Produced by deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive









  HANDBOOKS OF THE GREAT
  CRAFTSMEN. EDITED BY
  G. C. WILLIAMSON, LITT.D.


THE PAVEMENT MASTERS OF SIENA




Handbooks of the Great Craftsmen.


Illustrated Monographs, Biographical and Critical, on the Great
Craftsmen and Workers of Ancient and Modern Times.

Edited by G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

Imperial 16mo, with numerous Illustrations, about 5_s._ net each.


_First Volumes of the Series_

  THE PAVEMENT MASTERS OF SIENA. Workers in Graffito. By R. H. HOBART
      CUST, M.A.

  PETER VISCHER. Bronze Founder. By CECIL HEADLAM, B.A.

  THE IVORY WORKERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By A. M. CUST.


_Others to follow._


LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.




  THE PAVEMENT MASTERS
  OF
  SIENA
  (1369–1562)


  BY
  ROBERT H. HOBART CUST, M.A.
  MAGDALEN COLLEGE. OXFORD


[Illustration]


  LONDON
  GEORGE BELL AND SONS
  1906




  Published 1901.
  Cheaper re-issue, 1906.




PREFACE


The first impression that this book may give, is that I have put the
cart before the horse, and that, instead of dwelling on the Pavement
Masters, I have laid too much stress on the Pavement itself, and too
little on the makers of it. A careful perusal, however, will, I hope,
prove that I have been right in my reasoning. I have felt strongly,
that in order to form a fair idea of these Masters, many,--I may say,
most,--of whose names are entirely unknown to the general English
reader, it was necessary to give as clear and vivid a picture as was
possible, of this, their greatest work, through which their names
live. Most people, who have ever heard of Siena, have heard of its
Cathedral Pavement:--an unique and historical piece of work:--but how
many have heard of even such great artists as Pietro del Minella and
Antonio Federighi? On this account, it seems to me that the case needed
treatment such as I have given it. I have, therefore, composed a full
and, as far as I could make it, a clear account of the chain which
connects these men together, and then added short notices of each,
giving all the important facts obtainable about them. For this purpose,
I have examined all the recognized authorities, and tried to introduce
any side-lights that may brighten up a somewhat dull record of facts.
I have avoided venturing on criticism: partly because I felt myself
unequal to the task; and partly because my space was too limited to
allow of such digressions without a sacrifice of more important matter.
Where I have put forward a theoretical suggestion, I have carefully
pointed out that it is only offered as such. I regret that it is
impossible to translate all the documents quoted, chiefly because the
quaint language in which they are written is untranslatable, and would
lose most of its charm if rendered into modern English. On the other
hand, I have, where a passage specially important to my argument occurs
in a document, given its general meaning in the text. I have added a
long list of authorities, and works connected with the Cathedral and
its Pavement which have been consulted, and I have to thank cordially,
for practical and artistic help, and advice throughout, three ladies:
the Hon. Mrs. A. L. Pelham, Mrs. J. P. Richter, and Mrs. Trail.

  SIENA, _September, 1901_.




TABLE OF CONTENTS


        PAGE

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                                               ix

  AUTHORITIES CONSULTED                                               xi

  THE SCHEME OF THE PAVEMENT                                         xiv


  CHAPTER I.

  HISTORY OF THE PAVEMENT                                              3


  CHAPTER II.

  THE PAVEMENT                                                        14


  CHAPTER III.

  THE PAVEMENT MASTERS                                               103


  CHAPTER IV.

  OTHER PAVEMENT WORK                                                143


  CHAPTER V.

  MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP OF THE PAVEMENT                          150


  INDEX                                                              157




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                 TO FACE
  PLATE                                                             PAGE
      I. GENERAL VIEW of the Interior of Siena Cathedral, showing
             the Pavement                                              1

     II. THE ENTIRE PAVEMENT                                          14
             Key Plan to the same, page 15.

    III. HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, designed by Giovanni di Maestro
             Stefano                                                  21

     IV. THE BADGES OF SIENA AND THE CONFEDERATE CITIES, 1373.
             (Author unknown)                                         24

      V. AN ALLEGORY OF FORTUNE, designed by Pinturicchio             27

     VI. THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, 1372. (Author unknown)                 30

    VII. THE SAMIAN SIBYL, designed by Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli     45

   VIII. THE HELLESPONTINE SIBYL, designed by Neroccio di Landi       48

     IX. THE EXPULSION OF HEROD, designed by Benvenuto di Giovanni
             del Guasta (the entire panel)                            55

      X. THE CHIEF PORTION OF THE SAME PANEL, (in large size to
             show details)                                            56

     XI. DETAIL OF THE FRIEZE OF LIONS, designed by Bastiano di
             Francesco                                                58

    XII. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, designed by Matteo di
             Giovanni Bartoli (the entire panel)                      61

   XIII. THE CHIEF PORTION OF THE SAME PANEL, (in large size to
             show details)                                            62

    XIV. THE RELIEF OF BETHULIA, designed by Urbano da Cortona(?),
             or Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli(?), executed by Antonio
             Federighi                                                64

     XV. DETAIL FROM THE SAME PANEL                                   66

    XVI. ANOTHER DETAIL FROM THE SAME PANEL                           68

   XVII. THE STORY OF ABSALOM, by Pietro del Minella                  79

  XVIII. THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN, designed by Antonio Federighi         85

    XIX. ELIJAH’S COMPACT WITH AHAB, designed by Domenico
             Beccafumi                                                99

     XX. SAMSON AND THE PHILISTINES, designed by Paolo di Martino    111

    XXI. THE EMPEROR SIGISMUND, designed by Domenico di Bartoli
             d’Asciano                                               113

   XXII. A CANDLESTICK, designed by Antonio Federighi                119

  XXIII. DETAIL FROM THE STORY OF JEPHTHAH, designed by Bastiano
             di Francesco                                            129

   XXIV. DRAWINGS OF DETAILS. The lily designed by Antonio
             Federighi(?); border A designed by Domenico Beccafumi   137

    XXV. THE STORY OF MOSES AND THE TABLES OF THE LAW, designed by
             Domenico Beccafumi                                      139

   XXVI. ELIJAH CAUGHT UP TO HEAVEN (from the drawing by Prof.
             Alessandro Franchi)                                     154




AUTHORITIES CONSULTED


  Milanesi (Gaetano). Documenti per la Storia dell’ Arte Senese.
    (Porri, Siena, 1856).

    Sulla Storia dell’ Arte Toscana, Scritti Varii. (_Discorso sulla
      Storia Artistica Senese._) (Sordo-Muti, Siena, 1873.)

    MS. Notes on the Pavement. Bib. Pubb. Siena. Cod. P. III., 28.

    Commentario sulle Vite di piu eccellenti Pittori, Scultori ed
      Architettori da Giorgio Vasari, vols. i. and v. (G. C. Sansone,
      Firenze, 1880–81.)

  Borghesi (S.) and Bianchi (L.). Nuovi Documenti per la Storia
    dell’ Arte Senese. (Torrini, Siena, 1898.)

    MS. Notes on the Pavement, etc., etc., etc. Bib. Pubb. Siena,
      Cod. P. II.

  Faluschi (Abate Gioacchino). MS. Notes, Bib. Pubb. Siena. Cod.
    E. V. 13 and E. V. 16.

  Tizio (Sigismondo). Historiarum Senensium, vols. iv., v., vi. MS.
    Bib. Pubb. Siena, Cod. B. III., 9, 10, 11.

  Ciaccheri (Abate Giuseppe). MS. Notes, Bib. Pubb. Siena.

  Della Valle (Padre Guglielmo). Lettere Senesi, vol. iii.
    (_Descrizione del Pavimento_, by Alfonso Landi.) (Giovanni
    Zempel, Rome, 1787.)

  Ugurgieri-Azzolini (Padre Isidoro). Pompe Senese. (Pistoia, 1649.)

  Gigli (Girolamo). Diario Senese. (Lucca, 1723.)

  De Angelis (Padre). Vita di Beato Pier Pettinaio. (Siena, 1802.)

  Repetti (Emanuele). Dizionario Geografico-Fisico-Storico della
    Toscana. (Tofani, Firenze, 1833–45.)

  Micheli (Prof. Padre Everardo). Siena e il suo Territorio.
    (Edifizi Religiosi e Civili). (Sordo-Muti, Siena, 1862.)

    Il Pavimento dei Duomo di Siena. (Sordo-Muti, Siena, 1870.)

    La Guida Artistica della Citta e Contorni di Siena. (Sordo-Muti,
      Siena, 1883.)

  Benci (Gusmano). Ricordi Artistici di Siena. (Sordo-Muti, Siena,
    1875.)

  Album di Storia Patria. Bozzetti Repubblicani Senesi, vol. i.
    _Domenico Beccafumi._ (Giulio Mucci, Siena, 1875.)

  Mussini (Luigi). Le Tavole della Biccherna e della Gabella della
    Repubblica di Siena. (Bargellini, Siena, 1877.)

    Il Pavimento dei Duomo di Siena e il Prof. Alessandro Franchi.
      (Le Monnier, Firenze, 1880.)

  Rubini (Ferdinando). Dei Restauri eseguiti nella Chiesa
    Metropolitana in Siena dal Luglio, 1864, al 31 Dicembre, 1878.
    (Bargellini, Siena, 1869 and 1879.)

  Ridolfi (E.). L’Arte in Lucca, studiata nella sua Cattedrale.
    (Lucca, 1882.)

  Lusini (V.). Storia della Basilica di S. Francesco in Siena.
    (Siena, 1894.)

  Miscellanea Storica Senese, Gennaio-Febbraio, 1898. (Torrini,
    Siena, 1898.)

  Sismondi (Jean Ch. L. Simonde de). Histoire des Républiques
    Italiennes du Moyen Age. (Treuttel et Würtz, Paris, 1818.)

  Piper (Ferdinand). Mythologie der christlichen Kunst, vol. i.
    (Weimar, 1847.)

  Richter (Luise M.). Siena. (Seeman, Leipzig and Berlin, 1901.)

  Justi (Cari). Michelangelo. (1901.)

  Wagner (Hans Joachim). Domenico di Bartolo Ghezzi. V. Teil der von
    einer hohen Fakultät angenommen Abhandlung. _Das Dompaviment
    von Siena und seine Meister._ (W. Fr. Kästner, Göttingen, 1898.)

  Lindsay (Lord). Sketches of the History of Christian Art, vol. ii.

  Berenson (Bernhard). Central Italian Painters. (Putnam, London
    and New York, 1899.)

  Symonds (John Addington). Introduction to the Study of Dante. (A.
    and C. Black, London, 1893.)

  Norton (Charles E.). Church Building in the Middle Ages.
    (Harpers, New York, 1880.)

  Encyclopædia Britannica. (1880), _Hermes Trismegistus: Sibyls_.




THE SCHEME OF THE PAVEMENT


  -------------------------------------+------------------------------+-----------+-----------------+---------------------------
                                       |                              | Date the  |     Numbers     |
        The various designs on the     |            Notes.            | work was  |  corresponding  |   Names of the Artists.
        pavement arranged in their     |                              | executed. | to those on the |
           chronological order.        |                              |           |  plan (p. 15).  |
  -------------------------------------+------------------------------+-----------+-----------------+---------------------------
                                       |   Of these eight artists’    |   1369    |                 | (1). Antonio di Brunaccio.
                                       | work on the Pavement,        |   1370    |                 | (2). Sano di Marco.
                                       | no recognizable trace        |     ”     |                 | (3). Francesco di Ser
                                       | now remains.                 |           |                 |      Antonio.
                                       |                              |   1376    |                 | (4). Matteo di Bartolo.
                                       |                              |   1380    |                 | (5). Nanni di Corsino.
                                       |                              |   1398    |                 | (6). Sano di Maestro
                                       |                              |           |                 |      Matteo.
                                       |                              |     ”     |                 | (7). Luca di Cecco.
                                       |                              |   1405    |                 | (8). Cecco di Giovanni.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
    Fortune’s Wheel revolving with     |                              |           |                 |
  figures of men clinging to it. In    |                              |           |                 |
  the four corners of the picture are  |                              |           |                 |
  half-length portraits of Euripides,  |                              |           |                 |
  Seneca, Epictetus, and Aristotle.    |                              |           |                 |
  (Milanesi. _Documenti._ Vol. i.,     |                              |           |                 |
  p. 177.)                             |                              |   1372    |       37        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Arms of the Cities allied and    |                              |           |                 |
  friendly to Siena. (_Ditto._)        |                              |   1373    |       34        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  A Wheel, in the middle of which      |                              |           |                 |
    is the Imperial Eagle              |                              |  1373(?)  |       35        |                                                          |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Parable of the Mote and the      |                              |           |                 |
    Beam                               |                              |  1374–5   |       38        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Temperance                           |   The frieze of zig-zags     |   1380    |       17        |
  Prudence                             | and spikes which frames      |     ”     |       18        |
  Christian Piety                      | the five figures Nos. 17–21, |   1406    |       19        |
  Justice                              | also dates from 1406.        |     ”     |       20        |
  Fortitude. (_Mil. Doc._, vol. i.,    |                              |     ”     |       21        | (9). Marchesse d’Adamo
    p. 177)                            |                              |           |                 | and the Comacene Masters
                                       |                              |           |                 | in stone.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  King David the Psalmist. (_Siena     |                              |           |                 | (10). Domenico di Niccolo
    e il suo Territorio_, p. 205.)     |                              |   1423    |       53        | del Coro.
  Goliath the Giant. (Ditto.)          |                              |     ”     |       54        |            ”
  The Young David with his Sling       |   The frieze inclosing       |           |                 |
    (Ditto.)                           | all these designs, together  |     ”     |       55        |            ”
  Judas Maccabeus                      | with No. 24, was inlaid      |   1424    |       15        |            ”
  Joshua and the King of the Amorites. | by (11) Agostino di Niccolo, |           |                 |
    Ditto.)                            | and (12) Bastiano            |   1426    |       22        | (13) Paolo di Martino.
  Samson. (Ditto.)                     | di Corso da Firenze, and     |     ”     |       14        |            ”
  Moses. (Ditto.)                      | completed in 1423.           |     ”     |       16        |            ”
  Joshua. (Ditto.)                     |                              |     ”     |       23        |            ”
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  A man, giving alms to a woman,       |                              |           |                 |
    carrying a child                   |                              |   1433    |       39        | Domenico di Niccolo
                                       |                              |           |                 | del Coro.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Emperor Sigismund enthroned.     |                              |           |                 | Designed by (14) Domenico
    (_Mil. Doc._, vol. ii., p. 261.)   |                              |   1434    |       13        | di Bartolo da
                                       |                              |           |                 | Asciano. Executed by
  The Story of Absalom. (_Siena e      |                              |           |                 | (15) Giacomo d’Antonio.
    il suo Territorio._)               |                              |   1447    |       12        | Designed by (16) Pietro
                                       |                              |           |                 | del Minella.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Solomon                              |                              |     ”     |       24        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Parable of the Pharisee and      |   These three designs        |           |                 |
    the Publican                       | are in the doorways of       |   1448    |       57        |
  A Jar, labelled _Fel_ (Gall)         | the principal façade.        |     ”     |       58        |
  A similar Jar, labelled _Mel_        |                              |           |                 |
    (Honey)                            |                              |     ”     |       59        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Three designs before doors of        |                              |           |                 | Designed by (17) Nastagio
    Baptistery. (The Birth, Baptism,   |                              |           |                 | di Guasparre and
    and Reception of an Infant         |                              |           |                 | executed by (18) Bartolomeo
    Christian.)                        |                              |   1450    |                 | di Mariano, called
                                       |                              |           |                 | _Il Mandriano_, and (21)
                                       |                              |           |                 | Antonio Federighi.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Design before the Porta del Perdono  |                              |           |                 | Designed by (19) Guasparre
    (Consecration of the               |                              |           |                 | d’Agostino and
    Duomo by Pope Alexander III.       |                              |           |                 | executed by (20) Corso
    [Bandinelli] in 1174.)             |   Now destroyed.             |   1451    |                 | di Bastiano.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The two Blind men. (_Mil. Doc._,     |                              |           |                 | Executed, after his own
    vol. ii., p. 437.)                 |                              |   1459    |       40        | design, by Antonio
                                       |                              |           |                 | Federighi.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Relief of Bethulia by Judith.    |   The frieze of Reels        |   1473    |       25        | Designed by (22) Urbano
                                       | around this design was       |           |                 | da Cortona(?) or by
                                       | executed by the said Urbano, |           |                 | (23) Matteo di Giovanni
                                       | (24) Giovanni di             |           |                 | Bartoli.(?) Executed by
                                       | Maestro Stefano, (25)        |           |                 | Antonio Federighi.
                                       | Bartolommeo di Domenico      |           |                 |
                                       | Calabrone, and (26)          |           |                 |
                                       | Francesco di Bartolomeo.     |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Seven Ages of Man                |   Around it is a frieze of   |   1475    |        6        | Executed by Antonio
                                       | stags, by the same artist.   |           |                 | Federighi.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Massacre of the Innocents.       |                              |   1481    |       26        | Designed by Matteo di
                                       |                              |           |                 | Giovanni Bartoli.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Delphic Sibyl                    |                              |   1482    |        1        | Executed by (27) Giuliano
                                       |                              |           |                 | di Biagio and (28)
                                       |                              |           |                 | Vito di Marco.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Cumean Sibyl                     |                              |     ”     |        2        | Executed by (29) Luigi di
                                       |                              |           |                 | Ruggiero, called
                                       |                              |           |                 | _L’Armellino_, and Vito di
                                       |                              |           |                 | Marco.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Cuman Sibyl                      |                              |     ”     |        3        | Giovanni di Maestro Stefano.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Erythrean Sibyl                  |                              |     ”     |        4        | Antonio Federighi.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Persian Sibyl                    |                              |     ”     |        5        | Urbano di Pietro da
                                       |                              |           |                 | Cortona.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Sacrifice of Jephthah            |                              |   1483    |       11        | Designed and executed
                                       |                              |           |                 | by (30) Bastiano di
                                       |                              |           |                 | Francesco di Sano.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Albunean Sibyl                   |   Who executed these         |     ”     |       28        | Designed by (31) Benvenuto
                                       | five Sibyls is not known,    |           |                 | Giovanni del Guasta.
                                       | but it seems possible        |           |                 |
  The Samian Sibyl                     | that, amongst other masters, |   1483    |       29        | Designed by Matteo di
                                       | Giuliano di Biagio may have  |           |                 | Giovanni Bartoli.
                                       | worked on them.              |           |                 |
  The Phrygian Sibyl                   |                              |     ”     |       30        | Luigi di Ruggiero, called
                                       |                              |           |                 | _L’Armellino_(?) and Vito
                                       |                              |           |                 | di Marco(?).
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Hellespontine Sibyl              |                              |     ”     |       31        | Designed by (32) Neroccio
                                       |                              |           |                 | di Bartolommeo Landi.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Libyan Sibyl                     |                              |     ”     |       32        | Designed by (33) Guidoccio
                                       |                              |           |                 | Cozzarelli.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Expulsion of Herod               |   The frieze of winged       |   1484    |       27        | Designed by Benvenuto
                                       | lions which surrounds        |           |                 | di Giovanni del Guasta.
                                       | this picture, was designed   |           |                 |
                                       | by Bastiano di Francesco     |           |                 |
                                       | di Sano. Upon this picture   |           |                 |
                                       | and upon No. 26              |           |                 |
                                       | (above-mentioned), the       |           |                 |
                                       | following artists were       |           |                 |
                                       | also employed: Vito di       |           |                 |
                                       | Marco, (34) Bernardino       |           |                 |
                                       | d’Antonio, (35) Cristofano   |           |                 |
                                       | di Pietro Paolo del          |           |                 |
                                       | Quarantotto, and Bartolomeo  |           |                 |
                                       | di Domenico Calabrone.       |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Mercurius Trismegistus               |                              |   1488    |       33        | Designed by Giovanni
                                       |                              |           |                 | di Maestro Stefano(?)
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  An Allegory of Fortune. (_Mil.       |                              |           |                 |
    Doc._, vol. iii., p. 13.)          |                              |  1505–6   |       36        | Designed by (36) Bernardino
                                       |                              |           |                 | Betti, called _Pinturicchio_,
                                       |                              |           |                 | and executed by
                                       |                              |           |                 | (37) Paolo Mannucci.
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Story of Elijah and Ahab         |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Elijah’s Sacrifice                   |                              |  1518–24  |       41        | Designed by (38) Domenico
                                       |                              |           |                 | Beccafumi, called
  The Compact between Elijah and       |                              |           |                 | _Mecherino_, and executed
    Ahab, each to prove the Truth      |                              |           |                 | at the same time by (39)
    of his Deity by Sacrifice          |                              |           |       42        | Bernardino di Giacomo, (40)
                                       |                              |           |                 | Giovann’ Antonio Marinelli,
  The Slaughter of the False Prophets  |                              |           |                 | surnamed _il Mugnaino_,
    of Baal                            |                              |           |       43        | (41) Giacomo, and (42)
                                       |                              |           |                 | Bartolommeo di Pietro Gallo,
  Ahab’s Sacrifice                     |                              |           |       44        | (43) Niccolo Filippi, and
                                       |                              |           |                 | (44) Cristofano di Carbone.
  Elijah bids Obadiah bring Ahab       |                              |           |                 |
    to him                             |                              |           |       45        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Ahab meets Elijah                    |                              |           |       46        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Moses striking the Rock              |                              |   1525    |       51        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Moses receives the Tables of the     |                              |           |                 |
    Law on Mount Sinai. (This picture  |                              |           |                 |
    is divided into six parts.)        |                              |   1531    |       52        |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (α) Moses receives the Tables of     |                              |           |                 |
    the Law.                           |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (β) The Hebrew People wait for       |                              |           |                 |
    Moses’ Descent from the Mount.     |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (γ) The Destruction of the           |                              |           |                 |
    idolatrous Hebrews.                |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (δ) Moses breaks the Tables of       |                              |           |                 |
    Stone.                             |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (η) The Hebrews sacrifice to the     |                              |           |                 |
    Golden Calf.                       |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  (θ) The Hebrews compel Aaron         |                              |           |                 |
    to make them idols.                |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  The Story of Abraham’s Sacrifice.    |                              |  1544–46  |       56        | Designed by Domenico
    At the side of this large picture, |                              |           |                 | Beccafumi and executed
  which is placed before the High      |                              |           |                 | by Bernardino di Giacomo.
  Altar, and on either side of the     |                              |           |                 |
  Altar itself, are fourteen other     |                              |           |                 |
  small pictures, seven on each side.  |                              |           |                 |
    These represent:                   |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
            On the right:              |                              |           |                 |
  1. Elisha raises the son of the      |                              |           |                 |
    Shunammite.                        |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  2. A Prophet, with an open book      |                              |           |                 |
    before him.                        |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  3. Eve kneeling.                     |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  4. A Woman, with an open book        |                              |           |                 |
    in her hand.                       |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  5. A Woman holding a hand-mirror,    |                              |           |                 |
    who represents “Prudence.”         |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  6. Melchisedec Sacrificing.          |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  7. A seated Woman, with a Child.     |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
            On the left:               |                              |           |                 |
  8. The old Tobit with his Son, and   |                              |           |                 |
    the Angel Raphael. At his feet     |                              |           |                 |
    a dog.                             |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  9. A Woman, representing “Charity.”  |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  10. Adam kneeling.                   |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  11. A Prophet, looking up to         |                              |           |                 |
    Heaven.                            |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  12. A seated Woman, with a book      |                              |           |                 |
    in her hand.                       |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  13. Abel Sacrificing.                |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  14. A Woman, in the act of sitting   |                              |           |                 |
    down, with a Child...              |                              |           |                 | Designed by Domenico
    The large picture and the smaller  |                              |           |                 | Beccafumi and executed
  ones are framed by a frieze of       |                              |           |                 | by (45) Pellegrino di
  half-length figures, which represent |                              |           |                 | Pietro.
  the Hebrew People journeying         |                              |           |                 |
  from Egypt towards the Promised      |                              |           |                 |
  Land.                                |                              |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Elijah fed by Ravens                 |   These four designs are     |   1780    |       47        | Designed by (49) Carlo
  Elijah anoints Jehu King of Israel   | usually attributed, as is    |    ”      |       48        | Amidei, and executed by
  Elijah asks bread of the Widow       | stated in col. 5; but, as I  |    ”      |       49        | (50) Matteo Pini.
  Elijah raises the Widow’s son        | have argued at length in     |    ”      |       50        |
                                       | chap. ii., it is not         |           |                 |
                                       | improbable that they were    |           |                 |
                                       | originally designed by (46)  |           |                 |
                                       | Gio. Battista Sozzini, and   |           |                 |
                                       | executed by (47) Niccolo     |           |                 |
                                       | di Girolamo Gori, (48)       |           |                 |
                                       | Domenico di Pier Giovanni,   |           |                 |
                                       | and Bernardino di            |           |                 |
                                       | Jacomo, in 1562.             |           |                 |
                                       |                              |           |                 |
  Hope                                 |   Originally designed in     |           |        7        |
  Faith                                | 1780, by Carlo Amidei        |           |        8        |
  Charity                              | and Matteo Pini, but removed |           |        9        | (See below.)
  Religion                             | in 1878.                     |           |       10        |


In 1875–78, the scenes in the four lozenges, Nos. 47–50, by Carlo
Amidei, being considered unsatisfactory, and the ancient scenes 38, 39,
40, being much dilapidated, (51) Professor Alessandro Franchi prepared
four new designs of the same subjects for the lozenges, and three more
subjects from the same story, for the three hexagons.

  Namely: (a) Elijah predicts the manner of Ahab’s death. No. 39.[1]

          (b) Ahab mortally wounded, No. 40.

          (c) Elijah carried to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, No. 38.

These designs were executed by (52) Prof. Leopoldo Maccari, with the
assistance of the sculptors (53) Antonio and (54) Giuseppe Radicchi.

The same artists also, at the same date, designed and executed,
respectively, the figures of the four Theological Virtues (Nos. 7, 8,
9, and 10), as we now see them.

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]

I. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF SIENA CATHEDRAL, SHOWING THE
PAVEMENT]


           *       *       *       *       *

    ... “Cast down thine eyes;
    ’Twere well for thee, to alleviate the way,
    To look upon the bed beneath thy feet.

           *       *       *       *       *

    So saw I there, but of a better semblance
      In point of artifice, with figures covered
      Whate’er as pathway from the mount projects.

           *       *       *       *       *

    Who e’er of pencil master was or stile,
      That could portray the shades and traits which there
      Would cause each subtile genius to admire?
    Dead seemed the dead, the living seemed alive;
      Better than I saw not who saw the truth,
      All that I trod upon while bowed I went.

    _“La Divina Commedia” of Dante Alighieri,
    translated by H. W. Longfellow._


           *       *       *       *       *

    ... Volgi gli occhi in giue;
    Buon ti sarà, per alleggiar la via,
    Veder lo letto delle piante tue.

           *       *       *       *       *

    Si vid’ io li, ma di miglior sembianza
      Secondo l’ artificio, figurato
      Quanto per via di fuor dal monte avanza.

