Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖

on his

arrival, set before him all the difficulties, from the greatest to the

smallest, which had been made by the masters, who were present, together

with himself, at the audience: whereupon Filippo replied in these

words--'Gentlemen Superintendents, there is no doubt that great

undertakings always present difficulties in their execution; and if none

ever did so before, this of yours does it to an extent of which you are

not perhaps even yet fully aware, for I do not know that even the

ancients ever raised so enormous a vault as this will be. I, who have

many times reflected on the scaffoldings required, both within and

without, and on the method to be pursued for working securely at this

erection, have never been able to come to a decision; and I am

confounded, no less by the breadth than the height of the edifice. Now,

if the cupola could be arched in a circular form, we might pursue the

method adopted by the Romans in erecting the Pantheon of Rome; that is,

the Rotunda. But here we must follow the eight sides of the building,

dove-tailing, and, so to speak, enchaining the stones, which will be a

very difficult thing. Yet, remembering that this is a temple consecrated

to God and the Virgin, I confidently trust, that for a work executed to

their honor, they will not fail to infuse knowledge where it is now

wanting, and will bestow strength, wisdom, and genius on him who shall

be the author of such a project. But how can I help you in the matter,

seeing that the work is not mine? I tell you plainly, that if it

belonged to me, my courage and power would beyond all doubt suffice to

discover means whereby the work might be effected without so many

difficulties; but as yet I have not reflected on the matter to any

extent, and you would have me tell you by what method it is to be

accomplished. But even if your worships should determine that the cupola

shall be raised, you will be compelled not only to make trial of me, who

do not consider myself capable of being the sole adviser in so important

a matter, but also to expend money, and to command that within a year,

and on a fixed day, many architects shall assemble in Florence; not

Tuscans and Italians only, but Germans, French, and of every other

nation: to them it is that such an undertaking should be proposed, to

the end that having discussed the matter and decided among so many

masters, the work may be commenced and entrusted to him who shall give

the best evidence of capacity, or shall display the best method and

judgment for the execution of so great a charge. I am not able to offer

you other counsel, or to propose a better arrangement than this.'

 

"The proposal and plan of Filippo pleased the Syndics and Wardens of the

works, but they would have liked that he should meanwhile prepare a

model, on which they might have decided. But he showed himself to have

no such intention, and taking leave of them, declared that he was

solicited by letters to return to Rome. The syndics then perceiving that

their request and those of the wardens did not suffice to detain him,

caused several of his friends to entreat his stay; but Filippo not

yielding to these prayers, the wardens, one morning, ordered him a

present of money; this was on the 26th of May, 1417, and the sum is to

be seen among the expenses of Filippo, in the books of the works. All

this was done to render him favorable to their wishes; but, firm to his

resolution, he departed nevertheless from Florence and returned to Rome,

where he continued the unremitting study of the same subject, making

various arrangements and preparing himself for the completion of that

work, being convinced, as was the truth, that no other than himself

could conduct such an undertaking to its conclusion. Nor had Filippo

advised the syndics to call new architects for any other reason, than

was furnished by his desire that those masters should be the witnesses

of his own superior genius: he by no means expected that they could or

would receive the commission for vaulting that tribune, or would

undertake the charge, which he believed to be altogether too difficult

for them. Much time was meanwhile consumed, before the architects, whom

the syndics had caused to be summoned from afar, could arrive from their

different countries. Orders had been given to the Florentine merchants

resident in France, Germany, England, and Spain, who were authorized to

spend large sums of money for the purpose of sending them, and were

commanded to obtain from the sovereigns of each realm the most

experienced and distinguished masters of the respective countries.

 

"In the year 1420, all these foreign masters were at length assembled in

Florence, with those of Tuscany, and all the best Florentine artists in

design. Filippo likewise then returned from Rome. They all assembled,

therefore, in the hall of the wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore, the

Syndics and Superintendents, together with a select number of the most

capable and ingenious citizens being present, to the end that having

heard the opinion of each on the subject, they might at length decide on

the method to be adopted for vaulting the tribune. Being called into the

audience, the opinions of all were heard one after another, and each

architect declared the method which he had thought of adopting. And a

fine thing it was to hear the strange and various notions then

propounded on that matter: for one said that columns must be raised from

the ground up, and that on these they must turn the arches, whereon the

woodwork for supporting the weight must rest. Others affirmed that the

vault should be turned in cysteolite or sponge-stone (spugna), thereby

to diminish the weight; and several of the masters agreed in the opinion

that a column must be erected in the centre, and the cupola raised in

the form of a pavilion, like that of San Giovanni in Florence. Nay,

there were not wanting those who maintained that it would be a good plan

to fill the space with earth, among which small coins (quatrini) should

be mingled, that when the cupola should be raised, they might then give

permission that whoever should desire the soil might go and fetch it,

when the people would immediately carry it away without expense. Filippo

alone declared that the cupola might be erected without so great a mass

of woodwork, without a column in the centre, and without the mound of

earth; at a much lighter expense than would be caused by so many arches,

and very easily, without any framework whatever.

