Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/60

46 merely vast and rich, they are nevertheless worthy of some consideration.

There existed, then, at the time of Lapo, and of Arnolfo, his son, many buildings of great importance, both in Italy and other countries, of which I have not been able to discover the architects. Among these are the, in Sicily; the , in Naples; the ; the ; the churches and , in Bologna; with many others, erected at incredible expense, throughout Italy. All which I have well examined, with many works in sculpture of the same times, more particularly in Ravenna, without being able to find any memorial whatever of the masters,—nay, often uncertain as to the age in which they were constructed,—so that I cannot but marvel at the simplicity and indifference to glory exhibited by the men of that period. But to return to our subject. After the buildings just enumerated, others were erected in a nobler spirit, and the architects of which endeavoured at least to produce something better, if they did not attain their end. The first of these masters was, whose family, name, and country, ar alike unknown, he having written his baptismal name only in the few memorials which he has left of his works. This artist was a sculptor as well as architect; he built many palaces and churches, in Ravenna, about the year 1152; and these, with certain works of sculpture, also executed by him, having brought him into notice, he was invited to Naples,