The Story of Siena and San GimignanoGardner, Edmund G.
History
The Story of Siena and San Gimignano
Gardner, Edmund G.
Art -- Italy -- Siena; San Gimignano (Italy) -- History; Siena (Italy) -- History
In what would have been a part of the right aisle of the larger Duomo,
is the _Opera del Duomo_, the Cathedral Museum. On the ground floor is a
room containing some of the original _graffiti_ from the pavement, where
these have been replaced by copies, and some of the statues from the
façade. Here, too, in a mutilated condition, are Giacomo della Quercia's
reliefs from the Fonte Gaia: the Madonna and Child; the Virtues; the
Creation of Adam and the Expulsion from Paradise (masterpieces which
even in their ruin are superb), and less important fragments. There is a
striking Moses, from a fountain in the Ghetto, probably by Federighi but
scarcely unworthy of Giacomo himself. Also by Federighi are the
bas-reliefs from the chapel in the Campo. A St John in terra-cotta by
Giacomo Cozzarelli and a Transfiguration by Girolamo Genga of 1510 are
also worthy of note. On the first floor, beyond the hall where designs
and models are exhibited connected with the restoration of the pavement,
is a small room containing original designs. Two, at least, are of first
importance; the design for the façade of the Baptistery of Siena, by
Giacomo di Mino del Pellicciaio (20); an old drawing said to represent
Giotto's original design for the Campanile of Florence (34), crowned
with the steeple that according to Vasari was abandoned "because it was
a German thing and of antiquated fashion." There are also plans
connected with the building of the Duomo (_e.g._ 60), and a curious
sketch (33) for the suggested portico to the Campo, said to have been
invented for Pandolfo Petrucci by Peruzzi and designed by a certain
Pomarelli. On the stairs are the Baptism of Christ, by Andrea del
Brescianino and his brother Raffaello, formerly in San Giovanni, and a
modern plan of the abandoned enlargement of the Duomo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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