could have approximately been inscribed within a square. In March 1391, however, Nicolas's German successor, Johann von Freiburg, was asked to put in writing
not indicated,
is
his assertions
it is
likely that
about 'the doubts and errors in the work'.^
/\
1
y
^ if
'
>^
rs
z^.>
1
y\ \\
r^
\\|
V/ w
//
Figure 28. Milan,
10 braccia;
(i)
Duomo, begun
on
a foundation
project of 1391
28 braccia (dotted
lines),
'/
A A y y Z'
Oi"
^\ '\
^N
^sN\
fy\
1:
^. A*
w w
/
(0
(d)
1386. Projects for determining the height of the piers and vaults in the
{a)
Project of 1390, after Antonio di Vicenzo - units
by Gabriele Stornaloco;
{d)
(c)
of
reconstruction of project of 1392 by Heinrich
accepted project of 1392, using Stomaloco's system to a height of
followed by units of 12 braccia in a framework of Pythagorean triangles

(After
It
ly
'
/\
90 braccia wiAe.
- square, 16 braccia grid;
Parler
/\
(I')
{<')
aisles
I// \\^
/
//
nave and
it
Ackerman)
appears from later documents that Johann not only discussed structural matters
but suggested that the height of the proposed buHding should be considerably reduced
so that the whole would fit within an equilateral triangle. By July 1391, however, when
Giovanni dei Grassi was added to the hst of engineers, his German namesake had been
By then many of the foundations had been laid and walls and piers were rising
from the ground. Nevertheless, a conference was requested in August in order to determine fully 'the length of the pilasters, the height of the church, of the windows, doors,
and accessories'.' In the following month Gabriele Stornaloco, a mathematician from
fired.
Piacenza,
was summoned, presumably
to solve the
problem posed by the incommen-
which was the new controlling figure

for the height of the building. Stomaloco's solution was incorporated in a letter and
drawing submitted after his departure (Figure zih). It was seemingly based on the use of
surabihty of the apex of the equilateral triangle
337
338

two
kinds of measuring rods: one of these was 8 and the other 7 braccia long. Storna-
drawing shows that the elevation was to be controlled by a series of six approximately equilateral triangles. Their bases and apices were to supply the coordinates
loco's
for the construction
of
a regular rectangular grid.
The
i6-braccia intervals of their
A slight adjustment of
gave an even 14-braccia progression. This allowed the springing of the
vaults of the outer and iimer aisles and of the nave to occur respectively at 28, 42, and
bases fitted exactly into the 96-braccia
width of the building.
their apices
56 braccia above ground and gave a total height of 84 braccia. All the main dimensions
were thus to be
related to each other within a simple
work. This in
its
turn
would generate
and consistent mathematical frame-
complex
of harmonic relationships
series
and the whole. Unhke the Antique and Renaissance proportional

systems based upon the concept of the module, it did not control the precise form and
between the
parts
proportion of each structural clement. The heights of the piers are fixed in relation to
the governing geometrical formulae. Their thickness or thinness
particular case the 'perfection'
escape
means
from
the irrational
that the building
The way
is
of the medieval system
numbers
itself
is
irrelevant. In this
was compromised. The
implicit in the controlling equilateral triangles
now no more
than an approximation to the ideal geometrical
which the drawing links the practical measuring system with the
mystical numbers of a circumscribed hexagon and circles shows the importance of such
figure.
in
matters. In discussing Nicola Pisano's
number,
man."*
is
The
the
symbol of the Old
circle, as
first
Adam
pulpit
it
was noted
that six, as the first perfect
and of Christ, the Saviour and second perfect
the perfect geometric figure, with
no beginning and no end,
symbol of the godhead. This conjunction of meaning and proportion
is
is
vital to
the
any
understanding of the Itahan architects' attitude during subsequent discussions.
While
the outer piers
were being
built according to Stornaloco's formula, the search
Johann von Freiburg, having previously failed to coax

a leading master from Cologne or Ulm, bore fruit in the arrival of Heinrich Parler of
Gmund in December 1391. Unfortunately, the taste proved singularly bitter to the
for a foreign expert to replace
Itahan experts.
May
The
result
of his proposals was
gathering of the interested parties in
1392. Their proceedings are reported in a series of eleven dtibia and respousiones,
somewhat
in the
himself in no
manner of
way
a scholastic disputation.^
agrees to the conclusions reached.
The preamble
He
states that Parler
appears to have begun
by
claiming that existing piers were not sufficiently strong. Secondly, he seems to have
wished to return to
a square figure
hke that originally proposed by Nicolas de Bona-
venture. Thirdly, he evidently wanted to separate the 'chapels' in the outer

walls in order to strengthen the building. In this alone he
Itahan, the
first
was supported by
aisles
by
a single
recorded capomaestro, Simone da Orsenigo. Dividing walls in the
two aisles flanked by

rows of actual chapels in the manner seen in S. Maria del Carmine at Pavia (Figure 30)
and becoming increasingly popular in Central as well as in Northern Italy.
In all his major and in his minor proposals Parler was overruled. Clearly underlying
foundations evidently reflect an original intention to have only
the
whole controversy was
profound disagreement about buttressing. The German

by lower forms (Figure 28c) as at Cologne or Ulm
evidently wanted a high nave flanked
339

Pavia (Plate i6ib). Flying buttresses would
The Itahans preferred a broad, low format in
which the lateral thrusts would be absorbed by the gradual stepping up of the succeeding
or, closer
home,
at S.
Maria del Carmine
presumably have been the
rows of vaults. In order
at
final stabilizers.
to achieve their aesthetic
aims they were prepared to abandon
any coherent and generally apphcable geometrical framework. Their detailed proposals
28-braccia height
result in the retention of Stornaloco's system up to, but only up to, the
of the lesser piers (Figure 28J). Above this level, a 12-braccia basic unit was to be subThis gave a reduced total height of 76 braccia. At the upper levels a
stituted.
series
of
upon adjacent Pythagorean right-angled triangles was substituted

for the equilateral triangles that controlled the lower members. In spite of many subsequent controversies, it was this hybrid scheme which survived, with only minor
modifications, to control the existing structure. Parler's dismissal two months later
relationships based
damage and detriment to the fabric caused by his malfeasances'

of the arguments that accompanied its gestation.*
The next important stage was reached in 1399, when the piers had been substantially
completed and the problem of the vaults could no longer be evaded. In April the
because of the 'great

reflects the bitterness
painter
'Giacomo Cova' of
Flanders,
who was
domiciled in Paris, and his
'Johannes Campaniosus' of Normandy and 'Johannes Mignotus' of Paris,
assistants,
who was
also
were engaged. By December only Jean Mignot was left, and he declared quite
roundly that the building was in danger of collapse. On 11 January 1400 twenty-five of
his fifty-four written objections were considered.'' The assembled masters declared that
to discuss the remaining insubstantial points, and any others that Mignot might present in
a painter,
would only mean that the discussion would never end.

Mignot begins by attacking the weakness of the piers between the large windows of
the main apse and declaring that two reinforcement piers are needed. This is countered
by a long technical defence. It culminates in the assertion that above the capitals there
were to be pointed arches made in the manner indicated by many other good and expert engineers, who say of this that pointed arches do not exert a pressure on the buttresses', so that the existing members are more than strong enough and nothing else is
required. Taken at face value, this is technically true of steep and narrow lancet forms,
the future,
'
but
that
is
patently false as a generalization about wide, heavily laden arches of the kind
were
actually being discussed. Nevertheless,
deriding the Itahan masters' ignorance. All that

notarial
extreme care must be taken before
we now possess are often over-simphfied
summaries of long and complex arguments. They
extremely crude and occasionally uncomprehending Latin.
up by
the Itahan masters seems to
become much
are,
moreover, written in
The
actual position taken
clearer in the
hght of subsequent
developments.
Mignot's opening technical objection is supported by a long hst of additional faults.

These descend to numerous alleged discrepancies of measurement of as little as one
finger's width. This docs not
merely prove that Mignot was a pedant.
tude to craftsmanship and to precise measurement which
is
It
reveals
an
atti-
frequently obscured in
medieval buildings themselves by their often large irregularities of plan; by changes in

design during the long years of construction; by the inevitable faults in execution; and,
340

not
by the
least,
and of lateral thrust in vaulting systems.
tect's
willingness to
to
by
striking distortions introduced
tions
comment on such minute
any assessment of the
of settlement
in the founda-
A late-fourteenth-century
Gothic archi-
centuries
discrepancies
is,
for example, very relevant
possibility that aesthetic reasons underlie particular variations
in measurements in a building such as Orvicto Cathedral.
An
architectural situation
rendered dangerous by the lack of a sufficiently evolved body of theory was often only
restored
by
the extraordinary level of craftsmansliip.
for the height and nature of the vaulting systems
At Milan
a variety
of proposals
were being made when building was
A wide potential range of differing and, within the theoretical

framework of the day, essentially incalculable stresses on the existing, half-completed
structure were necessarily involved. The necessity for avoiding any kind of teclinical
flaw at any stage in construction could hardly be more pressing. In the context of late
medieval architecture and of an unfinished structure, in particular, in which the existing
parts were not yet fully under load, not only the beauty but the safety of the building
was at stake. It is an age-old truism that the basis of all craftsmansliip and the test of any
already far advanced.
craftsman
lies
in charge
must
as in
Item
points
in sensitivity to detail.
certauily have
An assessment of the craftsmanship of the engineers
been an important part of Mignot's
19, his criticisms evidently boiled
from which
down
brief. Occasionally,
of opinion
to a difference
as to the
the measurements should be taken. This kind of disagreement
is
not
of medieval architecture. The twenty-nine points
unknown among modern
analysts
which the Itahans refused
to answer
by no means
all
what might be con-
referred to
sidered to be individually insignificant errors of an inch or so. In so far as they were, the
cumulative outcome was
itself a serious reflection
maintained. Mignot's aim was to

level.
to
In
its
context
this
become embroiled
was
show
on the standards of craftsmanship
sound craftsmanship was lacking
a perfectly serious endeavour.
and
in such matters,
understandable enough.
that
their
arguments proved that he was merely fmding
to
at
every
ItaUans' unwillingness
impUed charge of pedantry,
would, however, be wrong
It
The
are also
assume that Mignot's technical
fault for purposes
of
self-inflation
and
personal profit.
Interspersed with the technical objections
is
an imposing Hst of alleged shortcomings
Mignot often simply states that certain cornices are 'wortliless' or that a
set of arches 'non habent suam rationem'. The ItaHan masters then reply, with equal
conviction but a similar absence of supporting argument, that they do indeed possess
in proportion.
'their just proportions'.

capitals
of the nave and
Only
aisles,
in Item 10, where Mignot attacks the extraordinary

which already appear in Antonio di Vicenzo's drawing
and are a distmctive feature of the existing church

revealing attempt at detailed argument.
Mignot
(Plate 159),
is
there a thoroughly
declares, evidently
with Early Gothic
proportions in mind, that the ratio of bases to capitals should be one to one.
The Milan-
with a debating point. Seemingly acknowledging later Northern Gothic

developments, they assert that by his own rules the ratio of bases to capitals should be
two to one. They then announce that the base of the piers is also called a foot, a foot of
ese reply
'
man, and
the capital
is
of a man. Furthermore
said to
a foot
be the head of the

is
a fourth part
341
pier, thus
by
capital
is
of a man's head and by
meant the head

law
this natural

they [the capitals] should be eight braccia, and if they were
made
ten braccia, they were
made so on account of the adornment of the piers for the placing of figures.'
The first point that arises from this reply is its Vitruvian flavour. The growing interest
in the human body and its proportions is wimessed in the figurative arts of the preceding century. From Nicola Pisano onwards the Itahans were always reluctant to use the
human form as a substitute for architectural elements or to subordinate it to architectural
needs. They were even less prepared to distort it consistently for decorative reasons. It
is
therefore significant to discover such 'Vitruvian' ideas in writing in
North
Italy
on
the threshold of the formulation of the consciously anthropocentric and often specifically
Vitruvian architectural principles of the Renaissance. Their significance
destroyed because they

proportions dictated
may
by
the
much
modify
discussed triangulation of the building.
shows the Milanese

of mathematical relationships in the interests of a
important feature of the passage

a set
is
that
it
considering matters of detail, as they were to
outcome by
to adjust the
few
is
not
rationahzations of
some extent be merely disingenuous
to
The second
to be just as prepared to
practical aesthetic, when

mix two incompatible formulas and then
feet in the direction
of the desired
result
when
dealing
with the general proportions of the building.
Another particularly
interesting clash occurs in Point 14,
when Mignot
declares that
on the sacristy should be placed 5 braccia higher, according to

their ratio. From a later document it seems that he was not simply objecting to appearances. He also disliked the further weakening of already inadequate buttresses necessitated by the system of internal conduits. The Itahan reply is that the wind blows water
against the windows, and that they would like the gargoyles to be even lower. They
the existing gargoyles
only regret the impossibility of leading the water

It is a
down
entirely within the buttresses.
ghmpse of the continued vigour of the attitude to practical engineering

Castel del Monte and in the civic palaces of Gubbio.^
fascinating
exempHfied
The
at
many of Mignot's
technical and aesthetic elements are naturally inseparable in
arguments.
One of the most
piers or buttresses
the remainder, as
of the
is
significant
sacristy are
is
Point
16, in
not stepped back.
which he remarks
The
that
two of the
match
Itahans reply that they
only right, and that to step them back would weaken the work, 'for
the weight of a buttress should follow
its due order through a straight line'. Both statement and reply reveal that the architectural expertise of both sides was strictly boimded
by local practice and local aesthetic preferences. The organic quality of Northern
Gothic architecture has already been contrasted with the Itahan tendency to rely for
the total effect
upon the coordination of self-sufficient parts. The Northern Gothic is

on the achievement of an internal arcliitectural and spiritual climax
essentially focused
in
which
all
physical and structural limitations are transcended.
The
exterior therefore
tends to be dominated
by an open exposition of the necessary constructional mechanics.

The major elements and the architectural details of both interior and exterior only
become expUcablc in terms of each other. In Itahan Gothic architecture the tendency
is
everywhere towards the preservation of
The
exterior
is
As can be seen
more or
less
complex
essentially
solid.
in S. Francesco at Assisi, this
is
Romanesque
Each minor element
additive principles.
is
essentially at rest.
true, as far as possible,
even of buttresses
342

(Plate
their
a).
The wish
that buttress
forms should have
weight should be evenly distributed upon
to lean against the building,
against
them;
their
their bases
own
iniierent stabihty; that
that they should not appear
any more than the building should seem
to press
imphcit in the Milanese statement. If there were
outwards
which
main shell was unable to support, the balance was to be redressed
by borrowing strength from other visually and actually stable forms. The Umits on the
vertical expansion of Itahan church interiors seem to have been set by just such attitudes
as these. Even when stone vaults replace trussed wooden roofs, the interiors neither
appear to call for, nor for the most part need, elaborate external shoring. Itahan Gothic
all this is
stresses
the seemingly stable
architecture deals as far as possible in terms of movement, not
Renaissance in Tuscany
is
of stress, and the Early
notable for a calm, swift-running architecture, void of
structural tension.
on 25 January 1400, Mignot launched
fortnight later,
a further
three-pronged
verbal assault.' Firstly he recalled his previous objections and reiterated 'that
buttresses
about
upon them
this
The Milanese answer is superb

as strong as two of French stone,
are,
one and
is
a half times the piers within the
in
its
direcmess.
One
the
rests
of one pier
since they should in every case be three times the thickness
within the church'.

stone or marble
all
church are neither strong nor able to sustain the weight which
braccio of their
so that 'if their buttresses are, as they
church the aforesaid
piers are strong
and
proportionate [ad rationem], and if they were larger they would, being outstanding,
darken the said church,
as in the Parisian church,
manner'. Whatever their other

characteristic
of the internal appearance of Notre
of the unity of European culture

records.
At
least as far as
as the strings
which has
buttresses in Master Jean's
Milanese were well aware of a salient
failings, the
Dame in Paris.
It is as
clear a
of foreign names that occur
reminder
in the Itahan
major cultural centres were concerned, the forms of Itahan
on positive aesthetic preferences, not on

Mignot merely asserts a single straightforward
rule of thumb to cover the relationship between two classes of supporting members.
Any detailed differences in function are disregarded. The Milanese reply is of exactly
the same kind. There was simply no way of arriving at any precise or even approximate
calculation of the forces involved in any particular case. Both sides were strictly bounded
by local craft traditions arising from the character of local materials. The Itahans only
fourteenth-century architecture are based

ignorance. Finally,
it is
significant that
gain the better of this particular exchange because of a clearer awareness of the situation.
The record of Mignot's Second
Point, and of the reply,
is,
if anything,
even more
revealing
Furthermore, he says that four towers for the support of the crossing-tower of the said church
are started,
it
piers nor any foundation capable of sustaining the said towers.

church were completely built with the said towers in that position
collapse. Truly concerning those things advanced undoubtedly through
and there are no
On the contrary,
if the said
would infallibly
by certain ignorant people
passion
alleging that pointed vaults are stronger
than round vaults, and furthermore concerning other things the proposal
meritorious: and
what
is
worse
it is
place in these matters since science
is
is
and
less
weighty
wilful rather than
objected that the science of geometry should not have a
one thing and

343
art
is
another.
The said Master Jean
declares

that art without science
are
round they
are
is
nothing, and that whether the vaults are pointed or whether they
unless they have a good foundation, and however much they are
nothmg
pointed they have nevertheless an extremely great weight and burden.

Furthermore, they [the masters] say they support the towers which they said they wished to
make
many
for
reasons and causes. Firstly, for the adjustment
of the
said
church and crossing
of geometry;
so that they correspond to the quadrangle according to the order
also in truth
and beauty of the crossing-tower, for it is clear that, as if as a model for this,
the Lord God sits in the centre of the throne, and around the throne are the four Evangelists
according to the Apocalypse, and these are the reasons why they were begun.
for the strength
They add
that the
two
although beginning at groimd
sacristy piers,
level, are
secured. This statement and subsequent records prove that underlying the
whole
well
dis-
was the question of the lateral thrusts involved in the design. Their culminating
argument is that the weight of the towers rests everywhere upon their square or base
'and what is vertical camiot fall'.
The first point that emerges is that the impossibUity of proving the correctness of
deeply held convictions was finally leading Mignot to insults and to open accusations
cussion
of bad
faith.
The second
is
that his
of round and pointed arches were
arguments about the
and weights
relative strengths
clearly understood to cover
what would
now be
dis-
tinguished as the vertical and lateral components of their resultant thrust. These argu-
ments must be seen in the context of earHer

ments of the preceding meeting.
total lack
of lateral thrust
at face value,
it
If,
conflicts
on
this
in pointed arches, the report
of what Mignot
a false position
as lateral pressures are
concerned, the 'ignorant people'
pointed arches were 'stronger and

In the outcome, everyone
is
at
one, whether
less
through overstatement of his
At
least as far
alleging that
weighty' than round arches were perfectly right.
one time or another talking nonsense in the heat of the
from France or
probable. These apparent confusions and the

likely to
case.
who were now
Italy,
has even a practical imderstanding
of the vaults and arches that they were continually building. This
more
of
now says is taken
follows that in his irritation at the Itahans' nonsensical remarks he has
been manoeuvred into
moment and no
point in the opening state-
like the Italians' previous reported assertion
many dependent
is
possible but
contradictions are
im-
much
have resulted merely from the compression of long and complex verbal
argimients into short, written minutes.

In the opening section of the previous debate, in
making
context
which the Italians

no pressure on
a general statement that 'pointed arches exert

is
that
of a
clearly
are reported as
buttresses', tlie
defmed, particular problem. They were arguing whether or
not two additional reinforcing
piers
were needed
at points
of alleged weakness.
therefore intrinsically likely that the ludicrous statement attributed to
them
is
It is
simply
contraction of longer arguments to the effect that the particular pointed arches which
were planned would not exert so great

ing forms could not absorb
it.
The
on the buttresses that the existwas therefore ncghgible as far as any
a lateral pressure
lateral thrust
need for additional reinforcement was concerned. This is evidently what Mignot understood the Itahans to be saying, for in his subsequent counter-attack he does not
accuse them of saying that pointed arches exert no lateral thrust. If they had made such
344

a remark,
it
would have given him
ments completely.
What
god-sent opportunity to demoHsh their argu-
he reportedly docs accuse them of saying
is
that pointed
arches have less weight or, as has been
shown
in the context, lateral thrust than
arches. This again
stands.
On
is
nonsensical as
it
the other
hand
it
round
would have been
thoroughly reasonable for him to have been accusing them of underestimating the
actual thrusts in particular pointed arches involved in the existijig design. His closing
remark
this to
that
no matter how pointed such
arches are, they exert great thrusts, shows
be precisely what he was doing. The wording of the report also indicates that
he understood the practical truth that the nature of the pressures involved was altered
not only by the change from round to pointed forms, but also by the degree of pointing involved.
The
defining, let alone
difficulty
is
that like
of measuring these
all
way of
other medieval architects he had no
forces.
Again, however, he
is
clearly referring to
by impHcation, the stresses involved would not merely be

is embedded in a discussion of the support of the crossing tower and of its flanking turrets. Both the vertical and the lateral components of
thrust were critically involved, since the more pointed the arches were made in order
to reduce the lateral pressures on the buttressing piers, the greater would be the weight
on the supporting members.
The third and fmal section of Mignot's statement is a straightforward allegation that
the Italians are motivated by fear, obstinacy, or greed, and he asks that four, six, or
twelve of the better engineers from Germany, England, or France be summoned. Finally,
he requests a personal audience with Gian Galeazzo Visconti. The Italians ignore all this
and return to his assertions in Section 2 about the relationship of 'art and science'. They
evidently consider these to contain the technical crux of his argument. The report runs:
a particular context in which,
great,
but too great. His remark
Moreover they say and reply under the same heading, that in which it says
geometry should not have a place in these things. The above-inscribed say
indeed offering proof through the rule of geometry, Aristotle says that the
according to place which
we call locomotion,
is
that the science
of
man is
movement of man
that if this
either straight or circular or a mixture
of these.
Moreover, the very same says elsewhere that every body is perfected in threes and the movement
rises to the triangle as was already made clear by other
which they say that all things are in a straight line, or in a curved, therefore it
concluded that the things which have been done, have been done according to geometry and
of the same aforementioned church

engineers, firom
is
to practice, for he himself [Mignot] has said that science without art
is
nothing concerning
;
art,
however, reply has already been made under other headings.
Allowing for the limitations in the reporting, the explanation of this strange farrago
two things. The first is not so much the pecidiar ignorance of the Itahans as their
Hes in
appreciation of the true

equally,
forces
is
gravamen of Mignot's
attack.
The
second, affecting both sides
the poverty of medieval science. Ignorance of the nature of the architectural
which were involved
in their constructions
geometry. Consequently, shape, and in
its
means
that the only recourse
is
to
train aesthetic preference, are integral to
any consideration of such matters. Science and
art
become
inseparable, since each
is
intermingled with the other. Aesthetic preference or traditional practice controls the
345

choice between one geometrical system and another.
Mignot
is
ready
as
as the Itahans
change from one system to another in an already half-completed building, and
to
unconcerned
as
they are with the structural consequences.
once a system has been chosen,

out the building. The
him
matters to
is
is
as
that
geometrical effects should be strictly apphed through-
its
symboUsm of numbers,
provides the primary motive for
What
this strict
mathematical or geometrical proof of
rather than
adherence.
his assertions.
any structural considerations,
Mignot never attempts
He merely
to give a
appeals, tout court, to
both structural
was questioning both the
the science of geometry. Furthermore, he uses this appeal to cover
matters and aesthetic and symbolic considerations. Since he

safety
and the aesthetic merit of the building,
tinctions
which would complicate
was
it
The
case.
liis
clearly in his interest to avoid dis-
Italians,
on the other hand, had every
reason to try to distinguish the differing implications in the various contexts of such
appeals to the science of geometry.
should not collapse.

aesthetic
relative
They
canon because of
also
this
They were as anxious as anyone
else that the
building
wished to avoid being saddled with an uncongenial
concern. Consequently, whenever, as in the case of the
dimensions of internal piers and external buttresses or of the positioning of water
of geometry to be related to strucgood building practice, they emphasized that this was a matter of traditional workshop practice or craftsmanship. Even when their answers involved a different mathematical ratio they were expUcitly based on practical considerations and on
craft skills. They were determined that this aspect of Mignot's geometry, as well as of
their own, should be considered as the realm of 'ars' or practice. Since it was in reaUty
based upon masonic practice, their position was entirely logical.
The Italians also fully realized the force of the Platonic appeal to the symbolism of
numbers. They distinguished this aspect of geometry as properly belonging to the realm
of science or theory. It had no direct bearing on the strength of a given member, although
spouts, they believed Mignot's appeals to the science
tural safety or
could radically affect its appearance, and they were determined that the appeal to
symbolism should not be allowed to carry weight where it had no relevance. If the
documents are interpreted in this sense, their reported assertion that where the thrust of
it
pointed vaults
matters'
is
is
under discussion the science of geometry should not have a place in these
'
fully understandable.
The
reason for Mignot's indignation
is
no
less clear. If
the
symbohsm of numbers cannot be made
his
attempt to replace a Milanese by a French aesthetic must inevitably be defeated.
to provide a general umbrella
therefore retorts that art without science, or practice without theory,

If this
view
is
correct, those parts
Mignot's attack which
fmd symbohc
of the North
now seem most
counter-authorities with
godhead. Appeals to the Trinity
He
nothing.
answer to Sections 2 and
of
pecuhar are merely a straightforward attempt to
which
to parry
gularly weighty argument. Medieval numerical

the underlying structure of material
Italian
is
of authority,
phenomena
as justifying
what they recognized
symbohsm
gained
its
force
as a sin-
by uniting
to the supernatural reahtics
the use of the
number
three
of the
were not
simply rationalizations after the event: they were genuine motives for action. The
'meaning' of a church in these terms was as important as, and often more important
than,
its
particular appearance.
The
stress
which Alberti and the Renaissance

346
theorists

later placed
on the Platonic
significance
of the
and on numerical symbolism of every kind
circle in
deciding the form of
as a theological
church
and philosopliical justifica-
tion of formal decisions, and an essential element in the perfection of
all
works of art,
proves that ways of thinking which were fundamental to the High Middle Ages were
by no means outmoded
God
in paradise,
mind,
as real
an argument
head imphcit in
when
Similarly,
in the
Europe of 1400. The appeal
surrounded by the four evangcUsts,
all
as the
is
to the Apocalyptic vision
reference to the Trinity and to the nature of the god-
form of the elevation.

which they feel that they
the earher discussions about the triangular
the Itahans ignore the structural arguments
have already refuted successfully and return to the science of geometry,

Aristotle
is
not an attempt to find a mathematical proof in the
modem
their appeal to
sense
again looking for a mystical justification of their proposed course of action.
must be comparable
to that
ultimate sanction of Mignot's proposals.
matters.
it
To them
to be in that
It is
this
The
fact that Aristotle's passage
way weakens
thrce-dimensionahty of
totle's reference to the
they are
Its
power
of the mystical authority wliich they recognize to be the
concerns infinite motion in no
of the elevation.
of
medieval
as serious and, to the
their
all
argument.
Nor
is
on movement
the use
of Aris-
bodies irrelevant to the triangulation
the unifying mystical connexion of these disparate facts that
was
as
important in the construction of a church
as
they beheved
of the universe. The recurrence of the Trinity, and not the possibiHty of
constructing any kind of logical mathematical proof,
is
the significant element in
all
these contexts.
their differing aesthetic and practical backgrounds, Mignot is not disfrom the Itahans by being logical where they are not, or by being knowledgeable where they are ignorant. It is simply that in relation to this particular controversy, and in the realm of what the Itahans themselves were prepared to recognize as
science or theory, he was the purist. He opposed the slightest practical departure from
the theoretical relationships which were sanctified by the mystique of numbers. The
Italians, on the other hand, without denying what was then the undeniable force of
such arguments, wished to make practical adjustments to the ideal canons. It made no
difference to them whether the canons were their own or someone else's. It has already
been suggested that the purist position was exactly calculated to meet Mignot's tactical
needs if he was to transform the building in conformity with northern taste. Judging by
existing northern cathedrals, it seems that such perfection was very seldom attained even
in his own homeland, and had the positions been reversed he might well have taken a
Apart from
tinguished
somewhat
structioral
relevant.
different stand.
and
As
it
was, the flaw in his position lay in the attempt to justify
practical decisions
The weakness
two arms of Mignot's
by means of a blanket of theory that was not directly

was that, although they distinguished the
in the ItaUans' stand
'scientific' attack in a
thoroughly logical manner, their practical
meet the requirements of their theoretical defence.

Mignot's appeal for outside experts was only partially satisfied when in May 1400
Bernardo da Venezia and Bartolino da Novara, in reporting that the fabric should be
dispositions did not
strengthened in various ways, gave
him imphcit
support.
A year later, in May 1401,
the
ten architects appointed to a fourteen-man commission recorded individual replies to
347

ten questions, seven of
that
by then
more
which concerned Mignot's work."' It is perhaps significant

method of recording a wide range of opinions had been
precise
evolved.
To
two
the
first
question, as to whether Mignot's
but that
said no, three said yes,
second question
as to
it
whether 'the work
revealing distinction between
what
work on
the vaults and ribs was solid,
could be better, and five had no reservations.
is
is
The
and praiseworthy' contains

according to local taste, and what
beautiful
beautiful,
praiseworthy, according to the rules of the architect's craft."
To
this,
a
is
one referee rephed
was beautiful but not praiseworthy, and only one declared it to be neither beautiful nor praiseworthy and commented that while there were said to be many similar
arches in Paris, 'our church does not require old things but new'. The third question,
that
it
asking whether the earUer
work or
that
done by Mignot was more beautiful and sohd,
again brought Mignot a healthy majority.

ever, the
most
instructive,
both in
itself
Of all the
questions,
number seven
is,
how-
and in confirming the interpretation of the
previous documents.
It
asks if 'following the
form of the second project there would be
changed through
work only the previous
dispositions concerning the greatest height
this
or width of the church, or something of
rephed that
since, unlike those
its
substantial form'.
Antonio da Pademo
of the other engineers, Mignot's plans
the height of any of the arches, he could give
no
decision. Curiously
failed to indicate
enough, there
is
an exactly similar gap in the measurements written in by Antonio di Vicenzo in his

drawing of 1389-90, and the same complaint was made at a late stage in the Florentine
The very form of the question shows that even at this date Mignot was
making proposals that might affect the main dimensions of the building. It also imphes
that changes in dimension, largely affecting the symboHc and mystical significance of
the structure, must be distinguished from alterations of its substantial form. The latter
were presumably changes in style or disposition or detailed treatment that were considered to be more far-reacliing than simple adjustments of proportion. Onofrio
de'Serina, in estimating that the nave would be 8 braccia higher, remarks that Mignot
must be performing a miracle, since the same Master Jean has said at other times that
the whole edifice was not firm, and now being still higher it would necessarily be even
less firm'. Although two of the other experts did not think that any variation in height
was involved, the consensus was otherwise. If the seven masters who foresaw a change
in height were correct, it would be a final confirmation of the earher commission's
controversies.12
'
bchef that
all that they called science, and a large part of what Mignot called science, was
unconcerned with, and unaffected by, structural considerations. It owed its validity to
its philosophical and theological significance. Furthermore, if de'Serina was right and
Mignot intended
mean
to
add exacdy
8 braccia to the
projected 76-braccia height,
that despite the intervening alterations in the design
it
would
of various members, the
would return to Stomaloco's 84 braccia. The semi-Pythagorean compromise would be discarded and the perfect figure of the equilateral triangle more nearly
approached. Giovanni Scrosato, who had been a member of the earher commission
overall height
wliich had fougiit such a tenacious rearguard action against Mignot, together with three
others, saw the rc-cstablishmcnt of the triangle as a prime virtue of his modifications.
348

is put more forcefully by Guidolo della Croce's declaration that following
form of the second project, the false system already prepared is altered, and the
correct system of the triangle respected, which camiot be abandoned without error, as
Their view
'
the
formerly master Heinrich, and a certain
German master Hans,
with high and
of deaf knaves'.
faithful voice into the ears
before him, preached
Despite continued evidence of the kind of support that had maintained
him
in the
duke's favour, the proponents of the scheme of 1392 were finally triumphant, and in
October 1401 he was dismissed.

quite different
He
left
behind
from the one envisaged when
its
a building that
was taking on
ground plan had been
settled.
shape
French,
German, and
Italian architects alike had advocated radical changes in an already parcompleted elevation. Northerners and soutlierners ahke had demonstrated that
even approximate calculation of the structural consequences of their decisions was not
tially
only impracticable but inconceivable. Nevertheless, they were

the character and
bers. All
magnitude of the loads and
of them had
sho\\ii that
stresses to
symboUsm and
willing to transform
all
be borne by the existing
significance
were
appearance to medieval architects. Despite the heat of the debate,
as
still
it
mem-
important
as
seems that in the
context of existing knowledge and modes of thought both sides were defending funda-
mentally reasonable positions. The fact that the cathedral

ably free from structural defects or failures
is
itself a
is still
standing and
is
remark-
warning against taking the ItaUan
masters' arguments too Hghtly or their ignorance too
much
of the cathedrals of Florence and Siena prove, only the
rarity
for granted.
of even
As the stories
documenta-
partial
makes the proceedings at Milan appear at all extraordinary.

As often happens where there are great quantities of detail, it is the general effect of
the completed interior of Milan Cathedral that is striking (Plate 159). The double-aisled
tion
space that
is
enclosed
is
The dwarfing
vast and gives the full impression of being so.
of the figure sculpture in the controversial
capitals carries the sense
of human smallness
up into the spaces overhead. There is no other church in Italy, and few elsewhere, in
which the legendary source of Gothic architecture in dark, over-arching northern
forests
insistent actuaUty. The omnipresent stained glass sheds an evocative

The lowering of the nave and heightening of the aisles means that
few windows in the upper spaces. Lush, complex forms sweep up to an ob-
becomes an
half-Ught over
there are
all.
scurity that intensifies the forest feeling.

leads to an almost unexpected sense
Although the broad exterior of the facade
of height on entering the nave and
the massive capitals with their niche-enfolded figures
Only
at the crossing,
effective visual stop.
in the aisles does the immediate springing of the narrow, steeply-climbing vaults
result in continuity
of movement through the shm, high
views are opened up

aisles
form an
as
one moves through the
spaces.
Everywhere, diagonal
hall-like nave. Especially
from
the outer
the continuous kaleidoscope of rectilinear avenues, of complex clusterings, and of
deep and broken
vistas
is
impressive.
The
seemingly innumerable complex piers
The envelopment of
the shafted forms
tangible quaUry. There
is,
total
syrmnetry and rippling contours of the
itself encourages a sense
by
of all-round movement.
the surrounding space takes
on an almost
however, no confusion in the outcome, for the great width
of the nave ensures an adequate flow towards the

349
altar.
Seen firom the inner
aisles,
the

enormous windows of
slimmed down by
the ambulatory,
their angled setting
accurately framed within the steep perspective of the arches, slant in space.
is
drawn on
until, after the transept has
been crossed, the vast expanse of glass makes
its
impact.
full visual
The Certosa
at Pavia, the
The fmal decade of

approach
From
and
The viewer
their
Duoino
at
Monza, and
Maria
del
Carmine
Pavia
at
which saw the Milanese controversies
the fourteenth century,
cUmax, was
S.
period of great activity in the surrounding territories.
the ceremonial foundation of the Certosa at Pavia in 1396 to his death in 1402,
Gian Galeazzo Visconti was himself
as
much
more concerned with
or even
this
gran-
was the same Bernardo da Venezia who

There was, however, a long stoppage in the
diose personal project. His chosen arcliitect
intervened in the Milanese discussions.
work
Gian Galeazzo's death. As a
after
most extraordinary
result this
architectural
which Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles are intermingled with

a busy, gay abandon is substantially a mid- and later-fifteenth-century creation." Its
plan, with the aisles flanked by chapels, none the less reflects a pattern much discussed
during the quarrels at Milan, and resurrected at a late stage by Bernardo himself 1*
complex
in
Apart from the fourteenth-century additions to the flanks and
Duomo at Monza
cruciform thirteenth-century
restoration
of the
by the numerous,
by
the heavy carving, not imlike the imprint
The
internal height
central roundel to the lowest
of the exposed screen
original
is
chapels ensures that
no
now
hall effect
is
its
It
Finally, the flat-
the general impression of a wide,
from nave
to aisles
and
is
aisle,
and
Duomo at Milan and with contemporary
the brick-built church of S. Maria del

c.
1370.
The broad and
compartments firmly bounded by plain
notable for the accentuation of its rhythms
These elaborate the forms found
aisles to
created.
appears to have been designed
five
is
waffle-iron, that
distinguished of the group of neighbouring cruciform nave,
developments in Florence,
pyramids,
of a
extreme thinness. Internally the
its
the drop in height
chapel buildings, wliich coimect both with the
facade,
by
wooden roof would have somewhat hghtened
(Figure 30).
end of the once
of the building scarcely exceeds
of the flanking windows.
further emphasized
low, massive structure. Even
The most
east
crossing, the deadening
completed by Matteo da Campione in 1396, greatly

The flatness of the striped marble facade is barely modified
surrounds the central rose-window.
from the
domed
carefully graded openings that reiterate the stepped triangulation of
the upper contour, or
a line
its
facâde, originally
affects its flavour (Plate i6ob).
ness
with
earlier in the Castello
buttresses
Carmine
typically
at Pavia
Lombard
topped by simple
by wide windows
(Plate i6ia).
Visconteo (Plate 157A) and are
linked by a continuous, overriding cornice. In the interior (Plate i6ib) each square
nave bay opens into two lower, square
aisle bays succeeded by two equally high,

no dome over the crossing and no break in height between
the nave and transepts. The continuity from one transept to the other is complete. The
high traditions of the Lombard Romanesque live on in the mass and simplicity of the
columns, of the mouldings, and of the plain, round ribbing of the vaults. Except for the
square chapels. There
is
350

main
transverse arches
of the nave, the simplest cushion
capitals arc used.
The
carefully
maintained structural relationship of ribs and vertical supports leads to an alternating
rhythm
trasted
in the nave.
The
with the broad,
The eye
is
swelling cruciform section of the main supports
the apex of the longitudinal arches of the vaults.

thickness of the nave arcading.
and weight
in the capitals
and
Within
ribs
The
boldly con-
Figure 30. Pavia,
S.
the aisles themselves there
a similar
is
and columns. Fine colour contrast
Maria
its
construction
is
simphcity of surface. That
no
surprise in
this
Lombardy.
set in
is
simphcity
provided by the
The outcome
Carmine, designed c 1370. Plan
del
a feeling of the calm enclosure of great spaces
soUdity and
piers.
walls reveal their mass in the great
wliitewashcd walls of the vaults and the deep-red supporting structures.
is
is
and flanking half-columns of the intermediate

drawn up over the great sweep of wall, which lines each bay, by ocuh
flat faces
by
a structure that
is
might seem to characterize
It is
also
no
notable for
a
its
Romanesque
denial of the pressure of small
changes in proportion, a more rapid rhythm, and a greater verticahty in arch and vault
forms.
The bay shape of the nave,
the lack of interruption
over the crossing, and the absolute dimensions
all
by a
by a dome
upon
building in which
raised choir or
create a corresponding accent
length and balance the lateral extension of the plan. All in
all it is
great traditions are continued and, in their continuation, undergo a transformation of
unusual subtlety and sensitivity.^^
Matteo Gattapone and
the
CoUegio
di
Spagna; Antonio
di
Vicenzo and
S. Petronio in Bologna
unusual structures on the road down from Pavia to Bologna is the

wide-mouthed atrium which was added to the transept of S. Antonino at Piacenza
One of the more

tall,
in
1350 by Pietro Vago.
to S.
With
its
simple buttresses,
its
beehive turrets, and
its
cross-
even more severe form of the smooth stone tower-porch attached

Maria della Lizza at Alezio in ApuHa. The sweep and scale of the Piacentine atrium,
vaults,
it
recalls the
351

reminiscent of a deep-sea
fish, all
head and mouth,
trailing a tiny
the busy detail and essentially small-scale conception of the
Palazzo della Mercanzia in Bologna.^*
The
latter's
much
body, contrasts with

restored loggia of the
tendency to miniaturization and to
of one of the main strands in the contrasting pattern of late-fourteenth-century developments in all the arts of the North
Itahan plain. The general form continues the tradition estabUshed in the first half of the
elaboration of detad
is
the architectural reflection
century, but the ultimate effect depends ahnost entirely
on texture and on the colour of
mouldings and fuUy painted marble sculpture. The building was begun in
1383 by Lorenzo di Domenico da Bagnomarino, who was associated with Antonio di
Vicenzo. Two years later the latter, together with Giovanni Dionigi, also joined
the terracotta
Bagnomarino and Berto Cavaletto on the modification and enlargement of the severe
Palazzo dei Notai, wliich was begun in 13 81.
Both severity and sophistication are, as might be expected, characteristic of Matteo
Gattapone's work for Cardinal Albemoz in the CoUegio di Spagna, also in Bologna
(Plate 1 63 a). The building was begun and substantially completed between 1365 and
1370, while Matteo was also working on the Rocca at Spoleto. The octagonal columns
and two-tiered arches of the loggia
difference.
There
at
Bologna repeat the Umbrian forms, but with
added weight and gravity in the lower arcades. More striking
is
the height
of the upper storey
minimally
altered,
is
drastically reduced.
and the reduction
supporting columns.
The
is
The
individual forms are only
mainly achieved by halving the height of the
parapet reaches half-way up the shortened forms and greatly
almost
the upper storey had been driven
accentuates the visual effect.
It is
into the lower. Finally, the
unbroken horizontahty of the roof-line
architectural force
of the
aisleless,
by
as if
the abrupt, unheralded
is
emergence of the facade and beU-screen
The forms of the cortile give no warning

above and behind them. Apart from the buttresses and
that erupts
framing cornices, which are an earnest of soHdity,
it is
the flamess of the facade that
emphasized. The contrast with the dark openings of the loggie below
which
in
down
given positive
vaulted chapel of S. Clemente.
of the building
way
stdl,
its
buttressed flanks are not continued
by
is
stressed
by
is
the
the verticals of supporting
columns. Instead, they coincide with the crowns of two round arches and so appear to
sit
upon
the void. Finally, there
imbroken, straight
lines
is
a seemingly deUberate angidarity
of
outline.
The
of the roof and balconies of the loggie are contrasted with the
abrupt changes of direction in the emphatic cornices of the facade. The scale and curvature of the roundel and of the bell recess appear to flout the visual rules estabUshed by
no less calculated mamier. The precision and economy of means

throughout the design argue the stature of the Umbrian architect, and any doubts
about the dehbcrate soplustication of liis scheme must be resolved on entering the
those of the loggie in a
chapel. 1^
the
way
Nothing could be more simple, nothing on its own terms more effective, than
which the continuum of the lower walls, pierced only by plain lancets and
in
otherwise without the smallest interruption, both enfolds the polygonal choir and is,
its vertical dimension, accentuated by the cxacdy similar windows in the upper wall
in
which thereby hnk

above.
The
it
to the articulated
corbelling of
all
the
and contrasted spaces created by the vaults
columns supporting the

352
ribs
of the vaults defmes the
5
I
353
"

boundaries of the lower wall.
of the
By these means the contrasting, interpenetrating elements
simple-looking volume are divided seemingly without division.
single,
The
plain
grandeurs of Spoleto, and the straightforward contrasts of internal and external form
that
seemed to flow from function, are elaborated by means no less economical in

The great late medieval engineer from Umbria was something more. He
their essence.
was an architect's architect.

