Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/372

 350 THE BUILDING NEWS. May 3, 1879. that deal is not a wood to be despised, that inlay need not be costly, that dining-rooms may look handsome without being put into one monotonous uniform of mahogany and maroon; that carpets are not required to re- semble the shop-windows in Covent Garden ; and that, for the sake of novelty, it is unneces- sary to lay out a floorful of Counts Bismarck oer Princes of Wales, to be trodden under foot of men. The pernicious tendency has not died out, however, of manufacturing orna- ments so outré as to be repulsive—death’s- heads, toads, spiders, centipedes, guillotines, gallows, coffins, tombstones, and so forth, in gold ornament or enamel—the signs of a vitiated taste, and a distinct depravity in point of art, worse even than the odious brooch- miniatures which always set us thinking of a colour-sergeant in thearmy. It is strange that we never remark these disfiguring character- istics in our porcelain manufactures, though we doin the French, whose imaginations in this respect are frequently indecent, whether in faience, majolica, Palissy, or neo-classical. All is pure in our Wedgewood, Worcester, and Staffordshire wares. England makes rapid progress in the glyptic art, in the longe- forgotten art of repoussé, in the French in- vention of oxydising silver, which was only imported to this country in 1851. As usual, we are generous beyond all limits in the matter of drawn architectural designs— Gothic, Classic, and Renaissance—such ele- vations, such facades, such cathedral heights, such bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, and man- sions for millionaires. This International Exhibition is less of a Vanity Fair than its predecessors, though there is more than enough of the bazaar character about it still. Again, its topo- graphy is simple, though why so many annexes should be required is a mystery, when there is ample space to spare. But one thing is certain—that the popular resorts will be the picture and sculpture galleries and the jewel cases. The world is fascinated by glitter. “TI never knew but one woman,” said Sir Robert Walpole, ‘* whom I could not bribe with money, and she took diamonds!” The model of the Kohinoor, often as it has been shown, will attract its constant throng; eyes will water at the sight of bezemmed erosses *‘ which Jews might kiss and infidels adore.” The fashion of jewellery is a fashion for all time and for every land; you may pass a loom or a locomotive, a voltaic battery or a Stanhope press; but ruby and emerald caskets command a pause, as do filagrees and cameos; necklaces, bracelets, coronets, earrings, intaglios, onyx, sardonyx, and cornelian, attract the eyes irresistibly, on account of their grace and dazzle. Many a glance of wistfulness is cast through the plate-glass and gilded trellis-work of ordinary jewellers’ shops, but what must the sensation be when the worth of the display, all brought into one focus, is scarcely to be caleulated ?— common rubies and vinegar rubies, pale Saxon topazes, glimmering sapphires, pearls and opals heaped like grains of corn; rosy coral, blood-flower coral, blood-froth coral, rain- bows of brilliants for the hair, ropes of them for the neck—a Belshazzar’s feast of splen- dour, including that which jewellers call the finest “‘ Orient” of Pearl. In this depart- ment, too, the English are fast coming up abreast with their French rivals, whose artistic genius, however, has hitherto kept the lead. We have thus generally noted the effects and lessons of the new International Exhibition without attempting, as yet, a methodical analysis of its contents. wee eat CRITICAL NOTES ON GREAT ITALIAN ARCHITECTS.—x. BACCIO D’AGNOLO AND SIMONE POLLAIUVOLO, OF FLORENCE. ALTHOUGH these architects are not so = _ well known as others who have specially obtained the capricious praise of Fame, yet they were long and largely employed in the practice of architecture, and Baccio d’Agnolo exercised a great influence over the rising students of his day. Born at Florence about the year 1460, Baccio, whilst still a youth, obtained distinetion for his works in inlay of wood, and Vasari praises highly those exe- euted by him at 8. M. Novella and the An- nunziata. Like most students of his time, he soon repaired to Rome for the better study of the antique, and, after what appears to have been a short sojourn there, returned to his native city, and speedily became in request as an architect and sculptor ; ‘‘ insomuch so,” says Vasari, ‘that the most magnificent buildings erected in his day were confided to his care, and he was made director of the same.” This appears to have been when Piero Soderini was Gonfaloniere, or prior to the year 1513, so that Baccio was at this time well advanced in years, and it must have been long before this that the interesting group described by Vasari was to be seen collected around him in his workshop, which he very seldom quitted, and in which, says Vasari, ‘‘might often be seen gathered around him many of the citizens, as well as the most eminent artists of our vocation, when the most admirable discourses were to be heard, more particularly in the winter, and discussions of great importance were con- stantly held. The first among those who thus assembled in this place was Raffaello du Urbino, then young; and next came Andrea Sansovino, Filippino (Lippi), Maiano, Cronaca, Antonio and Giuliano da Sangallo, Granaccio, and sometimes, but rarely, Michael Angelo, with many young men, both Florentines and strangers.” It is a pleasant episode of Italian artist life here presented to us, and we can well imagine how agree- ably the time must have passed amongst men so able and enthusiastic in the arts, all moved by one common enthusiasm for the antique, and not split up into factions as now, fight- ing, with narrow-minded bigotry and no slight. fierceness, ‘the battle of the schools.” During Soderini’s term of office, Vasari says that