The Cathedral Builders Part 36

In 1402 Duke Gian Galeazzo died, and during the minority of his son, art, architecture, and sculpture languished. Few famous names are preserved, and all of those were from the neighbourhood of Como. Those mentioned in the books as continuing the work between 1402 and 1440, are Jacopo da Tradate, Bertollo da Campione, Giorgio de Sollario, sculptors, and Paolino da Montorfano, a painter. At a later period other Masters appeared, and we find Giovanni de Solari from Val d'Intelvi, Guglielmo di Giorgio and Giovanni di Reghezio, Jacopo da Lanzo, Michele di Benedetto da Campione, Francesco Solari, and Giovanni da Cairate, all sculptors, with Cristoforo da Chiona, Arasmino Solari da Arogna, Franceschino da Can.o.bbio, Leonardo da Sirtori, Paolino da a.r.s.enigo, and Giovanni Solari, all Lombard engineers and architects.

Of all this crowd, two men rose to especial eminence: Magister Filippino degli Argani da Modena, and Giovanni Solari da Campione, who had a special connection with the domestic Gothic architecture of Venice. Filippino was son of Andrea degli Argani, architect to the Visconti. He showed so much talent for his father's profession that Duke Gian Galeazzo himself nominated him as a novice in the lodge of the guild. A letter, dated January 8, 1400, was addressed by the Duke to the Administrative Council of the lodge, saying--"Considering the fine genius shown even in boyhood by Filippo, son of our architect, the late Maestro of Modena, we advise that his talents shall be cultivated, and that he shall be practised in the technical arts, especially by the a.s.sistance and instruction of good masters....

Therefore we decree that the said Filippino shall enter the said _laborerium_ (of the Duomo at Milan), and we recommend him for instruction therein."[269]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARBLE WORK ON THE ROOF OF MILAN CATHEDRAL.

_See page 363._]

Filippino so far justified this recommendation, that when, on March 6, 1412, a compet.i.tion was offered for designs for the window behind the choir, he won the commission. Many authors, not heeding the authentic doc.u.ments, have given the credit of that window to Buonaventura from Paris. In 1404 Filippino was made _Magister_ of the guild, and given office under Marco da Carona. In 1406 he sculptured a beautiful sepulchre to Marco Corello, a Milanese who had left all his patrimony to the works of the Duomo. On Marco da Carona's death he became chief architect of the cathedral, with the three _Magistri_, Magatto, Leonardo da Sirtori, and Cristoforo da Chiona under him. An act pa.s.sed by the guild on May 19, 1417, confirms him as "Superior et prior aliorum inzigneriorum de fabbrica," on a term of twelve years, at a salary of twenty florins a month. At the expiration of the twelve years he was not removed from office, but was given two colleagues with equal power to his own. These were Franceschino da Can.o.bbio and Antonio da Gorgonzola.

In April 1448, much to his disgust, Filippo was entirely suspended.

Francesco Sforza interceded on his behalf with the Administration, but they replied that Franceschino suited them better. Again in 1450, when the d.u.c.h.ess Bianca Visconti recommended Filippo's son Giorgio as a worthy successor to his father, the Council again a.s.serted that they had no wish to discharge Franceschino da Can.o.bbio. Then the Duke, irritated by this repulse, wrote the following strong letter to the Council--"Our beloved (_Dilecti nostri_). As the ill.u.s.trious Madonna Bianca our Consort has advised you, and considering the respect and devotion which the late Magister Filippino bore to the memory of our Consort's late celebrated father, also considering his valuable and praiseworthy works, in the building of the cathedral, and other edifices and fortresses, I beg that you will be pleased to elect as architect to the Duomo, Magister Giorgio, son of the said late Magister Filippino, with the usual salary, and nothing less. If you wish, you are at liberty to elect four experts, who shall inform themselves of the capabilities of the said 'Magister Zorgo,' and whether he be sufficient for the post. We shall be obliged if you will nominate him to the said office on the usual terms, by which you will also oblige our Consort. Given from Milan, November 7, 1450."

The Council had to bow to this command, but the nomination of Giorgio "degli Argani" was not decided on till the meeting of July 6, 1451, and then only a moderate salary was given him, "want of funds being a.s.signed by them as a reason." Giorgio's death, occurring soon after, ended the difficulty, and Giovanni Solari became his successor. A convention, dated September 24, 1450, between some masters and the Council, concludes--"It is to be observed that Giovanni di Solari is the head architect deputed to this work, which must be done according to his designs and conditions."

