Chapter III: The Florentine Lodge (1)

THE FLORENTINE LODGE

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1. | 1258 | Magister Jacopo Tedesco | Built castles at Arezzo and
| | da Campione | Poppi; and the Bargello at
| | | Florence.
| 1298 } | |
2. | to } | M. Arnolfo (his son?) | C.M. of the Duomo. Built the
| 1310 } | | Palazzo Vecchio.
| | |
3. | 1340-48 | M. Giotto | Designed the campanile, and
| | | sculptured the first row of
| | | reliefs.
| | |
4. | | M. Andrea Pisano | Made door of Baptistery.
| | |
5. | 1349-59 | M. Francesco Talenti | C.M. of the Duomo.
| | |
6. | 1350 | M. Neri Fieravanti } |
| | } |
7. | | M. Niccolaus Beltrami } | Four Masters who went to
| | } | Carrara to buy marbles for the
8. | | M. Benozzus Niccolaus, } | Campanile, of which they were
| | his son } | joint architects.
| | } |
9. | | M. Albertus Arnoldi } |
| | |
10. | 1355 | M. Frate Jacopo | Brother of Francesco Talenti;
| | | sent to Rome for marbles.
| | |
11. | " | M. Francesco da Siena | Carved stalls in Siena
| | (called Francesco del | cathedral: sent for to carve the
| | Coro) | stalls of the choir of S. Croce.
| | |
12. | " | M. Benci Cione | { Father of Orcagna. They were
| | | { called in the Council of the
13. | " | M. Ristoro Cione (a | { Opera to consider Francesco
| | relative) | { Talenti's design for the
| | | { chapels, July 1355.
| | |
14. | " | M. Lapo Ghino | Descended from Ghini Ventura
| | | di Diotisalvi of Siena.
| | |
15. | " | M. Giovanni di Lapo | C.M. with F. Talenti, 1360 to
| | Ghino.[236] | 1368.
| | |
16. | | M. Bartolo da S. Ghallo | A Lombard from S. Gall,
| | | grandfather of the famous
| | | Giuliano and Antonio San Gallo.
| | |
17. | 1356 | M. Ambrogio Lenzi | Son of Guglielmo da Campione;
| | (Ambroxios da Campione) | was C.M. of the Baptistery in
| | | 1356; C.M. of the Duomo in 1362.
| | |
18. | | M. Stefano Metti |
| | |
19. | 1357 | M. Domenico di Noffo | Sent to Siena to buy marbles.
| | |
20. | " | M. Giovanni Belchari | { These three were joint C.
| | | { Maestri for the upper part of
21. | | M. Vigi Grilli | { the Campanile. In 1362 Gio.
| | | { Belchari was poor and infirm,
22. | | M. Bancho Falchi | { and the guild gave him a
| | | { pension.
| | |
23. | | M. Agostino Falchi } |
| | (brother of the } | Joint Masters for the walls
| | preceding) } | and columns of the Duomo.
| | } |
24. | | M. Niccolò Megli } |
| | |
25. | | M. Andrea di Cione | In council with Frati and
| | (Orcagna) | Magistri about the space
| | | between the columns. Later he
| | | became famous as painter and
| | | sculptor, and made the shrine
| | | in Or San Michele.
| | |
26. | | M. Jacopo di Lapo | Makes a model of the shaft.
| | Chavacciani |
| | |
27. | | M. Mato di Cenni } | These were engaged for the
| | } | bases of the columns.
28. | | M. Jacopo di Polo } |
| | |
29. | 1362 | M. Barna Batis | Provveditore after Filippo
| | | Marsili.
| | |
30. | | M. Davinus Corsi |
| | |
31. | 1363 | M. Simone Johannes dal | Engaged to carve the twisted
| | Pino | columns of red marble in the
| | | windows of the Duomo.
| | |
32. | " | M. Ambrosius Ghini | A relative of Lapo Ghino.
| | |
33. | 1364 | M. Sandro Macci | In council on the domes, with
| | | many others named before and
| | | after.
| | |
34. | | M. Francesco Neri | Sculptured pila and relief in
| | Sellari | S. Croce.
| | |
35. | 1366 | M. Simone di Francesco | C.M. of Or S. Michele in 1376.
| | Talenti | With Taddeo Ristori in 1366 he
| | | made a design for a chapel.
| | |
36. | " | M. Jacopo Pauli | Engaged Aug. 31, 1366, to make
| | | capitals for columns in the
| | | sacristy.
| | |
37. | " | M. Mato Jacobi } |
| | } |
38. | " | M. Aldobrando Jacobi } | His three sons who assisted
| | } | him.
39. | " | M. Corso Jacobi } |
| | |
40. | 1367 | M. Bernabè Pieri } | Made a contract on Aug. 31,
| | } | 1366, to carve some capitals.
41. | " | M. Manetti Pieri } |
| | |
42. | 1368 | M. Francesco Michaeli | Advises about Or San Michele
| | | with Gio. di Lapo Ghino.
| | |
43. | | M. Mattheo olim Cionis | One of the Masters employed
| | | in Or San Michele, brother of
| | | Orcagna.
| | |
44. | 1375 | M. Giovanni Giuntini |
| | |
45. | | M. Francesco Salvetti | C.M. in 1375, but resigned
| | | later in favour of Giovanni
| | | Fetti.
| | |
46. | 1376 | M. Taddeo Ristori | One of the Cione family;
| | | architect at Or San Michele,
| | | and the Loggia de' Lanzi after
| | | his uncle Benci Cione.
| | |
47. | | M. Ambrogio di Vanni } |
| | } | Masters in stone-carving.
48. | | M. Leonardo olim Masis } |
| | |
49. | 1377 | M. Johannes Michaeli, | Went to Prato on Oct. 2, 1377,
| | brother of Francesco | with Tommaso Mattei to buy
| | (No. 42) | marble.
| | |
50. | | M. Tommaso Mattei | Son of Matteo di Cione.
| | |
51. | | M. Zenobio Bartholi | Was paid 18 florins on Dec.
| | | 15, 1377, for a figure of the
| | | Angel Michael. He also carved
| | | two other figures at 20
| | | florins.
| | |
52. | " | M. Simone Francesci | Elected C.M. in 1377. Son of
| | Talenti | the C.M. Francesco. He
| | | sculptured a figure in 1377,
| | | and was paid 13 florins.
| | |
53. | 1380 | M. Jacopo da Scopeto | Worked in the choir.
| | |
54. | | M. Pietro Landi of Siena | Son of the famous Lando, C.M.
| | | of Siena Lodge.
| | |
55. | 1381 | M. Johannes Fetti | Elected C.M. with Guazetta on
| | | March 14, 1381. Designed the
| | | window under the vault on the
| | | north side.
| | |
56. | | M. Johannes Stefani, | Was a famous Master in
| | called Guazetta, son of | woodwork; he was noted for
| | No. 18. | foundations and scaffolding.
| | |
57. | 1383 | M. Laurentius Filippi | C.M. of the Loggia dei Lanzi
| | | with Benci Cione, who was
| | | master builder.
| | |
58. | 1384 | M. Giovanni di Ambrogio | Gave his vote at a meeting on
| | da Lenzo (son of | April 4, 1384, about the
| | No. 17). | pilasters of the tribune. Was
| | | chosen C.M. on Feb. 28, 1400.
| | |
| 1386 | M. Luca di Giovanni da | Carved some angels.
| | Siena |
| | |
59. | 1388 | M. Michael Johannis Lapi | Succeeded Lorenzo Filippi
| | Ghini | as C.M. on July 15, 1388.
| | |
60. | 1389 | M. Antonio Francisci | Elected _Arch Magistrum_,
| | | but deposed in 1420 by the
| | | council; and Giovanni di
| | | Ambrogio of Campione was
| | | elected.
| | |
61. | 1404 | M. Niccolao called Pela | Sculptured the door of the
| | | chapel of the Crucifix from
| | | Giovanni d'Ambrogio's design.
| | |
62. | 1418 | M. Baptista Antoni (son | Elected C.M. when Giovanni
| | of Antonio, No. 60) | d'Ambrogio resigned by reason
| | | of old age.
| | |
63. | | M. Piero d'Antonio | Nicknamed Fannulla (Do
| | (another son of Antonio, | nothing).
| | No. 60) |
| | |
64. | " | *M. Matteo di Leonarda | All the masters marked * sent
| | | in plans for the Cupola. The
65. | | *M. Vito da Pisa | design of Brunellesco, who I
| | | believe not to have been of
66. | | *M. Piero di Santa Maria | the guild, was chosen.
| | |
67. | | *M. Donatello |
| | |
68. | | *M. Nanni di Banco |
| | |
69. | | *M. Lorenzo Ghiberti | _Provisore_ of the Cupola with
| | | Baptista Antoni when
| | | Brunellesco's plan was chosen.
| | |
70. | " | M. Andrea Berti }|
| | Martignoni }|
| | }|
71. | " | M. Bonaiuti Pauli }|
| | }| All these Masters were employed
72. | " | M. Papi di Andrea }| to erect a large model of the
| | }| design of Brunellesco for the
73. | " | M. Aliosso }| Cupola, on the Piazza del
| | }| Duomo.
74. | " | M. Cristoforo di Simone }|
| | }|
75. | " | M. Giovanni di Tuccio }|
| | }|
76. | " | M. Jacobo Rosso }|
| | |
77. | " | M. Giovanni dell Abbaco | Worked at the Cupola under
| | | Brunellesco.
| | |
78. | | M. Antonio di Vercelli |
| | |
| | M. Gherardo (_tedesco_) }|
| | }|
| | M. Ghabriella }| Three Germans who were paid
| | (_tedesco_) }| for models of a cupola.
| | }|
| | M. Averardo ("_magistro }|
| | teutonico_") }|
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Art is like a flower. If the seeds are sown in favourable soil the plant grows, develops, and bears beautiful blossoms, which in their turn leave seed for future generations. If the soil be not favourable, the plant may perhaps reach its flowering season, but it is weak, and the seeds lack the power of reproduction.