Baccio was associated with Cronaca in altering the great hall of the Palazzo Vegchio, and erected the main staircase as well as the marble doors of the Hall ‘del Dugento.” It is probable, however, that Baccio’s services were required in executing rather than design- ing the wood, for Vasari distinctly states, in his life of ‘* 11 Cronaca,” that the whole work was placed in Cronaca’s sole charge. The em- ployment of Baccio, however, as an architect became settled in the later years of his life, and he designed some of the most important man- sions in Florence, such as the Casa Bartolim, in the Piazza Sta. Trinith: the Lanfredini Palace, on the Lung’Arno; the Taddei (now Pecori Giraldi) Palace; the Casa Borgherini, and a villa for the same family at Bellosguardo (now the Villa Castellani); the campaniles of San Miniato and Santo Spirito ; and he fur- nished a model for the Church of San Giu- seppe at Sant ’Onofrio, which Vasari states was his last work. He was also appointed architect to the Duomo at Florence, and made a design for the gallery which was to encircle the cupola, and which has remained unfinished, owing to the strong objections made against the design by Michael Angelo, objections which appear to have been not un- justly grounded on the littleness of its effect when combined with the grand masses of the main building. Baccio did not give up the practice of working in wood whilst employed as architect, and we find Vasari speaking in terms of the highest admiration of the mag- nificent ornament of the chimney-pieces and doors which he executed for P. F. Borgherini, as_ well as certain carved coffers in walnut-wood, ‘‘adorned with figures of children ;” also the frame-work for some paintings for G. M. Benintendi, and that of Fra Bartolommeo’s large picture in the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio, which Vasari says he “ carved with his own hand,” unfor- tunately now lost or destroyed. The building which brought Baccio chiefly into notice, and which marks an epoch in architectural design, was the Casa Bartolini, which caused quite a commotion in Florence on its erection, and was ridiculed by all the wits and artists of the day: and even Vasari, who seldom finds aught but words of praise for a Tuscan, is sarcastic on the subject, and in his life of Cronaca compares the proportions of the cornice with that of the Strozzi Palace, and observes that the building looks like “a small head half buried beneath a huge cap.” Baccio was, however, by no means put down by the remarks of his detractors, but caused to be engraved on the facade, ‘* Carpere promptius quam imitari.” Imitated, how- ever, it was, and by no less an artist than Raphael. It is also stated that an adaptation of it was built in Paris for the Duke de Retz. Not only was the cornice declared to be dis- proportionate; but the general design met with disapproval, for, according to Vasari, it ‘‘was the first palace in Florence which had been erected with square windows, and with a portal the columns of which supported an architraye, frieze, and cornice. These things were much censured in that city.” The custom, however, adopted by Raphael in the Casa Uguecioni soon became common and as much admired as it was at first abused. As regards the justice of Vasari’s sneer at the disproportion of the cornice to the whole building, it is sufficient to state that it is about 1-16th, whilst that of the Strozzi is about 1-12th. So much for the facts. Baccio, who died in 15438, left three sons, who all followed the business of wood-carving, and one of them, Giuliano, succeeded him as architect to the cathedral. It is not fitting that we should take leave of this city (Florence) and period without re- cording the labours of an architect who was one of the chief men of his day—viz., “ Il Cronaca,” so called from the long stories he had always to relate of Rome, its people and antiquities. Simone Pollaiuolo, for such was his name, born in 1455, had been brought up as a wood carver in Florence; but whilst still a youth had to fly from his native city owing to some feud in which he got involved, and sought refuge in Rome, where he found employment with his kinsman, the celebrated sculptor, then engaged on the bronze monu- ment of Pope Sixtus, and it was at this time that he turned his attention to the study of ancient architecture. Cronaca would ap- pear to have made a lengthened sojourn in Rome ; but in course of time returned to his native city, and was ‘“‘ reputed to be the best among the modern architects of Florence ;” and his works, says Vasari, ‘‘ clearly proved the closeness wherewith he observed the rules of Vitruvius, and the careful study which he gave to the works of Filippo Brunelleschi.” This is a fair criticism on the character of Cronaca’s style ; he is excellent in proportion, and judiciously moderate in ornament, but there is little originality in his designs which still bear the impress of the old Tuscan style. The first work which appears to have brought him into notice was the cornice and court- yard of the Strozzi Palace, which he designed for Phillip Strozzi shortly be- fore the death of the original architect, Benedetto du Majano, in 1498. Other build- ings of his design were the Sacristy of Santo Spirito, the Church of San Francesco dell Osservanza at San Miniato, which wasaspecial favourite of Michael Angelo, the Convent of the Servites, and the renovation of the Pa- lazzo Vecchio, including the construction of the “ Salone” or great hall, about 170ft. long and 75ft. broad ; the ceiling flat, andthe whole, though somewhat impressive, dark and heavy looking, although much raised from its original height by Vasari, who made such important alterations that he de- clares, if ‘Il Cronaca and the other in- genious artists who gave the design of this hall would return to life, it is my belief that they would not recognise either the palace, the hall, or anything else that is there.” No doubt this is ina measure true ;