Antonio di Vicenzo's major work, the church of S. Petronio
a far
more obvious claim
to fame. It
in
Bologna, represents
the fmal climax to the chapter
is
of Itahan brick
The power of the bonds

plans of S. Giacomo Mag-
construction opening with S. Francesco in Bologna (Plate 2a).
forged by that famous church are
by
is
shown by
the attenuated
Maria dei Servi in Bologna. The enlargement of the
latter was promoted

same Fra Andrea Manfredi da Faenza, the General of the Servites, whose name
associated with the construction of S. Petronio. The building of the latter started in
giore and
S.
the
1390 and reached substantially
its
present state in 1525 (Plate 162 and Figure 31).
By
two nave bays were complete, and Antonio died between 1401 and
1402. Despite the virtual suspension of the work until 1445, the pattern was, however,
firmly enough set for the design of the nave, which was all that was ever completed,
1400 only the
first
Although the original

a document of Febru-
to be considered an essentially foiurteenth-century conception.
arrangement of the entire eastern end

ary 1390,
less
than a
month
uncertain,
is
from
clear
after the original decision to build, that a Latin-cross plan
of some kind was originally intended. In

'a
it is
it
Antonio
di
Vicenzo was ordered to produce
church or chapel made of stones and mortar covered over with gesso forty
feet
long
and more according to the accompanying schedule, and thirty
feet
wide
[50 ft; I5'20 m.]
[37I
ft;
11-40 m.] and
more according
were indicated
in his
drawing. 1* Since
accompanying schedule as above, with

towers and other appropriate things'
model was to be made to a scale of one to
to the
whatever doors windows vaults chapels
pillars
this
twelve, the projected church was to have been at least 600
ft (i
82*40 m.) long and 450
ft
Not only was their model to be on the grandest scale

outstrip the new cathedrals of Florence and Milan by a
(136-80 m.) across the transepts.
but the resulting church was to

substantial margin.
The model,
similar in principle to those
mentioned in the Florentine
documents, was, moreover, to be in accordance with the previously declared intentions

of Fra Andrea, who was to stand as arbiter. In August Fra Andrea stated that the model
was
larger
and richer than anything which he himself had
had proposed, but he declared

lire for his pains.
than eighty
in
all
laid
down
or the architect
conscience that the architect should have a hundred
Antonio's gratitude at
this
point was such that he refused to take
more
In the church as
it
now
stands the use of chapels flanking the aisles can be related to
the pattern estabhshed in S. Maria del
Carmine at Pavia, for the surviving records of

the Milanese discussions of such a scheme post-date Antonio's visit to survey the project
for the Duomo. The evidence of Antonio's close acquaintance with the Duomo of
Florence
is
also plentiful.
viously derived from
recognized,
is
it
The
piers
and
(Plate 152A).
the possible influence
capitals
No
and
less
pilaster
forms of S. Petronio are ob-
important, though perhaps
of the running rhythms of

354
S.
less
often
Maria Novella on

the airiest Gothic church in Italy (Plate 2b). Indeed, the fresh
this,
from Tuscany presage
the gale of change
which was
to
winds blowing in
sweep through Northern Italy
in the succeeding centuries.
The outcome of Antonio's careful observation both of rival projects and of earUer
is no hall of echoes but a new creation. The contrast with the crowded
mystery of Milan is hardly more extreme than that which separates its sweeping verti-
acliievements
cals
from
the
Large oculi,
heavy horizontal cornices and cap-like vaulting of the Duomo at Florence.

high up in the walls, spread even light throughout the building. Sim-
set
pHcity of moulding; clarity of plane in wall and pier and
hmited intermingling of columnar forms
the
warm
soffit; a sensitive
ments, and the calm surfaces of walls and vaults, combine in such a
The nave bays
fully in all three dimensions.
great expanse
between the
piers
means
are
some
and carefully
hght red of the supporting
way
that space
eletells
63 feet (19-20 m.) square, and the
that the lateral extension
of the plan
is
fully
The height of the nave is thoroughly exploited by the soaring continuity of

supports. The eye is drawn to an unbroken and identical succession of vaults that
reahzed.
its
both accentuates the length of the building and speeds the flow towards the
is
already inherent in the bay design.
The
sense
altar that
of space reciprocally accentuates the
As often happens,
begun has been superbly if precipitously fmished. However
curious and incomplete the exterior of the eastern end may seem, the mass and virtually
unbroken sweep of the plane-surfaced choir arch is an architecturally dramatic framework for the spiritual drama of the mass.
slimness of support forms carefully proportioned to the total scale.
what has been
so well
The Palazzo Ducale
in
Venice
Apart from a number of minor palaces, and a few churches such
Madonna
del
Orto which
as S.
Stefano and the
in part retain their fourteenth-century character, the latter
is memorable only for the single masterpiece of the Palazzo

The enlargement of the existing Sala del Maggior Consigho upon
a foundation of existing rooms was decided on in 1340, and the building that contains
it must have been well advanced by 1365, when Guariento was called in to decorate it.
The extent of the great hall is measured by its inclusion of the first two windows on the
side of the Piazzetta and of five of the seven windows facing the canal. The style of the
loggie beneath, and of their sculpture, seems to show that they are actually late-four-
part of the century in Venice
Ducale
(Plate 163B).
teenth-century replacements for whatever walls or other supporting structures had
The existing facings of the upper walls are also likely to belong to this
somewhat controversial chronology is correct,^'' the whole campaign
was probably completed by the insertion of Pierpaolo dalle Masegne's balcony of
previously existed.
late date. If this
1400-4. Finally, the further, matching section of the palace, stretching along the Piazzetta
towards
S.
Marco, discussed
in 1422,
was begun under Doge Francesco Foscari
after 1424.
The
feat
after the
of engineering represented by the reconstruction of the double colonnade
completion of the upper storey
is
only rendered
355
less
surprising by the realization

that in a city built entirely
upon
piles
and laced with waterways, the replacement of
the lower levels of a building without disturbing the overlying structure was a constantly recurring problem.
The
entire external construction
above-ground symbol of the structural
reaHties that
of the Palazzo
loggia itself has ample Venetian precedents reaching back
The double
is
a visible,
underhe the solid-seeming
city.
beyond such
twelfth- and thirteenth-century Palazzi as the Loredan and Farsetti to the reconstructed
Fondaco dei Turchi. The placing of heavy superstructures with relatively small windows on loggie which often leave the building entirely open at ground level, instead of
merely skirted by arcading,
Palazzo del
which
Comune from
is
of many
characteristic
North Itahan Arengario or
the early thirteenth century onwards.
the subtlety with
It is
the traditional Venetian arrangement has been elaborated and refmed, and the
on which it has been carried out, that are unprecedented. There is a fundamental
between the open, lace-hke treatment of the lower half and the continuity of
the upper wall, in which a relatively few large openings have been cut. The secret of
scale
contrast
the building
harmonious resolution of such
in the
lies
conflicts.
inherent in the multiphcity of sculptural and colouristic detail
by
the constant repetition of identical elements
which
similar tension
is
disciplined
is
both
and by the unbroken, horizontally
extended cube-form of the whole.
The
building
is
ideally calculated to provide a foil for
and yet not to crush the low
and complex outline of S. Marco. The textural gradient created by the diminution and
increasing
compUcation of the openings
as the
eye moves up the loggie
the rose and white diagonal patterning of the upper wall.

to reduce the sense
of weight. Comparison with
Itahan counterparts reveals
how much this
The
Italo-Islamic decoration
tion
on
which
tendency
its
is
It also
continued in
many Umbrian and
here accentuated
softens the harshness
the arch-forms of the upper loggia.
is
Such patterning always tends
by
Central-
the context.
of the skyline plays
a varia-
completes the cycle by beginning
a reverse progression firom pure surface pattern to the
most tenuous and least corporeal

of sculptural forms. The way in which the placing of the windows that substantially
repeat the forms of the lower arches has been related to the pierced roundels of the upper
The windows gain a curious, floating quahty by being offset

Form and texture, void and sohd, hght and shade
and colour, work so fine an alchemy that the outcome is a dancing calm - weightless
solidity - a restfulness which has no hint of the inert. As all great works of art inevitably
loggia
as
is
similarly skilful.
regards the arches of both loggie.
do,
it
underlines the impossibihty in principle of fmding any counterpart in words.
Internally there
that support the
is
nothing unexpected in the number and complexity of the rooms
enormous
Sala del
fme fourteenth-century wooden
Gran Consigho. There
ceilings,
in the Sala del Piovego, in particular,
are a
number of particularly
and the central row of supporting columns
foreshadows the treatment of the loggia that runs
right through the early-fifteenth-century Foscari wing.
The only essentially novel element is the increased amenity and more varied circulation allowed by the building of
two storeys of continuous loggie on the outer as well as on the inner face of the building. In these respects
sities
of defence
it
even surpasses the Palazzo Visconteo in Pavia. There the neces-
restricted such constructions to the inner courtyard.
356
The only
building

which
is
both earhcr and comparable
in Padua.
The double
loggie
teenth century, and they
on
may
as regards this feature
either side
of the
well contain the
latter
is
the Palazzo della Ragione
were added
germ of the
in the early four-
idea that
was
to flower in
Venice.
Sculptural details comparable to those of the Palazzo Ducale can be foimd in the
Palazzo Sagredo and in such things

are obvious
private houses as the
The
as the
loggia of the Palazzo Ariani. Later borrowings
throughout the loggie and windows of such fifteenth-century Venetian
difference
is
Ca d'Oro, begun in
that, as in the
no
less
1421, or the Palazzi Sanudo, Foscari, and Pisani.
evocative additions to the facade of S.
Marco dur-
ing the later fourteenth century, a picturesque profusion of polyclirome and sculptural
detail has replaced the discipline
controlled.
on
It is,
by which
the riches of the ducal palace are so subtly
moreover, only in these fifteenth-century
palaces, as far as can
be seen
the surviving evidence, that the patterns of internal organization, already settled
the early thirteenth century,
when
by
they represented an immeasurable advance beyond
the comparable civil architecture of the rest of Italy, begin to loosen and develop into
fresh configurations.
much of what
As
appears
fourteenth-century
in the
by
remoter regions of Central
Italy,
such
as the
Abruzzi,
the time-scale of the Florentine Renaissance to be typically
work in fact belongs
to the
mid or
later fifteenth century.
one surviving masterpiece, Venetian architecture of the
later fourteenth
But
for
century
its
is
matter of innumerable minor beauties and of hints and traces long since picturesquely
overgrown.
357
I
PART EIGHT
PAINTING
1350-1400
CHAPTER 39
INTRODUCTION
Two
great changes of emphasis
mark
the history
painting. Firstly, the small-scale painting of
Tuscany in
its
Northern
of late-fourtcenth-century Itahan
accurate description of natural detail
Lombard and Emihan
monumental art of
The new attitude to the
Italy rivals the
importance for the history of European
art.
which flowered
in
the Visconti-dominated
plain vies with early-fourteenth-century
Tuscan innovations
Limbourg brothers and underlies the achievements of the Master of Flemalle and the van Eycks. The second major change involves
the concentration of Tuscan art on transcendental and emotional aims. The fundamental
reahsm, the steady acquisition of new representational abihties, which had absorbed
in
its
contribution to the art of the de
the energies of the preceding seventy-five years, are for a time, but only for a time,
largely irrelevant.
that
gave
as that
it
The new
birth,
and
is
art
none the
remains a vivid expression of the society

moulding contemporary modes of thought
less
as significant in
of the preceding or succeeding periods.
The Black Death
is
one element in the equation that
scene in Tuscany. Artists of
unknown
known
affects the social
and
artistic
achievement and great promise died. Others of
must undoubtedly have been cut down. Depopulation,

and followed by a riotous but short-hved period of
abundance, led to massive shifts of power, to economic chaos, and to continuing social
disruption. Mercenary armies roamed the countryside and peasants swarmed into halfquite
centred in the
potential
crowded
empty towns. The

been weakened by
into the hands
cities
grip of the tight ohgarchies of great banking houses had already

the financial
of the
lesser
crisis
of the early
forties,
and power tended to
move
merchants. In Florence in 1378 the Revolt of the Ciompi
even estabhshed the ascendancy of the disenfranchised labouring masses of the wooltrade for a few short months. Throughout the period the potential benefits of a
broadened governmental base were vitiated by the incohesiveness and inexperience of
the newly influential, and by 1382, when Siena was far down the road of relative
was once more moving into the hands of the great merchant famihes.
upheaval was accompanied by a radical if short-Uved change in
spiritual climate. The mystical tendencies of the preceding period were strengthened.
Saints such as Catherine of Siena fired the popular imagination. The heirs of the
decline, Florence
Economic and
social
359
PART eight: painting 1350-1400

Franciscan Spirituals multiplied. Popular preachers roused the multitudes to orgies of
repentance and emotion only matched by the frenzied self-indulgence of the irrehgious.
The freeing of the individual's imagination, encouraged

by the artists' assumption of new freedom to interpret
light
of
their
own
understanding,
now
in the first half
of the centvuT-
the rehgious narratives in the
posed a real threat to the estabUshed organiza-
insistence on orthodoxy and on

power and authority as the sole road to salvation this at a rime
when, paradoxically, its whole administrative structure was in visible and often
scandalous disarray. In 1378, on the death of Gregory XI after his return to Rome, the
accumulated troubles of the papal exile in Avignon were replaced by those of the Great
Schism. All the powers of Europe polarized as pope struggled with anti-pope. Out of
such contradictions there arose no great new orders, no immediate and lasting organizational reorientation. There was no fundamental adaptation to real needs; no major
reinterpretation of old truths. No insights deep enough to change the course of European
tion of the Church. This threat
was met by increased
the Church's institutional
spiritual history in
The
any fundamental
spiritual as well as
turned into
new
way emerged
economic
conflicts
out of the Tuscan turmoil.
were
an
reflected in
channels, carried certain contradictions with
it.
art
which,
However
based on an innate conservatism or deliberate archaism, the means by which

pressed the new, non-rational and transcendental urges and the
were, to a greater or
lesser extent,
conditioned
by
preceding generations. Furthermore, the needs which

less
pressing long before a fundamentally
new
artistic
new
as it
strongly
it
the naturahstic achievements

it
was
bom
ex-
authoritarianism
to serve
of
had grovioi
language could be formed.
With
economic and pohtical stabUity in the fmal decades of the century,

the fading memories of disaster made the menace of the judgement day less real. The
the return of relative
solution of representational problems once again

patrons.
The
became exciting
to the artist and his
exploration of the surface beauties and the underlying structure of this
world began to move once more into the forefront of men's minds.
360
CHAPTER 40
TUSCANY
Bama
da Siena
Barn A is among
the ghostly figures dwelling on the fringes of recorded history, their

very being circumscribed by conflicting passages in Gliiberti and Vasari. Nothing
factual
is
known of him, and
Gimignano, probably painted
the frescoes of the Life of Christ in the Collegiata of S.
fifties, are the core of what is generally

show how an extreme conservatism could, in the
fourteenth century, form the basis of a new art and the veliicle of
in the early
attributed to him. These frescoes

third quarter
of the
'
\/
\/
=0
='
'
'
"
,.,
ATION MARHl-
ENTRANCE
Figure 32. Barna da Siena: S. Gimignano, Collegiata, right
aisle,
scheme of
decoration, early i350s(?)
KEY
Miracle at Cana
1.
Annunciation
10.
2.
11. Transfiguration
3.
Adoration of the Shepherds

Adoration of the Magi
4.
Presentation in the
5.
Massacre of the Innocents
14. Last
6.
Fhght into Egypt
7.
Christ
8.
Baptism of Christ
Calling of St Peter
9.
among
Temple
the Doctors
19. Flagellation
20.
Mocking of Christ
of Lazarus
21.
Way
23.
15.
Entry into Jerusalem

Supper
Judas and the thirty Pieces
16.
Agony
25.
12. Raising
13.
in the
17. Betrayal
Garden
of Christ
of the Cross
22. Crucifixion
Entombment
24. Resurrection
Descent into Limbo
26. Ascension
18. Christ before Pilate
emotions. Bama's interest in Duccio seems hardly to have been diminished by an
new
two striking iconographic details

from Giotto's Paduan cycle, the descriptive naturahsm of
Ambrogio Lorenzetti might never have existed as far as Bama is concerned.
The frescoes are arranged in three tiers on the windowless outer wall of the right aisle
of the Collegiata (Figure 32). A single scene from the Early Life of Christ, predominantly
overlay of influence from Simone. Although one or
seem
to derive directly
by an assistant, fills each of the sLx lunettes. In the lower registers there are
bay as the story swiftly shuttles back and forth across the first four bays,
gathering force for its cUmax in the Crucifixion. The latter takes up the entire fifth bay,
carried out
two
scenes to a
361

and the story concludes with the four scenes in the sixth and final bay. This unusual
arrangement permits a definitive solution of the problem that Giotto had struggled
with in the Arena Chapel. Despite the multipHcity of scenes and levels, the whole
narrative is welded into a dramatic unit.^ At Padua significant coincidences were
encouraged wherever possible. At
S.
Gimignano
and every juxtaposition of scene with scene

four opening bays the Early Life of Christ
is
is
there are
no
coincidences. Each
meaningful and planned. Throughout the

allocated to the lunettes, the Ministry to
first bay (Plate 164) the

coming of Christ surmounts the second joyful coming of the Entry
into Jerusalem. The latter occupies two whole compartments, and the intervening
bar is bridged by the general movement from the left and by a single swift countermovement as a youth, his figure cut in half by the vertical division, hurls his cloak on to
the ground. The powerful compositional flow not only hastens the transition to the
lower register but emphasizes the dramatic contrast with what follows. Welcome
becomes the immediate prelude to betrayal, as the taking of the sop, the chosen moment
of the Last Supper, gives way to Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver. Even this does not
exhaust the significance of the doubling of the scene of Entry. At Assisi, two strict
the middle row, and the Passion to the lowest register. In the
Annunciation of the
symmetries
at the start accentuate the
bay-by-bay, visual grouping of the St Francis
Cycle. Here, the placing of a double scene in the
first
bay, immediately beneath the
single episode in the lunette, stresses the vertical equivalence. It encourages the
bay scanning
that adds so
much
to the simple serial reading
bay-by-
of successive episodes. The
coincidence of left-to-right movement, the wide spacing of the figures, and the architectural design
of the Annunciation, which seems to pin the two halves of the lower
scene together,
make
the
artist's
implicit purpose visually self-evident.
In the second lunette the swaddled,
new-bom Infant in the
Adoration of the Shepherds,
which doubles for the missing Nativity, is echoed by the reborn Lazarus, swaddled in
his winding sheet, and the amazement of the shepherds is succeeded by that of the
The theme of heavenly vision, and of the contrast between the in-dwelling godhead and the earthly shell of mortahty, is even carried into
the Passion scenes of the lower register through the vision in the Agony in the Garden.
In the tliird bay the Adoration of the Kings is Unked to the Calling of St Peter and St
apostles in the Transfiguration.
Andrew and
to the festive scene
of the Marriage
at
Cana. Again, the contrast with the
scene o( Christ before Pilate, the infant king of kings
become
the prisoner
of the unjust
earthly powers, gives special point to the juxtaposition with the Passion scenes.
linkage of the Presentation
in the
The
Temple, in the fourth lunette, to the Baptism, Christ's
adult recognition of the future role of the Church, and to the Teaching in the Temple
hardly requires comment. Again, however, there
is
particular bite in the relationship
between the Christ Child teaching the wise and the similarly designed Mocking
of
Christ in which the Saviour is reviled by fools. The Massacre
of the Innocents then crowns
the Crucifixion of the innocent God, and finally the physical escape of the Flight into
Egypt surmounts the escape from spiritual
and Ascension. Once again,
as
well as earthly death in the Resurrection
end of the wall, the vertical connexions are compositionally and thematically emphasized by the placing of the Entombment
and the
at the
362
TUSCANY
Descent into Limbo in the lower registers. These Hnkagcs finally confirm the intentions
governing Bama's consistently maintained principles of arrangement and complete

one of the most tightly organized, many-layered narrative cycles ever painted.
Insistence on the logical and intellectual basis of Bama's cycle is especially important
because of his relative disinterest in descriptive naturalism. His elongated, heavy-footed
figures frequently ignore the facts of anatomical description almost as thoroughly as
those
which
Vitale da
Bologna painted
few years
limited and architectural realism minimal. There

tectural
tion
is
later at
Pomposa.
Spatial
and figural accents, and the contrast between calm and violence
of the scenes
depth
is
frequent tension between archiin the distribu-
matched by similar juxtapositions among the individual figures of

The violence and evil in these latter scenes is set against the lyrical
is
the Passion scenes.
delicacy of the colour combinations and the swinging patterns of the draperies in the
cycle as a whole. Apparently under the impact of unprecedented natural catastrophe
and of spiritual and
social turmoil,
Bama
uses iconographic materials primarily derived
from Duccio and Simone to create an idiom as indissolubly tied to its own time as it
is new. The experiments of artists such as Taddeo Gaddi are left behind, and the emotive
power of Guido da Siena and Cimabuc is rivalled on new levels of complexity. For the
first
time in Sienese, or indeed in Tuscan
art,
the essential challenge laid
vanni Pisano and so long ignored in favour of the easier elements of

ingly accepted.
similar quality
of strangeness,
a similar
down by
Gio-
style
will-
liis
is
compositional discipline and
emotional power, a similar basis of conservatism, but a greatly increased simplicity of
Simone or Bernardo Daddi,
design, reminiscent of
are
combined with dramatic
exploitation of the change of scale in such panels as the Carrying of the Cross in the
Frick Collection in
New York
and the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine in the Museum

is also an interesting social
of Fine Arts in Boston. The badly damaged Boston panel

document, since
and thereby
its
symboHsm seems
to consoHdate, a peace
to have been designed to record
between two warring
and
sanctify,
families.
The Minor Sienese Masters
The message of the Old Testament scenes painted in the left aisle of the Collegiata at
S. Gimignano by Bartolo di Fredi (recorded 1353-97) in 1367 is less complex and
more explicit than that in Bama's cycle.^ The impact of recurrent pestilence seems to be
reflected by the stress on such unusual subjects as the Crossing of the Red Sea, with its
tangle of floating corpses, and by the incorporation of a sequence of scenes from the
Trials ofJob. The cumulative effect of crowded, anecdotal, and often bitty compositions
sets
the character of the cycle. Similar quaHties recur in Bartolo's mature masterpiece,
the securely attributed Adoration of the
Magi
in the Pinacoteca at Siena (Plate 165A).
Harshness of drawing, hardness and complexity of form and brilliance of colour are
accompanied by an endless accumulation of detail. Bold and disturbing simplifications

of natural appearances are married to a calculated discontinuity and compartmentalization of pictorial space.
the panel,
its
The fmal crowding
is
so extreme that, despite the large size of
borders seem to press in on the landscape, architectural, and figure content.
363

The element of tension, even of violence, that accompanies the decorative intensity of
much of the work of Bartolo di Fredi and his fellow Tuscans during the second half of
the century is stressed by a comparison with the output of such northern contemporaries
direct reUance
as the Maitre aux Boquetaux. The dependent status impUed by the often
on designs created by Simone or the Lorenzetti brothers is transformed by a thoroughgoing change of
and emphasis. In a period in which genuine mysticism, often
mood
descending into rehgious emotionahsm and hysteria of every kind, was accompanied
by emphasis on orthodoxy and upon the saving power of the Church, it seems legiti-
mate
to see a parallel
phenomenon
in such
works
as Bartolo's Presentation,
which
is
of 1342. The combination of emotive, formal

tension with increasing hieratism and stress on ritual, and the diminished interest in
natural description, are typical of the times.
Ambrogio
based on
It is
Lorenzetti's panel
only superficially a paradox that
it is artists
the full range of visual appearances, and

serious aspects
elaborate feats
who
who
are
little
interested in exploring
more
are positively disinterested in the
of psychological and dramatic reaHsm, who most often indulge in

of illusion. The surviving peaks of fourteenth-century Tuscan illusionin the work of Lippo Vanni (recorded
The documented Lorenzettian miniatures
ism are to be found in Siena, not in Florence, and

1341-75), not in that of Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
of Choral No. 4 in the Cathedral Library at Siena, a signed triptych of 1358 in SS.
Domenico e Sisto in Rome, and a fragmentary signed fresco of the Amumciation of
1372 in
from
S.
the
Domenico
in Siena are the styHstic basis
documented miniatures
Chamber of the
in grisaille in the Council
Seminary in Siena
is
of
his
to the vast, chaotic battle
work. The latter stretches

panorama of 1372, painted
Palazzo PubbUco in Siena. His mural in the
a thoroughgoing attempt to coimterfeit a standard, full-scale
polyptych of the Virgin and
Saints,
complete with every
detail
of its gilded wooden
frame. Lippo's major surviving works are, however, the frescoes of the Life of the
Virgin in
plexity,
S.
Leonardo
and the sacred
Lago, near Siena. ^ DeHcate colour, airy architectural com-
al
and an obvious
interest in
stories are
closely associated with
breaking
down
the barriers
between the observer
everywhere apparent. Already in the frescoes
Ambrogio
at
Monte
Siepi,
Lorenzetti, painted architectural detail had been
used to harmonize the three-diniensional window-embrasure with the painted architecture of the calm, majestic Atunmciation that
planes of a similar embrasure actually

in
which the Annunciation
it
cuts in half.
become
At
S.
Leonardo the receding
the foreshortened sides
of the aediculae
takes place (Plate 165B). Three-dimensional reality
used
is
to add the final touch of reahsm to a whole-hearted attempt at perspective illusion.

typical
It is
of such intriguing visual juggling by minor masters that the actual constructions
used are tcclmically incompetent and even confused.
The
architecture, wliich
now
dominates the subject matter, shows Vaimi's complete disinterest in the theoretical
advances
made during
the
first
half of the century
together with Simone Martini and Lippo
and on whose
style his
own was
by the Lorenzcttis,
Mcmmi, dominated
the very
men who,
his entire artistic life
founded.
Manuscript illumination and panel painting were often combined in Siena, and in
the case of Nicolo di Scr Sozzo Tcgliacci illumination predominated.* Simone, "Memmi,
364
TUSCANY
and the Lorenzetti
that seems to
are again in differ
ng proporrions the dominant
have stretched from the
on
influences
or forties to his death in 1363.
thirties
The
career
greater
who succeeded him, is demonstrated by such memorable

of God looming above an O-cncircled landscape in the Fogg
Antiphonal. Nevertheless, the luminosity and refmcment of Tcgliacci's miniatures
place him at the peak of mid-century Siencse acliievemcnt, and whether it belongs to
inventiveness of Lippo Vanni,
images
as the figure
some Umbrian
Tegliacci or to Vanni or to
associate, the rolling,
heaving ocean-swell
of rocky landscape in the full-page miniature of the Meeting of Dante and Virgil on
fol. 2 of MS. L.70 in the Augusta Library at Perugia can hardly be surpassed (Plate
i66a).
In 1362 Tegliacci and Luca di
signed a polyptych
hfe
artistic
is
now
illustrated
Tomme, who
by
liis
Andrea Vanni concerns the workshop

Andrea Vanni's surviving masterpiece
that
Garden, Crucifixion, and Descent
ton (Plate
I 66b). It is
as
documented between 1356 and 1389,

The close-knit quality of Sienese
the fact that the prolific Luca
cooperation with Bartolo di Fredi and
in the
is
in the Pinacoteca at Siena.
is
like.
last
mentioned working
first
in
mention of
he shared with Bartolo from 1353 to 1355.
Agony
Washingconservative in terms of
the signed rectangular triptych of the
into Liinho in the
superb in execution and colour
landscape reaHsm and the
is
son Andrea. Similarly, the
Corcoran Gallery
as it is
The sweeping movements of the
and visual impact from the slashing colour
contrasts.
in
figures gain emotional
For the most part these are built
up through the juxtaposition of a mere handful of brilliant, basic hues. The rhythmic
continuity of the landscape and figure horizons throughout the three panels, the symmetry of the main masses, and the enlivening flow of figure movement over the entire
surface reveal the skill and purpose with which artists such as Vanni could manipulate
their carefully restricted terms of reference. His technical powers again reveal themselves in the Saints and Virtues of the shm candlestick on loan to the Metropohtan
New
Cloisters in
initially
York.
Another link between
stemmed from
the
diminutive figures are
is their new
movement of power away from
The
latter
held
lesser
power from 1355
most broadly based republican regime

classes
as
they are
Andrea Vanni,
of minor civic
held a
series
1 3 71,
Rector of the Opera del
who wa^
He was
in
and
bourgeoisie subsequently
Tuscan
classes
social role. It
way,
known as
the
in their turn, to
history. In the period 1368 to
fuUy represented but the lower
Naples.
What
similar
though
is
significant
less
Duomo
is
in 1376, and Capitano del
Avignon and
not that one
man
in 1383-5
Popolo in 1379.
he was Envoy to
reached such civic eminence, but that
distinguished appointments punctuate the careers of Bartolo di
Lippo Vanni, Luca di
and
in close contact with St Catherine of Siena,
Gonfaloniere of the quarter of St Martin in
posts.
In 1372 he went as an Ambassador to
di Bartolo,
political
the close-knit oligarchy of
held a pohtical majority corresponding to their numbers. In 1363, 1368,
1369, and 1373,
Fredi,
compelling
to 1368, only to give
1385 not only were the nobility and the middle
middle
as finally
these Sienese painters
the steady
Nove towards an aUiance of nobles and
Dodicini.
the
Its
unobtrusive.
many
Tomme,
Nicolo Tegliacci, Paolo di Giovanni
other lesser masters.
365
Fei,
Taddeo

from mid- and late-fourteenth-century to early-fifteenth-century
painting is most richly documented in the careers of Paolo di Giovanni Fei and Taddeo
di Bartolo. Fei is recorded between 1372 and 1410, and the key to his work, based on
Simone and the Lorenzetti, is the signed polyptych in the Pinacoteca at Siena. His most
important surviving painting is, however, the large, luidocumented triptych of the
Birth of the Virgin in the same gallery (Plate 167A). In it, a great elaboration of Pietro
The
transition
of 1342 (Plate 113 a), involving many more figures and a much
is accompanied by an ambiguous relationship between this main
space and the adjoining garden-room. The apparent discontinuity in an actually continuous design is greatly accentuated by the sudden transition to the relatively enormous
Lorenzetti's panel
deeper principal space,
figures
of the four flanking
divide the unified

to
main
saints.
That comparatively
moderate the contrast with the flanking
Taddeo
who
di Bartolo,
different aspect
is
first
panels,
is
of frame does
characteristic
virtually nothing
of the period.
mentioned in 1386 and died in 1422, represents a
of tum-of-the-century eclecticism. Apart from the Last Judgement of
1393 in the CoUegiata at
S.
Gimignano, the bulk of
round the
after 1400. It centres
Pubbhco
thick, painted pillars should sub-
space, while the merest sHver
frescoes in the
his surviving
work was
painted
Chapel of the Virgin in the Palazzo
Roman
in Siena (1406-7) and those of the Civic Virtues and
Heroes in the
ante-chamber of the same chapel (1413-14). The crowded completeness of the decorative scheme, the piling up of detail in agitated compositions notable for sudden,
almost wild experiments in extreme foreshortening, are redolent of an almost feverish
away by the events in Florence.

on specifically RepubUcan Heroes in the later series
that were helping to transform a constantly resurgent
Late Gothic world already on the verge of being swept
On
the other hand, the emphasis
echoes the humanist researches
classical tradition into a true Renaissance.'
The Decoration of the Camposanto
in Pisa
Gimignano are one point of entry into the changing world of

art. The opening stages of the decoration of the Camposanto,
Barna's frescoes in S.
later-fourteenth-century
culminating in the Triumph of Death, the Last Judgement, and the Legends of the Anchorites, are another. In the Last Judgement Christ and the Virgin are set side by side in
separate mandorlas, and Christ concentrates
The
traditional balance
Hell has swollen to
upon a single condemnatory gesture.

between the Blessed and the Damned has been maintained, but
become almost
and rivalling the whole of the
rest
a separate scene,
running the
of the Last Judgement in
size.
full
height of the wall
The change
in relative
proportion expresses the sense of guilt and the awareness of the just and terrifying wrath
of God that follow the disasters of the forties and permeates the art of the fifties an^
sixties.
The sharpened
realization
poignandy expressed than

caccio's
in the
Decameron, written
maidens and young

peaceful grove.
The
of the evanescence of earthly hfe is nowhere more

Triumph of Death (Plate 168). The settmg of Boc-
in 1348-53,
men who make
is
inevitably recalled
sweet music
as
by
the seated
group of
down
into the
death plunges
regular pattern of the tapestry of flowers recalls the frescoes in
366
TUSCANY
Avignon and the influence of Sinionc and the
figures. The flying putti, on the other hand, insist
the Papal Palace at
in
many of the
Pisa
of the Pisani with
heritage of Antique remains.
its
The
Lorcnzetti
that this
is
clear
is still
centre of the scene
is
the
filled
with piled-up corpses flanked by cripples and aged beggars. A blinded leper with flesh
falling from his bones and both hands eaten from his outstretched arms beseeches
death to come, and death will not, being intent upon the lovers in the glade. There is
a
maximum of contrast both with the idyUic scene upon
of courtiers on the
theme of judgement,
fully elaborated in the succeeding fresco,
The
angels and devils batthng in the sky.

inscriptions. Peace,
illustrated
by
the right and with the cavalcade
they encounter the three corpses rotting in their coffins.
left as
and
a long-lasting
vanity of hfe
is
made
freedom even from the
is
The
introduced by the
expHcit in the various
toils
of earthly death,
the aged Anchorites clustered round their hillside church.
The theme
is
is
subsequently fully treated in the Legends of the Anchorites and counters any tendency
to see the fresco as a simple outcry at the cruel arbitrariness
pagan protest
is
of death. Nevertheless, such
undercurrent throughout the period.
a significant
in large sections of the laity and clergy alike, an almost feverish
indulgence were seemingly
as
common a
Open
irreligion and,
moral laxity and
self-
reaction to the uncertainty of hfe as penitence
Trials ofJob a few yards down the wall reiterate the orthodox
view of the nature and meaning of the lavishly distributed pain and suffering that arc
and rehgious fervour. The
of hfe
part
The probable
disclosed by
itself.
programme
entire
is
vernacular Vite dei
The
Saiiti
Padri written
increase in artistic emphasis
upon
The
S.
Caterina on the
by
economic and
the Pisan Fra
Domenico Cavalca
(d.
1342).
the Vita Contemplativa and the eremitical ideal
throughout the second half of the century

spiritual as well as to the
Dominicans of
influence of the
the relationship between the eremitical scenes and the
is
one
significant reaction to the
social stresses
moral and
of the day.
placing of the Legends of the Anchorites after the Last Judgement and next to the
vast scene of Hell
means
that a series
of abrupt
contrasts, similar to those that underlie
the opening composition of the Triumph of Death, embraces the entire sequence.
planar distribution of the Last Judgement differs

pattern.
to a
It is
matched by the
piling
from the more
up of the adjoining landscapes and by
thoroughgoing compartmentaHzation. The
leading
artists
of the
first
their
tendency
spatial continuities estabHshed
The
denial of the laws
working
effect.
of many of the Northern and Central Itahan artists

part of the century as is the virtual aboUtion of pictorial space that
as characteristic
in the latter
occurs in the
the
of diminution within the
and the absence of a consistent viewpoint create a surprisingly planar fmal
Such methods are
by
half of the century are broken up into a series of individually
three-dimensional compartments.
series
The
clearly spatial Giottesque
work of others.
Continuous controversy surrounds the problem of whether the firescoes should be

attributed to the Pisan Francesco Traini, already mentioned in the documents as active in
Emihan artist from the circle of

The Emihan elements connected with Vitale's highly emotional style
1321 and possibly surviving until after 1363, or to an

Vitale da Bologna.
are as obvious as the detailed connexions with Traini's one signed

S.
Domenico, dated 1345,
now
in the
Museo Civico
367
at Pisa.
work, the altarpiece of
The argument
therefore

down
boils
to
by an EmiHan, influenced by Traini and the Sienese,

by the Emihans during a visit to Northern Italy that is
the baptister)^ at Parma.* On the whole the latter hypo-
whether the work
is
or by Traini, strongly influenced

reflected in certain frescoes in
thesis
seems to be sUghtly the more attractive. In either case the frescoes are unlikely
to have been painted before the early
much
or after the early
fifties
more probable.
The war-time damage which reduced
being
sixties,
the former period
the
shadows of their former magnificence
Camposanto
the frescoes in the
has, in partial
extensive series of fourteenth-century underdrawings or sinopie so far
They
mine of information about
are a
known
the different hands cooperating
on
in Italy.
the various
about their compositional methods, and about the evolution of the fmal
frescoes,
designs.
to ruinous
compensation, disclosed the most
The drawings beneath
combine
power of characterization that is
the Triumph of Death (Plate 167B), in particular,
boldness and freedom with a psychological depth and
often buried almost without trace beneath the precise stylizations, the firm contours,
and the carefully

tive
built
up modelling, which, together with the colour, add new decora-
dimensions to the fmal work. In the Legends of the Anchorites the emotional in-
tensity
is,
on
the contrar)^ if anything increased in the fmal wôrk.
evolution of the fresco
and
in
is,
however, enriched by the
the figures.
da Volterra and
As
artist
his associates
The picture of the

more disciplined
in w^hich a
up into full chiaroscuro modelling

on the decorative scheme Francesco
(1371-2); Andrea Bonaiuti da Firenze (1377); Antonio
evocative system of brush contours
less
many of
way
succeeds
is
built
artist
Veneziano, with his intricate and precise architectural underdrawings

Spinello Aretino (1391-2); Piero di Puccio,
coming from
Orvieto (1381-7) and working from 1389 to 1391; the

late-fourteenth-centun,'
working
processes.
Antonio Veneziano, the generally modest
series
Nevertheless,
level
(1384-6);
the mosaics of the facade at
becomes
textbook of
except in the
of performance
is
work of
transcended only in
the sudden vision of a desolate seascape in the opening scene of the Trials ofJob. Whether
or not the common attribution of the seascape to Taddeo Gaddi can be justified, its
visual poetry rivals or surpasses that in
any work by Maso or the major followers of
Giotto.
Andrea Orcagna, Nardo
Andrea
di Cione, or
his
done, andjacopo
di
done
Orcagna, painter, sculptor, and
architect, was undoubtedly the

of the third quarter of the fourteenth centur)^ Judging
customary signature he was primarily a painter, and was active from 1343
most important Florentine
from
di
artist
of liis death. He was capomaestro of Orsanmichele by 1356

and signed the sculptured tabernacle for that church in 1359, a year after he had become
capomaestro of Orvieto Cathedral. At Orvieto he was chiefly concerned with one
of the much restored mosaics of the fa(;:adc and is frequently mentioned until 1362.
to 1368, the probable year
From 1356
until 1366,
Florence, he
was
when he became
a frequent
adviser on the construction of the cathedral of

and evidently leading member of various commissions,
including the one that evolved the definitive design. Lost works such as the frescoes in
368
TUSCANY
the choir of S. Maria Novella, commissioned in 1350, testify to a
rests largely
on
his surviving masterpiece, the signed
neighbouring Strozzi Chapel (Plate 169).

In theme and form alike the Strozzi altarpiece
one of the major trends
is
fame which now

and dated altarpiece of 1357 in the
of unique importance
in estabhshing
The
central figure
in late-fourteenth-ccntury Florentine artJ
of the adult Christ, suspended within
mandorla of seraphim,
unprecedented in
is
fourteenth-century Florentine and Sienese altarpieces. In an age marked by increasing
emphasis on the non-rational and specifically supernatural elements of rehgious history

and beUef, it epitomizes a growing tendency to turn back to the hieratic and transcendental patterns of the early thirteenth century.
ings
show
The
to be a reasonably accurate reconstruction,
completely unified main
frame, which surviving draw-
marks
a compromise between the

of the early-fourteenth-century Sienese altarpieces and
fields
the standard compartmental polyptych. Notional columns are incised into the golden
ground, passing behind the figures and linking the pendentives of the frame to the
upper edge of the ground plane. The absolute
verticality
of
regular, unforeshortened pattern asserts the non-existence
the solid-seeming figures

tinuity
and physical
of the attendant
relationsliip
this
ground plane with
saints are placed. Similarly, the spatial
impHed by
the unification of the surface and
gestures of the
supportmg
establishes the
symbolic nature of the central figure.
figures are rendered unreal
its
of the space within which

con-
by
the
by the staring, frontal pose that

The brilUance of the colouring,
the sculptural or metallic harshness of the modelling, and the space-annihilating
emphasis on contour that accompanies the apparent

to the constant tension.
The
immediate past are used
as the
plasticity
of the
internal
naturaUstic and descriptive elements derived
forms add
from
the
building blocks of a non-rational and non-naturaHstic
whole.
When
liandled with equivalent
turbingly effective. In
lead readily to
which he
less
economy and
sophisticated but
mere confusion. The
learnt his subtlety
no
skill,
less
such unions of opposites are dis-
ambitious hands they can and do
precision of Orcagna's purpose, and the school in
of design, are underlined by the extreme economy and
straightforward spatial realism of the three predella panels.
Bernardo Daddi,
detract
at its clearest in the brilliant
from Orcagna's wholly personal
The
derivation
from
handling of silhouette, does nothing to
in relating the compositions both to each
skill
other and to the main panel of the altarpiece above.
similar discipline
on an extended
scale
must once have
lent distinction to his
S. Croce. The
him on stylistic grounds and probably date from the
ruined frescoes of the Triumph of Death, the Last Judgement, and Hell, in
frescoes are reasonably attributed to
The loose, tripartite grouping so effectively built up by the successive scenes in

Camposanto in Pisa has been contracted into an actual triptych.^ It is enclosed in
a single frame and articulated by two twisted columns. The controlled conception of
the whole, however crowded with detail, must once have been as striking as the volumetric discipline of the surviving individual figures. The general ascendancy of painting over sculpture, thoroughly established by this time, is reflected in Orcagna's personal
career, and in these frescoes the planes and volumes of the human form are mere
sixties.
the
369

tellingly defined than in his actual sculpture. In all the
tabernacle in Orsanmichele there
is
no equivalent
multitudinous detail of his
blended strokes with which enclosing contours and internal

a pair
of battling nudes (Plate 170A),
a hairy devil,
economy of
for the swift
the un-
details are estabhshed
or a sweep of flaxen
tresses
and
conjured
out of the dark ground.