Thus in small cities like Modena, Parma, Orvieto, etc., the artistic atmosphere and soil were wanting. The lodges of those cities never became firmly rooted. The Lombard Masters placed there did their work, and then moved to other cities, but the natives remained uninfluenced. In Pisa, art first took root. The Pisans, whose artistic faculties had been awakened by the classic spoils they had gathered together in their conquests, found a practical outlet for them in the teaching of the _laborerium_ set up in their midst by Buschetto and his assistants and followers. Pisans joined the lodge, and from it great teachers arose. Siena was the next lodge that took root, and drew native artists into it; then followed Venice and Florence; and through them all, distinct as they became in later times, the seed was always sown by the Comacines or Lombard Masters. The Campionese and Buoni families are at the bottom of all the Tuscan schools, and every one of these cradles of art was of the self-same form, _i.e._ composed of the school, the _laborerium_, and the _Opera_ of the Comacine Masters.

And what connection had Arnolfo, the first designing architect of the Florentine cathedral and Palazzo Vecchio, with this Masonic company? He had much to do with it, inasmuch as he was an hereditary member, in fact one of the aristocracy of the guild, and he had a most complete training in it. The first trace we get of Arnolfo is his instruction in the school of Magister Niccolò Pisano. The proof of this is a deed drawn up in Siena on May 11, 1266, in which these words occur--"requisivit Magistrum Nicholam Petri de Apulia quod ipse faceret et curaret ita; quod Arnolfus discipulus suus statim veniret Senas ad laborandum in dicto opere, cum ipso magistro Nichola." Here we have Niccolò di Pisa as Master in the guild, and his disciple Arnolfo not yet having graduated.