Giovanni was the son of Marco da Carona, formerly chief architect. In the deed of his nomination is the sentence--"son of the late Marco, who through all his life exercised the office of architect in such a mode that few or none could even equal him."[270]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPITAL IN MILAN CATHEDRAL. SCULPTURED BY MAGISTER BARTOLOMMEO DA CAMPIONE.

_See page 368._]

Two months after this election, Duke Francesco Sforza wrote a very commanding letter from the camp at Trignano, saying, he recommended the nomination of Antonio da Firenze (Filarete) and Giovanni da Solari, in place of Filippino degli Argani. The latter was already at his post, but the Council again defied the Duke by saying they had no need of Filarete; on which the Duke retired from his self-imposed office of adviser, and left the lodge to manage its own business, which it always intended to do. Giovanni da Solari being left in peace, carried on the works, and so beautiful were they, that even to the _Magistri_ themselves the building seemed "more divine than human."

He was succeeded by his son, Magister Guiniforte, whose name is sometimes misspelt Boniforte. He was "a man of clear mind, exquisite sense and strong will; educated amidst grand ideas and grand things by a wise and talented father; he became _Magister_ at twenty-two years of age, and worked under his father." When he was thirty-seven, he took Filarete's place, as chief architect of the Ospedale Maggiore at Milan, a work almost perfect in its harmonious beauty, and yet showing in every line its derivation from the civil edifices of the older Lombards. He was also architect at the Certosa, and built, or rather designed, the churches of S. Satiro and the Madonna delle Grazie and the castle of Alliate. Calvi says that Guiniforte, "though following the older school, knew how to lighten the serious northern style, by giving it the smile of Italian skies."

When Guiniforte died in 1481, his son, Pietro Antonio, armed with a letter of recommendation from the Princess Bona, presented himself at the lodge, as a candidate for his father's position. The Freemason Council, however, seemed determined not to bow to royal commands, and again a.s.serted its independence. Pietro was put off, and in 1489 he departed to Russia.[271]

During the years from 1468 to 1492, the books of the lodge, preserved in the archives, abound in names of _Magistri_ from the neighbourhood of Como, both architects and sculptors.[272]

Among them are some famous names, such as Martino da Mantegazza, Dolcebono Rodari (sculptor of the beautiful north door at Como), and Gerolamo della Porta, who entered the lodge in May 1490, with a letter of recommendation from the Duke, advising his being specially trained in the art of sculpture. His talents warranting this, he was sent to Rome with four other stone-sculptors, to remain ten years, and perfect themselves in sculpture, to study the antique, and to return to the _laborerium_ as fully qualified masters. There was also Bartolommeo da Campione, who carved some of the richly ornate capitals of the columns. I suspect he was the man who became famous in Venice.

The cathedral of Milan was now reaching completion. There only remained the crucial question of the dome, and with this the Masters now occupied themselves. Jacopo da Campione had made a model which the Council of Administration preserved in their rooms, together with a beautifully made wooden model begun by Giovannino de' Gra.s.si, and finished on his death by his son, Salomone. These were not adopted, for on Giovanni Solari's death in 1471, we find the name of _Bartolomeus de Gorgonzola, magister super Tiburium_. This was on September 26, 1472. The same phrase is repeated in another entry on November 25, 1471, where a payment is registered, made to Branda da Castiglione, on account of the work he has to do at Gandolia, in making certain columns to place above the _Tiburio_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NORTH DOOR OF COMO CATHEDRAL. SCULPTURED BY TOMMASO RODARI.

_See page 368._]

The difficult work was suspended on the a.s.sa.s.sination of Duke Galeazzo Maria, by reason of want of funds. On the restoration of Gian Galeazzo in 1482, the subject was again under consideration, and in the absence of any very eminent Masters at the moment--Guiniforte having died in 1481--the Duke wrote to Strasburg to beg that some architects might be spared from the works there. This action is very suggestive of an affinity between the German and Italian Masonic Lodges. No one could be spared from Strasburg, but a certain Giovanni da Gratz came over with a little squadron of Germans, and signed a contract to superintend the "reparation and completion" of the _Tiburio_ of the Duomo. The conditions of the contract further stated that when the cupola should be so far finished as to allow of inspection, a committee of qualified Masters should be elected to inspect it, and p.r.o.nounce if the work were good.[273]