Andrea's brother Nardo presents a quiedy distinctive
matriculated between 1343 and 1346 and
mentioned
is
personahty.'
artistic
as
hving with Andrea
He
c.
too
1347.
died late in 1365 or early in 1366 and his major work, the Last Judgement, Paradise,
He
and Hell on the walls of the Strozzi Chapel in

during the
S.
Maria Novella, was probably painted
In the chapel itself the eye can hardly cope with the frescoed tapestry
fifties.
of some two hundred or so figures piling up the wall. Inevitably, all but the lowest
Only in photographs or with a
handful assume the anonyniiry of a football crowd.
powerful
can the gentle beauty of his female heads and his real talent for variety
glass
and individuahty of feature be appreciated. The

centre of his medieval Hell are a reminder that
classic
centaurs prancing round the
no easy generahzations can do
to the artists of the period or to the extreme variety of the cross-currents
underhe
justice
of ideas that
their art.
Jacopo di Cionc, the younger brother who matriculated in 1368-9, was active between 1362 and T398. He completed the St Matthew altarpiece, with its almost
sculptural centre figure, wliich
now
in the Uffizi.
He
minor Orcagnesques
by
in
shps
whom
in
a soft, decorative style.
London,
Andrea had
left
down much more
uncompleted
the tension of Andrea's art
The tendency,
and which
is
into the pool of
dissipated, to
as in the Coronation in the
towards elaborate damasks; to pale
is
is
in 1368
Nardo
swiftly than
be replaced
National Gallery
roses, apple greens,
and blues;
to
pinkish whites, Ught yellows, and vermilions, and to symmetries that involve the exact
repetition of the
in
most
intricate textural
and colouristic
detail in a
manner comparable,
gender terms, to the rich Venetian decorative schemes associated with Lorenzo
Veneziano.
Giovanni da Milaiw and Giovanni del Biondo

Orcagna's Lombard contemporary Giovanni da Milano was probably in Florence
early as 1350,
becoming
major surviving work
The
contract
still
and
is
last
Rome
heard of in
as
in 1369. His
the decoration of the Rinuccini
was signed
completed under an
colour and,
is
a citizen in 1366,
in 1365,
assistant.
Chapel in S. Croce in Florence.

and the lower scenes on either wall were evidently
Despite close links with Nardo, the sensitivity of the
more important,
the emotional intensity
of the designs are much more
reminiscent of Barna.
In the Expulsion of Joachim the
exclusion from
and
lateral
its rites
power of
the
Church and
arc powerfully expressed (Plate 173A).
the dire consequences
The
of
frontahty, the mass
extension of the fivc-aislcd church; the serried ranks of faithfid, receding
in impassive profile;
attention
on
exchange
as
the sweeping gestures of obeisance that help to concentrate
the towering central figure of the high priest; the fierce intensity
Joachim looks back over
his
shoulder at the priest
370
who
casts
of the
him
out;
TUSCANY
it is
from the accumulation of such
logical tension
is
details
of design
that compositional
and psycho-
created. In Giovanni's only other dated
quarter-length panel of the Pieta, also
work, the signed threeof 1365, the crowding of the figures and a sense
almost of vertical extrusion are the visual vehicles of intense emotion. In his major
altarpieces, on the other hand, the main source of tension is the interaction between the
individual images and the decorative riclincss of their frames.
The emotional charge in the work of Giovanni del Biondo, whose career is documented from 1356 to 1392, is carried by the wiry harshness of the drawing, the metallic
hardness of the forms, the violence of the colour contrasts, and at times by the ferocity
of symbohsm. In the altarpicce in the Contini Collection in Florence the Baptist
tramples
upon Herod
Duomo
the enthroned figures of St
The
Vices under foot.
John the Evangehst and
work of many minor and
images from the passive conservatism
provincial
artists.
his
and the
fmal dated panel of 1392,
work of Giovanni da Milano. Even
is
in
from such
Madonna
piece,
even more clearly defmed than
in the
so there are surprises.
personal salvation that accompanies the
common
Nevertheless, the transition
highly charged creations to the gentle, decorative theme of the
exempHfied in
Uffizi
St Zenobius crush the
positive quaUty in the impassive, frontal poses and the intensity
in the staring eyes distinguish such
the
and in the panels preserved in the
(Plate 170B),
common
The secondary theme of
motif of the Virgin and
Saints in the
manner only possibly in the wake of Traini's

Truimph of Death. Above, the soul's reception by a heavenly, winged Virgin is accompanied by the peaceful prettiness and famihar decorative elaboration of the main
attributed Vatican panel
scene.
Below, there hes
is
treated in a
a rotting,
worm-infested corpse.
Andrea Bonaiuti da Firenze
The most
expUcit statement of
official
reaction to the spiritual turmoil of the times
occurs in Andrea Bonaiuti's decoration of the chapter house, or so-called Spanish
Chapel, of the Dominican Friary of S. Maria Novella in Florence (Plate 171). Even the
which Andrea, in December 1365, promised to

They stem, hke the building of the chapel itself,
wealthy merchant, Buonamico di Lapo Guidalotti, in the wake
financial provisions for these frescoes,

finish
from
within two years, are typical.

gifts
made by
of the Black Death. Six scenes from the Life of St Peter Martyr cover the entrance
wall,
and on the
Limbo are treated
altar
wall the Road
as a single,
to
Calvary, the Crucifixion, and the Descent into
continuous space. The price of continuity
suspension of the laws of diminution. Particularly in the Road
graphic reflections of Duccio and Simone, the effect

forty years.
The
is
on
sixties. Similarly,
iconographically original single frescoes of the Road
to
is
the absolute
Calvary, with
its
icono-
virtually to turn the clock
Lorenzettian crowding of the Crucifixion,
not have been possible in Florence before the
to
back
would
two enormous and
the other hand,

the
Salvation
and the Apotheosis of
hke the programme as a whole, an intimate

of the intellectual and artistic currents of their day. The
St Thomas, filling either side wall, are,
of important aspects
of these two compositions, and the carrying of the landscape and figure patterns
reflection
size
371

over virtually the whole available surface, connect them with Nardo di Cione's frescoes
in the near-by Strozzi
Chapel and with those ascribed to Traini in the Camposanto at

is an almost tapestry-hke effect, and the upward movement
There
Pisa (Plate 168).
through a wealth of detail to
a point
of final concentration high on either wall estab-
the vertical connexion with the iconographically linked and predominantly
lishes
ascending themes upon the vaults.
Church
doctrine,
Crucifixion
prominent
is
is
Above
the Pentecost, the
Thomas, the ultimate embodiment of
St
moment of
the Ascension, and in the Navicella,
'ecclesia', the vessel
divine erdightenment.
Above
the
above the Road to Salvation with
of the church sweeps by,
by
its sails filled
its
the winds of
heaven.
Where Ambrogio
Lorenzetti ran the
naturaUsm, Andrea's reahsm
is
gamut from pure
allegory to pure landscape
almost exclusively confined to
details. It
extends from a
prophetic portrait of the then unfinished cathedral of Florence to the choir
stalls
of the
from gravely dancing maidens to the piebald 'domini canes' hounding the
wolves of heresy. As it winds upwards from the enthroned, frontal figures, embodying
the rock-founded powers of the Church, to the gates of paradise and to the remote,
apocalyptic godhead, enclosed in a mandorla and guarded by the evangehstic symbols,
the Road to Salvation is still more thoroughly devoid of spatial connotations than was
Virtues;
the compartmental yet relatively sohd landscape
the
Camposanto
at Pisa.
The
of the Legends of the Anchorites
in
landscape element involves no greater spatial penetration
than the enthroned ranks of personifications and exemplars of the Theological Sciences
and Liberal Arts in the Apotheosis of St Thomas on the opposite wall. The superficially
more decorative aspect of the Road to Salvation does not disguise the thoroughly impersonal and intellectual basis of the
whole scheme. The
Thomas's Summa Theologiae and the confusion of the

Arius are displayed on one wall.
On the other
the irresistible
the rigid apphcation of doctrinal truth lead to salvation.
of heresy, epitomized
in the person
disciplines that
underUe St
heretics SabelHus, Averroes,
power of
It is firstly
the
and
Church and
with the suppression
of St Peter Martyr, whose story
the entrance
fills
and only secondly with the rejection of the pleasures of the world, that the Road
wall,
to Salvation
is
concerned. Although the Seven Virtues
fly
about St Thomas on the
opposite wall, the individual soul's personal struggle against the Seven Deadly Sins
not the primary concern of allegories
specifically intended to
remind the
friars
is
of their
order's special role.
Although the
origins
of the cycle
may
well
lie in
Guidalotti and Jacopo Passavanti, the great preacher

its
themes were not direcdy taken from
series
such
was
as
his Specchio di
a reaction against the onslaught
Marsiho of Padua
the personal friendship
who was
on Church
prior
from 1354
between
to 1357,
Vera Peiiitenza. In general the
institutions carried
in the furst half of the century. In particular
it
was
out by
men
a reassertion
of the prime part
in the preservation of these institutions played by the Dominican

Order, despite the secular clergy's renewed attempts during the fifties to curb the
mendicants' powcr.i' It was a calculated blow in the continuing struggle over the
sutus of Averroes,
who
had been condemned by St Thomas himself, but whose
position as a major theologian was
still
supported in the universities of Padua and

372
TUSCANY
Bologna.
was
also an implicit
reminder of the threat presented by the flagellant bands

and by the growing influence of the Fraticelli in Florence itself as well as in Tuscany
It
whole. The following of these descendants of the thirteenth-century Franciscan
as a
Spirituals,
condemned by John XXII
was suspect
in 1323,
was such
to answer to a charge
of heresy
assembled in the chapel under the General
at a chapter
of the Order, and was there assigned
of every kind
was summoned in 1374
that mysticism
to the authorities. St Catherine of Siena herself
a spiritual adviser to ensure doctrinal purity for the
The well-documented power of images not merely to reflect but to create new
and to form the pattern of men's thoughts provides the background for
such miracles as the Conversion of St Francis by the speaking Crucifix. The exact forms
taken by a number of St Catherine's mystical experiences can be related to the familiar
imagery of Tuscan art. The Spanish Chapel gives implicit recognition of the relevance
future.
attitudes
of visual images to the
intellectual concepts
of the learned
as
well
as to the intuitions
of
the mystic or the piety of the unlettered.
Agnolo Gaddi and Spinello Aretino
Agnolo Gaddi is the most important of the three painter sons of Taddeo Gaddi. Between them Taddeo and Agnolo span the gulf that separates the work of Giotto from
of Lorenzo Monaco and the Late Gothic painters of the
that
first
quarter of the fifteenth
from youthful activity in the Vatican in

1369 to liis death in 1396, when he was working on his extant altarpiece for S. Miniato
al Monte. He received a first payment for the latter in 1393, and in 1392-5 he is documented as working with a string of assistants on the frescoes in the Cappella del Sacro
Cingolo in the Duomo at Prato. If the Coronation in the National Gallery in London,
with its absolute symmetries of form and colour, is indeed an early work, it would
indicate the parentage of his early style in the BaronceUi altarpiece from Giotto's workshop. The most important of the surviving works attributed to him, the frescoes of
the Legend of the Cross in the choir of S. Croce, are usually dated c. 1380 (Plate 172).
Taking his starting point in certain aspects of his father's style, he recomposes the objects
of the natural world so radically that a world of fantasy is created. The compositions are
so crowded, the juxtaposition of succeeding episodes so rapid, the reversals of the natural
century. Agnolo's knoMTi career stretches
laws of diminution and of relative
size so violent
natural facts largely irrelevant,
is
and continuous, that formal tensions
The dream-like quahty, which makes the

heightened by the decorative impact of the cycle as
of the Orcagnesque variety do not
arise.
a whole. In this the colour plays a leading part. Agnolo's delicate, Hght-hued palette,
v\dth
is
its
emphasis on white and yellow and
typical
of his
innumerable decorative colour changes,

is
the crovwiing glory
own art. Taddeo and his generation used a natural tonal sequence to create soHdity
through colour change.
by
its
of a general change of key in contemporary painting and
the very
It
allowed them, for example, to escape the hmitations imposed
narrow range from highlight
to the darkest
shadow
in yellow as
compared
with blue. Within the natural sequence, running from white to yeUow and on to apple
green and orange and vermilion, blue-green, deep rose-red, and finally to blue and
373

black, the process of creating solid forms
upon
the walls of often
ill-lit
churches by
using different colours for highlights and shadows already makes for great chromatic
Where Giotto or Taddeo were content to move from yellow highhght to

green shadow, Agnolo, by careful manipulation of the relative saturation of his hues,
brilliance.
often progressed
from
a green
shadow up
to a pale, rose-red highhght, in reversal
the intrinsic tonal sequence of the colours concerned.
themselves and their followers from the
last restrictions
flexible early-fourteenth-century system.
that result
is
The
He
and
his
of
generation freed
imposed by the already highly
exploitation of the infmite permutations
only limited by the sensitivity of the individual
artist's
eye and by his
abihty to control the enormously increased complexity of the ensuing colour pattern."
Agnolo's
skill in
orchestrating the chromatic melodies of his teeming compositions
extends to the intervening
From
in S.
the roundel in the
windows which complete
Duomo
at
the decorative and thematic unit.
Siena to Andrea da Firenze's luminous Coronation
Maria Novella, the tradition of stained-glass design by leading Tuscan painters
continuous. Often, like

itself In
Maso or Andrea da
Firenze, the painter
is
the glass
other cases, the intervention of his workshop in design and of the glass workers
in execution leads to wider stylistic variation.
shown
worked upon
The normahty of such
collaboration
towards the end of the century by Antonio da
in the Trattato written
is
Pisa, a
who signed one of Agnolo's documented windows for the Duomo.

He recommends paying close attention to the adjacent works. Where there is doubt
about the appropriate dress or colour for the various saints the precedents laid down by
the painters should be followed. He gives the rules for colour combinations. He deleading glazier
scribes the
methods of designing and executing windows, beginning with
a full-scale
upon paper which is subsequently fixed in ink and fmished as if it

were a drawing upon panel. In view of Agnolo's glass designs and of the growing
emphasis on yellows and upon plain glass, his statement that it is very good for thirtycharcoal drawing
nine parts of every hundred to be kept white
of the colours and the
skilful use
apparently contemporary with
Maria Novella, and
The
survival
of the
Nardo
comparable
craft
is
especially interesting.
The bold massing

glass which is
of white are notable features of the
di Cione's frescoes in the Strozzi
shift in taste
Chapel in
S.
occurs in France and England.
outlook and the slow passage of evolutionary time outside
more richly documented in Cennino Cennini's

in the 1390s. Cennino proudly claims to
under Agnolo Gaddi in the tradition handed on
the tiny circle of major innovators are stiU
Lihro
dell' Arte,
which was probably written
have been trained for twelve years
from Giotto through Taddeo. He
deals with every aspect of the painter's craft, from

methods and materials to working upon parchment,
on caskets and statuary, and even concludes with a section
fresco
and panel painting and
cloth,
and
on
glass, as
life-casts.
He
imagination, and
well as
their
defines the 'occupation

skill
of hand,
under the shadow of natural

plain sight
known
as
painting' as one 'wliich calls for
in order to discover things
objects,
not seen, hiding themselves

and to form them with the hand, presenting to
what docs not actually exist. And it justly deserves to be enthroned next to
crowned with poetry'. 12 Great emphasis is placed on drawing and upon
theory, and to be
the proper observation of the
fall
of light when copying

374
in chapels.
He
speaks of the
TUSCANY
importance of mamtaining the original proportions in the copy, and in the light of the
styhstic information was transmitted across Europe his
extreme accuracy with which
on
sections
tracing paper and
its
uses arc particularly interesting.
modem meanings into old texts very clear.

famous dichotomy between the splendid mixed metaphor in wliich he
declares that 'The most perfect steersman that you can have, and the best helm, lie in
the triumphal gateway of copying from nature. And this outdoes all other models . .' ;'^
Cennini makes the dangers of reading
There
is
the
and a second passage in which he amaounces that If you want to acquire a good style
for mountains and to have them look natural, get some large stones, rugged, and not
'
cleaned up; and copy
have
existed,
them from nature
and the passage exactly
.'.i'
.
reflects
Ambrogio
combination of intense reahsm in certain kinds of

ventional treatment of
advice
on
many of
Lorenzetti might never
the late-fourteenth-ccntury Tuscan

detail
with an almost purely con-
the larger aspects of the natural world. Cennino's
architectural perspective,
which simply
states that the
upper mouldings of a
building should slope downwards, those in the middle be level, and the lower ones
slope up, shows a similar unawareness of the investigations of Giotto, Maso, and the
Lorenzetti.
It is
not that he
been more proud of
his
is
anti-Giottesque. Quite the contrary.
Giottesque heritage.
He
is
No
one could have
simply unaware of the nature of
which is fundamental to the overwhelming majority of artist-craftsmen even in the most progressive centres.
The conservatism of the painters was, however, as nothing to that of most of their
employers. The archives of Francesco di Marco Datini of Prato deal with every aspect
of the life and business of a rich merchant active in international trade. They also show
just how a leading painter such as Agnolo Gaddi, working like any other craftsman for
his day-wage, could be treated when it came to paying the bill. Together with Niccolo
di Pietro Gerini and another painter, he was simply turned out of the house. It was only
after several months delay and recourse to arbitration that he was finally paid.^^
Niccolo di Pietro Gerini (active 1368-1415) is one of several prolific minor masters
who owe their historical importance to their influence on the painters of the first half
of the fifteenth century who provide the background against which Masaccio and his
Giotto's art. In this he reflects the conservatism
fellows miast be seen.

affected
by
The major
Early Renaissance figures
the subtlety of tone and colour demonstrated
Veneziano in
his Pisan frescoes. It
is,
may
by
themselves have been
artists
however, Lorenzo Monaco
such
who
as
carries
Antonio
Agnolo
own
approach into the fifteenth century. The further possibihties of his clear,
complex colour harmonies are explored. An almost Chinese fantasy and deUcacy of
Gaddi's
spacing and construction add subtlety to his rather crowded
dream world.
Finally,
an
increasing sinuosity of line reflects the impact of the so-called International Gothic
style
upon
the Florence of Ghiberti.
Foreshadowings of things to come are
also
impHcit in the extensive output of Spinello
from 1385 to his death in 1410, and his earhest

dated work, the Madonna of 1385 in the Fogg Museum at Harvard, belonging to a
dismembered polyptych from Monte OHveto Maggiore, reveals his contact with
the Sienese as well as with Nardo and Jacopo di Cione. The significance of his major
Aretino. His
documented career
stretches
375

al Monte, which was probAlthough the handHng of paint,
surviving work, the decoration of the sacristy of S. Miniato

ably finished
by
1387,
is
rather different (Plate I73b).
the colour, and the attitude to descriptive detail
all
contribute to a typically late-four-
mark the beginnings of a re-evaluation of

Giotto's principles of dramatic narrative. The grey-white habits of the monks reduce
the colouristic range. The figures are conceived in terms of powerful line and simple
volumes. The rhythmic sinuosities of northern Europe that provide a constant
background to the work of artists such as Agnolo Gaddi are nowhere to be seen.
teenth-century outcome, the frescoes
Despite erratic details of construction, variants of the Giottesque oblique setting are used
in nine of the buildings
shown. The number of figures
is
generally small, and with few
exceptions they are clearly disposed within a hmited and often well-defmed space.
Hesitant though the reinterpretation of Giotto
may
be by Masacciesque standards, and
lacking in fundamental discoveries in terms of hght or atmosphere or perspectival

unity,
it signifies
the germination of new attitudes.
the immediate past
earUer
it
had been
cendental
style.
is
a constant feature
a question
art.
of turning back to Romanesque precedents for

is
beyond
Twenty-five years
a trans-
fundamental to the
by Masaccio and Donatello.
lack of anchorage in
Spinello's case
habit of looking back
In another twenty-five a similar approach
revolution brought about
The
The
of the evolution of Itahan
any
with an active
Pisan battle scenes of 1391-2
radical reassessment
life
is
of the visual world
and a large workshop. As a
accompanied by
is
result the
associated in
vigour of
his
tendency to revert towards a busy
confusion that lacks the quahties pecuhar to Agnolo Gaddi's crowded compositions.
Despite his quahtative ups and downs, his undeniable capacity for vigorous design
constant. In the
confmed space of the
Sala di
Baha
Pubbhco
in the Palazzo
is
at Siena
the frescoes of the Life of Alexander III wliich he executed in 1408 with the help of his
son, Parri SpineUi, are almost a physical attack
composition and the next
as
upon
the senses.
The
they jostle for attention on the walls
clash
is
between one
hardly
less fierce
than the open battle for survival represented in the Victory of the Venetians over the
Imperial Fleet. The boldness of the overall design and the exploitation of the possibilities
of repetitive pattern, together with the sense of rushing movement and of organized
confusion
as the galleys
easily buried
by
grind against each other, epitomize the virtues of an art as
excessive claims as
by
insensitivity to
376
its
merits.
CHAPTER 41
NORTHERN ITALY
Venice, Padua, and Trei'iso
The
tradition established
by Paolo Veneziano is so closely followed by the apparently

work has sometimes been confused. Lorenzo's
unrelated Lorenzo Veneziano that their
eight surviving signed and dated paintings
fall
between 1357 and 1372 and reveal

is no slackening of the urge
considerable variations in quahry and handling. There

for brilHance
of colour and complexity of decorative
of 1366 in the
Duomo
seemingly derived
at Vicenza, Paolo's strong
much from
as
Central
from the immediately surrounding

such
as the Animiiciation
Italy,
detail,
but except in the polyptych
Byzantinism
is
replaced
by elements
and even from Northern Europe,
territories. In the
as
fmest of his signed productions,
polyptych of 1357 in the Accademia
at Venice, graceful
pro-
portions and the interplay of sinuous curves and sharply angled folds do not destroy a
sense of volume that
is
emphasized,
at the
other end of lais short span, by the perspective
of the canopy of the Virgiji and Child of 1372,
now in
the Louvre.^
The Paduan Guariento di Arpo's one signed work, the Crucifix in the Museo Civico
at Bassano, which is almost as closely derived from Giotto as the comparable Riminese
examples,
is
the sole sryhstic anchor for the mid-fifteenth-century attribution of the
vast and largely ruined Coronation fresco in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice (Plate 174A).
According to a
7). It is
its
ruination that
brackets that connect the Assisan fresco

six cusped,
more
was painted for Doge Marco Cornaro (1365recalls Cimabue's fresco at Assisi. The sober
to its architectural framework are replaced by
lost inscription the latter
not only in
it
pointed arches, and the successor to Cimabue's already massive throne
cathedral than cathedra.
Its
is
forms foreshadow and outstrip the complexities of
CoUemaggio and of the fifteenth-century

The mass of detail, the advancing and retreating
the sculptured portal of S. Maria di
Gotliic
architecture of the Abruzzi.
curves,
the
complex niches of the two-tiered substructure inhabited by angels and evangeHsts
and bulging forwards to the gates of paradise, foreshadow tendencies of Northern and
Bohemian Gothic painting. The great size of the central figure group would have
it to dominate the surrounding flurry of figures and architecture. The colour
must once have been its crowning glory is stiU hinted at in the furnace-flames of
angels' wings burning about the throne.
The quahty of Guariento's borrowings from the Arena Chapel itself is seen in the
marbling and in the grisaille figures of the largely destroyed decoration of the apse of
enabled
that
which he seemingly carried out with his assistants. Yet possibly

most significant surviving works, and also his earhest, are the twenty-nine panels
from the ceiling of the Cappella del Capitano in Padua. In type and colouring, and at
the Eremitani in Padua,

his
times in composition, the swaying, often anatomically insubstantial figures in soft-
377

Romanesque and Byzantine
falling draperies are reminiscent, in their
affiliations,
both
of contemporary Venetian painting and of thirteenth-century Paduan art. The many

panels devoted to the heavenly hierarchies, marching in all their armour upon writhing
by diminishing series of circular

The appearance of these rectangular, hexa-
clouds or seated in the ribbed, receding tumiels formed

glories, are iconographically intriguing.
gonal, octagonal, and semicircular shapes in an area already notable for the variety of its
painted wôoden ceilings seems to
show
that at least
one prototype for the typical
teenth-century Venetian ceihng already existed as early as the

Guariento's seeming follower Nicoletto Semitecolo
on
mid fourteenth
six-
century.
would be of httle consequence
the basis of his four panels of the Life of St Sebastian in the BibUoteca Capitolare in
Padua were
it
not that the architectural background and even the figure style of the
of the nature of the resurgent Paduan School
Burial, dated 1367, provides the first hint
of the
final quarter
of the century. The leading member of the triumvirate responsible
for these revolutionary developments
is
Altichiero.
Although Altichiero
is
documented
between 1369 and 1384, the only significant fact about this artist, who probably came
from Zevio, near Verona, is that in 1379 he was paid for 'everything he had to do'
in the Chapel of S. Felice in the Santo at Padua. The vaulted chapel, entered through five
crowned by niches, was begun in 1372 for Bonifazio Lupi, Marquis of Soragna,
by Andriolo de'Santi and his son Giovamii. From the stone-capped wooden stalls let
arches
into the side-walls to the sarcophagi and frescoed tombs, and even to the architecture
itself,
with
its
frequent use of red Verona marble, every available inch of surface
carved or painted.
The quahtative peak
is
reached in the soft-hued fresco of the Cruci-
is
fixion (Plate 174B) that occupies three column-separated bays in a
manner reminiscent
of Pietro Lorenzetti's panel of the Birth of the Virgin. The retention of thestyhzed rock
construction, momentarily superseded by Ambrogio's landscape naturalism, is the one
notably conservative element in
major development of the principles of

anywhere in Italy in the second half of the
fourteenth century. The portrait naturahsm in the physiognomy and dress of the
individual figures is accompanied by a new ease in posture and articulation and is not
achieved at the expense of weight or volume or of monumental gravity of mien. The
this,
the
first
Giotto's fundamental reaUsm to take place
psychological variety does not diminish in the teeming crowds on either wing, but
cunning compositional pauses in the middle bay ensure that what might easily have been
distractions
from
the central
theme in
fact accentuate its
tion of the architectural detail encourages the eye to
drama. The obhque construc-
roam
across the tliree wide bays.

upward over the pictorial surface also carry the
design on into space and start the work completed by the imusually rcahstic architectural coulisses upon either wing. The culvert in the foregroimd
counterbalances the
thrust into the distance by implying the extension of the landscape
forwards into the
The horsemen
spectator's
The
that extend the figures
world
as
well as out to either side.
lateral extensions are significant in
and palaces of Jerusalem,
another sense.
On
one
side
tower the walls
commerce hardly more interrupted than the sea

is interrupted by the casting of a stone
(Plate 174B). The carpenters and tradesmen are
already flowing back through the broad gate to their more
usual tasks. Upon the other
its
ceaseless
378
I
NORTHERN ITALY
wing, the tomb, and the eternal mysteries of resurrection and salvation, wait unheeded.
Here the underlying tensions of late medieval Ufe, so vividly expressed in the accounts
and
diaries
and
letters
of an individual mercliant such
or in the fevered economic,
as
Francesco di
Marco
Datini,
and pohtical history of innumerable towns and cities,

are not expressed by an emotive use of line and colour, of self-contradictory visual
clues and compositional conflict, but by an extension of the grave, transcendent logic
first
social,
explored by Giotto.
The
part played by an extension of Simone Martini's pageantry, and the parallels

with late-fourteenth-century Sienese architectural backgrounds, become clearer in the
somewhat weaker but extremely interesting frescoes of the Life of St James. It is very
uncertain
how much
rehance should be placed on the fifteenth-century association of
such changes with Avanzo, the possibly Paduan

certainly recorded as having
accompanied the
the near-by Oratory of S. Giorgio.
artist
whose signature
rather un-
is
scene of the Legend of St Lucy in
last
The Oratory, which
also contains scenes
from
the
New
Testament and from the Lives of St George and St Catherine, was built between
1377 and c. 1384 for the same family as the Chapel of S. Fehce. Assuming Altichiero
to have painted the Crucifixion in the Santo, his hand is clearly visible in the Crucifixion,
in the Coronation,
from the hves of
which has obvious connexions with Guariento, and in several scenes

St George and St Catherine, among them the deeply impressive
Decapitation of St George.
There are
also figures redolent
of Altichiero's gravity and
many telling characterizations involving entire figures and

heads, among the scenes attributed to Avanzo. The precise
mass, as well as
not merely
their portrait
distribution
of hands between
Alticliiero
and Avanzo and
their various
co-workers
is less
important
than the exuberance of Avanzo's arcliitectural imagination. This gives the chapel
unique character (Plate 175). The eye can journey endlessly
among
its
the galleries and
passages and courtyards, over towers and pinnacles and battlements, and past a multi-
phcity of traceries and panellings as brilhant in their yellows, reds, creams, pinks, and
greys
as
they are varied in their forms.
Nowhere
in
wealth of imitative reaUsm. In some designs, such
Tuscan painting
as the Presentation
is
there such a
or the similar
Funeral of St Lucy, Semitecolo's constructions are elaborated. In others, hke St George

drinking the Poison, there
tectural continuity
is
beyond
new
sense both of nearness to the onlooker and of archi-
the boundaries of the frame.
In terms of sheer joy in abrupt recession and deep architectural space and in the
creation and control of vast crowds of figures, nothing, even in Altichiero or Avanzo,
approaches the enthusiasm of Giusto de'Menabuoi. His Florentine origins are reflected
Madonna of 1363 in the Schiff Collection in Rome and in the signed

National Gallery triptych of 1367 which form the attributional basis of his work. By
in the signed
1370 he was already Hving in Padua, and although he was
still
enrolled in the Florentine
Guild in 1387, his fame rests on his Paduan achievements.

Despite its relatively complex form, the square, domed baptistery decorated by
Giusto, seemingly in the
mid
seventies (Plate 176),
is
as
thoroughly attuned to fresco
the Arena Chapel (Plate 90) or the Oratory of S. Giorgio (Plate 175).
demands of the
painter
were so pressing
that
379
all
Even
but an irregularly spaced
trio
as
so, the
of the

windows
original
in the
dome were
filled in.
cluding the elaborate niches of the evangeUsts,
is
Almost
all
the architectural detail, in-
fictive.
The
greyish stone canopy above
is increased
the Virgin enthroned is the only important element of real sculpture. Its interest
by the way in which the figures carved in moderate rehef in the roundels and niches at
the sides and upper centre are
complemented by others painted in grisaille and ht from

on the altar wall. In the hght of such con-
mam windows
straight ahead, as if from the
and thoroughgoing blending of the arts, Ghiberti's talk of fourteenthcentury figures that appear to 'stand out in relief is understandable. Giusto's simulation of architectural and sculptural form even extends to the polypt>xh with which he
fident illusionism
completed
his decorative
programme. Without considering

of
subdivisions, the complexit)'
its
innumerable decorative
small altarpiece, measuring only 112 inches
this
by
some fifr)'-one figured compartments, reflects the artist's attitude to

the whole scheme. The latter begins with the Pantocrator in the centre of the dome,
encircled by the saints of heaven in their hundreds. It continues through an unusually
rich and varied Old Testament cycle, past the evangeUsts on the pendentives, to the
New Testament upon the walls. It ends in the sanctuary wdth an elaborate series of small
apocalyptic scenes upon the walls and the extension of the story of St John upon the
73 and containing
altarpiece.
Like Vitale da Bologna at Pomposa, Giusto estabHshes certain symmetries but

is
quite prepared to subdivide a wall unevenly if the scenes involved
At Padua
subdivision of the drum,
pendentives and the dome,

Giusto's
is
which intervenes between
seem
to
demand
it.
the symmetries of the
wholly casual and asymmetric. The pecuhar quaUry of

contrasts. In individual scenes he rivals Masolino
scheme derives from just such
and the more naive of the Early Renaissance
perspectivists.
He
takes inordinate pleasure
in constructing block-like buildings, steeply plunging architectural recessions, and
deep, echoing interiors. Lines of figures often accentuate the architectural thrust.
Several of his interiors, anticipating Donatello, are extended bay
screen
which
closes in a vaulted
on bay beyond
foreground space. The bulk of certain figures almost
of the eyes exaggerates

by Giovanni da Milano. The effect of individual
greatly modified by the thinness of the intervening,
caricatures Giottesque principles, just as the staring wliiteness
the emotional tension generated
adventures in perspective space
is
by close juxtaposition with scenes of either Hmited or contrasted

spatial structure; and by the cumulative effect of the innumerable separate elements.
The final impression is not of concentrated drama but of an anecdotal richness in which
painted framework;
the realism of the incidental detail balances the architectural and sculptural illusionism
that surrounds
For
all his
Excited
is
as
it.
it
is
he evidently was by the
predominantly
into
by no means lacking in certain kinds of discipline.

work of Altichiero and Avanzo, his owii architecture
brownish-white. The figure colour is never carried over
level is subdued. Ochres and earth-reds, greys and brown-
ebullience, Giusto
gre)-ish or
and the general tonal
greys, apple- and moss-greens, pale pijiks, violets, and lilacs predominate. Like tliem,
he makes great use of shot colour, but the hues and transitions are ijivariably gentle
and the various elements in one figure are oficn carefully linked to the main colour in
380
NORTHERN ITALY
one of
its
The only unexpected note
neighbours.
white, which
is
is
the bright, hght blue, running to
reserved for Christ and the Virgin. Colour
is
thus a
means of singling
out the most important figures.
The divergent
become
tendencies of Giusto's art
increasingly obvious in the
Chapel in the Santo, probably decorated in the early

naturaUstic landscape
architectural space
is
is
accentuated.
At the very moment when
ambition or achievement before the 1430s
is
nothing in the
his
growing control of
being demonstrated in compositions unsurpassed in terms of
imagery grow more extreme, hi

there
BcUudi
His lack of interest in
eighties.
its
at the earhest, his excursions into
feeling for a single, great
later fourteenth
liall
century to compare with Giusto's
St Philip exorcizing a Devil (Plate 177A), and
liis
Piazza delle Erbe in the Martyrdom of St James
popular
thronged with people
much damaged
evocation of the crowded vastness of the

is
another remarkable
monument
to
tliis
short-Uved Paduan pre-Renaissance.
Bologna
The predominance of the Bolognese
miniaturists
careers are so thorouglily intertwined
Several relatively
minor
is
among
the painters with
confirmed in the
painters left for other centres and
into the patterns of their adopted territories. Giovamii da
whom
their
later fourteenth century.
were more or
Bologna went
less
to
absorbed
Padua and
Umbria and the Marches in the wake of

who, before his death in 1373, built up a flourishing minor school on
the foundations provided by Daddi and the Florentines of the mid century. Simone da
Bologna, known as dei Crocefissi, is the most important and prolific of the panel
Venice. Andrea da Bologna practised in
Allegretto Nuzi,
painters
his
who
The most
is
maintained the Bolognese tradition in Bologna, and the clear colours of
fundamentally calm
significant
art link
of the
him
closely to the miniaturists.
series
of mid-century illuminators influenced by Vitale
the so-called Pseudo-Niccolo. His work, exemplified in the Decretals in the Vatican
(ms. Lat. 1389)
and in the Constitutions of Clement
Mss. A. 24, 25),
is
notable for
its
(Padua, Cathedral Chapter,
hvehness of iconographic invention
as
well as for
crowded compositions and the briUiance of its colour. It is,

however, Niccolo di Giacomo (d. by 1402), from whom his name derives, who dominates the second half of the century. The influence of his school was felt not only
throughout Italy but over much of Europe. His signed works include the Crucifixion
the tumbling energy of its
in the
Ordo Missae in the Pierpont Morgan Library (m. 800), a Choir
Book of
13 51
Modena, and two historiated initials in the Fitzwilham Museum at Cambridge (ms. 278). The Novelle sulk Decretali of 1354 in the
Ambrosiana (ms. b. 42 inf.), Lucan's De Bello Pharsalico of 1373 (Milan, Trivulzio
Library, ms. 691), and the Lihro dei Creditori of the PubUc Pawn Shop in Bologna of
1394-5 (State Archives), the latest dated work attributable to him, are only some of
the wide range of illuminated manuscripts which poured from his own and from related
(ms. Lat. 1008) in the Este Library at
workshops and which include the signed Missal of 1374 in Munich (Staatsbibl. ms.
Cod. Lat. 10072) written by Bartolus de Bartohs (Plate 178A). Bold colour, reminiscent
381

crowded compositions; continuous
of contemporary trends in Florence; vigorous,
iconographic inventiveness and the most fantastic adventures in extreme foreshortening

of the human figure, characterize the entire series. The complexity of the architectural
constructions stresses the freedom with
text
is
which space
infilling
is
both created and negated. The
The writing seemingly becomes
often almost shouldered off the page.
mere
or a frame for illustrations.
Despite the multipHcity of French manuscripts in Northern
Niccolo's school
Italy,
is
main remarkably independent of French styHstic influence. A significant union

of the two streams only occurs towards the turn of the century in Lombardy. Apart
from the abstract patterns of architecture and of decorative detail in general, it is only
in the
in terms
of iconography, of colour, and of certain
influence of France
is
powerful in Itahan
art
during
of figure
aspects
this period. Spatial
style that the
construction was
so integral a part of Itahan design and the representational and dramatic complexity of
Italian painting
of
spatial
such that in these respects the Itahans
reahsm and of naturaUsm
least
concerned with the problems
in general far outdistance the
most adventurous
Frenchmen.
The influence of Bolognese illumination is obvious in the most important surviving

work of Tommaso da Modena, the frescoes of 1 3 52 in the chapter house of S. Nicolo
in Treviso. The decoration of this low, squarish chamber, its walls covered with some
forty portraits of
Dominican worthies
framed by substantial
seated in their cells and
On
hand the reciprocal
texts,
resembles an illuminated manuscript writ large.
effect
of such decorative schemes upon the manuscripts themselves must not be under-
estimated.
Monotony
caricature.
He
is
the other
avoided by Tommaso's hvely sense of portraiture, almost of
rings innumerable changes
on the absorbing
tasks
- the blowing clean
and sharpening of quills, the peering through pince-nez and magnifying
glass, the
ing of the ruler and the scissors - which are the prop and sign, indeed, the very
scholarship. This
now
busy pleasure in
particularities
is
typical
of
his often
wieldtest
of
charming and
At times his painting points to Simone Martini's conNorth Itahan art. At others it raises the whole question of the
exchanges with Bohemia in the very years when his fellow citizen
largely ruined works.
tinuing relevance for
nature of reciprocal
Bamaba was
carrying a personal variant of Emihan style into Liguria and Piedmont.
Lombardy
In
Lombardy
in the last years
of the century, for perhaps the
first
and only time
in the
history of late medieval Italy, the manuscript illumination and the pocket-book design
achieve a primacy that

visual arts
of
Italy
is
neither local nor confuicd to their
and Europe ahke.
What
in France
came
own
to
media.
They
lead the
be called 'ouvraigc de
Lombardie' marks one of the turning points in the liistory of European painting.^
The independence of the Lombard School of manuscript illumination, supported by
the upthrust of Visconti power, and its ability to witlistand the aesthetic onslaught of
the Bolognese School, were already well established in the first half of the century. The
Pantheon of Golfrcdo da Vitcrbo (Paris, Bibhothcque Nationale, ms. Lat.
4895), written
382
NORTHERN ITALY
in 133
by Giovanni
(Plate 177B). It
is
di Nixigia for
only court
Azzo
Visconti,
is
the peak of
achievement
its
The surviving
art in a strictly technical sense.
influence
of
the already distant bourgeois origins of the Visconti and the popular basis of the brilliant
and ferocious Azzo's power are syinbohzed,

forward, everyday realism
across the page
is
down
and up and
up and
sedately
down
freely interconnected scenes that spread
the margins, threatening to engulf the text.
of the rocky landscapes flow
ripples
if not reflected, in its decoration. Straight-
one aspect of the
The
like lava. Stocky, well constructed figures
The
the slopes about their business.
stone
march
simple, frequently straight-
volumetric fold-forms are accompanied by figure groupings that are often of
falling,
outstanding subtlety and spatial realism. Nevertheless, minute scale and the per-
jumble of the freely scattered buildings show that, as in dreams, the final
impact of the whole depends on the imaginative force and fantasy with which acute
spectival
perceptions of reality are recombined within a
The
framework of meaningful
accentuated by a series of unfinished miniatures. Here, brush drawing

a
still
free
pcnwork
which minor changes of design can
in
gilding and the application of
working sequence
impossibility.
of the manuscript and the part played by the vivid colouring are
teclinical interest
is
succeeded by
be carried out. Then
colour washes precede the fmal modelling.
flat
amenable to cooperative methods
as
is
still
as
that revealed
The
by
the
unfinished Orvietan sculpture.^
The next
significant
development
Giovanni di Benedetto da
Como
is
by
represented
Book of Hours which
the
decorated between 1350 and 1378 for Bianca of
Savoy, the wife of Galeazzo Visconti (Munich, StaatsbibHothek, Cod. Lat. 23215),
and by
a closely related Bible
MS. Lat. 757).
The
of even higher quaHty
close connexions
with the frescoes
(Paris,
BibUotheque Nationale,
in the Oratories at Albizzate
and
Lentate only underline the primacy of the manuscripts. Even the frescoes in the Badia
at
Viboldone and those in the Oratory
at
Mocchirolo, which include a memorable St
Catherine in an ermine-tasselled gown, cannot compare in importance. French connexions in the borderings and backgrounds are accompanied
and architectural
Hours,
map
interiors,
mid
fifteenth century.
of the
links
with France and Germany and Bohemia forged by the Visconti.*
demonstrates the central role that the Visconti played in the
economic development of the
poHtical and
aspects
of Visconti poUcy
is
as clear as the
area.
way
in
The
artistic as
men
as
Giovanni dei
Giovanni is
first
working on the
well as in the
inseparabihty of these various
which the macrocosm of the
and the microcosm of manuscript illumination are one world

such
with the work of
story of the planning and construction of Milan Cathedral has already showTi the
closeness
It
links
style
out the paths to be followed by innumerable French and Franco-Flemish
illuminators until well into the
The
by
and composition. The structure of the landscapes

and such inventions as the Annunciation in the Book of
Giovanni da Milano in figure
Duomo
in the imagination
of
Grassi.
heard of in 1389, and in 1391,
cathedral, the relief
when he was listed among the engineers
of Christ and the
Woman
of Samaria, gilded and
painted in 1396, was connnissioned from him. In 1392 he was given materials for
designs for
windows.
In 1395 he
was painting the

383
sacristy sculpture,
and firom 1396

he appears to have been associated with the illumination of the transcript of Beroldo's
on the Usage of Milan Cathedral (BibUoteca Trivulziana, Cod. 2262) for

which the authorities paid liis son in 1398 after his own death. It is hard to say if plants
or pinnacles grow more freely on these highly decorated pages. Certainly the close
relationship between architectural and organic hfe, which is so palpable in the cathedral,
becomes a virtual unity as plants sprout into canopies, and pinnacles that might have
Treatise
been translated bodily from the cathedral take on vegetable form. The miniatures of
the Beroldo and the finest drawings of a Memorandum Book or Tacuino at Bergamo
(Bibhoteca Comunale, ms. A. vn. 14) lend each other attributional support, since
one of the best pages of bird and animal drawings in the latter is signed 'Johininus de
Grassis designavit' in a seemingly fourteenth-century hand.'
The
Bergamo
leaves in the
sketch
book devoted
to graceful
drawings of the
human
figure are significant in that the particular blending of Itahan and transalpine elements
heralds the development of the so-called International Gothic style that plays a
role both north and south
of the Alps during the
first
dominant
quarter of the fifteenth century.
The extraordinary direcmess and subtlety of observation in the animal drawings is,
however, the most revolutionary aspect of the book's contents. Whether in terms of
line or colour, there
is
a clarity
and
sensitivity that in pages like the
one devoted
to the
and Green Parrot (Plate 179B) hfts acuity of observation to the highest
Vulture, Goldfitich
The animal
from
which a
The explanation may partly
he in Cennino Cennini's observation that 'I wiU not tell you about the irrational
animals, because you will never discover any system of proportion in them. Copy them
and draw as much as you can from nature, and you will achieve a good style in this
realms of
much
art.
greater part
respect'.* It
is
observation so
is
studies differ greatly
the tigure drawings, in
played by estabUshed conventions.
the very weight of tradition in figure drawing that makes accurate
much more
difficult.
The
truth of this
is
already demonstrated in the
marvellously faithful bird studies in the thirteenth-century
De
Arte Venandi cum Avihus.
This manuscript, produced for the sceptical and scientifically minded Frederick
II,
is
the distant forerumier of the line of development that leads through Giovanni dei
Grassi to Michelino da Besozzo and Pisanello.
The
of too well developed mental schemata can play
inhibiting role
is
which the possession
confirmed by dei
drawings themselves. The hon, and those animals for which there
artistic tradition, are
The
the least ahve with quahties derived
from
is
Grassi's
animal
a well-estabhshed
direct observation.
contrast with the vividly reaUstic treatment of such out-of-the-way subjects as
may have seen in one of the zoos, like that of the Visconti
were already becoming a feature of North Itahan court hfe, is quite
extraordinary. Even so, the new realism has its hmitations. The teclmical and conceptual
the ostrich, wliich Giovanni
at Pavia, that
difficulties
probably accomit for the hniited quahty of movement and for the tendency
to profile settings.
The growing
ments
interest in observing
in other directions.
ccntury Treatise on
Some of
the Virtues
animals
is
accompanied by similar develop-
the margins of an extraordinary late-fourteenth-
and Vices (London, British
Museum, Add.
arc also strewn with vividly reahstic insects and Crustacea (Plate 178B).
384
MS. 28841)
Apart from the
NORTHERN ITALY
single
there
page by Pol dc Limbourg in the Trks Riches Hetires dit Due de Berry (f. i68v.),
nothing comparable until the end of the fifteenth century. A like progression
is
from the
in herbal illustration leads
still
schematic designs of the early-fourteenth-
century Compendium Sakrnitamim (London, British

(British
Museum, Eg.
Museum, Eg. ms. 757) to the Herbal

MS. 2020) written and illustrated in Padua before 1403 for Francesco
Carrara. Here, for the
time
fu:st
it
seems, whole plants or suigle twigs and sprays arc
shown
as living entities (Plate 179A).
setting
come
Since this was the Padua of Altichiero, Avanzo,

and Giusto, the comparable developments in grouping plant life in a natural spatial
the
Tacuma,
as
no
of the Seasons,
surprise. Sinularly, the illustrations
are progressively transformed
from
also contained in
connected with
allegorical illustrations
Months to true representations of natural scenes appropriate to the

various times of year. Thence it is no long step to the Calendar Cycles painted between
the Labours of the
1390 and 1407 in the Torre deirAquila in the
castle at
Trento. These are followed, with
knowledge of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Landscape of Good

Government in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, by Pol de Limbourg's calendar scenes
in the Tres Riches Hemes dn Due de Berry. The latter, left unfinished in 1416, open a new
the mediation of a personal
era in the history ot landscape.
The new style associated with Giovanni dei Grassi is essentially a
court
The socially
art.
based contrast with the Tuscan scene and with the Bolognese School of illumination
clearer than ever in an Uffiziolo attributable to Giovanni, possibly helped
Salomone (Milan, Visconti
di
Modrone
Collection).
It
was illuminated
azzo Visconti before his ducal coronation in 1395, and his portrait
of the pages (Plate i8oa). The influence of

number of Lombard manuscripts such as the
Persian manuscripts
Treatise on the
is
is
accompanied by
a vivid naturalism in the
is
son
Gian Gale-
discernible in a
and Vices already
mentioned. In Gian Galeazzo's Uffiziolo a truly oriental splendour,

influence,
his
included on one
is
Virtues
for
by
abundant animal
if
not oriental
detail
and by a
decorative horror vacui that makes the highly ornate Beroldo, carried out in 1396-8
for the cathedral authorities, seem positively restrained. In the almost oppressively
heavy decoration of the Uffiziolo of Filippo Maria Visconti, the earlier part of which
goes back to before 1395 (Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, Fondo Landau-Finaly, ms.
22),
Giovanni's share dwindles and that presumably attributable to his son increases.
There
perhaps
is
less skill,
but a no
less
powerful decorative urge, in the work of
he completed the decoration of a Missal which

contains a miniature of the Coronation of Gian Galeazzo, and which was given to, and
is still retained by, the church of S. Ambrogio in which the event took place.''
Anovelo da Imbonate. Soon
after 1394,
The line from Giovanni di Benedetto da Como to Anovelo da Imbonate; the links
with France the combination of court style with an Itahan simphciry of figure draughtsmanship a fascination with details of dress and armour and a residual naivety of line
;
that recalls the hunting scenes
connect with the
upon
new world of
so
the
many
castle walls; landscape
Tacuinum
Sanitatis; echoes
backgrounds that
of the songs and
pageantry, the dreams and fables and ideals, the gaiety and gentleness, which were part
fierce and grasping world all these are brought together in the fragment
of the Lancelot du Lac which once belonged to the Visconti Library in Pavia (Paris,
and parcel of a
385

Bibliotheque Nationale, MS.
fr.
343). Like the delicately tinted
Bibliotheque Nationale, ms.
(Paris,
of narrative and
pictorial
fr.
atmosphere (Plate i8ob),
manuscripts that graced the princely

rich in
The
Northern
5234), wliich surpasses
libraries,
it
le
Courtois
represents inniunerable similar
Italy.
and bone carvings on the

Italy
Guiron
in deHcacy and subtlety
the noble palaces, and the houses of the
variety of subject matter in these manuscripts
throughout
it
altarpieces
and caskets of
is
matched by that of the ivory
all
shapes and sizes disseminated
and France by the Venetian workshops of the Embriachi.
Paris,
Pyramus and Thisbe, Lancelot and Guinevere; the repertory is drawn from classical
and chivalric myth or from sacred history, according to the secular or rehgious function
of the artefact. Little is known of Baldassare degU Embriachi, the founder of a school
which became increasingly active in the fifteenth century, except that the style of the
workshop-factory that he headed was evidently formed in Florence. He was already in
Venice when, in the years between 1400 and 1409, he was paid for the huge altar
triptych, containing over sixty-five rehefs and a similar number of single figures,
by Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Already

Musee de Cluny in Paris, had been given
ordered for the Certosa at Pavia

large triptychs,
of
now
Champmol by
the
in the
in 1393
two
to the abbey
Duke of Burgundy, and Jean, Due de Berry, the patron of the

The frames of ebony and other
de Limbourgs, gave another to the abbey of Poissy.
woods were decorated with geometric

of
inlays,
and the rehefs were normally composed
convex laminae of bone or hippopotamus tooth, some i^ inches wide and

