Tuscan Sculpture of the Fifteenth Century: A Collection of Sixteen Pictures Reproducing Works by Donatello, the Della Robia, Mino da Fiesole, and Others, with IntroductionHurll, Estelle M. (Estelle May)
History
Tuscan Sculpture of the Fifteenth Century: A Collection of Sixteen Pictures Reproducing Works by Donatello, the Della Robia, Mino da Fiesole, and Others, with Introduction
Hurll, Estelle M. (Estelle May)
Sculpture, Italian
The work of Luca della Robbia was not confined to marble. Soon after
completing the organ gallery he made a bronze door for the interior of
the cathedral. He is best known for his work in enamelled terra-cotta,
of which we shall hear more in later chapters.
[Footnote 19: See Chapter III. in the volume on _Greek Sculpture_ in
the Riverside Art Series.]
[Footnote 20: Psalm lxviii., verse 25, and 1 Chronicles, chapter
xiii., verse 8.]
[Footnote 21: St. Matthew, chapter xxvi., verse 30.]
[Footnote 22: The pontificate of Gregory I. was from 590 to 604.]
VI
TOMB OF ILARIA DEL CARRETTO
(_Detail_)
BY JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA
A certain marquis of Carretto, living in Lucca at the close of the
fourteenth century, had a daughter named Ilaria. Ilaria was like Helen
of Troy, "a daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely
fair."[23] Her face was delicately cut in a patrician mould, and she
carried her head with the air of a princess. The marquis must have
been proud of his beautiful daughter, and as she grew into womanhood
he looked about for a suitable match for her. There was little romance
about marriages in those days, and when a rich widower sought Ilaria's
hand, she was doubtless thought by all a very fortunate maiden.
Her husband, Paolo Guinigi, was the signor or lord of the city of
Lucca, and though somewhat despotic in temper was at least without
vices. He was besides the richest man in Italy. In his treasury, says
the historian, "diamonds and rubies, emeralds and pearls, were counted
by hundreds." The palace awaiting the bride was magnificently
furnished. There was linen from Paris and other French cities,
exquisite in quality and in stores so abundant as to delight the heart
of a housewife. The walls were hung with tapestries of many colors
woven in Arras. Priceless vessels of gold and silver adorned the
table. Nor were signs of learning lacking. There was a library, well
stocked with the works of classical authors, written in manuscript in
the manner of the times.
So far as surroundings make for happiness Ilaria may well have been a
happy woman. We like to fancy her queenly figure moving through the
stately apartments of the palace or on the green terraces of the
garden. But she did not long enjoy the splendors of her surroundings,
for two years after her marriage she died. Her husband then ordered of
the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia a marble tomb to be placed in the
cathedral. On the sarcophagus lay the portrait figure of the lady
herself; the sides were richly carved with cherubs holding festoons of
flowers, and above was a canopy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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