The words "reparation and completion" would imply that Guiniforte and Bartolommeo had already begun the dome. The contract with John of Gratz is signed May 1482, and it would appear not to have been of long duration, no payments being made to him after February 1486, and on January 26, 1488, the annals of the Duomo show the following entry--"To Maestro Antonio da Padern in recompense for his labours during the past year in verifying the errors committed by Maestro Giovanni da Gratz, etc...." Like his forerunner Heinrich da Gmunden, John of Gratz had to retire from the Milanese Lodge; his name is no more found in the books, and the Council began to search for a _capo maestro_ nearer home. Magister Luca Paperio Fancelli was called from Florence to examine some designs which had been sent in. The one chosen was by Leonardo of Florence (Da Vinci), who was paid in antic.i.p.ation L.56, and a _Maestro in legname_ was a.s.signed as his a.s.sistant, named Bernardino da Abbiate. He probably was to superintend the scaffolding, and Da Vinci the building. However, the engagement fell through, and the Duke of Milan wrote to the Pope, the King of Sicily, and the rulers of Venice and Florence to find an architect for that puzzling cupola. Two Germans, one named Lorenzo, and one a monk, John Mayer, were successively refused. At length, in 1490, the Council finally commissioned Maestro Giovan Antonio Amadeo and Maestro Gio.

Giacomo Dolcebuono as joint architects "to finish the cupola and the church." They were to choose the model which pleased them best of those preserved in the Administration, and the one they selected was to be examined for approval by Maestro Francesco di Giorgio, then living at Siena, and by Maestro Luca of Florence (Fancelli), then residing at Mantua, two experts who were by the Council elected as judges and examiners of the perfection of the model.

A great meeting of the _Magistri_ of the lodge, and the patron of the city, presided over by the Duke himself, met on June 27, to examine the several models, but none were chosen; and Amadeo and Dolcebuono were ordered to make a revised model, with the concurrence of Francesco Giorgio. The two former were then confirmed as joint architects, "to compose and ordinate"--as the Verbale quaintly puts it--"all the parts needful to const.i.tute the said _Tiburio_, which must be beautiful, worthy, and eternal," if indeed earthly things can be eternal.

Francesco di Giorgio departed laden with presents and payments, and with the honorary t.i.tle of architect of the Duomo of Milan; and on September 9, the two others began their work, which they brought to a happy conclusion on September 24, 1500.

The facade was, however, not completed. Indeed, the registers show that the insignia of the Comacine Masters, the marble lions which were destined for the great door, were in 1489 still in deposit in the _laborerium_.

Dolcebuono died in 1506; and Andrea Fusina was elected in his place.

The famous sculptor, Cristoforo Gobbo, entered the works in 1502, on the compact that he was not to be under the orders of other architects, but to make his own contracts. He executed much of the sculptural ornamentation of the cupola; such as the Doctors of the Church in medallions; while a master Andrea da Corcano, with other "brethren," did the pictures. Cristoforo also carved the famous statues of Adam and Eve on the facade, besides several other statues.

He and Fusina being compatriots, fraternized, and opposed Amadeo, who had made a too daring design for the lantern on the cupola. Meetings after meetings were held, and at length Gobbo retired temporarily to pursue his sculpture in Rome and Venice, where he is entered as Cristoforo _da Milano_. His nephew, Michele da Merate, and Michele's son Paolo, both sculptors, worked with him at Milan, where he continued till his death, in 1527.

Another long list of names from the books, given between 1500 and 1550 by Merzario, proves that the Comacines still reigned supreme in the _laborerium_, the Solari family preponderating.

As if to connect the last link in the chain with the first, we find the old family of Bono da Campione still prominent. For nearly thirty years, _i.e._ between 1618 and 1647, Magister Gian Giacomo Bono da Campione sculptured in the _laborerium_ of the Duomo, and there his son Francesco was trained, besides two kinsmen--Carlo Antonio Bono, painter and sculptor, and his son, Giuseppe. All this family worked together in the seventeenth century at the facade of the cathedral, designed by Pellegrini. The fine central door was the work of Gian Giacomo Bono and Andrea Castelli, both Comacines by birth.

As for the names of other Comacines who worked at the facade and on the wondrous roof, one finds them by hundreds in the annals of the Duomo, as collected by Giulini in his _Memorie della Citta e Campagna di Milano_. Here you see names repeated which have been familiar in the guild for centuries; such as the Bono and Solari families, and Luca Beltrami, who worked at the facade in the seventeenth century, and whose ancestors were architects at Modena and Parma two hundred years earlier.

II.--THE CERTOSA OF PAVIA

MAGISTRI AT THE CERTOSA OF PAVIA

----+------+------------------------------+-------------------------------- 1. 1396 Magister Bernardo da Venezia { C.M. for the actual building.

{ 2. " M. Jacopo da Campione { C.M. at Milan to visit and { superintend.

----+------+------------------------------+-------------------------------- These two were the first architects.

----+------+------------------------------+-------------------------------- 3. " M. Giovanni da Gra.s.si { Two of the Duke's architects (Graci) { from Milan, who were also { called into council on the 4. " M. Marco da Carona { first plans.

