Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10): Cimabue to Agnolo GaddiVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10): Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
In the first is the scene when, assisted by the Ghibelline party of
Milan, which sent him money and four hundred masons, he is rebuilding
the walls of Arezzo all anew, making them much longer than they were and
giving them the form of a galley. In the second is the taking of
Lucignano di Valdichiana. In the third, that of Chiusi. In the fourth,
that of Fronzoli, then a strong castle above Poppi, and held by the sons
of the Count of Battifolle. The fifth is when the Castle of Rondine,
after having been many months besieged by the Aretines, is surrendering
finally to the Bishop. In the sixth is the taking of the Castle of
Bucine in Valdarno. The seventh is when he is taking by storm the
fortress of Caprese, which belonged to the Count of Romena, after having
maintained the siege for several months. In the eighth the Bishop is
having the Castle of Laterino pulled down and the hill that rises above
it cut into the shape of a cross, to the end that it may no longer be
possible to build a fortress thereon. In the ninth he is seen destroying
Monte Sansovino and putting it to fire and flames, chasing from it all
the inhabitants. In the eleventh is his coronation, wherein are to be
seen many beautiful costumes of soldiers on foot and on horseback, and
of other people. In the twelfth, finally, his men are seen carrying him
from Montenero, where he fell sick, to Massa, and thence afterwards, now
dead, to Arezzo. Round this tomb, also, in many places, are the
Ghibelline insignia, and the arms of the Bishop, which are six square
stones "or," on a field "azure," in the same ordering as are the six
balls in the arms of the Medici; which arms of the house of the Bishop
were described by Frate Guittone, chevalier and poet of Arezzo, when he
said, writing of the site of the Castle of Pietramala, whence that
family had its origin:
Dove si scontra il Giglion con la Chiassa
Ivi furono i miei antecessori,
Che in campo azurro d'or portan sei sassa.
Agnolo and Agostino of Siena, then, executed this work with better art
and invention and with more diligence than there had been shown in any
work executed in their times. And in truth they deserve nothing but
infinite praise, having made therein so many figures and so great a
variety of sites, places, towers, horses, men, and other things, that it
is indeed a marvel. And although this tomb was in great part destroyed
by the Frenchmen of the Duke of Anjou, who sacked the greater part of
that city in order to take revenge on the hostile party for certain
affronts received, none the less it shows that it was wrought with very
good judgment by the said Agostino and Agnolo, who cut on it, in rather
large letters, these words:
HOC OPUS FECIT MAGISTER AUGUSTINUS ET MAGISTER ANGELUS DE SENIS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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