           *       *       *       *       *

    Qual di pennel fu maestro o di stile,
      Che ritraesse l’ombre e i tratti, ch’ ivi
      Mirar farieno ogn’ ingegno sottile?
    Morti li morti, e i vivi parean vivi.
      Non vede me’ di me chi vide il vero,
      Quant’ io calcai fin che chinato givi.

    _“La Divina Commedia” di Dante Alighieri, Il
    Purgatorio_, Canto xii. L. 13–15, 22–24, 64–69.




THE PAVEMENT MASTERS OF SIENA




CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE PAVEMENT


One might have supposed that when Dante wrote the lines here quoted,
he was describing the wonderful pavement that still adorns the Duomo
of Siena. But this, we know, cannot be, since it was not until more
than thirty years after Dante’s death that the plans for a greatly
enlarged Duomo were abandoned, and the Sienese set themselves to
adorn the building in the shape that we see it now. Moreover, as we
shall presently see, no records of _ornamental_ work done upon the
floor exist earlier than 1369. We may, however, I think, fairly turn
the proposition the other way, and fancy that the pavement designers
had Dante’s wonderfully descriptive verses in their minds, when they
planned such a work. Their subjects and his differ vastly; and in the
two hundred years that passed, ere it was in any sense completed, many
variations took place in the original design, if complete design there
ever was. Still we may feel, on entering that glorious temple, as if we
were really treading the first parapet of Purgatory, as pictured by him.

Although the order in which the stories meet our eyes does not in the
least agree with the chronology of their execution, a sense of fitness
in position seems to run through them, even from the great West Door
itself. Hermes Trismegistus presenting to his disciples the Poemander,
meets us on the very threshold of the Nave, supported in either aisle
by the majestic figures of the ten Sibyls; and seems to lead the way,
through half-pagan symbolical designs, to where, surrounded by the
histories of Hebrew heroes and prophets, the mystery of the Atoning
Sacrifice of Christ, the Very God, the Centre of all Faith and Prophecy
is, before the High Altar itself, symbolized by the Sacrifice of Isaac.

But this suggestion must not be pressed too far, because, as I have
already remarked, and as the accompanying plan will show, many
variations, for which at first sight the reason is not very obvious,
have from time to time crept in. For general purposes, however,
the student of the floor may fairly start with some such complete
conception.

From the admirably arranged Archives, both Ecclesiastical and Communal,
of the City of Siena, we are able to piece together a very nearly
complete history of the work, showing, in most cases, why certain
exceptions probably were made; and from them, through the medium of
the carefully compiled volumes of the late Signor Gaetano Milanesi, I
have drawn most of the information which follows.[2]

Vasari’s statement, so often quoted by subsequent writers, that
Duccio made designs for this pavement, is quite without documentary
authority.[3] Duccio died more than fifteen years before the larger
Duomo scheme was finally abandoned; whilst the earliest records dealing
with work of a _decorative_ nature[4] is dated 1369, and runs as
follows: “_a maestro_ Antonio di Brunaccio _vintuna lire a cinque sol
per ij braccia e due quarri di tarsie di marmo di lo spazzo di Duomo_.”
In the following year (1370) we read “_a maestro_ Sano di Marco _per
dodici porporelle per lo spazzo di duomo, a sol: 10 l’una, si danno
L. 6._“; “_a_ Francesco di Ser Antonio _per uno braccio e mezzo di
compasso per detto spazzo a ragione d’otto lire e mezzo il braccio
si danno lire 12. e soldi 15_,” and “_a maestro_ Sano di Marco _per
birichuocoli bianchi e rossi pello spazzo di duomo, L. 4. soldi 8_.”[5]

Two years later, according to the historian Sigismondo Tizio, the
Pavement of the nave from the cupola downwards was begun, and among
other things was laid out (_spianata_) the design of the Wheel of
Fortune, with figures of men clinging to it.

And in the next year (1373) an old chronicler[6] tells us that “_In
questo anno si fece il pavimento a pietre tassellate_,” which no doubt
refers to the circle containing the emblems of Siena, surrounded by
those of the cities friendly and allied to her. Be it noted here that
this is the only portion of the floor that is _tessellated_; that is
to say, decorated with designs, made up of small squares of different
coloured stones, in the manner of ordinary mosaic.

Then, in 1374, we find reference[7] to work done, under the direction
of Andrea di Minuccio _Operaio_, at the foot of the Choir; which was
at that date, and until the commencement of the sixteenth century,
situated under the Cupola.

Again in 1376, 1380, 1398 and 1405, we read of payments to certain
master-workmen, named Matteo di Bartolo, Nanni di Corsino, Sano di
Matteo, Luca di Ciecho (or Cecco), and Cecco di Giovanni (or Giovannino
di Ciecho), for intarsia work on the Pavement, apparently in decorative
friezes, some of which, no doubt, exist still, though we cannot now
identify them.

The first authoritative document, however, which speaks of _figures_
on the Pavement is an entry in the Duomo Archives, under date March
13th, 1406, which records the payment of 140 lire, “_e quali li debiamo
dare_,” to Marchesse d’Adamo (perhaps a son of the architect, Maestro
Adamo), “_e compagni maestri di pietra da Como per una rotta (ruota)
anno fatto murare nello spazzo contra a la sagrestia_.”[8]

From the mention of its neighbourhood to the _sacristy_, this must
point to the circle containing the figure of Fortitude, No 21, from
which, alas! restoration, in 1839, has removed all ancient feeling,
and sadly reduced to the commonplace.

After this we find no entries until 1423; but from that time commences
the real history of the Pavement Masters: and we begin with perhaps
the most interesting personage connected with it; namely, Domenico di
Niccolo del Coro, who held the post of Capo-maestro[9] of the Opera
del Duomo between the years 1413 and 1423. It is not easy now to
separate the work attributed to Domenico from that of another artist,
Paolo di Martino, who appears to have immediately succeeded Domenico
as Capo-maestro. We know, however, that the following portions of the
floor were executed at that date:

1. David the Psalmist, surrounded by four Musicians (No. 53).[10]

2. David the Youth with his Sling (No. 55).

3. The Giant Goliath falling backwards (No. 54).

4. Moses (No. 16).

5. Samson chastising the Philistines (No. 14).

6. Judas Maccabeus (No. 15).

7. Joshua (No. 23).

8. The Slaughter of the Five Kings of the Amorites (No. 22).

Of these eight subjects the first three may be with certainty given to
Domenico himself; whilst Nos. 5 and 8 may be[11] ascribed to the other
artist. Of the single figures that of Judas Maccabeus is so entirely
concealed now by the balustrade of the altar of the Blessed Sacrament
built over it, that it is impossible to ascertain with any degree of
absolute certainty who was its author; but Joshua and Moses are given
by Milanesi to Paolo di Martino.

Domenico seems to have been a great and versatile artist, a worker in
glass,[12] as well as in marble, and above all famous for his skill in
woodcarving and inlay. The restorations of his work here, which have
evidently been frequent, have robbed it of very much of the charm,
which we feel so strongly in his inlaid panels in the Palazzo Pubblico
Chapel, but there is still a naïve originality about the designs, which
cannot fail to show his high merit.

The next celebrated artist, who left his mark on this floor was the
painter, Domenico di Bartolo di Ghezzo of Asciano, whose charming
design of the Emperor Sigismund enthroned, No. 13, is one of the most
marked exceptions to the general scheme.

Next we have Pietro del Minella, the celebrated sculptor, and a pupil
of the still more famous Giacomo della Quercia. He also left only one
design, but that perhaps the most striking in the entire floor: Absalom
hanging by his hair, No. 12.

Then appears that great craftsman, Antonio Federighi, whose graceful
“Ages of Man,” No. 6, would alone entitle him to take a high rank in
the History of Art. The works of Art left by this artist here and
elsewhere are many, and of a very varied description; but we must now
pass on to perhaps the most interesting and prolific period in the
History of the Duomo, during which the floor was by no means left
uncared for.

The City of Siena outside was a prey to constant faction and civil
disturbance, but her Duomo within, under the fostering care and taste
of the noble Alberto Aringhieri, Knight of Rhodes and Malta, Rettore
from 1481–1498, was steadily growing in beauty and splendour. I cannot
here enumerate all the embellishments added during this period to the
fabric, though among them I may name the decoration of the interior of
the Cupola: the adornment of the Chapel of S. Giovanni, where may still
be seen Pinturicchio’s beautiful portraits of Aringhieri himself in
youth and age: and the frieze of Papal busts that runs round the entire
building.

Aringhieri collected around him a band of artists, eminent already
as painters and sculptors; among whom was Federighi himself. From
the designs and with the skill of these, he completed the floor of
the North and South Transepts; both the Aisles and the last bay of
the Nave. Whether, as is possible, he was influenced in his choice
of subjects by external historical events, we cannot now say; but
some at least of the designs, while appropriate to the general idea
of the whole, appear to have a possible political significance.
Thus the “Massacre of the Innocents,” No. 26, designed by Matteo di
Giovanni Bartoli, may have been chosen to commemorate the terrifying
episodes that occurred during the Sack of Otranto by the Turks; and
the Expulsion of Herod, No. 27, the Fall of Pandolfo Petrucci and his
faction. Whether this was so or not, the works of this period are among
the finest and noblest designs on the entire floor. The later work of
Beccafumi may be more realistic, but nothing can surpass the force and
feeling of power exhibited in the fourteen designs, which date their
origin from this period.

In 1505–6 was added Pinturicchio’s “Allegory of Fortune,” No. 36; and
shortly after an important change in the interior arrangement of the
building, by exposing a great deal of floor space, necessitated the
addition of a large number of fresh designs, which Domenico Beccafumi
(_il Mecarino_) called upon to supply. This change was the removal,
under the direction of Baldassare Peruzzi, Capo-maestro in 1532, of
the High Altar, which had hitherto stood under the Cupola, to their
present position, further east in the Apse.

Beccafumi had previously, in 1525 and 1531, designed his scenes
from the Life of Moses, Nos. 51 and 52, and he now, in 1544–46, was
commissioned to make designs to surround the Altar-steps. Of the
history of the Elijah designs, Nos. 41–46, under the Cupola, attributed
to him, I wish to speak at greater length, so I will reserve the
details concerning them until the next chapter.

In 1661 the building of the Cappella del Voto by Pope Alexander VII.
destroyed the ancient Porta del Perdono; and the scene representing the
Consecration of the Cathedral, designed by Guasparre d’Agostino, and
executed by Corso di Bastiano in 1451, which formerly lay before that
door, was ruthlessly destroyed.

In 1750, certain Virtues, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, were designed by Carlo
Amidei for the entrance to the above-mentioned chapel. This artist also
restored a good many of the older designs, and added, it is generally
assumed, four lozenges to the story of Elijah, Nos. 47–50, under the
Cupola. These were all considered worthless and removed in 1875 to
make way for new designs by Sig. Prof. Alessandro Franchi, the present
Director of the Accademia delle Belle Arti. This accomplished gentleman
also designed three hexagons to complete the Story of Elijah, Nos. 38,
39 and 40, and to fill spaces, up to that time occupied by fragments of
older work, brought from other parts of the Cathedral. These designs
were all executed under his direction by Signor Leopoldo Maccari in
1878.[13]

Between the years 1864 and 1878 a complete restoration of the whole
floor has taken place. Much time and money have been expended upon the
work, and the result is, on the whole, not unsatisfactory; but the
effects of previous restorations by less sympathetic hands in certain
parts is painfully apparent. Some of the work, beautiful still, but too
much injured to remain _in situ_ has been removed to the Museum of the
Opera del Duomo, and replaced by copies.

This Pavement, in spite of the opinions of those who consider pictorial
design unsuitable floor decoration, is a never-ending source of joy and
pleasing suggestion: an unique _tour de force_, and a stroke of genius
on the part of the original designers. Except during the month of
August, the entire centre portion from the West door to the High Altar
itself is carefully protected by boarding. When this is removed, and
the whole vista is spread out before one, it would be hard to imagine
any other species of floor, that would have so satisfactorily completed
the many-coloured interior harmonies of this wonderful Cathedral.




CHAPTER II

THE PAVEMENT


Having briefly sketched the history of the entire Pavement, it will be
necessary now to describe it in detail. For this purpose I have divided
it into ten parts, commencing at the great Western Entrance.

These ten parts are as follows:

  1. The wide Platform before the Façade.
  2. The Spaces in the three Western Doorways.
  3. The Nave.
  4. The South Aisle.
  5. The North Aisle.
  6. The North Transept.
  7. The Choir Ambulatory.
  8. The South Transept.
  9. The Choir and Altar-steps.
 10. Under the Cupola.

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]

II. THE ENTIRE PAVEMENT]

[Illustration: KEY PLAN TO THE PAVEMENT]


1. THE PLATFORM BEFORE THE WESTERN FAÇADE.

Tizio[14] tells us that this platform with its three steps was laid
down in 1448, under the direction of Giovanni Borghesi, then Rettore
of the Opera. Originally there were apparently five designs upon it,
of which, however, only four were still distinguishable when, in the
seventeenth century, Landi wrote his elaborate description of the
floor.[15] These were: In the centre, as at present, the Pharisee and
the Publican kneeling before a round Temple: On either side a vase; the
one inscribed _Mel_ (Honey), the other _Fel_ (Gall), symbolic perhaps
of the imperfection of earthly joys. On the right-hand side on entering
was the Sacrifice of Abel; and on the other side, Landi says, that
there was no pictured design, but merely a fancy pattern of coloured
marbles, probably replacing a scene previously destroyed by time and
hard usage. The constant stream of traffic across this Platform has
necessitated frequent restoration of the Pavement; and the story of
Abel has now entirely vanished. The vase, also, on the right, now bears
the label _Lac_ (Milk), instead of _Fel_, perhaps in allusion to the
Promised Land, and the Golden Jerusalem of Bernard of Clairvaux’s hymn.
This work is executed in the earliest of the four principal methods of
design: namely _a trapano_; that is to say, outlined on a slab of white
marble in little dots made with a trepanning drill.

The figures of the Pharisee and the Publican are executed with great
spirit, but are entirely modern in feeling and conception.[16] Each
figure is formed of a slab or slabs of white marble, cut in outline,
and let into a background, of which the atmosphere is black and the
ground red marble, so that each figure stands out clear and distinct.
Lines of feature, folds of robes and other accessories are outlined,
as described above, with a trepanning drill. Certain pieces of yellow
marble have been added at the sides of the picture, which seem
unnecessary and even discordant. They may have been placed there during
the restorations which took place here but a few years since.


2. THE SPACES IN THE THREE DOORWAYS OF THE WESTERN FAÇADE.

The three much-worn scenes that remain here evidently represent the
“Ceremonies of Ordination” in the three degrees; and such is the
opinion of Faluschi, Landi, and Della Valle. Padre Everardo Micheli,
however, wishes us to believe that these scenes illustrate the
“Reconciliation of the Penitent:” a proposition which seems to me both
far-fetched and improbable.

These works, executed in the same methods and with the same materials
as those just described, retain far more of their original feeling and
sentiment; and it is interesting to compare them with a similar set
in the doorways of San Giovanni (the Baptistery), which represent the
“Birth,” “Baptism,” and “Anointing of an Infant Christian.”

In the first case we have, to the extreme right, the “Ordination of
the Deacon;” next, that “of the Priest;” and, finally, that “of the
Bishop.” In the other, to the extreme left, is the “Birth of the Child”
(a composition curiously similar to that employed by many painters at
this period for the Birth of St. John the Baptist): then “Its Baptism;”
and lastly, “Its Anointing and Reception into the Church of Christ.”
Of these three scenes, commenced in 1450 by a certain Bartolomeo di
Mariano, called _Il Mandriano_, from designs made by one Nastagio di
Guasparre; that in the centre, which we read was executed by Antonio
Federighi (1451),[17] is very much the finest, although there is a
certain similarity in general conception throughout.

On further research, we find that a certain Guasparre, described as
“_dipentore nostro_,” made a design for the space before the door for
the then existing Porta del Perdono.[18] This design represented the
“Consecration of the Duomo” in 1174,[19] and was executed by Corso di
Bastiano of Florence.

Now Guasparre d’Agostino, also designated as “_nostro dipentore_,“[20]
about this same time painted certain scenes from the Life of S.
Bernardino for the Sacristy of the Duomo, and also decorated the apse
of the Baptistery with frescoes of the “Crucifixion and Burial of
Christ.”[21] We may not unreasonably suppose that the above-mentioned
Nastagio was his son or pupil, and that the father and son, or master
and pupil, were associated together in all these similar works around
the doors of the Cathedral and Baptistery. Unfortunately the work known
to have been designed by Guasparre before the Porta del Perdono was,
together with that entrance itself, ruthlessly destroyed in 1661, so
that we have nothing certain remaining of his Pavement work upon which
to start comparison. The force and charm, however, of the compositions,
still existing before the Western Doorway of the Cathedral; show that
they must have been executed from the designs of no mean or inferior
draughtsman.

We find also several references at this date,[22] to work done outside
the Duomo by Bastiano di Corso, a Florentine, fine work by whom, as we
shall see presently, still exists inside also; but it is not easy to
identify the exact portion laid down by him and his son Corso, who,
as we have seen above, was employed on the work before the Porta del
Perdono.

It is interesting to notice how sharp and clear is the trepanning work
in the older of these designs, and how close together the points have
been drilled. It would appear as if, contrary to the method employed in
the more modern work, no graving tool had been used, nor any stucco to
fill up the holes and outlines.

       *       *       *       *       *

And now we enter the Church.


3. THE NAVE.

The first thing that meets the eye is an inscription:

  “CASTISSIMUM VIRGINIS TEMPLUM CASTE MEMENTO INGREDI.”

It is unknown by whom, or when, this inscription was laid down, but it
is possible that it was introduced at the same time as the design which
follows it.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]           [DESIGNED BY GIOVANNI
                            DI MAESTRO STEFANO (?)

III. HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (No. 33)]

Beyond this appears the commanding figure of a man in a high crowned
head-dress, apparently an Eastern Sage, holding out with his right
hand, to two other men, a book inscribed SUSCIPITE O LICTERAS ET LEGES
EGYPTII; while with his left, he points to a quotation on a slab
supported by two winged sphinxes. The principal figure represents the
semi-mythical Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, who, as we read below,
was “Contemporaneus Moysi.” The two men, one old and turbaned, and the
other veiled, may perhaps typify the learned men of the East and West.
(Ill. III.)

The introduction of this mysterious personage, whose very existence is
extremely doubtful, is most interesting to the student of Renaissance
philosophical and theological ideas. Since to his fabled authorship
are attributed a vast number of works dealing with ancient wisdom
and religious belief, as well as many treatises on ecclesiastical
ceremonial, the placing of him on the threshold of this magnificent
Temple is not without appropriate suggestion. From the principal work
attributed to him “the Poemander”,[23] is drawn the quotation inscribed
on the slab beside him here; and the enthusiastic attitudes of the two
Seekers after Knowledge before him are very forcibly expressed.

This admirable design was placed here in 1488, under the Rectorship of
Alberto Aringhieri, mentioned in the last chapter. He, being a Knight
of St. John of Jerusalem and of Rhodes, must have been familiar with
the mystical tastes and theories of those who endeavoured to bring the
learning, lore, and art of Pagan ideals into line with Christian Dogma
and Faith. Hence the choice under his direction of this subject, and,
as we shall presently see, of the ten Sibyls also.

It is not definitely known who designed this group; but it is generally
supposed, with considerable show of reason, to have been Giovanni di
Maestro Stefano:[24] and it appears to have been the last of the series
commissioned by Aringhieri, as Rettore, since his occupation of that
post ended in 1498.[25] He seems, though, seven years later, to have
commissioned Pinturicchio’s “Allegory of Fortune.”

The next design is that of the Badges or Emblems of Siena, surrounded
by those of her allies. In the middle is the Wolf of Siena suckling the
Twins. In a circle round her are the symbols of the following cities;
Florence (a Lion, the “_Marzocco_”); Lucca (a Lynx); Pisa (a Hare);
Viterbo (an Unicorn); Perugia (a Stork); Rome (an Elephant bearing a
Tower); Orvieto (a Goose); and Arezzo (a Horse). In the four corners of
the surrounding square are, Massa (a smaller Lion); Grosseto (a Goat);
Volterra (a Vulture); and Pistoia (a Dragon). (Ill. IV.)

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]       [1373. AUTHOR UNKNOWN

IV. THE BADGES OF SIENA AND THE CONFEDERATE CITIES (No. 34)

(The only panel in mosaic)]

This, the only portion of the Pavement that is really executed in
mosaic, was, as we have seen already, laid down in 1373; but we are
unable to trace the author. Fragments of the original work are still
existing in the Museum of the Opera; but the whole design has been
replaced by a modern copy, carefully made by Sig. Maccari in 1865.[26]

Beyond this is a large geometrical pattern. A wheel with twenty-four
columnar spokes, in the centre of which appears the Imperial Eagle. Of
this design little or nothing is known; but the author of _La Guida
Artistica_ supposes it to have been of the same date as that last
described (1373). It is possible that, before the days of Alberto
Aringhieri, the whole of the Nave floor, except “Fortune’s Wheel,”
in the first bay, may have been covered with geometrical or heraldic
devices only, as can be seen at Lucca, and that all of them, except
these last two, were removed to make way for other more interesting
subjects.

The next scene is Pinturicchio’s well-known design, called in the old
documents “La Storia della Fortuna.” It might just as well though be
designated as “the Reward of Virtue,” or the “Pursuit of Wisdom.” (Ill.
V.)

Wisdom, a sedate woman, royally robed, veiled, and crowned with
a jewelled wreath, is throned upon the upper platform of a small
precipitous rock in the midst of the sea. The platform is covered
with growing flowers, as is also the winding path which leads to it.
On Wisdom’s right hand stands Socrates, holding a book, to whom she
offers a branch of palm. On her left is Crates, who is hastily emptying
into the sea a basketful of rings, chains, and other jewels. To him she
extends a closed volume. Over the head of Wisdom, on a tablet, appears
the following inscription:

  HUC PROPERATE VIRI, SALEBROSUM SCANDITE MONTEM
    PULCHRA LABORIS ERUNT PREMIA PALMA QUIES.

On the path below, which, besides flowers, is strewn with stones and
over-run with reptiles and small animals, is a crowd of ten men,
seekers after Wisdom, who apparently have just been landed upon the
Island by Fortune. The attitudes of these men, some of whom at least
appear to be portraits, are very striking. Alone at the head of the
procession strides a stately personage--a patron perhaps of art and
learning. Next to him an old man, leaning on a crutch-handled staff,
plods determinedly along. Following him, a younger man looks back and
shakes his fist at Fortune. Behind him stand six figures with varied
expressions of interest or desire. In front of them an elderly man
with a beard has sunk down exhausted, his book clasped in his left
arm, too weary to move on. On the extreme right of the picture stands
Fortune, a nude woman with a cornucopia in her right hand. She is
the most striking figure in the composition. Her left foot is resting
on a globe, perhaps to indicate her instability, while with her right
she seems to push off the boat, shattered and broken-masted, in which
these travellers have journeyed to the island. Above her head she holds
a sail, which the wind has filled out, one end of which, wound round
her body, is grasped also by her right hand. Obviously this design is
one of those conceits so dear to the Renaissance mind. Fortune has,
with favouring breeze, but through stormy waters, brought the seekers
after Knowledge to the Mount of Wisdom; and the artist has endeavoured
in these ten figures to symbolize the varied character of her votaries.
Socrates stands calmly waiting for his reward; Crates earns his by
contempt of all things worldly.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]        [DESIGNED BY PINTURICCHIO

V. AN ALLEGORY OF FORTUNE (No. 36)]

Pinturicchio received on the 13th of March, 1504,[27] twelve lire for
this design, which was laid down under his direction, probably by Paolo
Mannucci, in 1506.[28]

The last design in the Nave is perhaps the oldest of all; but the
actual piece of Pavement that we now see is a complete renovation by
Signor Maccari in December, 1864, costing 2,491 lire 98 c. Tizio[29]
tells us that it was executed in 1372, and though he does not say who
was the author of the design, or who executed the work, we know that
Andrea di Minuccio was Operaio at this time,[30] and that under his
direction, two years later, the work at “_the foot of the Choir_” was
completed.

We see a wheel with eight columnar spokes. To give an effect of
rotatory motion, the border is inlaid in small lozenges of black and
white marble, arranged to represent cogs. At the top of the wheel sits
a King, enthroned and crowned, with orb and sceptre. Clinging to the
two sides and bottom are three figures of men, whose anxiety to retain
their hold, as the wheel revolves, is forcibly expressed. The wheel
is surrounded by a continuous band of black and white marble, which,
looped octagonally at the angles, incloses, in the spaces so formed,
half lengths of the following four Sages: Epictetus, Aristotle, Seneca
and Euripides. Each Sage holds a scroll, with a quotation from one of
his own writings. (Ill. VI.)

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [1372. AUTHOR UNKNOWN

VI. THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE (No. 37)]

This design may be compared with another Wheel of Fortune, inlaid by
Domenico del Coro in the lower panel of a door in the Chapel of the
Palazzo Comunale. Padre Micheli calls it the Wheel of Ambition,[31]
although the wheel itself is inscribed “_Rota della Fortuna_.” He thus
describes it: “To the lower part is a man clinging, beside whom is
written the inscription ‘_So senza Regno_’ (I am without a Kingdom).
Half way up the wheel, to his right, clings another figure of a man,
this time with the head of an ass, and the inscription ‘_Regnero_’ (I
will reign). On the top of the wheel is seated an ass, with the word
‘_Regno_’ (I reign); and lastly, on the other side, going downwards, is
an ass with a man’s head, and the motto ‘_Regnai_’ (I have reigned).”
The author of this inlaid panel, who must in his former position of
Capo-maestro, have known well the larger and older design, probably
wished to improve upon it; but it is somewhat remarkable to find it
placed among panels symbolising the Articles of Christian Faith.

       *       *       *       *       *

Let us now turn to


4. THE SOUTH AISLE.

Both this and the North Aisle are adorned with representations of the
ten Sibyls, five in each. These Sibyls were all placed here under the
Rectorship of Alberto Aringhieri in the years 1482–83.[32]

The introduction of these mythical personages into ecclesiastical art
was not unusual at this period, and they take their place beside the
Prophets, as forerunners of Christ.

They form a curious link between the Pagan and Christian world of
thought. According to Greek ideas, Sibyls were women under the
inspiration of the Deity, but they are not spoken of at all by either
Homer or Herodotus: and the first Greek writer who mentions them is
Heraclitus (_circa_ 500 B.C.). Aristophanes, Plato and other early
writers only mention _one_: Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil of Plato,
speaks of _three_ (the Erythraean, Phrygian, and Hellespontine); but
Pausanias gives _four_ (the Libyan, Erythraean, Cuman, and Hebrew).
Of these the oldest was said to have been the Libyan: though the best
known to modern times are undoubtedly the Delphic, the Cuman (visited
by Æneas), and the Tiburtine, who is said to have foretold Christ to
the Emperor Augustus.

By Christian writers they are spoken of first in the second century
A.D., but do not appear in art until the eleventh. In the handbook of
Mount Athos we read of the “_Wise_ Sibyl”; and side by side with David,
one of these prophetesses appears in the Sequence of Thomas of Celano:
the Dies Irae (_circa_ 1253).[33] They have no place in early mosaics,
but one of the most ancient representations of a Sibyl is that of the
Tiburtine in the church of Sta. Maria Aracoeli in Rome.

