THE ARCHITECT ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO. -(1240-1310.)

Both architect and sculptor, Arnolfo di Cambio, better known in the history of art as Arnolfo di Lapo (because it was for a long time supposed that he was the son of one Lapo), is perhaps the Florentine artist whose work was in its original form the most important, though the many modifications made by succeeding generations have somewhat altered its characteristics. Ascending the eminence upon which San Miniato stands, the various monuments erected by this forerunner of Tuscan architecture are all disclosed to the gaze Santa Maria del Fiore, the Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce, Or San Michele, and the very walls which formed the ramparts of the city in the thirteenth century. Greater artists followed in his track, and made alterations in accordance with the ideas of their own time, but many of them adopted his plans and carried them out more or less in their entirety. Arnolfo was born in 1240 at Colle di Valdelsa, and he began his studies in the studio of Niccolo Pisano, the father of Tuscan sculpture, where he had as a fellow-student John of Pisa.

It was not until 1274, when he was thirty-four years of age, that he had an opportunity of showing what he could do on his own account. He had spent some time at the Court of Charles of Anjou at Naples, and when the magistrates of Perugia, who had commissioned Niccolo Pisano to erect the beautiful fountain which stands on the square of that city, were anxious to procure him an assistant, it was to that prince that they applied for the services of Arnolfo. The correspondence which passed is still extant, and Adamo Rossi, the learned librarian, has recently discovered documents which prove that he received a sum of ten sols a day for his services, though his name does not appear in conjunction with those of Niccolo, his son John, and Master Rosso.

From Perugia he went to Orvieto, where he carved the tomb of Cardinal William de Braye, a very important monument in the history of art. It is in the Gothic style, and is held to be one of the best pieces of sculpture of the period. This is the only work which we know for a certainty to be his, though the Gothic tabernacle at St. Paul's extra muros bears his name in the inscription, and that of a companion simply called Piero. The tomb of Boniface VIII., in the crypt of St. Peter's, the altar of St. Boniface, and the tomb of Pope Honorius III., formerly at Santa Maria Maggiore, are attributed to him by Vasari, but other writers, whose information is more trustworthy, say that Toriti and one of the Cosmati executed the last-named work a statement which, from my own observations during a recent visit to Rome, I venture to confirm.

Arnolfo, as he advanced in age, abandoned sculp. tune for architecture, and the full measure of his genius is to be seen in Santa Croce, the Palazzo Vecchio, and Santa Maria del Fiore.

The Palazzo Vecchio was begun in 1299, by order of the Priors who stood in need of an official residence. It has often been stated that Arnolfo used designs for this building prepared many years before by Lapo ; which simply means that he may have gotten the idea for it from the Castle of the Conti di Poppi erected by the latter at Casentino. It has been said, too, that Arnolfo was compelled to place his building upon the left side of the square, so as not to occupy the site upon which the house of the Uberti, destroyed upon the day that they were driven from Florence by the fury of the people, had formerly stood. Whatever truth there may be in these legends, it is beyond all doubt that the architect was instructed to include within the walls of the palace the "Foraboschi," or " Della Vacca " Tower, as it was more familiarly called. This tower, which was then only twenty-nine, metres in height, Arnolfo raised to three hundred and thirty feet, widening it above the point at which it shot up from the new building, so as to bring it into proportion with the palace itself.

The various embellishments and changes made by different generations in this monument make it impossible to form an idea as to its appearance in the fourteenth century, when the Signoria held its sittings there, but the appearance of the facade, apart from the shape of the windows and the removal of the bars, must be much what it was then. There is something fierce and stern about the aspect of this part of the building, in keeping with the spirit of the time. The rugged strength of the lower part of the edifice, and the way in which the few windows near the ground are protected by solid iron bars, like the barbicans of a fort, tell of the stormy times during which it was in turn the refuge of tyrants and of the popular Government which expelled them. In the belfry hung the great bell called "La Vacca," which summoned the corporations to arms, headed by their district captains ; the battlements symbolized the idea of defence ; and between the brackets of each was the scutcheon of a different city made subject to Florence. The whole of this facade is symbolic, and it forms, so to speak, a preface to the history of the mediaeval struggles of Florence.

The Piazza dells Signoria itself sums up the annals of this history as well as a page of Machiavelli. Standing in front of the palace we have on our right the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Uffizi, and to the left the splendid Ammanati Fountain, crowned by the genius of John of Bologna ; the equestrian statue of Cosimo I. and the Uguccione Palace, which was for a long time ascribed to Raphael. The Palazzo Vecchio is raised a few steps above the level of the square ; the platform before the entrance, added in 1349, was called the ringhiera. It was from here that the Signoria addressed the people, and that, when war had been declared, the commanders and the rude condottieri whose services were purchased by the Italian republics received their investitures. It was from the Ringhiera, too, that the important decisions arrived at in the name of the people of Florence were proclaimed. The northern angle is still marked by the famous " Marzocco," or lion, sculptured by Donatello, with the fleur-de-lis scutcheon between his paws. The colossal group of Baccio Bandinelli stands at the other extremity. This tribune was destroyed in 1812.