Another paper relating to Niccolò's work on the pulpit at Siena says--"Secum ducat Senas Arnolphum et Lapum, suos discipulos."

By 1277 Arnolfo seems to have graduated, for when Niccolò and Giovanni di Pisa were at work on the beautiful fountain at Perugia in that year, Fra Bevignate, the _soprastante_ of the work, sent to call Magister Arnolfo from Florence to assist in the sculpture of the fountain. Arnolfo, however, declared in a letter dated Aug. 27, 1277, that he could not go to Perugia, or undertake any work there without the consent of King Charles of Anjou (King of Naples and Sicily) or of Hugo, his vicar in Rome. King Charles was applied to, and on Sept. 10 of that year he wrote conceding permission to Arnolfo to go and assist his old master--then 74 years of age--and also to take the marbles necessary.[237]

These documents are very valuable apart from the fact they chronicle. They show how the guild was not only privileged by the reigning monarch, but that he was the active president of it. It explains all those queer words on Longobardic inscriptions, beginning--"In tempore Dominus Honorius Episcopus," "In tempore præsule Paschalis, etc.," showing that they point out the reigning king, pope, or patron bishop who was at the time president of the Great Guild. The name of this highest magnate is usually followed in these inscriptions by the Grand Master, _soprastante_ or _operaio_ of the special lodge. The universality of the guild is also shown; its president, the king, being at Naples, his "vice" at Rome.

The next place in which we see Arnolfo is in Rome, where he worked with his _socio_ (fellow Freemason), Pietro, at the tabernacle of San Paolo fuori le mura. Here, with this ancestor of the Cosmati, Arnolfo learned his love of polychrome sculpture, which he afterwards adapted to the larger uses of architecture; for his grand Florentine Dome seems only a magnified inlaid casket. There is a beautiful piece of inlaid work in the Opera del Duomo which I believe to have been the _pluteus_ or parapet of the tribune in Arnolfo's time. It is in the Cosmatesque work which Arnolfo often executed. That he was as apt a pupil of the Cosmatesque revival of the _opus Alexandrinum_ as he had been of Niccolò's figure sculpture, and his father Jacopo's architecture, is evident by his tomb of Cardinal de Braye at Orvieto, where we next find him working in 1285.[238] The tomb is a beautiful mixture of Cosmatesque ornamentation with the legitimate sculpture which he had learned from Niccolò. The capitals of the spiral inlaid columns of the sarcophagus are of the true old Romano-Lombard form. In the simple grace of the recumbent figure we descry a forerunner of Donatello and Desiderio.

We have now traced Arnolfo's training through three or four of the chief lodges, and always under the best Masters. It is then no marvel that by 1294 his fame had risen so high that he was chosen as architect of the Duomo of Florence. He was well known to the Florentines, his master, Jacopo Tedesco, otherwise Lapo, having left Colle to settle in Florence, where he was engaged to build the Palace of the Podestà (Bargello). And this brings us to the vexed question of the parentage of Arnolfo.

Vasari says that Jacopo or Lapo, whom he calls "il Tedesco" (meaning Lombard architect), was the father of Arnolfo, and he gives this as a certain fact, understood to be the case by the world in general for two or three centuries past.

Milanesi, on the strength of the document quoted above, "Secum ducat Senas Arnolphum et Lapum suos discipulos," says that Lapo was only Arnolfo's contemporary and fellow-pupil.

But neither Vasari nor Milanesi seem to reflect that there might have been two Lapi. Certainly, if two youths are fellow-disciples of one Master, it is not probable that the senior should be the son of the other. On the other hand, if "Jacopo il Tedesco," said to be Arnolfo's father, was elected head architect at Assisi in 1228, how could he have been a young pupil of Niccolò di Pisa in 1266?

Recognizing these difficulties, Milanesi sets out in search of a father for Arnolfo, in place of Lapo, his fellow-pupil. He comes across a document in the archives of the "Riformazione" of Florence, dated MCCC. Aprile 1, where the privileges of citizenship are accorded to "Magistrum Arnolphum de Colle, filium olim Cambij."[239] In quoting this, Gaye[240] says that in spite of it the Florentines will persist in calling Arnolfo the son of Lapo. Now cannot these conflicting facts be reconciled? It is a strange fact that in no other Florentine deed except this one privilege is any sign of parentage given to Arnolfo. He is so enveloped in the greatness of being _caput magister_, and the greatest architect of his day, that his parentage seems to be lost sight of, though the universal custom of the day was to cite the father's name as well as the son's in a document. Therefore, though we have never before heard the surname of Jacopo il Tedesco, there is no reason in the world why it should not be Cambi. By the time Arnolfo was grown up, Jacopo Tedesco had lived many years in Florence; he therefore, having become a Florentine citizen, may have taken office and might have been connected with the Cambio, or Exchange there, taking his name from that office, as a large family of Cambi during the Republic seems to have done.

