The other one is the urn for the relics of S. Omobono, protector of Cremona. Unfortunately the urn, which is said to have been very rich and beautifully worked, has been ruined and dispersed. One slab only remains, bearing the inscription, _Magister Boninus de Campilione me fecit_, with the date, June 25, 1357. So Can Scaliger would have had also other famous monumental works to recommend his choice of Bonino. FOOTNOTES: [143] "Anno itaque MXCIX ab incolis præfatæ urbis quæstum est ubi tanti operis designator, ubi talis structuræ edificator invenire posset: et tandem Dei gratia inventus est vir quidam nomine Lanfrancus mirabilis ædificator, cujus concilio indicatum est ejus basilicæ fundamentum."--From Muratori, quoted by Merzario, _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. iv. p. 168. [144] See chapter headed "Troublous Times." [145] This tower, which is almost as light and elegant as that of Giotto in Florence, became historically famous in the wars between Modena and Bologna in 1325, when the famous Secchia was hidden there--the subject of that curious heroi-comic poem _La Secchia rapita_. [146] Calvi, _Notizie sulla vita e sulle opere dei principali architetti, pittori e scultori_, etc., vol. i. p. 39. [147] Frix is an abbreviation of Frixones, a name we find two centuries later in an artist of the same guild, working at Milan cathedral, Marco da Frixone a Campione. Another Frix worked at Ferrara a century later. [148] See chapter on "The Florentine Lodge." [149] _Artisti Lombardi del Secolo XV_, di Micheli Caffi. [150] _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. iv. p. 161. [151] The silence of that learned St. Thomas was so proverbial that his fellow-students called him the "Bue muto" (the dumb bull). Apropos of this, Albertus Magnus made his famous witty prophecy--"Tomaso may be a dumb bull, but the day will come when his bellowing will be heard throughout the world." [152] Merzario, _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. viii. p. 243. [153] Difendente Sacchi, _L' arca di S. Agostina illustrata_, etc. [154] Merzario, _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. viii. p. 248. [155] V. Vairina, _I Scriptiones Cremonenses Universæ_, p. 14, N. 53. CHAPTER III THE TUSCAN LINK I.--PISA The very mention of Pisa brings to our minds Niccolò Pisano, whose name stands in all art histories as the fountain-head of that Tuscan development of art which led to the Renaissance. But where was Niccolò Pisano trained and qualified for this high post of honour? A great architect and sculptor does not suddenly become famous and obtain important commissions without having some undeniable credentials.