Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/476

 454 THE BUILDING NEWS. JUNE 7, 1872. nen nnn, CRITICAL NOTES ON GREAT ITALIAN ARCHITECTS.—XIUII. By J. B. Warne. JACOPO SANSOVINO. ACOPO TATTI, descended from an e? ancient family of Lucca long settled in Florence, was born in that city, anno 1477, and having early shown a predilection for art, was placed subsequently, according to Vasari, to study sculpture under Andrea Contucci_ of Monte Sansovino, one of the greatest artists of the time, who returned to Florence from several years’ service with the King of Portugal, in 1500, and so great was the pro- gress he made that he became Andrea’s favourite pupil and assistant, and the relation between them was rather that of ‘ father and son” than masterand pupil, and he took the name of Sansovino from his teacher. It is not our intention to speak of Jacopo as a sculptor, his works are too well known to need enumeration or praise; but, certainly, both he and Andrea hold most eminent places in thatart. It is probable also that while with Andrea he came to know something of archi- tecture, since several important buildings were erected from his master’s designs, but it was Giuliano da San Gallo who took him to Rome and introduced him to Bramante. Whilst at Rome he appears to have been principally engaged in sculpture, and it is in- teresting to find that, living in the same house there with Pietro Perugino, he is described by Vasari as making models of groups in wax in full relief, from which Perugino used to work. : On the occasion of Leo X. visiting Florence in 1514, Sansovino was employed by the Medici, in company with his attached fellow student and friend, Andrea del Sarto, to make designs for some triumphal arches and the decoration of the unfinished facade of the Cathedral; this latter Sansovino made with double Corinthian columns and niches, in so handsome a manner that the Pope observed it was worthy of being permanently executed, and it was from this cause, probably, that he subsequently received an order from the Pope to furnish a design for the facade of San Lorenzo, which met with approval, and of which Baccio d’Agnolo executed a model in wood. Finally, however, Michael Angelo was employed, and Sansovino, proceeding to Rome, continued to work there as a sculptor and architect; and, besides designing various houses—amongst which may probably be cited the Palazzo Niccolini, a good example of the Roman style—was selected in competition with Raphael, Antonio da San Gallo, and Balthazar Peruzzi, to build the Church of the Florentines, which, as it now stands, is, how- ever, the work of later architects. He was also engaged to make the sepulchral monu- ments of the Cardinals of Arragon and Agen, when his labours at Rome were abruptly brought to a close by the taking and sack of the city by the Constable de Bourbon in 1527. Sansovino, amongst others, found safety in flight, intending, it is said, to pass into France, where he had been invited to enter into the service of Francis I. But, through the friendship of Doge Andrea Gritti and the Jardinal Grimani, he was induced to make Venice his home, and was at once employed in strengthening the cupolas of S. Mark, which difficult task he performed in so ingenious a manner and with such _per- fect success that the Signoria, convinced of his ability, conferred on him the highest rofessional office in the Republic, and made fo Proto-master of the Signori Procuratori of S. Mark. Sansovino entered, about the year 1529, energetically on the duties of his new Office : ** Not only, ‘‘says Vasari,” did he devote himself zealously to whatever could promote the grandeur, beauty, and ornament of the Church, the Piazza, and the whole city, to an extent never before done by any man who had held his office, but by the ingenuity of his inventions, the promptitude of his ac- tions, and the prudence of his administration, he lessened the outlay and improved the | self, Titian, and Pietro Aretino, a fine work, revenue.” It would be difficult to enumerate chronologically the various important works with which Sansovino adorned his adopted home ;—on all he brought to bear a genius of the very highest order, whether in architec- ture or sculpture ;—foremost amongst them stands the celebrated library of S. Mark, commenced in 1536, which is so noble and picturesque a feature of the Piazza, and which, with its arched loggia and arcaded windows, combined with a free yet judicious use of excellent sculpture, is one of the noblest and most striking examples of architectural art existing. Nor was the interior, with its fine staircase, halls, floors, and stucco work, with its paintings by Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, and Battista Franco, unworthy of its outward show. But even in this great work Sansovino experienced that amare aliquid which at- attends so many triumphs, for scarcely was the vaulted ceiling of the library completed when it fell in, and the architect placed at once in prison and fined ; but, on investiga- tion, no blame, it was declared, could be at- tached to him; the fine was remitted, and he resumed the duties of his office as before. In 1536 also was commenced the Zecca, or mint, which he constructed as nearly fireproof as possible, principally of stone and iron; it is a fine example of rustic work; the cortile of this building was designed later on by Scamozzi. For the Greeks settled at Venice Sansovino designed, in 1532, the Church of 8. Giorgio de Grechi, an excellent work, in which, as he was prevented from the use of figure sculpture, he paid particular attention to proportion and detail, the campanile being a clever adaptation of the type which for centuries had been common in Venice, just as Antonio da San Gallo adapted the Roman- esque type at San