I incline, however, to another theory--that Cambij is a corruption of Campij, or Campione--for the following reason--As early as 1228 Jacopo Tedesco was already a _Magister_, and of such fame that he was chosen as master architect of the grand church of S. Francesco at Assisi, in conjunction with Fra Philippus de Campello. In spite of Fergusson's opinion that the architect of these large buildings was generally a mere builder, working under some ecclesiastic who drew the plan, the evidence goes to prove, in this case, that Jacopo the layman was _capo maestro_, and Fra Philippus the ecclesiastic only _aiutante_ (assistant). Campello was a corruption of Campiglione or Campione, which name, first taken from a place near Como, became afterwards the distinctive title of the Parma school of Comacine Masters. We find it spelt in different documents: Campillio, Campellio, Campilionum, Campione, often shortened into Campi͠o or Camp͠i. All the older writers say that Jacopo Tedesco was a Comacine or Lombard, and if so, he was one of the Campionesi. His name occurs in a stipulation made at Modena on Nov. 30, 1240, where he and Alberto are qualified as uncles of Magister Enrico, one of the contracting parties.[241] This may well have been the father of Arnolfo, especially as Baldinucci[242] asserts that Jacopo Tedesco lived at Colle in Val d'Elsa, where Arnolfo was born, while his father was building the castle there. With these lights Milanesi's documental "Arnolphus de Cambii" may be accounted for. If the members of the Campione school in the north took that as their name, why should not Jacopo also have signed himself Campione? It is more than probable he shortened it according to custom into Campi͠o, and may not have been very particular to distinguish between the kins-letters p and b, a very common fault in the sketchy spelling of old MSS., and especially likely to occur if, while Lombardy was a German province, he should have imbibed a German accent. This would reconcile all the dispute. Arnolfo was evidently closely connected with the elder Lapo, his style being so similar. Compare the Palazzo Vecchio and Bargello with Lapo's castle of Poppi, and the relation is evident. His connection with the younger Lapo is equally clear. In the list of qualified masters in painting at Florence, quoted by Migliore in _Firenze illustrata_, p. 414, is Niccolò Pisano's pupil, who is called Lapo di Cambio. This would suggest that Arnolfo and his fellow-pupil Lapo were brothers as well as fellow-pupils, so that when Lapo the younger finished Jacopo Tedesco's (Lapo the elder's) work at Colle, he was only following out the usual rules of the guild, in which the son succeeded the father.

The thirteenth century was a time of immense development in art; what Niccolò and Giovanni di Pisa did for sculpture, Jacopo Tedesco and Arnolfo did for architecture. Jacopo was the first to introduce the pointed arch into Central Italy, at Assisi; Arnolfo further developed it in his cathedral at Florence, where the arches of the nave are round, and the windows pointed. After this era we have no more Romanesque--the reign of Italian Gothic has begun.

The Basilican form, too, has vanished; we have now the nave and transepts of the Latin cross. No longer the small double-arched window, but long pointed arches filled with beautiful tracery. The old symbolic animals linger on, but in the subordinate form of grotesques in ornamentation.

That distinctive mark of the guild, the lion of Judah, takes a new position in the Italian Gothic. It is no longer between the pillar and the arch, but beneath the column, as Niccolò and Guido da Como first placed it in their pulpits. You see it under the pillars of the north door of the Florentine Duomo, where the transition into Renaissance is indicated by a particularly classic figure of a child standing by the lion; and under the central column of the windows of the Spanish chapel in the cloister of S. Maria Novella, where it serves to mark the fact that the architects Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro (who in the documents of the time are styled Magister Fra Sisto and Magister Fra Ristoro) were members of the Masonic Guild.

Jacopo, the inaugurator of Italian Gothic, spent all his later years in Florence, having left Colle many years before, when he had finished the castle there. Jacopo's work in Florence consisted of the building of the Bargello, which is a perfect specimen of the late Comacine style, built in _modo gallico_ with large smoothly-hewn stones. The connection of the Masters of the guild with the south of Italy is shown here as well as at Pisa, for it is said that King Manfred commissioned Jacopo Tedesco to design the sepulchre of the Emperor Frederic in the abbey church of Monreale in Sicily. (Manfred died in 1266.)

Jacopo also introduced a reform into Florence. In the time when Messer Rubaconte of Como was Podestà of Florence (1236, 1237), his compatriot, Jacopo Tedesco of Campione, near Como, proposed to him that the streets should be paved with stones instead of bricks, to which Messer Rubaconte agreed, and the same method of paving still continues in Florence.

The second Lapo, Arnolfo's fellow-pupil, and perhaps brother, was the author of several buildings in the end of the thirteenth century, which Vasari falsely attributes to Jacopo the elder. He also continued Jacopo Tedesco's fortifications at Colle.[243]

Whether we look on Arnolfo as the son of Jacopo Tedesco, or only as the pupil of Niccolò Pisano, he was, either way, one of the guild; and more, a follower of Jacopo rather than of Niccolò, his bent being rather architectural than sculptural. We can, then, place Arnolfo as the first head of the _laborerium_ of Florence; and in tracing the formation of this branch of the guild, we shall throw a light on all the former branches, which, from want of systematic documents, have remained as formless organizations of _schola_, _laborerium_, and _Opera_. After trying in vain to find something more explicit about these organizations at the National Library and State Archives, I consulted the director of the Opera del Duomo, who kindly saved me the work of long puzzling over old MSS., by lending me a copy of Cesare Guasti's valuable collection of abstracts from the books of the _Opera_, from the earliest days of Arnolfo to the completion of the cathedral.

Here the whole organization stands revealed. Here are the meetings of the lodge, and the subjects discussed; the names of the _Magistri_ and Council of Administration from year to year; the payments to architects, artists, and men; the legal contracts and business reports.

It is clearly seen how the _Opera_ is connected with the _laborerium_, and how the meetings are always composed of some civic members from the Council of Administration, and some from the working Masters of the lodge.

One, dated October 15, 1436, reports a meeting in the Opera del Duomo, at which the attendant _Operai_ or councillors were Ugo Alessandri, Donato Velluti, Nicolo Caroli de Macignis, and Benedict _Cicciaporci_ (pig's flesh); here's a nickname! They deliberated on the advisability of sending for a certain Francesco Livii de Gambasso, _Comitatus Florentiæ_, who was at Lubeck in Germany, to make the painted windows and mosaics. Francesco, when he came back to the city which he had known in his boyhood, and where he had learnt his art, bound himself to work in the _laborerium_ of the _Opera_, "et in dicta civitate Florentiæ in Laboreriis dictæ Operæ toto tempore suæ vitæ eidem continuum, ac firmum inviamentum exhiberent, ita, et taliter, quod ipse una cum sua familia victum, et vestitum in præfata Civitate erogare posset."[244] This one document gives valuable proof on several points.

