The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)Vasari, Giorgio
History
The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
_Quod vix mille boum possent juga juncta movere
Et quod vix potuit per mare ferre ratis
Buschetti nisu, quod erat Mirabile visu
Dena puellarum turba levavit onus._
As I have mentioned the church of S. Apostolo at Florence above, I
will here give an inscription which may be read on a marble slab on
one of the sides of the high altar, which runs:
VIII. v. Die vi. Aprilis in resurrectione Domini Karolus Francorum
Rex Roma revertens, ingressus Florentiam cum magno gaudio et
tripudio succeptus, civium copiam torqueis aureis decoravit.
Ecclesia Sanctorum Apostolorum in altari inclusa est laminea
plumbea, in qua descripta apparet praefacta fundatio et consecratio
facta per Archiepiscopum Turpinum, testibus Rolando et Uliverio.
The edifice of the Duomo at Pisa gave a new impulse to the minds of
many men in all Italy, and especially in Tuscany, and led to the
foundation in the city of Pistoia in 1032 of the church of S. Paolo,
in the presence of S. Atto, the bishop there, as a contemporary deed
relates, and indeed of many other buildings, a mere mention of which
would occupy too much space.
I must not forget to mention either, how in the course of time the
round church of S. Giovanni was erected at Pisa in the year 1060,
opposite the Duomo and on the same piazza. A marvellous and almost
incredible statement in connection with this church is that of an
ancient record in a book of the Opera of the Duomo, that the columns,
pillars and vaulting were erected and completed in fifteen days and
no more. The same book, which may be examined by any one, relates
that an impost of a penny a hearth was exacted for the building of
the temple, but it does not state whether this was to be of gold or
of base metal. The same book states that there were 34,000 hearths in
Pisa at that time. It is certain that the work was very costly and
presented formidable difficulties, especially the vaulting of the
tribune, which is pear-shaped and covered outside with lead. The
exterior is full of columns, carving, scenes, and the middle part of
the frieze of the doorway contains figures of Christ and the twelve
apostles in half-relief and in the Byzantine style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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