The Cathedral Builders: The Story of a Great Masonic GuildScott, Leader
History
The Cathedral Builders: The Story of a Great Masonic Guild
Scott, Leader
Cathedrals; Church architecture; Guilds
In 1362 a certain Ambrosius Ghino is named in a list of the lodge. He
may have been a brother or nephew of Lapo. Then comes the third
generation, and we find Giovanni, son of Lapo di Ghino, at Orvieto. He
afterwards came to Florence, where he was elected _capo maestro_, at
first in unison with Jacopo Talenti, and later by himself. In 1388 old
Ghino's great-grandson, whose whole pedigree is given in the books as
"Michele, Johannis, Lapi, Ghini," became in his turn _capo maestro_ of
the Duomo of Florence. His descendant, Antonio Ghino, also graduated
in the Florentine Lodge, but he went back to Siena, where he appears
as one of the _Magistri_ employed there in 1472.
This family is only one of many hereditary Masonic brethren. The Cione
family is another instance. The first Masters of the name appear in
Florence on July 1355, as Ristoro and Benci Cione, two members
attending the Council on Francesco Talenti's design for the chapels,
but whether they were brothers or father and son I cannot tell; I
presume brothers, or Benci would have been written down as Benci
Ristori di Cione.[256] We have seen Benci Cione called to Siena as an
arbiter. He was much occupied in Florence, where he worked at the
building, or rather adaptation, of Or San Michele. He and Laurentius
Filippi (Lorenzo, son of Filippo Talenti) were joint architects of the
Loggia dei Lanzi, Lorenzo superintending the sculpture, and Cione the
architecture. Lorenzo has set the sign of the guild on the base of his
columns by surrounding them with small pillars on which lions are
crouching; the proportions and ornamentation of the building are
beautiful. Orcagna has always been credited as the architect of this
Loggia, but he is here proved not to be the original designer, though
he probably worked with his father.
Orcagna's name, Andrea di Cione, first appears in the great Council
with monks and _Magistri_, held on June 18, 1357, to decide on the
space which should be left between the columns of the Duomo.[257]
Andrea's nickname of Orcagna, a corruption of Arcangelo (Archangel),
has clung to him through centuries, and over-shadowed his real
patronymic of Cione. The relation between him and Benci di Cione
remains rather obscure. Orcagna has also had the credit of building
the church of Or San Michele. Probably writers confuse Orcagna, or
Andrea di Cione, the sculptor of the beautiful shrine in that church,
which is his masterpiece, with the Benci di Cione who was architect of
the building. From the close connection of the two in the guild, and
from Orcagna having worked so much with Benci, I think it probable
they were father and son. Milanesi is rather uncertain about the
father of Orcagna, and in the genealogical table at the end of his
life he writes him as Cione with a note of interrogation, and no
Christian name, which may well have been Benci.
[Illustration: SHRINE IN OR SAN MICHELE, FLORENCE. DESIGNED BY
"ORCAGNA" (ANDREA CIONE).
_See page 333._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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