It proves that whether or not Italy got her architects from Germany, Italian Masters were employed in Germany.

It proves that there was a guild in Florence, "Comitatus Florentiæ," to which Francesco Livii belonged, and that there was a _laborerium_ in Florence, in which Francesco, when a boy, had learned his art, and risen to the rank of Master. It proves, moreover, that the _laborerium_ was connected with the _Opera_.

Another meeting of the same _Opera_ on November 26, 1435, held to consider all the designs for the choir of the Duomo, marks this connection still more plainly.

"Nobiles viri Johannes Sylvestri de Popoleschis, Johannes Tedicis de Albizzis, Johannes ser Falconis Falconi, Jacobus Johannis de Giugnis, et Hieronymus Francisci dello Scarfa, Operarii dictæ Operæ, existentes collegialiter congregati in loco eorum residentiæ pro factis dictæ Opera utiliter peragendis, absque aliis eorum Collegis, et servatis servandis:

"Attendentes ad quandam Commissionem factam per eorum Offitium de ordinatione Altaris majoris dictæ Ecclesiæ, et Chori ipsius Ecclesiæ infrascriptis Civibus, et Religiosis Sacræ Theologiæ, Magistro Jacobo Grægorii del Badia Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, Magistro Sandro de Covonibus Converso Hospitalis Sanctæ Mariæ Novæ de Florentia, Francisco alterius Francisci Pierotii della Luna Nerio Gini de Capponibus egregio Medicinæ Doctori, Magistro Paulo M. Dominici, et Juliano Thomasii Gucci, omnibus Civibus Civitatis Florentiæ, et ad quemdam rapportum per eos factum coram eorum Offitio infrascriptæ continentiæ."[245]

Here follow the criticisms of this council on three designs for the choir: one by Filippo Brunelleschi; one by Nencio di Bartoluccio; a third by Magister Agnolo da Arezzo.

Observe that we have as master architects of the guild, a monk and a hospital warden, called on the Commission with the _Operai_, who were influential citizens, but not qualified Masters. This seems to throw a light on the word _colligantes_, "Magister comacinus cum colligantes suos," in the old laws of Rotharis. Would not the _colligantes_ mean the Consuls and _Operai_, members of the _Opera_ or administrative body in these great works of church-building, whom the _Magistri_ of the guild elected from the influential men of the city in which they were?

Here are a few translations of his quaint statements of the orders the _Provveditore_ received from the _Operai_--

"_June 1353._--Operai: Lotto, Lapo, Piero di Cienni, Simone di Michele Ristori. They tell me to make haste and obtain the payments from the 'Camera' (council), and the 'Gabelle' (octroi). I must manage that by St. John's Day; the 'covelle' of the Campanile must be finished. And to do that, I must get two of the _Magistri_ from Or San Michele. And the scaffolding must be taken down from S. Giovanni (the Baptistery), so that the work may be seen."

This entry shows how many buildings the guild were engaged on, and how the architects of them all were under the command of the _Opera_, or centre of administration for all.

"_August 14, 1353._--Piero, Lotto, and Simone." (Every entry begins by naming the _Operai_ in council.) "To order designs for a tabernacle.... Get it made. To order the design for the campanile, and in what kind. Have it done in wood. To order marble, for the work at the summit. To tell Francesco[246] there is work for a year. About the rations of Neri Fieravanti. Give him the money to pay all the master's claims, and you, Filippo, shall be the pay-master, and we will provide the means." ("Dalle danari per pagare tutti i maestri loro, e tu Filippo sia loro camarlingo, e noi ti faremo provedere.")[247]

The way in which the _Provveditore_, Filippo Marsili, talks of himself, and puts down his orders from the _Operai_ just in their own words, is naïve in the extreme. His memoranda are certainly delightful.

Here is another very busy day--

"_September 26, 1353._--Operai: Simone, Migliorozzo, Francescho, Piero." (This time the head architect, Francesco Talenti, was in council.) "To elect a salaried lawyer. About a notary for citations. About the nine hundred and fifty lire which the Commune has of ours. To pay by the piece, rather than by the day. To send to Carrara (for marble). Put it off till All Saints' Day. Of the many documents we need.... To reason with the Regolatori.[248] To speak with the captains of the Misericordia about our many legacies.... Tell them to let us know when they meet. About the Wills. To discuss it with Ser Francescho Federigi (a notary). To find means to get ready money. Try and get a discount on the tax on assignments. About the wine for the Masters. Take it away entirely. About Francesco and the window ... to pay the Master who had the commission ... and when the work is done, have it valued, and the surplus, or the deficit, will be entered to Francesco" (head architect).

Truly it was no sinecure to be _Provveditore_ for the guild of architects in those days. He must have had his hands full indeed! When the Masters were not satisfied with their pay, and a work had to be appraised, like this window, a special council was called, consisting of the Consuls of the Arte della Lana, who were the Presidents of the _Opera_, the members of the _Opera_, and all the _Magistri_ of the _laborerium_. The Masters were then called on one by one to give an estimate of the work, and discuss its merits; a ratio was taken, and the medium price fixed.

The same kind of council was called to consider any designs. Generally, several of the _Magistri_ sent in their designs, or models made of wood. These were discussed in council, and votes taken before the final commission was given. The report of one of these meetings, where each Master naïvely voted for his own design, is very amusing.

The Masters were strictly bound by contract to the _laborerium_. In some cases they were paid by the day. We find, on May 29, 1355, that the salaries of Masters were lessened by two soldi a day, and workmen by one soldo. Sometimes the Commune found them wine and rations; at others they were paid by the piece, by contract. On June 7, 1456, the _Provveditore_ writes--"It is desired that on no account shall any Master go to work outside the Opera, without the deliberation and consent of all four Operai. If any absent himself without this permission, he shall be considered as discharged."