The "David" of Michael Angelo stood on the left of the entrance, but it was placed under cover by the present Government, and a copy erected in the Piazza approached by the Viale dei Colli, one of the new promenades laid out at the time that Florence was the capital of Italy. The door of the Palazzo Vecchio is very remarkable. Between the two lions in stone is a slab inscribed with the monogram of Christ and an inscription, which formerly read, "Jesus Christus, Rex Florentine Populi. S. P. Decreto Electus " (Jesus Christ, King of the Florentine people. Elected by Decree), but which was changed by Cosimo I. to "Rex Regum. et Dominus Dominantium."

Clement VII, of the Medici family, was threatening the liberty of Florence, and Nicolo Capponi, who was at that time Gonfaloniere, laid before the Signoria at the Palazzo Vecchio a strange proposition, which, in his opinion, would preserve the independence of the city. Jesus Christ was to be elected King of Florence, and His authority the Pope himself would not dare to call in question. The Council of the Thousand voted this singular expedient by a small majority, and the inscription was placed on the facade of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The present aspect of the building gives no idea of what it was like in the time of Dante and of the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, for it was partly rebuilt as far back as the fifteenth century. There was always, however, a marked contrast between the rudeness of the exterior and the elaborate decoration of the interior. The inner courtyard, built by Arnolfo di Lapo, was altered, with the exquisite taste which is as much admired now as it was four hundred years ago, by Michelozzo Michelozzi in. 1434, the decorations being completed in 1565 for the marriage of Francesco de' Medici and Jane of Austria by the execution of those frescoes, which it was thought would remind the young princess of her native land. In the centre is an exquisite fountain by Tadda, adorned with an animated, laughing boy playing with a dolphin, the work of Verrocchio, deservedly famous in the history of sculpture, and testifying to the stipple talent of the master, who was also the sculptor of the bronze statue of Collconi on the Piazza San Giovanni e San Paolo at Venice.

It is always pleasant to find inscriptions upon the stones of a monument, as it prevents any possible confusion between men and things. Michelozzi, for instance, decorated the "Cortile" in 1434, and yet the embellishments executed at the marriage of Francesco in 1565 are often attributed to him. It is evident that this was not the work of one man, and the inscription beneath the portico of the Palazzo Vecchio gives the names of the sculptors even of the friezes and the foliage: Stephen Vittori da Monte Sansovino, Marco da Faenza, and Francesco Salviati. The beautiful stuccoes which ornament the columns are by Peter Paul Minocci of Forli, Leonardo Ricciarelli of Volterra, Sebastian Tadda of Fiesole, and Leonardo Marignolli. The frescoes of towns, though they were restored in 1812, are almost entirely effaced; they were by Sebastian of Verona, John Lombardi of Venice, and C sar Baglioni. The interior of the Palazzo Vecchio, now used for municipal purposes, contains some fine relics of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, some splendid frescoes of which the public knows little, a fine collection of wall-paintings by Bronzino, and a beautifully decorated chapel of St. Bernard.

The large hall, in which the Council composed of a thousand citizens was to meet, was built by the desire of Savonarola, and has since been used, four centuries later, for the sittings of the modern Italian Parliament. The architect was Simone Pollaiuolo, surnamed "Il Cronaca," celebrated for his construction of the splendid Corinthian cornice of the Strozzi Palace. Cosimo de' Medici, when he transferred his residence from the Medici to the Vecchio Palace, instructed Baccio Bandinelli to alter this hall, and as the latter did not feel himself equal to the task, he called in the assistance of Vasari, who raised the roof more than twenty feet and decorated the ceiling. It is curious to note that twice in his life Vasari who, as a painter, was only inferior to the great artists whose biographies he has written should, like Michael Angelo and Carracci, have had the opportunity of covering the greatest areas of painting ever executed in Italy. He painted here thirty-nine compositions, the smallest of which is six yards in length, selecting his subjects from the history of Florence and of other cities of Tuscany, as Arezzo, Cortone, Monte Pulciano, Borgo San Sepolero, Trebbiano, Volterra, San Gemignano, Chianti, Certaldo, and Fiesole. Romagna is alluded to with Castrocaro and the river Savio ; while Casentino, Scarperia, Pistoia, Prato, Pescia, and Valdarno are represented either in allegory or by some incident of local history.