CHAP. be a proof of his approbation. Ferdinand

IX.

accordingly presented him with a bust of the emperour Adrian, a statue of a female figure larger than life, and a sleeping Cupid; all of which Giuliano immediately sent to Lorenzo, who was no less pleased with the liberality of the artist, than with the acquisition of so valuable a treasure. At the request of the celebrated Mariano Genazano, Lorenzo had promised to erect, without the gate of San Gallo at Florence, a monastery capable of containing one hundred monks. On the return of Giuliano to Florence, he engaged him in this work, whence he obtained the name of San Gallo, by which he was always afterwards distinguished'. Whilst this building was carrying forwards, Giuliano was also employed by Lorenzo in designing and erecting the extensive fortifications of Poggio Imperiale, preparatory to the founding a city on

that

k Vasar. vita di Giuliano da San Gallo.

1 Giuliano remonstrated with Lorenzo on this alteration." By your calling me San Gallo," said he, “ I shall "lose my name, and, instead of becoming respectable "by the antiquity of my family, I shall have to found it "anew."-"Surely," said Lorenzo, "it is more ho"nourable to be the founder of a new family by your "own talents, than to rest your reputation on the merits "of others." Vasar. ut supra.

IX.

that spot, as was his intention". To this artist, c H AP. who arrived at great eminence in the ensuing century, and to his brother Antonio, architecture is indebted for the completion of the Tuscan order, as now established, and for considerable improvements in the Dorick.

Besides the many magnificent works begun under the immediate directions of Lorenzo, he sedulously attended to the completion of such buildings as had been left imperfect by his ancestors. On the church of S. Lorenzo, the building of which was begun by his great grandfather Giovanni, and continued by his grandfather Cosmo, he expended a large sum. the request of Matteo Bosso he also completed the monastery begun by Brunelleschi at Fiesole", at the same time expressing his regret that he should have rendered it necessary to solicit him to do that which he conceived to be an indispensable duty.

At

Amongst

m Vasar. ut supra.

n The letter of Bosso, which was

addressed to

Lorenzo in the height of his prosperity, and touches upon many circumstances of his life and character, is given, from the Recuperationes Fesulana, in the Appendix, No. LXXVI.

• Fabr. in vitá. v. i. p. 148.

IX.

CHAP. Amongst the various kinds of picturesque representation practised by the Greeks and Attempts to Romans, and transmitted by them to afterpractice of times, is that of Mosaick"; a mode of execution

renew the

Mosaick.

which,

P The lithostrata, or tessellated pavements of the Romans, being worked in a regular and mechanical manner were called opus musivum, opera quæ ad amussim facta sunt: hence the Italian Musaico, from which is derived our appellation of Mosaick; but like most of our other terms of art through the channel of the French, Mosaique.

When, instead of ornamenting their floors, the Romans began to decorate the walls of their apartments, the work was still characterized by the same term, as appears from the following passage, communicated to me by Dr. Parr: "Musiva quidem (ut docuit Salmasius, ad histo"riam Augustam) proprie de hoc opere in parietibus et "cameris dicebantur, ut lithostrata et tessellata de pavi"mentis; sed quia eadem ars erat, ipsomet fatente, nos, "ut et alii solent auctores, promiscue sumere non dubi"tavimus. Musiva, Musea, et Musia vocabantur. Spar"tianus in vita Pescennii Nigri, hunc, antequam ad "imperium perveniret, in Commodianis hortis, in porticu "curva, pictum de Musivo fuisse ait, inter Commodi amicis"simos, sacra Isidis ferentem. Trebellius Pollio, in Tetrico "juniore: Tetricorum domus hodieque extat in monte Calio, " inter duos Lucos, contra Isium Metallinum, pulcherrima, "in qua Aurelianus pictus est utrique Tetrico prætextam "tribuens senatoriam dignitatem accipiens ab his sceptrum : "picta omnia de Museo. Anastatius Bibliothecarius pas"sim basilicarum Romæ meminit Musivo decoratum in

"Leone

IX.

which, in its durability of form and permanency CHAP. of colour, possesses distinguished advantages, being unaffected by drought or moisture, heat or cold, and perishing only with the building to which it has been originally attached. This art, during the middle ages, had experienced the same vicissitudes as attended all those with which it is so nearly connected". Some attempts had, however, been made to restore it by Andrea Tafi, the contemporary of Giotto; and even Giotto himself had cultivated it, not without success, although the celebrated picture over the

great

"Leone IV. Apsidemque ejus ex Musivo, aureo superin"ducto colore glorifice decoravit. Apsides græcis, idem ac "latinis Fornices."

Pitisci, Lexicon Antiquitat. Roman. vol. ii. f. 242.

There is, however, reason to believe, that the practice of Mosaick, although it had degenerated, had never been wholly intermitted. The church of S. Paolo fuori delle Mure at Rome is full of Mosaicks of the lower empire. There are also many in buildings of the exarchate at Ravenna. The church of St. Mark at Venice, built about the year 1100, has also many specimens, probably the work of Greek artists from Constantinople. The tombs of our kings Edward the Confessor and Henry III. in Westminster Abbey, the work, as Mr. Walpole has almost demonstrated, of Pietro Cavalini, certainly of a Petrus Romanus civis, bring us down to Giotto's time with scarcely an interval. For these remarks on the above passage I am indebted to Sir H.. Englefield.

IX.

CHAP. great door of St. Peter at Rome, called the Navicella di Giotto, is said to be a more modern work, copied from a former one of that artist'. Lorenzo was desirous of introducing this mode of execution into more general practice. On expressing to Graffione, a Florentine painter, his intention of ornamenting with work of this kind the vault of a large cupola, the painter ventured to observe to him that he had not artists equal to the task: "We have money enough to make "them," replied Lorenzo; and although Graffione still continued incredulous', Lorenzo soon afterwards met with a person who suited his purpose in the painter Gherardo, who had generally applied himself to works in miniature. The specimen produced by Gherardo for the inspection of Lorenzo, was a head of S. Zenobio, with which he was so well pleased, that he resolved to enlarge the chapel of that saint at Florence, in order to give the artist an opportunity of exhibiting his talents in a wider field. With Gherardo he associated Domenico Ghir

landajo,

r

Tenh. Mem. Geneal. liv. vii. p. 131.

Graffione, with that familiarity which the artists appear to have used towards Lorenzo, replied, "Eh "Lorenzo, i danari non fanni i maestri, ma i maestri "fanno i danari."