The first, and perhaps the most poetic Choir of them, is on the pulpit
of S. Andrea at Pistoia, sculptured by Giovanni Pisano in 1301; but
from that time, until the fifteenth century, we find no other _groups_
of them. Then appeared a great many representations, and their number
increases rapidly to as many as thirteen, the last of whom is the
Queen of Sheba, who is called Nichaula, and is fabled to have foretold
to King Solomon the Advent of a Messiah. The usual numbers, however,
are _three_, _four_, _six_ and _ten_; and in such groups they have
been designed by the greatest artists. Giotto,[34] Perugino,[35]
Pinturicchio,[36] Raphael,[37] and Michael Angelo,[38] are but a few of
these. Not only throughout Italy, but to the Northern Art Schools of
Germany and Flanders, the same cult spread; and we find them introduced
into sculpture, painting and engraving. Sibyls assist, as interested
and sympathizing spectators, in every scene of Holy Writ. They meet
us even in painted windows and illustrated books of devotion.[39] It
is therefore not remarkable to find them here; and, if one recognizes
the attitude of mind, with which they were regarded by the Renaissance
Catholic, they are even most appropriate. The number chosen is in
accordance with that fixed by Varro, and with the exception of the
_Cumaean_, who seems to take the place of the _Cimmerian_ in his list,
the choice of prophetesses is the same.

For the purpose of study, let us begin at the Western door; and
commence with


_The Delphic Sibyl._

Delphi, famous in ancient times for its Oracles, would not unnaturally
suggest itself to these early students of Greek art and literature as
one of the places whence prophecies of the Redemption of the World
should come. Hence Plutarch calls her the _first_ of the Sibyls.
According to Pausanias, the Erythraean Sibyl, although a native of
Marpessus, or Erythrae, in the Troad, lived mostly at Samos, and
visited Clarus, Delos, and Delphi, at all of which places were shrines
dedicated to the Pythian Apollo, whose special gift this form of
prophetic utterance was said to be. Later tradition would seem to have
divided her attributes into at least three, and given them separate
existence. Here she is shown as a stately woman, bearing in her left
hand a decorated horn from which issue flames. Her right hand rests on
a tablet supported by a winged sphinx, which bears the words:

  IPSVM TVVM CO
  GNOSCE DEVM
  QVI DEI FILIVS EST

  (Know thy God Himself, Who is the Son of God.)

Beneath her feet a label records her name, and the fact that she is
mentioned by Chrysippus in his Book of Divination. We find[40] that
this figure was executed in 1482 by Giuliano di Biagio and Vito di
Marco, who probably also made the design for the work, as the payment
they received was 579 lire 10 soldi. We may compare this amount with
the sum paid in 1866–69 for the restoration of the same Sibyl. It was
2,341 lire 17 c.


_The Cumaean Sibyl._

It is not clear why this Sibyl is so named, especially as it provokes
confusion with the more celebrated “Sibilla _Cumana_.” Apparently the
Cimmerian Sibyl is intended. Ferdinand Piper tells us that she was
sometimes styled the Italian Sibyl,[41] and mentions other variations
of the name: “Cymea, Chymerea or Chimica.” According to the label,
supported behind her by two charming _putti_, she is said to have
been mentioned by Piso in his Annals. Here she is represented as an
excited-looking woman, with loose hair scattered over her shoulders.
She bears in her hand a tablet, with the following words inscribed upon
it:

  ET MORTIS FATVM FINI
  ET, TRIVM DIERVM SO
  MNO SUSCEPTO TUNC
  AMORTVIS REGRESSVS
  INLUCEM VENIET PRIM
  VM RESURRECTIONIS
  INITIVM OSTENDENS.

  (He shall accomplish the fate of death, having undergone a sleep of
  three days. Then being returned from the dead, he shall come into
  the light, showing the first beginning of the resurrection).

This design is said to be the work of Luigi di Ruggiero, called
_l’Armellino_, and Vito di Marco;[42] but, except a notice dated
1482[43] of payments to the first-named worker for marble cut by him
for work on “_li spazi di Duomo e per le Sibille_,” we have no further
record as to the author of this particular design, or its cost. We
find, however, that in the restoration above referred to, it cost 2,581
lire 80 c.


_The Cuman Sibyl._

This Sibyl is famed in poetic story as having been visited by Æneas:
an interview described with much graphic minuteness by Virgil, in Book
VI. of the Æneid. Endless legends have accumulated in connection with
her, and her presence is associated with many spots in and around
Naples. Ferdinand Piper states that the names of Amalthea, Demophile,
and Herophile have been given to her by different writers,[44] and that
Justin Martyr asserts that she was daughter of Berosus, and came from
Babylon to Campania. She is said to have lived for a thousand years;
and to have been the ancient prophetess, who offered the Sibylline
Books to Tarquin. These books, the oldest collection of which was,
according to tradition, made about the time of Solon and Cyrus, by
the Sibyl of Marpessus (the Erythraean Sibyl), at Gergis, on Mount
Ida, found their way thence to Erythrae; from there to Cumae; and so
to Rome. In 83 B.C. they were burned; but fragments of their contents
continued to exist orally until A.D. 12, when they were collected and
revised by the Emperor Augustus, and were surviving in 363. In the year
400 they were again destroyed by Stilicho; and the present so-called
Sibylline books are a spurious invention of Jewish and Christian
writers.

Here she appears as a somewhat severe old woman, with a veil wound
round her head. In her right hand she carries the mistletoe bough
of the Virgilian story; and with her left she clasps to her three
books. Piled on the ground to her right, and burning, are six more,
representing those destroyed by her in the Tarquinian legend; and above
her left shoulder two flying cherubs bear a tablet, with the following
inscription:

  VLTIMA CVMAEI VENIT IAM
  CARMINIS AETAS MAGNUS
  ABINTEGRO SAECLORVM
  NASCITVR ORDO IAM RE
  DIT ET VIRGO, REDEVNT
  SATVRNIA REGNA, IAM
  NOVA PROGENIES CAELO
  DEMITTITVR ALTO

  (Now has come the last period of Cumaean song,
  A great order of the ages is born afresh.
  The Virgin now returns; the kingdoms of Saturn return.
  Now a new progeny is sent down from lofty Heaven.)

Her label bears the words “Sibilla Cumana meminit Virgilius. Eclog. IV.”

This figure is the work of Giovanni di Maestro Stefano di Giovanni and
his scholars, and was executed by him in 1482.[45] He received for it
the sum of 697 lire, 9 soldi and 2 c. It was restored at the same time
as the other Sibyls, in 1866–69, at a cost of 2,743 lire 6 c.


_The Erythraean Sibyl._

This Sibyl, as we have already seen, is one of those named in the
earliest lists by Pausanias. She is said to have been a native of
Marpessus or Erythrae in the Troad, and he, as well as some other
writers, gives her the name of Herophile; one authority however speaks
of a _Trojan_ Sibyl, whom he calls Herophila, and names the Erythraean
one, Symmachia. She lived, as we have said before when writing of the
Delphic Sibyl, chiefly at Samos, but visited Clarus, Delos and Delphi.
This would, no doubt, account for the difficulty in distinguishing the
various place-names attached to these different women. As we have also
seen above, the Sibylline books are said to have been once preserved
at Erythrae, and Lactantius attributes to her the famous acrostic
which announces the Coming of the Anointed One, Son of God Himself, as
Saviour of the World. Here she is depicted as a tall patrician lady,
with a rather forbidding countenance, and a very curious head-dress,
which partially envelops her face. Her right hand clasps a closed
volume, while the left rests on an open book, supported by a carved
lectern. On the pages of this book are written the following words:

  DE EXCELSO     ET NASCETVR
  CAELORVM HA    IN DIEBVS NO
  BITACVLO PRO   VISSIMIS DE VIR
  SPEXIT DOMI    GINE HEBRAEA
  NVS HVMILES    IN CVNABVLIS
    SVOS           TERRAE

  (From the High Habitation of Heaven God has looked down on His
  humble (servants), and shall be born in these most recent days of a
  Hebrew Virgin in the cradle of the earth.)

Beside her on a stool is a tablet, telling us that this is the
Erythraean Sibyl, whom Apollodorus claimed as his fellow citizen.
This Sibyl was designed and executed by Antonio Federighi in 1482;
and we are told that he received 649 lire 17 soldi for it.[46] It
is interesting to note that this and the Samian are the only Sibyls
signed by their designers. Federighi’s evident taste for faithful
representation of the costumes of his period, apparent also in his
other works, would account for the rather bizarre head-dress above
referred to. The cost of restoration of this Sibyl was 2,043 lire 13 c.


_The Persian Sibyl._

Ferdinand Piper, quoting a scholiast on Plato,[47] identifies this
Sibyl with the one elsewhere variously called Chaldaean, Babylonian,
Egyptian and Hebrew. He tells us further, that tradition called her
also the daughter of Berosus, and daughter-in-law of Noah, which raises
confusion with the Cuman.[48] He adds, also, that sometimes the name
of Sabbe is given to her, and sometimes that of Sambetha. Nothing more
is known of this Sibyl; but it is worth noting that the prophecy here
attributed to her is the only one that does not deal with the Birth or
Atonement of Christ.

She is represented as a pleasant-looking woman of middle age, with her
head bound up in a simple veil. In her left hand she carries a book,
and with her right she draws attention to a tablet, resting on a carved
pedestal, with an inscription as follows:

    PANIBVS SOLVM QVINQVE
      ET PISCIBVS DVOBVS HO
      MINVM MILLIA IN FOENO
    QVINQVE SATIABIT RELI
      QVIAS TOLLENS XII
      COPHINOS IMPLEBIT
    IN SPEM MVLTORVM.

  (With five loaves and two fishes He will satisfy the hunger of five
  thousand men on the grass. Taking up the remains, he will fill
  twelve baskets, for the hope of many.)

Beneath her feet, a label informs us that it is Nicanor who bears
record of her. Urbano di Pietro da Cortona, Antonio Federighi, Vito
da Marco and Luigi Ruggiero (_l’Armellino_) received commissions to
execute these Sibyls on September 20th, 1481;[49] but Urbano does
not appear to have received his payment of 605 lire 12 soldi for the
execution of this one, until October, 1483.[50] The sum paid to restore
his work was 3,153 lire 84 c.


5. THE NORTH AISLE.


_The Albunean Sibyl._

This prophetess, as we gather from the label placed beneath her feet,
was also styled the _Tiburtine_ Sibyl, because she was “_honoured as
Divine at Tibur_.” From a Christian point of view she is perhaps the
best known of all the Sibyls, and the representations of her in art,
still extant, are many and very varied in conception.[51] The Emperor
Augustus is said to have visited her, and, as a result of her prophecy,
erected the altar inscribed “ARA PRIMOGENITI DEI,” now inclosed in the
Cappella Santa (or di S. Elena) of the Church of Sta. Maria Aracoeli in
Rome.

She is here represented as a tall and youngish woman, with a curious
pointed head-dress. In her right hand she carries an open book; while
above her left shoulder, and attached by a ribbon to the neck of a
small cherub, is a tablet on which are the words:

  NASCETVR CHRISTVS
  IN BETHLEHEM ANNVN
  CIABITVR IN NAZARETH
  REGNANTE TAVRO PACI
  FICO FUNDATORE QVIE
  TIS. O FELIX MATER CV
  IVSVBERA ILLVM LACTA
  BVNT

  (Christ shall be born in Bethlehem. He shall be announced in
  Nazareth, the peaceful Taurus (the Bull) being in the ascendant,
  the founder of peace. Oh Happy Mother whose breast shall give him
  milk.)

This Sibyl was designed by Benvenuto di Giovanni del Guasta in
1483,[52] and is a fine specimen of his work; but it is not known
definitely who executed this, or indeed any of the four remaining
Sibyls. We read, however, that Giuliano di Biagio was in this year paid
41 lire 15 soldi for the carriage of 9,310 lbs. of marble for this
work,[53] so presumably he and his assistants executed some if not all
of them. 2,149 lire 35 c. were paid for the restoration of this Sibyl
in 1866–69.


_The Samian Sibyl._

Of this Sibyl we know nothing, and can only point out, as in the
case of the Delphic and Erythraean Sibyls, that the latter of those
prophetesses, though born in the Troad, made her principal abode at
Samos: and that thus these three may have been one and the same person.
We are told, by the label beneath her representation, that she is
spoken of by Eratosthenes, a writer quoted by Lactantius, and whose
work was one of the first books printed in Italy in 1465.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY MATTEO DI GIOVANNI BARTOLI

VII. THE SAMIAN SIBYL (No. 29)]

This figure is one of the most beautiful of all the ten Sibyls,
and well it may be, seeing that it was designed by that delightful
draughtsman and earnest artist, Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli. A slender
princess, with flowing draperies, she supports with her left hand a
handsomely-bound open volume. A curious and characteristic feature of
Matteo’s work is evident in the charming cherub-head, with outspread
wings, that clasps a girdle round her robe below the hips. Beside her
on a tablet, upborne by two lion-headed figures, is the following
inscription:

  TV ENIM STVLTA IVDAEA
  DEVM TVVM NON CO
  GNOVISTI LVCENTEM
  MORTALIVM MENTI-
  BVS SED ET SPINIS CO
  RONASTI HORRIDVM
  QVE FEL MISCVISTI

  (For thou, foolish Judaea! hast not known thy God, shining in the
  minds of men. But thou hast both crowned Him with thorns, and hast
  mixed for Him nauseous gall.)

At the foot of the tablet is the designer’s signature, with the date
1483. (Ill. VII.)

Matteo di Giovanni received for this design 4 lire only,[54] on May
23rd, 1483; but it cost 2,654 lire 52 c. to restore.


_The Phrygian Sibyl._

Of this Sibyl also nothing is known, though she too has been confounded
with the Delphic Sibyl. Most of the longer lists, however, include
both. From the label designating her we learn that she prophesied at
Ancyra. She is here brought before us attired in what we may suppose
the artist intended to represent Phrygian or semi-Oriental dress. She
holds aloft in her left hand a small book open at the words:

  SOLVS
  DEUS      DEVS
  SVM ET    ALIVS
  NON EST

  (I am the only God, and there is no other God.)

Her right hand directs attention to a tablet, on a lyre-shaped
support, between which are seen half-length figures and heads of nude
suppliants, apparently rising from the grave.

The inscription on the tablet runs as follows:

  TVBA DE CAELO VOCEM LV
  CTVOSAM EM ITET TARTARE
  VM CHAOS OSTENDET DEHIS
  CENS TERRA VENIET AD TRIBV
  NAL DEI REGES OMNES DEVS
  IPSE IVDICANS PIOS SIMVL
  ET IMPIOS TVNC DEMVM IM
  PIOS IN IGNEM ET TENEBRAS
  MITTET QVI AVTEM PIETA
  TEM TENET ITERV VIVENT

  (The trumpet shall utter from Heaven a mournful sound. Yawning
  earth shall show Tartarean Chaos. All Kings shall come before
  the Tribunal of God. God Himself judging the Evil and the Good
  together. Then at length He will send the wicked into fire and
  darkness. But whosoever will keep righteousness shall live again.)

Luigi di Ruggiero (_l’Armellino_) and Vito di Marco are generally
reputed to have devised and executed this design, but no record exists
on the subject. The cost of restoration was 2,433 lire 91 c.


_The Hellespontine Sibyl._

The inscription beneath the feet of this Sibyl says that she was born
on Trojan soil, and was, according to Heraclides, a contemporary of
Cyrus. Hence, no doubt, she also has been confused with the Erythraean
Sibyl. It is very probable indeed, as we have before hinted, that
time, tradition, and the varying expressions of different writers have
divided the personality of that one Sibyl into several, according to
the various places that she is reported to have visited.[55]

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY NEROCCIO DI LANDI

VIII. THE HELLESPONTINE SIBYL (No. 31)]

The figure is a graceful one, but suggests somewhat gigantic
proportions. Her hair flows over her shoulders, though partially
confined by ribbons, and crowned with a jewelled diadem. In her left
hand she holds a half-open book. Her robe is loosely confined by a
small girdle set with gems.

On her left, a tablet is borne by two columns, seated in front of which
are a Wolf and a Lion (the _Marzocco_), with their hands amicably
clasped: an allusion perhaps to the then recent treaty between Siena
and Florence.[56] The inscription on the tablet runs thus:

  IN CIBVM FEL IN SITIM ACE
  TVM DEDERVNT HANC
  IN HOSPITALITATIS MOSTR
  ABVNT MENSAM; TEMPLI
  VERO SCINDETVR VELVM
  ET MEDIO DIE NOX ERIT
  TENEBROSA TRIBVS HORIS.

  (For food gall, in his thirst they gave him vinegar, they will show
  this table of inhospitality. The veil of the Temple shall indeed be
  rent, and at mid-day there shall be black night for three hours.)

This fine design was the work of Neroccio di Bartolommeo di Benedetto
Landi in 1483,[57] and is a noble specimen of his style. We do not know
what he received for the work, but it is probable that it was the same
sum as that given to Matteo di Giovanni. Nor, as we have seen, do we
know who executed this and the adjacent designs.[58] (Ill. VIII.)


_The Libyan Sibyl._

According to Pausanias, the Libyan was the oldest of all the Sibyls,
and was the daughter of Zeus and Lamia. More than this nothing is known
of her, but her label tells us that she is spoken of by Euripides. She
is a striking figure, her black marble face, neck, hands and feet,
producing a remarkable effect. She is veiled and crowned with a garland
of flowers. In her left hand she grasps a small open scroll, while in
her right she shows an open book with the words:

          DABIT
  COLA    IN VER
  PHOS    BERA
  ACCIPI  INNO
  ENS TA  CENS
  CEBIT   DORSV
              M

  (Receiving buffets he will be silent, to blows he will give his
  innocent back.)

On her left is a tablet, borne by intertwined serpents, the words
written upon it being:

  IN MANVS INIQVAS
  VENIET. DABVNT DEO
  ALAPAS MANIBVS IN
  CESTIS. MISERABILIS.
  ET IGNOMINIOSVS.
  MISERABILIBVS SPEM
  PRAEBEBIT.

  (He shall come into unjust hands. With impure hands they shall give
  stripes to God. He miserable and in ignominy will give hope to the
  miserable.)

Guidoccio Cozzarelli was the author of this design in 1483,[59] but
here again there exists no record of the sum paid for it. We may
suppose though that these designs were all paid for at about the same
rate.[60] The expense of its restoration was 2,352 lire 16 c.

With the examination of the Libyan Sibyl, we find ourselves again at
the Western end of the Church, and must betake ourselves back to--


6. THE NORTH TRANSEPT.

This Transept is covered with three large designs, all executed during
the Rectorship of Alberto Aringhieri; two of which, at least, may have
some political significance.

The first we come to is--


_The Expulsion of Herod_ (No. 27).

This vast composition, designed by Benvenuto Giovanni del Guasta in
1484–85, and for which he received 78 lire,[61] is full of charming
grouping and delightful suggestion. It not impossibly alludes to
the expulsion, which had then but recently taken place, of Pandolfo
Petrucci and his followers. It must be remembered that, though Siena at
this period was not involved in important external historical events,
her internal history was one long record of party faction and strife,
in which Aringhieri himself played a not unimportant part. (Ill. IX.)

Benvenuto was a consummate draughtsman, and he was ably supported here
by Bastiano di Francesco, who designed the delightful border of winged
lions that frames the picture (Ill. XI.), and made sixty letters of
marble for the same work.[62]

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY BENVENUTO DI GIOVANNI DEL GUASTA

IX. THE EXPULSION OF HEROD (No. 27)

(The entire panel)]

We find several notices as to sums paid to workmen for executing this
frieze, but only one speaks also of work on the design itself. From
this, however, we learn that it was executed by Bernardino Antonio
and Cristofano di Pietro Paolo del Quarantotto.[63] The other workmen
employed on the frieze were Vito di Marco,[64] and Bartolommeo di
Domenico.[65] With the exception of Vito di Marco, we have no record
of these men, apart from notices of their work done on this Pavement.
Perhaps they were scholars or apprentices of the better-known masters,
and therefore not recorded more particularly. We also read that certain
millers, by name Giusto Giovanni and Michele di Ludovicho, were paid 15
lire 14 c. for the porterage of 7,870 lbs. of black marble used in this
design, and that “del onperadore.”[66] (Ill. X.)

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY BENVENUTO DI GIOVANNI DEL GUASTA

X. THE EXPULSION OF HEROD]

The composition is most graceful and full of force. It illustrates an
episode in the struggle between Herod Antipas and his brother-in-law
Aretas, as a result of which the former had to evacuate his kingdom.
The picture has been well restored, a re-engraving of the marble slabs
on the old lines having been, to a large extent, sufficient for the
main work, though the frieze has had to be entirely renewed. A group
of soldiers, among whom is one extremely striking man’s figure in full
armour, has been particularly successful. Over this group, in a high
tree, an eagle maybe seen protecting her nest of young ones from the
attacks of a serpent, possibly alluding to the same political events
referred to above. The charming cherubs, supporting a tablet in the
upper part of the composition, upon which is engraved a long quotation
from Josephus, describing the scene depicted, have been renewed, and
the damaged originals transported to the Museum of the Opera.[67] With
them is also the original tablet, which curiously enough on removal was
found to be a memorial slab of an earlier date, bearing on the reverse
side a fine effigy of a cleric.[68]

The last restoration of this design took place between the years
1869–1878 and, together with the Pavement around it, cost 2,156 lire 63
c.; while that of the friezes, around this and the next design, cost
another 3,490 lire 12 c.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]              [DESIGNED BY
                      BASTIANO DI FRANCESCO

XI. DETAIL OF THE FRIEZE OF LIONS]

Beyond this fine scene we come to another, still more remarkable, if
not quite so pleasing.


_The Massacre of the Innocents_ (No. 26).

This, perhaps, is the most striking of all the scenes on the Pavement,
and as interesting historically as artistically. The artist who
designed it, Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli, has thrown into it all the
force of his fancy and skill. It is extraordinarily full of life, and
vivid with imagination. The same artist executed certainly three, if
not four, more designs of the same subject, two of them being pictures
still existing in Siena itself;[69] and it is extremely interesting
to compare his treatment of it in all these three. Authorities differ
as to the dates of these two paintings, but admittedly there was an
interval of ten years between them. That in S. Agostino, and most
probably also the very similar painting by the same artist at Naples,
come in point of date almost immediately subsequent to this design
for the Pavement, and resemble it very closely. At this period all
Italy was convulsed with horror at the awful Sack and Destruction of
Otranto, which had occurred on the 11th of August, 1480.[70] We read
that 1,200 persons were massacred, and that most of the children were
sold as slaves. The shock to the Christian world was so terrible that
the Pope, Sixtus IV., in an Encyclical addressed to all the cities
of Italy, called their attention to the disaster, pointed out to
them that none of them, however remote, was safe, and implored them,
setting aside their party divisions, to combine in the cause of mutual
protection against the Moslem. Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, son of
Ferdinand, King of Naples, then living as ruler in Siena, was hastily
recalled to take command of an expedition against the common enemy:
and it is, I submit, not straining a theory too far, to suppose, that
Matteo di Giovanni may have been directed to design these scenes on
the Pavement of the Duomo, for the Church of S. Agostino, and for the
Church of Sta. Caterina a Formello at Naples, as an object lesson to
recall to the public mind, through the medium of a Scriptural Tragedy,
the horrors to be endured at the hands of the unspeakable Turk. They
are all executed with a force and a suggestiveness, so vivid as to
be painful in their intensity. The successful results of these three
probably inspired the fourth,[71] which is somewhat less ferocious, and
certainly more graceful and pleasing.

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY MATTEO DI GIOVANNI BARTOLI

XII. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS (No. 26)

(The entire panel)]

Unable to use on the Pavement the brilliant pigments so lavishly
employed in the paintings, the artist has introduced, wherever
possible, marbles of many and varied colours; and when upon these
multi-coloured materials are super-imposed most elaborate designs,
the whole produces the effect of a gorgeous piece of bizarre jewellery.
Herod sits on a splendid Renaissance throne of carved marble, in a
colonnade, adorned with panels[72] of classical scenes. A sportive
frieze of marble Bacchanals is introduced along the top of the
composition, broken by circular windows, from which groups of impish
children look down complacently and even laughingly, on the dreadful
slaughter below. The armour of Herod and his soldiers is of the most
magnificent kind, and we may notice again the artist’s affection for
finishing a clasp with the head of an animal or a human being.[73]
(Ill. XII.)

It is evident from the style of this work that it is by Matteo di
Giovanni Bartoli, and his authorship has never been questioned, though
there is no record of any commission or payment to him. The date of its
execution (1481) is fixed by Tizio,[74] and by two records of payments
for materials used upon it.[75]

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY MATTEO DI GIOVANNI BARTOLI

XIII. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS]

We have no record as to who executed the very charming frieze of
_putti_ and dragons, which borders the bottom and the left side of this
picture; nor that of greyhounds and fountains, which incloses the other
sides, and it is not easy to suggest any reason why two such different
designs should have been employed for the same picture. They are
evidently designed by different hands, and were probably executed like
the other friezes by the Cathedral workmen mentioned above. (Ill. XIII.)

The whole work has been apparently restored several times; for we find
in the notes of Abate Faluschi,[76] that it was restored in 1790 by
Matteo Pini, after the designs of Carlo Amidei, and at this very day
some of the worn-out stones are being renewed, and the line of drawing
re-trepanned and stuccoed.

The third picture in this transept is:


_The Relief of Bethulia by Judith._ (Judith, cap. xiii., xiv., and xv.)
(No. 25.)

Whether this picture had any political or semi-political reference we
do not know. The small fortress-towns in the Sienese contado were at
this time continually being relieved and changing hands, but we cannot
now identify this scene with any particular event. It is interesting,
though, to note that it was planned during the Rectorship of Savino di
Matteo di Guido Savino, who was, on January 26th, 1480, deposed from
his post for being one of the “Riformatori.”[77]

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]        [DESIGNED BY URBANO DA CORTONA (?) OR MATTEO
                                               DI GIOVANNI BARTOLI (?)
                                         EXECUTED BY ANTONIO FEDERIGHI

XIV. THE RELIEF OF BETHULIA (No. 25)

(The entire panel)]

The notices as to this work are few and vague: but we know from
Tizio[78] that it was laid down in 1473, and further that the frieze
of “reels” (_naspatoio_), surrounding it, was executed by Urbano di
Pietro da Cortona, Giovanni di Stefano di Giovanni, Bartolomeo di
Domenico Calabrone and Francesco di Bartolomeo (perhaps his son).[79]
It is generally supposed that the design itself was the work either of
Urbano da Cortona or of Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli, and the execution
is attributed to Antonio Federighi.[80] (Ill. XIV.) However this may
be, it is a work full of charm, recalling examples of the most poetic
period of Florentine art. As usual in work of this period, several
episodes of the story are told in various parts of the picture. On the
extreme right, now much injured, and partly obliterated by the Pisani’s
pulpit, we can still trace Holofernes’ tent, and the gruesome tragedy
therein enacted. Above the middle of the picture, over the hillside,
upon which bloom myriad flowers amid purling brooks, comes Judith, a
figure of extreme grace, followed by her maid, who bears on her head a
basket, containing the tyrant’s head.[81] (Ill. XV.) To the left is the
towered city of Bethulia, from which issue troops of horsemen, intent
upon victory in the fight, which is depicted in the centre of the
composition. Beside the gate of the city, one may notice a group of a
knight with his squire arranging the harness of his horse. (Ill. XVI.)
We may also remark the introduction here of birds. In the extreme left
corner are two parent birds, sitting in a bush, guarding their young
ones in a nest, whilst above Holofernes’ tent are perched two waiting
ravens.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]

XV. DETAIL FROM THE RELIEF OF BETHULIA]

This work was also restored, or, as Abate Faluschi puts it with much
truth, “modernized” (_modernata_) by Carlo Amidei and Matteo Pini
in 1790, so that we cannot now know how much of the original work
has perished. It is not unlikely that, in any case, it may have been
a composite design from the hand of more than one artist. It is,
however, worth noting that, whereas the design last described depends
largely for its effect on varied colour, this one, the _Expulsion of
Herod_, and the other contemporary picture of the _Story of Jephthah_,
presently to be described, show how much can be done by the use of line
alone.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]

XVI. DETAIL FROM THE RELIEF OF BETHULIA]

Ascending a wide step, we come to a work of much older and more archaic
character, which I propose to include in my seventh division.


