Ii. Art of Italy 3. Art of Tuscany

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When we enter the fertile soil of Tuscany, the cities of which in the middle of the XI century were for the most part independent, independent states, we recall the life-giving images of the ancient Etrur art and at the same time we anticipate all the brilliance followed half a millennium. Already in the XI and XII centuries. and in the first half of the 13th century, at least Tuscan architecture went its own way, which is of extremely important artistic and historical significance. True, just as the “Romanesque” movement was not able to bring Rome out of the rut of its old basilic style, this style remained, in its essential features, also in Tuscany. And here, during the whole period under consideration, basilicas with columns and a flat ceiling or open rafters were built; the arches overlapped in the temples only crypts and partly aisles. But a significant novelty in Tuscany was that the exterior walls of the basilica for the first time received a rich finish. In contrast to the flat decoration that came from the East, the walls, arched galleries or fake arcades of the facades were faced with white, black and green and here and there red marble slabs; in their sculptural decorations visible undoubted proximity to the late antiques. In Florence, this connection with ancient art seems so close that Florentine-Romanesque architecture, according to Jacob Burkgardt, is recognized as proto-Renaissance. However, with great reason we can see in it the continuation of ancient traditions than the revival, since the middle Italian architecture of this time constantly drew elements from the stock of ancient forms. What the Tuscan-Roman architecture lost in the organic coherence of the parts inherent in ancient architecture and in the understanding of individual forms, it compensated for it with its own delicate artistic flair.

Fig. 137. Church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence. With photos Alinari

The main monument of this style in Florence is the charming church of San Miniato al Monte, outside the city, on the mountain, and the baptistery, in the very center of the city. The first is a sample of a basilica of Tuscan-Romanesque style, the second is a central structure. The difference from ancient basilicas and baptisms is here and there in facing the external and internal wall surfaces with two-color stone slabs.

The church of San Miniato, built in the XI century, is a three-nave basilica without a transept, with an extensive crypt under the choir, which must be climbed through several steps (Fig. 137). The crypt is blocked by cross vaults, above the very church - open rafters of the roof. Corinthian columns between the naves in the longitudinal direction are connected to one another by semicircular arches. The place of every third column is occupied by a thick pillar, to which a half-column is attached on all four sides; The semi-columns, facing the middle nave, are taller than the others, and are connected by transverse arches over the middle nave. Inside, the top of the walls is decorated with simple geometric patterns of dark green marble on a white background, and the apse with elegant arcades on semi-columns. Outside, the front facade of the church reproduces its transverse section in noble proportions. The lower floor, wider, is dissected by five false arches resting on Corinthian columns. The gable of the narrower upper floor is supported by four fluted pilasters; between the middle pilasters, under a mosaic on a gold background, made in the Byzantine spirit, a window with a pediment was made, the side columns of which stand on Romanesque lions. Also characteristic of the Romanesque architecture is the eagle crowning the top of the pediment; but the figures of the "Atlanteans" (see vol. 1, fig. 320) on the sides of the fake-arched gallery under the gable are too tiny. Not all the details of this facade are organically interconnected, but in general it is effective and original.

Fig. 138. Pisa Cathedral with a baptistery (in the foreground, left) and a bell tower. With photos of Brodgy

The Florentine Baptistery, which has come down to us almost the same as it was in the XII century, represents inside an octagonal space covered by a single dome. Antique Corinthian granite columns, set in niche-like recesses of the walls and connected with each other by a direct entablature, form the lower tier, and pilasters alternating with semicircular arcades, dismember the upper tier of this room. The exterior walls of the baptistery are complemented in the following centuries. Thus, the wide crowning eaves belong to the XV century, that is, the Renaissance; but slender pilasters located in several tiers (pilasters of the middle tier are connected by semicircular arches), and the facing of all main planes by rows of multi-colored plates are among the most charming inventions of the Tuscan-Romanesque style.