4i inches high, with occasional ivory plaques where some particular design made
surface unity essential. The use of these materials, necessitating something hke two
hundred and fifty elements in the rehefs of the Certosa altarpiece, had two main
several
gready
intensified the impression
of almost impenetrable visual complexity,
effects
and
encouraged the retention of a simple figure
it
it
models and
German
far
ivories.
fication even,
was such as
style derived from Florentine pictorial

removed from the rhythmic and linear complexities of French and
The style of the major products is essentially a simphfication, a puri-
of
that
of Orcagna's tabernacle in Orsanmichele
to create a truly independent Italian school
since the century-old revival
of the industry
(Plate 73). Its success
of ivory carving for the
first
time
was able not only to withstand the flood of Northern European artefacts but even to make inroads into the
French market. Its simple and soft draperied figures were exactly calculated to inspire
the Northern artists drinking in the message of contemporary Lombard manuscripts
and marvelling at first- and second-hand reports of Tuscan art.
386
in France. It
PART NINE
SCULPTURE
1350-1400
CHAPTER 42
INTRODUCTION
The
relative
importance of Italian sculpture continues to
teenth century. Although the death of Andrea Pisano
quences
as that
dcclijie
is
of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, the Black Death
The primary
during the
later four-
as incalculable in its
is
conse-
only one contributory
During the preceding fifty years the problems

were uppermost and pictorial modes of
vision were supreme. Three-dimensional realism and a sculptural soHdity of form were,
factor.
causes
of dramatic narrative and

however, among the
When,
after the
effects
deeper.
descriptive needs
essential objectives
of
number of the most important
by
on
the one
painters.
style of
hand by the achievement of dramatic and
Black Death, the tendency towards a
painting was accompanied
emotional
lie
its
non-realistic means,
hieratic,
emblematic
and on the other by increasing
interest in
purely decorative elaboration, the position of sculpture became doubly serious. There
was no reason to challenge the dominance of a pictorial vision, since sculpture was even
less fitted to meet the new, relatively non-reahstic painting on its own terms than it
had been to emulate the narrative reaUsm of the preceding period. The problems involved in moving beyond the point reached by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in their
quest for descriptive reahsm were rendered largely irrelevant. There was therefore
no
attempt to break the barriers imposed by the lack of any fully developed, focused system
of perspective. In terms of pictorial realism in rehef there was, except in certain kinds of
than progress. The role of sculpture in the round was still severely
by its dependence upon architecture. Figures were nearly always set within a
niche or up against a wall, and there was no purely sculptural reason for exploring the
detail, regress rather
limited
further possibilities of three-dimensional form.
Nevertheless, if later-fourteenth-century sculpture

history of Itahan art,
preceded
it.
It
has
it is
its
is
something of
by-way
in the
so only in the light of the great surge of development that had
own
refinement,
its
own
beauty.
387
charm, and
its
own moments
of great
CHAPTER 43
SCULPTURE
Nino Pisano
The
boundaries of Nino
Pisano's career and artistic personality are as melting as the
outlines that enfold his gently smiling figures.
capomacstro
the post
by
at
Orvieto in succession to
1353.
He was
He is first mentioned in 1349, when he was

Andrea Pisano. He had relinquished
his father,
active as a silversmith in Pisa during 1358-9,
and he was dead
by 1368. Notliing connects these few scattered facts with the three signed but undated
works that have survived.
The links with Andrea's small figure of Christ and with the Sibyls from his workshop possibly mean that the Virgin and Child in S. Maria Novella in Florence is the
of the signed works. There is greater anatomical accompHshment, a subtler
a more gentle sway in the Virgin and Child from the monument to Doge
Marco Comaro in SS. Giovanni e Paolo. The group, which may or may not have been
originally connected with the tomb of the doge, who died in 1367, is accompanied by
earliest
smile,
and
two workshop
saints
and by two beaming angels reminiscent of the early

of form. The remaining signature
in their absolute simpHcity
lie
to
this island
on
style
of Tino
a relatively feeble
Duomo at Oristano in Sardinia.
figure of a Bishop in the
Around
is
of imcertain
certainties a quiet
confusion reigns. In one direction
Madonna and Child in the Museo dell'Opera at Orvieto, often attributed

Andrea, and two groups of carvings which may have come from either artist's workthe stocky
shop. These are the Virgin and Child with St John and St Peter in S. Maria dclla Spina and
the
complex
SaltareUi
monument
of the half-length Madonna

ciation figures
are as distinct
S.
in S. Caterina, also in Pisa.
del Latte in S.
Maria
The
opposite pole consists
della Spina (Plate 181 a)
and the Annun-
form a close-knit group in which the

the signed works of Nino as they are from those
Caterina. These
from those
of Andrea's work. There
in
are,
however, strong
more vaguely
facial links
facial types
in the
with the Madoinia
at
body
Orvieto
on Andrea's bronze doors.

somewhat closer to that of
Nino's signed works, but in the end its inclusion in his output turns on the credence
given to the inscriptions seen by Vasari on the lost bases. They read 'Nino son of
Andrea Pisano made these figures' and 'the first day of February 1370'. Unless it refers
which, in
its
turn,
The drapery
style
is
related to certain figures
of the Virgin Annunciate
(Plate i8ib)
is
to the placing and not to the carving of the figures, the date,
death,
is
certainly incorrect,
If these are late
works, then so
signed on documentary and
Nino during
their
to the signed
works becomes
time
at
two
years after Nino's
and acceptance of the works leads to insoluble

is
difficulties.
the Orvictan Madonna. Tliis
stylistic
grounds to the
would otherwise be asborderline between Andrea and
Orvieto. If the Annunciation group
is
early, the
as difficult to uiidcrstand as that arising
3R8
development
from an
interlcav-
SCULPTURE
two
ing of the
assert that,
styles.
Despite the example of Giotto, there
not merely one, but
works
three signed
all
is
a natural reluctance to
are studio products and that
Nino's personal hand
is seen most clearly in the Orvietan Madonna, the Madonna del

and the Anmmciatioti group. Whether by Nino or by some unknown, the latter
represent the quaUtative peak in terms of carving and of psychological content.
Latte,
In the
Madonna
subtle,
Ambrogio
del Latte (Plate i8ia)
reinterpreted in terms
and Ambrogio's
of sinuous, interweaving
taut line gives
way
Lorcnzetti's design (Plate 107A)
curves.
The
is
transitions arc infinitely
to flowing freedom.
The
hard, schematically
grasping hands take on a soft and natural grace. Blue and gold add to the rhytlunic interplay of line and form. There
ment. There
is
is,
however, no descent to weakness or to
superficial senti-
dignity, even gravity, beneath the natural joyfulness of the relationship.
The complex, underlying meanings of
the
image
are not only preserved
and reinter-
preted but enriched.
A similar sophistication in the carving and
a similar
the Virgin Annunciate in S. Caterina (Plate i8ib).
deUcacy of line and colour grace
With
the attendant Gabriel
it
long line of wooden Annunciation groups. The richest of these in colour and in
Museo Civico
No
heads a
fall
of
by French Gotliic forms, and

hardly less effective in their very different manner, are the more slimly graceful and
less florid Virgins Annunciate in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in the
Louvre in Paris. The stylistic echoes of the Madonna ofJeanne d'Evreux of 1339, visible
fold
is
that in the
in Niiio's Cornaro
French
ivories,
at Pisa.
Madonna, are not confined
less affected
to this
one
figure.
obviously ItaUan of the carvings of the Pisan School and
The extreme
The
varied influence of
then flooding over Europe, can never be discounted even in the most
sophistication
of the school
pared with those of the remoter areas of
is
apparent
Italy.
The
as
its affiliates
soon
as its
throughout
Italy.
products are
com-
late-fourteenth-century Madonna,
is still Romanesque
charm hes in its colour, in the interplay of carved and
painted form, and in the naive transition from one medium to the other as the wooden
Virgin sits upon her piurely painted throne. The possibly late-fourteenth-century
Neapohtan Virgin of the Nativity in the Museo di S. Martino in Naples is among the
finest in a succession of such wooden figures, rendered memorable by their simpHcity
of form and gaiety of colour.^ As so often happens in the work of unknown, minor
craftsmen, all the accumulated skills of long tradition seem to have been concentrated in the sensitive styHzations of the head. The tension that arises from the caging of
such warm humanity in a body and in hmbs so stiff and clumsy, so intensely wooden,
with
in
its
its
painted shutters, in the parish church at Fossa in the Abruzzi
frontaJity
gives such
and
works
stiffiiess. Its
their unforgettable
in carvings like the 5. Balhina in the
of a wholly
different order.
slim proportions,
make
and
distinctive flavour.
Museum
The gende sway,
at
Now
and then, however,
L'Aquila (Plate i8ic), there
the
stiff
and somewhat timid
essential contributions to a figure in
is
beauty
folds, the
which columnar grace
is
blended with a deep humamty. The subtlety in the stylization and disposition of the
is such as to create a deep and inward calm, a spirituaHty that ranks this supremely unpretentious carving by an unknown fourteenth-century Abruzzan sculptor
with the greatest masterpieces of Italian carving.
features
389
PART nine: sculpture 1350-1400
Andrea Orcagna, Alberto Arnoldi, and Giovanni d'Amhrogio
The
is not confined to the formal qualities of his Strozzi

embraces the dichotomy between the spare intensity of his
tension in Orcagna's career
altarpiece (Plate 169):
it
painting and the diffuse decorative emphasis of his major surviving sculptural work, the
tabernacle in Orsanmichele (Plate 73).
He
entered the Stonemasons' Guild in 1352,
sponsored by Neri di Fioravante, and the tabernacle
Bernardo Daddi's panel of the
form and
architectural
and
Virgin enthroned
for the covering
is
is
dated 1359.
It
was
notable both for
its
built to
of every available surface with sculptural
and richly coloured marble and mosaic
The
inlay.
house
extraordinary
detail
ctuious invention of a vegetable
marrow of a dome, rising behind the sharply rectilinear, equilateral triangle of a pediment flanked by pinnacles and reflecting current preoccupations with the cathedral,
receives a critical commentary in the Sienese drawing for the CappeUa di Piazza in
Siena. There the even more ornate forms also reflect those of Orcagna's Strozzi altarpiece. Despite the relatively sunple, space-enclosing form of the tabernacle, with open
arches at its front and sides, it has more in common with a piece of lace than with the
sculptural floridity
planar.
of Giovanni Pisano's Sienese facade.
The tendency
for the detailed treatment
the considerable space that
is
actually enclosed
The effect
forward arch and by the
Strozzi altarpiece.
is
the
great relief
whole of the
fdls the
The wide
quahty
intensified
marbled damask of the
endows the
of
Orcagna lacked
more or
consistent
less
is
relief
The crowded
make
and
and floating
finally
the
this alone, to the basic
agitation of the Dormition and
of the other rehefs confirm
his pictorial vision into stone.
The
major contribution to the history of
the Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin.
pletely eschewing the complexities and tensions

artistic
rehef,
pedestrian, treatment
to
free
of the mandorla; and
of the
means of translating
one remaining rehef which seems

Itahan sculpture
by
Virgin that
volume; the absolute denial of aerial
their
'sky', relate this part
less pictorial,
with a
figures in the Assumption
design premises of the Strozzi altarpiece.
that
of the
rear arch.
spacing that
(Plate i82a); the clear indication
more or
and
the careful framing of Daddi's panel
of the Death and Assumption of the
depth by the accentuation of the Hmited
the
substantially pictorial
related to the disciplined tensions
is
by
It is
of the architectural forms to annihilate
of his
It
only does so by com-
pictorial style.
The
relatively
low
temperature of most of the figure sculpture must, however, partly be ascribed
to the efforts
of a workshop notable for numbers rather than for
talent.
In comparison, certain of the diamond-framed reliefs of the Sacraments carried out

fifties on the second storey of the campanile have an almost gem-like quaUty.
seems hkcly, they arc indeed by Alberto Arnoldi, already mentioned in relation
during the
If,
as
to his
work on
the Loggia del Bigallo,^ they
of achievement and crcatmg,
show
minor
in the Eucharist (Plate i82b),
talent stretched to the
utmost
one of those sudden master-
pieces far beyond his normal range of expectation. There is a concentration reminiscent
of Andrea Pisano and of Giotto in these economical designs. The sculptor's technical
limitations
become
become
the
a positive virtue as the simple
means through which the deepest

390
volumes and smoothly styhzed Unes
feelings are aroused.
SCULPTURE
Greater richness and technical range appear in the figures of the Virtues on the Loggia
out by Giovanni d'Ambrogio (active 1384-1418), Jacopo di
della Signoria, carried
Piero Guidi, and others during the eighties. Historically their chief interest
lies
in their
by Agnolo Gaddi. In this they are the Florentine counterpart of the mass of sculpdesigned by painters such as Giovanni dci Grassi for Milan Cathedral. The intri-
design
ture
cately carved infillings for the arcadings
under Simone Talenti, provide another
The most
of Orsanmichele, executed during the

North Italian trends.
curious expression of the pictorial tendencies in late-fourteenth-century
sculpture hes in the marble altarpiece containing the Area di S.
Arezzo.
It
was carved
1369, but not necessarily designed,
c.
among
Firenze and Giovanni di Francesco d' Arezzo

figures
eighties
parallel to
and naive
Dona to in the Duomo
by Betto
others. Its multiphcity
pictorial gusto continue the tradition
at
di Francesco da
of framing
of the Tarlati monument
in the
same church. In richness it yields nothing to North Italy and the contemporary Lombard
tradition. There are abundant signs of the polychromy of every inch of surface not
already decorated with a coloured marble inlay. In
tains, similar to those
by
held
stretched behind the flanking saints,
way of telling whether
this
is
become an
merely
it
narrative panels, cur-
of the Madonna or
all-inclusive backcloth.
There
is
tightly
now no
kind of logical explanation for the type of back-
ground decoration earUer found in the

manuscripts, or whether
many of the
the angels behind the relief
common
and
Pisani's pulpits
in illuminated
impHes that the once gaUy coloured scenes are painted hang-
ings set within a marble frame.
number of the
single figures are related to the almost
Romanesque
the superbly balanced gUt bronze reliquary bust of S. Donato, signed
Paolo Aretino in 1346, in the Pieve
and in
which
in
clarity
its
detailing
and repose the
sculptural
form runs
Arezzo
with
many works
of
Zenobioin the
in
its
(Plate 183A). In
its
simphcity of outline
out from the generality of such rehquaries,
S.
it
has
more
in
Biagio of 1394 in
common
S.
with Bartolomeo da
Flaviano at Giulianova than
ovm. particular category. These range from the
Duomo
of
Pietro and
poor second to splendour of material and intricacy of
and chasing. In these respects
Teramo's rehquary of the arm of
S.
at
latter stands
stylizations
by
at Florence,
which Andrea Arditi
silver gilt bust
carried out in 13 31, to
Avignon
Donato which
the Sienese Giovanni di Bartolo's florid rehquary of S. Agata, carried out in

in 1376 and
Donadino
now
in the
Duomo
at Catania.
di Cividale executed for the
unrivalled in
its
Duomo
The
of
pensive bust of
his
subdety and force of characterization
home town in
The
in
S.
is,
however,
Naples in 1306.
final heights
That of
1375
Nothing comparable
out the uncompromising bust
(Plate 183B).
had been achieved since three French goldsmiths carried
of S. Geimaro
S.
of splendour and expense were reached in two great silver altars.

Duomo at Pistoia had been commissioned on a small scale in
Jacopo in the
1287, looted
by
concurrently,
it
the notorious Vanni di Fuccio de'Lazzari in 1292, restored in 1314, and
seems, gready enlarged
by Jacopo d'Ognabene
(Plate 186).^
The
latter
signed the antependium in 13 16 and was probably responsible for the main series of
fifteen
compartments devoted to the Uves of Christ and of St James. Even
date the influence of Bonanno's doors in Pisa can stiU be traced, but the
DD
391
at this late
main sculptural

striking features
is to Nicola, and to a lesser extent to Giovanni, Pisano. The most
of the general design are the balancing of architectural and landscape scenes and the
manipulation of the other details of internal composition to create a total symmetry.
The radical displacement of the Presentation to the end of the Hfe of Christ recalls the
debt
apparently similarly motivated displacements in the St Francis cycle at Assisi. Designs

for the side panels were commissioned from Pietro di Leonardo da Firenze in 1357, and
proved unsatisfactory the advice of the famous Sienese goldsmith Ugolino

was obtained. Then, from 1361 to 1364, Leonardo di Ser Giovanni carried out
the nine scenes from the Life of St James on the episde side, and from 1366 to 1376,
helped by Francesco di Niccolo, continued with the scenes from Genesis and the Life of
when
these
di Vieri
on the gospel side. Both sets of rehefs remain remarkably true to the visual
on the frontal fifty years before, but a greater incisiveness in those
on the epistle side prepares the way for six scenes of the Life of the Baptist on the silver
the Virgin
tradition estabhshed
altar for the baptistery in
Florence (Plate 184).
This second altarpiece was commissioned in 1366 from the same Leonardo di Ser
Giovamii, together with Betto di Geri, who, with Cristoforo di Paolo, Michele di
Monte, and others, substantially carried it out after 1377. The scene of the Baptist before
Herod is directly derived from the Pistoia altarpiece, and there are numerous similarities
in drapery, landscape detail, and the hke. There similarity ends. The Florentine panels
are fmer
iji
detail
and technically
far superior to those at Pistoia.
They
are carried out in
bolder reHef nearing the round at times, and are obviously indebted to the tradition
estabhshed by Andrea Pisano's bronze doors.
more
recession. The
are also
clearly constructed in terms
The compositions
crowded. They
scenes of St John before Herod and St John in Prison are remarkable for the
qualities have been comwhich was probably begun to-
clarity
and grandeur with which sculptural and pictorial
bined.
The
architectural
framework of
wards the end of the century,

its
are less
of architectural perspective and landscape
is,
the altarpiece,
like the outside
of the nave of the
Duomo,
combination of simple structure and utmost intricacy of detail. As
notable for
also in the
Duomo,
which the Gothic world shps into that of the Renaissance

the completion of the work by Michelozzo, Pollaiuolo, and Verrocchio.
the ease and naturalness with
can be seen in
If the altar
transition
of
S.
Jacopo lacks the architectonic quaHty of
from the fourteenth
thirteenth and die fourteenth. Already in 1349 to

carried out the central figure
of
S.
its
Florentine rival, the
smooth as that between the

1353 a certain GiHo Pisano had
to the fifteenth centuries
is
as
Jacopo, whose flowing curves are redolent not of
Nicola and Giovanni but of Andrea and Nino Pisano. Then, after Pietro d'Arrigo
Tedesco of Pistoia and others had made several additions during the eighties, and Cristoforo di Paolo had supphed an unspecified drawing in 1394, the Pistoiese painter
Giovanni di Bartolomeo Cristiani was commissioned in 1395 to design the crowning

elements of the dossal. These were carried out by Nofrio di Buto da Firenze and Atto
di Piero Braccini da Pistoia
and include a graceful choir of angels. The latter not only

of French workmanship which support the rehquary in S. Domenico in
Bologna, but lead directly to the new world of Ghiberti and to the figures which the
youthful Bruncllcsclii seems to have contributed to the altar after its consecration in
recall those
392
'
SCULPTURE
1401. Indeed, from the still largely Romanesque Virgin and Child on the altar of S.
Jacopo to the rehefs by Pollaiuolo and Verrocchio, the heralds of the High Renaissance,
on the altar of S. Giovanni, the sculptors, painters, goldsmiths, and their patrons have
conspired, at times unwittingly, at times dchberately

tinuities that link
two hundred
The Area
The Area
Agostino in
di S.
the cornice of the base,
S.
may
it
seems, to demonstrate the con-
years of constant change.
di S. Agostino
Pietro in Ciel
d'Oro
at Pavia (Plate 187), dated
much
not have been finished until
later.
1362 on
Although
its
fre-
quent attribution to Giovaimi di Balduccio hardly seems to be justified, the debt to the
Area di S. Pietro Martire in S. Eustorgio in Milan is obvious, and one of the two main
executants seems to have been the sculptor of the Adoration altarpiece in that same
church."* His
hand appears most
clearly in the doll-like figures
of the particularly charm-
ing Funeral Procession, where the birds creep round like lizards in the cauliflower
Among
trees.
mark both the quaUtative

peak and the nearest approach to Giovanni's own st)4e. Above this level there is an
abrupt descent towards repetitive and inorganic puppetry, enhvened by one or two
remarkable portrait heads. The typical late-fourteenth-century, North Italian lushness
may be compared and contrasted with the forms of Orcagna's tabernacle (Plate 73) or
with the ivories of the Embriachi. Wherever a ledge can be inserted, there a figure
stands. Where no figures are, the surface is worked into leaf and scroll designs. Despite
the
rectangular format, the four heavy cornices, the breaking up of all the verticals
tall,
by
the single figures, the caryatid Virtues of the base
figure sculpture, and the even upper line of pediments and figures
an impression of weightiness,
by
pigmy
solidity,
and horizontality. The
court of mourners, reclines within the central cavern.
barely penetrated to this solemn world. Although

until after 1397,
or
more
the
in
when
common
roll-call
century
length
latter
is
S.
may
The pointed arch
mentioned
in
Gian Galeazzo Visconti's
S.
Domenico of a hundred
it is
to give
surrounded
has
not have been finally erected
with the Area di
new world of Milan
The
it
combine
saint's effigy,
will,
it
has as
much
years before as with
Cathedral.
of the creators of the hybrid sculpture of Milan
rich in French and
German names. Roland de
in the last decade
Banille,
who
of the
signed the half-
Agata, paid for in 1398; Johann Marchestens; Peter and Walter Monich, the
subsequently active at Orvieto, Sulmona, and L'Aquila; Pierre de France, Louis de
Roy, and Pierre de Vin, are orJy some of those
who worked
with Nicola da Venezia,
Alberto da Campione, and a host of North Itahans. The intermingling of North French
and Rhenish elements in the

that
it is
design.
hard to say
The
difficulty
many
how much
is
figures for the sculptured capitals
Giovanni dei Grassi
compounded by
may
is
so
thorough
have been involved in
the tentative carving of his single
their
documented
work, the Christ and the Woman of Samaria (1391-6) in the north sacristy of the Duomo.
In 1393, however, Giovanni dei Grassi and Giacomo da Campione did succeed in modifying the architectural detail of Johann von Femach's heavily worked reHef above the
door of the south sacristy. How much Giacomo was influenced by von Femach's heavy
393

own signed work over
He moves upwards from a restrained, and in its outlines
thoroughly Italianate, lunette to a reUef of God the Father which is a crude if spirited
attempt to beat the Northerner at his own game. His triumph is the architectural framework (Plate 1 8 8b). He follows up his open criticism of von Femach's florid high rehef
undercutting and emotionally charged design can be seen in his
the door of the north sacristy.
with something which
virtually a
is
page from one of Giovanni dei
Grassi's
books of
hours. Delicate cusps and pinnacles, conceived almost exclusively in terms of line, are
ghosted out of the smooth stonework of the wall and sink back into
on parchment. The
sculpture of the
it
hke silverpoint
Duomo teems with similar pictorial effects and often
cast shadow. The

power that painters such as dei Grassi wielded over
every aspect of the building's growth. The extent of their control and the lack of a
sculptor of sufficient genius and force of character to resist them may account for much
seems only to gain
its
soUd form out of some alchemy of sunhght and
documents continually
that
attest the
certainly mediocre. Nevertheless, the probably fortuitous conjunction
is
of an un-
known sculptor and a Milanese artist of whom nothing but his name, Isacco da Imbonate,
has been recorded, did, in 1402, produce at least one masterpiece in their Annunciation
(Plate
88a).
by
It is
contrast only that an angel Gabriel,
a bumble-bee, prepares
one for the prayerful Virgin
more
who
heavily wing-loaded than
emerges from the shadows,
among the traceries on

man of such accomphshment as
of those who worked on well into the
slim and secret in her flowing robes, and shrouded in humihty,
window of the
the far side of the central
Jacopino da Tradate,
who
apse.
heads the long hst
Even
do no more.
The fmest expression of the Lombard idiom in terms of precious metal is, perhaps,
the Monstrance from Voghera (Plate 1855), dated 1406 and now in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Its graceful, many-crocketed complexity is a worthy counterpart to the
sophisticated elegance of Francesco Vanni da Firenze's reUquary of S. Reparata in the
fifteenth century, could
Museo
dell'Opera in Florence (Plate 185 a) or to the styUzed tracery of the Sienese Tree
of the Cross, restored and completed in the late fffteenth century and
Civico
at
Lucignano Val
di Cliiara. Similar
now
in the
Museo
comparisons can be made between the
by Gian Galeazzo Visconti to the Duomo

more orthodox enrichment of the enamel-encrusted chalice in the
manner signed by Cataluccio da Todi and now in the Galleria Nazionale
architectural decoration of the chalice given

at
Monza and
Sienese
dell'Umbria
the
at Perugia.
as the reliquary
of
Jacopo Roscto, the
S.
Ignoring such ingenuous adventures in stockbroker's Gothic
Domenico
chiselled
in S.
Domenico
in Bologna, carried out in 1389
dehcacy of Andreolo dc'Bianchi's
by
silver-gilt processional
Maria Maggiore in Bergamo makes a similarly teUing contrast both

with the Abruzzan cross of 1334 from Rosciolo which is now in the
Palazzo Venezia in Rome. Beyond he a host of other crosses from all over Italy which are
cross
of 1392 in
in time
and
themselves only
smiths'
S.
taste
fragment of the surviving riches of Italian fourteenth-century gold-
work.
394
SCULPTURE
Venice
At the other end of Northern Italy Andriolo de' Santi was giving
type of tomb based on a combination of two earher patterns. The
type with angels
Visconti in the
comers and
at the
set
diagonally at the corners, exemphfied
Duomo
at
in 13 15 in the
Carrara in the Eremitani
were paid
(d.
new
The second
by
the
the
form
to a
Lombard
tomb of Ottone
involves plain figures standing
pattern
Padua
Duomo
at Treviso.
With
the
tomb ofjacopo da
which Andriolo and three others

the presumably shghtly earlier tomb of Ubertino da Carrara
at
and in
in 13 51,
1345) the
1300).
(c.
first is
seen in the Veneto in the alabaster and green porphyry Shrine
is first
of Beato Enrico, erected
Milan
definitive
(Plate 189A), for
firmly established.
is
The rehef figures of
the
tomb of Beato
Enrico have been developed almost in the round, and the gready enriched upper cornice
is
bent upwards to form canopies over the central Virgin and over the angels
at the
whole sarcophagus, standing on brackets, is framed by a simple,

pointed arch. In the monument to Doge Andrea Dandolo (d. 1354) in S. Marco the
new pattern is modified to fit the curtained Tuscan scheme which was also used for the
angles. Finally, the
tomb of Enrico Scrovegni in
the Arena Chapel in Padua.
None of the recumbent effigies
or their portrait heads approach the sinuous sophistication of line or the bold stylizations
of the
Grande
Even
effigy
of S. Simeone which Marco
the
major figures of the
Masegne, seldom
rise to
signed fragments of the
Bologna. Their
first
was
Romano
signed in 13 17 in S. Simeone
and the standard of Venetian figure sculpture
in Venice,
is
generally low.
years of the century, Jacobello and Pierpaolo dalle
last
more than modest heights. They are first known from the
tomb of Giovanni da Legnano (d. 1383) in S. Domenico in
surviving major work, the high altar of
S.
Francesco in Bologna
between 1388 and 1392. It has all the complexity associated

with goldsmithery or with contemporary Lombard sculptiu"e and illumination. Yet
despite the busts that balance so improbably upon the pinnacles, the severity of the basic
(Plate 189B),
carried out
rectangle, the mass
of internal
detail,
small - their convexities accentuated
ivory altarpieces of the Embriachi.
by
Pisano, accompanies predominantly
strips of figures large and

and bases - inevitably recall the
and the repeated vertical

their canopies
central Coronation, strongly influenced
North
Itahanate supporting figures.
with Central and Northern European sculpture are obvious. The busy,
the constant
movement
in
by Nino
The
restless
affinities
quahty,
and out, the broken play of light and shade, help to create
one of the few sculptural counterparts of the even more extreme
pictorial architecture
of Guariento.
di
The two brothers signed the iconostasis in

Marco Benato also signed its bronze and
S.
Marco
in Venice in 1394,
silver crucifix.
The
when Jacopo
naturalistic tendencies
and the excited play of hght and shade are gone. The free-standing figures, shorn of
space-defining niches, paradoxically grow more linear and less volumetric. The proportions are, however,
much more
secure,
and the thin flow of drapery
folds in the
hard, highly pohshed, coloured marble reflects the reinterpretation of such
thirteenth-century Venetian sculpture as the Four Prophets in the Cappella Zen.
mid-
Though
various hypotheses have been advanced, this sudden and extreme change of style
395
is

unexplained, and nothing in the brothers' subsequent careers eases the problem. In 1399
they
moved to the Duomo at Milan and Jacobello was commissioned by Gian Galework in the Castello Visconteo at Pavia. The almost stark simphcity of the
azzo to
effigy
of Margareta Gonzaga
associated in 1399 to 1400,
is
in S.
as
Andrea
in
Mantua, with which both brothers were
unhelpful in solving the styhstic problem as
is
immediately succeeding work on the south balcony of the Palazzo Ducale
The
capitals
of the lower arcading of the
earlier section
Pierpaolo's
at
Venice.
of the Palazzo Ducale, which
probably antedate the end of the century, and the angle rehefs of the Fall and Drunkenness of Noah,
which may or may not be contemporary with them,
attributional
problems of similar intractabUity. Matteo Raverti and early-fifteenth-
century sculpture in Milan South

;
on
the
tomb of Mastino
1382 to
II at
German and
On
an equation overloaded with unknowns.

reliefs
as
and
their
undoubted
by
Austrian sculpture the Genesis carvings

;
Verona; the documentary fame of Giovanni
1443) and the subsequent activities of his son
c.
are surrounded
Bartolommeo,
Buon
(active
are aU factors in
the other hand, the quality of the angle
importance for the history of fifteenth-century Venetian sculpture are
charm and variety of the capitals that so remarkably continue the

Romanesque reUefs on the arclaivolts of the central portal of S. Marco.
as the
tradition of the
Several of the twenty-four capitals are closely related to the rehefs, and although
of them are severely weathered and have been replaced by copies,
many
their full-bodied
fohage and the inventiveness and abundant powers of natural observation of the sculptors
concerned are
as
apparent
extraordinary iconographic range. Eight of
as their
Love's Joys and Sorrows; eight of the Races of Mankind, including Greeks and Goths,
Persians and Turks and Tartars and Hungarians ; the
the Liberal and Mechanical Arts
Ages of Man Virtues and Vices

;
the Fruits of the Earth
the Kinds of Animals and the
Seasons; the Planets and the Constellations; the Heroes of the Ancient
Saintly Sculptors and their Pupils, are aU present.
Each
capital,
with
its
World and
eight labelled
seems more charming than the last, and each adds to the range of one of the
most varied and compact of late medieval sculptural encyclopedias.
aspects,
Bonino da Campione and the Scaliger Tombs
in
Verona
Bonino da Campione's documented career begins with the signed tomb of Folchino
de'Schizzi (d. 1357) in the Duomo at Cremona. It shows him treading the path marked
out by Giovaruii di Balduccio and followed carher in the tomb of Stefano and Valentina
Visconti in S. Eustorgio in Milan and in ijmumcrablc minor
monuments. His studio
maintains the same tradition in the sarcophagus of the signed

Visconti
(d.
1385),
which was completed
in Bcrnabo's lifetime
Azario's Chronicon of 1363 (Plate 190). In the
precedent of Cangrande's
monument
stiff,
monument
and
is
to
Bemabo
described in Pietro
equestrian figure he ignores the hvely
to follow the
more
recent, less sopliisticated
example of Giovanni da Campione in the north porch of S. Maria Maggiorc in Bergamo. The anatomy of the horse is greatly improved, and what Bonino's ill-proportioned
and implacable rider
loses in vivacity
he gains in terms of barbaric splendour. The
anonymous Lament for the Death ofBernaho
Visconti describes the figure as
396
being covered
SCULPTURE
in gold
and
silver
and having
fine golden spurs, and bearing a shield upon its arm, a

must have been a strange and awe-inspiring sight, and one wliich
throws an interesting side-Hght on the relationship of Church and state in the Visconti
territories, when horse and rider, armed as if for battle, stood in their original
position
on the high altar of S. Giovanni in Conca in Milan.
pennant on
its
spear.*
It
Bonino's second important surviving commission was the signed

signorio della Scala in Verona, reportedly
begun before the
monument
to
Can-
death in 1375 (Plate

di Castelbarco (d. 1320) and
latter's
The pattern estabhshed in the tomb of Gughelmo

monument to Cangrande (d. 1329) had already been elaborated by unknown and
possibly local sculptors in the monmnent which Mastino II (d. 1351) apparently raised
191).
in the
to himself in the della Scala graveyard next to S.
The sarcophagus
above
Maria Antica in Verona
(Plate 192B).
podium supported by four

sturdy columns. Overhead, the pyramidal canopy, with its high rcUefs upon the gables
and its four subsidiary tabernacles perched on pillars, rises to a cUmax in the equestrian
figure of Mastino (Plate 192A). The fluttering draperies of Cangrande's monument are
in the latter
is
raised
a rectangular
repeated, but the horse does not lean forward quite so eagerly.
The rider, armed from

upon his arm and sword held
stiffly at the ready, has all the tense expectancy of war. The metal wings upon the crested
helmet and those that stiU survive on all the angels greatly enhance the courdy and
heraldic splendour of a tomb originally enUvened by a Hberal use of colour. Association
with and contrast to the equestrian figure of Cangrande could hardly have been more
brUHantly acliieved. The flowing forms and decorative sopliistication of the treatment
of the recumbent figure of Mastino are as remarkable as the power of the normally invisible portrait head. The styhstic variations between the many sculptural elements
testify to the cooperative nature of the enterprise but do not detract from the technical
range of the carving. Damask designs were once painted on the drapery of the bier, and
similar patterns are incised in the charger's trappings. The dehcacy and complexity of
the low relief on the sarcophagus resembles nothing so much as chased or repousse
metalwork. Towards the far end of the scale, among the figures in the round, there
stands the naked, fuU-fleshed Eve of the Temptation. Her solid stance, thick waist, and
heavy limbs are a preparation for and contrast to the early-fifteenth-century giants on
head to foot,
hehnet and
his
his visor
lowered,
liis
shield
Milan Cathedral.
If the
monument
years later
say
is still
to Mastino
how much Bonino,
have carved. His hand

Cansignorio and
is
t\\n.ce
is
rich, that
is
based on the
monument
sculptural style
almost certainly visible in the somewhat
unlikely to have carved

to
makes
referred to as the sculptor in the inscriptions,
Bemabo
it
wooden
at his
it
hard to
may himself
effigy
head and
of
feet.
himself, the stoUdly lifeless equestrian figure,
Visconti, certainly
the Veronese precedents to his inspiration, if that
attractiveness
owes
is
its
unforttmate departure
the right word. Indeed, the
and technical accompHshment of the figure of Judith with the head of

piers of the enclosure is nowhere matched upon the monu-
Holofemes on one of the
ment
bmlt for Cansignorio some twent)--five
The wide range of
probably to be seen in the angels standing
Although he
from
II is
richer (Plate 191).
itself.
397

The
question of how much, in view of the previously estabhshed Veronese tradition,
who is
the general design
may have been due
of the
seems to be unanswerable, but distaste for the often
inscriptions,
to the 'realtor' Caspar,
mentioned in one
lifeless
individual
carvings should not lead to denigration of the intrinsic virtues of the general design.
The
latter
foreshadows the fdigree
ghera (Plate 185B), and metalwork
of the dead. The
grilles that
intricacies
is
of such works
as the
Monstrance of Vo-
one of the chief glories of this small, stone garden
form the outer fence
are net-like in their flexibihty.
The
combination of intricacy of design and rugged, boldly beaten texture in the sections
which enclose the tombs of Mastino
II
and Cansignorio and bear the
della Scala
arms
more
or less contemporary metal screen for the Rinuccini Chapel in S. Croce in Florence. The
treatment of the enclosing grille is integral to the development that separates the tomb
of Cansignorio from that of Mastino 11. In Mastino's monument there is some uncer-
stands in splendid contrast to the elegance and
tainty in the proportions
of what
is
refmement of MigHore
locally a first
di Nicola's
experiment with a totally free-standing
tomb. The forms are severely enclosed within the basic rectangle. There are no surrounding tabernacles
at the
lower
levels,
and the
grille is
merely
a protective fence. In that
of
Cansignorio the pattern of the lower tabernacles, which crown the vertical supports of
the grille and swell out over
structure
textural quaUty
scious
it, is
exactly repeated in the upper tabernacles
and ensures the unity of the whole. The
of the
base.
on the main
grille contributes greatly to the
Although encouraged to look swiftly up, the eye
is
con-
of the play of shadowy shapes within. The complex interaction between the basic
hexagon, repeated
at
each
level,
and the
lesser rectangles
confident and subtle handling of the proportions.

complexities of the main stage to culminate in
form of the
and squares
is
assisted
by
the
An even
pyramid bmlds up from the

the plain hexagon that repeats the simple
retaining wall and supports the block
of the equestrian group. Such details

columns immediately above the level of the grille help to ensure the
unity of the whole. This play of texture over, through, and round the monu-
as the twisted
textural
ment is as important as the spatial interpenetration of the tomb and its surroundings.
Whereas the rectangular monument to Mastino II, with its decorated upper and lower
elements and simple centre section, is more effective when seen at a distance from out-
monument to Cansignorio is best appreciated when examined

from inside the enclosure, so that every detail of its structure tells to the full. The orientation of the entries and main faces confirms that these were the ways in which the tombs
were intended to be seen to best advantage. On the other hand, as often happens in
Itahan towns and churches, the total context means as much as, if not more than, any of
side the enclave, the
the individual
works of art
very nature of the
that help to shape
monument
to Cansignorio.
it.
It
This truth has been embodied in the

holds the key to the enjoyment of a
great part of the later architectural and sculptural achievement of Northern Italy and
late
medieval Europe.
398
of
NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTES TO PART ONE

CHAPTER
10. G. Chierici, 'II Restauro della chiesa

Lorenzo a Napoli', BoUettino d'Arte, DC
di
San
(1929/30),
I.
The
often quoted supposition
San Francesco
Basilica di
seems groundless. See

MitteUtalien',
di îssisi,
Bologna, 1924)
in
W. Kronig,
'
Jahrbucli
W.
ft".
for
Francesco
at Assisi; S.
Kronig,
loc.
Baticli
41
cil.,
von
'Studien zur Oberkirche
Kurt
at Perugia,
Domenico
(Munich, 1957), 51
W.
ff.;
Schone,
Assisi', in Festschrift
(London, i960), 76
6
5.
6.
V Architettura
(Milan, 1958), 299
Li S. Maria sopra
Minerva
in
Rome, under
119
ff.
vn
(1943), 139
Domenico
in
W.
15.
Note
Kronig,
and below. Chapter
p. 17
plan are confirmed

connexion with the heavier forms, Lom-
p. 18
5,
76,
loc. cit.,
polygonal main apse. Mid-fifteenth-century vaults
by
now
bard Cistercian in origin, of the church of the
16. Cistercian affiliations in
heavily on inelegant arches and frustrate
close
Umihati
at
Viboldone.
over 375 feet long and 125 feet wide (115

by 38 m.), and almost 240 feet (74 m.) across the
1956), 118
transepts.
at Vercelli,
Examples are a triple choir-window in S.

Domenico at Arezzo unusual length and a facade
bays to each nave-bay. For the most important
Lombard
decorated in the local manner in the Eremitani
at
simple, transeptless wooden-roofed churches of S.
strange
Francesco at Brescia and at Mantua, built respec-
7. It is
8.
Padua and
in S. Francesco at Lucca,
with
its
skew-set chapel entrances flanking the choir; external articulation
manner
in S.
and wall tombs
Domenico
at
Gotische Siidfassade von
in the Florentine
Prato (G. Kiesow, 'Die

S.
Maria Novella in
Florenz', Zeitschriftfiir Kunstgachichte,

I ff.); a
polygonal choir,
or
S.
9.
xxv
(1962),
campanile or a decorated door or rose; a

as at S.
Arslan,
17. E.
ff.
The
with
its
Vicenza,
i,
Le Chiese (Rome,
p. 19
net extends as far as S. Francesco

its
structures,
tively in stone
with
p. iC
and pp. 340-1.
3,
sit
p. 15
ff.
completed by 1295, the elements of S. Maria

Novella are repeated, with the sole addition of a
[3
loc. cit.,
14. They diminish from 42 feet to 39I feet in

width (1275 to 12-10 m.), and lengthen from 36
feet to44i: feet (n to 13-50 m.) towards the choir.
delle
ff.
the soaring promise of the supports.
12
Kronig,
R. Bonelli, 'La Chiesa di San
Orvieto', Palladia,
construction in 1280 and originally substantially
W.
century onwards;
ff.
Fraccaro de Longlii,
L.
chiese cisterciani
p. 14
Bologna.
in
fF.
Branner, Burgundian Gothic Architecture
R.
ff.
12. The nave vaulting, dome, and complex east

end of the originally very similar S. Francesco at
Ascoh Piceno were only added from the fifteenth
13.
4.
(Munich, 1961), 130
This plan was also seemingly adopted, f. 1298,

the order's enlarged central shrine of S.
11.
(1938), 36
Montelabbate.
3.
R. Wagner-Rieger, 'S. Lorenzo Maggiorc
lanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae
dcr
Temi, Viterbo, and Gualdo Tadino; abbey church

at
ff.;
Neapel und die suditalienische Architektur unter

den ersten Konigen aus den Hause-Anjou', Miscel-
after 1253
Hallenkirche in
Kunstgeschichtliches
Bibliotheca Herziana,
Chiara
24
were only completed
that the vaults
2. S.
B. Supino, La
(I.
tall
transepts
and two
aisle-
which include the severely
and brick;
S.
Francesco at Pavia,
massive brick columns in the local Cister-
cian tradition
and wooden roof over the
first six
bays; and the fully vaulted Cistercian cruciform

S.
Francesco at Lodi, see A.
tettura gotica in
M. Romanini,
V Archi-
Lombardia (Milan, 1964).
Francesco at Montefalco
Francesco at Lucera.
Apart from the vaulted
S.
Maria di Galena
CHAPTER
at
Monte Gargano, nave-chapels were rare in Italy

before the mid century, only appearing previously
in Sicily, some time after 1219, in the extraordinary
zu Beginn
Cistercian church of S. Nicola at Agrigento.
197
I.
401
R. Wagner-Rieger, Die
ff-
der Gotik
italiaiische
Baukunst
(Graz-Cologne, 1956-7). n,
p.
20
NOTES TO PART ONE

E.
2.
55
W.
3.
Vetrata ducciesca (Florence,
Carli,
and
ff.
east
G.
xvi (1953), loi
'L'Architettura
Vigni,
xx
Grosseto', Rivista d'Arte,
R. Bonelli,
5.
Duomo
//
(1938), 49
thorough
of distortions,
plans,
etc.
S.
vn, cap. xcix.

p. 2
Croce.
311
'Le
di
Ij
Siena (Turin,
decorative
Sculture
camposanto
facciata del
duomo
8.
Bacci,
14. P.
di Orvieto e I'architettura
W.
end of
1941), 68, note
reconstructions, diagrams
See also
lib.
cit.,
13. E. Carli, Sculture del
di
fF.
italiana del duecento trecento (Citta di Castello, 1952),
gives
op.
ff.
duomo
del
G. Villani,
12. Similar forms recur in the basement of the
Kronig, 'Toskana und Apulien', Zek-
schriftfiir Kunstgeschichte,
4.
11.
1946),
14.
di Pisa', Dedalo,
della p.
(1920),
ff.
H. Goodyear, Creek
Refinements (London, 1912).

6.
G.
7.
The theory
vm,
Villani, Cronica, Mb.
that
cap. ix.
CHAPTER
radiating chapels strengthened this behef. See V.
Duomo
Lusini, //
W.
8.
Mitteilungen
Instituts in Florenz,
that there
were nave
(1961-3),
chapels,
des
Kunsthistorischen
i ff.,
who also argues
and possibly a domed
crossing, giving clear connexions
with
S.
Croce,
1.
Romanesque
2.
The
external
window linkage, hinted at in the
3.
These arches, and the exterior above the upper
cornice, are largely reconstructed.
This was surmounted by
more
elaborately
4. P.
L'Arte,
culminated in the ornate marbling of the windows.

5.
Decorative and structural elements were indissolubly united, with scarcely any distijiction between
wall surfaces and intervening
pilasters.
Chapter
H. Saalman
36,
Note
Toesca,
vn
W. Paatz,
Podesta
'II
Palazzo Papale di Viterbo',
(1904), 510
in
'Zur Baugeschichte des Palazzo del
Florenz',
Mitteilungen
des
historischen Instituts in Florenz, vi (193 1),

6.
i)
287
ff.
Despite the imposing mass created by such
of the bays nearest the
the original Palazzo dei Priori (begun 1293) seems
analyses,
fa(;ade,
which Kiesow,
antedates Francesco Talenti
c.
1359-
to have
been
less sensitively
At Fabriano
external links and ig-
norance of the style of Arnolfo's proposed interior
three faintly pointed arches of the loggia of the
mean
Palazzo Pretorio are unusually
The dearth of further

that his
Duomo
documented connexion with the
docs not definitely confirm his generally
accepted authorship of
S.
tall.
The
variations
are as endless as the surviving buildings are
Croce.
402
p.
designed.
wide roadway runs through the

7.
centre of the Palazzo del Podesta. At Volterra the
10.
p.
Kunst-
fourteenth-century additions as the angle tower,
cit.,
p.
ff.
argues that none of the incrustation above the socle
loc.
p.
abbey, has a long history in France and Spain.
S.
precursors.
in an important study (see
pi
in the massive palace built in the early
sixteenth.
recessed panelling of increased linear deHcacy and
9.
earher institution of the office of Podesti
thirteenth centm-y and largely transformed in the
Fortunato at Todi, and with Siena Cathedral and

its
The
had resulted
ff.
Kiesow, 'Zur Baugeschichte des Floren-
Doms',
tiner
Siena (Siena, 191 1), 39
di
Siena Cathedral ended in
numer-
p.
NOTES TO PART TWO

CHAPTER
12.
6
71
I. R. Krautheimer, 'Introduction to an Iconography of Medieval Architecture', Journal of the

Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, v (1941), I ff.
2.
Krautheimer, he.
3.
On
4.
is
referred to as 'fihus
13.
closer parallel. Giroldo da

in the
Duomo
interesting echoes
and spandrel-figures occur in the twelfth-century

pulpit at Salerno, and at SpUt. French-derived triple
columns occur
at
Split; as
Monte; and
Castel del
many
the
was
to Caghari.
architectural
attributions
7.
pulpit.
3.
in S.
by Giovanni and shipped

Groppoh, dated
the restricted use of Gothic detail in
5.
at Brancoli, in
the
Duomo
at
K. Frey, Le Vite
The
reconstructed
Maria
p. 55
di
Vasari
herausgegeben
ff., is
monument was
originally
am
57
H. Keller, 'Der Bildhauer Amolfo
di
Cambio
seinWerkstatt',ya/jrii(c/! der preussisclien Kunst-
Despite some reworking, the thin, grasshopper
bust in the Palazzo Venezia in
p. 58
6.
Rome
is
a haunting
new modes of awareness.
Comparison
%vith the
de Braye acolytes
the question of studio intervention and
G. Swarzenski, Niecio Pisano (Frankfurt
p.
face of the anonymous late-thirteenth-century papal
lacks this refine-
Main, 1926), 16 fF., discusses in detail both the

classical and French derivations of Nicola's work.
the main
in Gradi.
witeess to the
The dependent work at Barga
com-
sammlungen, LVI (1935), 30.
rustic structure at
and the pulpits
Dr Karl Frey (Munich, 191 1), 558

proponent of the two-man theory.
4.
later replaced
The
2.
imd
ment.
I
of Nicola's Pisa
von
to
are intermediate examples.

