A Wanderer in Florence | Page 6

that Brunelleschi felt
should either be his own or no one's, the little man found time also to
build beautiful churches and cloisters all over Florence. He lived to see
his dome finished and the cathedral consecrated by Pope Eugenius IV
in 1436, dying ten years later. He was buried in the cathedral, and his
adopted son and pupil, Buggiano, made the head of him on the tablet to
his memory.
Brunelleschi's lantern, the model of which from his own hand we shall
see in the museum of the cathedral, was not placed on the dome until
1462. The copper ball above it was the work of Verrocchio. In 1912
there are still wanting many yards of stone border to the dome.
Of the man himself we know little, except that he was of iron tenacity
and lived for his work. Vasari calls him witty, but gives a not good
example of his wit; he seems to have been philanthropic and a patron of
poor artists, and he grieved deeply at the untimely death of Masaccio,
who painted him in one of the Carmine frescoes, together with
Donatello and other Florentines.
As one walks about Florence, visiting this church and that, and peering
into cool cloisters, one's mind is always intent upon the sculpture or
paintings that may be preserved there for the delectation of the eye. The
tendency is to think little of the architect who made the buildings where
they are treasured. Asked to name the greatest makers of this beautiful
Florence, the ordinary visitor would say Michelangelo, Giotto, Raphael,
Donatello, the della Robbias, Ghirlandaio, and Andrea del Sarto: all
before Brunelleschi, even if he named him at all. But this is wrong. Not
even Michelangelo did so much for Florence as he. Michelangelo was
no doubt the greatest individualist in the whole history of art, and
everything that he did grips the memory in a vice; but Florence without

Michelangelo would still be very nearly Florence, whereas Florence
without Brunelleschi is unthinkable. No dome to the cathedral, first of
all; no S. Lorenzo church or cloisters; no S. Croce cloisters or Pazzi
chapel; no Badia of Fiesole. Honour where honour is due. We should
be singing the praises of Filippo Brunelleschi in every quarter of the
city.
After Brunelleschi the chief architect of the cathedral was Giuliano da
Maiano, the artist of the beautiful intarsia woodwork in the sacristy,
and the uncle of Benedetto da Maiano who made the S. Croce pulpit.
The present façade is the work of the architect Emilio de Fabris, whose
tablet is to be seen on the left wall. It was finished in 1887, five
hundred and more years after the abandonment of Arnolfo's original
design and three hundred and more years after the destruction of the
second one, begun in 1357 and demolished in 1587. Of Arnolfo's
façade the primitive seated statue of Boniface VIII (or John XXII) just
inside the cathedral is, with a bishop in one of the sacristies, the only
remnant; while of the second façade, for which Donatello and other
early Renaissance sculptors worked, the giant S. John the Evangelist, in
the left aisle, is perhaps the most important relic. Other statues in the
cathedral were also there, while the central figure--the Madonna with
enamel eyes--may be seen in the cathedral museum. Although not great,
the group of the Madonna and Child now over the central door of the
Duomo has much charm and benignancy.
The present façade, although attractive as a mass of light, is not really
good. Its patterns are trivial, its paintings and statues commonplace;
and I personally have the feeling that it would have been more fitting
had Giotto's marble been supplied rather with a contrast than an
imitation. As it is, it is not till Giotto's tower soars above the façade that
one can rightly (from the front) appreciate its roseate delicacy, so
strong is this rival.

CHAPTER II

The Duomo II: Its Associations
Dante's picture--Sir John Hawkwood--Ancestor and Descendant--The
Pazzi Conspiracy--Squeamish Montesecco--Giuliano de' Medici
dies--Lorenzo's escape--Vengeance on the Pazzi--Botticelli's
cartoon--High Mass--Luca della Robbia--Michelangelo nearing the
end--The Miracles of Zenobius--East and West meet in
splendour--Marsilio Ficino and the New Learning--Beautiful glass.
Of the four men most concerned in the structure of the Duomo I have
already spoken. There are other men held in memory there, and certain
paintings and statues, of which I wish to speak now.
The picture of Dante in the left aisle was painted by command of the
Republic in 1465, one hundred and sixty-three years after his
banishment from the city. Lectures on Dante were frequently delivered
in the churches of Florence during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
and it was interesting for those attending them to have a portrait on the
wall. This picture was painted by Domenico