The most magnificent monument of Tuscan-Romanesque architecture is in Pisa, in the XI century, superior in size and power to Florence. A bold novelty in architecture was the very idea of ​​the Pisans to build a cathedral, with a baptismal and bell tower, outside the city, in an open field, so that these buildings could be seen from everywhere, which required equally careful decoration from all sides. This group of buildings (Fig. 138), undoubtedly, would have been ranked in antiquity to the wonders of the world. The sloping position, which the famous Leaning Bell Tower has assumed due to soil sedimentation during construction, further increases, at least in the eyes of dilettantes, the awesomeness of the entire group of structures. The cathedral, the construction of which was ruled by the masters Busket and Rainald, was founded in 1063 and completed in 1118. Already, according to the plan, this is the only building of its kind in the West. Two basilicas, in the longitudinal case of the five-nave (originally only three-nave), in the transverse - three-nave, intersect with each other, forming a cross in plan. The eastern branch of the cross, as well as the northern and southern branches are equipped with semicircular absside. A large egg-shaped dome, supported by already pointed arches, rises above the oblong center of the cross. Some similarities with the plan with the church in Kalat Siman in Syria (see fig. 15) and the church of sv. The apostles in Constantinople are explained by the commercial relations of the seaside city, which was at that time Pisa, with the East. But by its general appearance, the Pisa cathedral is not a Byzantine construction, and since the material for its precious lining was supplied by rich marble local deposits, it can be considered a model of Tuscan architecture that arose on an ancient basis. In some branches of the cross, the Old Christian basilic style prevails. The middle nave (Fig. 139) has a flat ceiling, while the side naves are already blocked by Romanesque cross vaults. Luxurious columns, interconnected by arches, stand on ancient bases and topped mostly with Roman Corinthian and composite capitals; but in the side aisles and upper galleries there are already Novokorinf capitals, decorated with figures of animals. Graceful empores over the side aisles open into the middle nave with double arches, covered by large false arches. On the walls, pillars and arches white and dark green marble slabs alternate in horizontal rows. The interior of the cathedral gives the impression of solemn luxury and harmonious picturesque. But it is hardly more luxurious to finish the exterior walls: above the high lower tier of the western facade, dissected by seven false arches on the columns, the entire upper surface of the wall is decorated with four tiers of open galleries, the semi-circular arches of which rest on free-standing columns. The same galleries above the fake arcades serve as decoration for the walls of the choir. Other wall spaces are dissected more simply, only by fake arcades or pilasters. The whole building is a monumental whole, the separate parts of which are organically interconnected.

In the round according to the plan of the Baptistery, the construction of which was begun in 1153 by Diotisalvi, the same style is manifested in even greater purity. Covered with a high conical dome, the Baptistery has a two-level circular gallery of Corinthian columns and pillars inside. In 1246 Guido Bigarelli from Como embellished the font and the fence around it in 1246 with a color inlay of marble and other rocks, resembling the work of Cosmati, but with a different style. Outside, above the false arcades of the lower floor, there is an arcade gallery on free-standing columns, later equipped with Gothic decorations.

Fig. 139. The interior of the Cathedral of Pisa. With photos of Brodgy

Finally, the famous Leaning Bell Tower of Pisa, erected by the German master Wilhelm of Innsbruck and Pisan Bonann (construction started in 1174), is surrounded on each of the six upper floors by an open, laced colonnade. “The principle of the Greeks,” said Jacob Burkgardt, “to encircle the building with a colonnade, as a living expression of wall roundness, was transferred here with great courage to a multi-storey building; these are not just galleries, but an ideal lining of the tower, representing in its own way no less a victory over the weight of the material than the German Gothic towers ”. With regard to architectural details, the Corinthian capitals of the ancient style are often giving way to more simple medieval forms. The general impression made by this whole group of buildings, which were investigated by P. Schumann and some others, was that it was antiquity, reworked freely and in an original way.

Florentine style, which is exemplified in Florence itself, except for San Miniato, the old church of Sts. The apostles are also visible in the lower parts of the facade of the Cathedral of Empoli (1093) and, mixed with Pisan motifs, in some churches of Pistoia, namely in the cathedrals of Sant'Andrea and San Bartolomeo. The style of the Cathedral of Pisa, in Pisa itself expressed in a simpler form, for example, in the churches of San Frediano, San Sisto, San Pierino and already complicated by pointed arches in the beautiful small churches of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno and Santa Maria della The back, more or less successfully imitated mainly the churches of Lucca. The often-mentioned church of San Frediano in Lucca, the preserved part of which, as indicated by Degio, really belongs only to the first half of the 12th century, has five naves, but is devoid of a transept. Three-nave and T-shaped, having a transept church in Lucca - Cathedral of sv. Martina, San Michele, Santa Maria foris Portam and San Giovanni. The peculiarity of these churches is that in the middle of the arcade galleries of their front facades there is not an arch, but a column, as in the two uppermost galleries of the Cathedral of Pisa. The main antique features visible throughout the churches of Florence and Pisa, in small towns, are beginning to disappear. The church of Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo enjoys great fame, the entire four-tier facade of which is turned into galleries on columns, which are growing up, due to the doubling of the number of columns, more and more closely. For the same reason, the columns of the upper row could not be connected by arches and carry the flat entablature.

