We must now return to the building of the Duomo by this multitude of brethren.
It was in 1259 that the civic Council decided to continue the work of restoration in the Duomo of Siena, and formed a council of nine influential citizens, together with the Magistri of the Masonic Guild, to superintend the work. By February 1321 their ideas and ambitions had so enlarged that they proposed to make the present church the transept, and to add a great nave, "to make a beautiful and magnificent church, with all rich and suitable ornamentation." The new nave was really begun, and a high bare wall with a fine window in it remains to this day to puzzle the tourist. This vast design was, however, abandoned, and the building continued on a less ambitious scale.
Now for details of all these changes. Before Giovanni Pisano's time we only get a few quaint names such as Magister Manuellus, son of the late Rinieri, who made the stalls in the choir in 1259; Luglio Benintendi, Ventura Diotisalvi, Magister Gratia or Gracii, Ristorus, Stefano Jordano, Orlando Bovacti, nearly all of whom were Masters from other lodges either in Lombardy or Pisa. There are besides two other Venture—one Ventura di Gracii, and one Ventura called Trexsa. All these are named as being called in a council of the guild of June 9, 1260, to consider the stability of some vaulting lately made, but I can find no capo magistro at this date. Several of these are names known in other cities where the guild had lodges. Ventura's father, Diotisalvi, built the Baptistery at Pisa; Magister Gracii came from Padua, Stefano Jordanus had a son, Johannes Stephani, who was witness to Niccolò di Pisa's receipt for payment by Fra Melano of 78 gold lire and IV denarii for his pulpit in the Duomo on July 26, together with Orlando, son of Orlando Bovacti, and Ventura di Rapolano. Niccolò himself had with him his son Giovanni, who also graduated in the guild from the school of his father. Here, too, were Arnolfo, Lapo (the younger), with Donato and Goro, who were students in Niccolò's school of sculpture, and who worked so well at the sculpture at Siena that when they became Magistri in 1271, the three last were given the freedom of the city.[218] They were not exclusively sculptors, however, any more than Arnolfo was. Lapo was employed in 1281 as architect at Colle, where Arnolfo's reputed father, the elder Lapo or Jacopo il Tedesco, had been engaged by King Manfred long before him. Goro di Ciucci Ciuti had three sons, Neri, Ambrogio, and Goro, all in the guild. In 1306 we find them all engaged together in the fountain of Follonica at Siena. In 1310 Neri's sons Ciolo and Nuto are mentioned; one of them, having graduated, is old enough to have a pupil, named Teri. Here is the deed of apprenticeship—
No. 26."1310, 16 Settembre.
"Ciolo, maestro di pietra del fu Neri da Siena, prende per suo discepolo Teri fratello di Baldino da Castelfiorentino (Archivio del Duomo di Siena. Pergamena, 616).
"In nomini Domini amen. Ex hoc publico instrumento sit omnibus manifestum; quod Ciolus magister lapidum de cappella sancti Salvatoris in Ponte, quondam Nerii de Senis, fecit—Ugolinum, dictum Geriolum, de populo Sancti Joannis de Senis—suum procuratorem—ad recipiendum pro eo et ejus vice et nomine, Terium, germanum Baldini de Castro Florentino, nunc commorantem Senis, in discipulum et pro discipulo suprascripti Cioli. Et ad promictendum ipsi Terio, vel ali persone pro eo, quod ipse Ciolus magister tenebit eundem Terium in suum et pro suo discipulo, ad terminum et terminos statuendum et statuendos a dicto Ciolo; et quod eum dictam suam artem de lapidibus docebit.
"Actum Pisis, in via publica ante domum habitationis Duccii Nerii Bonaveris, positam in via sancte Marie, in cappella sancte Eufraxie.—Dominice incarnationis anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo decimo, Indictione septima, sextodecimo Kal: Octobris, secundum cursum pisanorum.
"Ego Bonaccursus filius quondam Provincialis de Vecchiano—not:—scripsi."—(Reproduced from Milanesi, Documenti per la Storia dell' Arte Senese, vol. i. pp. 174, 175.)
In 1281 a Grand Council was called to revoke the banishment of one of the Lombard Masters, Ramo di Paganello.[219] It seems that Ramo's father was from Lombardy, "de partibus ultramontanis;" but the son had been made a citizen of Siena, whence he was exiled for contumacy. However, he was such a good sculptor that the edict was revoked. The report begins—