The schools attached to the _laborerium_ must have been very complete. They trained pupils in the three sister arts--architecture, sculpture, and painting. One sees the remains of them in the Belle Arti at Florence, Siena, and other towns, and the Academy of St. Luke at Rome. Not all the _Magistri_ were teachers, but there were certain of them who held office as Professors. Niccolò di Pisa was certainly one of these, and so were Cimabue and _Magister_ Giotto.

This full art-education accounts for the artist of the Renaissance being such an all-round man. One finds a painter like Giotto, or a sculptor like Niccolò Pisano, building grand architectural works. Sometimes they graduated in all three arts, as did Landi, Giotto, and Leon Battista Alberti.

When they graduated in the schools, they became _Magistri_ of the guild, and could then undertake commissions. Besides the _Magistri fratelli_, there were the undergraduates as it were; in old Latin documents they are written as _fratres_; below these were the novices or pupils. The workmen employed by them were quite unconnected with the guild, and were paid daily wages as manual labourers.

The light thus thrown on the organization of the Masonic Guild by the valuable collection of documents made by Cesare Guasti, seems to me to explain much that was puzzling in the Florentine city guilds. For instance, why, among all the _Arti_, is there none which includes architects, sculptors, or painters? It would have been supposed that in the early days of the republic, when the Commune spent its wealth and enthusiasm on erecting great and noble buildings, architecture would certainly have ranked among the greater _Arti_, even in competition with the wool-combers and silk-weavers. But there was no such civic guild. There was a minor one for masons and stone-cutters, but it was established later for workmen and mere house-builders, and had nothing to do with great architects or master sculptors; while painters who wished to be members of the Commune and have any hand in the government, had to enroll themselves in the Goldsmith Guild, or the "Arte degli speziali" (doctors and apothecaries). The existence of this Freemasonic Guild would explain this hiatus in the greater arts. While such a powerful and self-governing body existed, which had evidently the monopoly for Italy in the art of church-building, a mere city guild would never have been able to compete with it, and would have been superfluous.

That it really held the monopoly is more than probable. We have traced the Comacines through each gradation, have seen the successive schools and branches started by them in each place where they had great works in hand. The Buoni family at Modena going on to the south of Italy and then to Pistoja, founded that school. The Campione branch at Verona and Parma hence passed to Assisi and Florence. The Lucca school of Lombard Masters spread to Pisa and gathered into it native talent.

The later gathering of Lombards and Pisans at Siena thence moved to Orvieto, and sent a branch to Florence in the persons of Jacopo Tedesco and Arnolfo. There taking root it grew into the goodly flower of the Renaissance. And after efflorescence,--decay; the old organization, by degrees, dissolved in the greater freedom of art. Each Master aimed to stand alone on his own merits, and was no longer necessarily enrolled as one in a guild.

A great many things besides are revealed to us by Guasti's collection of documents. We find that Arnolfo died in 1310; Vasari read it wrongly as 1300, so that Arnolfo would only have worked a year or two at his Duomo. The correct entry in the archives is--"IIII idus (martii) Quiescit magister Arnolfus de l'opera di Santa Reparata MCCCX."[249]

It is a strange coincidence that the death registered before Arnolfo in the Necrology should be a man named Cambio, a locksmith, but he seems to have no connection with Arnolfo, whose parentage as usual is not indicated.

Thus we see that Arnolfo at the most only worked eleven or twelve years at a building which took more than a century to finish. How much did he accomplish? Probably not more than the foundations and the design which he left, and which may be seen to this day; for it is usually understood that the church in the fresco of the Spanish chapel represents the Duomo as Arnolfo designed it. After his death Florence fell upon warlike times, and was unable to continue the work till 1331, when the "city being in a happy and tranquil state, recommenced the building of the church of Santa Reparata, which had for a long time been in abeyance, and had made no progress, owing to the many wars and expenses which the city had undergone." The deed goes on to relate that the Arte della Lana was placed at the head of the administration, and that a tax of two denari per libbra on all moneys paid to the Commune should be appropriated for the expense, as had been decreed before. They further added another tax on the customs, so that the two amounted to 12,000 _libbre picciole_ a year. Besides this, every shop in Florence was to have a money-box where they were to place _il denaro di Dio_ (tithes) on all they sold.[250] I quote this to show how cities in the good old church-building days paid their architects. It is probable that the schools of the guild had continued in this interval, though the _Magistri_ may have had to seek work elsewhere, for by July 18, 1334, we find Giotto as a _Magister_, selected as architect of the Campanile, though he seems to have had very little to do with the Duomo. His marvellous tower, in its varied colouring and artistic effect, shows the hand of a painter rather than an architect. He did not live to see his work completed, for on January 8, 1336, he died, soon after his return from Milan, where he had been sent in the services of the Visconti, and had a public funeral at the expense of the Commune in Santa Reparata. The fact that the work of his tower went on in his absence, proves that he must have had brethren in the guild capable of carrying out his plans. As the foundations were only laid in July 1334, and Giotto died in January 1336, after a long absence at Milan, one wonders how he found time to sculpture the reliefs in his Hymn of Labour. However, we must take Ghiberti's testimony for it. In his second _Commentary_, Ghiberti says[251]--"The first line of reliefs which are in the Campanile which he erected were sculptured and designed by his own hand. In my time I have seen his own sketches beautifully drawn." A contemporary anonymous commentator on Dante writes[252]--"Giotto designed and superintended the marble bell-tower of Santa Reparata in Florence, a notable tower and costly. He committed two errors--one that it had no base, and the other that it was too narrow. This caused him such grief that, they say, he fell ill and died of it." I think indeed that if Giotto had found any error he would have rectified it in the plans which he left for his successors. That it had no foothold is not true, for the solid foundation was placed so far beneath the surface that it stood firm on the solid _macigno_ (kind of granite rock) twenty _braccia_ below.