6.
rectangular font
Massa Marittima has
articulation at
Volterra, and in S. Leonardo in Arcetri in Florence,
at
parison with the ciborium of 1285 that points to an
Chiara in Assisi
Nicola are logically unsatisfactory.
194,
a geographically
early date.
room
also in S.
and elsewhere. Luxuriant fohate capitals occur in

S. Galgano and, hke the now widespread, but
originally Lombard, supporting hons, give no final
proof of Nicola's southern origin. For analogous
is
Como's
CHAPTER
1. It is
5. It
p. 51
magistri Nicholo'.
The Burgundian cusped arch occurs in various

Monte in the
half of the century. Round arches and angle-
reasons
(Rome, 195 1),
now dismembered Romanesque
Robertus's
contexts at Fossanova and Castel del

first
.Pfriiîa
font in S. Frediano at Lucca
of 1266
29.
the 13 th, Giovanni
qhondam
I
eit.,
G. Fasola,L<j FonfaMu 1/1
ff.
raises p. 59
compU-
cates relative dating. If the architectural fragments
from the tomb, their advanced

would point to a period after the de
in the cloister are
Gothic
detail
Braye tomb.
8.
Apart from C. A. Willemsen, Kaiser
Friedrichs
zu Capua (Wiesbaden, 1953), Creswell Shearer, The Renaissance of Architecture in

Southern Italy (Cambridge, 1935), discusses the
7.
II Triumphtor
Capuan Gate
9.
See below, pp. 291
10. P.
d'Ancona,
rinascimento',
269
ff.,
II.
S.
370
He
arti
ff.
'Le
Rappresentazioni
hberali nel
L'Arte,
medio evo
(1902),
137
ff.,
alle-
e nel
211
ff.,
it
with
six reliefs.
Fontana di Amolfo', Comff.
Repeated polishing has removed
p.
60
9. Its quahfy is stressed by comparison with the

tombs by Giovaimi Cosmati and others in S. Maria
in Aracoeh, S. Maria sopra Minerva, S. Maria
Maggiore, and S. Balbina, which emphasize the
p.
64
closely
Stylistic
contracted to reconstruct an altar in
(1951), 98
colour
8.
ff.
Zeno, decorating
Fasola, 'La
from the
in detail.
goriche delle
N.
mentari,
all
figures.
interwoven fabric of the
Roman
ateliers.
considerations probably place the sub-
of the Adoration group in S. Maria

Maggiore in the orbit of Amolfo's workshop of the
sidiary figures
403
'
TWO
NOTES TO PART
eighties.
The
distincrive styHzation
of the neck, the
1941), 33
from anything in Arnolfo's other

work, probably mean that the great bronze St
Peter in St Peter's may be by a much earUer artist
Milanesi,
who
added
stiff,
pose, distinct
p.
65
6.
The
10.
hfe-like
startlingly
eyes
inset
66
II. Evangelists
The
la
and
in,
157,
I,
Giovanni and
a series
baptistery.
and Doctors of the Church were
the
seemingly intended for the upper niches.

12.
p.
his
of half-
storia
273
senese
dell'arte
ff.
workshop probably then
p.
a:id full-length figures to the
by Nicola and
his circle for
the middle zone of the exterior of the Pisan
Antique bronzes.
p.
Documenti per
half-lengths completed
recall
Siena (Turin,
di
For the documents on Ramo, see G.
ff.
(Siena, 1854),
shghtly influenced Amolfo.
duomo
E. Carh, Sculture del
5.
yet vigorous
general proportions, and the
similar distribution,
7.
without a unified
The few,
Museo
H. Keller, Giovanni Pisano (Vienna, 1942),
p.
of Giovanni's interest in drama,
p.
programme, in the Duomo at Lucca does not

seem to justify Weinberger's attribution to
36
Lucchese followers of Nicola Pisano.
and of the
ff.
8. It is
significant
of the two pulpits, that fiontal

for photographing Nicola's scenes
siting
Hghting suitable
CHAPTER
richly evocative remains are in
Civico.
at Pisa
reduces the Massacre at Pistoia to a
jumble.
Dramatic, raking Hght reveals
mere
its
full
potential.
p.
69
I.
P. Bacci,
'
Continuazione del capitolo inedito,
su Giovanni Pisano e
IV (1941/2), 268
ff.
il
duomo
discussing the documentation

P. Cellini, 'La "Facciata
Siena', Proporzioni,
di Siena',
Le
one of four successive
in
(1948),
53
del
ff.,
duomo
di
2. Paatz's
argues un-
Trecento-Architektiir in
Toskana (Burg, 1937), lii ff.,

constitutes a planned
whole
R. Wagner-Rieger, Die
italienische
Baukunst zu
Beginn der Cotik (Graz-Cologne, 1956-7), 201

or
vertical
may
not be significant that
discontinuities
are
also
less
La
Ricostruzione del pergamo di Gio-
in
the
all
the details of the extensive, but convincing, re-
construction of the pulpit and

11.
J.
Pope-Hemiessy,
its
inscriptions.
Sadpture
Gothic
Italian
Pisano pulpits in
12.
Many
tell-tale details,
such
Madormas
four
the circular
as
them
to the
for the baptistery at Pisa
and for
indentations of the knuckles, unite
signed
all
full.
the Arena Chapel at Padua, to the Sibyls at Pistoia,
the single, central door are likewise set inside the
and to many other female
4.
of the nave
piers,
13.
In Ste Marie
similar,
but the
la
Grande the general
effect
is
lateral arches are relatively smaller
and more sharply pointed.
p.
uanni Pisano nel duomo di Pisa (Milan, 1926), gives
ff. It
obtrusive
present
p.
xrx
facade at Poitiers, and that there the piers flanking
line
p. 73
Madonna
sulla
Critica d'Arte,
(London, 1955), gives the inscriptions on
vincing.
may
Giovanni Pisano',
hands of both figures are joined to the main piece.
system of dynamic tension seems very uncon-
3.
di
10. P. Bacci,
suggestion, in Werden und IVesen der
that the facade as a
'Nuovi Studi
Barsotti,
(1957). 47 ff- The crudely joined head of Christ is

not original, and his upper foot and the extended
convincingly that the nave was extended.

p. 71
R.
ebumea
of Giovanni's work.
Semphce"
9.
Arti,
articles
C. Marchenaro, 'Per
di Brabante', Paraoone,
figures.
la
tomba
cxxxm
di
Margherita
(1961), 3
ff.,
pub-
Ushes a Justice which probably belonged to the
tomb.
404
p.
p.
NOTES TO PART THREE

CHAPTER 10
94
S.
XDC (1956), 84
stitutes,
z.
95
CHAPTER
I.J. Wliite, 'Cavallini and the Lost Frescoes in

FioW , Journal of the Warburg and Courlauld In-
The
(440-61)
510.
I,
The
small monastic figure in the lower zone
holds compasses and a set-square, the invariable
di
xxxv
(1950), 160
Magazine,
xci
(1949),
183
ff.,
discusses
these
matters, asking for extreme caution in cleaning
He is opposed by N. Maclaren and A.

Werner, 'Some Factual Observations about Varnishes and Glazes', Burlington Magazine, xcn
probably not represented, since
Art of Picture Cleaning', Burlington Magazine, CiV
is
of the architect or arcliitectural supervisor,

presumably the man responsible for the
rebuilding.
mosaic, Torriti
there
known
is
no monastic
is
signatures
prefix in
and he
any of
refers
to
his three
himself
'pictor', a title carrying less prestige than that
'architectus'.
second figure
Operis'
and holds
presence of the
Camerino
de
'Frater Jacobus
Socius
mosaicist's
Magistri
hammer. The
two figures, aUied to an independent

main field, probably caused the
chronicler's mistake.
5.
layman accompanying the two

Dormition might well be Torriti
In this case the
M.
Master
as
the Vico
n
manu-
fiir Kunstwissenschaft,
suggests an origin in French
underlines
Coppo's
stature.
No
of the attachment of shutters are

since certainly five and probably
all of the twelve small scenes attributable to Guido
and his shop come from Badia Ardenga, Montal4.
traces
and
discernible,
cino, they are unlikely to derive
ton,
ably, like the architectural reconstruction

III,
the
work of a
Paesler, 'Die
romische Weltgerichtstafel
Vatikan', Herziana,
(1938), in analysing the
relationship, reconstructs the
design.
under
'Magister Cosmatus'.
main
lines
of Caval-
54
1964),
previous
Art
Roman mosaics, of which the most important
p. iii
unrepentantly
from detached
latest
that in the vault of the Sancta Sanctorum, prob-
lini's
prolific,
H. Stubblebine, Cuido da Siena (Prince-
A similar stylistic background informs several
W.
Magdalen
the
The
scripts.
8.
eclectic
or
in J.
I ff.,
im
Master
ments
Rom', Jahrbuch
Nicholas
I'Abate
Siena.
(1934-5),
is
ff.
The work of such contemporaries
Mag-
giore in
7.
3.
Alpatoff-Moskau, 'Die Entstehung des
Mosaiks von Jakobus Torriti in Santa Maria
other
(1962), 51
wings recorded by Tizio in the sixteenth century as

being, like the main panel, in S. Domenico in
himself.
6.
E.
of
clearly labelled
is
(1950), 189
as
inscription in the
Franciscans in the
109
ff.
Although a late-thirteenth-century
Paduan Chronicle of the Life of St Anthony asserts
that two Franciscans were deputed to 'paint' the
and
p.
C. Brandi, 'The Cleaning of Pictures in Rela-
2.
ff., and the controversy continues in

H. Gombrich, 'Dark Varnishes: Variations on a
Theme from Pliny', O. Kurz, 'Varnishes, Tinted
Varnishes, and Patina', and with particular effect
and authority in S. Rees-Jones, 'Science and the
insignia
Madonna
nella chicsa dei Servi di
such works.
4.
Restauro della
tion to Patina, Varnish, and Glazes', Burlington
R. van Marie, La Peinture romainc au moyen-age
(Strasbourg, 1921),
'II
Marcovaldo
di
Siena', Bolleltino d'Arte,
ff.
Liber Pontificalis says that Leo
commissioned die original decorations.

97
C. Brandi,
1.
Coppo
I I
attempt to reintegrate these frag-
ff.,
elaborating a proposal in a
'An Altarpiece by Guido da
article,
convincing.
ische
Siena',
ff.,
does not seem to be
The proposal in R.
Oertel, Friihe italien-
Bulletin, xli (1959),
Malerei
in
260
Altenburg (BerUn, 1961), 57
ff.,
that
the twelve scenes are a complete cycle incorporated
low dossal, which had nothing to

do with the Palazzo Pubbhco Madonna, carries
greater conviction in every respect. Apart from the
peculiar shape and construction of Stubblebine's
in a lost, gabled,
reconstruction,
which
fails
to account for the dif-
ferent angle of slope in the Palazzo
Pubbhco gable
and in the shoulders of the Princeton Annunciation
405
p. 112
NOTES TO PART THREE

and Altenburg Flagellation, the argument that, by
analogy with contemporary crucifixes, the main
cycle must contain a Resurrection theme falls to the
ground, since the six Passion scenes on the apron
of the S. Gimignano Crucifix, associated with
Coppo, end with the Lamentation
The
Christ.
in
Sandberg Vavala, 'The Madonnas of Guido

da Siena', Burlington Magazine, ixrv (1934). 254 ff-
also E.
Museo Diocesano.
12.
Dead
over the
13. Siena, Pinacoteca, no. 4.
it stands has, moreover, much

with the concentration on the Early
cycle as
common
R. Offher, 'Guido da Siena and a.d. 1221',

xxxvn (1950). 61 ff. See
11.
Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Lindenau Museum, no.
14.
and Passion found in the Pisano pulpits. No

argument of any kind can reasonably be based on
8.
Life
such late works
the Perugia tabernacle or the
as
Berlin altarpiece (Stubblebine, plates 90, 91),
may
just as
weU
derive
from Coppo's
which
CHAPTER
lost altar-
piece of 1275 or elsewhere.

112
C.
5.
'Relazione
Brandi,
d'Arte,
give his
name
the quarter of
Carh, 'Recent Discoveries in Sienese Paint-
6. E.
p.
113
(November
The only
7.
patterns
is
not,
are
however,
3.
position
of Cimabue or Duccio, and the attempt to

blessing
clear
gesture
to
cit.,
105).
The
68
relate
Pubblico
Madonna.
cit.,
54
Gimignano panel
late seventies
It
therefore
on the reconstruction of the
4.
There
ff.
c.
the
5.
latter in
two works by dating
1300, rather than in the
or early eighties, seem to be over-
Arezzo,
Pinacoteca,
no.
2,
and
Madonna, Florence, Accademia, no. 435 (probably

largely
by
late sixties
assistants
working
and early
seventies,
Pinacoteca, no. 16.
10. Siena, Pinacoteca, no. I.
two
p.
designs.
and following the
ff-
Pope-Hennessy, 'An Exhibition of Sienese

J.
Stained Glass', Burlington Magazine, Lxxxvm
6.
(1946), 306, strikes a note
Ppi
of caution and points to
the connexions with Cimabue.

E.g.
all
four EvangeUsts' thrones and
many of
the haloes at the top of the Christ the Judge and the
Adoration of the Lamb.
respectively in the
Madonna of 1262); Madonna, Siena, Pinacoteca, no.

587 (probably shop-work of the late seventies or
early eighties, following the Palazzo Pubbhco
Madonna, which is seemingly off. 1275-80, since
it loosens and develops the Coppesquc pose of the
Colic Val d'Elsa Madonna of 127-).
9. Siena,
ff.
vahant attempt to equate the
C. Brandi, Duccio (Florence, 1951), 1^7
7.
Madonna,
also a
casts
whelming.
8.
is
iconographically dissimilar scenes of St John on
The arguments against
the attempt to dissociate the
the S.
ff.
(London, i960), 127
the veil-grasping
ing chaos of the
Palazzo
p.
Kurt Bauch (Munich, 1957).

E. Borsook, The Mural Painters of Tuscany
Patmos and the Fall of Babylon in the down-sweep-
to
p.
cycle.
Schone, 'Studien zur Oberkirche von
W.
be a close derivative of
but
Stubblebine, op.
his domicile as
altarpiece seems certainly not to
precede
further doubt
and
in Florence.
motif of Duccio's London (National Gallery)

triptych is even more curious (J. H. Stubblebine,
op.
Ambrogio
Roman
copies of the
remotely related to those in the major altarpieces
the
Ceimi
S.
There are innumerable reflections of Roman

and architecture in Cimabue's fi-escoes, but no
echoes of his Tuscan-Byzantine mannerisms in the
wider apart than

in
di Pepi
as
art
ff.
from other Guidesque
difference
that the feet are slightly
They
usual.
1955), 176
p.
and painted
The documents
2.
ing of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries',

Connoisseur
1301 he contracted with a cer-
to supply a massive carved
altarpiece for S. Chiara in Pisa.
del 1221', BcUettino
di Guido da Siena
xxxvi (1951), 248 ff.
Madonna
Nucolo
tain
della
restauro
sul
November
In
1.
p.
13
8.
R. Salvini, 'Postilla a Cimabue', Rivista d'Arte,
XXVI
a
1
(1950), 43
ff.
9. E.
Borsook,
10. It
is
op.
12.
usually attributed to
Lucchese painter
331
cit.,
who
Deodato di Orlando,
died between 13 1 5 and
and whose large output centres on signed and
dated Crucifixes of 1288 and 1301 and panels of

IJOI and 1308, overwhelmingly influenced by
Cimabue. See E. B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque
Panel Painting (Florence, 1949), 16
406
ff.
pi
NOTES TO PART THREE

CHAPTER
Garber,
I.J.
mdldezykkn
Rom
IVirhiiigen
des friihchristliche
dcr altcn Peters-
(Berlin, 191 8),
44
CHAPTER
13
Ge-
mid Pauls Basiliken
in
ff.
The work of both

drier, more linear, and
2.
is
no
less distinct
less sensitive
from the
stroke of the
ruined frescoes in
S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, and

from the closely related fresco in S. Maria in
AracoeU (P. Cellini, 'Di Fra Guglielmo e di
Amolfo', Bollettino d'Arte, XL (1955), 215 ff.).
Any slight disparity is explained by the need

accommodate the heavy bracket of the rood-
3.
to
beam
4.
in the left-hand scene.
They come from
or xu,
from chapters
5.
Chapter
chapters vn, 12, and
6.
R.
and
x, 7,
vm,
9,
7.
Corpus of Florentine Painting

m, vol. I, xrx ff.
and M. Meiss, The Life of St Francis

(New York, 1962), 43 ff., undermining the
L. Tintori
argument that the
St
setting
is
School
i,
(i960), 405
8.
431
ff.,
The main
damaged,
and
six scenes
six
pleading
asserted,
169).
(p.
does not, as
specifically
It
St
n',
Cedha Master and
Burlington
his
Magazine, en
figure in the altarpiece
cut-down panel of the

alia
intervening
read as a sequence
is
examples, and not
least
contradicted
by
by innumerable
group
the symmetrical
of nine scenes proposed for the rear predella
in this
same reconstruction.
D. M. Robb, 'The Iconography of the An-
nunciation in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries',
is
3.
Art
badly
The
Bulletin,
xvm
480
(1936),
ff.
straight-nosed facial type of the Virgin
from the
also differs
relatively
Virgin and Child in

is
much more
only enters
itself
at a
much later date, when
the
work it
window
could have exerted an influence.
doubtful attribution, to which the Master of the
at.,
431
ff.),
may have better claims
(Smart,
Rome of 1 307 would render the St Ceciha
Master's
artistic
development incomprehensible.
are probably better served
4.
loc.
and the Si Peter enthroned in SS. Simone
e Giuda in
Both
As
Murray, 'Notes on some Early Giotto
II.
68 ff
XVI (1953), 58
W.
Schone,
loc.
ff.
cit.
12,
Note
and other panels by Duccio,

used, while graduated colour
chains occur in the S. Trinita
Madonna. Neverthesymmetry, and
Cavallini has counterpoint,
less,
3),
of scenes, and
ated colour change

difficulties in
this
(Chapter
is
possibly colour change, coexisting even in a single
by anonymity.
Som-ces', yourna/ of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
in the Rucellai
colour counterpoint
series
ID. P.
157
eighth space bemg the

The contention that a symodd numbered group of scenes cannot be
the
and flanking angels
Costa in Florence
St Francis Cycle
p.
on the contrary, has seven narrative

as do previous reconstructions of
the prcdella, and eight framing figures or figure
groups. There arc framing figures at start and
out. This,
ff.).
especially the head.
Giorgio
154
is
resemble the nearby Pisano pulpit spread
curved-nose Rucellai pattern. In Duccio's

9.
S.
p.
prophets on the front
works and is
by the most extraordinary special
supported
2.
'The
Assisi,
of
unparalleled in earhcr or later
Ceciha Master was the leading
figure (A. Smart,

at
150
seems to be higlily suspect, and the proposed

arrangement of the prcdella scenes is not convincing. The structural solecism of the asymmetrical
metrical,
p.
(F.
entrance to the pulpit.
(Berlin, 1930-), section
in Assisi
latest rcconA. Cooper, 'A Reconstruction of

Duccio's Maesta', Art Bulletin, xlvii (1965), 155 ff.)
struction
finish,
xi, 4, respectively.
rv, 10.
Offher,
14
of the
basis
compartments,
the preceding and succeeding scenes being
3,
The mathematical
1.
date.
the
The
tliis is
fairly
common. Gradu-
would present
less flexible
great technical
medium of
colours in the
glass at
window, though
naturally briUiant, are not specifically attached to
Duccio's range of hues.
407
NOTES TO PART FOUR

CHAPTER
CHAPTER l6
p. i6o
W.
I.
Braunfels, Mitlelalterliche Stadtbaukimst in
162
G. Chierici,
2.
II
Palazzo italiam (Milan, 1952-4).
2.
The
ix, cap.
xxvi.
p.
the
Florentine severity contrasts with the absolute
sym-
rhythmic
hveUness
p.
metries of the dependent late-fourteenth-century
20.
G. Milanesi,
3.
232
p. 163
G. Villani, Cronica, hb.
imderlying
der Toskatia (Berlin, 1953), 250.

p.
1.
17
4.
W.
and
ff.,
op.
cit.
(Chapter
Braunfels, op.
8,
Note
Comunale
Palazzo
i,
at
Montepulciano. Neatness
of the openings, and

between the rusticated lower and
smoothly surfaced upper storeys, are accompanied
by a fussy and confusing multiphcation of cornices J
and a weak proportional relationship between thel
and variety
81, 195.
cit.,
in the distribution
a clear distinction
seem to be
fiddling upper fortifications
The
5),
modem copies of the city gates or
of the derivative
Fonte di Pescaia, enlarged in the fourteenth century.

5.
from
Variants of this pattern, wliich derives
Antiquity, occur in the Fonti at
the Fonte delle Fate
Scamabecco
Central
at
tower and the main mass.
Gimignano,
S.
Poggibonsi,
4. It
Italy.
Apart from the group connected with Nicola

Pisano (see above, pp. 50 ff.), the only other im-
cit.,
Ub. ix, cap. cxxvn, cclvi,
was moved up from the river bank
The
5.
6.
external distribution
portant surviving type
and
delle
architectural complexities.
water spouts from gargoyles
set into the base
In 1260 a similar
body had
W.
Paatz,
identical, but lacks
aisle
Werden und Wcsen
comparable
Trecento-
der
Architektur in Toskana (Burg, 1937), 116
ff.,
attri-
butes the additions to Giovamii Pisano.
investigated the
7.
soundness of certain recently constructed vaults.

8.
later erdarged, is
6.
of a
wall extending round three sides of a square.

7.
in 1871. p
of the nave and
design of S. Maria della Rosa in Lucca, built in 1309
is represented by the Fontana

Novantanove Cannelle at L'Aquila, built by
Tancredo di Valva in 1272 and later modified. In it,
p. 165
op.
ccLvn.
1241) at Todi, and elsewhere in
{c.
G. Villani,
3.
Fonte
the
Foimded
after a
in 1294.
Work
was resumed
in 1334
long interruption.
This confirms that the original plan was cruci-
form.
The
objection to formal irregularity un-
doubtedly gained force from the symbolic im-
CHAPTER 18
portance of the cross.

9.
p.
166
G. Milanesi,
op.
though buried
in
chapels
8a).
ff.
1.
added
ID. Maitani's
186
cit., i,
buttresses
the walls
are
of the
visible,
still
later transept
2.
(Plate
Possible aesthetic
The
palace
value was
inscription probably refers only to the
itself,
O.
Gurrieri, Anêlo da Orvieto
Piibblici di
Italian attitudes,
substitutes for
being
little
more than permanent
temporary timber shoring.
Palazzi
e di Citta di Caslello (Perugia,
1959), 143.
If recent
engineering studies arc correct, they are irrelevant
The
casual setting
of the openings
explained by the disposition of the
is
not fully
stair at
one end
to the vaulting thrusts concerned
and add nothing
of the lower chamber, of the huge semicircular
material to the stabihty of the
Duomo:
place in one
BoncUi,
below,
169
Gubbio
considered, and they almost caricature
scarcely
p.
and not to the substructures.
II.
op.
cit.
(Chapter
3,
Note
5),
80
sec R.
ff.,
and
p. 291.
The
subtlety of the ever-shifting, balanced
grouping of the arches of the crossing and the

one traverses the first three bays of the
still
reveals their sensitivity.
at
fire-
one end
of the rear long wall.

4. It was probably not conceived as a buttress. It
would not affect the chief internal stresses of the
main structure.
choir, as
existing church,
comer, and of the balcony
5.
The
description in F. Mazzei, Manoria sulla
condizionc atluale dei Palazzi Mimicipale e Pretoria di
408
NOTES TO PART FOUR

shows that the
Ciibbio (Florence, 1865), 11,
ahhough
forms,
invention, as
(Chapter
1
6.
16,
reconstructed, are not a
is imphed
Note 2), 46.
floor loggia
flected in the
like those
G. Chierici,
in
op.
historic
cit.
supports the ground-
of the Palazzo del Popolo
d'Armi
at
of the
Vecchio
Comunale
The
and
may
also be
W.
Kronig,
Govemo
(Chapter
Note
i),
loc. cit.
S.
2,
Domenico and
i),
S. Pietro,
1.
which
less
swiftly
cit.,
91
fF.
and
the
19
choir and flanking chapels
M. Romanini,
nell'architettura
"gotica" lombarda'. Arte Lom-
as
'Le Chiese a
in S.
The
Zeno
195
Stefano in
in S.
is
S.
Francesco at
now
restored,
in Verona.
structure largely hangs
main beams of
on iron rods from
normal pitched roof A very

at Sodra Rada in Sweden; see
a
Architecture
(London,
CHAPTER 22
the recent splendid restoration has
the major currents
and Emilian
at
number of
flowing through the Lombard
plains, firom the
column-forms of the
Piacenza and the Cistercian plan of
Morimondo
such
to
closer
forerunners
Francesco at Piacenza, in such a
Romanesque
past
present. See A.
is
almost
way
as insistent as
M. Romanini,
op.
cit.
as
S.
that the
the Gothic
(Chapter
2,
and more particularly A. Edallo, C.

P. M. Cambiaghi, // Duomo di Crema
17),
(Milan, 1961), 57
3. L.
cinquefoil exists in the
Another
1958), 74. plate 32.
sala
revealed a building which combines a
Gallini,
p.
flf.
being of 1375-80.
2. Internally
Note
190
(1958), 48 ff, refers in passing to the
m, 2
Duomo
moving
G. Paulsson, Scandinavian
were com-
pleted later. A.
building
284
Venice. Trilobate versions occur in
Kronig, he.
similar roof exists
barda,
cit.,
basilica at Aquileia.
2.
The
fifteenth-
Men which decorate the stairs
Treviso, in the Eremitani at Padua,
W.
CHAPTER
1.
of the charming
CHAPTER 21
Duomo.
10.
Chiolini, op.
4. P.
later modified, continue the tradition of the
were
p.
distribtitii'e
by Angelo da Orvieto.
ff,
Gubbio,
i88
and balconies.
in
64
9. In
p.
identical features
and R. Wagncr-Rieger, op. cit. (Chapter 3, Note

n, 125 ff, pay special attention to this feature.
8.
true
is
of Saints and Famous
many almost
Citta di Castello has
keep
century frescoes of St George and the Dragon and
massive, possibly earher, ten-bay-loiig
and completely regular Palazzo del
isolated
wall. See P. Chiolini, / Caratteri
The same
3.
at
Citta di Castello (Plate 78A).

7.
Cyclopean stonework.
dc^li antichi edifici (Milan, 1959), 275.
in Florence (Plate 72A) are closely related. Similar
ideas arc elaborated in the Palazzo
walls standing,
arc aligned along the perimeter, forming a section
Todi, and
in the Palazzo
number of medieval
of Todi, Spoleto, and Ameha, upon pre-
At Soave the main buildings and
2.
more massive form
the forms of the Sala
existing
modem
ff.
Fraccaro de Longhi,
chiese cisterciani
V Architettura
(Milan, 1958), 70
delle
1.
His owTi commissions included the original
Castel
Nuovo
in Naples,
p.
197
p.
199
p.
200
planned by Pierre d'Angi-
court and built by Paumier d' Arras and Pierre de

Chaubies, and the reconstruction of Frederick II's
with which Pierre d' Angicourt and

Riccardo da Foggia were associated. In 1270 he
gave land for S. EHgio in Naples, and he built the
castle at Lucera,
now
ruined Cistercian foundations of
S.
Realvalle near Scafati (after 1266), for
summoned
Maria
di
which he
Pierre de Chauhies and the brothers
Nicolas and Robert of Royaumont, and S. Maria

della Vittoria near Scurcola Marsicana (1274-82).
ff.
2.
but
was
integral to the original design,
The
choir
may
have been extended from three bays to
four before CavaUini's followers painted the walls.
CHAPTER 20
3.
I.
SO
W.
fF.
Braunfels, op.
The
cit.
(Chapter 16, Note
continuity of Italian urban history
is
For the deUghtful decoration of the splendid

ceihngs see E. Gabrici and E. Levi, Lo
i),
wooden
re-
Steri di
409
Palermo (Milan, n.d.).
NOTES TO PART
This ivory
14.
CHAPTER 24
FIVE
assigned to the fifteenth century
is
p.
in R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiqiies franfais (Paris,
R. G. Mather, 'Nuove Informazionc relative
1.
Gaddo
matricoli di Giotto,
alle
1924),
B. Daddi, A. Lorenzetti, T. Gaddi ed
ill
(1936), 33
which, on a similar
ff.
See below, pp. 223
3.
L. Tintori
and M.
(New York,
Assisi
An
it
Meiss, The Life of St Francis

1962), 159
ff.,
original design
W.
16.
chapel of
Silvestro in SS.
S.
S.
date
(1941), 49
17. J.
convincing on
18.
S.
7.
(1957),
Kirclienraiini
p.
209
8.
U.
9.
This
tive
at
Schlegel,
is
130
loc. cil.,
Upton House, near Banbury, which
from curious
Qucllen
is
particu-
colour design, but which, apart
features in the inscription
not seem to be autograph. R. Offner,
ff.
vin, 170
itself,
tradition in S.
Croce under the
severest pressure of
N.Y., 1957), 79
(Trieste,
und Zeichnung
analyses these relationships in detail.

11.
D.
Gioseffi,
1957). 68
12.
tion
figures
Betrayal,
centre of the
ally
and architecture of the Presentavertically above each other at the
window- wall,
arc,
however,
designed to create a strong central axis con-
werk
13.
from the opposite
which runs over the
wall.
M. Alpatov, 'The
Paduan
after
M.
'Wandmalerei
in Italien', Mitteihmgen des Kunst-
L. Tintori
Band, Heft iv/v
and M. Meiss,
below, pp. 291
op.
cit.
ff.
Gosebrucli, 'Giotto's Stefaneschi Altar-
aus Alt-St Peter in
thecae Hcrtzianae
Rom',
Miscellanea Biblio-
(Munich, 1961), 104
ff.,
argues for
Giotto's personal authorship.
Parallelism of Giotto's
Frescoes', Art Bulletin,
it
Petrarch's Testament (Ithaca,
teclinique, see R. Oertel,
and
22. See
23.
vault
On
(1940),
specific-
tinuing the band of marbling
vol.
ff.
historischen Instituts in Florenz, 5
ff.
The
and
21.
Perspectiva Artijicialis
Mommsen,
1941),
am Main,
m,
Master of the
of the donor probably indicated by the inscription.

20. T. E.
T. Hetzer, Giotto (Frankfurt
attributes the panel to the
1355 from the death date of the 'former' husband
this
restricted space.
10.
ff.,
does
Corpus of
Fabriano altarpiece and convincingly dates
the sole example of simultaneous narra-
Padua, and Giotto only returns to
xxrx
(1947), 149
ff.
Florentine Painting (Berlin, 1930-), section
207
Stil',
und andere Aufsatz
(Bern, 1963).
p.
larly interesting in
der Scrovcgni-
zti sein
argues, however, for a
fourth signature occurs on the predella p

panel of the Last Supper in the Bcarsted Collection
It
Kapelle zu Padua: Giottos Verhaltnis
p.
this still controversial point.
Vber das Gotische
19.
ff.
M. von Nagy, Die WandbiUer
ff.,
H. Jantzen, 'Giotto und der Gotischer
(Berhn, 1951), 30
U. Schlegel, 'Zum Bildprogramm der Arena
xx
ihr
Gy-Wilde, 'Giotto Studien', Wiener fahrvn (1930), 46 ff., is most
other highly painted examples.
125
und
Navicella
10.
in
Kapelle', Zeitschrift fiir Kunstgcschichte,
of 162S
area.
buck fiir Kimstgeschichte,
Quattro
Maria ad Fossam and
1 3
c.
Pcllegrino at Bominaco, both in the Abruzzi, are
6.
1260-70, with
of the central
'Giotto's
Paeseler,
geschichte,
C. H. Weigelt, Giotto (Stuttgart, 1925), xi,

shows that the chapel may have been intended as
one wing of a curving group of buildings reminiscent of the Campo in Siena.
The
c.
spatantikes Vorbild', Riimische jahrbuch fiir Kunst-
in
5.
a date
G. Zamecki concurs.
clear that Francesco Beretta's facsimile
shows the
provide the
early-nineteenth-century print, illustrated
Coronati in Rome, and
basis,
1610, re-erection elsewhere, and replacement
ff.
clinching technical evidence.

4.
like myself,
The detailed documentation of its removal in

make
15.
2.
me
tentatively suggested to
altri pittori
nell'Arte dei Medici e Speciali di Firenze', L'Artc,
XXXIX
who,
no. 852. L. Grodecki,
II,
has only seen photograpliic reproductions, has
Zenobi Gaddi,
di
ff.
24. R. Offner, op.
cit.,
section in, vol. vi, 3
argues against this tendency.
410
ff.,
NOTES TO PART FIVE

CHAPTER 25
For the probable dating of the sonnets before
4.
November
27
I.
See above, p. 144.
3.
See above, pp. 133-5.
3.
See above, p. 143.
4.
M.
1336, and the likelihood that
Simone
p.
239
at
Avignon before then, see J. Rowlands,

'The Date of Simone Martini's Arrival in Avi-
least visited
gnon', Burlington Magazine, evil (1965), 25
(New York,
Meiss, Giotlo and Assisi
5.
i960),
ff.
Cardinal Gentile's bequest of 1312 seemingly
p.
241
financed the decoration.

3ff.
Murray, 'Notes on some Early Giotto
5. P.
Sources', younia/ of the Warburg and Cotirtauld Institutes,
a8
XVI (1953), 59
See C. Gnudi,
6.
relativo a Giotto e
'II
il
7. J.
able
mother
W. Suida
153
Burlington
ff.
A. Blunt, 'Simone Martini
8.
M.
9.
ff-
Battisti,
and Asia
in the vaults
Meiss, 'The
however, only
mate
terminus post quern.
xvm
Madonna of
(1936), 435
10. S. Bottari,
La
(Florence, 1953), 10
of the
crossing refer to the Franciscan missions inaugurated

in 1278. These,
the Hotel de
Humility', Art
ff.
Ciniahue
(Milan, 1963), 39, stresses that the representations

Palestine,
at
Sully', Burlington Magazine, cvi (1964), 129.
xcvm
Magazine,
vcnu
est-il
en Avignon?', Gazette dcs Beaux Arts, xxi (1939),
Bulletin,
of Greece,
mc
in the Thanksgiving Procession.
A. Peter, 'Quand Simone Martini
7.
30.
See above, pp. 126-7. E.
8.
Pearce generously demonstrated for
passo di Riccobaldo Ferrarese
White, 'The Date of the "Legend of St
(1956). 344
S.
surround the hair- and dress-srylcs of the fashion-
probleina della sua autenticita'.
Francis" at Assisi',
M.
ff.
Studies in the History of Art dedicated to
(London, 1959),
6.
the extremely close network of relationships which
11.
Rome,
Pittura del quattrocetUo in Sicilia p. 242

ff.
Bibl. Vat., MS. C. 129.
establish an approxi-
They do not
date the
frescoes.
See above, pp. 127
9.
,0
CHAPTER 27
ff.
10.
See above, pp. 212, 216-17.
11.
12. Rintelen
is
colour and facial character it recalls

1. In
Ambrogio's silvery-hued and evidently early Brera
I,
Gnudi
is
the latest and
among
his
95
the St Francis Cycle but stresses the connexions
di
Isaac Master.
247
p.
252
The Construction of Gof/iiV

shows the extent to
was true of all major medieval con-
p.
253
G. Rowley, Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Princeton,

66 ff., argues for a fifteenth- or even
p.
254
Madonna
in
altarpiece.
L. Olschki, 'Asiatic Exoticism in Itahan Art of
ff.
4.
C. Brandi, 'Chiarimenti
Ambrogio
(1955), 119
ff.,
Lorenzetti',
details the
sul
CHAPTER 26
5. J.
F.
Simone was himself obhged
2.
159
to restore the
321.
evidence of early
C. Paccagnini, Simone Martini (London, 1957),

Memmi was concerned with a model for the
if.
with work
8
3.
in St Fran(;ois in
Allowing
for
to
doubt Petrarch's
Avignon
in 1347.
which has
fading,
affected the modelling, there
this
XL
damage
left.
1961),
struction.
cap of the Torre della Mangia in Siena in 1341 and
"
which
d'Arte,
Fitchen,
Cathedrals (Oxford,
I.
"Buon Govemo"
Bollettino
and restoration on the extreme
central heads in
Cortona antedates
the Early Renaissance', Art Bulletin, xxvi (1944).
treme of the supporters of all-inclusiveness. Meiss

strongly opposes identification with the Master of
with the
p.
Arezzo
3.
the most ex-
246
strongly Ducciesque forms suggest that
Pietro's attributed
ship without supporting such late dating.

13.
p.
The
2.
n', Burlington
Magazine, Lxxiv (1939), 259 ff., and Lxxv (1939),

96 ff., argues convincingly against Giotto's author-
245
Madonna.
the chief proponent of this theory.
R. Offner, 'Giotto, Non-Giotto,
p.
eighteenth-centur)' dating
on such grounds
of the
right-to-left fold
relative popularity
greatly
seems to be no reason
assertion.
6.
1958),
as
the
of the
Virgin's cloak, which, incidentally, also occurs in

Pietro's dated panel
of 1340- The assertion of a mid-
fifteenth-century date for the
411
two small landscapes
NOTES TO PART FIVE

discussed immediately below
often of great complexity, were scratched into the
un-
similarly
is
gold leaf appUed to the back of the glass panels in-
convincino-.
p-
255
The Tnly real >llogicahty is
7.
when
pattern
mamtenance of
low viewpomt of the
the 'reahstic',
ings
the
See
distant build-
mto many rehquanes and other small works,

Cemimo Cennim, cap. clxxi.
^^^êd
reversion to the Byzantine bird's-eye
would have been
correct.
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 28
1.
Notably by L.
Coletti,
/ Primitivi,
Padani (Novara, 1947).

p.
258
1.
'Una
P. Bacci,
pittura ignorata di Segna di

2.
Bonaventura', Le Arti, u (i939-4o). 12

2.
M. Harrsen and G. K. Boyce,
scripts in the
Pierpont
3.
at
and R. Otfner,
Corpus of Florentine Painting (Berlin, 1930-), section
m,
vol. n/i, 43
4.
ft".
3.
R. Offher, op.
4.
See above, p. 227.
5.
See below, pp. 295-6.
6.
R.
cit.,
section
m,
Accademia, No. 26.
The subtly coloured frescoes in the refectory

Pomposa reveal CavaUinesque iconographic
elements alongside muddled echoes of the architectural framework of the St Francis Cycle at Assisi.
Manu-
Italian
Morgan Library (New York,
1953), no. 22 (ms. 643), p. 13,
E.g. Venice,
fF.
vol. vi, 122
The
contrast
of the
with most
Duomo
Giottesque frescoes in the
fF.
at
placidly
Udine
is
such
that, despite close links in certain figures, the attri-
Klein,
bution depends almost entirely on the documentary

evidence (L. Coletti,
spective', Art Bulletin, XLin (1961), 211
ff.
5.
p.
263
p.
265
7.
R. Offher, op.
cit.,
section in, vol.
8.
R. Offher, op.
cit.,
section
9.
10. In the
static
vm.
Noli
ff".
altarpiece
of 1348 the
symmetry of the crowded
flanking
enlivened by emphatic, asymmetrical
is
p.
266
20
p.
267
summarized
11.
R. Offher, op.
12.
C. Sterling,
cit.,
m,
vol.
11,
43
13. L.
M. Meiss, The Life

(New York, 1962), 21
strongly that
1.
ff".,
it is
indeed
7. L.
ff^
Gaddi', L'Arte,
xvn
of St
argue
preparatory study.
Maione, 'Fra Simone Fidatc

(1914), 107
Taddeo
ff".
At the opposite end of the
at the
Tomb and
imaltered until the dissolution of the
Republic in
Still-Lije Painting (Paris, 1959),
Tintori and
or the Maries
Membership, confined to the patrician famihes

in the Golden Book, remained sub-
797.
Testi,
La
Storia
8.
della
pittura
Paolo was apparently engaged
tapestry designs with
Francis in Assisi
15.
killing Abel,
Tangere.
stantially
ff-.
14.
Me
veneziana
(Bergamo, 1909), 139, and G. Monticolo, Fonti per

la storia d'ltalia (Rome, 1896-1914), 11. i, 383.
in the central panel.
section
ff.).
inscribed
colour-pairing. All the resulting colour-combinations are then
Maestro dei Padighoni', in
E.g. Original Sin, the Offerings of Cain and Abel,
and Cain
vol.v, 55
6.
Gambier-Parry
general
figures
iii,
'II
Miscellanea Supino (Florence, 1933), 211
'Pomponius Gauricus on Per-
liis
41:
1335
on
who
also
worked on stained glass for the Frari. There is a

slightly odd signature and date on the Madonna in
the Aldo Crespi Collection at Merate. The date
1358, and the signature on the Augustus and the
Sibyl at Stuttgart, have long been thought to be
false additions to a later
scale, designs,
c.
brother Marco,
del Fiorc.
work, possibly by Jacobello
NOTES TO PART
CHAPTER
SIX
linked, Orvieto,
and not Siena,
as
generally
is
assumed, has priority.
The canopy over
1.
corded
Balbini
(W. R.
1935). 39).
and the imperial figure
He was
is
re-
own
is
6.
See above,
7.
C. Dodgson,
Codex
Valentincr, Tiiio da Cainaino (Paris,
debted to Amolfo's
2.
the recumbent figure
early-fourtecnth-century
the
in
somewhat
Drawings
Italian
Drawings
succeeded by Lapo di Francesco, to
167
whom a number of works, such as the dismembered

at Pisa,
Vasari
P.
Series,
p.
295
p.
297
p.
298
p.
303
p.
306
Pouncey,
Department oj Prints and
the
in
British
First
Museum (London,
1950),
ff".
8.
See above, pp. 46, 225, and 237-8.
9.
If,
have
been attributed on uncertain grounds.
the
in
Society,
Popham and
(1905/6), 23-5, and A. E.
in-
Charles of Anjou.
Gherardcsca tomb in the Camposanto
p. 74.
as
is
likely,
he was responsible, after
Maitani's death, for eight of the figures in the niches
The repetition of the whole series in a drier,

flatter, more pictorial and linear manner on the
3.
della
Torre sarcophagus indicates the limitations of
round the rose-window,

ability
of
this
confirms the untrace-
his contribution to the infmitcly
accomphshed
more
rehefs.
Tino's narrative invention.

