DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0072
56 LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
Giovanni with black marble from Prato, removing the stones
which had been suffered to remain between those old marbles.*
About the same time, the Florentines desired to erect certain
buildings in the upper Valdarno, above the fortress of San
Giovanni and Castel Franco, for the greater convenience of
the inhabitants and the more commodious supply of their
markets ; they entrusted the design of these works also to
Arnolfo, in the year 1295, when he so completely satisfied
them on this, as he had done on other occasions, that he was
elected a citizen of Florence.
All these undertakings being completed, the Florentines
resolved, as Giovanni Villani relates in his History,| to con-
struct a cathedral church in their city, determining to give it
such extent and magnificence that nothing superior or more
beautiful should remain to be desired from the power or in-
dustry of man. Arnolfo then prepared the plans and execu-
ted the model of that temple, which can never be sufficiently
extolled, the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, directing that
the external walls should be encrusted with polished mar-
bles, rich cornices, pilasters, columns, carved foliage, figures
and other ornaments, with which we now see it brought, if
not entirely, yet in a great measure to completion. But what
was most of all wonderful in that work, was the fact, that
he incorporated the church of Santa Reparata, besides
other small churches and houses, which stood around it, in
his edifice, yet, in arranging the design of his ground plan
(which is most beautiful), he proceeded with so much care
and judgment, making the excavations wide and deep, and
filling them with excellent materials, such as flint and lime,
and a foundation of immense stones, that they have proved
equal, as we still see, to the perfect support of that enormous
construction, the cupola, which Filippo di Ser Brunellesco
erected upon them, and which Arnolfo had probably not even
thought of placing thereon : nay, from the fame acquired by
these constructions, the place is still called “ Lungo-i-Fon-
damenti.”
The foundation of this edifice was celebrated with much
solemnity, the first stone being laid on the birthday of the
* For a long discussion as to the part which Arnolfo took in these
works, see Ruinohr, It al. Forsch.; Antologia di Firenze, v. i.
f Book viii, chap. 7.
Giovanni with black marble from Prato, removing the stones
which had been suffered to remain between those old marbles.*
About the same time, the Florentines desired to erect certain
buildings in the upper Valdarno, above the fortress of San
Giovanni and Castel Franco, for the greater convenience of
the inhabitants and the more commodious supply of their
markets ; they entrusted the design of these works also to
Arnolfo, in the year 1295, when he so completely satisfied
them on this, as he had done on other occasions, that he was
elected a citizen of Florence.
All these undertakings being completed, the Florentines
resolved, as Giovanni Villani relates in his History,| to con-
struct a cathedral church in their city, determining to give it
such extent and magnificence that nothing superior or more
beautiful should remain to be desired from the power or in-
dustry of man. Arnolfo then prepared the plans and execu-
ted the model of that temple, which can never be sufficiently
extolled, the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, directing that
the external walls should be encrusted with polished mar-
bles, rich cornices, pilasters, columns, carved foliage, figures
and other ornaments, with which we now see it brought, if
not entirely, yet in a great measure to completion. But what
was most of all wonderful in that work, was the fact, that
he incorporated the church of Santa Reparata, besides
other small churches and houses, which stood around it, in
his edifice, yet, in arranging the design of his ground plan
(which is most beautiful), he proceeded with so much care
and judgment, making the excavations wide and deep, and
filling them with excellent materials, such as flint and lime,
and a foundation of immense stones, that they have proved
equal, as we still see, to the perfect support of that enormous
construction, the cupola, which Filippo di Ser Brunellesco
erected upon them, and which Arnolfo had probably not even
thought of placing thereon : nay, from the fame acquired by
these constructions, the place is still called “ Lungo-i-Fon-
damenti.”
The foundation of this edifice was celebrated with much
solemnity, the first stone being laid on the birthday of the
* For a long discussion as to the part which Arnolfo took in these
works, see Ruinohr, It al. Forsch.; Antologia di Firenze, v. i.
f Book viii, chap. 7.