7. THE CHOIR AMBULATORY.
The Story of Joshua’s Victory over the Amorites (No. 22), and the Slaughter of the Five Kings.
This work, with the others beside it on the same platform right across the church, was executed about the year 1424, during the Rectorship of Bartolommeo Cecchi. I have already, in my introduction, referred to the difficulty in separating the work done here by Domenico di Niccolo del Coro, from that of Paolo di Martino. Both men appear from the documents to have held the post of Capo-maestro of the Duomo. Tizio mentions distinctly[82] this design as among those executed in 1424, and Milanesi in his Documenti[83] repeating that date, assures us that it was among works to be attributed to Domenico himself: thereby pointedly confuting Vasari’s assertion, that it and those adjoining it were from designs by Duccio. On the same page, however, of the Documenti,[84] we find a notice, dated 1426, of payment to a paper dealer, named Domenico di Francesco, for ten squares of “fogli reagli” used by “Paolo nostro,” for a design for the “storia di Giesue:” and Milanesi himself in his Discorso sulla Storia Artistica Senese[85] contradicts his former statement, attributes this design and that of Samson (No. 14) in the opposite aisle of the Choir, also hitherto given by him to Domenico, to Paolo, and dates them both two years later than in his previous assertion.
It is an interesting picture, though at present sadly in need of judicious restoration. The greater part of it is occupied by the battle scene, but up in the top left-hand corner we see the bodies of the Five Kings hung up to five stakes, and below them a yawning cavern. Some of the figures are expressed with considerable force, and the fifteenth-century armour of the soldiers is most quaint and curious.
The work here, and that of the story of Samson above referred to, do resemble each other, and have not much in common with the known work of Domenico del Coro. I think we may, therefore, fairly consider them as from Paolo’s designs; and supposing that these artists worked in collaboration on the whole scheme of this platform, that, when Tizio spoke of these designs, he described a project not completely carried out until two years later.
On either side of the main picture are single figures Joshua and Solomon (Nos. 23 and 24). The first of these Milanesi, in his Discorso,[86] gives unhesitatingly to Paolo di Martino, with the same date as the before-mentioned larger design. But of the figure of Solomon, now more than half concealed under the marble balustrade of the altar of S. Ansano, a mention exists in a document in the Archivio dell’ Opera, dated 10th of August, 1447.[87] This was during the Rectorship of Giovanni di Pietro Ghezzi (Borghesi), who held the post from 1437 to 1448,[88] and we find a notice dated June, 1444,[89] which may refer to this very work, although it is not mentioned specifically. It is a permission to the Rector to fill up this portion of the Pavement with such a design, as may seem to him suitable and pleasing.[90]
The whole platform, or step, upon which all these designs are inlaid had been bordered, along the top and bottom, by a delightful frieze of putti, executed in 1423, by Agostino di Niccolo of Siena,[91] and Bastiano di Corso of Florence.[92] Of the former artist we know but little, but of the work of the latter, in company with his son Corso, on the pavement before the Cathedral doors, we find several notices, to which I have referred already,[93] A notice, dated 25th March, 1447,[94] speaks of other frieze-work done by father and son, “sotto la tribuna di verso l’altare di Santa Chaterina.” This work appears to have perished, or been superseded, unless, as is by no means impossible or improbable, we may attribute to him the frieze round the Massacre of the Innocents described above, the authors of which are unknown and unidentified.
Agostino and Bastiano’s frieze is a very graceful one, but it would seem, judging from the dates of the documents, as if the latter artist had succeeded the former in the work: for the first document speaks of payment made to Agostino up to December 30th, 1423, whereas both those commissioning Bastiano are dated the same month, with no allusion to previous or contemporary employment of any other artist.
Three more steps bring us to the passage which runs round behind the altar. Here originally was some of the oldest work, but to all appearance now it would seem to be almost the most modern. In five circles we find the five Cardinal Virtues, the first of whom is
Fortitude (No. 21).
On this spot, as I have already said in my first chapter, Marchesse d’Adamo[95] and his companions, the Comacene sculptors at work in Siena in 1406, are generally supposed to have executed the earliest figure-subject on the Pavement, about which we now possess authoritative information. There is nothing, however, to show their work. The figure is imposing and dignified in composition, but the workmanship on it is poor and somewhat paltry.
Of the four other Virtues, Justice, Christian Piety, Prudence, and Temperance (Nos. 20, 19, 18, and 17), there is little definite to be said. Padre Micheli[96] following Milanesi[97] gives 1406 as the possible date of the two first, 1380 as that of the other two; but there is nothing in their present condition to prove either one date or the other. The only thing that may be noticed is that the restoration of Justice and Prudence shows more vigour of conception and boldness of line, with far more satisfactory results than have been shown in the case of Fortitude and Temperance. Fortitude, we know, was restored in 1839, and Temperance perhaps at the same time. Christian Piety is half covered by the great lectern, and so obliterated by the feet of readers and singers as to be now almost indistinguishable. The frieze of ladders (scaglioni) and thorns (spini), surrounding these works, is said to have been executed in 1406.[98]
Descending again three steps corresponding to those on the opposite side of the church we come to the design of
Samson slaying the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (No. 14).
alluded to above. The workmanship and style of this picture certainly resembles that of Joshua and the Five Kings on the north side, but it is a finer and a grander piece of work. The grouping is bolder and more forcible. Samson, a giant figure, is administering chastisement to a Philistine in the manner of a schoolmaster to a naughty boy. He holds aloft, not merely the jawbone of an ass, but the whole skull. Some of his opponents lie slaughtered on the ground, and a crowd of them cowers away in terror, to the right of the composition. (Ill. XX.)
This design, as we have said before, is mentioned by Tizio[99] among those projected in 1424, and was probably executed by Paolo di Martino in 1426. On either side of it are the single figures of Moses (No. 16) and Judas Maccabeus (No. 15). Milanesi in his Discorso[100] attributes the figure of Moses, like that of Joshua (No. 23), to Paolo di Martino in 1426, while that of Judas Maccabeus, now hidden almost entirely by the balustrade of the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, and also recorded by Tizio (in the notice already more than once referred to), Padre Micheli[101] supposes, and there is no evidence to contradict him, to have been the work of Domenico del Coro in 1424.
Before descending the step to the South Transept, I would wish to draw the reader’s attention to the fact, that this step does not run parallel with the steps above it, and that the platform is narrower at this end than at the other. Consequently, the design of Samson and those in the transept, now to be described, are all more or less irregular in shape. Whether this is due to some structural defect in the original building, or to some inequality in the foundation, it is impossible now to say.