Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876Various
Science
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
I do not believe that it is any longer possible to obtain a complete
copy of the above-mentioned work. Many years ago I found the separate
sheets of it lying about in the sacristy in a manner which gave one a
vivid idea of the reckless carelessness which is so marked a
characteristic of Italians. Bundles of the different plates, some
containing forty or fifty copies, some twenty or so, and some not more
than four or five, were thrust into cupboards with wax candles for the
altar, tattered choir-books and old candlesticks. And here was the whole
remaining stock of the work! I was at that time able, by the exercise of
much patience, trouble and persuasion with the old sacristan--who seemed
to consider the sale of the plates a very insufficient recompense for
the trouble of looking for them--to get together a complete copy of the
work; but when I was there the other day not more than twenty of the
plates out of nearly twice that number were to be found. In the mean
time, however, a complete set of photographs of every portion of the
sculpture has been made in a smaller size, but sufficiently large to
give a very satisfactory representation of the extreme beauty and
elegance of the work. It is indeed impossible to doubt that this Master
Stephen of Bergamo, the carpenter, whose wife was to have half a crown a
month for doing the washing and cooking for all the family living in the
rooms assigned to them in the monastery for a workshop and living-rooms,
was a man of education and culture, and in every sense of the word an
_artist_. The difference between his social position and that of any
artist of corresponding eminence in our day would seem to consist wholly
in that greater degree of personal and material luxury which
civilization and increased wealth have brought with them. The payment
which he was to receive for his year's work, besides having been
maintained, lodged and fed at the cost of the monastery during the time,
may, I take it, be considered equivalent to about twenty-two thousand
five hundred dollars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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