Page:On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV.djvu/20

 Andrew of Milan was paid 11 ducats and 5 carlini for gilding the said nails, with 3 ducats and a half more for gilding the knocker and its appurtenances; and that Paul and Dionysius received 25 ducats for painting the door and the grille behind it: total, 58 ducats—only 7 ducats less than the sum paid to the brothers Ghirlandajo for decorating the whole of the Common Library.

The floor, at any rate in the Latin and Greek Libraries, seems originally to have been paved, from the terms in which the repair of it is recorded, 21 August, 1475. But not long afterwards, before the end of the century according to M. Fabre, it was replaced by encaustic tiles, singularly beautiful both in design and colour. In the Latin Library, this pavement is so much worn by long use, that the design can hardly be made out; but in the Greek Library, and in the Bibliotheca secreta beyond, the tiles are nearly as fresh as when they were laid down. The pattern is worked in pale blue or pale green upon a ground which has become, by lapse of time, of a yellowish colour, like ivory. The tone of the whole is deliciously soft. The purchase of these tiles is not mentioned in the Accounts of Sixtus IV., and it most probably took place after his death. They are precisely the same as those used in the Borgia apartment on the first floor over the Library, and were doubtless laid down at the same time (1492—1503). M. Fabre records the opinion of Professor Tesorone, director of the Museo artistico-industriale at Naples, under whose direction the pavement of the Borgia apartment has been admirably restored, that these tiles were probably made in Umbria, either at Perugia or at Deruta.

The decoration of the walls and roof was begun in November, 1475. The artists selected were Domenico and David Ghirlandajo, of Florence; a mason and his mate (murator et socius