7. THE CHOIR AMBULATORY.

_The Story of Joshua’s Victory over the Amorites_ (No. 22), _and the
Slaughter of the Five Kings_.

This work, with the others beside it on the same platform right across
the church, was executed about the year 1424, during the Rectorship of
Bartolommeo Cecchi. I have already, in my introduction, referred to the
difficulty in separating the work done here by Domenico di Niccolo del
Coro, from that of Paolo di Martino. Both men appear from the documents
to have held the post of Capo-maestro of the Duomo. Tizio mentions
distinctly[82] this design as among those executed in 1424, and
Milanesi in his Documenti[83] repeating that date, assures us that it
was among works to be attributed to Domenico himself: thereby pointedly
confuting Vasari’s assertion, that it and those adjoining it were from
designs by Duccio. On the same page, however, of the Documenti,[84] we
find a notice, dated 1426, of payment to a paper dealer, named Domenico
di Francesco, for ten squares of “_fogli reagli_” used by “_Paolo
nostro_,” for a design for the “_storia di Giesue_:” and Milanesi
himself in his _Discorso sulla Storia Artistica Senese_[85] contradicts
his former statement, attributes this design and that of _Samson_ (No.
14) in the opposite aisle of the Choir, also hitherto given by him to
Domenico, to Paolo, and dates them both two years later than in his
previous assertion.

It is an interesting picture, though at present sadly in need of
judicious restoration. The greater part of it is occupied by the battle
scene, but up in the top left-hand corner we see the bodies of the
Five Kings hung up to five stakes, and below them a yawning cavern.
Some of the figures are expressed with considerable force, and the
fifteenth-century armour of the soldiers is most quaint and curious.

The work here, and that of the story of _Samson_ above referred to, do
resemble each other, and have not much in common with the known work
of Domenico del Coro. I think we may, therefore, fairly consider them
as from Paolo’s designs; and supposing that these artists worked in
collaboration on the whole scheme of this platform, that, when Tizio
spoke of these designs, he described a project not completely carried
out until two years later.

On either side of the main picture are single figures _Joshua_ and
_Solomon_ (Nos. 23 and 24). The first of these Milanesi, in his
_Discorso_,[86] gives unhesitatingly to Paolo di Martino, with the
same date as the before-mentioned larger design. But of the figure of
_Solomon_, now more than half concealed under the marble balustrade
of the altar of S. Ansano, a mention exists in a document in the
Archivio dell’ Opera, dated 10th of August, 1447.[87] This was during
the Rectorship of Giovanni di Pietro Ghezzi (Borghesi), who held the
post from 1437 to 1448,[88] and we find a notice dated June, 1444,[89]
which may refer to this very work, although it is not mentioned
specifically. It is a permission to the Rector to fill up this portion
of the Pavement with such a design, as may seem to him suitable and
pleasing.[90]

The whole platform, or step, upon which all these designs are inlaid
had been bordered, along the top and bottom, by a delightful frieze of
_putti_, executed in 1423, by Agostino di Niccolo of Siena,[91] and
Bastiano di Corso of Florence.[92] Of the former artist we know but
little, but of the work of the latter, in company with his son Corso,
on the pavement before the Cathedral doors, we find several notices,
to which I have referred already,[93] A notice, dated 25th March,
1447,[94] speaks of other frieze-work done by father and son, “_sotto
la tribuna di verso l’altare di Santa Chaterina_.” This work appears to
have perished, or been superseded, unless, as is by no means impossible
or improbable, we may attribute to him the frieze round the _Massacre
of the Innocents_ described above, the authors of which are unknown and
unidentified.

Agostino and Bastiano’s frieze is a very graceful one, but it would
seem, judging from the dates of the documents, as if the latter artist
had succeeded the former in the work: for the first document speaks of
payment made to Agostino up to December 30th, 1423, whereas both those
commissioning Bastiano are dated the same month, with no allusion to
previous or contemporary employment of any other artist.

Three more steps bring us to the passage which runs round behind
the altar. Here originally was some of the oldest work, but to all
appearance now it would seem to be almost the most modern. In five
circles we find the five Cardinal Virtues, the first of whom is


_Fortitude_ (No. 21).

On this spot, as I have already said in my first chapter, Marchesse
d’Adamo[95] and his companions, the Comacene sculptors at work
in Siena in 1406, are generally supposed to have executed the
earliest figure-subject on the Pavement, about which we now possess
authoritative information. There is nothing, however, to show their
work. The figure is imposing and dignified in composition, but the
workmanship on it is poor and somewhat paltry.

Of the four other Virtues, _Justice_, _Christian Piety_, _Prudence_,
and _Temperance_ (Nos. 20, 19, 18, and 17), there is little definite
to be said. Padre Micheli[96] following Milanesi[97] gives 1406 as
the possible date of the two first, 1380 as that of the other two;
but there is nothing in their present condition to prove either one
date or the other. The only thing that may be noticed is that the
restoration of _Justice_ and _Prudence_ shows more vigour of conception
and boldness of line, with far more satisfactory results than have
been shown in the case of _Fortitude_ and _Temperance_. _Fortitude_,
we know, was restored in 1839, and _Temperance_ perhaps at the same
time. _Christian Piety_ is half covered by the great lectern, and so
obliterated by the feet of readers and singers as to be now almost
indistinguishable. The frieze of ladders (_scaglioni_) and thorns
(_spini_), surrounding these works, is said to have been executed in
1406.[98]

Descending again three steps corresponding to those on the opposite
side of the church we come to the design of


_Samson slaying the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass_ (No. 14).

alluded to above. The workmanship and style of this picture certainly
resembles that of _Joshua and the Five Kings_ on the north side, but it
is a finer and a grander piece of work. The grouping is bolder and more
forcible. Samson, a giant figure, is administering chastisement to a
Philistine in the manner of a schoolmaster to a naughty boy. He holds
aloft, not merely the jawbone of an ass, but the whole skull. Some of
his opponents lie slaughtered on the ground, and a crowd of them cowers
away in terror, to the right of the composition. (Ill. XX.)

This design, as we have said before, is mentioned by Tizio[99] among
those projected in 1424, and was probably executed by Paolo di Martino
in 1426. On either side of it are the single figures of _Moses_ (No.
16) and _Judas Maccabeus_ (No. 15). Milanesi in his _Discorso_[100]
attributes the figure of _Moses_, like that of _Joshua_ (No. 23),
to Paolo di Martino in 1426, while that of _Judas Maccabeus_, now
hidden almost entirely by the balustrade of the altar of the Blessed
Sacrament, and also recorded by Tizio (in the notice already more
than once referred to), Padre Micheli[101] supposes, and there is no
evidence to contradict him, to have been the work of Domenico del Coro
in 1424.

Before descending the step to the South Transept, I would wish to
draw the reader’s attention to the fact, that this step does not run
parallel with the steps above it, and that the platform is narrower
at this end than at the other. Consequently, the design of _Samson_
and those in the transept, now to be described, are all more or less
irregular in shape. Whether this is due to some structural defect in
the original building, or to some inequality in the foundation, it is
impossible now to say.


8. THE SOUTH TRANSEPT.

This transept is complicated in its general plan by the irregularity
above referred to. It contains _two_ pictures to correspond to the
_one_ (the _Story of Judith_) on the opposite side of the church, and
is further broken up by varied designs, of different sizes, before what
was once the Porta del Perdono, and is now the Cappella del Voto.

The first picture, that we come to, is very remarkable, especially
since it is the only one which is neither biblical, symbolical, nor
heraldic. It professes to be a portrait of the


_Emperor Sigismund_ (No. 13),

who in 1433 was a visitor for some months to the city. (Ill. XXI.)

Confusion has arisen among Sienese writers as to the identity of this
portrait, and some have said that it represents the Emperor Charles
IV. This probably arose from the fact, which is difficult now to
explain, that Tizio,[102] under date 1424, after describing, as we have
seen, the above-mentioned designs, goes on to say that “in the time
immediately following, to the right, by the iron grating, a Portrait
of the Emperor was laid down on the pavement; and not much later the
Story of Absalom hanging by his hair to the oak, under the direction of
the same Operaio.” With the _Story of Absalom_ I will deal presently,
but Tizio must have made a very grave mistake here in dates; since
we have two notices[103] proving that Domenico di Bartolo di Ghezzo
d’Asciano was the designer of this work in 1434, for which he received
16 lire; whilst another notice,[104] dated December 2nd in the same
year, records the payment of 3 lire 10 soldi to a workman named Giacomo
d’Antonio for assistance in executing it.

As regards the Operaio at this period some difficulty arises, since
Padre Micheli asserts that Bartolommeo Cecchi only held the post up to
1430. From the Borghesi and the Faluschi MS. lists,[105] however, we
find that Cecchi (Bartolommeo di Gio. di Cecco) was still in office on
October 25th, 1434, but was apparently compelled to resign on account
of his having married a certain Corsa, and had children by her.[106] We
read further that he was succeeded, 1434–5, by Giacomo della Quercia,
who held the post until his death on February 8th, 1438.[107] From the
second of the notices above referred to we gather, therefore, that
the work was certainly ordered by Bartolomeo Cecchi, even if, as is
possible, it was completed under the direction of his successor.

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [BY PIETRO DEL MINELLA (?)

XVII. THE STORY OF ABSALOM (No. 12)]

The Emperor, crowned and sceptre in hand, sits on a splendid throne,
under a marble canopy, hung with garlands. Four counsellors sit beside
him, two on each hand; and two tall pages carry his orb and sword.
It is worth noting, that this design appears to have early required
restoration, because we read in a notice quoted above,[108] under date
1485, of black marble being brought from Chasciano, among other things,
“_raconciare la storia del onperadore_.” At the latest restoration
(1869–78) a sum of 616 lire 49 c. was expended on it.

Beside this design, as I have remarked above, is the very striking
picture of


_Absalom hanging by his hair_ (No 12).

(Ill. XVII.). No design on the Pavement attracts so much attention as
this. The bold, vigorous outlines of the white figures set against the
black marble background, the vivid and forcible composition of the
picture, and the remarkably decorative foliage of the two trees, almost
Japanese in character, from one of which Absalom is hanging, arrest the
eye and the attention of even the most casual visitor. We find a notice
in the Archivio dell’ Opera,[109] stating that it was commenced after
the 11th of July, 1447, during the Rectorship of Giovanni Borghesi, and
while Pietro di Tommaso Minella was Capo-maestro.

The design of it is generally attributed to Minella himself, and from
the high merit of its conception and composition this is very probable,
but there are no records to prove more than that he superintended its
execution. Tizio[110] includes it in the list of works to which he
gives the date 1424, but this, as I have already pointed out, is an
obvious mistake.

Below these two designs we come to another fine large picture, similar
to those in the North Transept. It represents


_The Story of Jephthah’s Victory, and the Sacrifice of his Daughter_
(No. 11).

The greater part of the composition is taken up with the Fight and
Victory; and the expression of violent action on the part of the
combatants is wonderfully forcible. To the left Jephthah, on his
charger, a crown on his head, and clothed like a Roman emperor, gives
orders to his men. Near him we notice a charming group of two young
men conversing, one of whom, a negro, stands out from the picture
with startling vividness. (Ill. XXIII.). Above, in the background,
Jephthah’s daughter is seen coming out of the city gates, with a joyous
crowd of maiden companions, to greet her victorious father; while,
still farther into the top left-hand corner, we may see the unhappy
father, in a tiny temple, sacrificing his daughter, in fulfilment of
his rash vow. Of this work we find two notices in the Archives,[111]
the first, dealing with advances made on two occasions to the artist,
and the other, recording payment for the complete work. The artist
employed upon it was Bastiano di Francesco di Sano, of whom we
have already spoken, and he appears in this case to have been both
designer and executant. The work seems to have been commenced either
late in 1481 or at the beginning of 1482, but not finished until the
end of 1484 or early in 1485. Not that the artist was idle, for, as
we have seen, he had work to do elsewhere on the Pavement in the
interval, besides various sculptures commissioned by the cathedral
authorities.[112] He received for it in all a sum of 2,555 lire. Its
restoration in 1869–78 cost 2,664 lire 8 c. (Ill. XXIII.)

Below this design, the plan of the floor is very much broken up. The
reader must, however, bear in mind that up to the year 1661, when
Pope Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi) began to build the Cappella della
Madonna del Voto, to contain the famous wonder-working picture of the
Madonna, Protectress of Siena, this portion of the Pavement lay before
the _Porta del Perdono_, to which I have made frequent reference at
the commencement of this chapter. This Porta del Perdono must have
been a sort of _Porta Sacra_, opened only in solemn state in the years
of Jubilee.[113] Fragments of it still exist, and may be seen built
into the outer wall of the bay, next to the above-mentioned Chapel;
and the inscription, quoted in the note, is now to be found over the
left hand doorway of the Western façade. There are many notices still
to be found dealing with this important entrance. Several, to which
we have referred already, dealt with the adornment of the wide step
or platform, that apparently led to it from the outside. All this has
now perished. Inside, however, the floor has fared better, and the
beautiful painting by Maestro Gregorio (1423), which hung above an
altar[114] once erected over this door, and belonging to the Tolomei
family, still exists in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo. It was,
no doubt, the fact that long periods of time passed between each
successive opening of this door, which gave Antonio di Federigo, or
Federighi, the idea of placing before it his beautiful design of the


_Seven Ages in the Life of Man. Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence,
Youth, Manhood, Age, and Decrepitude_ (No. 6).

All seven are treated with a _naïveté_ and grace impossible to
surpass. (Ill. XVIII.) Not only the figures themselves, but also their
accessories; the budding blossoms, the over-blown flowers, and the
handsome classical tomb to which “_Decrepitas_” is tottering, show a
taste and feeling beyond description. Federighi, we read, designed
and executed this delightful work in 1475,[115] and, at about the
same date, the friezes of stags, and perhaps the beautiful lily (Ill.
XXIV.), candlestick (Ill. XXII.) and geometrical pattern, in the angle
formed by the _Seven Ages_ with the Cupola designs, were also laid
down; but we cannot be sure whether they are by the same master or
not. All that we do know for certain about them is drawn from two
notices,[116] recording payments to a certain Bartolino of Massa da
Carrara for marble for work in the Duomo, among which the “frieze of
stags” (_fregio del cervio_), and a frieze at the Porta del Perdono are
especially mentioned.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY ANTONIO FEDERIGHI

XVIII. THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN (No. 6)]

The work visible here now is wholly a restoration; but Federighi’s
_Seven Ages_ may be seen nearly complete in the Museum of the Opera,
together with part of the frieze of stags. Fragments of the other
friezes and borders are also to be found, laid down outside the north
aisle of the Cathedral, in the little courtyard between it and the
present Palace of the Archbishop.

Federighi’s work, when removed (1869–1878), was replaced by the fine
copy, which we now see, executed by Leopoldo Maccari and Giuseppe
Radicchi. The cost of restoration, at this date, of the entire angle
amounted to 22,254 lire 26 c.

There is no record of any early work ever having existed between this
design and the destroyed Porta, which probably stood nearly on the
same spot as the doorway of the present Cappella del Voto. Perhaps the
erection of this newer archway created a wider space. However this
may have been, designs for the four Theological Virtues, _Religion_,
_Faith_, _Hope_, and _Charity_ were made by Carlo Amidei, and executed
here by Matteo Pini[117] in 1780. These designs were not admired, and,
moreover, did not stand the wear of time as the older work had done.
They were, therefore, removed in 1870, and replaced by entirely new
designs, made by Professor Alessandro Franchi, and executed, under his
direction, by Leopoldo Maccari.

Before commencing the description of the last two sections of the
Pavement, I must remind my reader once more, that, after a great part
of it had been laid down, an important radical change took place in the
interior arrangements of the Duomo.

Up to the commencement of the sixteenth century the great High Altar,
glorified by Duccio’s grand _Maestà_, stood in the centre of the
Cathedral, under the Cupola. This part, therefore, of the floor was
not decorated. But, on the other hand, that above the steps, where the
Choir and Altar now are, was so adorned.

By the advice of Baldassare Peruzzi, Capo-maestro in 1532, the whole
arrangement was changed. In accordance with his plans, and under his
direction, Choir and Altar were moved further east, and placed in the
position that they now occupy.

Of the original floor decorations, then, all that now remain _in situ_
are the designs in the Choir Ambulatory above-mentioned, and Domenico
del Coro’s work, to be described shortly. Fragments of the older work,
removed to make way for the alterations, still exist; and, until
1878, were used to fill up three of the hexagons under the Cupola. At
that date, as we shall presently see, they were finally removed to
the Museum of the Opera, and replaced by modern work of an entirely
different character.

       *       *       *       *       *

Let us now proceed eastwards and examine


9. THE CHOIR AND ALTAR-STEPS.

Before the lowest step of the High Altar, we find one large design, and
on either side of it seven small ones; the whole being inclosed by a
long processional frieze.

The principal design represents


_Abraham’s Sacrifice_ (No. 56).

The whole story is told in different parts of the picture, culminating
in the central group of the Sacrifice itself. The smaller designs
represent the following subjects.

       *       *       *       *       *

On the right of the Altar:

1. _Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite._

2. _A prophet with an open book before him._

3. _Eve on her knees._

4. _A woman, holding in her hand an open book._

5. _Another woman, with a mirror, representing Prudence._

6. _The Sacrifice of Melchisedec._

7. _A seated woman, with a child._

On the left:

1. _The old Tobit, with his son, Tobias, and the Angel Raphael. At
their feet a dog._

2. _A woman, representing Charity._

3. _Adam kneeling._

4. _A prophet, gazing up to Heaven._

5. _Another woman, seated, holding a book in her hand._

6. _The Sacrifice of Abel._

7. _Another woman, seated, with a child._

A great procession runs all round these, composed of men and women of
all ages, shown in half-length, representing


_The Children of Israel seeking the Promised Land_.

All these designs were the work of Domenico di Jacopo di Pace
Beccafumi, called Il Mecharino, and we read in Alfonso Landi’s
_Descrizione del Pavimento_ and in the notes of Abate Faluschi[118]
that they were executed between the years 1544 and 1546. The writers
refer to (as their authority) the Libro Giallo dell’ Assunta of the
Cathedral Archives, and state that the artist received 8,004 lire 19 c.
for his work. The subjects chosen fitly complete the general scheme of
the floor, surrounding, as they do, the Altar, with symbolical imagery
from the Old Testament. The repentant Adam and Eve, the three Typical
Sacrifices, Prophets, Virtues, the Guardian Angel, and around the whole
a host of believers hastening to the Promised Land. Some of the drawing
is very beautiful and extremely decorative, notably the frieze. The
beautiful figure of Eve, indeed, has been even attributed to Giovanni
Antonio Bazzi (_Il Sodoma_), who is known to have received a commission
to make at least one design for this floor.[119] This, however, is
wholly uncertain, and cannot now be verified. The workmen employed
here, and the sums they received respectively, we learn from the above
sources and from Milanesi.[120] They were Bernardino di Giacomo, who
received for his labour 475 scudi, and Pellegrino di Pietro, 151 sc.,
1. 4. These men were probably masons in the regular employ of the
Cathedral, for Bernardino, at least, seems to have been employed on all
the work done at this time.

Descending three steps we come to Domenico del Coro’s design of David,
to which we have had occasion to refer already more than once.


_David as King and Psalmist, and David and Goliath._

In a circular panel, David, as King, sits on a throne with a sort of
zither on his knee, while, with his right hand, he points to an open
book of Psalms, propped upon a lectern by his side. Around him stand
four courtiers holding each a primitive musical instrument:--a small
organ, a tambourine, a mandoline, and a viol. The whole picture is
surrounded by a graceful cornice of leaves. On either side of the
central picture, in a lozenge-shaped space, is a single figure; on
the one side is the youth David slinging his stone, and upon the
other the giant Goliath falling backwards. It is curious that Goliath
has a hole in his forehead, although the stone has not reached him;
while, at the same time, the stone is both still in David’s sling and
in the air above Goliath. The figures in the central composition are
fine, but much altered by restoration. Those of David and Goliath
are more original, and have probably suffered less. These designs
are undoubtedly the work of Domenico del Coro, executed during the
Rectorship of Bartolommeo Cecchi: and the cornice and frieze work
around them is that of Agostino da Niccolo, for we read special notice
of this fact in a memorandum of payment to the latter, dated June 6th,
1423.[121]

Below another step we come to the largest and most pretentious of
Beccafumi’s designs.


_Moses’ Ascent of Mount Sinai, his Receipt of the Tables of the Law, and
the Idolatry of the Children of Israel_ (No. 52). (Ill. XXV.)

The story is told in six parts, combined into one large picture.
Above, in the centre, Moses kneels on the mountain top (α). The light
of Heaven streams over him, and he receives the Tables of the Law
into his outstretched hands. Below in the centre he lifts the Tables
over his head, to dash them to pieces on the ground (δ). In the upper
_left_-hand corner, the Elders of Israel are seen persuading Aaron, who
points to Moses on the mountain, to make the Golden Calf (β): in the
lower, we see him casting their gold and jewels into the fire to make
it (θ). In the lower _right_-hand corner the Israelites are worshipping
the Calf (η), while above they are smitten with plague and dying in
agony (γ). This work appears to have been originally commissioned by
a certain Antonio d’Agostino del Vescovo, then Rector (1524);[122]
but, as we read from an inscription let into the beautiful frieze that
surrounds it, it was completed under the direction of his successor,
Francesco di Carlo Tolomei. Beccafumi received on the 30th of August,
1531, 120 scudi for these designs,[123] according to a valuation made
for Tolomei by Baldassare Peruzzi himself;[124] which suggests the
idea that these two great artists may have together planned the new
arrangements of the Choir, and a scheme of decoration to adorn it,
when complete. From Landi and Faluschi we learn that the workmen here
employed[125] were the same Bernardino di Giacomo, who now received
for his work 969 scudi 13: Giacomo di Pietro Gallo, 133 sc. 6.8;
Bartolommeo di Pietro Gallo, 41 sc.; and Giovanni d’Antonio Marinelli,
called _il Mugnaino_, 486 sc. To these Milanesi adds two more, not
mentioned by either of the above authorities: Niccolo Filippi and
Cristofano di Carbone.[126]

Immediately below these scenes a long narrow design, also by Beccafumi,
shows


_Moses striking the Rock to bring water for the thirsting Israelites_
(No. 51).

This is by far the most pleasing and successful of Beccafumi’s works.
We can see, from its very simplicity, how much its charm depends upon
sheer skill of drawing. This work was executed in 1525,[127] but we
do not find any record as to the amount paid to him for it, or the
workmen employed upon it. Probably they were the same as had carried
out his previous designs.[128] These scenes by Beccafumi provoked
the most extravagant admiration and applause from the writers of the
seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; and as _tours
de force_, and specimens of a new kind of work, they are certainly
remarkable. They do not, however, succeed in provoking that feeling of
pleasure and charm, that one experiences when studying the older and
simpler productions.

And now we come to the last section, and some of the latest work.


10. UNDER THE CUPOLA.

This vast hexagonal space is divided into seven hexagons and six
lozenges. They all now contain scenes from the _Story of Elijah_,
completing what probably was Beccafumi’s original design. That that
artist _did_ prepare designs for four of the hexagons, for two of the
lozenges and for a frieze, we have abundant evidence, for we have no
less than five notices,[129] between the 11th of March, 1518–19, and
the 18th of June, 1524, in the books of the Opera, of payment to him,
not only for his labour, but also for the paper used for his cartoons.
It is also to be noted that the commission for this work was given
him earlier than that of any of the other works above described. Upon
these grounds, Professor Luigi Mussini, writing on the Pavement,[130]
supposes that they were executed in 1517, and likens them to
Pinturicchio’s work of eleven years before. A recent writer in the
Miscellanea Storica Senese,[131] however, contests this statement, and
quotes a document in the Archives dated 1562,[132] which states that a
certain person, called there _Giovan Battista nostro_, designed four
scenes from the _Story of Elijah_ for the Duomo floor, which, we gather
from the same sources, were executed by the Cathedral masons, Niccolo
di Girolamo Gori, Domenico di Pier Giovanni, and the same Bernardino di
Jacomo.

This Giovan Battista was Giovanni Battista di Girolamo Sozzini, brother
of Alessandro Sozzini, Diarist of the last Siege of Siena. He was a
pupil of Beccafumi’s, and of his work, Scipio Bargagli in his _Imprese_
speaks in high praise, specially mentioning some _mandorle_ designed
by him, “placed _near_ the grand works of the great Mecarino.”[133]
To add to these facts, we know that Sozzini retained in his possession
many drawings by Beccafumi, and among them his cartoons for the floor.
These designs he sold to the architect Tiburzio Spannocchi, and it
is recorded in the Archives of the Duomo,[134] that the Cathedral
authorities endeavoured, but apparently unsuccessfully, to recover
them. Some of these have now, as we know, found their way into the
Public Picture Gallery. These six designs differ in treatment from
Beccafumi’s other work, and the drawing and composition of them is not
so striking. The large hexagons represent:

1. _The Compact between Elijah and Ahab_ (in the centre). (Ill. XIX.)
No. 42.[135]

2. _Ahab’s Sacrifice_ (to the left). No. 44.

3. _Elijah’s Sacrifice_ (above). No. 41.

4. _The Slaughter of the Prophets of Baal_ (to the right). No. 43.

The small ones:

5. _Ahab comes to meet Elijah._ No. 46.

6. _Elijah sends Obadiah to fetch Ahab._ No. 45.

