9. THE CHOIR AND ALTAR-STEPS.
Before the lowest step of the High Altar, we find one large design, and on either side of it seven small ones; the whole being inclosed by a long processional frieze.
The principal design represents
Abraham’s Sacrifice (No. 56).
The whole story is told in different parts of the picture, culminating in the central group of the Sacrifice itself. The smaller designs represent the following subjects.
* * * * *
On the right of the Altar:
1. Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite.
2. A prophet with an open book before him.
3. Eve on her knees.
4. A woman, holding in her hand an open book.
5. Another woman, with a mirror, representing Prudence.
6. The Sacrifice of Melchisedec.
7. A seated woman, with a child.
On the left:
1. The old Tobit, with his son, Tobias, and the Angel Raphael. At their feet a dog.
2. A woman, representing Charity.
3. Adam kneeling.
4. A prophet, gazing up to Heaven.
5. Another woman, seated, holding a book in her hand.
6. The Sacrifice of Abel.
7. Another woman, seated, with a child.
A great procession runs all round these, composed of men and women of all ages, shown in half-length, representing
The Children of Israel seeking the Promised Land.
All these designs were the work of Domenico di Jacopo di Pace Beccafumi, called Il Mecharino, and we read in Alfonso Landi’s Descrizione del Pavimento and in the notes of Abate Faluschi[118] that they were executed between the years 1544 and 1546. The writers refer to (as their authority) the Libro Giallo dell’ Assunta of the Cathedral Archives, and state that the artist received 8,004 lire 19 c. for his work. The subjects chosen fitly complete the general scheme of the floor, surrounding, as they do, the Altar, with symbolical imagery from the Old Testament. The repentant Adam and Eve, the three Typical Sacrifices, Prophets, Virtues, the Guardian Angel, and around the whole a host of believers hastening to the Promised Land. Some of the drawing is very beautiful and extremely decorative, notably the frieze. The beautiful figure of Eve, indeed, has been even attributed to Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma), who is known to have received a commission to make at least one design for this floor.[119] This, however, is wholly uncertain, and cannot now be verified. The workmen employed here, and the sums they received respectively, we learn from the above sources and from Milanesi.[120] They were Bernardino di Giacomo, who received for his labour 475 scudi, and Pellegrino di Pietro, 151 sc., 1. 4. These men were probably masons in the regular employ of the Cathedral, for Bernardino, at least, seems to have been employed on all the work done at this time.
Descending three steps we come to Domenico del Coro’s design of David, to which we have had occasion to refer already more than once.
David as King and Psalmist, and David and Goliath.
In a circular panel, David, as King, sits on a throne with a sort of zither on his knee, while, with his right hand, he points to an open book of Psalms, propped upon a lectern by his side. Around him stand four courtiers holding each a primitive musical instrument:—a small organ, a tambourine, a mandoline, and a viol. The whole picture is surrounded by a graceful cornice of leaves. On either side of the central picture, in a lozenge-shaped space, is a single figure; on the one side is the youth David slinging his stone, and upon the other the giant Goliath falling backwards. It is curious that Goliath has a hole in his forehead, although the stone has not reached him; while, at the same time, the stone is both still in David’s sling and in the air above Goliath. The figures in the central composition are fine, but much altered by restoration. Those of David and Goliath are more original, and have probably suffered less. These designs are undoubtedly the work of Domenico del Coro, executed during the Rectorship of Bartolommeo Cecchi: and the cornice and frieze work around them is that of Agostino da Niccolo, for we read special notice of this fact in a memorandum of payment to the latter, dated June 6th, 1423.[121]
Below another step we come to the largest and most pretentious of Beccafumi’s designs.
Moses’ Ascent of Mount Sinai, his Receipt of the Tables of the Law, and the Idolatry of the Children of Israel (No. 52). (Ill. XXV.)
The story is told in six parts, combined into one large picture. Above, in the centre, Moses kneels on the mountain top (α). The light of Heaven streams over him, and he receives the Tables of the Law into his outstretched hands. Below in the centre he lifts the Tables over his head, to dash them to pieces on the ground (δ). In the upper left-hand corner, the Elders of Israel are seen persuading Aaron, who points to Moses on the mountain, to make the Golden Calf (β): in the lower, we see him casting their gold and jewels into the fire to make it (θ). In the lower right-hand corner the Israelites are worshipping the Calf (η), while above they are smitten with plague and dying in agony (γ). This work appears to have been originally commissioned by a certain Antonio d’Agostino del Vescovo, then Rector (1524);[122] but, as we read from an inscription let into the beautiful frieze that surrounds it, it was completed under the direction of his successor, Francesco di Carlo Tolomei. Beccafumi received on the 30th of August, 1531, 120 scudi for these designs,[123] according to a valuation made for Tolomei by Baldassare Peruzzi himself;[124] which suggests the idea that these two great artists may have together planned the new arrangements of the Choir, and a scheme of decoration to adorn it, when complete. From Landi and Faluschi we learn that the workmen here employed[125] were the same Bernardino di Giacomo, who now received for his work 969 scudi 13: Giacomo di Pietro Gallo, 133 sc. 6.8; Bartolommeo di Pietro Gallo, 41 sc.; and Giovanni d’Antonio Marinelli, called il Mugnaino, 486 sc. To these Milanesi adds two more, not mentioned by either of the above authorities: Niccolo Filippi and Cristofano di Carbone.[126]
Immediately below these scenes a long narrow design, also by Beccafumi, shows
Moses striking the Rock to bring water for the thirsting Israelites (No. 51).
This is by far the most pleasing and successful of Beccafumi’s works. We can see, from its very simplicity, how much its charm depends upon sheer skill of drawing. This work was executed in 1525,[127] but we do not find any record as to the amount paid to him for it, or the workmen employed upon it. Probably they were the same as had carried out his previous designs.[128] These scenes by Beccafumi provoked the most extravagant admiration and applause from the writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; and as tours de force, and specimens of a new kind of work, they are certainly remarkable. They do not, however, succeed in provoking that feeling of pleasure and charm, that one experiences when studying the older and simpler productions.
And now we come to the last section, and some of the latest work.