Tuscan sculpture rises to a considerable height in the subsequent time, in the era occupying us, only its rudiments appear, on the study of which Shmarsov worked. There can be no talk in these rudiments of something independent of the ancient and Byzantine art. The relief with the image of Our Lady in the Church of Santa Maria foris Portam turned out to be a slave copy of a Byzantine relief on ivory. The font in the church of San Frediano in Lucca is an enlarged reproduction of one old Christian ivory box. And in other plastic figured images on Tuscan church facades, chairs and fonts one can see the desire to keep the old, mainly Byzantine tradition everywhere, and only in rare cases Tuscan sculpture at that time managed to revive this numbed tradition with the breath of a new life.

As examples of poor understanding of forms with loyalty to the Byzantine direction in general, you can point to the works of Master Gruamon and his brother Daodat, in Pistoi, The Last Supper over the northern doors of the church of San Giovanni-fuorchivitas (1162) and Adoration of the Magi side portal of the church of Sant Andrea. Between 1200 and 1250 Guido Bigarelli from Como, who worked, as we saw, in 1246 in the Pisan Baptistery, led Tuscan sculpture along the path of the conscious imitation of antiques, and this was at variance with the artistic aspirations of his homeland. From 1204 to 1233 he labored, with breaks, over his main work - the facade of the Cathedral of Sts. Martina in Lucca. In the pillars of this facade, entwined with animal figures, the influence of Upper Italian romance is felt, but the image of Christ sitting on the throne, on the portal gable, no less than shows the Bigarelli towards ancient art. He worked in 1199 in Pistoia, in the local cathedral, and after 1250 - on the chair of the church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano. For half a century, the style of his works remained the same. Elegant, but lifeless, this style tried to get closer to the ancient models performed by even the heads. Among the sculptors who, after Bigarelli, continued to work on the facade of the Cathedral of Lucca, was the master, who carved images of the months and scenes from the life of St. Martin on both sides of the average portal (1233), was superior to this artist in terms of the inner liveliness of the figures. Probably, the same master executed here a huge (more than in nature) image of St. Martina on horseback, with a beggar, which is an important step forward in the development of medieval plastics.

Fig. 140. Relief of the eaves above the eastern door of the Pisan Baptistery. With photos Alinari

Regardless of Bigarelli, the Tuscan sculpture of the era in question was following the same path as he. Excellent stone reliefs on the architrave and the doorposts of the eastern doors of the Pisa Baptistery (Fig. 140) belong to the 12th century. The plots are arranged clearly, arranged symmetrically, with great taste (for example, the relief depicting the baptism of the Lord); especially the figures of Christ, in the composition “Descent into Hell”, and the apostles are distinguished by the correct proportions, the calmness of the movements and the skillful disposition of the folds. All this is borrowed from earlier reliefs, cut into ivory. The most curious specimen of Tuscan bronze products of this era are the southern doors of the Cathedral of Pisa, the pattern and casting resembling the bronze doors of the Montreal Cathedral (see Fig. 131), the work of Bonann's pisan. The 24 reliefs depicting scenes from the earthly life of the Savior are not at all as crude as they are commonly believed to be. The figures in them are slim, grouped clearly; the limited number of actors does not obscure the meaning of the plots; Byzantine eminence and coldness in these reliefs begin to give way to a sincere expression of feeling.

Inside the Tuscan churches, an important role was played at that time by the decorated sculpture of the pulpit, the base of which was usually served by lions or other symbols of defeated evil. The reliefs of the pulpit in the small church of San Leonardo in Arcetri (formerly in San Pietro Sekrajo) in Florence, performed around 1200, depict events from the life of Christ in extremely clumsy, but not completely lifeless forms. More mature reliefs adorning the pulpit of the cathedral in Volterra, with scenes from the Old and New Testaments (Fig. 141); they clearly indicate that the Tuscan masters tried to approach in forms, movements and clothes as close as possible to the ancient art. Thus, here, to some extent, the aspiration was shown, which then guided the activities of the great Niccolò Pisano.

When considering Tuscan painting until the middle of the XIII century, we again meet with the "Byzantine question." Vasari asserted that Italian painting of the time we were examining was languishing in the bonds of Byzantine and that Cimabue himself, a reformer of Tuscan painting, learned his art from Greek painters who were called to Florence by her government. This evidence of the father of the history of Italian art is often ridiculed after Rumor’s research. But we have already seen that Pope Honorius III in the first third of the XIII century called Byzantine mosaicists to Rome; as easily the Florentine government could invite Greek artists to Florence, at least for mosaic works in the baptistery. In any case, the fact that it was at the beginning of the 13th century that the Byzantine style gained dominance in Tuscan painting was not denied by Rumor, Strigovsky, Toda, Max Zimmerman, and others.