4.
The
series
of Tino's tombs
those of Mary of Anjou in
S.
is
completed by
and of Philip of Taranto and John of Durazzo

S. Domenico Maggiore.
in
XI
Domenico
in S.
Courtenay
Italy,
such
as those
and of Phihppe de
Assisi, only emphasize
Luke
3.
I.
4.
The
Florence and had
L. Fnmi, II
Duomo
1891), pubUshes
147.
loc. cit.,
and Liberal
p.
307
p.
309
di
Orvielo c
all
the documents.
siioi restmiri
vertical acceleration.
for
me by
4.
See above, p. 165.
5.
However much
it
P. Kidson.
may owe
genera-
of
now
in the
Opera
del
in
to
the
appear to
absence
of documentation,
to
exclude
5.
I.
Toesca, Andrea e Nino Pisano (Florence,

ff., rightly argues that to attribute the
1950), 58
superbly simple
controlling use of the root-two formula
was ascertained
later
Andrea's personal responsibihty.
the drawing and the inof the pimiacles flanking the central gable
would have accentuated the
men of a
controversial, ovcr-life-sizc figures
come from the niches above the

rehefs, and reflect the work of various hands. Even
in the two Sibyls the lowered quahty and uncomfortable dislocation of upper and lower body seem,
The completion of
The
16.
and four Prophets,
Duomo,
CHAPTER 32
3.
(1943),
Solomon, David, the Erythrean and Tiburtine

Sibyls,
2.
Planets, Virtues, Sacraments,
The
the territories acquired
lost all
under Guido.
clusion
Falk and J. Lanyi,
Andrea, were carried out by

tion.
(Rome,
xxv
Bulletin,
Arts of the upper registers, though influenced by
The heads are stucco, the originals having been
destroyed in 1341 after Arezzo had been ceded to
1.
Bronze Doors', Art
2.
in Perugia
in S. Francesco at
J.
3 3
Lanyi, 'The Genesis of Andrea
134-
of Benedict
his stature.
6.
Falk and
1. I.
Pisano's
5. Even the finest of the many tombs in the

manner of Amolfo or of Giovarmi, scattered
throughout Central
CHAPTER
Maria Donna Regina,
wooden
Virgin Annunciate of 13 21
highly dangerous in view of its signature by Stefano Accolti and Agostino di Giovanni.
to
Andrea
is
CHAPTER 34
Amolfo's
Florentine project, the impossibihty of Giovarmi

Pisano's facade at
Siena having this
form
alterations,
means
1.
(see
above, pp. 70-1), and the late date of the subsequent

that if the facades are indeed
The tomb was
severely reconstructed in 1839.
The original figure, shown here, has been

moved to a court)'ard in the Castelvecchio.
413
2.
p. 311
re- p. 315
NOTES TO PART SEVEN

19. R. Wittkower, Architectural Principles
Age of Humanism (London, 1952), pt i.
CHAPTER 36
p.
319
I.
H. Saalman generously showed
me
the type-
external and internal openings of the
now
the west end of the nave.
published
2.
C. Guasti,
secondo
Maria
5.
ff-
his definitive investigations.
documenti (Florence, 1887), 84.
Santa Trinita
complex of the Chiostro Verde and Chiostro

Grande and their surrounding structures, which
include the refectory and Ubrary with its three
aisles, is undefmed but probably considerable.
4.
C. Guasti, op.
5.
Saalman,
7.
G. Kiesow,
Baldaccini,
W.
p. 321
9.
2,
and
57
Note
8),
19
am
C. Guasti,
C. Guasti,
Main, 1952-5),
op.
op.
cit.,
cit.,
ra,
upper
and not
a record
of an
earlier project.
Jacopo
and
'S. Trinita
xxvn
(195 1-2),
The intermingling of
173.
p.
di
p.
the
Opera
69 fF
Mino
del
p.
del Pehdaio
Duomo
The drawing and
cit.,
159 (Doc. 120).
13.
C. Guasti,
cit.,
160 (Doc. 124), 163 (Doc.
handed
it
over
in 1382.
Keller, 'Die Bauplastik des Sieneser
Kunstgeschichtliches Jahrbuch
(1937), 141
Hert-
Bibliotheca
der
p.
fF.
Antonio Federighi's monumental crown

from 1463-8. The drawing is illustrated and
discussed in H. Keller, op. cit., 206 ff.
26.
same month cracks in the vaulting led

of the existing system of metal
to the initiation
cit.,
by
Doms',
the Fa(;ade are discussed
dates
131), 166 (Doc. 138).
bracing in the arches; C. Guasti, op.
H.
ziana,
C. Guasti, op.
14. In this
fF,
during the fifteenth century.
fF.
12.
op.
and R.
fF.
11. Saalman, loc. cit., 493 fF, considers this to be a

garbled description of the finally accepted design
322
cit.,
and sculpture was continued on
levels
25.
p.
op.
periodo romanico',
xxvi (1950), 23
23. See above, pp.

24.
140
nel
3248".
102, 103-4.
See above, pp. 165
and E. Paatz,
Trinita
fF.
to the
10.
and the "Crypt" under Santa
n,
W.
22. See above,
fF.
Die Kirchen von Florenz
E. Paatz,
the results of
For the early part of
nel periodo gotico', Rivista d'Arte,
painting
(Frankfurt
8.
(Chapter
and
'S.
Rivista d'Arte,
473, argues that there prob-
loc. cit.
Otherwise, see
ably never was an Arr.olfan 'design' as such.

6.
at
Reparata and San Pier Scheraggio',7oMr)Hj/ of the

Society of Architectural Historians, xxi (1962), 179 fF.
95.
cit.,
loc. cit.,
windows
the building history, see the article, 'Florence:
3.Jacopo's role in the construction of the vast
320
me
H. Saalman kindly showed
21.
del Fiore, la costriiziotic
p.
original bay-plan led to a discrepancy
'Santa Maria del Fiore: 1294-
as
1418', Art Bulletin, XLVI (1964), 47i
p.
At an early stage the expansion of the

between the
20.
of his study of the building sequence, which

throws much light on many of these cruxes and is
script
in the
27. A. Venturi, 'San
XXV
(1922),
207
Martino
di Lucca',
VArte,
fF.
168-70
28. A. Petrucci, Cattcdrali di Puglia
(Docs. 143-5)-
(Rome,
i960),
p.
seemingly
p.
128 fF
15.
p.
323
C. Guasti,
op.
cit.,
218 (Doc. 214).
CHAPTER 37
16. Saalman, loc. cit., 488 fF,beLeves the question

of whether or not to include a drum to he behind,
and to explain, the final long series of documented
I. Seniles, v, i, in
off. 1365-6. Sec
controversies over the planning of the east end.
Petrarch
p.
324
17. P. Chiolini, / Caratleri distributive degli aniichi

edifici
(Milan, 1959), 239
fF.
Even such buildings as St Mary in Capitol

Cologne or S. Fcdclc at Come or S. Lorenzo
18.
Milan hardly provide
a precedent.
J.
a letter to Boccaccio
H. Robinson and H.
(New York,
1914), 324,
W.
and A.
Aucdolli dclla vita di F. Pctrarca (Brescia,
422
fF.
The
Rolfe,
Foresti,
1928),
dating seemingly precludes the attri-
in
bution of the design to Bernardo da Venezia, pro-
in
posed in A.
Note
414
17).
M. Romanini,
op.
cit.
(Chapter
2,
NOTES TO PART SEVEN

34
2. P. Chiolini, / Caratteri distributive dcgli antichi

edifici
(Milan, 1959), 239
13. Sec J. S. Ackerman, 'The Ccrtosa of Pavia

and the Renaissance in Milan', Marsyas, v (1947-9),
ff.
23
The only
ff.
p.
350
p.
351
other church with which Bernardo
documcntarily connected, and then in a very

is S. Maria del Carmine in Milan.
Neither this building nor the Ccrtosa seem to
is
ambiguous way,
CHAPTER 38
justify the attribution to

j6
I. Illustrated
in J.
Scientia nihil est"
.',
Ackerman,
S.
"Ars
sine
mine
Art Bulletin, xxxi (1949),
whose fundamental
figures 5, 6,
'
discussion
(Chapter
from
op.
induced Lorenzo dei Spazii, mentioned in the

Milanese documents from 1390 to 1394, to retain a
cit.
standard nave and
(Chapter 2, Note 17) do not seem to be bonie out

by the surviving accounts. Receipts of 349 hre 11
soldi 2 denarii for the eight months May-December
1386 compare with receipts of 3,508. 19. 11 and
15.
series
and
and by
is
way
rising to
II.
new
The
i| in 1391.
The
campaign was
Annali
op.
in
seem
del
Annali
4.
See above, p. 40.
5.
Annali
(op.
cit.),
68
ff.
6.
Annali
{op.
cit.),
71
ff.
7.
Annali
{op.
cit.),
202
8.
See above, p. 178.
9.
Annali
cit.),
{op.
11. P. Frankl, op.
on the
12.
significance
C. Guasti,
di
For
A,
see
Barbacci,
XXV
(1950), 171
p.
353
Archivio
della
Fabbrica
n (1922-3), 77
di
S.
p.
354
ff.
Petronio,
fol. 3V.,
and
(Bologna, 1913),
Basilica Pctroniana
293, doc. 2a.
ff.
19.
ff.
ff.
80
Archivio, op.
cit.,
When,
fol. 3v.
A. Gatti, op.
cit.,
September 1402, the

painter Jacopo di Paolo was commissioned to make
a second model, it was to follow the form of the
294,
224
'I
ff.
Libro delle Convenzioni e Composizioni,
209
cit.
restoration,
its
Restauri della Mercanzia di Bologna', Bollettino
Milano
18.
cit.,
of 1425, seemingly imprinted on
17. F. Fihppini, Bollettino d'Arte,
of this
op.
17).
the blank facade of the Assunta at Chivasso.
53.
cit.),
Note
at Chicri, in S.
A. Gatti, La
{op.
M.
Mortara. See A.
2,
Giovamii at Cirie, and

of S. Orso at Aosta. The ultimate
ornate complexity is the many-figured terra-
d'Arte,
3.
Annali
at
(Chapter
are notable in
Duomo
16.
duomo
(Milan, 1877), 45.
10.
cit.
cotta frontispiece
to support the
of 1386.
delta fabbrica
cit.),
quarter of the century and
last
Lorenzo
in the CoUegiata
done there was no look-
figures, indeed,
{op.
Romanini,
the
fully
and early 1387, but that
to be
traditional starting date

2.
S.
terracotta detailing
once enough time had elapsed for the necessary

ing back.
headed by
traditions
peaks
given that neither the fund-raising
work
with vaulted nave
erected in Lonibardy and the neighbour-
the needle-points and

of the gables over the doors
of the fifteenth-century facades of S. Antonio di
Ranverso and the Ospedale at Buttighcra Alta, in
in late 1386
organizational
aisles,
conservatism marks the
hall churches,
income was
process nor the constructional
under
of wide, low
89 income was 43,639. 11. 10
and outgoings 26,858. 9. i^,

of 57,287. 13. 7^ and 30,640.
impression
aisle pattern.
innate
simil.ir
Strange metamorphoses of earlier Piedmontese
13,536. II. 10 respectively. In 1388

7,
ing territories in the
outgoings of 3,436. 5. 4 for the similar period

January-August 1387. The totals for 1387 as a
whole rise even more steeply to 16,454. 2. 3 and
24,146. 4.
which the long-drawn-out building
in
problem of converting an earlier structure may have
the initiatives of Gian
M. Romanini,
cit.
The Milanese tendency towards a cruciform

and cupola design is also reflected in the Duomo
Como,
at
Galeazzo Visconti and the starting date well before

1386 argued for by A.
op.
17).
history again leads to a hybrid outcome. There the
Eight Centuries (Princeton, i960).
disassociation
Maria del Car-
14.
hall
Frankl, The Gothic, Literary Sources and Interpreta-
The
Note
2,
S.
M. Romanini,
of the
measurements and of the significance and sequence

of events are supplemented by further analyses in P.
tions through
him of
Pavia, as in A.
at
ff.,
doc.
2b.
in
existing structure. See Archivio, op.
argues persuasively
The only
cit.,
311, doc.
significant modifications in the exist-
ing structure seem to be those introduced
distinction.
(Chapter 36, Note
13.
2),
174
Antonio himself at an early
20. P. Toesca, // Trecento (Turin, 1951), 150
(Doc. 150).
415
by
stage.
ff.
p. 355
NOTES TO PART EIGHT

CHAPTER 40
p.
362
I.
363
'Bama and Bartolo
Faison Jr,
2. S. L.
364
3.
E. Borsook,
C. Brandi, 'Niccolo
VArte, XXXV (1932), 221

p.
366
N. Rubinstein,
5.
Art
p.
368
6.
.',
The
1957). 238
at
San Leonardo
xcvm (1956),
di Ser
351
al
CHAPTER 41
Sozzo Tegliacci',
ff.
ff.,
369
7.
M.
8.
Donato and Marco Catarino
by
R. Offner, op.
370
9.
p.
372
10.
p.
374
II.
M.
Meiss, op.
cit.,
1957).
in
2. P.
ff.
and Siena
cit.
iv, vol.
i,
(Milan,
ff.
43
Toesca's fundamental
miniatures.
after
La
1912),
work on Lombard
Pittura e la niiniatura nclla

is
alone, or
Lombardia
briUiantly carried forward
by
Pacht, 'Early Italian Nature Studies and the
Early Calendar Landscape', Jonnm/ of the Warburg

and Courtauld Institutes, xm (1950), 13 ff.
ff.
section rv, vol. u.
(Note
Colour development
Use of Colour
97
on Lorenzo, produced by Marco Catarino

by Giovanni da Bologna.
O.
clearly analysed in
J.
teenth
(1933),
Corpus of Florentine Painting
(BerUn, 1930-), section

p.
xv
in Florence
Death (Princeton, 195 1), 9
in theGalleriaQuerini-
ziano, or with the various works, largely dependent
San-
P.
and M. Meiss, 'The Problem of
R. Offner,
underUned by comby
Stampalia in Venice, derived from Paolo Vene-
Meiss, Painting
the Black
is
parison with the signed altarpiece of 1372
Sienese
in
ff.
Francesco Traini', Art Bulletin,

p.
Lorenzo's individuality
1.
Ideas
'Political
alternatives are supported
46
Prato (London,
ff.
ff.
paolesi a.o., Camposanto Motnimentale di Pisa (Pisa,
i960),
Cermini, cap.
L Origo, The Merchant of
di Fredi',
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Insti-
XXI (1958), 189
tutes,
Lxxxm.
14.
15.
ff.
'The Frescoes
Lago', Burlington Magazine,

4.
I.
ff.
Art Bulletin, xrv (1932), 285

p.
Cennini, cap.
Cennini, cap. xxvin.
Borsook, The Mural Painters of Tuscany
E.
(London, i960), 127

p.
12.
13.
7,
above), 100
in this period
3.
See above, pp. 295
ff.
4.
See above, pp. 336
ff.
ff.
is
very
Shearman, Developments
in the
Tuscan Paintings of the Early Six-
Century (London University Thesis) (London,
5.
Fol.
6.
Cemiini, cap. lxx.
7.
He was paid in
V.
1402 for another Missal
the Biblioteca Capitolarc in Milan.
416
now in
NOTES TO PART NINE

CHAPTER 43
'The
E. Steingrabcr,
Pistoin Silver Altar:
examination', Connoisseur, cxxxin (1956), 148
Note: The ground
covered in
this
certain extent overlaps that dealt
with
E.
Carh, Scultura
li^nea
(Milan, i960), 52,
1944). 97
The
5.
his
See above, p. 326.
3.
C. Ragghianti, 'Acnigmata Pistoriensia

(1954), 423
ff., 11
(1955). 102
MS.
I,
ft",
fr.
and
417
6.
jyj
p.
397
altarpiece in S. Eustorgio rules out
involvement
11',
p.
high, hard finish and detailed naturalism
of the crowded
Lancelot du
2.
ff.
lomharda (Milan,
gotica
ff-
closely related
plate 27.
Critica li'Artc,
C. Baroni, Scultura
4.
in another
volume of The Pelican History of Art: Charles

Seymour Jr, Sculpture in Italy: 1400-1500 (Harmondsworth, 1966).
1.
Re-
chapter to a
in
its
carving.
to that
Lac
(Paris,
op.
cit.,
figure style
like
is
the
Bibhothequc Nationalc,
343). See C. Baroni, op.
C. Baroni,
The
of manuscripts
no ff.
cit.,
127
ff.
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Further references,
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Many of the works listed
here
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vant, and vice versa.
The
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also those
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General
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A.
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L'Arte
The
Lorenzetti, Ambrogio and
362-86. Princeton, 1955.
E.
F.J.
l-riend,
Weigclt, C. H. Duccio. Leipzig, 191 1.
to IV.
Princeton,
Isaac Master
T. dc. 'Observations on Duccio's
E.
Salvini,
Siena.
1959.
Carli, E. Vctrata duccicsca. Florence, 1946.
Wald,
H. Guido da
J.
1964.
1938.
Art
M. 'The Problem of Francesco

xv (i933). 97 ff-
Traini',
Bulletin,
Tintori, L., and Borsook, E. Giotto: the Peruzzi
Chapel.
New
York, 1965.
ViTALE DA Bologna
Gnudi, C.
Weigelt, C. H. Giotto. Stuttgart, 1925.
425
Vitale da Bologna.
Bologna, 1962.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SCULPTURE AND ASSOCIATED ARTS
IV.
GENERAL
A.
1.
General Works
Crichton, G. H. Romanesque
Sculpture in Italy.
Jahrbuch
Cambridge, 1938.
139
Pope-Hennessy,
Gothic
Italian
J.
Siena
4.
Carli, E. II Pulpito di Siena. Bergamo, 1943.

Keller, H. 'Die Bauplastik des sieneser Doms',
Bibliotheca
des
Herziana,
(1937),
ff.
Sculpture.
London, 1955.
Venice
5.
2.
Carli,
E.
La
Special Subjects
Scultura lignca italiana. Milan, i960.
Francovitch, G.
del
Krautheimer,
crocifisso
de. 'L'Origine e
(1937), 139
V (1929), 193 ff.

Planiscig, L. 'Geschichte der venezianischen
Skulptur im XIV Jahrhundert', Jahrbuch der
dcr
ff.
Keller, H. 'Die Entstehung des Bildnisses am

Ende des Hochmittelalters', Jahrbuch des Bibliotheca Herziana,
KOECHLIN,
(1939),
227
kunsthistorischc
in Venedig', Jahrbuch der kunsthistorische
Samm-
xx
(1899),
220
London, 1957.
ff.
C. A. Kaiser Fricdrichs II Triumphtor
zu Capua. Wiesbaden, 1953.
6.
Maffei,
5.
Regions
Verona
d e. Le Arche scaligere di
F.
Verona. Verona,
n.d.
Scultura gotica lombarda. Milan, 1944.
WuNDRAM, M.
'Toskanische Plastik von 1250-
1400', Zeitschrift fiir Kunstgeschichte, xxi (1958),
243
allerhochstcn
ff.
lungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses,
F. Italian Jeifelled Arts.
Baroni, C.
des
(1916), 176
SCHLOSSER.J. VON. 'Die Werkstatt der Embriachi
ff.
R. Les Ivoiresgothiquesfranâis. 2 vols.
WiLLEMSEN,
Sammlungen
xxxm
Kaiserhauses,
Paris, 1924.
Rossi,
Marburger Jahrbuch fiir Kunstwissenschaft,
Plastik',
la difFusione
gotico doloroso', Jahrbuch
R. 'Zur venezianischen Trecento-
INDIVIDUAL SCULPTORS
C.
ff-
Andrea Pisano
Falk,
B.
INDIVIDUAL CITIES
1.
Studien
I.
Falk,
Florence
and Lanyi,
I.,
Facade of the
Cathedral of Florence', journal of the Warburg
and Courtauld Institutes, iv (1940-1), 67 ff.
2.
Carli, E. Le
gamo, 1947.
i
duomo
vu
und
Ber-
di Orvieto.
duomo
(1927-8), 339
di
I.
of the IVarburg and Courtauld
(1959), 254
3.
'The Genesis of Andrea

Bulletin,
Nino Pisano. Florence, 1950.
Cambio
sein Werkstatt', Jahrbuch der preussischen
iv
(1934),
204-23;
lvi
ff.
Mariani, V. Arnolfo
di
Cambio.
Rome,
1943.
COSMATI
Hutton, E. The Cosmati. London, 1950.
Embriachi
ff.
Schlosser, J. von. 'Die Werkstatt dcr Embriachi

in Vcnedig',y<i/iriHf/i der kunsthistorische Satnm-
Perugia
lungcn des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses,
Fasola.G. N. La Fontam
xxv
ff.
Andrea
di
(1934). 22
Or-
ff.
Whit e, J. 'The Reliefs on the Fa(;ade of the Duomo

at Orvieto', yowrna/
Hamburg,
Gnudi, C. Nicola, Arnolfo, Lapo. Florence, 1948.

Keller, H. 'Die Bildhauer Arnolfo di Cambio
bassorilievi dclla facciata del
xxxn
Toesca,
de. 'Lorenzo Maitani scultore
vieto', Bollettino d'Arte,
Institutes,
(1943). 132
Arnolfo
J.
Kiinstsammlungen,
Francovitch, G.
e
First
Orvieto
Sculture del
Pisano.
Bronze Doors', Art
Pisano's
Weinberger, M. 'The
zu Andrea
1940.
di Perugia.
Rome,
1951.
426
220
ff.
xx
(1899),
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Giovanni Pisano
Francovitch, G. de.
crocifisso
'
L'Origine e
gotico
Bihliotheca Herziana,
Keller,
doloroso',
ii
la difFiisionc
del
Jalirbiicli
licr
Gnudi, C. Nicola, Arnolfo, Lapo. Florence, 1948.

Seymour Jr, C. 'Invention and Revival in Nicola
Pisano's "Heroic Style'", Acts of the
H. Giovanni Pisano. Vienna, 1942.
IVestern Art,
207
i,
ff.
Princeton, 1963.
Swarzcnski, G. Nicola Pisano. Frankfurt
GORO
Di
Gregorio
di Gregorio.
Florence, 1946.
Gnudi, C. Sec
Arnolfo
di
Nino Pisano
Toesca,
Lapo
I.
Andrea
(1937). 5S
Nino Pisano. Florence, 1950.

Bulletin, xix
ff.
Orcagna
See the three items quoted above under IV
2,
See
III
C.
Ori'iflo.
Pisano,
Nicola Pisano
Carli, E. Il Piilpilo di Siaia.
Weinberger, M. 'Nino Pisano', Art
Cambio.
Maitani
Bergamo, 1943.
Rci'ival oj Sculpture in Italy.
see
Andrea, Giovanni, Nicola,
Nino
TiNO DI Camaino
Crichton, G. H. and E. R. Nicola Pisano and the
Carli, E. Tino di
Cambridge, 1938.
Camaino
Morisani, O. Tino
N. Nicola Pisano. Rome, 1941.

G. N. La Fontana di Perugia. Rome, 195 1.
Fasola, G.
Fasola,
am Main,
1926.
Goro
Carli, E.
XX Inter-
national Congress of the History of Art, Studies in
(1937), I39tf.
di
scultore.
Camaino
Florence, 1934.
a Napoli. Naples,
1945.
Valentiner,
427
W.
R. Tino
di
Camaino.
Paris, 1935.
THE PLATES
b) Assisi, S.
'
Francesco, founded 1228, consecrated 1253, upper church
"
;.
rf/ '^ jtf
(Aj (.iiibbio. S.
(b) Toili, S.
hiMiKcsco, begun by I2S9
Fortimato. bciîm 129:

4
(b)
Massa Marittima, Duomo, choir begun 1287

5
(a) P.idiKi. S.
Antonio, bct;un
c.
1231
Siena,
Duomo,
original
nave bem vaulted 1256-60
(a)
Arnolhi
11)
(.uu.iiiiii
A\ c:.iiiibio(?):
ill
Siiiione:
Florence, Badia,
I'isa,
begun 1284
Canipos.uuo, begun 1277
(a)
(b)
Orvicto, fahizzo del Capitano, soon after i25o(?
Todi, Palazzo del Capitano, I290s(?), and Palazzo del Popolo, begun 1213,
heio;htencd 122S-33, completed by 1267
.^
"^
(a)
(b)
Cremona, Loggia
dci Militi. 1292
Piaccnza. Palazzo Conuinalc, begun m'ô

13
-w.
-*-fpl
fij#r-
'
f^ws
Nki>l.i I'lviiui: I'ulpu. 12(10.
I'i.-,i.
Btiinistiry
(a)
(b)
Nicola Pis.uio: Nati\ir\. detail of pulpit, 1260.
Pi.<a,
liaplislcry
Nicola Pisano: Adoration of the Magi, detail of pulpit, 1260. Pisa, Baptistery
17
Nicol.i I'is.m..:
I'lilpii,
i:r)S-,S. Siaio. Dii
IS
Nicola I'lsano;
Madonna and
Child, detail ot pulpit,
19
i.
-N.
Siena,
Duomo
l-^j
(ii)
Nico la Pisano; AdoiMtion
Nicol.i I'lsaiio; Fi>iu.ina
ot"
the Ma-i, detail of pulpit, i;fiy-N.
Maggiorc, finished 1278.
>/c7;.i.
l\riiîii, P/iiccii
Duonio
11' Xoi'cmhn'
(a)
b)
Arnolfo
di
Fra Gugliclnio: Pulpit, 1270. Pisroia, S. Gioviviiii
Cambio: Area
di S.
Domenico
(detail),
}-'iiorcivir
i264(?)-7. Bologna, S. Domenico
-4
26
(a)
Amolto
di
Cambio: Virgin and Child, by

deW Opera del Diioimi
1302. Florence, Miisco
(b)
Giovanni Pisano: Virgin and Child,

Pisa, Camposaiito
c.
12S0.
Giovanni Pisano and Giovanni
di
Cecco: Siena,
Duomo,
tagade, late
thirteenth-early fourteenth centuries and late 1370s
30
Glo\aluu
I'lsalii';
I'ulpit, 13 Jl. I'lÎ'U), S. Aihlri\i
(a)
CiKn-anni Pisaiui: Adoration ot
(b)
Gun alilii
tlic
Magi,
liiTail
ot [nilpit. 1301.
l'i}.fohi.
K-F'-
I'lvaiio. i\Li
Pisioia, S. Aiiilrcii
33
S. Aiuln'ii
'^î-
Ciiov.inin I'ls.uin: I'ulpit, 1302
34
10.
I'i.<ii,
Due
(a) Ciiov.inni I'ls.mi): N.itivit), dct.ul ot piilpit,
1302-10. Pisa,
'-'-r-r-r-r-^r-r-Y-j-
(h)
C.uiv.mni I'ls.mo:
nieirixion. Jctail
35
of pulpit, 1302-10.
Diioiiio
--
Pisa,
Diwmo
37
'MMt^^^^^' 1
39
(a)
Pictro Cavallmi; AnmiiKi.Uicm,
(..iil\-
i290s(?).
40
Rome,
S. Ccciliii in Tra<tii'cr(
a)
Jacopo Torriti: Coronation ot the Virgni,
I29()(r).
Rome,
S. .Maria
Magoiorc
Al>SPVeR
,
I'.i
I'IlUo
.iitation. earlv I290s(?).
41
Rome,
S.
Maria
in
Trasteverc
42
43
45
i.,,.|.|iu
ill
M.iiiov.ilJi);
Madonna
dil
lionloiK-,
46
I20i. Siiiui. S. A/cIim dfi
Scnn
4S
J^*'*^^
î"**"
/S.
.''
^-
49
Cim.ibui-;
'^.
rmii
\1
1.I..1111.1,
SO
early ijSos(r). i'/iTc/uc, i'Jii:i
(a)
Cmi.iLnic: St M.irk,
,.
ijSo(r). .-1>mm,
,S'.
Iuiiilc^lo,
upper
chiiixh, croisuii^
53
54
> Q
S6
57
ss
59
60
,-./,
(?^'"'^f^l''""4.
i^~-r^
h^^^^^^^^PObHUI^^VjIaI
'
'^^^1
:'vn
i
-^'""^-?~
(a)
Master
the St
cit
nnd
(b)
Master
ol the Si
Apparition
i.iikis
i.mus tJycie;
.it
Cycle: Institution of the Crib
at
Creccio,
i290s(?). Assisi. S. Fnviccsio, \ippcr clnirch
Aries,
mid
St Irancis
preachnig before Honorius
III
i;90s(?). Assisi, S. Francesco, upper church
62
ami the
Duccio; RucclLu Madonna, coniniisM.'iu a i:>s.

63
f/.'/o/a, Lffiî
64
65
66
67
PW^J.
JllJlt
Srii.i. I'.il.i//i) I'uhblico, Ix'giiii
6S
29S
(a) Sicna, S.
(b)
Doihlmuco, ahcr 1309
Sicna, Fontc
Nuova, begun iigS

69
Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, touiulod 1299, and Loggia dclla Signoria, construction
supervised bv Benci di Clone and Sinione Talenti, 1376-f. 138
71
ii
(a)
Giotto: Florence,
(b)
Duomo,
Drawing
5i('H<i,
campanile, founded 1334
for the campanile.
Miisco dcll'Opcra del Dtioitio
74
(b)
Gubbio, Duonio, consecrated 1366

75
Ai)i;cl>'
il.i
Cl|\i-;i.';:j
<
.uhbu>, r.il.i//o ^k\
76
nnsoli, bogiin .ittm
\}21
(a)
(b)
Angclo da Orvicto(?): Gubbio, Palazzo
Angclo da Orvieto: Citta
di Castello,
dci Consoli,
begun
Palazzo Comuiiale,
77
after 1322. Detail
of steps
mid tourteenth century{?
Anaclo da Orvicto: Citta
mid
di Castcllo, Palazzo Coinuiia
fourteenth century(?)
nun
78
after 1323
Crcma, Duomo,
79
ta(,-ade, c.
1341
(a) Mil.iii, S. (.oii.irdo, c.iiup.iiiiL
inscriluil in
1336
\iij
Clu.il. iv.illc di
crossing tower,
Mil.mo. .ibbcy cliurdi.
mid fourteenth century
(a) Me)iuay.iiaii.i.
Uiwn
(b)
w.ilK,
IxCwccn 1242 and
Gradara,
castle,
c.
i-.sy.
1307-25
loin
tlic soiitli
(a)
Sirmionc,
castle, late thirteenth
111)
and early fourteenth
Penis, castle,
82
centuries. Aerial
view
c 1340
iM
Venice, SS. Giovanni c Paolo, begun
c.
1333
(a)
Venice,
S.
Maria Gloriosa
()
dci Frari,
Venzone, Diiomo,
begun 1330s chon' and
inscribetl in 130s
transepts
Trcviso,
S.
Nicolo,
85
bc>j;uii
t'.
1303
(a)
Padua. Palazzo dclla Ragione, ceiling,
c.
1306
(a)
Naples,
(b)
S.
Pietro a Maiclla, founded early fourteenth century
Naples,
S.
Maria Doruia Regina, 1307-f. 1320

87
(a) Gagliartlo l'ninario(?)
(iij
I'.iUrino, S.
Naples,
i-.nici.si.(>,
S.
Chiara, begun 13 lO
doorway,
alter 1302
Ciiotto: Ognissanti
Madonna,
c.
i3io-is(?j. Hoiriice, L'(p:i
(iiottii: I'aiiu.i.
Arena Chapel,
paiiitid lH-t\virn 1304
90
ami 1313. Looking
cast
(a)
Giotto:
Head of
the
\'iil;iii,
Ja.ul ot iIk Last JiulL;LiiiLUt,
between 1304 and 1313. Padua, Arena Chapel
(b)
Giotto: Exptilsion otjoachun, between 1304 and 1313. Padua, Arena Chapel
91
(a)
Giotto: AnnuiuLition to Anna, bLtwccn 1304 and 1313. Vddua, Arena Chapel
iv!)
(Hotto:
Uirili ot ihc Viri;iii,
Ixtwcfii 1304
92
.iiui
1313. Padua,
Anna
Chapel
(a)
Queen
ot Shell. 1, niul
(b)
thirteenth century.
c.
i26o-7o(?
Ivory. Formerly
Reims Cathedral, west portal
(c)
Angel,
Denwtte Collection
Giotto: Marriage of the Virgin, between 1304 and 1313. Padua, Arena Chapel
93
94
95
(a)
Giotto: Apparition at Arlcb,
(h) (liotio:
c.
i3i.s/2o(?). Florence, S.
96
Croa: Bardi Chapel
{cj.
Plate 172)
(a)
Giotto: Dance ot Salome,
mid
I320s(?). Florence, S. Croce, Peni::i
Chapel
9S
99
pr
_^
mm
MB
SinioiK- M.irtmi: Maosc'i,
ins.
Siciiii.
l\iliiz:o Puhhiiiv
f^
f^
JU pj^ *j^
*)b*
^S^îf^
iM
IIr i
*^
u^
MMMiwjiwBWJIWIBWWIBaliliiaJilfc
iiilW
MHiilMMI
Simone Martini:
St Louis ot Toulouse, 1317. Naples, Gallcria Nazioiiak
(a)
Simonc Martini: Guidoriccio da Fogliano,
1328. Siciia, Pnhizzo Puhblico
Mciiiini: AiimiiK'MtKin.
i~,
;;.
:,'r,ii,,'.
!!i:i
(a)
SmioiK
M.irtini: St Mar}'
St Catherine,
c.
Magddlcn and
i33o(?). Assisi, S. Frniicesco,
lower church. Chapel of St Martin
Simone Martini:
St
Martin invested,
St
Martin renouncing the Sword,
Assisi, S. Francesco, lower church,
103
Chapel
of St
Martin
c.
i33o(?).
i.
-^yi
rr
i-r
-t:
-t :;
i i
105
:>0
I-
107
(a)
Follower of Pietro Lorenzetti: Last Supper, i330s(?).

Assist, S. Francesco, Iciirer church, south transept
(m)
Aml->roi;io Lorenzetti: Maesta, i330s(?).
108
Massa
M.niiiiiiui. l\ihi::o I'lihhiico
f^n??-'?^
a:_â_i^_>aUa
(a)
Anibrogio Lorcnzctti(?)
\v.)
a'
Townsc.ipc, mid 1320j(?). Sicim, Pinacotcca
Anibroyio Lorenzetti(?): Landscape.

109
I320^(rj. Suiui. I'uhhohi,!
mf f'Pî
'- ~--<^
yw
"j"*!^y^-^
ri-ir'--
-~
,|y-^--'-i^ v--
!>^^TJ^y
.'^-'
>
WBiHgSHBiii
l ''TVi
"3
"5
&puîii%i%.^
117
~~*â"i\ri-i
ii8
119
r.ulilc.
(i.ulili: SiciK-s triiin llic
lU-
ni
tin- \'ii';iii,
VU-X.
I'lorciur. N.
Cnuc.
li,mvhflli (-//ijyr/
Taddeo Gaddi: Tree of Life, Lives of the
Saints,
and Last Supper,
Florence, S. Croce, Refectory
c.
1340-50.
(a)
Maso
Banco: Head of Trajan,
di
window,
Florence, S. Crocc, BiirJi di
'
',
detail ot stanied-glass
late I330s(?).
'---
'cniio
-Mid the
Cimpcl
Dragon,
late l3.ô^(?
l-lonme, S. Croa; Bitrdi di V'vrnio Cluipcl
'V
(a)
Unknown
i.
;-.^
^.
Florentine: Pieta di S. Rcmigio, fourteenth
century, second quarter. Florence, UJjizi
(b)
Giuliano da Runmi: Virgin and Saints, 1307. Boston, ALiss., dndner Miisetini
123
T)
'-.
u o
"ii
'a
- c
r3
125
127
'_?
^ J?
-r
^':vr-rtBBia''i
X U
129
S'
131
(b) Ciioviiiini
li
Agostino: Angel appearing to St
detail .if font,
c.
mu
if'l. .Irc.-r.i.
Pivrc
|lin.
Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo
Bishop Guido
di
Ventura
Tarlati, 1330. Arez:o,
133
Monument
Duomo
:
to
(Al Ciiciwinni
and
I'.llio
da I'lrcnzc: Sicnc truin the
St Catherine ot Alexandria,
(ii)
oren/o
M.iitaiii(?): Anu-cl
c.
Litv'
nt
i343-5(?). Wipla. S. Chiara
nf St Mntthc-w. 1329-30.
I):
Lorenzo Maitaiii
(in
charge): Orvieto,
135
Duomo,
facade, bcL;un [310
4"V
î
137
139
141
Umiliiui di Vicri and Viva di Lando: KelK|uary ot S. Savino,

Kwrtcc-ntli century, s:cj)nd tiu.irtcr. Ori'icto, Diioiiny
Andrea Pisano: Bronze doors, 1330-6.
143
"'
1
a^
'(>.
.Ci
LW
,irv/^**v\2/'%'v'^
/
V
>-
'm^
.'
wy wa; ^\s/
:::r-
wy
.
v.^
iififSBiSSSSSBBrf^m
vi^W;
Aiuirca
of
Naniinp of the Baptist. St John cntcrini; ilu- WilJcriuss. Prciihiiii?

John, Presentation of Christ, Si John baptizint;, liaptisni ot Christ,
detail of bronze doors, 1350-6. Florence, li.iinifury
I'lsaiio:
St
(a) Detail ot
(b)
Andrea
Pisaiio:
mosaics, completed
i.
i32s(?). rloirinr. B.iptiskry
Carrying ot the Baptists Body and Burial of the Baptist,
detail of
bronze doors, 1330-6.
145
147
^K
149
Ciiuv.inni
lii
lialiluccio: Art;i
ill
S.
I'iftro Martiri-, i33<;. Miltiii. S. luisioriiic
Florence,
Duomo,
151
choir
153
Dr.iwiiig tor
I.n,.uU- ot h.iptistcry
third quarter (certainly
by
.it
Ni.
i^S.:), Sinia,
i,
t.nitiAutii cciitiirs
Musco dcU'Opcra
del
Duomo
Siena, baptistery, facade,
toundcd 1316.
built fourteenth century, early third quarter
155
(a)
(h)
Mattco Gattaponc: Spolcto, Rocca and Bridge, 1362-70
Ir.iiKCMii Stliicci(?): Monntrnan;, I'orta Lcgiiai;o, 1350 So
(a)
I'.ivi.i,
C'.istclKi
Viscontco,
c.
1360-5. South facade
-rrf^
(li)
I'avia,
Castcllo Viscoiitcii.
157
c.
1360-s. Court\ard
iu> li..i;..;iiii)a.i
\ crres. castle,
1360-90. Courtvard
.Jovara: Fcrrara,
Cl.istcllo tstcnsi-,
begun 13S5
Milan,
Duomo, begun
159
I386(?)
f*'
''<
i6i
{(^
Aiitoniii di
Viccnzo: Holo^na,
S.
IVtnmin,
lu-giin
1390
^w
^w
^r
^v
^Hv- HIIIhR^^^vHH iBH

(a)
(n)
Mattco Gattaponc: Bologna, Collcgio

1365-70. Courtyard
Venice, lâlazzo Ducalc, 1340
ft.,
late
163
di Spagiia,
tourtccnth century, and after 1424
IJ.irii.i il.i
Juil.is
ami
tlif
Sii-ii.i:
AniHiiiciatioii,
Tliirty Pieces
*>"
''
of
^
Entry into
Silver, Last
Jtriisalciii.
Supper.
'""-X'Mf.I
c.irl\
vsos(?).
(a)
Bartolo di Frcdi: Adnr.auui nt

Siciltl.
(b)
Lippo
\".iiini:
AuiuinciatKui,
[lie iVLit;!,
i390s(?
PIlhKOtCCcl
i.
165
i:;so ds.
i'.
Z.i\';;, ;),/,'
.,,
(a)
(..)
The Meeting of Dante and Virgil, MS. L. 70.

mid fourteenth century. Pcnuîa. Bihliotcai Au{;usm
Uiiibrian:
An.lre.Vann,. Agony
,n the
Cnrdc,
Crucifix.on, and Descent
tnurteentl, century, th.rd

c,uarter. li\,sl,iu^,o.
f.
nuo Lnubu,
Corconm Gallery
\\
r^
;^
'VV'^
,-
_^
^r^
M^:"
:'
167
69
171
Ai;iii>li) ('i.ulili: Till-
Legend
nf'ilu- (tcisn,
c nSof?).
I'lm-iicv, S.
Croa-. choir
{llirtli C,"/m/>i/
oh
ri{;lit)
(a)
Ciiovanni da Mil.nio: Hxpulsion ot
(b)
Spincllo
Arctmo:
loacliiiii, bi'sj;im
Frescoes, probably finished
173
i,1(^)5.
by
I'lorciicc. S.
Croic, Riiiiuiiiii (Înipcl
13.S7. Florence, S.
Miniato
al
Monte
(a)
Guaricnto
di
ArjxK Coronation of
the- Virt;iii (detail),
(u) Altichicrn: t.,rucitiM,.;,

;dct.al uf
completed in'>
''i,
1365
7.
rc/i/a',
ktt bay),
Sauto. Chapel oj S. Felice
Pala::o Ducalc
vT
i
B
Altichiero and
Avanzo:
Frescoes,
c.
1377/84. Pcidun, Oratory
175
of S.
Giorgi
(iiiiNtii
ili'Mt'n.ilnioi
Ihm.hs.
niui 1370s.
I\hliiii.
Btiplistcry
(a)
Giusro
i.k
i\Kn,ilnioi: St iMiilip cxorciziiiij; a Devil, carlv i3Sos(?).

Pddiia, S. Antonio, Bcllndi Clnipcl
(b)
Goffrcdo da Viterbo: Death of Jacob,
from Pantheon,
c.
13 31.
Paris, Bibliotheqtie Nationale
177
detail
of pa:
SSJ^^w,^.
3>
SP"S
-II;
179
:2
mmm
M^îM^î^m
i
-
"-J
///////////'/////'< //^l
183
iSi
(a)
c.
Francesco Vaiini: Reliquary of

1
3 So.
Florfinr. Miisco
dcW Opera
S.
Reparata
del
(b)
Duoino
Voghcra Monstrance,
1406.
Milan, Castcllo Sforzesco
185
^^^^v
^^
^-^
.-1
'
.^
^
^-
Alt.ir
i)t
S. J.icopn,
1287, 1314-16,
mid
Pistoin,
^,
IliL
.
'
'{
fourtcciuli-oarly htuviuli uiituiy.
Dtiomo
Y
11
Area
di S.
hW
ffltt
Agostino, inscribed 1362, completed huer(?). Pavin, S. Pictio
187
in
CicI d'Oro
'"
m\'
ii-UL_i
HW|
w?*?-i^.^*^
*>i^
rnm
Hi mini)
il.i
Câmpioiic: Moiuinu'iit
tore 1363. MiLin. Ciflcllo Sforzf.^
Bonino da Campioiic: Monunicnt

I
to Caiisignorio dclla Scala,
'croiiu,
S.
Maria Antica
191
begun before 1375.
(a)
Monument
(detail),
(h)
to
Mastino
II
dclla Scala, equestrian figure
before 1351. Venma, S. Maria Antica
rile Scali^cr
192
INDEX
INDEX
Numbers
m italics refer to plates; numbers in bold type indicate principal entries. References to
which the note occurs, followed by the number of the chapter

which it belongs, and the number of the note. Thus 413(33)5 indicates page 413, chapter 33,
note 5. Only those notes are indexed to which there is no obvious reference from the text.
Artists' names are given in brackets where there might otherwise be difficult)' in determining
which piece of work is intended: in churches, e.g. Assisi, S. Francesco, upper church, frescoes,
nave (Isaac Master) in galleries and where the artist concerned executed only part of the work,
e.g. Venice, S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, chapter house, mon. of Francesco Daudolo (Paolo
Veneziano), where Paolo Veneziano was responsible only for the lunette over the monument.
Names wliich include the particle di, etc. (e.g. Giovanni di Balduccio), and those where the
second element is an adjective (e.g. Nicola Pisano) are indexed imder the christian name. The
word monument is abbreviated to mon.
the notes are given to the page on
to
Andrea Pisano,
172, 261, 264, 268, 290, 294, 299,
303-9, 319, 387. 388, 390, 392; 143-7

Andrea d'Ugolino da Pontedera, see Andrea Pisano
Accolti, Stefano, 413(33)'
Adrian V, pope, mon., 57

Agnolo di Ventura, 162, 287-9; ^33
Agostino di Giovanni, 162, 287-9,
413(33)=;
Andreolo de'Bianchi, 394

Andriolo de'Santi, 378, 395; 1S9
Angelo da Orvieto, 176 ff., 409(18)'; 76-S
Angers, cathedral,
Agrigento
Badia of
S. Spirito,
Annibaldi della Molara, cardinal, mon., 59, 63

Anovelo da Imbonate, 385
200
Aigucs Mortes, 186, 1S7
Antelami, Benedetto, 293

Antelminelli, Guarnerio degli,
Aimone de
Anthony,
S.
Nicola, 401(2)''
Challant,
see
Guarnerio
St, 17, 100

Antique, influence of 39, 43-4. 45. 47. 4S. 49. 53. 56,
89
Albano, 299
Albernoz, cardinal, 330, 352
57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 78, 85, 86, 92, 96, 100, loi,
Alberti, L. B., 270, 324, 325, 346
105, 106, 107, 135, 136, 151, 169, 221, 250, 252,
Alberti family, 9
266, 273, 293, 297, 305, 314, 366, 367
Alberto da Campione, 393

Alberto della Scala, see Scala
Alezio, S. Maria della Lizza, tower-porch, 351
Antonio
Antonio
Antonio
Antonio
Antonio
Antonio
Altamura, cathedral, 200; portal, 286

Altenburg, Lindenau Museum (Guido da Siena), 114,
Antwerp, Koninklijk
Albertus Magnus, 48
Albizzate, oratory, frescoes, 383
Albizzi family, 319
406(11)-';
fig.
(Memmi), 237
degli Orsi, bishop,
mon., 284, 285; ijo
da Paderno, 348
da Pisa, 374
del PoUaiuolo, see PoUaiuolo
Veneziano, 368, 375
di Vicenzo, 336-7, 341, 348, 353, 354-5,
31; 162
Museum voor Schone Kimsten
(Martini), 239, 241; 103
Altichiero, 378-9, 379, 380, 385; 174, 175
Aosta, CoUegiata of S. Orso, 4I5(38)'5
Altomonte (Martini), 237

Amadeo VI of Savoy, 334
AmeUa, walls, 409(20)'
Amiens, cathedral, 42, 43 Beau Dieu, 49;
Aquila, 393
Fontana delle Novantanove Cannelle, 408(16)*

Museo (Abruzzan Master), 389; 181
facade, 72;
stained glass, 42; west portal, 49
S.
Maria
AquUeia,
di
CoUemaggio,
fa9ade, 329; portal, 377
basilica, 409(21)'
Thomas Aquinas,
Ammanati, Giovamii, 299

Andrea (son of Luca di Tomme), 365
Aquinas, St Thomas,
Andrea, Brother (of S. Francesco, Bologna), 5

Andrea da Bologna, 381
Andrea di Clone, see Orcagna
Andrea da Firenze, 322, 323, 325, 368, 371-3, 374;
Areopagitica (Pseudo-Dionysus), 311
St
Aretino, see Paolo, Pietro, and SpineUo Aretino
Arezzo
Duomo, 27-8;
9; altarpiece with Area di S.

