DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61670#0098
56 LUCA DELLA ROBBIA
piece of sculptured music, and never has the beauty of
rhythmic sound and movement been more grandly interpreted
in the plastic arts.
The original price stipulated for each of the upper reliefs
was sixty gold florins, and for the lower thirty-five (Doc. ii. 13),
increased later to seventy for the former and a proportionate
increase for the rest (Doc. ii. 14). This payment is exclusive
of the Carrara marble, “ to be brought in such quantity as is
desired by Luca della Robbia, magister pergami ” (Doc. ii. 4),
and the payment of assistants for the more mechanical carvings.
Among the numerous documents at present discovered in the
archives of the Opera del Duomo, we find the name of one
of these assistants—“ Nanni di Miniato, detto Fora ”—a name
worthy of record, since he was the sculptor of the delicate
cornice, a fragment of which has so fortunately been brought
to light (Doc. ii. 9).
One part of the Cantoria seems irrecoverably lost. Vasari
tells us that on the balustrade were placed two figures of
gilded bronze also made by Luca, “ due Angeli nudi” probably
winged putti. These were still in existence in the time of
Baldinucci, but no trace of them is now to be found. It is
possible that they also were thrown carelessly by at the destruc-
tion of the Cantoria, and if the metal was not melted up,
may still be hidden away in some unexplored vault of the
Cathedral.1
In 1437 Luca received the commission for another im-
portant work, the carving of the five lozenges on the north
side of the Campanile, left unfinished by Andrea Pisano. The
series of carvings which run round the lower story of the
Tower were, according to the authority of Ghiberti, designed,
1 Before leaving the subject of the Cantoria mention must be made of an
important suggestion made by Signor Castellucci, and published by Dott. Marrai
(“ Le Ricomposizione della Cantoria,” Arte It. Dec. e Indust., p. 84). In the
centre chapel of the Tribuna, on the north side of the High Altar in the Duomo,
is a very beautiful marble altar, discovered in 1895 beneath a modern construc-
tion by the late Professor del Moro. A similar altar has recently been found
piece of sculptured music, and never has the beauty of
rhythmic sound and movement been more grandly interpreted
in the plastic arts.
The original price stipulated for each of the upper reliefs
was sixty gold florins, and for the lower thirty-five (Doc. ii. 13),
increased later to seventy for the former and a proportionate
increase for the rest (Doc. ii. 14). This payment is exclusive
of the Carrara marble, “ to be brought in such quantity as is
desired by Luca della Robbia, magister pergami ” (Doc. ii. 4),
and the payment of assistants for the more mechanical carvings.
Among the numerous documents at present discovered in the
archives of the Opera del Duomo, we find the name of one
of these assistants—“ Nanni di Miniato, detto Fora ”—a name
worthy of record, since he was the sculptor of the delicate
cornice, a fragment of which has so fortunately been brought
to light (Doc. ii. 9).
One part of the Cantoria seems irrecoverably lost. Vasari
tells us that on the balustrade were placed two figures of
gilded bronze also made by Luca, “ due Angeli nudi” probably
winged putti. These were still in existence in the time of
Baldinucci, but no trace of them is now to be found. It is
possible that they also were thrown carelessly by at the destruc-
tion of the Cantoria, and if the metal was not melted up,
may still be hidden away in some unexplored vault of the
Cathedral.1
In 1437 Luca received the commission for another im-
portant work, the carving of the five lozenges on the north
side of the Campanile, left unfinished by Andrea Pisano. The
series of carvings which run round the lower story of the
Tower were, according to the authority of Ghiberti, designed,
1 Before leaving the subject of the Cantoria mention must be made of an
important suggestion made by Signor Castellucci, and published by Dott. Marrai
(“ Le Ricomposizione della Cantoria,” Arte It. Dec. e Indust., p. 84). In the
centre chapel of the Tribuna, on the north side of the High Altar in the Duomo,
is a very beautiful marble altar, discovered in 1895 beneath a modern construc-
tion by the late Professor del Moro. A similar altar has recently been found