His successor was of another branch of the guild, but a Masonic _Magister_ all the same. On April 26, 1340, Andrea di Pisa was elected by vote by the Council of the _Opera_ to succeed Giotto as head architect.[253]

There must have been other _Magistri_ proposed as candidates, if the Council had to resort to black and white beans for the voting. Andrea only lived a few years; he died, or retired from office, in 1348, the year of the great plague; and Francesco Talenti became _caput Magister_ in 1350. Francesco was a brother of Fra Jacopo Talenti, _Magister lapidum et edificorum_, who was joint architect with Fra Ristoro of the convent and church of Santa Maria Novella from 1339 to 1362. Francesco, like his brother, must have been in the guild; he worked at Orvieto cathedral among numbers of Como and Lombard Masters in 1329. In April 1336 we find him called to Siena as an expert.[254] There had been discovered some defect in the columns. Francesco's companion from Florence was Benci di Cione. His office as _capo maestro_ of the Duomo of Florence continued some years, though he did not reign alone, but was associated with Giovanni di Lapo Ghino, who after 1360 is called joint _capo maestro_. The principal documents of their administration prove that there were endless councils and arguments about the size, height, and placing of the columns, and discussions on Talenti's plan for the chapels at the east end. This seems to have been a crucial question.... Councils of four _Magistri_ in each were held for three consecutive days--July 15, 16, and 17, 1355; and their opinions given in writing. On August 5 the grand united council of twelve Masters and the whole lodge was held, when the proportions for the columns were decided, and Francesco's design for the chapel approved.

Another Council was held on June 8, 1357, with the _Operai_ and Consuls of Arts, and their ecclesiastical colleagues, when the undermentioned Masters and monks gave their counsel on the church--a proof of the close affinity of ecclesiastics with the Masonic Guild.

Frate Francischo of Carmignano
" Jacopo Talenti. S. M. Novella
" Franciescho Salvini. S. Croce
" Tommasino. Ogni Santi
" Jachopo da S. Marcho
" Piero Fuci, e
" Filippo sacrestano di S. Spirito
" Benedetto dalle Champora
Magister Neri di Fieravanti
" Stefano Messi
" Franciescho Salviati
" Giovanni Gherardini
" Giovanni di Lapo Ghini
" Franciesco dal Choro
" Ristori Cione
" Ambrogio Lenzi, or Renzi

The report was written by Sig. Mino, notary of the guild; the spelling of the names is his own.

Several of the same monks met at the _Opera_ on July 12, 1357, to consult about the placing of the columns in the second foundation.

Also, on July 17, 1357, to choose between two designs of columns and a chapel made by Francesco Talenti and Orcagna, when each candidate elected two Masters as arbiters. Francesco Talenti chose Ambrogio Lenzi, a Lombard, and Frate Filippo Riniero of S. Croce. Andrea Orcagna chose Niccolò di Beltramo, also a Lombard, and Francesco di Neri. These could not decide, and Piero di Migliore the goldsmith was taken as umpire, the parties binding themselves to abide by his decision. Giovanni di Lapo Ghino and Francesco Talenti were ordered to make new designs. At length, on July 28, Orcagna's plan was chosen.

Talenti's office was no sinecure; we often find him disputing with other Masters. Indeed, the lodge greatly lacked unity. Disintegration was beginning. On August 5, 1353, the _Provveditore_, Filippo Marsili, writes--"I must get Neri di Fioravanti and Francesco Talenti to settle that dispute within fifteen days. They must choose an arbiter each, and may elect the third arbiter by joint consent." They chose Benozzi as mutual third. Again on October 4, 1353--"The Master who executes Francesco Talenti's design for the window must be paid his demands. When the work is done, have it valued, and the balance more or less to go to Francesco's account."

He seems also to have been an improvident sort of man. Here are two tell-tale entries in Filippo Marsili's memorandum book--"July 12, 1353. Advance him as soon as convenient the pay for four months. Take it out, by deducting half his salary weekly." Again in November the entry is--"Lend him what he wants."

In 1376 Francesco's son Simone became joint _capo maestro_ with Benci Cione, Orcagna's father, at a salary of eight gold florins a month. Simone graduated also in the sculpture school, and executed a figure for the façade, for which he was paid thirteen florins on September 4, 1377. Zanobi Bartoli, also a _Magister lapidum_ (sculptor), was at the same time paid twenty gold florins each for two marble figures, though he received only eighteen florins for his statue of the Archangel Michael in December of the same year.

Francesco's colleague, Giovanni di Lapo Ghino, is a good instance--one of many--of the hereditary nature of the guild. We first hear of Ghino at Siena in the thirteenth century. On February 7, 1332, his sons Simone and Jacopo, or Lapo di Ghino, sign a contract with Agostino and his son Giovanni of Siena, to build a chapel in the Pieve S. Maria at Arezzo--that of Bishop Tarlati, Bindo de' Vanni and his son Francesco, with two other _Magistri_, being witnesses.[255]

In 1362 a certain Ambrosius Ghino is named in a list of the lodge. He may have been a brother or nephew of Lapo. Then comes the third generation, and we find Giovanni, son of Lapo di Ghino, at Orvieto. He afterwards came to Florence, where he was elected _capo maestro_, at first in unison with Jacopo Talenti, and later by himself. In 1388 old Ghino's great-grandson, whose whole pedigree is given in the books as "Michele, Johannis, Lapi, Ghini," became in his turn _capo maestro_ of the Duomo of Florence. His descendant, Antonio Ghino, also graduated in the Florentine Lodge, but he went back to Siena, where he appears as one of the _Magistri_ employed there in 1472.