Donato, 391 Tarlati mon., 287-8, 289, 391 ; ijj
171
FF2
see
Arditi, Andrea, 391
433
INDEX
Arezzo
Temple of Minerva, 143
(cotttd.)
Asti,
Pieve, 8; altarpiece (P. Lorenzetti), 244, 245-6,

font (Giovanni
246, 249, 250, 262, 411(27)^; ' 6:
d'Agostino), 289; 132; reliquary bust of S.
Atri,
Avanzo, 379, 3 So, 385; 175

Avenza, castle, 332
Domenico, choir -w-indow, 401(2)*; Crucifix

347
Amoldi, Alberto, 319. 326, 39o; 153, '^2

Amoldo de la Rosette, bishop (of Asti), 183
Amolfo di Cambio, 8-11,
Averroes, 372
Avignon, 219, 238, 242, 360, 391

Cathedral (Martini), 241-2
Papal Palace, frescoes, 242, 366-7
(Cimabue?), in, 121, 130

Aristotle, 48,
183-4; 7*
30
Auxerre, cathedral, portal, 85
Donate, 391; i*J

Pinacoteca (circle of Guido da Siena), 406(1 1)*
S.
Duomo,
Duomo,
St Francois
14, 25-6, 39, 46, 53.
55-67,
(Memmi), 411(26)^
Azario, Pietro, 396
1%
ioi>
68, 72, 73, 75, 78, 82, 85, 88, 95, 96, 99,
105, 135, 136, 150, 171, 172, 217, 219, 220, 270,
282, 285, 288, 293, 311. 312, 319, 321. 323. 324.
326, 402(3)', 403(7)', 4I3(3I)^ 413(32)5, fig.
4; 3, 10, 21, 23-S, 152
Florentia', 55
'Amolfo de
Codex, 413(31)'
Baldassare degh Embriachi,
331
Duomo,
S.
Baldo
26
Comune,
86
S.
Catarina, 13
Bardi, Ridolfo de', 219
147, 172, 180, 204, 342, fig. i;
no,
crucifix (Giunta Pisano),
Bardi, Rodolfo de', 269
Bardi family,
9,
219
Barga, pulpit, 403(6)*
chalice (Guccio di Mannaia), 300
121
lower church: Chapel of the MagChapel of St John (P. Lorenzetti), 246; Chapel of St Martin (Martiiii), 237,
239-41,246, 247, 261, fig. 24; 103; Chapel of St
frescoes:
Ban
Duomo,
dalen, 260-1; 116;
Nicholas (Giotto School), 227, 260; crossing,

261; nave, (S. Francesco Master), 121, 122, 133,
n8.
246; transept, north (Cimabue), 117-18,
S.
21
Nicola, 23
Barletta
Duomo,
S.
13-14, 21
Sepolcro, 198
Bama
da Siena, 361-3, 366, 370, fig. 32; 164
Barnaba da Modena, 382
mon.
(Florence, S. Croce), 310
120, 121, 129, 130, (P. Lorenzetti), 246; transept,
Baroncclli family, 9;
south (P. Lorenzetti and shop) 246-7, 248-9, 3 00
Baronzio, Giovanni, 273-4; '24

Bartholomew, abbot (of S. Paolo fuori
:07-S
frescoes:
upper church:
fig.
12; choir
and
transepts (Cimabue), 118-26, 132, 137-8, 147,

156, 228, 233, 306, 377, fig. 10; 49, 51-2; cross-
ing (Cimabue), I18, 120, 126-7, 228, 233; 51;

nave, 132, (Giotto?), 137, 227 ff., (Isaac Master),
133-6, 142, :43-4, 144. 216, 217, 227

(St Cecilia Master),
Francis
Cycle,
143-8, 153,
2n
Master of
ff.,
ff.,
^6-7,
141, 141-3, 144, 232, (St
220, 227
the),
ff.,
136
ff.,
142,
240, 260, 287,
362, 392, 412(29)'; 57-8, 60-2, (Torriti), 99,

132-3; transepts, see choir and transepts
mon. of Philippe de
Courten.iy, 413(31)5
windows, 121-3, 127, 129

windows: lower church: Chapel of St Martin
windows: upper church: choir and

121-3, 127. 12S, 217,
le
Mura), 62,
95
Bartolino da Novara, 334, 347; ISS
Bartolo di Fredi, 363-4, 365; '65
Bartolomco da Camogh, 243; gS

Bartolomeo di Gano, 179
Bartolomeo da Tcramo, 391
Bartolommeo
della Scala, sec Scala
Bartolus de BartoUs, 381

Bassano, Museo Civico (Guariento di Arpo), 377
Beatrice, countess,
mon., 43
Beatrice d'Este, men., 310
Benato, Jacopo di Marco, 395

Benci di Cione, 168, 320, 326; 71
Benedict XI, pope, mon., 413(31)'
Bcncvcnto, cathedral, ainboncs (Niccola da Monte-
(Martini), 239
S.
Marco, 179
Barcelona,
5,
S. Francesco, 2, 3-5, 7, 9, 12, 16, 17, 23, 26, 126-7,
S.
di
Barberini, Francesco, cardinal, 94
143
401(2)^ 403(6)*
Damiano, 144, J46-7, 204
S. Chiara,
89; 181
Baldinucci, Fihppo, 127
Castle, 330
Palazzo del
Balbini,
Ascoli Piceno, S. Francesco, 401(2)"

Assisi, 299,
B
Bacon, Roger, 48, 58
Badia a Isola, Maesta, 257
Bagni di Pctriolo, fountain, 74
Balbina, S. (Abruzzan Master),
fig.
transepts,
11; 54\ nave, 51, 132
Maria dcgli Angcli, portiuncula, 146, 204

Pictro, 26
forte; lost), 286

Bencvento, battle of, 50, 93
Bcnvciiuto da Imola, 229
Beretta, Francesco, 410(24)"
434
Bergamo
Bonaiuti, Andrea, see Andrea da Firciizc
Bonamio, 303,
Baptistery (Giovamii da Canipioue), 313; 14S
A-
Biblioteca Civica, Taaiiiw (ms.
vii.
14;
vamii dci Grassi), 384, 385; i"p

Palazzo Comuaale, 29
S.
Maria Maggiore, Longhi men., 311; north

doorway, 313-14, 396; processional cross
Bonifacio da Verona, 51
Bonino da Campionc, 336, 396-8; igo-l
Boninsegna (engineer), 50
Boquetau.x, Maitre au.\, 238, 364
(Andreolo de'Bianchi), 394

Berlin (T. Gaddi), 263, 266; (Giotto shop), 225
(Gio-
vaiiui Pisano), 88; (Florentine Master), 406(1
Borghctto, wall, 331
1)-;
(Memmi), 237
Bern (Duccio?), 157
Bernard,
Borgino dal Pozzo, 313
Borgo
Lorenzo, pulpit, 41
S.
Boston (Mass.)
Gardner Museum (Giuliano da Rimini), 227, 331,
260, 272; I2j; (Martini and Memmi circle), 237
Museum of Fine Arts (Barna da Siena), 363
Bovilc Ernica (Giotto?), 318
Braccini da Pistoia, Atto di Piero, 393
147
St,
304, 391
Bonaventure, St, 133-4, 139. I4'>. 231, 260

Bonaventure, Pseudo-, 77, 206
Boniface VIII, pope, mon., 55, 64, 66, 99, 135
Gio-
Bernardino da Modena, 275

Bernardo da Venezia, 347, 350, 414(37)', 415(38)"
Beroldo, 384, 385
Bcrtuccio, 303
Bctto di Francesco da Firenze, 391
Betto di Geri, 392; 1S4
Brancoli, pulpit, 403(6)5
Bevagna, Palazzo dci Consoli, 35-6

Bevignate, Fra, 50, 298
Braye, cardinal de, mon., 55, 55-9, 63, 63, 64, 65, 66,
78, 88, 105, 135,270,383,285,388,403(7)^; 2J-S
Bevilacqua, Francesco, 332

Biadaiolo Ficrcntino, Master of the, 365-6; iig
Brescia
Broletto, 34
Bianca of Savoy, 383

Bigarelli da Como, Guido, 40, 41
Billi, 239
Birmingham, Barber Institute (Martini), 235
Bitetto, cathedral, 200; portal (Lillo di Barlctta), 286
Bitonto, cathedral, 23, 200
Duomo
S.
Vecchio, Maggi mon., 311, 314
Francesco, 401(3)"
Maria del Casale, 300

Bronze sculpture, 50, 53, 291, 292, 293, 297, 298, 399,
Brindisi, S.
303 ff., 391, 404(7)'

Bruegel, Pieter, 355
Boccaccio, 366, 414(37)'

Boethius, 276
Bruncllcschi, Filippo, 331, 333, 334, 393-3
Bologna,
Buon, Bartolommeo, 396

Buon, Giovanni, 396
Burgundio di Tado, 83-4, 88
7,
Brussels (Martini circle), 343
253, 274
Collegio di Spagna, 352-4; i6j

Davia-Bargellini Gallery (Vitale da Bologna), 276
Museo Civico, Statuti dci Merciai, 275; 125
Buttighera Alta, Ospedale, 4i5(38)'s
Palazzo Comiuiale, 32
Palazzo della Mercanzia, loggia, 352
Palazzo dci Notai, 352
Palazzo di
Re Enzo, 34
Cagliari
Pinacoteca Nazionale (Giotto shop), 223
(Vitale
da Bologna), 276; 126

S.
Domenico,
3,
401(3)"; (Giimta Pisano),
no;
Area, 53, 59, 5!>-62, 63, 284, 311, 313, 393; 21;
high altar (former), 310; mon. of Giovamii da

Legnano, 395; rehquary of S. Domenico, 392,
Francesco, 5-7,
high
altar,
8, 18,
395; tSg;
Glossators,
Giacomo Maggiore, 354;
altarpiece
(Paolo
Veneziano), 279
S.
Camaino
Maria dei
Servi, 354;
(Cimabue
circle),
257
Petronio, 31S, 336, 354-5. % 3i; 162

S. Salvatore, polyptych (Vitale da Bologna), 276
Torri degU Asinelli, 161
S.
University, 373-3
Bolognese, Franco, see Franco
Bominaco,
S.
Pellegrino, 410(34)'
Pisa, 403(6)5
di Crescentino, 165,
283
Cambi, Jacopo, 348

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum (Niccolo
di
Gia-
como), 381
1S4, 192, 354, fig. 2; 2;
Tombs of the
314
S.
from
dell'Elefante, 187
Cambridge
394
S.
Pulpit
Torre
(Mass.),
Fogg Art Museum
Aretino), 375; (L. Vaiini), 365
Caminese family, 315

Campione, 311, 313, 336
Cangrande della Scala, see Scala
Cangrande II della Scala, see Scala
Cansignorio della Scala,
see Scala
Capua, gate, 44, 58

CarpLneta, church (Paolo Veneziano), 379
Carrara, 84, 399
Carrara V, Francesco da, 331
Carrara, Francesco, 385
Carrara, Jacopo da, mon., 395; iSq
435
(Spinello
INDEX
Cirie, S. Giovanni,
Carrara, Ubertino da, i88; mon., 395
Gallery (Duccio
Casole d'Elsa
Duomo, mens., Ranieri del Porrina, 287,
Cividale,
iji,
63, 178, 190, 342. 403(6)*
31, 93. 126;
mon., 57,
Cologne
Bona-
Cathedral, 339
St Mary in Capitol, 414(36)
ventura), 257; 114

Castracane, Castruccio, 171, 1S7, 236, 310, 332
Colouring of sculpture, 45, 47,
Cataluccio da Todi, 394
397
Commentarii (Ghiberti), 97
Castel Ursino, 334
Duomo,
reliquary of S. Agata, 391
Como, 299
Catarino, Doiiato and Marco, 416(41)'
Broletto, 29
Catherine of Austria, mon., 284-5

Catherine of Siena,
dei
St,
Tirreni,
Caniaino),
2S6;
Historiale (ms.
Duomo,
359, 3135. 373
Badia,
altarpiece
scriptorium,
Membr.
26),
276;
(Tino
S.
di
227, 230-1
Conradin, 31, 93
Constance d' Aries, mon., 6S-9

Conventuals, 147, 227
Coppo di Marcovaldo, 57,91, 108-11, 112, 113, 114,
116, 117, 121, 130, 157, 219, 406(11)"; 22, 43-7
Cornaro, Marco, doge, 377; mon. 388, 389
Cavallini, Giovamii, 97
Cavallini, Pietro, 62, 63, 91, 93-107. ii5, 120, 125,
130, 133, 135, 136, 137, 142. 144. 145. 151. 200,
206, 208, 211, 215, 216, 218, 221, 225, 259, 267,
272, 275, 276, 296, 407(14)*. 413(29)'; 3S-44
Cortona
Cclega, Jacopo, 193

Cellino di Ncsc, 175, 289
Cemiiiii,
414(36)'^
Compilatio Cronologica (Riccobaldo Fcrrarese), 204,
Cavaletto, Berto, 352
di Pepi, see
4i5(3S)'-'
Abbondio, 195
S. Fedele,
Spcaihiin
276
Cavalca, Domciiico, Fra, 367
Duomo
Cimabue
S.
(P. Lorenzetti), 411(27)^
Francesco, 12
Cosmati, Giovanni, 403(7)'
Ccnnino, 374-5, 3S4
Cosmati work,
Ccrchi, White, 170
57, 62, 99, 101, 150, 204, 217, 220,
277, 405(10)'
Ccrroni, Pietro dei, see Cavallini, Pietro
Champmol, abbey,
Cova, Giacomo, 340

Crema, Duomo, 193, 409(19)-;
Charles
Cremona
Cesi, S. Maria, altarpiece, 260, 272

altarpiece from (Embriachi), 386
of Anjou, 24, 50, 55, 59, 93, 197, 285; portrait (circle of Arnolfo di Canibio), 58, 413(31)'
Charles II of Anjou, 97, 197, 198, 199
Charles of Calabria, mon., 286
I
Duomo,
Chiaravallc di Milano, abbey, crossing tower, 185
396; north and south facades, 32, 184; tower,
Loggia dei
Militi, 32; ij
Palazzo di Cittanova, 32
5(j
Palazzo del
Duomo. 415(38)"
S.
doorway (Giovanni di Balduccio?),

mon. of Folchino de'Schizzi,
185, 193
Chiarito, Blessed, tabernacle of, 260
Chioggia,
336;
Comune, 32
Crevole ^ta(ôlVla, 156
Martino (Paolo Vcncziano?), 279
Cristiani,
Giovanni
di
Bartolomco, 392
Chivasso, Assunia, fa<jadc, 41 5(38)"
Cristoforo di Paolo, 392
Clironicon (Azario), 396
Curzola, battle of, 36
Cimabue,
facade, 71, 185; 79
313; facade, 71;
Chartrcs, cathedral, 42; glass, 42; side portals, 49

Chiaramontc family, 200
91, 102, :ii, 115-31, 132, 133, 136, 137,
138, 140, 147, 150, 152, 156, 157, 166, 203. 211,
218, 219. 222. 22S, 233. 257. 259. 263. 275, 293.
306, 363. 377. 4o6(u)'. fig. 10; ^g-}}
Cine
79, 88-9, 248, 279,
283, 285. 287, 399, 311, 312, 352, 383. 389. 391.
Catania
Chicri,
58, 62; 22,
1X2, 406(11)^
Castiglion Fiorentiiio, CoUegiata (Segna di
Ccmii
Donaw, 391; i8j
23
Coinage, 24
Colle Val d'Elsa, 55; dossal from (Guido da Siena?),
Castel S. Elia, ciborium, 64, 99
Cava
S.
Clement IV, pope,
286-7
Castcl Gaiidolfo, 299
Monte,
Duomo,
Clairvaux, 6
Prepositura (Segna di Bonaventura shop), 358
Castel del
257
Palazzo del Governo, 409(18)'
Casauria, S. Clemente, 73
d' Andrea,
circle),
Palazzo Comunale, 179-80, 409(i8)'>; 77-S
Casamari, 30, 73
Tommaso
415(38)"
Citta di CasteUo
Carrara family, iS6, iS8, 315

Casale Monferrato, Duomo, 1S5
de'Siiiibaldi. mon.. 289

Ciompi, revolt of the. 359
Daddi. Bernardo, 203, 241, 261-6, 268. 363, 369, 381,

390; 117-18
Oamiani. Petrus, 181
436
INDEX
D.indolo, Andrea, doge, mon., 395
Dandolo, Francesco, doge, mon., 279; 12S
Fabriano Altarpicce, Master of the, 410(24)"
Dante, 93, 170, 186, 187, 201, 203, 204, 207, 275, 276,
Fagna, pulpit, 41
Faggiuola, Uguccionc della, see Uguccione

Favara, castle, 200
301, 312, 315
Datini, Francesco di
Federighi, Antonio, 414(36)^*
Marco, 375, 379
Decameron (Boccaccio), 366
Fei,
Dcmotte Collection (formerly).

Deodato di Orlando, 406(12)'"
Ferrara, 52
Castello Estense, 334, 335; 138
Detroit (Lapo?), 60
De
Duomo,
Vita Christiana (Fidati), 26S
Dignano,
fa(;ade,
54
Ferrarese, Riccobaldo, see Riccobaldo
Vodnjan
see
Paolo di Giovamii, 365-6; 167
Fenis, castle, 189-90, fig. 16; 52
Angel, 217; gj
Fidati, Fra
Simonc, 268
mon., 57
Dionigi, Giovanni, 352

Dionysus, Pseudo-, 311
Ficschi, Cardinal,
Documenti d'Aniore (Francesco da Barberino), 204,
Fiesole,
Duomo,
gratings (Petrucci), 326
FiUppeschi, 301
22S
Domenico
Dominic,
Doininican
Donadino
Fiorentino,
Fiorcntino, 331
St,
60
Effigies,
Fioretti,
Master of
the,
tf.,
Domenico
Florence, 24-5, 33, 41, 247, 318, 319, 359, 373

Accademia (Daddi), 263-4; (Guido da Siena circle),
;
406(11)^; (Pacino di Bonaguida), 259, 260, 26S
iSj; (Pictro
Badia, 25-6, 55, 66; 10

Baptistery, 25, 29, 152, 323; altar from, see
Donato (assistant of Nicola Pisano), 46, 60

Drama, 117, 151, 305
Drawing, 58, 83, 261, 270, 295, 392; 116
architectural, 64, 16S, 172, 292
see
Flemalle, Master of, 359
266
di Cividale, 391; iSj
Donatello, 73, 78, 376, 380

Donate, S. (Donadino di Cividale), 391
and Paolo Aretino), 391; iSj
Domenico,
146
Museo
deirOpera; doors (Andrea Pisano), 264, 268,

290, 303-8, 309. 388, 392, i43-6<
(Ghiberti),
308; mosaics, 115, 130-1, 207, 304, 305, 306,
320, 321, 327-8,
composition study, 267
307; 145
Bargello, 33-4, 170, 172-3; 14; (Giotto?;
copies,
Biblioteca Laurenziana, Biadaiolo Fiorentino (ms.
336, 354. 390, fig. 14; 27, 74< 136, '54
94
303, 374-5
Duccio di Boninsegna, 74, 91, 109, III, 127, 129,
ff.,
Tempi
130, 149-57, 166, 209, 215, 218, 219, 221, 223,
3),
lost),
255
265-6; iig; Missal (ms. Conv. Soppr.
233). 259; 113
233, 235, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 250, 252,
Bibhoteca Nazionale,
254, 255, 257, 258, 262, 265, 283, 284, 293. 295,
Finaly, MS. 22), 385
Uffiziolo
(Fondo Landau-
Bigallo (Daddi), 262-3, 263, 265; 117
298, 300, 305, 361, 363, 371, 406(11)', 411(27)^;
Contini Collection (Giovanni del Bioiido), 371
63-7
Dussaimi, Bartolomeo, mon., 314
170
Duomo,
9, 20, 24, 25, 29, 55, 64, 66, 67, 167, 168,
170, 203, 266, 293, 303, 317, 318, 319-25, 326,
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Vitale da

Bologna?), 276; 126
Edward
Elias,
campanile, 29, 172, 173, 74, (Andrea Pisano),

172, 309, 147, Arnoldi, 390, 1S2, (Giotto), 172,
the Confessor, St, shrine, 57
Brother, 12
309, 74, (F. Talenti), 172, 319;
Embriachi family, 3S6, 393, 395
mon. of Antonio
windows (A. Gaddi), 374

Loggia del Bigallo, 321, 326, 390; 133
Loggia della Signoria, 326-7; 71; Virtues, 391
Museo deirOpera del Duomo, altar from Baptistery. 392, 393; 1S4; (Andrea Pisano), 309; 146;
(Amolfo di Cambio), see Duomo, facade; (F.
II d',
334
Eulistea (Bonifacio da Verona), 51
Euhstes, 51
Eyck, van, brothers, 359

Ezzelino da Romano, 17, 187, 1S8
Vamii), 394; 183

Ognissanti (Daddi), see Uffizi; (Giotto), see Berlin
and Ognissanti Madonna

Orsanmichele, 173, 326; 73; arcadings, infiUings
for, 391; tabernacle (Daddi), 261, 390, (Or-
Fabriano
degli Orsi, 284, 285; 130; S.
Zenobio (Arditi), 391;
Este, castle, 1S8
Nicolo
31S, 321,
72, 105, 312, 413(32)5, 27, 2S, (Talenti), 321;
Sassoferrato, 51
Esslingen, 1S4
Este,
dome,
323-4; facade (Amolfo di Cambio), 64-7, 71,
Erfurt, Franciscan church, 1S4; stained glass, 121
Ermanno da
328, 349, 354, 355, 368, 392, 413(32)'. fig- 25;

131-2; altarpiece (Giovanni del Biondo), 371;
Foimtain, 51
cagna), 321, 328, 368, 370, 3S6, 390, 393, 182
Palazzo del Podesta, 402(4)'
437
INDEX
Florence
121, 129, 130. 156, 218, 233, 407(14)*; 50, 52;

(Daddi), 261-2, 263-4; (Duccio), 127, 129, 130,
(conld.):
Palazzo dell'Arte della La

Palazzo Davanzati, 171-2,
'i
149, i55-<5, 157. 218, 233, 407(i4)''-'; 63; (T.

Gaddi), 266, 26S; (Giotto), 218-19, 223, 263,
Palazzo Spini-Ferroiii, 171
Vccchio,
Palazzo
34,
iyo-l,
161
179,
268; Sg; (Giotto follower), 261; 116; (Giovamii

del Biondo), 371; Qacopo di Clone), 370; (A.
337,
408(18)'; 71-2
Lorenzetti), 244, 249, 251, 261, 364; 113; (P.
Piazza della Sigiioria, 170, 327

(formerly), altarpiece (St Cecilia Master),
S. Cecilia
see Utfizi (St Cecilia
Lorenzetti), 244, 250;
(Martini), 237-8;
Walls, 33
170, 299, 323, 326, 402(3)*''.'^, fig. 4; 3' altar-
Folchino de'Schizzi, mon., 396

Foscari, Francesco, doge, 355
(Ugolino da Siena), 258, 284; Bardi

Chapel, frescoes (Giotto), 219-21, 223, 225, 230,
235, 240, 247, 268, fig. 22; 96; Bardi di Vernio
Fossa, S. Maria, 410(24)5
Chapel, frescoes and glass (Maso di Banco),
Fossanova,
7, 16, 30,
Madonna, 389
403 (6)''
264, 266-7, 26S, iig-20, (Giotto shop), 223;
of Orcagna), 266
Francesco
Francesco da Barberino, 204, 228
Francesco da Carrara V, see Carrara
choir, frescoes (A. Gaddi), 373; 172; Crucifix
Francesco di Giorgio, 164
Chapel,
Baroncelh
122;
altarpiece
(Giotto shop), 266, 373, frescoes (T. Gaddi), 249,
from (Cimabue shop), 121; 52;
frescoes (Or-
cagna?), 369-70; 170; mons., Baroncelli, 310,
Gastonc della Torre, 284, 413(31)3; Pcruzzi

Chapel, frescoes (Giotto), 219, 221-3, 225, 230,
(assistant
Francesco di Giotto, 203
Francesco di Niccolo, 392

Francesco da Rimini, 273
Francesco di
S.
Simone
a Porta a
235, 240, 251, 273, 304, 305, 307-8, fig. 23; p7;
Pulci-Berardi Chapel, frescoes (Daddi), 262; re-
Francesco da Volterra, 368
fectory frescoes (T. Gaddi), 268-9; 121; Rinuc-
Franco Bolognese, 275
Fraticelli,
373
1,173, screen, 398 sacristy, cupboard (T. Gaddi),

267-8; transept, grating (Orlandi), 300; Virgin
Frederick
II,
Mare, 115
Francis, St, 3, 9, 12, 100, 123, 146-7, 204, 2S9
Chapel, frescoes (Giovanni da Milano), 370-
cini
(St
Ceciha Master), 141-2; 59
piece
269-71;
102;
(Memmi), 237-8; 102; (Orcagna), 370;
Master)
S. Croce, 8-11, 14. 15. 25. 26, 55, 63, 64, 66, 164,
emperor, 24, 41, 43-4,
50, 58, 64, 73, 93,
178, 186, 187, 247, 317, 384, 409(22)'; statue, 58
Annunciate (Giovamii di Balduccio), 310; 147

S. Giorgio all Costa, I'iVjih and Child, 407(13)'
S. Giovaruii, see
Baptistery
Leonardo in Arcetri, pulpit, 403(6)5

S. Maria del Piore, see Duomo
S. Maria Maggiore, 326; altarpiece (circle of
Coppo di Marcovaldo), lii, 113; 47
S. Maria in Manrcsa, altar-frontal
(Lapi and
Cambi), 248
S. Maria Novella, 7-8, 9, 15, 28, 319, 326, 354-5,
S.
fig.
2;
3;
altarpiece
(Daddi), 263;
Chiostri,
414(36)'; Crucifix, 225-6; frescoes (Ghirlandaio),
221, (Orcagiu;
from,
sec
lost),
Utfizi
368-9; RuccUai Madonna
(Duccio);
Spanish
Chapel.
frescoes (Andrea da Firenze), 323, 325, 371-3;

171; stained glass (Andrea da Firenze),
374;
Strozzi Chapel, altarpiece (Orcagna),

369, 390,
l6g, frescoes (Nirdo di Cionc), 370,
372,
374;
Gaddi, Agnolo, 373-5, 376, 391; 172

Gaddi, Gaddo, 203
Gaddi, Taddeo, 203, 249, 263, 264, 265, 266-9, 269,

320, 322, 363, 368, 373, 374; J 19-21
Gaibana, 278
Galatina, S. Caterina d' Alessandria, 329
Galgano,
S., rehquary of, 152-3

Gambier-Parry altarpiece (Daddi), 263, 412(28)"'
Gano da
Siena, 286-7; 131

Caspar (of Scahgeri mon., Verona), 398
Gastone della Torre, mon., 284, 413(3 1)'
Gattaponc, Mattco, 330, 331, 352-4; i}6, 163
Genesis, Vienna, 96
Cennaro, S.
S.
Miniate
al
(Nino Pisano), 388

Monte, altarpieccs (A. Gaddi), 373,
(Jacopo del Casciuino), 265; crypt, gratings

(Pctruccio di Bctto), 326; facade. 25; sacristy,
frescoes (Spiiicllo Arctino), 375-6;
171
S. Paiicrazio, altarpiece
from (Daddi),
2(53-4
S. Trinita.
325-6, fig. 26; i}2; Madonna (Cimabue,

formerly), see Florence, Uffizi
Textiles, 248
Uffizi
(anon.
Siencsc),
Florentine),
271;
jjo-i; (Cinubuc),
123:
(anon.
115-17,
117-ig,
(at
Naples), 391
Genoa
Virgin and Child
Duomo,
facade, 54
Palazzo Bianco,
mon. of Margaret of Luxemburg,
88, 282
Palazzo Lamba-Doria, i6; 14

Palazzo di S. Giorgio, 36
Palazzo Vecchio del Comiuic, 36
Gentile da Montcfiore, cardinal, 411(26)'; portrait,
240
Gerini, Niccolo di Pietro, 375
Gcroiia, cathedra), Bible (bcrnardino da
438
275
Modena),
INDEX
Gherardcsca mon.
Gliiberti,
(at Pisa),
413(31)^
I.
305, 313. 388, 391-3, 394. 395. 397-8; 64, 141,
Lorenzo, 97, 102, 103, 107, 250, 266, 269,
Gonzaga, Margareta, mon., 396
297. 308, 309, 361, 375, 380, 392
Gonzaga family, 186, 334

Goro di Gregorio, 287; ij2
Ghini, Giovanni di Lapo, 319, 321, 323
Domenico, 221
Giacomo (son of Contc di Lcllio Orlandi), 299
Giacomo da Campionc, 336, 393-4; tSS
Giacomo di Scrvadio, 36; i^
Gliirlandaio,
Gradara, 187-8, 189; $t
203-26, 227-32, 235, 240, 244, 245, 247, 251,

252, 255, 256, 258-9, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264,
Giovamii dei, see Giovamii dei Grassi

Gregory the Great, 311
Gregory IX, pope, 127, 147
Gregory X, pope, 93
Gregory XI, pope, 360
Grigho da Gemona, Giovanni, 195
266, 267, 26S, 269, 272, 273, 275, 277, 3S1, 283,
Grimaldi, 64
Grassi,
Gilio Pisano, 392
Giotto, 80, 137, 140, 149, 151, 152, 172, 173, 201,
286, 295, 304, 305, 306, 307-8, 309, 310, 311.
GroppoU,
361, 362, 368, 373, 374. 375. 376. 377. 378, 379.
Grosseto
380, 389, 390, 413(31)'.
figs. 21,
Giovaiiello di Benvcnuto, 36;
22, 23
74,
89-gS
pulpit, 403(6)5
Castle, 162
Duomo,
1.5
21
Museo Diocesano
Giovanetti da Vitcrbo, Mattco, 242
Giovanni (son of Paolo Veneziano), 279

Giovanni d'Agostiiio, 168, 169, 289; 132
Giovanni d'Ambrogio, 391
Giovanni di Balduccio, 310-13, 313, 393, 396; 147-8,
(shop of Guido da Siena?), 114

Gualdo Tadino, S. Erancesco, 401(2)^
Guariento di Arpo, 355, 377-8, 379, 395; 174
Guarnerio degli AntelmincUi, mon., 310
Gubbio, 176, 178-9, 180, 299
Duomo,
180-1, 409(18)'; 75
Palazzo del Bargello, 178-9
13c
Giova:ini di Bartolo, 391
Benedetto da Conio, 383, 385

Giovaiuii del Biondo, 371; 170
Giovanni da Bologna, 381, 416(41)'
Giovanni di Bonino, 301; 141
Palazzo dei Consoh, 161, 176-8, 179, i8r, 342,
Giovaniii da Campione, 313-14, 396; 148

Giovanni di Cecco, 327, 328; 2g
Giovanni degli Eremitani, Era, 195
Giovatuii da Firenze, 2S9-90; J_J4
Giovamii di Fraticesco d'Arezzo, 391
Giovanni dei Grassi, 336, 337, 383-5. 391, 393-4;
S.
Agostino, 180, 181
S.
Domenico, 409(18)'
S.
Donato, 180
Giovanni
di
Palazzo del Pretorio, 176, 178, 342,

Piazza della Signoria, 176, 178,
50, 52, 61, 63,
66, 68-89, 92, 106, 149, 154, 155, 165, 16S, 174,
207, 210, 214, 217, 231, 224, 238, 239, 245, 249,
251, 252, 258, 281, 282-3, 284, 285, 387, 288,

293, 297, 298, 305, 310, 311, 313, 327-8, 363,
387,
390,
392, 403(6)'''.
404(8)'"-,
Como,
fig.
15
15
S. Francesco, 14; 4
S.
Giovanni
S. Pietro,
Battista, iSo
409(18)9
Guglielmo di Castelbarco, mon., 314, 397; J49

Guglielmo da Pisa, Fra, 41, 60, 61; 21
Buonamico di Lapo, 371, 372
Guidi, Jacopo di Piero, 391
Guidalotti,
Guidi family, 34
Guido da Como, 41, 61
Guido da Siena, 91, 108, in, III-14, 116, 117, 130,
156, 157.219, 259, 363; 47-8
408(17)'.
413(31)5, 413(32)5; 25-jS
Giovanni de'Santi, 3 78
Giovamii di Simone, 27, 84; io
Giovanni da Vercelli, Blessed, 60
Giroldo da
fig.
Via Baldassini, 179

Vittorina, 304
Guccio di Mannaia, 300
Giovanni da Legnano, mon., 395

Giovanni da Milano, 370-1, 371, 380, 383; 173
Giovaiuii di Muro della Marca, Era, 227
Giovanni di Nixigia, 383
Giovanni Pisano, 26-7, 39, 40, 46, 49,
fig.
15; 76-7
Guidolo
della Croce, 349
Guidone
di Pace, 163
Guidoriccio da Fogliano (Martini), 235-7, 3151 i02
Guidotto de'Tabiati, archbishop, mon., 387

Guiron le Courtois, 386; 180
403(6)'^
Giuliaiio da Rimini, 237, 331, 360, 373; 12
Giulianova, S. Elaviano, reliquary of S. Biagio, 391

Giunta Pisano, no, 121
Giusto de'Menabuoi, 379-81,

Glossators,
85; 176-7
Tombs of the,
Hamburg, Weddel Collection (Baronzio?), 374; 124

Henry VII, emperor, 88, 171, 301; crown of, 169;
314
Goffredo da Viterbo, 382-3; 177
Golden Legend (Jacopo da Voragine), 306
Goldsmiths' work, 83, 83, 153-3, 175, 284, 299, 300-
mon., 282-3, 283-4; J2p

Hippolytus and Phaedra, sarcophagus
439
of,
43
INDEX
Lenzi, Domenico, 265
Leo I, pope, 405(10)^
Leonardo d'Avaiizo, 303
Leonardo di Ser Giovamii, 392; 184
Leonardo da Vinci, 105, 249
Leonardo da Vito, 199
I
Ibleto di Chillant, 334
Infortiahim ofJustinian (Oderisi
da Gubbio?), 275
Innocent IV, pope, 126, 127
Ironwork, 299-300, 326, 32S, 398; 140
Libra deU'Arte (Cennini), 374-5
Isaac Master, 133-6, 142, 143-4, I44. i47. 152, 216,
217, 226, 227 S., 296; 36-7

Isacco da Imbonate, 394; 18S
Istanbul, Kahrie
Cami, dome, mosaic, 103
Limbourg
brothers, 267, 359, 385, 386
Liverpool,
Walker Art Gallery
Ivory, 47, 49-50, 79, 81-2, 87, 88, 105, 217, 221, 386,
389, 393.
286
Lillo di Barletta,
(Martini), 238, 239,
240, 241; 104
Lives (Vasari), xxv, loS
i9y,37,93
Lodi, S. Francesco, 401(2)"
Ivrea, castle, 334
London
British
Museum,
Bible
(ms.
Add. 18720), 275;
Compendium Salernitatum (ms. Eg. 757), 385;

Herbal (ms. Eg. 2020), 3S5; ijg; Treatise of the
Virtues and Vices (ms. Add. 28841), 384-5; 17$
National Gallery (Duccio), 156-7, 406(11)'; (A.
Jacobello del Fiore, 412(27)'

Jacobello dalle Masegne, 395-6; iSg
Jacopino da Reggio, 275

Jacopino da Tradate, 394
Jacopo da Carrara, see Carrara
Gaddi?),
373; (Giusto
(Jacopo di Clone), 370
Jacopo del Casentino, 265

Jacopo di Clone, 370, 375
Jacopo di Mino del Peliciaio, 414(36)^
Jacopo d'Ognabene, 2P4, 391
Jacopo di Paolo, 415(38)"'
Jacopo da Voragine, 206
James the Less, Apocryphal Gospel of St, 206
Jean, due de Berry, 386
de'Menabuoi),
Seilern Collection (Daddi), 264-5; 118
Victoria and Albert

ivory), 88;
Museum
(Giovamii Pisano,
wooden, 389
Virgin Annunciate,
Longhi, Gughelmo, mon., 311
Ambrogio,
Lorenzetti,
162, 169, 186, 201, 203, 239,
244 S., 261, 264, 266, 268, 369, 273, 275, 276,
2S8, 300, 361, 364, 365, 366, 372, 375, 378, 385,
3S6, 3S7, 389; 106-14
Holy Sepulchre, 40
Johann von Fernach, 393-4
Johann von Freiburg, 337, 339, 349
Lorenzetti, Pietro, 2or,
'Johannes Campaniosus', 340

'Johamies Pictor', 273-4
Lorenzo di Domenico da Bagnomarino, 352

Lorenzo Monaco, 30S, 373, 375
Lorenzo dei Spazii, 415(38)'^
Lorenzo Veneziano, 248, 370, 377
Jerusalem,
John VI, abbot (of S. Paolo fuori

John XXII, pope, 147, 373
John of Durazzo, mon., 413(31)^
Ic
379;
244S., 261, 262, 264, 266,
268, 276, 300, 364, 365, 366, 378; io6~S, 113

Lorenzetti, Ugolino, 250
Mura), 94
Louis, St, 285
Louis of Toulouse, St (Giotto), 219-20; (A. Loren-
zetti), 247; (Martini), 234-s, frontispiece, 101

Louis of Durazzo, mon., 290
Krefcld, Gcwcbe&anmilung, Venetian brocade,

gg
Louis de Roy, 393
Luca (son of Paolo Veneziano), 279

Luca di Tomme, 365
Lucan,
Lancelot
du
Lac
(Paris,
ms.
fr.
343),
385-6, 417
De
Bella Pharsalico (Niccolo di
Giacomo), 381
Lucca, 191
Duomo
(43)'
(S.
Martiiio), reconstruction, 328-9; i}j;
Lancia, Scr Andrea, 229
portals,
Maria Maggiorc, 30
Lando di Pictro, 162, 168, 169, 300
Laon, cathedral, faijadc, 70, 72
architrave (circle of Nicola Pisano), 53-4, 65
Guinigi houses, 175

S. Francesco, 401(2)'
Lapi, Gcri, 248
S.
Frcdiano, font (Robcrtus), 403(6)"
S.
Maria
S.
Martino,
Lanciaiio, S.
Lapo
Lapo
Lama
(assistant
of Nicola Pisano), 46, 6&-1, 61
di Francesco, 413(31)*
Martini), 239
Vanni di Fuccio dc'Lazzari
Legcnda Maior (St Bonavcnturc), 123-4,
Leningrad (Martini circle), 242
(lost;
404(7)'*;
portico,
dclla Rosa, 408(17)'

sec
Duomo
Textiles, 247-8, 252, 276; 99
Lazzari, see
Luccra
'39. 146
Castle, 409(22)'
Duomo,
Lcntitc, oratory, frescoes, 383
198
S. Francesco, 198, 401(2)'
440
tympanum,
and
Lucignano Val
di Chiara,
Musco
Duomo, Area
Civico, Tree of die
Lupo
New Town,
Luraiio, VUla Sccco-Suardi, Suardi
mon., 314
font, 403 (6) '^
(Coppo
di
186-7
Palazzo Coniunale, 34
Palazzo Pubblico (A. Lorenzetti), 249-50; 108
S. Agostino, I Si
M
Marco valdo), 108-9.
no, III, 112, 113; 46

Madonna ofJeanne d'Evreiix 3 89
Madonna del Latte (A. Lorenzetti), 245, 3S9; 107;
(Nino Pisano?), 3S8, 389; iSl
Maesta (Duccio), 149, I4'>-55, 156, 156-7, i66, 221,
223, 233, 24s, 250, 252, 254, 283, 284, 300; 63-7;
(Guido da Siena), 112-13, 233, 406(11)'; (A.
Lorenzetti), 248, 249, 254; 108, 112; (Martini),
233-4, 235, 237, 252, 283; 100; (Memmi), 233,
237
Magdalen Master, 405(11)'

Maggi, Berardo, mon., 311, 314
Magio, Fra (of Siena), 127
Maitani,
.s;
Magazzino dcU'Abbondanza, 163
di Francesco, 84
Alai!oiuia del Dordoiic
Ccrbonc, 287; 132; choir.
di S.
26-7, 28, 175;
Cross (Siencsc), 394

Lupi, Bonifazio, 378
Ambrogio, 181
Maitani, Lorenzo, 74, 165, 167, 169, 177, 2916".;
Mastino II della Scala, see Scala

Matteo da Campione, 350; 160
Matteo da Correggio, 51
Matthew, Pseudo-, 208, 209
Medici family, 186
Mcditationes Vilac Clirisli (Pseudo-Bonavcnture), 77,
206
Melano, Fra (of Siena), 46
Memmi, Giovanna, 236
Memmi,
Lippo, i6i, 236, 237-8, 364, 411(26)^; 102
Memmo
di Filipuccio, 237
Menabuoi, Giusto de', see Giusto
Mensano, Pieve, 14
Meo da Siena, 258
Merate, Aldo Crespi Collection, Madonna, 412(27)*
Mercatello, church (Baronzio?), 274
Messina
Badiazza, 30
Malatesta family, 1S8
Duomo, mon. of Guidotto
Manfred, 50, 93
Manfredi da Faenza, Andrea,
Mantua, 331
S. Francesco,
Castcllo S. Giorgio, 334, 335
Andrea, mon. of Margareta Gonzaga, 396

S Francesco, 401(2)"
Manuscript illumination, 53, 96, 133, 152, 343, 359S.
60, 265-6, 272, 274-6, 278, 287, 364, 364-5,

ii.5,
119,
12S,
s66, 177-80
Marchestens, Johann, 393
di
Michele
di Ser
da Siena, 175
Michelozzo, 392
Migliore di Nicola, 398
Mignot, Jean, 340 ff.

Milan
Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Servius's Commentary on
Virgil (Martini),
238-9, 241; lO}; Novellc
Decretali (ms. b. 42. inf.;
sidle
Niccolo di Giacomo),
381
Biblioteca Capitolare, AJissa! (Anovelo da
Biblioteca
Trivulziana,
Beroldo's
Cod. 2262; Giovanni dei
De
285
300, 315, 361, 363, 364, 366, 367, 371, 379, 382,
Bello Pharsalico (ms. 691
Treatise
Grassi),
;
384,
(.MS.
385;
Niccolo di Gia-
como), 381
Brcra (A. Lorenzetti), 411(37)'; (Paolo Veneziano,
formerly), 379; 128
Cagnola Collection (Jacopo del Casentino), 265

Castcllo Sforzesco, mon. of Bernabo Visconti,
396-7, 397; igo; Voghera Monstrance, 394,
24; frontispiece, 100-5
289; ijo
Masaccio, 149, 249, 259, 375, 376

Masegne, see Jacobello and Pierpaolo
Im-
bonate), 416(41)'
Martini, Simone, 162, 233-43, 245, 246, 247, 248,

251, 252, 257, 261, 263, 26S, 283, 385, 289, 295,
Mary of Anjou, mon., 4i3(3i)-

Mary of Hungary, 199; mon., 285,
Mary of Valois, mon., 2S6; 1^1
Memmo
MicheUno da Besozzo, 384
Marcus Altilius Rcîihis (Martini; lost), 237

Margaret of Luxembourg, mon., 88, 282
Marsilio of Padua, 372
fig.
Monte, 392
Michele
Marco da Campione, 336

Marco Polo, 247
Marco Romano, 395
Marco Veneziano, 412(29)8
Martel, Charles, portrait,
de'Tabiati, 287
f'g- 5;
Mezzarata, church, frescoes from, 276

Michelangelo, 73, 108, 218, 222
Fra, 354
381-2, 382-3, 384-6, 417(43)5;
12-13, i5.
39S; 1S3
Duomo,
dalle'
Mas-
20, 31S, 321, 336, 336-50, 350, 354. 355.

figs.
383, 391, 393,
28, 29; i}g-6o\ Annunciation
(anon, and Isacco da Imbonate), 394; 1S8;
egne
Maso di Banco, 252, 269-71, 36S, 374, 375; 122
MasoKno, 380
Massa Marittima
of Ottone Visconti, 311, 395; north
Woman
Christ and the

reUcf, 393-4,
441
mon.
sacristy,
of Samaria, 393, overdoor
55; S. Agata (Roland de Banille),
INDEX
Duomo
118, 130-1, 132-3, 152, 207, 217-18, 234, 230,
{coifti.):
278, 292, 293, 299, 304, 305, 306, 307, 368, 390,
393; sculpture, 393-4, 396> 397; south sacristy,
405(10)7; JP-4J, 53
overdoor relief, 393-4

Loggia degli Osii, 183, 313
Palazzo dcUa Ragione, 29, 32
S. Ambrogio, Missal (Anovelo da Imbonate), 3S5
S.
Eustorgio, 8; Area di
S.
Moscow
Muccio
Munich, Staatsbibliothek, Book of Hours (ms. Cod.