It does not seem to me, however, that the learned writer of the
above-referred-to article brings forward any _real_ ground for doubting
Beccafumi’s authorship of these designs. The Document quoted, and
Scipio Bargagli, both speak of “_mandorle_,” which appears to have
been the technical expression for the _lozenges_ filling up the great
hexagon, in contradistinction to the words “_tondo_” or “_esagono_,”
used to describe the larger sections. The documents dated 6th of
September, 1521, and 18th of June, 1524, together expressly mention
four _tondi_ and two _mandorle_, which exactly accounts for the designs
in question. It seems unnecessary, therefore, to strain the word
_mandorle_ to mean something else than its more obvious meaning: and
it is surely much more probable, that the document and quotation, both
refer to designs for the remaining four _mandorle_, which are generally
supposed to have been filled in by Carlo Amidei, and Matteo Pini in
1780.[136] However this may be, the smallness of the sum paid for the
designs, 75 soldi, makes the idea, that it was a payment for drawings
of any size, even more improbable and absurd.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]          [DESIGNED BY DOMENICO BECCAFUMI

XIX. ELIJAH’S COMPACT WITH AHAB (No. 42)]

The three remaining hexagons, up to 1878, contained fragments, and
most interesting fragments, of older work, which evidently once
formed part of the floor, where the High Altar now stands. To the
left, looking east, was a delightful design representing the _Blind
leading the Blind_. An old man is holding one end of a stick, while
a young man, also blind, is grasping it at the other end. The older
man is just stepping over a precipice into space. Below them is a
delightful _putto_, holding in one hand a mirror, and a label with the
word “_Notate_” upon it. This design we know to have been the work of
Antonio Federighi in 1459; and for it he received 46 lire.[137] It was
apparently ordered by the Rector, Benedetto di Biagio di Roberto, and
completed during the Directorate of Cristofano Felice.[138]

The middle design illustrates the _Parable of the Mote and the Beam_;
and though it dates from 1374–5,[139] strangely enough is now in the
best preservation of the three.

The third design was a scene of a stately-looking bearded man, giving
alms to a woman with a child in her arms. This is generally supposed
to be that work of Domenico del Coro[140] which is referred to in a
document dated 1433, as being placed by him in the choir (then under
the cupola) _from the lectern downwards, in that place where they stand
to sing_,[141] and for which he received 357 lire.

It is impossible now to tell what was the original shape of these
designs, or where they were placed. But to fit them into the hexagons,
they were made into more or less complete triangles, the remainder
of the space being filled up with fragments of old friezes, brought
probably from the same place.

In 1875, the fragments left of them, and of the four later _mandorle_,
were removed to the Museum of the Opera, where they now are, and in
1878, all seven were replaced by others, completing the _Story of
Elijah and Ahab_.

The subjects chosen are, for the larger ones:

1. _Ahab mortally wounded._ No. 40.

2. _Elijah carried to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire._ No. 38. (Ill. XXVI.)

3. _Elijah predicts the manner of Ahab’s death._ No. 39.

For the smaller ones:

1. _Elijah fed by Ravens._ No. 47.

2. _Elijah raises the widow’s son._ No. 50.

3. _Elijah asks bread of the widow._ No. 49.

4. _Elijah anoints Jehu, King of Israel._ No. 48.

These designs were made by Professor Alessandro Franchi, the present
Director of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, and were executed under his
direction by Leopoldo Maccari and Antonio Radicchi.[142] The smaller
ones follow to some extent the older lines, but in the larger ones, the
artist has struck out for himself; and, if the result is in somewhat
startling contrast to everything preceding it, there is no doubt that
his work is full of skill and merit of a most scholarly and remarkable
kind. Under his care, and with the able support of the above-mentioned
two artists, aided by a generous legacy of a former Rector, Cav. Pietro
Bambagini Galletti, the whole Pavement has undergone the Restoration,
to which I have referred so often,[143] and is now in as perfect a
condition as constant loving and intelligent care can keep it, without
entirely hoarding it from view.




CHAPTER III

THE PAVEMENT MASTERS


The reader, having patiently followed me along the intricacies of the
Pavement, and the ramifications of its history, will now like to know
something more detailed about the men who made it. To satisfy this
wish, I have collected from various sources, chiefly from Milanesi, the
following notes.

Padre Micheli[144] gives no less than forty-one names of workers of
various sorts on the Pavement. To these the writer in Miscellanea[145]
adds three more; and if with them we include the six artists and
sculptors, who, since the middle of the eighteenth century, and up to
the present day, have restored, replaced, and made additions, we arrive
at a total of more than fifty men, who have, in one way or another,
contributed to this beautiful work.[146]

Of these, many remain but as names recorded in documents concerning
the Pavement, and are heard of nowhere else; of others we catch a few
glimpses in the pages of Milanesi; about a dozen were celebrated in
their day as painters and sculptors, in the somewhat limited world of
Sienese Art, and have left specimens of their work elsewhere; while two
alone, Pinturicchio and Beccafumi, have attained world-wide fame.

I propose then to take the names of these men, according to the dates
of the first work contributed by them to the Pavement.

Thus we begin with:


1. 1369. _Antonio di Brunaccio._

This earliest name, connected with work on the Pavement, is of a man,
about whom we do not know very much. In 1362, we find him witnessing
two contracts made between the Operaio and a certain Francesco di
Tonghio, for woodwork (stalls and a lectern) made for the Choir of the
Duomo. He is among the sculptors, whose names are entered in the Book
of Arts and Crafts of the City of Siena, under date 1363, and in the
following year, he binds himself to do certain work in the Cathedral,
and the Cappella di Piazza. In 1369, we read of his making a small
lion, to adorn a fountain in the Palazzo Pubblico. He was, perhaps,
the son of a certain Brunaccio di Santa Colomba, a sculptor, who signed
the _Sculptors’ Brief_ in the thirteenth century, quoted in the _Nuovi
Documenti_.[147]


2. 1370. _Sano di Marco._

This man’s name is also among those of the sculptors working in Siena
in 1363. Milanesi mentions a daughter of his called Valentina, who
married a sculptor named Paolo di Pietro, of the parish (_Popolo_) of
San Stefano: but there is no other record about him.


3. 1370. _Francesco di Ser Antonio._

Appears to have been a painter, and we find his name on the list of
artists flourishing in Siena in 1402.[148] He was also consulted in
1376 as to the walls of the Cappella di Piazza; and was witness to a
contract made with Giacomo di Buonfredi, called _Corbello_, for certain
work done on the façade of the Duomo. He must not, however, be confused
with Francesco d’Antonio di Francesco, the goldsmith, who lived many
years later.


4. 1376. _Matteo di Bartolo._


5. 1380. _Nanni di Corsino._

Of these men, and their work, nothing is known, but the notices already
quoted.


6. 1398. _Sano, or Ansano di Maestro Matteo._

Of this sculptor and architect, notices exist from 1392 to 1429. He
was a native of Siena, and might have been the son of the Matteo di
Bartolo mentioned above, although we cannot prove it. He married twice:
first, Cristofora di Cecco di Domenico; and secondly, after her death,
a certain Madonna Bartolommea. In 1402, we find him witness to a
contract, given to Giacomo di Giovanni, “_a key-maker_” (_chiavaio_) to
make an iron railing round the pulpit in the Duomo in Siena. In 1404,
he held the post of _Petrone_, or valuer, to the Commune, and Director
of the City water-supply, and was re-appointed in 1407. In 1408 and
in 1409, we also find him recommending Cristoforo di Francesco, a
Sienese sculptor, first to the Orvieto Cathedral authorities, and
then to the Signoria of Siena. He was, in 1416, elected Castellan of
the fortalice of Montalcino, but, being engaged to assist Giacomo
della Quercia in his work on the Fonte Gaia, sent Maestro Giovanni di
Giacomo, as his lieutenant.[149] He was Capo-maestro of the Duomo at
Orvieto for various periods during the years 1407–1425, and during
that time he made the font there.[150] He also added a new chapel to
the Cathedral. In 1416, he too was among the artists employed on the
Font in the Baptistery at Siena, and in 1426–27, he was called to
Perugia to superintend the drainage works of Lake Thrasymene. Among the
Sienese State Records of 1427–28 are three letters from the Signoria
to him, apologizing for not sending him an apprentice, but recalling
him home: together with letters addressed, one to the Pope’s Legate,
Bishop Pietro Donato, and the other to Antonio Casini, Cardinal of San
Marcello, asking leave for him to return: the object being, that he
should build the Loggia di S. Paolo, (now the Casino dei Nobili). Among
the documents extracted by Signori Borghesi and Banchi, we find several
referring to work done by Sano at Perugia: among other things, the
construction of a mill at Ragulano. We also learn that, for the months
of May and June, 1414, he was Gonfaloniere of the Compagnia di Rialto e
Cartagne. He had two daughters: Caterina, born on July 30th, 1405; and
Mattia, who married Gherardo di Niccolo.[151]


7. 1398. _Luca di Cecco._

A sculptor, whose signature is also found attached to the document
mentioned above. In 1375, and again in 1377, his name occurs as witness
to contracts for works of art: the first, a picture for the High Altar
of the Duomo, to be made by Lorenzo di Vanni and Nuccio di Neruccio:
the second, a marble statue by Mariano d’Agnolo and Bartolommeo di
Tommè, for the Cappella del Campo. In 1386, he was commissioned to make
some marble steps for the interior of the Duomo.


8. 1405. _Cecco di Giovanni._

Another unrecorded artist.


9. 1406. _Marchesse d’ Adamo._

Of this man, or of his stonemason companions from Como, we hear nothing
more than the short notice I have given already. We know that Comacene
and Lombard workmen, especially masons and sculptors, were labouring in
great numbers all over Italy at this period, and that they have left
their traces very markedly, throughout all Tuscan and Umbrian Art. We
know also, that the stone workers of Siena made a compact with those of
Lombardy, residing and working in that town, on the 5th of December,
1473, whereby they gave to them certain privileges on payment of
suitable fees.[152]


10. 1423–33. _Domenico di Niccolo del Coro._

This great artist was born about 1363, and belonged to the noble family
of Spinelli. He was one of the cleverest and most prolific workers of
his day. His principal trade was that of a wood-carver; and he is said
to have obtained his surname of _del Coro_ from his ability and success
in designing and carving Choir-stalls. From 1413 to 1423, he held the
post of Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo of Siena, and we have
records of work done by him in glass, as well as in stone and wood. He
worked on the older Fonte Gaia, made designs for an intended loggia (on
the site of the present Casino dei Nobili), to face into the Piazza
del Campo,[153] and was sent for to Orvieto to advise about the repair
of the roof of the Duomo there. The panels, inlaid with the _Symbols
of the Creed_, for the stalls of the Chapel of the Palazzo Pubblico,
executed by him between the years 1415–1428,[154] after designs said
to be by Taddeo Bartoli,[155] are works of exceptional beauty. After a
long life, in January 1446–7, we find him, at 84 years of age, begging
the Signoria of Siena to grant him a pension. A sum of two florins a
month was allowed to him, but he could not have enjoyed it for long,
since after 1450 we entirely lose sight of him.


11. 1423. _Agostino di Niccolo._

The only specimen of this artist’s work we know of in Siena, is that
on the Pavement. We have no other record of him except that in 1405,
or perhaps even earlier, he was working at Orvieto, in company with a
certain Nanni di Giacomo (a cadet of the noble house of Castori, or
Amidei), a native of Lucca, but resident in Siena, and during the next
year, with an artist named Orbetano, called _il Mastro_, also a Sienese.


12. 1423. _Bastiano di Corso._

Concerning this artist, we know that he came from Florence, lived a
long time in Siena, and died rather before 1455. His family name was
Giuliani, and he married Francesca di Cristoforo Pastella, by whom
he had four sons: Taddeo; Cristoforo (born 1422); Corso (of whom
presently), and Giuliano, who married, in 1469, Marianna, daughter
of Pietro Paoletti. Both of these were sculptors, like their father.
Milanesi gives many notices of work in marble done by this artist, in
company with his sons, in the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Hospital
of Sta. Maria della Scala, and the Loggia di S. Paolo.


13. 1426. _Paolo di Martino._

Of this man, beyond the records of him in connexion with the Pavement,
scarcely anything is known. He appears once, as witness to a contract
for some carved figures for the Duomo. A curious fact occurs also,
as to work done by him in the before-mentioned Chapel of the Palazzo
Pubblico. In 1414, he, his brother Antonio, and a certain Simone
d’Antonio, were commissioned to decorate the stalls of that Chapel.
Their work seems not to have given public satisfaction, with the result
that the commission was taken away from them, and given to Domenico del
Coro, who, as we have seen, executed his task triumphantly.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY PAOLO DI MARTINO

XX. SAMSON AND THE PHILISTINES (No. 14)]


14. 1434. _Domenico di Bartolo di Ghezzo da Asciano._

We find the name of this artist on the Roll of Sienese Painters in
1428. Vasari would have us believe, that he was the nephew of Taddeo
Bartoli. This, however, is proved to be erroneous, because we know that
Taddeo was the son of a barber, one Bartolo di Maestro Mino: that his
brother died childless; and that his sister Petra married a notary of
Radicondoli, named Ser Antonio Gennari. Domenico Bartoli was a member
of the well-known Ghezzi family of Asciano, and a picture by him is
still to be seen in the Church of St. Agostino in his native town. He
was born about 1400, married in 1440[156] Donna Antonia Pannilini,
and died in 1446.[157] He was an artist of very great merit. His
finest works are his frescoes in the Pellegrinaggio of the Hospital of
Sta. Maria della Scala at Siena, which were painted in 1443–44.[158]
These frescoes throw a vivid light on the manners, customs, costume,
and style of architecture of the period in which he lived, and form a
remarkable picture of Sienese life at that date. It is, moreover, most
interesting to note how much the decorative effects, employed by him in
his work, foreshadow the coming Renaissance.

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [BY DOMENICO DI BARTOLO D’ASCIANO

XXI. THE EMPEROR SIGISMUND (No. 13)]


15. 1434. _Giacomo d’Antonio._

Appears to have been merely a workman (_manovale_), as, except the
record quoted, no other notice appears of him among those hitherto
extracted.


16. 1447. _Pietro di Tommaso del Minella._

A native of Siena, this famous sculptor and architect was born on the
21st of December, 1391. He was son of a certain Tommaso, surnamed
_Minella_ and had two brothers, Antonio and Giovanni (both workers in
wood), the latter of whom became a Franciscan monk, and Rector of the
Hospital of Sta. Croce. Pietro was a favourite pupil of Giacomo della
Quercia, who left him ten florins in his will; and he worked with that
great master on the famous Font in the Baptistery. From 1431 to 1433,
he was Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo at Orvieto, and with his
brother Antonio, executed some works there in intarsia on the stalls.
In 1437, Quercia gave him some commissions in connection with the
Loggia di S. Paolo, and in 1439 he was employed to make the choir for
the Chapel of the Hospital of Sta. Maria della Scala. Out of this much
litigation arose, which was settled by the giving of a dowry to his
daughter.[159] In 1441, he and his brother Antonio were commissioned to
make a new Bishops’ Throne for the Cathedral at Orvieto,[160] adorned
with figures of SS. John and Costanzo; but apparently, whether for
want of funds or for what reason does not appear, the work was never
completed.[161] He remained at Orvieto until March, 1444, when he
returned to Siena, where he had been commissioned by the Council to
execute further work on the Loggia di S. Paolo.[162] In August of that
year he was in treaty to go back to Orvieto, and we find a document,
showing that he asked in payment for his services 120 ducats and a
house, but agreed to accept 110 without the house, arranging to come to
Orvieto about the middle of October to complete his bargain.[163] In
September, however, he was promised by the _Camarlingo_ (perhaps the
Treasurer) of the Opera del Duomo at Siena, the post of Capo-maestro
there. This appointment, however, he did not at first obtain, though he
was employed on the tomb of Carlo Bartoli, Bishop of Siena, for which
he received, as his share, a sum of 38 lire 8 soldi;[164] and in the
following year on the Chapel of S. Crescenzio in the Duomo.[165] At
last, in 1447, he was appointed Capo-maestro, and during his occupation
of the post, he designed the Church of S. Ansano. He died in August,
1458, having married Cristofora, daughter of Maestro Pannucci, surnamed
_Cinquino_, and had by her three sons--Tone (Canon of the Duomo),
Niccolo, and Sano, who died in 1498, having married Polissena, daughter
of Arnoldo di Fortunato, by whom he had six sons.


17. 1450. _Nastagio di Guasparre._


18. 1450. _Bartolomeo di Mariano_, called “_Il Mandriano_.”


19. 1451. _Guasparre d’Agostino._

Of the first and second of these three men nothing is known but their
names, and the notice which records their work, described in the last
chapter. As I have suggested, Nastagio di Guasparre and Guasparre d’
Agostino may have been father and son, or master and pupil. I have
also referred to the fact that Guasparre d’Agostino painted frescoes
of the Crucifixion and Burial of Christ in the apse over the altar of
the Baptistery,[166] and was commissioned to paint some scenes from the
life of S. Bernardino for the Sacristy of the Duomo. We are told also
by Milanesi[167] that he was the master of Francesco di Giorgio and
Neroccio di Bartolommeo Landi.


20. 1451. _Corso di Bastiano._

Son of Bastiano di Corso, he married Nanna, daughter of a certain
Simone di Niccolo, surnamed _Calabrese_, a maker of drinking vessels.
He was, as we have seen, a sculptor like his father, with whom he
worked. We read, besides, however, that he made the balcony of the
Palazzo Pubblico,[168] whence the sentences on criminals were read,
and executed certain marble work at the Oratorio di Sta. Caterina in
Fontebranda.[169]


21. 1459. _Antonio di Federigo or Federighi_ (_Federigi_).

[Illustration: XXII. CANDLESTICK

BY ANTONIO FEDERIGHI]

This sculptor and architect was one of the glories of Siena in his
time. In one document, to be referred to later, he is called Tolomei
(_de Ptholomeis_), but we have no record as to his birth or family. In
1444, he was among the artists employed on the tomb of Bishop Carlo
Bartoli, and for his share in the work he received 15 lire. In 1451,
he was appointed Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo at Orvieto,[170]
where he remained until 1456, living in considerable style.[171] He
had with him all the time his two pupils, Polimante of Assisi and Vito
di Marco, both of whom were paid by the Duomo authorities. He was
evidently held in high honour, for we find on April 7th, 1452,[172]
the Signoria of Siena writing to the heads of the Commune at Orvieto,
to ask them to recommend him to the notice of the Duke of Calabria.
In April, 1453, with safe conducts from the Republic of Florence and
the King of Naples, he, with seven companions, went to Carrara to
quarry marble, and in October of the same year he started for Corneto
for a similar purpose; but was recalled on the 5th of the same month,
to advise as to the roof of one of the Chapels in the Duomo, which
threatened to collapse. In September, 1456, he made, and put into
position, one of the statues on the façade. During this period he made
statues of SS. Ansano, Vittore, and Savino for the Loggia di Mercanzia
or S. Paolo (now the Casino dei Nobili), and executed the work before
the doors of the Baptistery, to which we have already alluded. (Ill.
XXII.) After 1456, he appears to have returned to Siena, for we find a
number of references to a commission for the statues of SS. Peter and
Paul, given first to Urbano da Cortona, then to Federighi, and lastly
to Lorenzo di Pietro (_Il Vecchietta_); the special object of the last
change being to keep that artist in Siena.[173] From 1460 to 1462, he
was engaged in the design and erection of the magnificent Loggia di
Papa, built by Pope Pius II.; and in 1463, on the palace of that Pope’s
sister, Caterina Piccolomini, called then Palazzo _delle Papesse_, but
now styled Palazzo _Nerucci_.[174] In 1469–70, we hear of work done by
him at the Oratorio di S. Caterina in Fontebranda; in 1473 party to the
contract made between the Sienese and Lombard workers in stone: and
in 1480, he petitioned the authorities with reference to the drainage
and water-supply of the town.[175] Other noticeable works by him are
the marble bench on the right-hand side of the Loggia di Mercanzia,
before-mentioned; the basins of the two holy water stoups at the west
end of the Cathedral Nave (attributed, wrongly, to Quercia); and the
Chapel and Palace, outside the Porta Camollia, known as the _Palazzo
dei Diavoli_.


22. 1473. _Urbano di Pietro di Domenico da Cortona._

This artist came with his brother Bartolommeo, in his early youth, from
his native city of Cortona, to settle in Siena, where in 1451,[176]
they together undertook to build the Chapel of the Madonna delle
Grazie, in the Duomo. In the same year he was commissioned, as we
have seen, to make two statues for the Loggia di Mercanzia, but the
commission was cancelled. In 1456, he made a statue of S. Bernardino
for the Convent of the Osservanza, and a figure of S. Peter for the
façade of the Duomo. In 1458, the Signoria of Siena deliberated as to
the suitability of employing him, in company with Donatello, to procure
alabaster from the Val D’Orcia, to decorate a room in the Palazzo
Pubblico.[177] Among the records of the Oratorio di Sta. Caterina in
Fontebranda, between the years 1465 and 1474, we find two notices
of work by him: namely, a statue of the Saint over the Chapel door,
and a holy-water stoup. In 1471, he had a dispute with Bastiano di
Francesco, as to the price due for work done by the latter, in which
Vecchietta was one of the two arbitrators. In the same year he was
employed on the Palazzo _delle Papesse_, and in 1473, we find him
also joining in the contract made by the Sienese sculptors with their
Lombard fellow-craftsmen. In 1497–98, he was one of the arbitrators in
a dispute between Giovanni di Stefano and his workmen.[178] He died in
Siena, on May the 8th, 1504, leaving, by his wife, Caterina Scotti, a
daughter, Lucrezia, who married Ser Pasquale Griffi, of Montalcino; his
son Tommaso having predeceased him. His finest works still existing are
the decorations for the Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie referred to
above, which are now affixed to the walls of the Duomo, near the door
leading to the Campanile stairs; and the tomb of Cav. Cristoforo Felice
(Rector 1457–58 and 1460–65) in the church of S. Francesco in Siena.


23. 1473. _Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo._

This artist, also known as Matteo da Siena, was born about 1435. It
was erroneously supposed, that he was the son of Giovanni di Paolo di
Grazia, the painter of Poggio Malavolti, and brother of Pietro and
Benvenuto di Giovanni, also painters of repute. As a matter of fact,
however, Matteo’s father was a certain Giovanni di Bartolo, a merchant
of Borgo San Sepolcro, who had settled in Siena, by his second wife,
Elisabetta, daughter of Andrea d’Ambrogio, a goldsmith: while Pietro
was the son of another merchant, one Giovanni Pucci; and Benvenuto, of
a certain Giovanni di Maestro Meo del Guasta of San Quirico. Moreover,
Giovanni di Paolo of Poggio was quite an old man when, in 1480, he
married a woman called Domenica, by whom he had no children, as we find
that by his will, dated June 29th, 1482, he left her his sole heiress.

Matteo married twice; first, a certain Contessa, by whom he had no
children; and secondly, Orsina di Francesco del Taia, by whom he
had three sons and four daughters. He died in June, 1495. He was a
distinguished painter, much admired in his day, and had a very distinct
charm of his own, in spite of his somewhat rigid adherence to old
traditions. Many of his pictures are still in their original places in
the churches of Siena,[179] and there are also some good specimens of
his work in the Accademia delle Belle Arti in that town.


24. 1473. _Giovanni di Maestro Stefano di Giovanni._

Son of the celebrated painter, usually called _Sassetta_. We first
hear of him in 1452, as appealing for judgment in the matter of
the price of a fresco, over the Porta Romana, left unfinished by
his father’s death; (subsequently completed by Sano di Pietro, and
Lorenzo di Pietro, commonly called _Il Vecchietta_). In August 1446,
he was commissioned, with the assistance of the goldsmith Francesco
d’Antonio, to make a silver head of Sta. Caterina, for the Monks of S.
Domenico in Siena.[180] He made a model for the head, which Francesco
executed in silver;[181] and perhaps the tabernacle also, although that
has been attributed to Vecchietta. In 1466–68,[182] we find a petition,
addressed to the Signoria, for the erection of two stone wolves outside
the Porta Nuova, or Romana. These are generally supposed to have been
the work of this artist. In 1477, he was recommended by the Signoria
of Siena to Federigo, Duke of Urbino; and in 1481, was witness to the
commission, given by the Opera del Duomo, to Urbano di Pietro, Antonio
Federighi, Vito di Marco and Luigi di Ruggiero, to execute the Sibyls
on the Duomo Pavement; one of which (the _Cuman_) we know was, in
the following year, his work. In 1487, he executed the statue of S.
Ansano (formerly attributed to Neroccio di Bartolommeo Landi, of whom
presently) in the Chapel of S. Giovanni in the Duomo.[183] In 1427,
in company with Giacomo Cozzarelli, and Domenico di Matteo, he made a
valuation of the bronze doors, for the Libreria in the Duomo, executed
by Giacomo Ormanni; and in the same year we read of the dispute with
his workmen, to which we have alluded above. In 1497–98, he also
executed two of the bronze angels[184] for the High Altar of the Duomo.
The celebrated sculptor, Lorenzo di Mariano, better known as _Il
Marrina_, was one of his pupils.


25. 1473. _Bartolommeo de’ Domenico Calabrone._


26. 1473. _Francesco di Bartolommeo._

Both these men appear to have been sculptors, and are associated
together, as arbitrators, with Urbano da Cortona, in the dispute
referred to above, between Giovanni di Stefano and his workmen. Of
the former, we also find a record, under date August 11th, 1507, as
arbitrator between Lorenzo di Mariano (_Il Marrina_) and Battista di
Simone,[185] and we are told that he was surnamed _Baccelli_, and died
in 1531.[186] Of Francesco we know nothing more, except that he also
signed the contract with the Lombard sculptors.


27. 1482. _Giuliano di Biagio._

Of this artist, we know nothing, beyond the reference to his work
on the Pavement, of which mention has been made above. He appears,
however, to have been not merely the mason, but also the contractor,
who procured the marble for his own work.[187]


28. 1482. _Vito di Marco._

A German, who, with his brother Giovanni, came to settle in Siena, as
a mason. He was, as we have seen above, a pupil of Antonio Federighi,
and was employed under him, on the works at Orvieto. In 1473, he was
also party to the contract between the Sienese and Lombard sculptors.
In 1483–84, he was commissioned, in company with a certain Lucillo di
Maestro Marco, to execute the tomb of Tommaso del Testa Piccolomini,
Bishop of Pienza and Montalcino,[188] which commission, through his
absence from Siena, and the death of Lucillo, was transferred in the
following year to Neroccio di Bartolommeo Landi. In 1487, he executed
the façade of the church of S. Andrew at Orvieto, in which city we find
him still working in 1489–91. He died in 1495.


29. 1482. _Luigi di Ruggiero, surnamed L’Armellino._

This man also joined in the above-mentioned contract with the Lombard
stone workers (1473). In January, 1486–87, we find the Signoria of
Siena writing to Ottaviano, Count of Mercatelli, on his behalf, for
arrears of salary due to him for work done.[189] He also appears to
have been a contractor, as well as a sculptor.[190]


30. 1483. _Bastiano di Francesco di Sano._

This man was a sculptor and a painter, but it is uncertain whether he
is the same person, as the Florentine sculptor Bastiano di Francesco,
who, with Francesco di Giovanni, was employed to build the tomb of
Pope Pius III. in S. Peter’s at Rome.[191] We do not know much about
him, beyond the work which he did in the Duomo. In 1481, he assisted
Guidoccio Cozzarelli, Benvenuto di Giovanni del Guasta, and Pellegrino
di Mariano, in decorating the interior of the Cupola with sculpture
and painting. We gather, that in 1484, he moved the beautiful tomb of
Cardinal Petroni, by Tino di Camaino,[192] from its original place near
the present Cappella del Voto, to its present lofty position, by the
Cappella di S. Giovanni. To him, in the same and following years, are
also due the carved festoons, monstrous cherub heads, and painting and
gilding round the east window (_Occhio_) of the choir. Twice we hear
of him in legal difficulties: once, as we have mentioned already, with
Urbano da Cortona in 1471; and again in 1477, when a certain doctor of
laws, one Prospero Poccio, complained to the Podestà, that Bastiano
would not finish a picture for him, that he had contracted to do.[193]
He appears to have lived in the Valle Piatta at Siena.[194] (Ill.
XXIII.)