This family is only one of many hereditary Masonic brethren. The Cione family is another instance. The first Masters of the name appear in Florence on July 1355, as Ristoro and Benci Cione, two members attending the Council on Francesco Talenti's design for the chapels, but whether they were brothers or father and son I cannot tell; I presume brothers, or Benci would have been written down as Benci Ristori di Cione.[256] We have seen Benci Cione called to Siena as an arbiter. He was much occupied in Florence, where he worked at the building, or rather adaptation, of Or San Michele. He and Laurentius Filippi (Lorenzo, son of Filippo Talenti) were joint architects of the Loggia dei Lanzi, Lorenzo superintending the sculpture, and Cione the architecture. Lorenzo has set the sign of the guild on the base of his columns by surrounding them with small pillars on which lions are crouching; the proportions and ornamentation of the building are beautiful. Orcagna has always been credited as the architect of this Loggia, but he is here proved not to be the original designer, though he probably worked with his father.

Orcagna's name, Andrea di Cione, first appears in the great Council with monks and _Magistri_, held on June 18, 1357, to decide on the space which should be left between the columns of the Duomo.[257]

Andrea's nickname of Orcagna, a corruption of Arcangelo (Archangel), has clung to him through centuries, and over-shadowed his real patronymic of Cione. The relation between him and Benci di Cione remains rather obscure. Orcagna has also had the credit of building the church of Or San Michele. Probably writers confuse Orcagna, or Andrea di Cione, the sculptor of the beautiful shrine in that church, which is his masterpiece, with the Benci di Cione who was architect of the building. From the close connection of the two in the guild, and from Orcagna having worked so much with Benci, I think it probable they were father and son. Milanesi is rather uncertain about the father of Orcagna, and in the genealogical table at the end of his life he writes him as Cione with a note of interrogation, and no Christian name, which may well have been Benci.

Orcagna first studied painting under his elder brother Nardo (short for Bernardo), who was enrolled in the "company of St. Luke." But this was only one branch of Andrea's art-education. He matriculated in the Masonic Guild (_Arte dei maestri di pietra e legname_), in the books of which it is written--"Andrea Cioni, called Archangel, a painter of the parish of S. Michele Visdomini, took his oath and promises in the said guild, Magister Neri Fioravanti being his sponsor, in 1352, sixth indication, October 29."[258]

It was Orcagna's way to emphasize his varied qualifications by signing his paintings, "Andrea di Cione, scultore," and his sculptures, "Andrea di Cione, pittore." On his masterpiece, the shrine in Or San Michele, he has inscribed, "Andreas Cionis, pictor Florentinus, oratorii arch magister extitit hujus MCCCLIX." The expression "Archmagister of the Oratory" (or shrine) explains many things. It tells us that the whole of that complicated piece of sculpture, though it may have been designed entirely by Orcagna, was not entirely executed by him, but that, like other _Magistri_, he had a band of brethren working under him; for how could he have been _chief_ Master where there were no lesser ones under his command?

It is interesting in studying the working of the Masonic Guild, of which Orcagna signs himself Archmagister, to see how they are occupied in building several grand edifices at once. The immense number of Masters congregated in the Florentine Lodge rendered this possible, and wealth was not lacking in the city to employ them.

The books at the _Opera_ reveal how the Council of Administration dominates the _laborerium_. We shall see how the busy _Provveditore_ has to change the _Magistri_ about from Santa Croce to Or San Michele; or from the Duomo to San Michele Visdomini, just as need presses. He has to order marbles for all and any of these edifices; to call councils to consider designs for all kinds of different buildings and parts of buildings, such as windows, chapels, doors, etc. Sometimes we find him commissioning a certain architect to make a plan for a chapel, or a door, or a window. When Talenti and Giovanni Ghino had both made designs for the tribune in October 1367, the usual councils were not enough to decide the momentous question which to choose. The whole city had to be called into council, together with the monks (_frati colleganti_), the _Magistri_ of the guild, etc. Hundreds and thousands of people came to the _Opera_, looked at the designs, signed their names on the list of approval, for one or the other.

After the joint reign as _capi maestri_ of Giovanni di Lapo Ghino and Francesco Talenti, came a varied line of master builders lasting for a hundred years, so that it is impossible to say that any one man was the architect of the Duomo. Between Arnolfo's first plan and the final Italian Gothic development of the fifteenth century lies the whole history of the development of art.

The next great _capo maestro_ after Talenti was Ambrogio of Lenzo or Lanzo, near Como, one of the Campione school. His name is given in a deed of February 3, 1363, as "Ambroxius filius magistri Guglielmi de Champiglione." It is remarkable that an ancestor and namesake of this "Ambroxius" was also written down as "filius Magistri Guglielmi" in 1130, two centuries earlier, when they were leading members of the Campione school at Modena, and sculptured the façades of Modena and Ferrara cathedrals; so our Ambrogio of Florence was one of the distinguished aristocracy of the lodge, his family dating from its cradle in Lombardy. From the deed which we quote we find that Ambrogio graduated under his father, and made his first contract with Barna Batis, then _Provveditore_ of the _Opera_ of the Duomo, to provide and prepare the black marble necessary to the work, for every _braccio_ of which he was to be paid six soldi eight denari. This is the original--

"_Archivio dell' Opera dell Duomo_, February 3,
1362.--Ambroxius filius magistri Guglielmi de Champiglione,
comitatus Mediolani, emancipatus a Domino magistro Guillielmo
patre suo, ut continere dixit publice manu ser Joannis
Arriglionis notarii de Champiglione, conduxit a Barna olim
Batis provisore Operis Sancte Reparate de Florentia, locante
vice et nomine operariorum ... ad faciendum et digrossandum
totum marmum nigrum quod erit necessarium dicto operi, hinc ad
unum annum proxime venturum, illarum mensurarum prout dicetur
eidem per capomagistros dicti operis. Et dictus Barna locavit
eidem die dictum marmum ad fovendum et digrossandum, et
promisit pro dicto opere eidem Ambroxio de quolibet brachio
dicti marmi dare eidem Ambroxio soldos sex et denarios octo f.
p., etc. Que omnia, etc."