 

"Hearing this, the syndics, who were listening in the expectation of

hearing some fine method, felt convinced that Filippo had talked like a

mere simpleton, as did the superintendents, and all the other citizens;

they derided him therefore, laughing at him, and turning away; they bade

him discourse of something else, for that this was the talk of a fool or

madman, as he was. Therefore Filippo, thinking he had cause of offence,

replied, 'But consider, gentlemen, that it is not possible to raise the

cupola in any other manner than this of mine, and although you laugh at

me, yet you will be obliged to admit (if you do not mean to be

obstinate), that it neither must nor can be done in any other manner;

and if it be erected after the method that I propose, it must be turned

in the manner of the pointed arch, and must be double--the one vaulting

within, the other without, in such sort that a passage should be formed

between the two. At the angles of the eight walls, the building must be

strengthened by the dove-tailing of the stones, and in like manner the

walls themselves must be girt around by strong beams of oak. We must

also provide for the lights, the staircases, and the conduits by which

the rain-water may be carried off. And none of you have remembered that

we must prepare supports within, for the execution of the mosaics, with

many other difficult arrangements; but I, who see the cupola raised, I

have reflected on all these things, and I know that there is no other

mode of accomplishing them, than that of which I have spoken.' Becoming

heated as he proceeded, the more Filippo sought to make his views clear

to his hearers, that they might comprehend and agree with him, the more

he awakened their doubts, and the less they confided in him, so that,

instead of giving him their faith, they held him to be a fool and a

babbler. Whereupon, being more than once dismissed, and finally refusing

to go, they caused him to be carried forcibly from the audience by the

servants of the place, considering him to be altogether mad. This

contemptuous treatment caused Filippo at a later period to say, that he

dared not at that time pass through any part of the city, lest some one

should say, 'See, where goes that fool!' The syndics and others forming

the assembly remained confounded, first, by the difficult methods

proposed by the other masters, and next by that of Filippo, which

appeared to them stark nonsense. He appeared to them to render the

enterprise impossible by his two propositions--first, by that of making

the cupola double, whereby the great weight to be sustained would be

rendered altogether unmanageable, and next by the proposal of building

without a framework. Filippo, on the other hand, who had spent so many

years in close study to prepare himself for this work, knew not to what

course to betake himself, and was many times on the point of leaving

Florence. Still, if he desired to conquer, it was necessary to arm

himself with patience, and he had seen enough to know that the heads of

the city seldom remained long fixed to one resolution. He might easily

have shown them a small model which he had secretly made, but he would

not do so, knowing the imperfect intelligence of the syndics, the envy

of the artists, and the instability of the citizens, who favored now one

and now another, as each chanced to please them. And I do not wonder at

this, because every one in Florence professes to know as much of these

matters, as do the most experienced masters, although there are very few

who really understand them; a truth which we may be permitted to affirm

without offence to those who are well informed on the subject. What

Filippo therefore could not effect before the tribunal, he began to

attempt with individuals, and talking apart now with a syndic, now with

a warden, and again with different citizens, showing moreover certain

parts of his design; he thus brought them at length to resolve on

confiding the conduct of this work, either to him or to one of the

foreign architects. Hereupon, the syndics, the wardens, and the

citizens, selected to be judges in the matter, having regained courage,

gathered together once again, and the architects disputed respecting the

matter before them; but all were put down and vanquished on sufficient

grounds by Filippo, and here it is said that the dispute of the egg

arose, in the manner following. The other architects desired that

Filippo should explain his purpose minutely, and show his model, as they

had shown theirs. This he would not do, but proposed to all the masters,

foreigners and compatriots, that he who could make an egg stand upright

on a piece of smooth marble, should be appointed to build the cupola,

since in doing that, his genius would be made manifest. They took an egg

accordingly, and all those masters did their best to make it stand

upright, but none discovered the method of doing so. Wherefore, Filippo,

being told that he might make it stand himself, took it daintily into

his hand, gave the end of it a blow on the plane of the marble, and made

it stand upright.[2] Beholding this, the artists loudly protested,

exclaiming that they could all have done the same; but Filippo replied,

laughing, that they might also know how to construct the cupola, if they

had seen the model and design. It was thus at length resolved that

Filippo should receive the charge of conducting the work, but was told

that he must furnish the syndics and wardens with more exact

information.

 

"He returned, therefore, to his house, and stated his whole purpose on a

sheet of paper, as clearly as he could possibly express it, when it was

given to the tribunal in the following terms:--'The difficulties of this

erection being well considered, magnificent signors and wardens, I find

that it cannot by any means be constructed in a perfect circle,