[Illustration:

  ALINARI PHOTO.]      [BY BASTIANO DI FRANCESCO.

XXIII. THE STORY OF JEPHTHAH (No. 11)]


31. 1483. _Benvenuto di Giovanni del Guasta._

This versatile artist was the son, as we have seen, of a certain
Giovanni di Meo del Guasta, a mason from San Quirico. He was born
the 13th of September, 1436, and died about 1518. He married Jacopa,
daughter of Tommaso da Cetona, by whom he had three daughters, and a
son, Girolamo, also a clever artist. In 1466, we find him in company
with Sano di Pietro, valuing the decorative work on two chests, made
by a certain Francesco d’Andrea, for Ambrogio Spannocchi. In 1481–82,
as we have already noted, he was employed on the decoration of the
interior of the Cupola in the Duomo, where he painted thirty-five
figures, for which he received a sum of 105 lire.[195] In the same
year, he painted miniatures in the Antiphonaries, for the Duomo; one of
which, the largest, represented “_the Giving of the Keys to S. Peter_,”
for which he received 27 lire 14 soldi.[196] That he was much admired
in his day as a painter, is evident from the number of notices still to
be found of payments made to him for banners, bier-heads and pictures
of various sorts, by Convents and Guilds. Many of these still exist,
either in the Churches for which they were painted, or in the Picture
Gallery.[197] In 1508, he was called as witness, in a lawsuit between
Giovanni Battista di Bartolommeo Alberti and the heirs of Neroccio
Landi, as to the price of an unfinished picture by that artist. From
the two inventories of his property, made in 1491 and 1509, and the
list of goods bequeathed by him to his son Girolamo, we gather that he
lived in houses of his own: first, in the district of Camollia; and
latterly, in that of the Rialto in Siena.


32. 1483. _Neroccio di Bartolommeo di Benedetto Landi._

This great artist was equally celebrated, both as sculptor and painter.
He belonged to the noble family of Landi, who are described as “_of
Poggio Malevolti_”, to distinguish them from the family of Landi
_Sberghieri_. He was born in 1447, and died in 1500. He was twice
married: first, to Elisabetta, daughter of Antonio Cigalini, who died
in 1483; and, secondly, in 1493 to Lucrezia, daughter of Antonio
Paltoni, who bore him several sons, one of whom was a painter as was
his father.[198] Many of his pictures and statues still exist in Siena,
in the places for which he designed them. In 1475, he appears to have
quarrelled with Francesco di Giorgio; a dispute that was settled
by the kindly offices of Sano di Pietro and Lorenzo di Pietro (_Il
Vecchietta_). In the following year we find the same Sano di Pietro,
with Francesco di Giorgio, valuing a picture, painted by Neroccio,
for a certain Bernardino Nini. In the records of the Oratorio di Sta.
Caterina in Fontebranda,[199] we find that this artist was paid 31
lire, for a wooden statue of the Saint, which still stands over the
altar in that Chapel. In 1481, he was engaged to work for the Duke
of Calabria, and also for the Abbot of the Benedictine Convent at
Lucca. In 1484–85, he received the commission (originally given to
Vito di Marco and Lucillo, but cancelled through the absence of the
former, and the death of the latter), to execute the tomb of Bishop
Tommaso del Testa Piccolomini.[200] This tomb is now over the door,
leading from the Cathedral to the stairs of the Campanile. In 1487,
he was also directed to make the beautiful statue of S. Catherine of
Alexandria for the Chapel of S. Giovanni in the Duomo; but his death
left the work unfinished. We find two notices with reference to this
work, dated 5th of February, 1487–88, and 21st of August, 1502[201]
respectively: the first recording the payment of an advance of 40
lire to the painter himself, and the other of a further payment (in
accordance with the valuation of Giacomo Cozzarelli and Ventura di
Ser Giuliano) of 202 lire more to his heirs. These heirs, as we have
seen above, also had a lawsuit over another unfinished work of his,
with one of his pupils, Giovanni Battista di Bartolommeo Alberti.
Milanesi quotes some interesting documents in connection with this
lawsuit in his notes.[202] The names of some of his pupils, besides
the above-mentioned Giovanni Battista di Bartolommeo Alberti are
as follows: Giovanni di Tedaldo, Leonardo di Ser Ambrogio de’
Maestrelli,[203] Taldo di Vittore, and Achille di Pietro di Paolo del
Crogio.[204]


33. 1483. _Guidoccio di Giovanni Cozzarelli._

This artist must not be confused with the more famous Giacomo di
Bartolommeo di Marco Cozzarelli, who was a sculptor and worker in
metal, nor do we know, whether or no, he was related in any way to
the engineer Giovanni Cozzarelli, a notice of whose work on a bridge
at Macereto, we find under date 3rd of November, 1487.[205] This man
was a painter of considerable ability, whose pictures may be studied
in the Picture Gallery, and who executed some of the miniatures in
the Duomo Antiphonaries. We read that in 1447, he was employed with
Sano di Pietro, to decorate the Chapel (now destroyed) of the Madonna
delle Grazie in the Cathedral; and that in 1481, he was employed on the
decoration of the interior of the Cupola. Professor Luigi Mussini[206]
suggests that the Tavoletta di Biccherna (No. 34 of those preserved in
the Archivio di Stato), representing _The Presentation of the Virgin
in the Temple_, is by him.


34. 1484. _Bernardino d’Antonio._


35. 1484. _Cristofano di Pietro Paolo del Quarantotto._

Of these men nothing is known but the reference to them here.


36. 1505–6. _Bernardino di Benedetto or Betto_ (_Il Pinturicchio_).

Of this painter, and his work, so much has been written elsewhere, that
I shall only attempt the briefest sketch of his life here.

He was a native of Perugia, was the son of a certain Betto or
Benedetto, and was born in 1454. He had six children by his wife
Grania: Adriana, who married Giuseppe, son of Giovanni of Perugia, and
died in 1518: Clelia or Egidia, who married Girolamo, son of Paolo
of Perugia, called _Paffa_, a soldier of the guard of Siena; Giulio
Cesare (b. 1506); Camillo (b. 1509); Faustina Girolama (b. 1510); and
Faustina, who married Filippo, son of Paolo of Perugia, or of Deruta.
His frescoes in the Libreria of the Duomo, and the chapel of S.
Giovanni, are among the most celebrated of Italian works of art. Vasari
relates many more or less fictitious stories about his life and doings,
which, though amusing to read, are not borne out by fact. He died in
1513, and was buried in the Church of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasia, the
Chapel of the _Contrada of the Porcupine_ (_Istrice_).


37. 1505–6. _Paolo Mannucci._

Of this artist, nothing is known, but the notice already quoted, which
states that he was employed to execute Pinturicchio’s design of the
_Allegory of Fortune_. (No. 36.)

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [LILY DESIGNED BY ANTONIO FEDERIGHI (?)
                         A. DESIGNED BY DOMENICO BECCAFUMI

XXIV. DRAWINGS OF DETAILS]


38. 1518. _Domenico di Jacopo di Pace Beccafumi, called Mecarino_ (_or
Mecherino_).

This very celebrated painter and sculptor was the son of a certain
Giacomo (Jacopo) di Pace,[207] a labourer on the Podere of Cortine,
near the Castle of Montaperto, and was born in 1486. This Podere
was the property of the Sienese noble, Lorenzo Beccafumi, who, more
than once held high offices in his native town. The boy early showed
remarkable artistic promise, and used to amuse himself modelling
animals, flowers, and leaves in clay. Lorenzo Beccafumi, one day seeing
these efforts, and being struck by their promise, took him into his
house, as a sort of servitor, but also gave him the opportunity of
studying art. Near the house of the Beccafumi family, was then living
an artist, named _Mecarino_, of poor ability and circumstances, but
possessing a fine collection of drawings by good masters. These the
young Domenico studied carefully, and on the death of Mecarino, by
that artist’s special wish, assumed his name. In later years, he also
added, by permission of his first patron, the name of _Beccafumi_.
He was married twice. By his first wife, Andreoccia, of whose family
and origin nothing is known, he had a son, Adriano, who died poor and
childless in 1588. By his second wife, Caterina, sister of Pietro
Cataneo, the Sienese architect and mathematician, he had two daughters:
Ersilia (b. 1535), and Polifila (b. 1573), who became afterwards a
Gesuate nun, under the name of Suor Cecilia. His work was very much
sought after, and is to be found in all directions, in churches and
palaces alike, throughout Siena. (Ill. XXV.) At one time, he came
very much under the influence of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (called _Il
Sodoma_), in whose company he worked, from 1518 to 1532, at the
decoration of the Oratorio di S. Bernardino,[208] but subsequently,
became his rival and bitter enemy. One of his earliest works in
Siena was, in 1513, the decoration in fresco of the façade of the
Palazzo de’ Borghesi in the Piazza di Postierla, opposite the house
of Agostino Bardi, soon afterwards adorned in similar materials by
Sodoma.[209] In February, 1515, he purchased a house, numbered 408,
in the Via dei Maestri (now Via Tito Sarocchi), for which he paid 270
florins, and, in 1545, another house next door for 245 florins.[210]
We find him continually in request to value works of art of all kinds:
panel-pictures, frescoes, bronze crucifixes, marble tombs, etc.,
and Guilds were always employing him to paint bier-heads and banners
for them. Among the latter, we are told that he was engaged by the
Compagnia di S. Sebastiano in Camollia, to complete Sodoma’s celebrated
banner of S. Sebastian (now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence).[211]
In 1529, and again in 1535, he received commissions to decorate the
Sala del Concistoro in the Palazzo Pubblico; and on the occasion of the
visit of Charles V. to Siena (23rd of April, 1536), he, in company with
Anton Maria di Paolo Lari (nicknamed _Il Tozzo_) and Lorenzo Donati,
designed and erected a triumphal arch and other decorations, including
a gigantic horse in papier-mâché, in honour of that Emperor.[212] He
was also famous as a worker in bronze,[213] and among the works done
by him in this metal, the most celebrated, now known, are six of the
bronze angels, holding lights, affixed to the columns in the Choir of
the Duomo. For this work he received 11,600 lire from the Opera del
Duomo. According to a contemporary Register of persons buried in the
Duomo, Beccafumi died on the 18th May, 1550, and was buried there:
other authorities state that his death occurred in the following
year.[214] Giorgio di Gio. Simone was one of his pupils, and Giovanni
Battista di Girolamo Sozzini (of whom presently) was another.

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [DESIGNED BY DOMENICO BECCAFUMI

XXV. THE STORY OF MOSES AND THE TABLES OF THE LAW (No. 52)]


39. 1518. _Bernardino di Jacomo._

Of this sculptor nothing much is known. In company with a painter
named Francesco di Bartolommeo, in 1555, he valued a picture painted
by Lorenzo di Cristofano (_il Rustico_) and his pupils, for the
Confraternità di S. Michele; and he was in 1559–60, commissioned to
make three coats of arms in tufa, to decorate the façade of the Palazzo
Pubblico.


40. 1518. _Giovannantonio Marinelli, called il Mugnaino._

Of this sculptor we find no trace; but we read of another workman
in the same craft, by name Anton Maria, who was also nicknamed _il
Mugnaino_. This artist in 1583, with another sculptor, Domenico Capo,
was employed to make marble ornaments for an altar in the Duomo.[215]


41. 1518. _Giacomo di Pietro Gallo._


42. 1518. _Bartolommeo di Pietro Gallo._

Of these two brother masons nothing is known. They may have been
related to the cannon-founder, Mosè Gallo, whom we find referred to in
1502, as making guns for the Commune of Siena;[216] or they may have
been related to the family from which came Sodoma’s wife, Beatrice,
daughter of Luca di Gallo.


43. 1518. _Niccolo Filippi._


44. 1518. _Cristofano di Carbone._


45. 1544. _Pellegrino di Pietro._

The only information to be found, concerning this sculptor, is that he
was employed to make a tomb for the Marsili family, which was valued by
Francesco Tolomei and Domenico Beccafumi.[217]


46. 1562. _Giovanni Battista di Girolamo Sozzini._

This painter and sculptor was born in Siena in 1525, and studied the
arts of drawing and painting under Bartolommeo Neroni (_Il Riccio_).
He was also a pupil of Beccafumi’s, and in addition learned to make
portrait-effigies in stucco and wax under Pastorino Pastorini, in which
art he excelled.[218] He was brother to the celebrated Alessandro
Sozzini, Diarist of the last Siege of Siena, and died in 1582. His
work, as we have said above, was much admired in its day.


47. 1562. _Niccolo di Girolamo Gori_,

With his brother Antonio was, in 1552, party to a receipt in full,
given by the Opera del Duomo to Pastorino Pastorini, the painter and
worker in glass, for work done there.[219]


48. 1562. _Domenico di Pier Giovanni._

Of this man also no record is to be found, but perhaps he was the son
of the mason, Pier Giovanni, mentioned in a document dated 1537, who
opened up an arch for a niche in connection with Sodoma’s work on the
Cappella di Piazza.[220]

From this time, for over 200 years, the Pavement work stood still,
until:


49. 1780. _Carlo Amidei_, a craftsman of a very mediocre type.


50. 1780. _Matteo Pini_, who was probably only a mason.

Then another century passed away, until our own day.


51. 1875. _Professor Alessandro Franchi._


52. 1875. _Professor Leopoldo Maccari._


53. 1875. _Antonio Radicchi._


54. 1875. _Giuseppe Radicchi._

These names belong to the History of Modern Italian Art, so that I need
do no more than mention them in passing, as they hardly come into the
scope of this work.




CHAPTER IV

OTHER PAVEMENT WORK


As far as I have been able to ascertain, there are but three other
examples of Pavement work, similar to that employed in the Siena Duomo.
Mosaic pavements, of course, abound all over Italy, with more or less
elaborate designs, fanciful, historical, or symbolical;[221] but none
of them really resembles this kind of work, which seems to have been
peculiar to the artistic mind of the Sienese. The only other works,
that I can find, that can, in any degree, be allied to it are:

  1. The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca.

  2. The Pavement of the Piccolomini Chapel at S. Francesco, in Siena.

  3. The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico, in
       the same town.

Let us take them in order of date.


1. _The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca._

This floor is covered with geometrical patterns in inlay, and was
executed during the Rectorship of Jacopo di Chivizzano (1470–1484).
We know, from several references in the Archives of the “Opera” of
that Cathedral, that it had been commenced before 1475,[222] and
that, among others, Matteo Civitali, the great Lucchese sculptor, was
employed upon some of the designs on it. It principally consists of
merely ornamental friezes and geometrical designs. In the centre of
the Nave, however, there is one picture, to which I would draw special
attention. It represents the _Judgment of Solomon_, and is the work
of one Antonio di Ghino of Siena. It was commissioned, we read,[223]
by a certain Bartolommeo Guarguaglia, and finished in 1477.[224]
The work is of the same kind as that at Siena, but is coarser and
heavier in type. In design it most resembles the work of Domenico di
Bartolo, but there are suggestions in some of the female figures of the
influence,--Botticellesque perhaps,--that produced Matteo di Giovanni’s
_Judith_ and her maid, in the _Relief of Bethulia_. Solomon sits on a
throne, under a sort of pillared loggia, surrounded by courtiers and
attendants, while before him stand the claimants and their infants.
The colouring of the picture, the somewhat brutal force of the
composition, and the plentiful use of vari-coloured marbles, recall
Matteo di Giovanni’s _Massacre of the Innocents_, although that work
was not executed until several years later. Being in the centre of the
nave, and not covered, it has been much injured by time and hard usage.
Of its maker, Antonio di Ghino, we know but little. From a note given
by Milanesi,[225] we gather that, though here called “_da Siena_,” he
really came of Lucchese stock, and was the son of one Ghino di Paolo of
Lucca, a sculptor who lived long in Siena, and died in 1482. Antonio
apparently had a son, who signed the Painters’ Brief in 1533.


2. _The Pavement of the Cappella Piccolominea in S. Francesco._

This chapel, which was originally dedicated to S. Andrew, has recently
been entirely rejuvenated, at the expense of the late Signora Anna
Camaiori Saracini, and re-dedicated to Sta. Anna. There is not,
therefore, at first sight much trace of the original work left. We know
that, in 1504,[226] Lorenzo di Mariano (_Il Marrina_) was employed
by Giacomo Piccolomini, brother of Pope Pius III., to adorn their
family chapel in this church; and, that he not only made an altar, the
decorations around the windows, and the entrance arch to the chapel,
but also laid down four Cardinal Virtues: _Justice_, _Prudence_,
_Fortitude_, and _Temperance_, on the floor.[227] Of all this work,
the various conflagrations, that have destroyed the great church of S.
Francesco, have left only the arch, the coats of arms, the windows, a
small portion of the altar, and the pavement. Restoration, of a too
complete kind, has even further concealed the original nature of what
remained; and one’s first impression on looking at this pavement is
that it is brand-new, so well has Professor Leopoldo Maccari done his
work.[228] The figures, however, on close inspection, show high merit.
They are finely conceived, on the lines of the Sibyls in the Duomo, and
are imposing pieces of work. Lorenzo di Mariano (_Il Marrina_) was one
of the finest sculptors of his time. He was born on the 11th of August,
1476, and was the son of Mariano di Domenico Nanni, a goldsmith. In
1506, he became Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo,[229] where he
had been employed since 1490, under the mastership of Giovanni di
Maestro Stefano. On the 28th of January, in the following year, he
married Elisabetta, daughter of Ser Jacopo Bertini, by whom he had four
sons: by name, Girolamo, Gio.-Battista, Agostino, and Giacomo, who
were goldsmiths; and one daughter, Bartolommea, who married Lattanzio
di Gio. Lotti. He worked a great deal for the various members of the
Piccolomini family; the finest extant piece commissioned by them
remaining, being the doorway of the Libreria in the Duomo. A tabernacle
in the chapel of the Convent of S. Girolamo, and, above all, the
exquisite altar in the church of the Fontegiusta by him, testify that
the admiration, in which he was held, in his day, was not misplaced.


3. _The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico._

Of this work we have no reliable record; but it is clearly of late
date, perhaps made in the sixteenth century, and most probably, as
a sepulchral memorial. We learn from Abate Faluschi,[230] that this
chapel belonged to the Benzi family, and was their burial-place. Hither
was brought the body of the famous Marco, son of Giovanni Benzi and
Nicola Serfucci, who was physician to Niccolo, Marchese d’Este, and
died in Ferrara in 1429. The corpse was buried by his uncle Ugo, son
of Andrea Benzi and Minoccia Pagni, in 1448; and the chapel was built
over the grave by Niccolo Buonsignore Benzi in 1488. The following
inscription, now effaced:--

    HIC LAPIS EGREGII MARCI TEGIT OSSA CELEBRIS.
      BENZIUS IS LOGICUS, IS MEDICUS-QUE FUIT.
    ALTER ERAT SOCRATES MEDICINA MAXIMUS ARTIS.
      HIC AVICENNA FUIT, ISQUE GALENUS ERAT.
    QUOS IS NON POTUIT CURASSE ... EGROS
      HERBIS NE CREDAS ID VALUISSE DEOS.

was placed to the memory of Marco Benzi. We find too, that another
physician, Sozzini Benzi, belonging to the same family, was also
buried here. The decoration of this chapel, by Sodoma, did not take
place until 1526; and it is not improbable, that the floor was
subsequent to that date. So that it may have been the work of the
last of the Pavement Masters, Giovanni Battista Sozzini, spoken of
above. The Sozzinis were a distinguished family, and if the name tells
us anything, may have been related to this very Sozzini Benzi. The
figure of Æsculapius, seated among various wild beasts, would then
have appropriate reference to the merits of these two physicians.
It is strange to find such a classical piece of composition in a
chapel dedicated to Sta. Caterina di Siena, a saint so pre-eminently
ecclesiastical; but it is quite in accordance with the spirit of the
time. Æsculapius, a handsome nude youth, resembling Orpheus or Bacchus,
is seated on a rock in a grove of oaks, laurels, and fruit-trees. In
his right hand he holds a mirror in which is reflected his own face.
To his right, are an unicorn and a wolf: to his left, a leopard and a
lion. Perched on the trees, in various directions, are sundry birds:
owls, vultures, eagles, etc. One vulture, on the right of the principal
figure, is screaming at a monkey, who is eating fruit. On the other
side, another bird is clawing at an over-grown squirrel. Around the
composition is a frieze representing water, on which are swimming swans
and ducks.[231] The composition is good, but the perspective is odd,
and the use of many coloured marbles profuse, and not altogether happy.




CHAPTER V

MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP OF THE PAVEMENT


Most of the writers on the Pavement, speak of its workmanship, as being
of four kinds. This would give the idea of four distinct methods,
abruptly divided, which is most certainly not the case. The line of
division is so indistinct, and the various styles so blended one into
the other, that I can only describe it as an _evolution_, during which
four special changes took place.

The earliest and simplest method consisted in using large pieces of
white marble, shaped and put together (“_commesso_”) to form a sort
of silhouette: the perspectives, folds of robes, and other details
being defined by lines made, first, with a graving tool, and then
accentuated by rows of holes, (smaller or larger, according to the
importance of the particular line in the general composition), pierced
with a trepanning drill. This is said to be _a trapano_, and is in fact
the real _graffito_ work. These punctures were frequently very deep,
and when filled up with a stucco, composed of pitch (_pecie navale_),
resin (_ragia_), and pounded potter’s clay (_bolio macinato_),
produced a surface hard, and nearly as durable, as the solid marble
itself. In order further to heighten the effect, the pieces of white
marble, making up the entire scene or figure, were inlaid against a
piece of dark marble: generally black for the atmosphere, and red
for the ground, upon which the figures were supposed to stand. In
the ornamental friezes, framing these scenes and figures, marble of
other colours very early began to be used. Then presently, these
coloured marbles found their way into the picture itself; especially
in the larger scenes, where yellow, for instance, was found useful to
accentuate jewellery or ornaments. Take as an example, _The Massacre
of the Innocents_ (Matteo di Giovanni), in which it is very largely
employed. To this end also, black marble is twice introduced with
startling effect: for _The Libyan Sibyl_ (Guidoccio Cozzarelli), and
for the negro boy in _The Story of Jephthah_ (Bastiano di Francesco).
It is undoubtedly true, that the finest effects are obtained, where
there is least variety in colour, and where the artist has depended
most entirely on simple line, and contrasts of white marble against
black. A fine specimen of this treatment is _The Story of Absalom_
(Pietro del Minella). Here the figures, trees, etc., stand out with
almost weird abruptness, as if they had been cut out of white paper.
It must be borne in mind, however, (in spite of statements made to the
contrary, and the fact that such methods were employed elsewhere later
on),[232] that the marbles used on the Pavement were always _natural_,
and _not artificially coloured_. The Duomo authorities appear to have
had quarries, either of their own, or under contract to supply them
regularly. We read of _nostro marmiera_[233] at Gallena, in the Val
d’Elsa; of black marble, brought from _chasciano de le donne_ (San
Casciano, near Radicofani);[234] and of red from Gerfalco in the Val di
Cecina, near Massa Marittima.[235]

Pinturicchio, following out his ardent taste for brilliant and bizarre
effect, made plentiful use of these colour varieties; but what probably
makes the work of Beccafumi so striking, as compared with that of
his predecessors, is, that in his later work he discards these vivid
contrasts, confines himself almost entirely to low tones of colour,
which shade from one into the other; and produces his effects by a
species of _chiaroscuro_. Instead of outlining each piece, or figure,
in a single colour, he frequently uses on the same subject, white
and two or three different shades of pale-coloured grey marble. On a
face, or a nude figure, this gives the effect of shadows of varying
intensity, but, at times, runs perilously near the ludicrous, by making
some of the persons parti-coloured. In the Elijah series,--his earliest
work,--probably with an idea of improving on his predecessors, he had
introduced small pieces of vivid green and red marble, to indicate
jewelled borders to the robes of Ahab, and other important personages.
This treatment, adopted again by Professor Franchi, when completing
that Story, he soon wholly discarded, still retaining, however, the
old _graffito_ method for his outlines. But this also he abandoned
more and more as he proceeded. Had he not been so fine a draughtsman
his experiments in this direction would have been dangerous. Even now,
it is doubtful, whether the results are so practically durable, or so
artistically satisfactory, on the floor, as the older work. It would
seem, as if they, in a sense, the apotheosis of this species of work,
should be set up perpendicularly, so that the full effect of their
superb draughtsmanship could be fairly perceived and appreciated.

Professor Franchi must have found himself in a great dilemma, when he
undertook to complete this work. He could hardly revert to the manner
of the pre-Beccafumi schools, and it would have been too dangerous to
imitate closely Beccafumi himself. Fortunately, he had special gifts,
and had the courage to follow his own instinct. The result has been,
works, which, if in vivid contrast to all that had gone before, and
essentially modern in feeling, are works of art of unquestionable
brilliance. They resemble cartoons in marble, and are drawn with
extraordinarily realistic force. All the three larger designs are
instinct with life, and irresistibly suggestive of energetic movement.
We may especially notice for this _Elijah being caught up to Heaven_.
(Ill. XXVI.)

[Illustration:

  LOMBARDI PHOTO.]      [BY PROF. ALESSANDRO FRANCHI

  (FROM A DRAWING)

XXVI. ELIJAH CAUGHT UP TO HEAVEN (No. 38)]

In conclusion, let me say, that whatever may be the opinion of critics
of undoubted ability: first, as to the suitability of a Pavement, such
as this, at all;[236] and next, as to the varying merits of this or
that portion of it, over any other: there can be no doubt, as to its
paramount and unique interest, historically, as well as artistically.
It is in itself a small epitome of Sienese Art History: a continuous
chain, whose links bind together, in spite of long intervals, more than
five centuries of Sienese art-workers; and a never-ending joy to the
thoughtful and the intelligent.




FOOTNOTES


[1] These numbers refer to the position of these subjects on the plan
(p. 15).

[2] _Documenti per la Storia dell’ Arte Senese_, collected and
illustrated by Dott. Gaetano Milanesi (Porri, Siena, 1854).
Supplemented by _Nuovi Documenti per la Storia del Arte Senese_, by
S. S. Borghesi and L. Banchi. (Torrini, Siena, 1898).

