Alberto di Guido Buono } | | | } | Sculptured at S. Pietro, 10. | " | M. Albertino di Enrico } | Bologna. | | Buono } | ------+------+-----------------------------+----------------------------- The family were leading members of the guild up to the fifteenth century, when Bartolommeo Buono and his sons won fame in Venice. We have seen the long connection of the Comacines with Lucca, during Lombard times, when they helped to build S. Frediano and other churches there. Sig. Ridolfi, author of _L' Arte in Lucca_, proves that not only the chief churches, but the cathedral itself, were the work of the Lombard "Maestri Casari" who had established their schools there, since they restored S. Frediano for the Lombard Faulone in 686, and built the Basilica of S. Martino for Bishop Frediano in 588. By the tenth century the church of S. Martino was very dilapidated, which much grieved the mind of Bishop Anselmo, who sought to gather together funds for its restoration. Two wealthy Lucchesi, Lambertus and Blancarius, both dignitaries of the cathedral, gave large donations towards it. Not long after this, Bishop Anselmo was elevated to the Papal See as Pope Alexander II., and immediately began the long-desired work of rebuilding his ex-cathedral. [Illustration: CHURCH OF S. MICHELE, LUCCA. _See page 228._ ] He being a Milanese, and the Comacines his countrymen, besides their having a long connection with Lucca, it is natural to suppose he chose them as his architects. Every sign of the work confirms this, although no names have come down to us. As was frequently the case, the church was left without a façade for over a century, and at the end of the twelfth century the Lucchesi wished to put this finishing touch.