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
The next great _capo maestro_ after Talenti was Ambrogio of Lenzo or
Lanzo, near Como, one of the Campione school. His name is given in a
deed of February 3, 1363, as "Ambroxius filius magistri Guglielmi de
Champiglione." It is remarkable that an ancestor and namesake of this
"Ambroxius" was also written down as "filius Magistri Guglielmi" in
1130, two centuries earlier, when they were leading members of the
Campione school at Modena, and sculptured the façades of Modena and
Ferrara cathedrals; so our Ambrogio of Florence was one of the
distinguished aristocracy of the lodge, his family dating from its
cradle in Lombardy. From the deed which we quote we find that Ambrogio
graduated under his father, and made his first contract with Barna
Batis, then _Provveditore_ of the _Opera_ of the Duomo, to provide and
prepare the black marble necessary to the work, for every _braccio_ of
which he was to be paid six soldi eight denari. This is the original--
"_Archivio dell' Opera dell Duomo_, February 3,
1362.--Ambroxius filius magistri Guglielmi de Champiglione,
comitatus Mediolani, emancipatus a Domino magistro Guillielmo
patre suo, ut continere dixit publice manu ser Joannis
Arriglionis notarii de Champiglione, conduxit a Barna olim
Batis provisore Operis Sancte Reparate de Florentia, locante
vice et nomine operariorum ... ad faciendum et digrossandum
totum marmum nigrum quod erit necessarium dicto operi, hinc ad
unum annum proxime venturum, illarum mensurarum prout dicetur
eidem per capomagistros dicti operis. Et dictus Barna locavit
eidem die dictum marmum ad fovendum et digrossandum, et
promisit pro dicto opere eidem Ambroxio de quolibet brachio
dicti marmi dare eidem Ambroxio soldos sex et denarios octo f.
p., etc. Que omnia, etc."
Ambrogio or Ambrose remained many years in Florence. His name often
appears in council. In 1356 he was elected head architect of the
Duomo, and also of the restorations at the Baptistery. On April 4,
1384, when as an old man he attended a meeting to decide whether the
pilasters of the tribune were strong enough to support the dome, his
name is given as Ambrogio de Renzo. A marked instance of the effect of
twenty years among Florentine dialect, which has an inveterate habit
of mixing up l's and r's. His son, Giovanni d'Ambrogio di Lenzo, who
afterwards became _capo maestro_, was also in council, and Orcagna was
chosen umpire.
But between the reign of Ambrogio and that of his son we have various
changes in the directorship. In 1381, Giovanni, son of Stefano, called
Guazetta, became _capo maestro_ together with Giovanni Fetti, who was
also of the guild, and preparing first in Siena, and next at Florence,
for his future work in Lucca and Bologna. Giovanni Fetti designed and
made the fine "window towards the houses of the Cornacchini, under the
third arch of the nave."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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