[3] Vasari also states that Duccio invented this species of work; but
Milanesi, in his Notes to Vasari’s “Life of Duccio” (vol. i. p. 654),
says, “It is certain, also, that these works of ‘_putting together_’
(_commesso_), were in use _before_ the time of Duccio. We have an
ancient example in the Atrium of the Duomo at Lucca, where, among
certain ‘little figures,’ (_formelle_), is a decoration in black,
red and white marble, with figures of men and animals, in some parts
_engraved_ (_graffiti_). This work of ‘_commesso_,’ and mosaic in
marble, was made in 1233, as is shown by an inscription near the left
side of the great door, which states:

  “HOC OPUS CEPIT FIERI A BELENATO
       ET ALDIBRANDO OPERAIIS
          A.D. MCCXXXIII.”

[4] Mil. Doc., vol. i. p. 176–178. An earlier notice as to the floor
itself, dated 1362, exists it is true, and runs as follows: “a lo
schalzetta matonaio--per matoni che sebero per amatonare lo spazzo di
duomo intorno al altare di duomo L. 11 sol. 6.” (Archivio dell’ Opera
del Duomo. Entrata e Uscita ad annum). But this clearly only refers to
the laying down of an ordinary floor; perhaps a platform for the high
altar. Cf. Padre Prof. Everardo Micheli. _Il Pavimento del Duomo_, etc.
Note f.

[5] Archivio detto. Entrata e Uscita ad annos.

[6] _Frammenti di Storia Senese_ presso Emilio Piccolomini.

[7] Archivio detto. 1374, Maggio, Libro d’Entrata ed Uscita a 70.

See also Borghesi MSS.

[8] Archivio detto. Bastardello, No. 2, del 1405, a. 65.

[9] Apparently the working foreman or clerk of the works. The terms
used to describe the different offices are both confusing and
misleading, but it is evident from the documents that the _Rettore_ or
_Operaio_ as he is indifferently called, was a person of much greater
social importance than the _Capo-maestro_, and not really a workman at
all. He was the official Director of the Cathedral works, the Steward
in fact: the Capo-maestro being his head workman.

[10] These numbers refer to the plan on p. 15.

[11] See Siena e il suo Territorio, p. 217, and passim. Also Mil. Doc.,
vol. i. p. 238; and _Sulla Storia Artistica Senese_, p. 84.

[12] For references on this head from the Archives of the Opera del
Duomo, see Mil. Doc., vol. ii. pp. 12, 238, 239.

[13] Ferdinando Rubini, _Dei Restauri eseguiti nella chiesa
Metropolitana in Siena_. (Bargellini, 1869–1879.)

[14] 1448. Pavimentum quoque marmoreum _ante portas_ Templi Senensis
_trinis scalis ascensis_, e marmore sterni fecit. _Abel_ quoque
_sacrificium_, nec non _Publicanum_ et _Phariseum_ designari _duo_
insuper _vascula_, _melle_ uno _felle_ altero plenis, e _regione
portarum extremarum_ notabili significazione depromi, quoniam a summo
et maximo Deo in hujus mundi ingressu ac limine tum _mala_ tum _bona_
omnes sunt accepturi.--Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. iv., ad ann.

[15] Alfonso Landi. _Descrizione del Pavimento_, quoted in full by
Padre Guglielmo delle Valle. _Lettere Senese_, vol. iii., pp. 124–157.

[16] The author of _Siena e il suo Territorio_, p. 211, states that
these figures were executed originally in 1513, and suggests that they
may have been designed by Giacomo Cozzarelli; but I have hitherto found
no authority to support that statement, and they are now too much
restored to assist one’s judgment by comparison with other work of that
artist. Moreover, as Giacomo Cozzarelli at that date would have been
very old, since we read of work done by him as far back as 1447, this
is very improbable.

[17] Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo. Libro E. IV. Memorie, a. 21.
Archivio detto. Libro delle due Rose dal 1466 al 1476, a. 64.

[18] Archivio detto. Libro E. IV. Memorie, a. 24.

[19] It is generally supposed that this ceremony was performed by
Pope Alexander III. (Bandinelli), but the tradition is unsupported
by documentary evidence hitherto obtainable. This same Pope laid the
foundation stone of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris in 1163. See
_Paris als Kunststätte_, Georges Riat. (Seemann. Leipzig and Berlin,
1901.)

[20] Archivio detto. Libro Debit e Credit dal 1441 al 1497, a. 297 (on
the back).

[21] _La Guida Artistica_, p. 56. Milanesi, _Sulla Storia dell’ Arte
Toscana_, _Scritti Varii_, p. 52.

[22] Archivio detto. Libro Verde dal 1441 al 1457, a. 89. Libro E. IV.
Memorie, a. 24. Libro E. 5. Debit. a. 110 (on the back).

[23] Ποιμάνδρης = Ποιμὴν ἀνδρῶν = “_The Shepherd of men. De Potestate
et Sapientia Divina._” The Editio Princeps of this work appeared
in Paris in 1554. It was edited by Parthey, in 1854, and had been
translated into German, by Tiedemann, in 1781. The connection of the
name of Hermes with alchemy will explain what is meant by _hermetic
sealing_, and will account for the use of the phrase, _hermetic
Medicine_, by Paracelsus; as also for the so-called _hermetic
Freemasonry_, of the middle ages.

[24] _Siena e il suo Territorio_, p. 221.

[25] This design was restored by Sig. L. Maccari, in 1866 (F. Rubini,
_Dei Restauri_, etc.), at a cost of 3,403 lire 30 c.

[26] For which 8,900 lire 48 c. were paid.

[27] 1504 (St. Sen.), 13 Marzo. A maestro Bernardino Pinturicchio
dipentore per sua fadiga d’avere fatto uno cartone di disengno per la
Storia de la Fortuna, la quale al presente si fa in Duomo questo di
13 Marzo--lire dodici sol.--contanti per detto messer Alberto nostro.
Io ho fatto boni a messer Alberto per una soma di grano de’ al detto
maestro Bernardino. Archivio detto. Libro d’Entrata e Uscita. 1504 a 47.

[28] 1506. In detto anno si faceva la storia della fortuna. Forse fù
lavorata da Paolo Mannucci Archivio detto. Libro Rosso d’un Leone a
10? Milanesi MS. notes p. 32 (on the back). Compare also Landi, who in
his _Descrizione del Pavimento_, although by mistake he applies his
reference to the _Wheel of Fortune_, tells us that the Rectorship was
in commission at this time. He states further that Paolo Mannucci was,
on the 16th of April, 1506, paid 24 scudi for the execution of this
work.

[29] 1372. Novembris decima die Edis sacre maioris pavimentum marmoreum
quod medium est, stratum fuit, et fortune rota cum hominibus posita
fuit. Tizio, _Hist. Sen._ ad annum.

[30] Cf. Borghesi and Faluschi MSS. Lists of Operaii.

[31] _La Guida Artistica_, p. 97, Note.

[32] 1482. “Quinque interea Sibille, Alberti Aringhieri Editui opera,
Pavimento Edis majoris in _campanilis deambulario_ constrate sunt.”
Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. vi., 66.

1483. “Quinque Sibille ad levam majoris Edis _versus Cappellam
Cardinalis Francisci_ (Piccolomini), Alberto Aringherio Edituo, posite
sunt.” Vol. vi., 87.

[33]

    Dies Irae! Dies illa!
    Solvit Saeclum in favillâ.
    Teste David cum Sibillâ.

[34] Tower of the Duomo, Florence.

[35] Sala del Cambio, Perugia.

[36] Sta. Maria del Popolo, Rome.

[37] Sta. Maria della Pace, Rome.

[38] The Sixtine Chapel, Rome.

[39] It may interest English readers to be reminded that, at the famous
fête given at Kenilworth Castle by the Earl of Leicester in the summer
of 1575, the first group of fantastic personages that approached to
greet the Virgin Queen on her arrival were robed in the likeness of ten
Sibyls.

See _Queen Elizabeth_, by Mandell Creighton, late Bishop of London, p.
156. (Longmans, London, 1899.)

[40] 1482. Luglio 19. Giuliano di Biagio, e Vito di Marco, scarpellini,
deno avere a di 19 di Luglio 1482 lire cinqueciento settantanove e
soldi x: sonno per un quadro di marmo o pavimento anno fatto in Duomo
rincontro all’altare di S. Chalisto, a quadrucci bianchi e neri, e
fregi rossi, neri e bianchi e la Sibilla Delficha in mezzo campeggiata
di nero. Archivio detto. Libro Giallo delle tre Rose a 342 e 345.

[41] F. Piper, _Mythologie der christlichen Kunst_, pp. 473 and 497
(note).

[42] _La Guida Artistica_, p. 24.

[43] 1482. A Luigi di Ruggeri scarpellino e fameglio de’ nostri
Magnifici Signori, altrimenti chiamato l’Armellino, lire ciento quatro:
e sono per cavatura di libre ciento trentana (_sic_) nove di marmo
rosso à chavate a Gierfalco a sol: xv braccio, cioè sonno braccie
quadre, di più tavole, e fregi per li spazi di Duomo e per le Sibille.
Archivio detto. Libro d’un Leone a 34 (on the back).

[44] F. Piper, _Mythologie der christlichen Kunst_, p. 473. But the
identification of the Sibyls entails immense confusion.

[45] 1482, Luglio 19. Maestro Giovanni di maestro Stefano e compagni
scharpellini, deno avere lire 697. 9 2., sonno per uno quadro e
pavimento an fatto in Duomo a rinpetto de la Madona anticha a marmi
bianchi, rossi e neri con la Sibilla in mezzo a tutte loro spese.
Archivio detto. Libro Giallo delle tre Rose, a 342 e 345.

[46] 1482, Luglio 19. Maestro Antonio di Federighi, maestro di pietra,
de’ avere lire 649.17, sonno per braccia ciento trentasse 13/16 d’uno
quadro, o pavimento rincontro all’ altare di Santo Antonio a marmi
bianchi, rossi e neri. Archivio detto. Libro detto, a 342 e 345.

[47] F. Piper, _Mythologie der christlichen Kunst_, p. 473.

[48] See above.

[49] 1481, Settembre 20. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Rogiti di Ser
Giovanni di Daniello.

[50] 1483, 8 Ottobre. Mo. Urbano di Pietro scultore--diè avere a
di viij dottobre 1483, L. 605. 12 per br. 127 e mezzo di spazo in
uno quadro a lavorato in duomo con una Sibilla rinpetto aluscio del
chanpanile. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro Giallo di
tre Rose a 380.

[51] In Siena one may notice two other pictures of her: one in the
Sacristy of the Church of Sta. Maria sotto le Volte del Ospedale; and
the other the celebrated painting by Baldassare Peruzzi, in the Church
of the Fonte-giusta.

[52] 1483. Archivio detto. Libro Rosso d’un Leone ad annum a. 38.

[53] Giuliano di Biagio, scarpellino, ha lire quarantuna, soldi
quindici per vettura di libre 9,310 di marmi rechati da Gierfalco per
li pavimenti de le Sibille verso l’altare dei Calzolari. Archivio
detto. Libro detto ad annum a. 35.

[54] 1483, Maggio 23. Matteo di Giovanni, dipentore a di 23 di Maggio
lire 4.--sonno per disegno fè d’una Sibilla dinanzi all’ altare de’
Chalzolari. Archivio detto. Entrata e Uscita ad annum a. 45. Cf. also
Archivio detto. Libro Rosso d’un Leone. Debit e Credit a. 35–38.

[55] It is worth noting, though, that all the three Sibyls mentioned
by Heraclides Ponticus (see above) are, according to this supposition,
variations of the same personage.

[56] Sismondi, _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes du Moyen Age_, vol.
xi., chap. 88.

[57] Archivio detto. Libro detto a 38.

[58] The restoration of it cost 2,411 lire 47 c.

[59] 1483. Guidoccio (Cozzarelli) disegna la Sibilla avanti l’altare
dei SS. quattro Coronati. Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. vi. Cf. also
Archivio detto. Libro detto. Debit. e Credit. a 35–38.

[60] Abate Faluschi states as much in his MS. notes on the Duomo
Pavement (p. 31 on the back), but so far I have been unable to find any
definite authority on the point.

[61] 1484. Hoc Anno Alberti Aringhieri cura quoniam Edituus erat ...
historiam _Herodis cum Socero Areta dimicantis_ ... constrata est et
decenti opificio pavimento inserta. Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. vi., p.
137.

1485. Ottobre 3. Maestro Benvenuto di Maestro Giovanni dipintore die
avere per insino a’iii d’Ottobre 1485, lire sesantotto--sonno per
disegniatura del pavimento s’è fatto della storia di rincontro alla
chappella di Santa Chaterina (now S. Giovanni). Archivio detto. Libro
detto a 110.

[62] 1484. 12 Gennaio ... E più L. sedici sono per fare disegni
spolvari e dipegnarli overo disegnarli a fregi della storia attorno si
fa rincontra al altare di Santa Catherina. Archivio detto. Libro d’un
Lione a 107 (on the back).

1483–4. 13 Gennaio. M. di Bastiano di Francesco _dipintore_ et
_scharpellino_ a di xiii di Gennaio L 18, sonno per parte di sua fatiga
a _disegniare_ el _fregio_ de la storia di s. _Chaterina_ (now the
Chapel of S. Giovanni) in Duomo.

Nel 3 Aprile gli si danno quaranta sol: per resto di L. 18 per 60
lettere di marmo nela Storia fatta in Duomo. Archivio detto. Libro
detto a 87.

Apparently, judging from the date, the frieze and these letters may
have preceded the execution of Benvenuto di Giovanni’s design. The
letters referred to probably were those inscriptions that we still see,
recording the work done under the directorship of Aringhieri, and the
dates at which it was executed.

[63] 1484–5 12 Gennaio. _Bernardino d’Antonio e Cristofano di Pietro
Paolo_ del _Quarantotto_ lavorano nel _fregio_ del _Leone_ e nella
_storia_ quando fu _cacciato Erode_. Archivio detto. Libro detto. a 111.

[64] 1484. 3 Aprile. _Vito_ di _Marcho scharpellino_ diè avere a di
iii Aprile L. cientoventi sol. sette den. otto sono per B^{a..} (?)
tre e uno terzo di _fregio_ a lavorato a uno _lione_ nel _fregio_ de
la storia del pavimento rimpetto alaltare overo chappella dinanzi a la
_Chappella_ nuovamente si lavora per _lo braccio di_ (_sic_) _Giovanni_
in Duomo. Archivio detto. Libro detto. Debit e Credit a 74.

[65] 1485. 25 Aprile. Bartolomeo di Domenico scarpellino diè
avere a di xxv Aprile L. 77, soldi 18, den. 6. sonno per B^{a..}
(?) otto quadri di _fregio_ del _Lione_ e per B^{a..} (?) sete e
cinque otavi di _fregio_ ... intorno a _la storia derode ruando fu
chacciato_.--Archivio detto. Libro detto. a 10.

[66] 1485. Giusto Gio. e Michele di Ludovicho nostri mugnari dieno
avere--Eprima per vettura di libri sette millia ottociento settanta di
marmi neri rechati da chasciano de le donne per la storia dinanzi ala
chapella si fa per san giovanni e raconciare la storia del onperadore L
15, 14. Archivio detto. Libro Nero dal 1461–1533 a 182.

[67] All these fragments may still be seen there.

[68] Several discoveries of this kind were made by the restorers of
the floor; showing that work, by even such great artists as Giovanni
Pisano, was destroyed, and the marble used again in this way.

[69] In the churches of S. Agostino and of Sta. Maria del Concezione
dei Servi. The other two are (_a_) in the Pinacoteca at Naples (No.
31), and (_b_) in the Public Gallery at Aix-en-Provence (No. 138). (See
B. Berenson, _Central Italian Painters_.)

[70] Sismondi, _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes du Moyen Age_, vol.
iv., chap. 88.

[71] Mr. Berenson with, I think, great reason, suggests the view that
1471 should be 1491. (_Central Italian Painters_, Index.)

[72] The reader will find it of considerable interest to examine and
compare the scenic accessories of this design, with those of the
pictures mentioned above. It is curiously noticeable how many _putti_
are introduced into the decorations, as if in symbolical contrast with
the gruesome massacre of the helpless human infants beneath.

[73] Compare the girdle of the Samian Sibyl with the knee and shoulder
caps of the soldiers in this design.

[74] 1481. Historia Innocentium pavimento Edis Majoris Albertus
Aringherius Edituus sterni fecit hoc anno. Tizio, _Hist. Sen._ ad an.
1481. Vol. vi. p. 52.

[75] 1481. 4 Giugno. Francesco di Niccolaio e nanni di piero di
nanni--deno avere a dì iiij di Giugno lire trentaquattro sol otto
per B^a., quaranta tre di marmi bianchi bigi e gialli misurati di
piu sorte a b^a; quadro--el quale po per lo pavimento de la storia
_deglinnocenti_.

Domenico d’antonio di Lando sensale diè avere a di 8 _di Maggio_, L.
undici per una balla di pecie navale compramo da Lui--per impeciare la
storia _deglinnocenti_ si fa nuovamente in Duomo. Archivio detto. Libro
Giallo delle tre Rose, a 283 e 292.

[76] Faluschi MS. notes, a. 27.

[77] Borghesi and Faluschi, MSS. Lists of Operaii.

[78] 1473. Historia _Judith_ cum _Betulia_ ab Olopherne obsideretur in
pavimento Ecclesie majoris constrata est. Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol.
iv., ad an.

[79] 1473. _Urbano_ di _Pietro Giovanni_ di _Stefano_ e _Bartolomeo_ di
_Domenico Calabrone_ e _Francesco_ di _Bartolomeo_ scarpellini fecero
il _naspatoio_ di marmo intorno la _storia_ di _Giuditta_. Archivio
detto. Libro delle due Rose, a. 283.

[80] _La Guida Artistica_, p. 26.

[81] These two figures recall the work of Francesco di Giorgio. Compare
pictures by him in the Church of S. Domenico and the Siena Academy.

[82] 1424. Bartolommeus interea Johannis Cecchi Ex Usinina oriundus
majoris templi Edituus historiam marmoream ab Altare Ansani ad Victoris
aram in pavimento majoris Edis sterni fecit. In ejus medio _e regione
majoris Are cis scalas_ historia cernitur _David cum cantoribus circulo
conventis_: a _dextris_ vero _Sanson, precedente Mosè; a sinistris
Judas Macabeus_ cum _Josue quinque Reges ulciscente_: Tizio, _Hist.
Sen._, vol. iv., p. 200.

[83] _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 178, and vol. ii., p. 238.

[84] 1426. _Domenico di Francesco, cartaio de’ avere--per x quaderni di
fogli reagli, ebe Pauolo nostro per la disegniatura de la_ storia di
Giesuè. Archivio detto. Memoriale di Antonio di Savio, Camarlingo, dal
1426 al 1427, a. 39.

[85] _Sulla Storia dell’ Arte Toscana, Scritti Vari_, p. 84.

[86] P. 84.

[87] Archivio detto. Lib. Delib. ad annum. E. V. a 89 (on the back).

[88] Borghesi and Faluschi MSS. Lists of Operaii.

[89] 1444. Giugno. Miss: l’operaio et consiglieri
convocati--deliberarono che miss: Gio (Borghesi) operaio che lui possa
et facei fare uno pavimento in Duomo verso Santo Sano come allui parrà,
e piacerà. Archivio detto. Libro E. 5. Delib: a 76 (on the back).

[90] The following notice, perhaps, also refers to the same work:

1448. 6. Agosto. Similmente rimisero nel decto Miss: l’operaio che lui
possa fare nella chiesa cathedrale lo spazo che è alato al coro di
verso la Cappella di S. Bastiano di marmo con quegli intagli, compassi,
figure et ornamenti che li parrà per honore di Dio et exaltatione dela
decta chiesa. Archivio detto. Libro detto. a 98 (on the back).

[91] Archivio detto. Libro di Documenti Artistici, No. 46.

[92] 1423, di Dicembre. Bastiano di Chorso, maestro di pietra da
Firenze s’alochò a di XVII di Deciembre di fare braccia cinquanta, o
per quello he (che) a me parà, del fregio, il quale si die fare lo
spazo nel Duomo a piè le schalelle de l’atare magiore: et io gli deba
dare marmo e chola e ogni altra chosa; e lui lavoralo a ogni sua spesa.
E die avere del braccio steso, lire cinque, sol: quindici e dielo fare
presto sanza metare in mezo altro lavorio. Archivio detto. Memoriale di
messere Bartolommeo Cecchi, operaio del Duomo dal 1423 al 1427 a 2.

[93] Archivio detto. Libro E. IV. Memorie a 24, and Libro E. V. a 108 e
110 (on the back).

[94] 1447, 25 Marzo. Maestro _Bastiano_ di _Chorso_, et Chorso suo
figliuolo, dieno avere per insino questo dì 25 di Marzo: per brac:
trenta quattro di porporele, lire tre sol: 2: monta lire CXXVIII. Per
brac: trenzette di rochetti, per lire tre el braccio: monta lire CVIII.
Per brac: sette di fogliami, per lire quatro el bracio: monta lire
XXVIII. el quale tuto lavoro è posto e murato sotto la tribuna di verso
l’altare di Santa Chaterina. Archivio detto. Libro Verde dal 1441 al
1457 a 184 (on the back).

[95] (1406) 13 Marzo. Marchesse d’Adamo _e compangni maesstri di pietra
da Como.--E dieno avere a di XIII. di Marzo lire centoquaranta e quali
li debiamo dare per una rotta_ (ruota) _ánno fatto murare nello spazzo
contra a la sagrestia_. Archivio detto. Bastardello No. 2. del 1405 a
65. _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 177.

[96] _Il Pavimento del Duomo_ and _La Guida Artistica_, p. 26.

[97] _Discorso sulla Storica Artistica Senese_, p. 84.

[98] _La Guida Artistica_, p. 26.

[99] Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. iv., p. 200.

[100] P. 84.

[101] _Il Pavimento del Duomo_ and _La Guida Artistica_, p. 25.

[102] 1424. ... eodemque _succedente tempore_ a _destris_, citra
ferreas crates, _Imperatoris_ Imago in pavimento est locata, nec non
_demum Absalonis_ Historia _cesarie ad quercum pendentis_, cooperante
eodem Edituo et hisdem lapidum cesoribus.--Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol.
iv., p. 200.

[103] 1434, 30 Ottobre. Anco deliberarono, che conciosiacosache uno
maestro Domenicho dipentore habbi certa statua ossivero disegno, il
quale è simile alla faccia de la Cesarea maestà; et assai farebbe
honore averlo nella mani della decta opera; potendosi avere condecente
prezzo, che al dto Camarlengo sia lecito senza suo pregivditio, o danno
et co’ denari de la decta opera spendervi fino alla quantita di L. 16.
Archivio detto. Delib. E. 5, a. 4 (on the back).

Domenico di Bartolo dipentore de’ avere lire sedici, i quagli sono
per uno disegnio fecie per deliberazione di messer Bartolomeio de lo
Imperatore per una storia si fa in Duomo. Archivio detto. Memoriale del
Camarlingo Gio: Matteio di Salvi. ad annum a 13.

[104] 1434, 2 di Dicembre. Le spese dell’ Uopara Santa Maria di Duomo.
E die dare a dì ij di Dicembre lire tre, soldi dieci pagamo a Jacomo
d’Antonio manovale per vii huopare aito quando si muro lo spazzo de
l’Imperatore. Archivio detto. Libro detto, a 15 (on the back) No. 9.

[105] Borghesi and Faluschi MSS. Lists of Operaii. It appears from
these curious side-lights that the Operaio of the Duomo was bound
by the regulations of the period to be a celibate, or at least _to
have no children_; but we learn, from further study of them, that the
regulations varied considerably from time to time.

[106] Cf. Aldobrandini Chronicle.

[107] Delib. del Consistoro ad annum.

[108] Archivio detto. Libro Nero dal 1461–1533 a 182.

[109] Archivio detto. Libro Verde dal 1441–57.

[110] Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. iv., p. 200.

[111] 1481–2, 18 Gennaio. Bastiano di Francesco scharpellino die dare
a di xviii di giennaio L ciento--contanti in sua manoli quali se gli
prestano per parte de la storia e pavimento attolto affare in duomo di
marmo rincontro al crocifisso.--

e die dare a di vi Aprile 1482 L. ottanta per parte del quadro overo
pavimento come sopra. Archivio detto. Libro Giallo de’ tre Rose a 348.

1484–5. 12 Gennaio. Bastiano di Francesco _scharpellino_ et dipentore
diè avere a dì xii Giennaio lire duo-milatrecientosettantacinque sol.,
sonno per la storia overo pavimento del Re Jefte à fatta in Duomo
dinanzi all’altare del Crocifisso. Archivio detto. Libro Rosso d’un
Leone a 107 (on the back).

[112] 1484. Bastiano predetto (di franco) fa il festone, e i serafini
intorno al razo, o raggio della Tribuna. Archivio detto. Libro d’un
Lione a 140.

[113] From a MS. dated 1625 in the Archivio Chisiano in Rome. See
Faluschi MSS., p. 48.

“La porta sinistra è quale del Perdono, che stava serrata pel
Giubileo, poi solamente si apriva, e è scritto sopra.

  “Annus centenus Romae semper est jubilenus.
   Crimina laxantur cui poenitet ista donantur.
   Haec declaravit Bonifatius et roboravit.”

[114] From an old description of the Duomo among the notes of Abate
Faluschi, pp. 7 and 11 (on the back).

[115] 1475. Aprile 24. E a dì 24 d’Aprile, 1475 libre diciotto di pecie
si diè a maestro Antonio capomaestro di buttiga nostra per inpeciare
la storia del l’ettade. Archivio detto. Libro delle due Rose a 385.

1476. Interea Albertus Aringhierius Edituus _etates septem hominum_
pavimento Edis majoris ad portam _Indulgentie intus_ sterni fecit.
Tizio, _Hist. Sen._, vol. vi. 4.

[116] 1475. Bartalino di Massa da Chararra die avere a di v di
Settembre 1475 libre cento vinti--sonno per una colonna di libre quatro
(cento) quaranta due per L 40--e per due cornici L 40--le quali avemo
per finire la cappella di sto ansano--e L 40 per pezi--di marmo per
la fare _el fregio del cervio per lo spazzo de la porta del perdono_
a soldi XX P--montano L CXX. Archivio detto. Libro detto. dal 1466 al
1476 a 398.

1496 9 Settembre. Bartolino da Massa da Carrara die avere L
ciento--trenta--sonno per cavatura degli infrascritti marmi ci anno
cavati alla marmiera nostra di Gallena cioè in prima.

Omissis--sei pezzi _di fregio per lo spazo dela porta del perdono_.
Archivio detto. Libro Giallo delle tre Rose a. 57.

[117] See Libri dell’ Opera, Giornale Cecconi. G. Anno, 1780, p. 77.
Also _La Guida Artistica_, p. 24.

[118] _Descrizione del Pavimento_, by Alfonso Landi: Della Valle,
_Lettere Senesi_, vol. iii. Faluschi MSS., p. 23. Archivio detto. Libro
Giallo dell’ Assunta a 42, 89 e 155.

[119] 1527, 31 Agosto. M^o. Giovant^o. detto el sodoma dipentore de
dare a dì xxxi d’ agosto lire quatordici per prezo del disegnio aveva
fatto per la storia di ... Archivio detto. Libro di tre Angeli dal 1521
al 1529 a 465. Mil. MS. notes, p. 33.