Spirito, Trastevere. (See “ Architectural Art in Italy and Spain,” pl. 27.) The fine church of San Francesco della Vigna was also designed by Sansoyino, and the first stone laid in 1554, but is mainly due in its present state to Palladio; and the churches of San Giuliano, in the Merceria of Santo Spirito, ‘‘a graceful and pleasing work ;” and San Gemignano, ‘“ which gives splendour to the Piazza,” and in which Sansovino was buried, were also designed by him, but the two last are now destroyed. It is especially as a designer of civic architecture that we should regard Sansovino, and his talents were employed on a remarkable series of palaces, which gave a new character to Venice. Such, besides those we have men- tioned, are the Palazzo Cornaro on the Grand Canal, built in 1532, still one of the most stately palaces in Venice, and the Palazzo Manin, as well as others which are mentioned by Vasari, but cannot be easily identified. The Fabbriche nuove di Rialto are also by him, and the well-known loggia of the Corinthian order, richly ornamented with sculpture and coloured marble, which sur- rounds the base of the great campanile. This work, though very effective in its way, is open tomuch criticism ; it, indeed, appears confused and little in the mass, and is better regarded in detail; it is in keeping, however, with the colour and carved work of the cathedral to which it is adjacent, and formed a sumptuous station indeed for the Corps de Garde, for whose use it was originally intended. In a style as plain as this is ornamental remains to be noticed the Church of S. Martin, also designed by him. Of Sansovino’s works in sculpture we can- not enter into detail: but it is remarkable that, although so busily engaged in his duties at Venice, he produced there a number of fine works—some of the highest order of merit—such as his marble bas reliefs on the Chapel ‘del Santo,’ Padua; the colossal marble statues of Mars and Neptune on the “Giants’” staircase of the Ducal Palace, executed when he was past seventy years of age; and the bronze door of the Sacristy of 5. Mark, containing portraits in relief of him- on which he is stated to have been engaged for twenty years ; to say nothing of numerous others in marble and bronze, scattered throughout the churches of Venice. Thus employed in adorning Venice with fine works of art, fora period of just forty years, ‘held in esteem by artists, nobles, and people,” and firm in his affection to the Republic which had shielded and employed him—so much so as to resist most tempting offers of work from the Popes, the Medici, and Phillip of Spain—Sansovino passed quietly away. ‘This master, so renowned in sculpture, and so great in architecture, had lived by the grace of God, who had endowed him with that ability which rendered him illustrious.” At the age of ninety-three, ‘ feeling himself some- what weary of body, lay down on his bed to repose himself,” but he became weaker and weaker, and died, in ‘the pure course of nature,” in the year 1570. As a sculptor Sansovino holds a very high position, as an architect his style is dis- tinguished by a massive richness and a pictorial effect which have seldom been surpassed. Bringing with him from Rome the best examples of the great masters in their adaptation of the antique, he combined what was good and fitting with the orna- mental style and arcaded system of openings of the local Venetian school, giving up entirely the straight-headed openings of the Roman school. He did not bind himself strictly to rules, and when he departed from them it was boldly and with judgment, as witness his great frieze of the Library, an innovation which would quite have frightened his old master Bramante. Vasari states that he left upwards of sixty designs for buildings at Venice, of which some were in progress of being published when he wrote. He may be regarded as the founder of a new school of art in the Venetian State, and a great number of good sculptors are to be counted as his pupils or assistants, such as Danese Cattaneo, Girolamo of Ferrara, Tribolo, and Solosmeo, Jacopo Colonna, Lancia, Alessandro Vittoria, Jacopo de’Medici, and Bartollomeo Ammanati, whose works in architecture and sculpture are of great excellence. Sansovino had by no means the monopoly of architectural work in Venice, although his style is that which is now specially known as Venetian; he appears to have acted only as consulting architect to the Signoria in many cases: ‘* No work in sculpture or architec- ture being undertaken in his time at Venice without his advice and concurrence.” It is in this sense that he, probably, acted for the Scuola of the Misericordia, apparently that of San Rocco, which Vasarisays he erected; but which is always attributed, on good authority, to other hands. Palladio was employed on several buildings during his term of office, as well as Scamozzi, who, after his death, com- pleted the side of the Piazza adjoining the Libraria Nuova, with the Procuratie Nuove, begun by Sansovino, which we shall have occasion to consider in our notice of Secamozzi, who will form the subject of our next article. — THE GREAT BUILDING TRADE DISPUTE IN LONDON. O-DAY at three o’clock a general meeting of the Master Builders’ Association is to be held at the Freemasons’ ‘Tavern, and the Committee, it is stated, intend to reeommend a general lock-out, unless the men who have struck at Messrs. Jackson & Shaw's and Mr. Brass’s return at once to work. Perhaps we can hardly do better service either to the masters or the men than by reminding them of the course of incidents which ushered in the great strike of 1859. As early as 1853 the agitation for shorter hours was commenced by the masons, who were soon joined by the carpenters and joiners, both trades, however, eventually agreeing to a proposal made by the