Fig. 141. Department of the Cathedral of Volterra. With photos Alinari

If we turn to mosaics here, our attention will first of all be focused on those performed between 1225 and 1230. mosaic altar niche in the Florentine baptistery. Francis monk Jacob, who worked on them, was brought up on Byzantine patterns, no doubt what his style of work does not allow. Колесо с Агнцем в середине держат четыре мужские коленопреклоненные фигуры, стоящие на (написанных) капителях колонн. Я. Буркгардт видел в них предков микеланджеловских аксессуарных фигур на потолке Сикстинской капеллы. Но украшения спиц колеса — византийские, равно как и изображения Иоанна Крестителя и Богоматери, восседающих на тронах среди коленопреклоненных мужских фигур. Богоматерь, представленная en face, держит Младенца прямо перед собой на коленях; надо отметить, что этот византийский тип изображения Богоматери является здесь в последний раз в итальянском искусстве.

Мозаики купола баптистерия исполнены отчасти столетием позже, но они не свежее и не лучше мозаик абсиды. Большой образ Христа в среднем круге купола — работы Андреа Тафи, которого Вазари называл учеником грека Аполлония и который отождествлялся с неким Андреем с греко-венецианского острова Кандия.

Впечатление византийских производят также неудачно реставрированные мозаики церкви Сан-Миньято во Флоренции. Мозаика алтарной ниши, изображающая Спасителя между Богоматерью и св. Миньято, принадлежит, вероятно, концу, а мозаика на фронтоне, со Спасителем, сидящим на престоле, началу XIII столетия. В декоративном отношении обе эти мозаики очень эффектны.

Fig. 142. Гвидо Сиенский. Мадонна. Икона в Сиенской ратуше. With photos Alinari

From the Tuscan frescoes, mention should be made of the church of San Pietro in Grado near Pisa, which decorates it. Thirty large frescoes on the upper walls of the middle nave represent episodes from the life of the Apostle Peter. Under them are portraits of the popes, and above them is a frieze with figures of angels. The main character of these unpractical images is Byzantine, but many Roman Christian features are inherent in them.

Finally, Tuscan easel painting introduces us already on the eve of the history of Italian artists, although we have very little reliable information about the personality and time of the activities of the first Tuscan masters. Tuscany is mainly the birthplace of the pictorial crucifixes we are familiar with, and it is in them that it is easy to trace the transition from the images of the Savior reigning on the cross to the images of His suffering and departed. The Crucifixion of the Palazzo Publiko in Lucca, marked by the name Berlingeri, is also written completely in the old style, but the crucifixes of the work of Junta of Pisa, preserved in the churches of San Raniero e Leonardo in Pisa, Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, Gualdo, on Monte Morello (all they are signed by the artist, and the latter, in addition, is marked 1236), depict the Savior in his death agony already, although with his legs nailed apart. Along with the crucifixes in the second quarter of the XIII century in Tuscan easel painting images of St.. Francis; also, in contrast to the joyful expression in the portrait in Sakro-Speko (see Fig. 136), they gradually give the saint an increasingly moody, suffering look. Just as the Pisan Junta was famous for its crucifixes, so Margaritone d'Arezzo was known as an expert on the part of the icons of St.. Francis. Wonderful images of Francis belonging to this artist are in the Arezzo Art Gallery, the Siena Academy and the Vatican Christian Museum. One of the main works of Margariton in another kind - a large crucifix in the church of St.. Francis of Arezzo; at the feet of the Savior, the artist depicted St. Francis the size of half of nature, kneeling and hugging the cross. Even clearer than in crucifixes and images of St.. Francis, new trends are manifested in the Tuscan Madonnas. In addition to Margariton, the third artist, Guido of Siena, whose famous Madonna in the Siena Palazzo Publiko (Fig. 142) was signed by his name and marked 1221, was an outstanding master. Margaritone’s signature on this date, after the research of Vikgoff, Zimmerman, Shubring, Rotes and others, no doubt. Somewhat later restoration only gave this icon a more recent look. It is very different from the Greek Madonnas of the same time. The Mother of God and the Baby are depicted no longer en face, in frozen, forced postures, but they are brought into a more cordial relationship with each other, although they do not yet look at each other. For the history of the development of Tuscan art is important the fact that this step forward was made in Siena, a city dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. However, Guido’s Madonna is still rather clumsy and is written in a manner quite close to the Byzantine one. No need to exaggerate the merits of Junta Pisano and Margaritone d'Arezzo: they are nothing more than representatives of art, languishing in chains and striving for freedom.