[120] Milanesi _Discorso sulla Storia Artistica Senese_. Archivio
detto. Libro Giallo dell’ Assunta a 44 e a 177. Landi and Faluschi
differ slightly as to details and sums of money, but agree in the
general facts. I have preferred to take Landi’s version, as I am
inclined to think that Faluschi’s information is in the main drawn
from the earlier writer; who states that whereas Bernardino di Jacomo
executed the Sacrifice of Abraham and the smaller stories, Pellegrino
di Pietro did the frieze, which happens to be the finer work.

[121] 1423. 4 Giugno. E ò fatte sette-ciento mandorle, a ragione
di vinte lire el centonaio: e più feci ventitre braccia e mezzo di
braccia alla distesa di marmo rosso digrossato come viene di petriera,
del quale adoparò maestro _Domenicho_ nella storia derre (_del re_)
Davitte. Archivio detto. Libro di Documenti Artistici, No. 46.

[122] Operaio from 1524–1529. See Faluschi MS. Lists of Operaii.

[123] The large original cartoons, preserved by the Spannoechi family
up to August 31st, 1801, were at that date generously presented by them
to the Picture Gallery of the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Siena,
where they may still be seen. They have suffered sadly from time and
damp, but they show the artist’s skill as a draughtsman far better than
the reproductions on the Pavement, as it now exists.

[124] From Landi we learn that Baldassare’s stipend while Capo-maestro
was 30 scudi per annum.

[125] Archivio detto. Libro Giallo dell’ Assunta a 5, 12, 76, 79, 84 e
108.

[126] _Discorso sulla Storia Artistica Senese_, p. 87.

[127] Archivio detto. Libro di tre Angeli. Debit e Credit a 341.

[128] The cartoon for this scene also still exists in the Accademia
delle Belle Arti.

[129] 1518–19. 11 di Marzo. Domenicho di Jachomo di Pacie dipentore
de’ dare a di xi di Marzo lire quaranta tre, soldi dieci, ebe contanti
in ducati sei d’ oro, li quali se li devono per parte del disengnio e
chartone à fatto della storia che va in Duomo sotto la pupola (cupola).

1520. 3 di Novembre. E a di iii di Novembre, 1520, lire setantaebe
conntanti - - se li danno per chonto delle storie dipegnie. Archivio
detto. Libro Verde di 2 Agnoli dal 1511 al 1520 a 477.

1521. 3 di Aprile. Giovanni d’Alixandro cartaio - - de’ avere fino a
questo di iii Aprile 1521 lire 39 - - sonno e per fogli reali date a
Mecharino per le storie e fogli comuni. Archivio e Libro detto a 411.

1521. 6 di Settembre. Domenico di Jacomo di Pacie dipentore de’ avere
fino a questo dì vi di Settembre lire dugiento vintiquattro (Duc.
trentadue?) - - sonno per sue fadighe d’ avere lui disegniattoci, e
dipintoci tre storie d’Elia e del re Agabe in tre tondi sotto la pupola
di Duomo. Archivio detto. Libro di tre Agnoli a 94 e a 147.

1524. 18 di Giugno. Domenicho di Jachomo di Pacie dipentore de’ avere
fino a questo di xviii di Giugno 1524 lire otantaquatro, che sonno per
le sue fadige (_sic_) d’ avere disegniata e dipenta (_sic_) l’ ultimo
tondo de la storia de re Agabe e d’Elia quando vanno a fare sacrifizio,
e due mandorle con certe figure, e disegniato uno fregio. Archivio e
Libro detti dal 1521 al 1529 a 147.

[130] _Il Pavimento del Duomo di Siena e il Professor Alessandro
Franchi_, by Luigi Mussini. (Florence, Le Monnier, 1880).

[131] _Miscellanea Storica Senese._ Gennaio-Febbraio, 1898.

[132] 14 Agosto 1562. El dì, settantacinque sol.--pagati a Giovan
Battista nostro per detto di messer Azzolino Cerretani nostro
dignissimo Operaio, per li cartoni et disegni fatti di 4 storie d’Elia
in 4 mandorle fatte in Duomo stimate per m^o. Bernardino Scarpellino a
esser piacere. Archivio detto. Libro d’Entrata ed Uscita 1562 n. 131 a.
43 (on the back).

[133] ... “si vedono ancora, per chi vuole, alcune _mandorle_ per lui
disegnate nel nobilissimo pavimento di marmi del nostro Duomo, _presso
alle opere grandi del gran Mecarino allogate_.” Scipione Bargagli. _Le
Imprese._ (Venezia, 1594.)

[134] 1565. 16 Ottobre. Ancora inteso come Giovan Battista Sozzini ha
tramandati certi disegni et venduti, per quanto s’intende, a Tiburtio
Spannocchi, e intendendosi che sono disegni de lo spazzo del Duomo e
apartenere a la detta Opera, deliberarono che li due de’ Savi, che
nominerà el Magnifico Rettore, che col Magnifico Rettore si faccino
chiamare li detti Giovan Battista et Tiburtio a la loro presentia, e
si domandino di tali disegni; et quando ne trovino riferischino al
Capitolo. Archivio detto. Registro E. X a 32.

[135] These numbers correspond with those on the Plan and the Scheme of
the Pavement.

[136] Faluschi MSS., p. 25 (on the back).

[137] 1459. 19 d’Aprile. “Anne dati a di xviiii d’Aprile 1459 lire
quarantasei, e qual den: sonno per la Storia dei due ciechi che stanno
in terra a piei del Coro di Duomo, che sonno a misura braccia xi
misurate per detto dell’ operaio coè (_sic_) Benedetto di Bigio (_sic_:
Biagio) di Ruberto hoperaio, a ragione di lire iiii el braccio; la
quale storia fu fatta al tempo di misser Christofano Filigi hoparaio
stato.” Archivio detto. Libro Rosso d’una Stella a 162 (on the back).

[138] At this date the Operaii were elected annually. See Borghesi and
Faluschi MSS. Lists of Operaii.

[139] 1374–5, 17 Marzo. Si fe lo spazzo di Duomo delle due figure delle
travi nell’ occhio; _tu mivi la una brusca e non mivi la tua travi_.
(Cron: del Bisdomini). Borghesi MS.

[140] 1433. M^o Domenicho di Niccholo M^o di lengname die avere lire
treciento cinquanta sette per una istoria a fatto nelo spazzo del choro
_da legio in giù quella di choloro trovaro incanto_, il quale salogo
da Miss. Bartolomeio di giovanni ciechi operaio di duomo per L 7 el
braccio quadro fu misurato il detto lavoro per maestro chola di nanni,
e matteio di domenicho maestri dell’uopera al quale fu tutto di marmo,
apare al memor: di pavolo. Archivio detto. Libro Giallo dal 1420 al
1444 a 267 (on the back).

[141] This sentence is ambiguous, as it is most difficult to understand
for certain, what is really meant by _incanto_: but I am assured, that
it should in modern Italian run thus: _quella di coloro che trovarano
in canto_ (_cantando_).

[142] The cost of these works was 86,739 lire 35 c.

[143] Between the years 1864–1869 alone, no less a sum than 40,000 lire
from this fund was expended on restoration.

[144] _Il Pavimento del Duomo di Siena._ The learned father’s list is
not absolutely to be depended upon, as, through inadvertence, he has
made several mistakes in names, thereby causing confusion.

[145] _Miscellanea Storica Senese._ Gennaio-Febbraio, 1898.

[146] In the course of this chapter and in my Scheme, I have added four
more names. They are scarcely entitled to rank among the Duomo Pavement
masters, but, as they are necessary to the full evolution of its
history, I have decided to admit them into the list.

[147] _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 3.

[148] _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 39.

[149] 18 Luglio, 1416. Archivio delle Riformagione di Siena.
Deliberazioni del Concistoro, ad annum.

[150] In 1407, not in 1400, as Padre della Valle states. Archivio dell’
Opera del Duomo d’Orvieto. Libro di Riformanze ad annum.

[151] Rogiti di Ser Giovanni di Daniello. 27 Maggio, 1463.

[152] _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 126. The compiler warns us that the
original documents are lost, and that his transcription is from a
faulty copy of the seventeenth century, preserved in the Biblioteca
Pubblica of Siena.

[153] The making of this design was once attributed to Duccio. Archivio
dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro dei Documenti Artistici, No. 40.

[154] Archivio delle Riformagioni di Siena. Deliber: del Gran
Consiglio, T. 212.

[155] _Mil. Doc._, vol. ii., p. 72.

[156] Romagnuoli MS. (Biblioteca Communale di Siena), vol. iv., p. 444.

[157] Della Valle, _Lettere Senesi_, vol. ii. 197, 1444. In the
Archivio di Stato of Siena there is a contract to purchase a piece
of land by the said Antonia, in which she is described as “Antonia
... vedova olim magistri dmci Bartali de Asciano pictoris districtus
Senensis. Archivio di Stato. Pergam. d. convento di S. Maria degli
Angeli. Nr. 88. 18 Feb., 1446. Index X. See also H. J. Wagner,
_Domenico di Bartolo Ghezzi_, etc.

[158] Archivio dello Spedale di Sta. Maria della Scala di Siena. Libro
di conti correnti, segnato a carte 99.

[159] This work was eventually completed by his brothers Antonio and
Giovanni. Cf. _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 163.

[160] 1441, dal Gennaio al Ottobre. Archivio del Duomo d’ Orvieto.
Libro di Riformanze di detto anno. He is called there “PETRUS DE
SENIS,” and “PETRUS HERMINELLE.”

[161] See Luigi Fumi, _Il Duomo d’Orvieto e i suoi Restauri_, pp. 277
and 294–297. (Rome, La Società Laziale Tipografico-Editrice.)

[162] 1444. Febbraio 10. Archivio de’ Contratti in Siena. Concistoro
Scritture ad annum.

[163] 1444. Agosto 26. Archivio della Fabbrica del Duomo d’Orvieto.
Libro di Riformanze ad annum.

[164] 1444. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro delle
Deliberazioni segnato E 4. a 10 (on the back).

[165] 1445. Aprile 4. Archivio detto. Pergamena, No. 1532.

1452. Maggio 27. Archivio e Libro detti. a. 117.

This chapel we learn was not completed until 1452, and he ought to have
paid a fine of fifty florins for such delay. He was, however, absolved
from the penalty.

[166] _Guida Artistica_, p. 56.

[167] _Discorso sulla Storia Artistica Senese_, p. 53.

[168] Biblioteca Pubblica di Siena. Libro del Maestro della Camera dal
1453 al 1464 a 376.

[169] Archivio delle Riformagioni di Siena. Revisioni delle Regioni de’
Camarlinghi e Uffiziali del Commune, vol. viii. a 413 e seg.

[170] 1451. Settembre 14. Archivio Della Fabbrica del Duomo d’Orvieto.
Riformanze ad annum.

[171] We read that he kept two servants and horses for which the
establishment allowed him “_Libr. quatuordecim, sol. decem._” Archivio
detto. Libro d’Uscita del Camarlingo, ad annum.

[172] 1452 Aprile 7. Archivio del Comune d’Orvieto. Carteggio ad annum.
Cf. _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 169.

[173] _Mil. Doc._, vol. ii. p. 309.

[174] 1463, 1 Giugno. Archivio delle Riformagioni di Siena.
Copialettere filza 85. It is in this document that he is spoken of as
_De Ptholomeis_.

[175] 1480. Archivio detto. Libro di No. 107 del Gradino xxxiv.

[176] 1451, Ottobre 19. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro
di Memorie segnato E. iv., p. 29, e seg. Also Archivio detto, Filza de’
Ricordi, e memorie. Bastardello d’ Andrea di Bernabè dal 1450 al 1467 a
23.

[177] We do not hear that this scheme was ever carried out. Probably
not.

[178] 1497–98, Marzo 6. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Rogiti di Ser
Pietro dall’ Oca. Filza di Sentenza, Lodi e Compromessi dal 1484 al
1499.

[179] In the Churches of S. Domenico, S. Agostino, Sta. Maria delle
Neve, and Sta. Maria dei Servi, are fine pictures by him, still _in
situ_, and a magnificent _Assumption of the Virgin_ once in the Chapel
of the Monastery of S. Eugenio, outside the Porta S. Marco, is now in
the National Gallery, in London.

[180] 1466. Agosto 3. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Filza di Ser
Minoccio di Gio. di Minoccio.

[181] This head was re-made in its present shape in the eighteenth
century, at the expense of Conte Marcello Biringucci. _Mil. Doc._, vol.
ii., p. 335.

[182] 1467–68. Marzo 4. Archivio delle Riformagioni di Siena.
Deliberazioni del Concistoro ad annum.

[183] 1487. Luglio 17. Archivio del’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro
dei Contratti segnato E 8. a 16.

[184] _Mil. Doc._, vol. ii, p. 464, vol. iii., p. 306. Milanesi states
that Tizio is the authority for this fact.

[185] Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Filza di ser Francesco Martini.

[186] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 36.

[187] Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro Rosso d’un Leone
ad annum a 35.

[188] 1483–84. Marzo 10. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Rogiti di ser
Giovanni di Daniello. It is curious that the words _di Maestro Marco_
should be used in both documents to designate Lucillo, as if to mark
that he was not a relation. Milanesi, however, in his _Index_, calls
him Vito’s brother.

[189] 1486–87. Archivio delle Riformagioni di Siena. Copialettere, No.
III.

[190] 1482. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo di Siena. Libro d’un Leone a
34 (on the back).

[191] _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 391. Cf. Document dated 150 ... Archivio
Piccolomineo, where, by the way, he is called “_Bastianino_ di
Francesco.”

[192] This tomb is by some authorities considered not to be the work of
Tino himself, but of his pupil _Gano_.

[193] 1477. 4 Giugno. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Carte di Ser
Giovanni Cecchini.

[194] 1491. Archivio di Stato in Siena. Denunzie, Terzo di Città.
Compagnia di Valle Piatta.

[195] 1482. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo. Libro Giallo delle tre Rose
a 383.

[196] 1482. Dicembre 18. Archivio detto. Libro di un Leone a 19, e a 18
(on the back).

[197] In the second chapel to the right of the High Altar, in the
Church of S. Domenico (Bellanti Chapel, dedicated to SS. John and
Anthony), a large panel, with a lunette above it, by him, is still to
be seen in its original place. For this picture he received 45 florins.
1483. Novembre 17. Archivio del Patromonio Ecclesiastico. Carte di S.
Domenico. Libro di Memorie, A 18 a 15.

[198] Giovanni di Neroccio, apparently another son, signed the
Painters’ Brief in 1533. See _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 52.

[199] Dal Febbraio 1465 al Maggio 1474. Item: lire 31, sol: o Neroccio
dipentore per parte d’una sancta Chaterina à fatto fare di legniame per
stare su l’altare. Archivio de’ Contratti di Siena. Revisioni delle
Rogioni de’ Camarlinghi e Uffiziali del Commune, vol. viii., a 413 e
seg.

[200] 1484–5. Febbraio 4. Archivio detto. Rogiti di Ser Giovanni di
Daniello.

[201] 1487–88. Febbraio 5. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo. Libro Rosso
d’un Leone a 242.

1502. Agosto 21. Archivio e Libro detti, a 242.

[202] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., pp. 38–40.

[203] Of noble origin, a painter, and a writer of Comedies and Pastoral
Eclogues. He also had charge of the candles for the service of the
Duomo, and belonged to the Accademia dei Rozzi, where he received the
nickname of _Mescolino_.

[204] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., pp. 40–42.

[205] _Ibid._, vol. ii., p. 418.

[206] _Le Tavole della Biccherna, e della Gabella della Repubblica di
Siena_, by Luigi Mussini, p. 11. (Siena, Bargellini, 1877.)

[207] Said to have been so called on account of his peaceful
disposition.

[208] _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 422–423.

[209] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 66.

[210] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 70–71.

[211] Romagnuoli MS. _Life of Gio. A. Bazzi_ (_Il Sodoma_), Biblioteca
Pubblica di Siena. The writer claims to have seen documents proving
this among the Archives of the Patrimonio Ecclesiastico, but I find no
mention of it elsewhere.

[212] For these works he received 70 scudi in gold. Milanesi, _Notes on
Vasari’s Vite_, etc., vol. v., p. 645.

[213] Letter from Accursio Baldi to Scipione Cibo. Biblioteca Pubblica
di Siena. Cod. D. vii. 4.

[214] _Album della Storia Patria. Bozzetti Repubblicani Senesi_, vol.
i., p. 637.

[215] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 252.

[216] _Nuovi Documenti_, p. 363.

[217] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 317.

[218] Signor Armand (_Les Medailleurs Italiens des quinzième et
seizième Siècles._ Paris. Plon, 1879. in-8), attributes to him the
medallion of Cammillo Agrippa, Milanese architect and engineer, who
lived during the Pontificate of Pope Gregory XIII. Milanesi, _Notes on
Vasari’s Vite_, etc., vol. v., p. 391.

[219] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 192.

[220] _Ibid._, vol. iii., p. 185.

[221] In the Cathedral of the SS. Annunziata at Otranto, there is
a celebrated work of this kind, dating from 1163, with a number of
mythical and historical figures, Signs of the Zodiac, etc., upon it.

[222] Vacchetta vecchia di entrate et uscite dal 1471 all 1484.
Archivio dell’ Opera di Sta. Croce. (Miscellaneo MS. di n. 1549, p.
168, e seg. nella Biblioteca Pubbl. di Lucca.)

[223] E. Ridolfi. _L’Arte in Lucca, studiata nella sua Cattedrale._
(Lucca, 1882), p. 163, 164.

[224] The final payment is dated 9th June, 1477.

[225] _Mil. Doc._, vol. i., p. 53. The compiler in this note promises
to give more particulars about him further on, but does not do so; and
I can find nothing more elsewhere.

[226] Archivio de’ Contratti. Rogiti di Ser Filiziano Nerini. According
to Padre de Angelis (_Vita del Beato Pietro Pettinaio_, p. 124) the
artist received 900 florins, of four lire each, for the pavement and
altar decorations; and his designs on two sheets of paper, one green
and the other plain, signed with his name and the date 1504, are to be
found in vol. 69, in the Archives of the Piccolomini family.

[227] According to Padre Micheli (_La Guida Artistica_, p. 131) these
Virtues were executed from designs by Pacchiarotto, but I find no
authority for that assertion, which seems to contradict the statement
made by Padre de Angelis above.

[228] V. Lusini. _Storia della Basilica di S. Francesco a Siena_, pp.
143, and 282.

[229] _Mil. Doc._, vol. iii., p. 77.

[230] Faluschi MSS. _Chiese Senesi, A-F_, pp. 154 (on the back) and 148
(on the back).

[231] This border of waterfowl may possibly allude to the _Contrada of
the Oca_ (_the Goose_) of which Contrada Sta. Caterina was the especial
Patroness, she having lived in their ward and their chapel being in her
former home.

NOTE.--The tomb of the Cennini family, before the High Altar in S.
Francesco is a degraded seventeenth-century specimen of this kind of
work, but it is so debased in taste, and so injured by time, that I
hardly like drawing attention to it.

[232] An instance of this debased, but by some admired, artifice may be
seen in the church of S. Giorgio in Siena, on the memorial slab to the
artist, Francesco Vanni, executed in 1656, by his son, Michel Angelo.

[233] 1476, 9 Settembre. Archivio dell’ Opera del Duomo. Libro Giallo
delle tre Rose a 57.

[234] 1485 Archivio detto. Libro Nero dal 1461–1533 a 182.

[235] 1482. Archivio detto. Libro d’un Leone a 34 (on the back).

[236] See Charles E. Norton. _Church Building in the Middle Ages_, p.
176.




INDEX


  _Abraham’s Sacrifice_, 88.

  _Absalom, the Story of_, 10, 77, 79, 80, 151.

  Adamo, Marchesse d’, 7, 74, 108.

  Agostino, Guasparre d’, 12, 19, 117.

  Alexander III. (Bandinelli), Pope, 19.

  Alexander VII. (Chigi), Pope, 83.

  Amidei, Carlo, 12, 63, 67, 87, 98, 142.

  Antonio, Bernardino d’, 56, 134.

  Antonio, Francesco di Ser, 105.

  Antonio, Giacomo d’, 78, 114.

  Aringhieri, Alberto, 10, 23, 25, 31, 53.


  _Badges of Siena and the Confederate Cities_, 23, 24.

  Bambagini Galletti, Pietro, 102.

  Bartoli, Matteo di Giovanni, 7, 11, 45, 46, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65,
          122, 144, 151.

  Bartolo, Matteo di, 105.

  Bartolommeo, Francesco di, 65, 125, 140.

  Bastiano, Corso di, 12, 19, 20, 117.

  Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio (Sodoma), 90.

  Beccafumi, Domenico (Mecarino), 12, 12, 89 _et seq._, 104, 135,
          _et seq._, 152.

  Benzi Family, the, 147, 148.

  _Bethulia, Relief of_, 63 _et seq._

  Betti, Bernardino (Pinturicchio), 10, 11, 23, 25, 27, 28, 104, 134,
          152.

  Biagio, Benedetto di, 100.

  Biagio, Giuliano di, 35, 44, 125.

  Borghesi, Giovanni di Pietro Ghezzi, 16, 71, 81.

  Brunaccio, Antonio di, 104.


  Carbone, Cristofano di, 93, 141.

  Cecchi, Bartolommeo, 69, 78, 80, 91.

  Cecco, Luca di, 7, 107.

  _Children of Israel seeking the Promised Land_, 89.

  Chivizzano, Jacopo di, 144.

  Civitali, Matteo, 144.

  _Consecration of the Duomo, the_, 19.

  Corsino, Nanni di, 7, 105.

  Corso, Bastiano di, 20, 72, 110.

  Cozzarelli, Giacomo, 17_n_, 124, 133.

  Cozzarelli, Guidoccio, 52, 127, 133, 151.


  _David_, 91.

  _David as King and Psalmist_, 91.

  Domenico, Bartolommeo di, (Calabrone), 56, 65, 125.

  Domenico S., Pavement in Chapel of Sta. Caterina, 147.

  Duccio, 5, 87.


  _Eagle in Wheel_, 25.

  _Elijah, the Story of_, 12, 95, _et seq._, 154.


  Federighi, Antonio, 10, 18, 41, 42, 64, 65, 84, 85, 86, 100, 118, 124.

  Felice, Cristofano, 100, 122.

  Filippi, Niccolo, 93, 141.

  _Fortune, Allegory of_, 11, 25 _et seq._

  _Fortune, Wheel of_, 6, 29 _et seq._

  Francesco, Bastiano di, 54, 58, 82, 121, 127, 129, 151.

  Francesco S., Pavement in Cappella Piccolominea, 145.

  Franchi, Prof. Alessandro, 12, 87, 102, 142, 153–155.


  Gallo, Bartolommeo di Pietro, 93, 140.

  Gallo, Giacomo di Pietro, 93, 140.

  Ghezzi, Domenico di Bartolo di, 9, 78, 112, 113.

  Ghino, Antonio di, 144, 145.

  Giacomo, Bernardino di, 90, 93, 96, 140.

  Giovanni, Cecco di, 7, 108.

  Giovanni, Giovanni di Stefano di, 23, 39, 65, 122, 123, 147.

  _Goliath_, 91.

  Gori, Niccolo di Girolamo, 96, 142.

  Gregorio, Maestro, 84.

  Guarguaglia, Bartolommeo, 144.

  Guasparre, Nastagio di, 18, 19, 116.

  Guasta, Benvenuto di Giovanni del, 44, 53, 54, 55, 127, 128.


  _Hermes Trismegistus_, 4, 21, 22.

  _Herod, the Expulsion of_, 53 _et seq._


  _Jephthah, the Story of_, 81, 129, 151.

  _Joshua_, 9, 71.

  _Joshua’s Victory over the Amorites, and the Slaughter of the Five
          Kings_, 69.

  _Judas Maccabeus_, 9, 75.


  Landi, Neroccio di Bartolommeo, 48, 51, 124, 126, 131.

  Lucca, Cathedral pavement at, 143.


  Maccari, Leopoldo, 13, 25, 29, 86, 87, 102, 142, 146.

  Mannucci, Paolo, 28, 135.

  Marco, Sano di, 105.

  Marco, Vito di, 35, 37, 42, 48, 56, 118, 124, 126, 132.

  Mariano (Mandriano), Bartolommeo di, 18, 117.

  Mariano, Lorenzo di (Marrina), 125, 145, 146.

  Mariano, Pellegrino di, 127.

  Marinelli, Giovannantonio (Mugnaino), 93, 140.

  Martino, Paolo di, 8, 9, 69, 70, 71, 75, 110, 111.

  _Massacre of the Innocents, the_, 11, 59 _et seq._, 73, 151.

  Matteo, Sano di, 7, 106.

  Minella, Pietro del, 10, 79, 81, 114, 151.

  Minuccio, Andrea di, 7, 29.

  _Moses_, 9, 75.

  _Moses, the Story of_, 12, 92, 139.

  _Moses striking the Rock_, 94.


  Niccolo, Agostino di, 72, 73, 92, 109.

  Niccolo, Domenico di (del Coro), 8, 9, 31, 69, 70, 71, 76, 91, 101,
          108, 112.


  Peruzzi, Baldassare, 11, 87, 93.

  _Pharisee and the Publican, the_, 16, 17.

  Pier Giovanni, Domenico di, 96, 142.

  Pietro, Lorenzo di (Vecchietta), 119, 131.

  Pietro, Pellegrino di, 90, 141.

  Pietro, Sano di, 128, 131, 133.

  Pietro, Urbano di, 42, 64, 65, 119, 120, 124, 128.

  Pini, Matteo, 63, 67, 87, 98, 142.

  Porta del Perdono, the, 12, 19, 76, 83.


  Quarantotto, Cristofano di Pietro Paolo del, 56, 136.

  Quercia, Giacomo della, 10, 78, 114.


  Radicchi, Antonio, 142.

  Radicchi, Ferdinando, 102.

  Radicchi, Giuseppe, 86, 142.

  Ruggiero, Luigi di (Armellino), 36, 42, 48, 124, 126.


  _Samson slaying the Philistines_, 70, 71, 75, 111.

  Savino, Savino di Matteo di Guido, 65.

  _Seven Ages of Man, the_, 84.

  _Sibyls, the_, 31, _et seq._

  _Sigismund, the Emperor_, 77, 113.

  _Solomon_, 71.

  Sozzini, Giovanni Battista, 96, 141, 148.

  Spannocchi, Tiburzio, 97.


  Tolomei, Francesco di Carlo, 93.


  Vescovo, Antonio d’Agostino del, 93.

  _Virtues, the Cardinal_, 73.

  _Virtues, the Theological_, 87.


  CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
  TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.




Transcriber’s Notes


Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.

Spelling was not checked systematically for any language, including
English and Italian. Transcriber did change the spelling of a few names
to make them consistent with their predominant spelling elsewhere in
the original book, and corrected the Greek spelling in Footnote 23
(originally on page 22).

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks
were remedied when the change was obvious; most were left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
the corresponding illustrations.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected,
renumbered into one sequence, and placed just before the Index.

The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.

Footnote 65, originally on page 56: In “B^{a..}”, the “a” was printed
as a small superscript with two dots below it.

Page 136: “he had two daughters: Ersilia (b. 1535), and Polifila (b.
1573)” was printed that way, but one of the dates likely was misprinted.