Lat. 23215; Giovaimi di Benedetto da Como),
383; Missal (ms. Cod. Lat. 10072; Niccolo di
Giacomo), 381; 17S
Murano, S. Donato, S. Doiiato, 278
Pietro Martire, 310,
311-12, 311,192,', 14S, 150; mon. of Stefano and

Valentina Visconti, 396; triptych with the Magi,
312, 393, 417(43)*
S.
Francesco Grande, mon. of Beatrice d'Este, 310

Giovaiuii in Conca, Visconti
S.
mon. from,
see
Naples, 44, 168, 197, 219, 231, 275-6, 284

Biblioteca Nazionale, Boethius (ms. v.a. 14), 276
Castel Nuovo, 409(22)' frescoes (Giotto and Tino
Castello Sforzesco
S.
Gottardo, tower, 1S5; 80; mon. of Azzo Vis-
312
Lorenzo, 4I4(36)'8
conti,
S.
S.
S.
di
Marco, Settala mon., 312

Maria di Brera, doorway (Giovanni
S.
(Segna di Bonaventura), 257

162
di Rinaldo,
Camaino), 2 86
Galleria Nazionale (Martini), 234-5, 247; frontisdi
Balduc-
piece, 101
cio shop), 310, 313
Museo
Maria del Carmine, 415(38)"
S.
Visconti di
Modrone
di S. Martino, Virgin of the Nativity, 389

Chiara, iSl, 198-9, 285; 88; mons., 2S6, Charles
of Calabria, 286, Louis of Durazzo, 290, Mary of

Valois, 286, iji, Robert of Anjou, 199, 289-90;
reUefs (Giovamii and Pacio da Firenzc), 290; 134
Domenico Maggiore, 198; mons. of Philip of
Taranto and John of Durazzo, 413(31)-*
Collection, Uffiziolo (Gio-
vaimi dci Grassi), 385; 180

Mocchirolo, oratory, frescoes, 383
Modena, 52
S.
Este Library, Choir Book (ms. Lat. looS; Niccolo
Giacomo), 381; Gradual (ms. r. 1.6), 275

della, see Aimibaldi
Monaco, Lorenzo, see Lorenzo Motiaco
Monaldeschi, 301
Monaldcschi, Trasimondo, bishop of Soaiia, 235
Monich, Peter and Walter, 393
Monreale, cloister, fountain, 5 1 mosaics, 96
Montagnana, 187, 188; Si; Porta Legnago, 331; i_',6
Montalcino, Badia Ardenga (Guido da Siena and
di
EUgio, 198, 409(22)'
S.
Molara, Amiibaldi
5. Cetmaro, 391
Lorenzo, 13, 15, 197, 198; mon. of Catherine of
S.
Austria, 284-5
Maria Doima Regina, 199-200,
S.
frescoes (Cavallini circle),
44; mons.,
Montccatini, battle
Montefalco,
S.
of,
di
Cione, 266, 370, 372, 374, 375
Castle, 330
Francesco, 28, 401(2)'
Monte Gargano,
Fountain, 51
Naumburg,
see Gentile
Maria di Galena, 40i(2)'>

Montelabbatc, abbey church, 401(2)2
Montcmassi, 236
Monte Olivcto Maggiore, polyptych from (Spinello
Nello
S.
Neri di Fioravante, 173, 319, 390

Neri da Rimini, 272
Nevers, St Gildard, 5
New
Aretino), 375
cathedral, sculpture, 58
di Falcone, 83
York
Montcpisi, 299
Frick Collection (Barna da Siena), 363
Montcpulciano, Palazzo Comunalc, 408(17)2

Montcriggioni, 187
Giovanni Vcncziano), 279

Metropohtaii Museum (Segna
Monte
Sicpi, frescoes (A. Lorenzetti circle),
Montici,
S.
364
Margherita, altarpiece (St Cecilia Master),
142-3
Arciigario, 32
itfo;
altarpiece (Borgiiio dal Pozzo),
313; chalice, 394
Morimondo,
Mortara,
S.
(Paolo and
Bonaventura),
Wildcnstein Collection (Pacino di Bonaguida),

260; 11}
Monza
350;
di
257; (A. Vaimi), 365

Picrpont Morgan Library (Pacino di Bonaguida),
259-60; MS. M. 800 (Niccolo di Giacomo), 381
MontpcUier, 59
Duomo,
20; 87;
Mary of
Nami
150
283
Montefiore, Gentile da,
4i3(3l)'*,
Pietro a MaieUa, 197-8; 8/
Nardo
of, 24, 33, 41, 108,
Mary of Anjou,
Hungary, 285, 289, ijo

S.
shop), 405(11)4
Montapcrti, battle
fig.
107, 200, 409(22)^;
409(19)'
Lorenzo, 415(38)"
Mosaic, 57, 64. 95, 96. 97-102, 102-3. 106,

109, 115.
Niccola da Montcforte, 286

Niccolo, Pseudo-, 381
Niccolo di Giacomo, 381-2; I'S

NichoLis III, pope, 93-4, 94, 127, 130, 228, 405(10)'
Nicholas IV, pope, 97, 99, 100, 126-7, i44. 227. 300
Nicola, bishop (of Todi), 15
442
INDEX
Nicola di Nuto, 165, 29S, 299
Nicola di Paolo, 103
Nicola Pisano, 27, 39, 40-54, 55, 56, 58,
P.ilazzo Vescovile, 30
Domeiiico, 14-15; mon. of Cardinal dc Brayc,
S.
59, 60-2, 63,
55. 55-9. 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 78, 88, 105, 135, 270,
282, 285, 288, 403(7)"; 23-5
65, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84,
S. Francesco,
85, 86, 92, 96, 98, 105, 106, 107, 109, III, 114,
S.
285, 2S8, 298, 305, 311, 312, 313, 339, 342.387.

392, 403(6)^'*. 404(8)'''''. 408(16)"; ie-20
Nicola da Venczia, 393

Nicolas de Boiiaveuturc, 336, 337, 339
Nicolas dc Royaumoiit, 409(22)'
Nicolo
Nino
II
Crucifix (Maitani shop), 298
Maria dei Servi, Madonna and Child (Coppo di

Marcovaldo?), iio-ii; 43
SS. Severo e Martirio, 30
Ottimo Commcnto (Lancia?), 229, 231
Ovile Master, 250, 254, 276
117, 120, 136, 144, 166, 214, 224, 229-30, 284,
d'Estc, sec Este
Pisano, 303, 388-9, 392, 395; 181
Nofrio di Buto da Fircnzc, 392

Nogarole, castle and wall, 331
Novello, Blessed Agostino, altarpicce
Pacino di Bonaguida, 259-60, 265, 268, 269; 11$

of, 239,
241;
Pacio da Firenze, 289-90; 134

Padua, 278, 315, 381, 385
Arena Chapel, 204;
104
Nucolo, 406(12)'
Nuzi, Allegretto, 381
217,
404(8)'-;
(Giovanni Pisano), 82,
altar
(Giotto
Crucifix
frescoes (Giotto),
shop),
218;
152, 204-17, 218, 219, 220,
221, 222, 224, 225, 228, 229, 230, 231, 235, 260,
261, 267, 269, 273, 275, 282, 304, 305, 311, 361,
mon. of Enrico
362, 377, 379, fig. 21; go-y,
Oderico da Pordenone, 247
Scrovcgni, 207, 395

Baptistery, frescoes (Giusto de'Menabuoi), 379-
Odericus, 57
Oderisi, Pietro, 57, 62, 109; 22, 23
81; 176
Oderisi da Gubbio, 275
Capitolare
Biblioteca
Ognabeue, Jacopo d', sec Jacopo d'Ognabene

Ognissanii Madonna, 218-19, 223, 263, 26S; Sg
(Pseudo-Niccolo),
381;
(Semitecolo), 378
Cappella
del
Capitano,
(Guariento
ceiling
di
Arpo), 377-8
Olivi, Pietro, 9
Onofrio de'Seritia, 34S

Opus Mains (Bacon), 48
Ereinitani,
Opus Mctricwn
Carrara, 395, iSg, Ubertino da Carrara, 395

Oratory of S. Giorgio, frescoes (Avanzo and Alti-
97
Orcagna, Andrea, 248, 261, 266, 294, 321, 322, 32S,
368-70, 386, 390, 393; 169-70, 1S2
Oristano, Duomo, Bishop (Nino Pisano), 3S8
Antonio degli Orsi

Orsini, Napolconc, portrait (Amolfo), 62;
S.
230
Antonio, 17-18,
firescoes
21
of
fig.
6;
7;
Belludi Chapel,
(Giusto de'Menabuoi), 381 ',177; Chapel
Fehce, 378-9; 174

University, 372-3
Orsini, Poncello, 301
Orsini family, 93, 126-7
Orvieto, 29, 31, 34, 179, 235, 299, 301-2, 393

Duomo, 15, 20, 21-4, 30, 50, 74, 165-6, 166-7,
Palermo
Cappella Palatina, mosaic, 152
Chiaramonte Bordonaro Collection (Martini and
altarpiece (Martini), 235; architrave (Rubeus),
299; 140; choir
S.
Paganico, 186
168, 177, 289, 291, 303, 341, 36S, 388, fig. 9; S;
Memmi
window,
circle), 237
Nazionale (Bartolomeo
301; 141; Crucifix (Maitaui shop), 298; facade,
Galleria
46, 71, 225, 235, 261, 291
36S, 134-g, mosaics, 299, 368; lectern, 299; nave
242; 95
Palazzo Sclafani, 200
screen, 299-300; 140; pulpit, design for, 295;
Palazzo
ff.,
300, 305, 313, 328,
Holy Corporal,
300, 141, of S.
Savino, 300, 142; rose-window, sculpture sur-
Lo
Steri,
da
Camogh),
200
S.
Agostino, doorway, 200
S.
Francesco, doorway, 200; 88
Pantheon (Goffredo da Viterbo)
rounding, 413(32)'
Fountain (Boninsegna), 50
Museo dcll'Opera (Maitani shop), 292-4, 298,
299; 136; (Andrea or Nino Pisano?), 3S8, 389
82-3 ',177
Paolo Aretino, 391; 183

Paolo Veneziano, 248, 278-9, 377, 416(41)'; 128
Paris
BibUotheque Nationale, Bible (ms. Lat.

J25; Book of Hours (ms. Lat. 757), 383
Palazzo del Capitano, 29-31, 31, 177; 11

Palazzo dei Papi, 29-30, 30
Palazzo del Popolo,
decoration
otto?),
Orlandi, Coiite di Lcllio, 299-300, 32S; 140
reliquary of the
apse
409(21)';
chiero), 379; 175

Palazzo della Ragione, 357; roof, 195; 86; (Gi-
Orsi, see
53; choir-stalls, 298,
401(2)',
(Guariento di Arpo), 377; mons., Jacopo da
(Stefaneschi),
18),
;
275;
Ciiiron
Courtois (ms. Fr. 5234), 386; iSo; Lancelot du Lac
443
;;
INDEX
Petrarch, 169, 201, 224, 233, 238-9, 312, 333
Paris
Bibliotheque Nationale
(MS.
fr.
4895; Goffredo da Viterbo), 382-3; 177

circle), 129-30, 130, 156; 53;
(Giotto), 223-4, 227, 230, 23 1, 263 98; (Lorenzo
Petruccio di Betto, 326, 328

Philip of Taranto, 200, 283; mon., 4i3(3l)'
Vencziano), 377; (Pietro da Rimini), 274; Virgin

Aimiiiiciate, wooden, 3 89
Musee de Cluny, triptych (Embriaclii), 386
Notre Dame, 168, 343, 348; north transept door,
Philippe de Courtenay, mon., 413(31)5
Piacenza
Duomo,
5, 184, 336
Palazzo Comuiiale, 32-3; ij
81; transept ends, 292
349
52, 191
Baptistery, 183; frescoes, 368; reUefs, 293, 304
Antonino, atrium, 351-2
S.
Francesco, 184, 192, 409(19)^
S.
Giovanni in Canale, sarcophagus, 314

Francesco, 181
S.
Piero di Jacopo, 303

Piero di Puccio, 368
d' Arras, 409(22)'
Pierpaolo dalle Masegne, 355, 395-6; iSg

Pierre d'Angicourt, 409(22)'
Pavia
Castello Viscontco, 333-4. 350, 356; '57', (Jaco-
Chaubcs, 409(22)'
Pierre de
bello dalle Masegne), 396
Pierre de France, 393
degU Embria-
Certosa, 350; altarpiece (Baldassarc

chi),
S.
PiedUuco,
Passavanti, Jacopo, 372
Paumier
Pierre de Vin, 393
386
S. Francesco,
Pietro (son of Nicola di Paolo), 103
S.
Pietro Aretino, 391; iSj
401(2)"
Maria del Carmine, 339, 340, 350-1, 354,
Pietro d'Arrigo Tedesco, 392
4I5(3S)'3, fig. 30; 161
Michele,
184
S. Pietro in Cield'Oro, Arcadi S. Agostiiio, 393
S.
Pietro dei Cerroni, see CavaUini, Pietro
5,
Teodoro,
Zoo, 3 84
S.
5,
Pietro di
S7
Pietro da
184
Pietro di
Perspective, 95
ff.,
Piperno, see Priverno
104, 116, 124-5, 131, 135-8, 140,
144, 152, 153, 154, 201, 205, 206, 211
ft",
221,
Piran (Pirano), polyptych (Paolo Vencziano?), 279

Pisa, 40-1, 107, 152, 174, 247, 299,
230, 235, 239-40, 247, 250, 251, 252, 255, 261,
Madonna (Giovamii
Aqueduct, 50, 52
Augusta Library, ms. l. 70, 365; 166
Fontana Maggiore (Pisani), 40, 50-3, 61, 65, 68,
Fountain (Angclo da Orvieto and Maitani), 177;
(Arnolfo di Cambio), 55, 59
(Amolfo di Cambio?), 59; 2;;

da Todi), 394; (Duccio?), 157;
(Umbrian Master, 406(1 1)-*; (Mco da Siena),
Gallcria Nazionalc
(Cataluccio
S.
Francesco Master), 121
Domcnico,
18 1-2;
Opera;
Pisaiio), see
font, 40, 41
Museo
dell'-
pulpit, 40-5, 46, 47, 48, 52, 60, 65, 69,
75-<5. 77, 79. 86, 109,
m.
285, 339, 403(6)'^
404(8)8; 16, 17
Camposanto, 27, 329;
73, 106, 288, 305; 20
Palazzo dci Priori, 36-7, 50, 52, 53

Piazza, 52
388
Baptistery, 40, 73, 404(8)^; door, 73
267, 269-70, 364, 375, 376, 380, 383

Perugia, 26, 50, 51 52, 179, 331
(S.
Leonardo da Firenze, 392

Rimim, 273, 274
Simone, 300
Pietro Spagnolo, 299
Pccorari, Era, 185
258;
311;
Petrucci, Francesco, 326
Duomo,
285,
Petronilla Master, 245
Louvre (Cimabue
Parma,
2S4,
129
Lat.
343). 385-<5, 417(43)'; Paiuheon (ms.
Parler, Heinrich, 339, 340,
mon., 383-4,
cardinal,
Petroni,
(could.)
282;
faijade,
167-8;
375;
Henry
10; altarpiece
of S. Ranicri,
311; frescoes, 366-8, 369, 371, 372,
mons.,
Gherardesca,
413(31)=,
VII, 282-3, 2S3-4, I2g\ sarcophagus
of
Hippolytus and Phaedra, 43 vase, Greek marble,

;
43
Virgin and Child (Giovanni Pisano), 68-9, 81
2$
;
Duomo,
15
21, 29, 40, 75, 310; apse,
mosaic (Cima-
bue), 115, 115-16, 118, 130, 131; 5y, font, 282;
mon. of Benedict XI,
mon. of Henry
VII, 282-3, 283-4; Porta Regia
(lost;
Bonanno), 303-4; Porta
S.
Ercolano, 181
304,
391; pulpit
S.
Francesco, 401(2)'
Pisano), 68, 83, 83-7, 88. 89, 210, 238, 239, 249.
413(31)'
S. Giuliaiu,
S.
Maria
di
182
305, 311. 34\ treasury (Giovanni

81-3; 37
Museo Civico, Annunciation, wooden. 389; (Giovanni Pisano). 88, 404(8)*; 37; (Giuiita Pisano),
252.
Montcluce, 181-2
University, 52
Domcnico,
298.
Pis.ano).
Pcruzzi family, 9, 219

Pcscia, S.
di S. Ranicri, 88,
(Gugliclmo), 41, (Giovanni
no; (Mcmnii), 237; (Traini). 367

Museo dcU'Opcra del Duomo (Giovanni
14
Prier, Si (St Peter's). 53, 404(7)'
Peter of Eboli, 276
80-1. 404(8)";.77
444
Pisano).
INDEX
Gaddi), 373; Madonna
Palazzo Mcdicco, 175

S. Catcrina, 174,
367; Aitimncialioii (Nino Pisano),
polyptych (Martini), 235, 245, 262

S. Chiara (Cimabuc), 406(12)'
Francesco,
Cimabuc
(formerly,
174;
Princeton (Guido da Siena), 114, 405(11)'
circle),
Priverno, 73
Pucci, Antonio, 309
della Spina, 84, 174-5; 7S; Aladoima from

(Giovanni di Balduccio), 310; Madonna della
Lattc (Nino Pisano?), 388, 389; iSt; Virgin and
Maria
Child (Andrea or
S.
Nino Pisano
Domenico, 401(2)*
S.
Primario, Gagliardo, 198, 285; SS, 130
129-30; (T. Gaddi), 266

S.
Cinlola (Giovanni
Palazzo Pretorio, 35
388, 389; iSr, facade, 71; mon., SaltarcUi, 388;
S.
della
Pisano), 89
Pucelle, Jean, 154, 238
shop?), 388
Piero a Grado, frescoes, 131
PisancUo, 384
Quattro Torri,
castle,
334
Pisano, see Andrea, Gilio, Giovaimi, Giunta, Nicola,
and
Nino
Pistoia, 50,
Pisano
2S3
Ramo
Baptistery, 175
Duomo, altar of S. Jacopo, 2S4,
391-2, 392-3 1 56;

Crucifix (Coppo di Marcovaldo), 108-9, no,
(Salemo),
108-9,
Marcovaldo;
lost),
no;
(Coppo
108-9; mon. of Cino
Sinibaldi, 2S9; pulpit,
Ranverso,
di
de'
41-2
S.
S.
S.
S. Vitale,
Pius
324
Raverti, Matteo, 396
Reims, cathedral, 42, 43, 44; Beau Dieu, 49;
glass,
68, 73, 75-80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 210, 217,
42; sculpture, south side, buttress tabernacle, 82,
285, 404(8)'^; 3'-3
west front,
Bartolomeo in Pantano (Guido da Como), 61

Domenico, 14
Francesco, 14
II,
west portal, 49, 217,
Cambio), 64-5; 27; reliquary
Giovanni Fuorcivitas, altarpiece (T. Gaddi), 266,

268; holy water stoup (circle of Nicola Pisano),
Zeno,
inside, 82, 221,
312. 9J
Reparata, S. (Andrea Pisano), 309; 146; (Arnolfo di
altar (Nicola Pisano),
(F.
Vanni), 394;
1S5
Riccardo da Foggia, 409(22)'

Riccobaldo Ferrarese, 204, 227, 230-1
60-1; pulpit, 61; 21

S.
Chiara (Pietro da Rimini?), 274
S.
175
Palazzo del Podcsta, 175
S. Andrea, Crucifix (Giovanni Pisano), 87; pulpit,
S.
Antonio, 4I5(38)'5
S.
Raphael, 221, 249

Ravenna, 9, 272
Comune,
Palazzo del
298
Ranieri del Porrina, mon., 287; 131
firescocs
di Pagancllo, 74, 294,
Rimini, 272
403(6)"
pope, 297
S.
Plato, 48, 346
Agostino, frescoes, choir, 273
Life of the Virgin,
273; '24
Work
Poblet, dormitory, 30
by
Giotto(?), 230, 231
Poggibonsi, Fonte delle Fate, 408(16)^
Rivalta Scrivia, 7
Poissy, abbey, altarpiece (Embriachi), 386
Robert, king of Naples and Anjou, 97, 198, 203, 219,

234, 2S2; mon., 199, 289-90; portrait, 234
Poitiers
Robert de Royaumont, 409(22)'

Robertus (of Lucca), 403 (6) '^
Roccalbenga Master, 245
Rofena Master, 245
Roland de Banille, 393
Cathedral, choir, 16; oculus, 128
Notre
Dame
la
Grande, 20, 71,
Polistoria Papalc (G. Cavallini),
404(S)''-
97
Pollaiuolo, Antonio del, 392, 393

Pompeii, paintings, 136, 137, 242, 273, 297
RoUando di Bruges, 299

Romano, Marco, see Marco Romano
Rome, 9, 91, 115, 129, 299
Palazzo Venezia, cross from Rosciolo,
Pomposa, abbey,
frescoes (Vitale da Bologna), 276,

277. 363, 3S0; I2y; refectory, frescoes, 412(29)^
Pontano, Tebaldo, bishop of Assisi, 260
Ponte Rotto, 331

Pontigny, 6, 16S
bust, 403(7)5; (Riminese School),
Poppi, Palazzo Pretorio, 34

Porrina, Ranicri del, see Raiiieri
development
Portraiture,
Cambio),
of, 57, 58, 236, 287, 313,
393. 395. 397. 403 (7)=
Duomo,
Cecilia in Trastevere, ciborium (Arnolfo di
S.
Prato
Castle, 44,
mons., 403(7)'
S. Balbina,
Portinari family, 319
87
choir and transepts, 175; frescoes (A.
1
445
394; papal
272
lini), 63,
55,
63-4, 66, 102; 26; frescoes (Caval-
97, 102-7, 107, 206, 215, 216; 40, 42-4
S.
Clemente, apse, mosaic, 100
S.
Costanza, decoration
S.
Crisogono, decoration, 137
SS.
Domenico
(lost),
100, 137
e Sisto, triptych (L. Vanni), 364
INDEX
Rome
St Cecilia Master, 141, 141-3, 144, 147, 153,232,262,
(con/3.):
265, 272, 273, 278; 59
Velabro, apse, fresco, lo6
S.
Giorgio
S.
Giovanni in Laterano, 144; mon. of Annibaldi
iii
St Denis, Bible from, 96;
S.
S.
Francesco Master, 121, 122, 246,
St Francis Cycle, Master
Giovamii a Porta Latina, decoration, 96, 103

Lorenzo fiiori le Mura, mon. of Cardinal
S.
Maria
in
fresco,
mons.,
407(13)^;
Maria Maggiore, 293; archives, 115;
S.
Galgano,
S.
Gemini,
George Codex, Master of the, 242

Germer, retable, 59
Gimignano, 161
frescoes,
St
136, 137, 407(13)2; mens., 403(7)'; mosaics (5th
St
100-2, 132-3, 41;
S.
cent.), 95, 100, (Torriti), 99,
portico, mosaic (Rusuti), 132; sculpture
(Amolfo
S.
Maria sopra Minerva, 401(2)*; mons., 403(7)'

Maria in Trastevere, mosaics (Cavallini), 97-9,
deo
(Bama da
Nuovo
366
del Podesta, 34;
Agostino, Maesta from (Guido da Siena),
S.
(Old St Peter's), 94, 96, 107,

133. 137; mon. of Boniface VIII, 55, 64, 66,
99, 135; Navicella (Giotto), 217-18, 230; portico (Old St Peter's), frescoes, 120, 127, 131;
S.
S.
Leonardo al Lago, frescoes

Martino al Cimino, 28
S. iVliniato,
Quattro Coronati, chapel of
S.
Silvestro,
Salerno (son of
Coppo
di
Marcovaldo), 108-9,
Salimbeni family, 234
Salomone (son of Giovanni

SaltarclU mon. (at Pisa), 388
Simone
e Giuda, St Peter, 407(13)'

Sanctorum, vault, mosaic, 405(10)'
Schilf Collection (Giusto de'Menabuoi), 379
Sano
Santes Creus, dormitory, 30
(lost),
137
shop?),
225;
(Nicola di
(Giovanni del Biondo?), 371,

Paolo and Pietro), 103, (Vitalc da Bologna),
Grotte (Giotto?), 218; Sistine Chapel
276;
(Michelangelo), 214. 218, (Raphael), 221

Rosciolo, cross from, 394
385
251
Antelminelli, 310
Sarzanello, castle, 187
Sassoforte, 236
Scafati, S.
Scala,
Scala,
Maria di Realvalle, 409(22)'

della, mon., 314
Alberto
Bartolommeo
della,
315
mon., 314, 314-15, 396, 397;

149, 192; textiles buried with him, 24S
Cangrande
della,
Scala,
Cangrande
II
Scala,
Cansignorio
Scala,
Mastino
Scala,
Roscto, Jacopo, 394

Rosso (of Siena), 53
Royaumont, 13
Rubcus (of Orvicto and Perugia), 53
Rucellai Madonna (Duccio), 127, 129, 130,
no
Andriolo and Giovamii de'Santi

S. Francesco, mon. of Guamerio degli
Sarzana,
Canons (MS. Lat. 1375), 275, Decretals (ms. Lat.

1389). 381, St George Codex (ms. c. 129), 242;
(Giotto
di Pietro,
Santi, see
Vatican, 94; (A. Gaddi), 373; Bibhoteca, Book of
264,
dei Grassi),
Sancia di Maiorca, 198
Temple of Junius Bassus, decoration

Trajan's Column, 143, 288, 297
della,
della,
II
332
mon., 397, 397-8; 191, 192

mon., 396, 397, 398; 192
della,
Scaliger family, 186, 187, 188. 191, 315, 331; mons.,

149, 155-6,
157. 218, 233, 407(i4)3.'; 63
Sozzo
Vanni), 364; 163
283
Saba, decoration, 137
Rustichini,
(L.
Salerno, pulpit, 403(6)'
410(24)5; fresco, 103
(Daddi),
see
Pinacoteca
5( Peler, 53, 404(7)'
Gallery
233,
233, 406(11)7
5*
St Peter's, 94; frescoes
Saiicta
(Memmi),
Pinacoteca (Coppo di Marcovaldo?), 57, 109-10,

III, 406(11)'', 22, 43; (Guido da Siena), 112-13,
66, 95, 99, 105, 403(7)'; 26; frescoes (Cavallini),
SS.
Siena), 361-3, 363,
237
62, 94-7, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 105, 125, 130,
S.
403(6)*
Francesco, 181
di Bartolo),
Palazzo
SS.
142,
ff.,
Fountains, 408(16)'
Paolo fuori le Mura, 63 Bible from St Denis,

96; ciborium (Amolfo di Cambio), 55, 62-3, 64,
137. 144.
136
366, fig. 32, 164, (Bartolo di Fredi), 363, (Tad-
100, lor, 102-3, 104, 106, 133, 145; 39-41

S.
7, 21, 46,
S.
Collegiata, frescoes
circle?), 403(7)'
S.
the, 91,
57-8, 6o~2
Aracoeli,
403(7)'
S.
of
143-8, 151, 208, 211, 215, 227flf.,267, 407(13)';
Fieschi, 57
S.
mon. of Constance d' Aries,
68-9
dellaMolara, 59, 63; mosaics (Torriti), 99-100,

132; baptistery, portico, mosaic, 100
di Pace, 21
Rusuti, Filippo, 132
see
Verona,
Maria Antica
Schizzi, Folchino dc', see Folchino
Scoto da
Ruvo, Duomo, 21
S.
Schicci, Francesco, 331; 1^6
S.
Gimignano, 183
Scotto, Alberto, 32
Scrosato, Giovaimi, 348
Scrovcgni, Enrico, 204, 207, 217; mon., 207, 395;

portrait,
S.
Casciano Vil
di Pcsa, S.
Maria pulpit, 310
207
Scurcola Marsicana,
S.
Maria
della Vittoria, 409(22)'
446
Segna
Pinacoteca Nazionale,
Bonaventura, 149, 257-8; 114
di
Serina,
Onofrio
Servius's Commeiitiiry on
circle), 112,
113, 114, 406(1 1)'"'""; 4 J; (A. Lorenzetti), 188,
244, 248, 251, 254-s; log, 112, 114; (P. Lorenzetti), 244, 247; (Luca di Tomtne and Tcgliacci),
(Martini), 238-9, 241
'irgil
103
Settala, Lanfraiico,
Sicilaii
365 (Mcmnii), 237; (Segna di Bonaventura), 257

Porta Ovilc, 162
mon., 312
Vespers, 24
Porta Pispini, 162
Siena, 41, 50, 170, 171, 333, 234, 242, 247, 286, 299,
Porta Romana, 162, 254

Porta S. Agata, 162
302, 319, 359
Campo,
160, i6i, 176, 410(24)-*, fig. 13
Cappella di Piazza, 328, 390

Casa di Via Cecco Angiolicri, 162
Porta Tufi, 162
Duomo,
S.
S.
20, 20-1, 24, 165-9, 175. 283, 284, 2S9,
293-4, 324. 327. 349. 402(3)'8,
figs.
S.
13, 14; 7;
71,
154-5; cupola (Rosso),
327,
53;
165, 168, 251, 293, 327, 390, 413(32)5, 29-jc,
doorways,
busts, 74; fi-escocs
(Coppo
di
Spcdale di
window (Cimabue?),
374; 54-5
Library, Choral
No. 4
(L. Vaniii),
364
fi-escoes
Sinopie, 224, 225, 241, 368
Sirmione,
Fonte Nuova, 163; 6g

Fonte d'Ovile, 74, 149, 163
Fonte di Pescaia, 408(16)*
del
162;
Scala,
Simone di BattifoUc, Conte, 34

Simone dei Crocefissi, 381
Simone da Orsenigo, 336, 339
Sinibaldi, see Cino de'Sinibaldi
Fonte Branda, 163

Fontc di FoUonica, 163
Fontc Gaia, 162
Museo deirOpera
della
Silvanes, 13
157, 166, 228, 257, 270,
Duomo
Maria
S.
University, 283
62, 68, 75-6, 77, 78, 79, 84, 105, III, 114, 120,
loi, 127-9, 130,
163-4, 164; 69; fresco (L. Varmi),
(Lorenzetti; lost), 244
129; pulpit, 20, 40, 46-50, 52, 55, 56, 58, 60, 61,
136, 166, 285, 312; iS-20;
14,
Maria dci Servi, Madonna del Bordone (Coppo di

Marcovaldo), 108-9, no, in, 112, 113; 46
S.
Marcovaldo?), 110; Maesta (Duccio), see Museo

dell'Opcra; mon.,Petroni, 283-4, 2S4, 285, 311;
20,
Domenico,
245,247, 261, 300,389; 107; (P. Lorenzetti), 246;

(Segna di Bonaventura), 257; (L. Vanni), 364
facade, 20, 27, 66, 69-75, 76. 77> 80, 82, 85, 154,
lateral
Agostino, altarpiece (Martini), 239, 241; 104

Bernardino, panel fi:om (Guido da Siena), 112
364; (Guido da Siena, formerly), 405(11)-'

S. Francesco, 14, 163, 164-5; 70; (A. Lorenzetti),
projects for, 168, 321, fig. 14; baptistery, 165, 166,
facade,
Victory, 252; (Bar-
366; 167; (Guido da Siena and
(Fei),
Onofrio dc'Seriua
dc', see
Roman
tolo di Frcdi), 363; 165; (Duccio), 156, 157; 64;
Semitecolo, Nicolctto, 378, 379

Seneca, 276
castle,
188-9, 33
1;
S2
Soave, 187, 409(20)^
Sodra Rada, 409(21)Sopocani, fiesco, 120
Duomo, drawing
with the Florentine campanile, 172,
connected
Spagnolo, Pietro,
Spagnolo
see Pietro
with the
Sienese baptistery facade, 327, 154, with Siena
Cathedral, 168, fig. 14; reliquary of S. Galgano,
Specchio di Vera Penitenza (Passavanti) 372

Speculum Historiale (Vincent of Beauvais), 276
152-3; 64; (Duccio), 149, 149-55, 156, 156-7,
Speculum Maius (Vincent of Beauvais), 51
166, 221, 223, 233, 245, 250, 252, 254, 283, 284,
300; 65-7; (Giovanni Pisano), 72, 73, 87-8; 30,
Spinelli, Parri,
38; (Guido da Siena), 113;
Spirituals (Strict Observants) 9, 147, 227, 234, 360, 373
(P. Lorenzetti), 244,
249, 250, 366, 378; 113
Oratory
of
S.
Spalato, see Split
~4,
376
Spinello Aretino, 162, 368, 375-6; 173

,
Split (Spalato), pulpit, 41, 403(6)-*
Bernardino,
relief
(Giovanni
Spoleto, 331
Argentieri Collection, formerly (Duccio circle), 257
d'Agostino), 2S9
Palazzo Buonsignori, 162
Bridge, 330-1; 156
Palazzo del Capitano di Giustizia, 162
Rocca, 330, 332, 352, 354; 156

S. Domenico, 14
Palazzo Chigi-Saracini, 162

Palazzo Pubblico, 160-2, 176, 178, fig. 13 68;
(Guido da Siena), 111-12, 113-14, 4o6(li)''8;
S. Pietro,
48; (A. Lorenzetti),
162,
186, 239, 244, 249,
251-4, 255, 269, 3S5; 110-12; (Martini), 162,
Staggia, 187
Stained glass, loi, 121-3, 127-9, 132, 147, 148, 157,
233-4.235-7.252,283,315; 100,103; (Memmi),

411(26)-; (Spinello Arctino), 162, 376; (Taddeo
di Bartolo), 162, 366; (L. Vanni), 364
Palazzo Salimbeni, 162
217, 239, 245, 270, 275, 293, 295, 301, 374, 383,
412(29)8; 54, 55, 122, 141
Stefaneschi, Bertoldo, 97
Stefaneschi,
Palazzo Sansedoni, 162

Palazzo Tolomei, 161
26
Walls, 409(20)'
Giacomo Gaetano,
cardinal, 97,
218, 225, 242

Stefani,
447
Marchionne
di
Coppo, 321
106,
INDEX
Stcfano (the 'ape of Nature'), 266
Stiniigliaiio, S. Maria in Vescovio, frescoes, 106
Tommaso
Stoclet Collection (Duccio), 156
Toro da
da Modena, 382
Torcello, mosaic, 103
pulpit, 41
Siena, 300
Stornaloco, Gabriele, 337-9. 340, 348
Torre, Gastone della, see Gastone
Strasbourg, cathedral, 337
Torriti, Jacopo, 95^-102, 132-3, 147, 259; 41
Stuttgart, GaUery, Aiisiistus and the Sibyl, 412(27)8
Toulouse, 185; churches of the Jacobins and CordeUers, 180-1
Suardi, Alberico, mon., 314
Traini, Francesco, 367-8, 371, 372; 167-S
Sulmona, 393
Swnina (St Thomas Aquinas), 42, 372
Trani,
Duomo,
Taciiimwi
Taddeo
castle,
Hemes dii
frescoes, 385
due de Berry (Pol de Limbourg),
385
di Bartolo, 162, 365,
366
Treviso, 191, 315
Duomo,
Taleuti, Francesco, 16S, 172, 319, 320-1, 322, 402(3)'';
S.
shrine of Beato Enrico, 395
Francesco, 409(21)'
S.
Nicolo, 194-5, 195, fig- 19; Ss\ chapter house,

(Tommaso da Modena), 382
frescoes
152
Turin, Infortiatum ofJustinian (Bib. Naz. MS.

275; (Tino di Camaino), 2S2
Talenti, Jacopo, Fra, 319
Simone di Francesco, 322, 326, 391; /J

Tancredo di Valva, 408(16)^
Taormina, Badia Vecchia, 329
Tarlati, Guido, bishop, mon., 287-8, 289, 391; ijj
Tarquinia, Palazzo Comunale, 31
Techniques, see Theory and Tecliniques
Teghacci, Nicolo di Ser Sozzo, 364-5, 365
Temi, S. Francesco, 401(2)^
Terranuova Bracciolitii, 186
Talenti,
Uberti family, 170
Ubertino da Carrara, see Carrara

Ubertino da Casale, 9
Udinc, Duomo (Vitale da Bologna?), 412(29)*
Ugolino da Siena, 258, 284
Ugolino di
Uguccione
Thcophilus, 109
Theory and techniques of architecture,

253, 292
tr.,
319
if.,
336
ft".,
17, 23, 165
Ulm
ff.,
292
109, 119-20, 141,
46, 53, 76, 82,
Urban
if.
Thomas Aquinas, St, 42,

Thomas of Celano, 123
Camaino,
IV, pope, 93
Urbania (Pictro da Rimini), 274

Urbino, Gallery (Baronzio), 274
48, 372
154, 244, 282-6, 287, 289, 290,
Utrecht, Archiepiscopal
303, 305, 310, 311. 388; 129-31

Tivoli, S. Maria Maggiore, decoration, 137
Tizio, 405(11)-'
fig.
6; 4:
(Guido da Siena),
Vago, Pietro, 351

Valcggio, castle and wall, 331
Valmagne, 13
Cathedral, 34
Fontc Scaniabccco, 408(16)'
Palazzo del Capitano, 34-5, 37;
Palazzo del Popolo, 34, 35, 409(18)*'; it
Palazzo dei Priori, 402(4)"'
Fortunato, 15-17. 35, 402(3)8,
Museum
114; 47
Todi
Vanni, Andrea, 365; 166

Vanni, Francesco, 394; 18s
friar>-,
refectory, 31
Vanni, Lippo, 364-5, 365; 165

Vanni di Fuccio dc'Lazzari, 391
Vasari, Giorgio, xxv, II, 75, 108, ilS, 227,229, 255,
'Temple of Mars', 23
Walls, 409(20)'
Tolcntino, S. Nicola, Cliapcl of St Nicholas, frescoes,
274
Tolomci, Giovanni
Minster, 339
Uppsala Cathedral, treasury, Lucchcse brocade, gg

Upton House, Bearsted Collection (Master of the
Fabriano Altarpiece?), 410(24)"
142, 201-2, 224-5, 251, 295-6, 368, 374-5, 384
Theory and techniques of sculpture,

83, 225,
Vieri, 300-1, 392; 141, 142

della Faggiuola, 283
Umiliati, 52
354
Theory and techniques of painting,
E. 1.8),
Textiles, 247-8, 276; 99
S.
Pisa), 374
Torre dell'Aquila,
Trevi, mendicant church, 28
Tagliacozzo, battle of, 31, 50, 93

Talamone, 1S6
Tijio di
pulpit, 41
Trento,
Guidotto
384
Satiitatis,
(Antonio da
Tres Riches
Tabiati, Guidotto de', see
23
Trattalo
di Tcsc,
Pistoia, moii.,
sec
Antonio, Lorenzo, and Paolo Vcnc-
ziano
Venice, 131, 191, 248, 272, 278, 317-18, 381, 386
Accadcmia (Lorenzo Veneziano), 377; (Paolo
236
Tolomci family, 234

Tomniaso d'Andrca, bishop of
266, 361, 388
Vcneziano,
286-7
448
Vcneziano; formerly Milan, Brera), 279; I28\

(Riminese School), 412(29)^
1
^
INDEX
Ca d'Oro, 357
Fondaco
Maria Gloriosa dci Frari

Madonna del Orto, 355
Palazzo Ariani, loggia, 357
Palazzo Ducalc, 329, 336,
355-7; 163; fresco

(Guariento di Arpo), 355, 377; 174; sculpture
(Mascguc), 396
I
r
dci Turclii, 3 56
Frari, see S.
Palazzo
Farsetti,
S.
Corona, 18-19, '91
S.
Lorenzo, 18-19, 191.
VUlani, Giovanni, 25, 170, 171, 230

Villard de Honnccourt, 58, 72, 294
Vincent of Beauvais,
356
fig- 8;
Vico I'Abate, Pievc (A. Lorenzetti), 244; 106

Vico I'Abate Master, 405(11)'
Vienna Genesis, 96
Villafranca di Verona, 187, 331
51,
276
Palazzo Foscari, 357

Palazzo Loredaii, 356
Virgil, Vatican, 133
Palazzo
Visconti, Bernabo, mon., 396-7, 397; igo
Pisaiii,
Visconti, Azzo, 310, 383; mon., 312
357
Palazzo Sagrcdo, 357

Palazzo Sanudo, 357
Visconti, Filippo Maria, 385
Querini-Stampalia Gallery (Catarini), 416(41)'
Visconti, Gian Galeazzo, 331, 333, 336, 345, 350, 385,
Visconti, Galeazzo
SS. Apostoli, frescoes, 278
mon. of Marco Comaro (Nino
fig.
Visconti, Matteo, 183
17; 8}
Pisano), 388, 389
Visconti, Ottone, mon., 311, 395
Marco, 17-18, 356, 357; CappellaZcn, Prophets,

395; Crucifix (Benato), 395; doors (Bcrtuccio)
Visconti, Stefano atid Valentina, mon., 396
303; iconostasis, 395; mon. of Andrea Dandolo

395; mosaics, 27S; Pala d'Oro, 278-9; portal,
Vite dei Santi Padri (Cavalca), 367
204
S. Maria Gloriosa dci Frari, 191, 192-4, fig. 18; 5.^
stained glass (Marco Veneziano), 412(29)^; chapter house, mon. of Francesco Dandolo (Paolo
central, reliefs, 396; pulpit, 41; tapestries,
S.
Visconti family
Casa del Vico, 32

Fontana Grande and other fountains, 51
Gate of S. Biele, 32
Palazzo dei Papi, 31-2; 12
S.
Stefano, 355, 409(21)'
195-6; 84
Vercelli
Maria in Gradi, cloister, 32; mon. of Clement

IV firom, see S. Francesco
S.
Maria
S.
Pellegrino quarter, 32
Andrea, 1S3
S.
Francesco, 401(2)"
52, 191, 311,
315
and bridge, 331-3, fig. 27; mon. of

Cangrande dcUa Scala, see S. Maria Antica
mon. of Gughelmo
di Castel-
Viva di Lando, 300-1; 142

Vodnjan (Dignano), Duomo (Paolo Veneziano), 279
Voghera Monstrance, 394, 398; 183
Volterra, 283
Deposition, 53
barco, 314, 397; J49

S.
S.
31-2
Vitruvius, 342
Castelveccliio
191;
della Verita, cloister,
Walls, 32, 186
S.
S. Anastasia,
57, 58, 62; 22, 2J
S.
Textiles, 248; gg
Verona,
Francesco, 401(2)^; mons., Adrian V, 57, Cle-
ment IV,
Duomo,
186, 188,319, 333, 359, 382, 383, 384
Viterbo
Veneziano), 279; 128

Simeone Grande, S. Simeone (Marco Romano),
Venzone,
Vitale da Bologna, 276-7, 363, 367, 380, 381; 126-7
395
S.
333, 383
386, 393, 394, 396, 415(38)'
SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 191, 191-2, 193,
S.
II,
Fermo Maggiorc, roof
Duomo,
195; 86
I4g, igz; Cansignorio della Scala, 397,

igt, ig2\ Mastino
II
pulpit, 403(6)5; reliefs,
397-8
della Scala, 396, 397, 398
192
S.
Pietro Martire, Dussaimi mon., 314
S.
Zeno, 293, 409(21)';
S. Zeno, 314
Verres, castle, 334-5; 158
Washington, Corcoran Gallery (A. Vanni), 365; 166

Westminster Abbey, sanctuary pavement and shrine
of St Edward, 57
Wood-carving, 83, 87-8, in, 248, 298, 299, 389;
Verrocchio, Andrea del, 392, 393
Verre eglomise, 4I2(28)'5

Via Francigena, 41
Viboldone
140, 181
Y
Yale, Crucifixion gable, 114; (Daddi), 264; iiS
Badia, 185; frescoes, 3S3

Umiliati, 401(2)"
Vicenza
Duomo, polyptych
(Lorenzo Veneziano), 377

Gallery (Paolo Veneziano), 278
289
Palazzo Pretorio, 402(4)'

Palazzo dei Priori, 33-4, 170
Maria Antica, mons., Alberto della Scab, 314

Cangrande della Scala, 314, 314-15, 396, 397
Zeno da Campione, 336

Zenobio, S. (Arditi), 391
Zevio, 378
449
nes
Othe.
SCULP'ijRE
IN
in
the Series
ITALY: 1400-1500
Charles Seymour Jr
IN
ITALY: 1600-1750
Rudolf Wittkower
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
Paul FrankI
THE NETHERLANDS, GERMANY,

FRANCE, AND SPAIN: 1400-1500
SCULPTURE
IN
Theodor
PAINTING
IN
MiJller
AGES
BRITAIN: THE MIDDLE

Margaret Rickert
SCULPTURE
IN
BRITAIN: THE MIDDLE
AGES
Lawrence Stone
ARCHITECTURE
IN
BRITAIN: THE MIDDLE
Geoffrey
AGES
Webb
BAROQUE ART AND ARCHITECTURE

CENTRAL EUROPE
IN
Eberhard Hempel
DUTCH ART AND ARCHITECTURE:

Jakob Rosenberg, Seymour
Slive,
and

BELGIUM:
H.
Gerson and
1600-1800
H. ter K'lile
E.
IN
1600-1800
E.
H. ter Kuile
THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE

ANCIENT ORIENT
Henri Frankfort
THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF JAPAN

Robert Treat Paine and Alexander Soper
THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF CHINA

Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper
THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF

ANCIENT AMERICA
George Kubler
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

EUROPE: 1780-1880
Fritz
IN
Novotny
ARCHITECTURE: NINETEENTH AND

TWENTIETH CENTURIES
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
The Next Volume

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE IN
GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS:
1500-1600
G. von der Osten and H.
Vey
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Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250 To 1400 (Art Ebook)

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I

COUNTY FREE LIBRARY

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The fourteenth century

Professor White's book is the first to give

and the prehistory

are related, the history of style

and as objects valuable

sakes, and not simply as data for

Among the names which appear in the book

Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Simone

Croce, S. Maria Novella, the

and the Palazzo Vecchio in

Italy. The centre is of course Tuscany,

much also on the rest of the peninsula,

the east coast

Tnere are about 300 half-tone illustrations

the text, and 8 diagrams of fresco cycles.

John White was born

After a course at Trinity College Oxford he

R A.F. and then studied at the Courtauld

Lecturer and later as a Reader.

two years and then taught from

1959 at the Courtauld,

His other publications include articles

largely on the Italian

Toulouse, 1317. Naples, Galleria Nazionale

THE PELICAN HISTORY OF ART

ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY: I25O-I4OO

Naples, Galleria Nazionale

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

San Rafael, California

Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex

Penguin Books Pty Ltd, Ringwood,

Text printed by Richard Clay (The Chaucer

Made and printed

Co. Ltd, Bradford

Maria Novella in Florence

Maria del Fiore and the Badia in Florence

Palace of the Popes at Viterbo

The Palazzo Comunale

The Choir of the Duomo

THE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS: SIENA, ORVIETO, FLORENCE

Todi and Perugia

The Tomb of Cardinal de Braye

Altar Canopies in S. Paolo fuori

Sculpture for the Facade of the

The Virgin and Child

for the Baptistery at Pisa

The Ivory Madoima and Child

The Late Works

Frescoes in S. Paolo fuori le

Frescoes in S. Cecilia in Trastevere in

COPPO DI MARCOVALDO AND GUIDO DA SIENA

CIMABUE AND THE UPPER CHURCH OF

Francesco at Assisi: Attribution and Sequence

The Decorative Scheme

Upper Church of S. Francesco

Choir and Transepts of S. Francesco

and the Dating of Cimabue's Frescoes

THE LEGEND OF ST FRANCIS AND THE COMPLETION OF THE

The Master of the

The Organization of the Legend of St