5. " M. Cristoforo da Lonigo Drew a design for the church of the convent.

6. " M. Domenico Bossi da a.s.sisted in laying the Campione foundations.

7. " M. Giovanni da Campione Sculptured slabs for three (called Bosio) reliquaries.

8. 1397 M. Antonio di Marco Son of Marco Carona da Campione: C.M. of Milan; called from Crema to be C.M. instead of M. Bernardo.

{ Two brothers left in charge M. Giovanni } { when Antonio returned to 9. Solari } { Crema. Giovanni was C.M.

} of Campione { till 1400. Giovanni was the 10. M. Francesco } { father of the celebrated Solari } { Guiniforte, C.M. of Milan.

{ The Lombardi of Venice were { descendants ofthis family.

11. 1428 M. Rodari da Castello } Ancestor of Tommaso di } Rodari, who sculptured the } Renaissance door at Como.

12. " M. Giovanni da Garvagnate } } All three were paid for 13. " M. Giovanni da Como } sculptures in 1428 and 1429.

14. 1429 M. Antonio } } } di Val di } Employed as builders.

15. M. Giovanni } Lugano } 16. M. Jacopo Fusina Frequently mentioned in the books of the Fabbrica.

17. 1460 M. Guiniforte Solari C.M. in place of his father Giovanni; designed the facade.

18. M. Gio. Antonio Amadeo Pupil of Guiniforte; carved the door between the church and cloister. He became famous afterwards in Venice, and sculptured the Colleone monument at Bergamo.

{ Came to the Certosa from 19. M. Cristoforo Mantegazza { their apprenticeship to { Jacopo da Tradate at Milan.

20. M. Antonio Mantegazza { Sculptured in the facade of { the Certosa on Guiniforte's { plans.

21. 1478 M. Giovanni, junior, da } Campione } a.s.sisted in the sculptures.

} 22. M. Luchino di Cernuscolo } 23. 1495 M. Cristoforo Solario C.M. at the Certosa. C.M. at (Gobbo) Milan in 1506.

Whatever were the faults of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the world has one great and beautiful legacy to thank him for--the Certosa of Pavia.

It is said that Stefano Maconi, prior of the Certosa at Garignano, suggested to the Duke the building of the finest monastery in Italy; but the funds were certainly provided by Gian Galeazzo, who took a personal and untiring interest in the work.

The first doc.u.mental proof of this is a deed of gift, dated April 15, 1396, whereby Gian Galeazzo gives to the monastery of the Certosa, landed property to the annual value of 2500 gold florins. On October 6 of the same year, he makes another endowment of property, yielding 5500 gold florins a year, besides an annual subsidy of 10,000 florins from his own private purse.

The history of this beautiful building is much connected with that of Milan cathedral; the same architects--or rather brethren of the same Masonic Lodge--worked at both; and at one time Jacopo da Campione was _capo maestro_ of both works at once, spending a certain proportion of his time at both.

Heinrich of Gmunden has had a good deal of credit for this building; so much so that a certain bust, said to be his likeness, was kept in the sacristy of the Certosa; and on the strength of that bust, the Germans erected a statue to him in Gmunden. But as he left Italy in July 1392, dismissed from Milan after a few months there, it is not probable that he could have designed the Certosa in 1396. Count Giulini was the first to draw attention to this error; and a learned archivist, Girolamo L. Calvi, had the good luck to discover in the archives of S. Fedele, the ancient register of the Administration of the building of the Certosa for the year 1396, which settles the matter completely. The master builder was Bernardo da Venezia, and Jacopo da Campione worked with him as designing architect and superintendent. On the official verification of this precious MS. on April 16, 1862, the bust of Heinrich da Gmunden disappeared from the sacristy of the Certosa.

As a proof that the _Magistri_ mentioned were both employed, we will translate a few of the entries of the _Provveditore_ of the Certosa.

"1396. _July 26._--In the presence of Pietro Barboti, official of the Administration, Berto Cordono, cordmaker, was paid for 138 lbs. of strong cord, for use in the designing and building of the church and cloister. The cord was consigned in June, at the order of Maestro Bernardo da Venezia, architect of the said _laborerium_" (Inzignerium dicti laborerii).

"1396. _August 14._"--(This should, I think, be September 14). After registering several payments of wages to workmen who excavated the foundations, it is written--"Also the above-named Jacopo da Campione, for his superintendence of the works (tantum qui perseveravit superdictis laboreriis), together with the Duke's architects during fourteen days (_i.e._ the last days of August and the first two of the present September), at the rate of eight imperial soldi a day, as he had to find his own food."