Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/85

Rh METAL-WO R K 75 Duomo of Troia, the last made in the beginning of the 1 2th century by Oderisius of Benevento. Another artist named Roger of Amalfi worked in the same way ; and in the year 1219 the brothers Hubertus and Petrus of Piacenza cast the bronze door for one of the side chapels in San Giovanni in Laterano. One of the most important early specimens of metal-work is the gold and silver altar of Sant Ambrogio in Milan. In character of work and design it resembles the Venice Pala d Oro, but is still earlier in date, being a gift to the church from Arch bishop Angilbert II. in 835 A.D. (see Du Sommerard, and D Agincourt, Moyen Age). It is signed WOLVINIVS MAGISTER PHABER ; nothing is known of the artist, but he probably belonged to the semi-Byzantine school of the Rhine provinces ; according to Dr Rock he was an Anglo- Saxon goldsmith. It is a very sumptuous work, the front of the altar being entirely of gold, with repousse reliefs and cloisonne e enamels ; the back and ends are of silver, with gold ornaments. On the front are figures of Christ and the twelves apostles ; the ends and back have reliefs illustrating the life of St Ambrose. The most important existing work of art in metal of the 13th century is the great candelabrum now in Milan cathedral. It is of gilt bronze, more than 1 4 feet high ; it has seven branches for candles, and its upright stem is supported on four winged dragons. For delicate and spirited execution, together with refined gracefulness of design, it is unsurpassed by any similar work of art. Every one of the numerous little figures with which it is adorned is worthy of study for the beauty and expression of the face, and the dignified arrangement of the drapery (see fig. 3). FlQ. 3. Boss from the Milanese Candelabrum. The semi-conventional open scroll-work of branches and fruit which wind around and frame each figure or group is devised with the most perfect taste and richness of fancy, while each minute part of this great piece of metal-work is finished with all the care that could have been bestowed on the smallest article of gold jewellery. Though some thing in the grotesque dragons of the base recalls the Byzantine school, yet the beauty of the figures and the keen feeling for graceful curves and folds in the drapery point to a native Italian as being the artist who produced this wonderful work of art. There is a cast in the South Kensington Museum. During the 13th and 14th centuries in Italy the wide spread influence of Niccolo Pisano and his school encouraged the sculptor to use marble rather than bronze for his work. At this period wrought iron came into general use in the form of screens for chapels and tombs, and grills for windows. These are mostly of great beauty, and show remarkable skill in the use of the hammer, as well as power in adapting the design to the requirements of the material. Among the finest examples of this sort of work are the screens round the tombs of the Scala family at Verona, 1350-75, a sort of net-work of light cusped quatrefoils^ each filled up with a small ladder (scala) in allusion to the name of the family. The most elaborate specimen of this wrought work is the screen to the Rinuccini chapel in Santa Croce, Florence, of 1371, in which moulded pillars and window-like tracery have been wrought and modelled by the hammer with extraordinary skill (see Wyatt, Metal- Work of Middle Ages). Of about the same date are the almost equally magnificent screens in Sta Trinita, Florence, and at Siena across the chapel in the Palazzo Pubblico. The main part of most of these screens is filled in with quatre-foils, and at the top is an open frieze formed of plate iron pierced, repousse^ and enriched with engraving. In the 14th century great quantities of objects for ecclesiastical use were produced in Italy, some on a large scale, and mostly the works of the best artists of the time. F IG. 4. Silver Repousse Relicts from the Pistoia Retahle. The silver altar of the Florence baptistery is one of the chief of these; it was begun in the first half of the 14th century, and not completed till after 1477 (see Gaz. dfs Beaux Arts, Jan. 1883). A whole series of the greatest artists in metal laboured on it in succession, among whom were Orcagna, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Ant. Pollajuolo, and many others. It has elaborate reliefs in repousse work, cast canopies, and minute statuettes, with the further enrich ment of translucent coloured enamels. The silver altar and retable of Pistoia cathedral (see fig. 4), and the great shrine at Orvieto, are works of the same class, and of equal importance. Whole volumes might be devoted to the magnificent works in bronze produced by the Florentine artists of this century, works such as the baptistery gates by Ghiberti, and the statues of Verrocchio, Donatello, and many others, but these come rather under the head of sculpture.