Capital in Milan Cathedral. Sculptured by Magister Bartolommeo da Campione.
Two months after this election, Duke Francesco Sforza wrote a very commanding letter from the camp at Trignano, saying, he recommended the nomination of Antonio da Firenze (Filarete) and Giovanni da Solari, in place of Filippino degli Argani. The latter was already at his post, but the Council again defied the Duke by saying they had no need of Filarete; on which the Duke retired from his self-imposed office of adviser, and left the lodge to manage its own business, which it always intended to do. Giovanni da Solari being left in peace, carried on the works, and so beautiful were they, that even to the Magistri themselves the building seemed "more divine than human."
He was succeeded by his son, Magister Guiniforte, whose name is sometimes misspelt Boniforte. He was "a man of clear mind, exquisite sense and strong will; educated amidst grand ideas and grand things by a wise and talented father; he became Magister at twenty-two years of age, and worked under his father." When he was thirty-seven, he took Filarete's place, as chief architect of the Ospedale Maggiore at Milan, a work almost perfect in its harmonious beauty, and yet showing in every line its derivation from the civil edifices of the older Lombards. He was also architect at the Certosa, and built, or rather designed, the churches of S. Satiro and the Madonna delle Grazie and the castle of Alliate. Calvi says that Guiniforte, "though following the older school, knew how to lighten the serious northern style, by giving it the smile of Italian skies."
When Guiniforte died in 1481, his son, Pietro Antonio, armed with a letter of recommendation from the Princess Bona, presented himself at the lodge, as a candidate for his father's position. The Freemason Council, however, seemed determined not to bow to royal commands, and again asserted its independence. Pietro was put off, and in 1489 he departed to Russia.[271]
During the years from 1468 to 1492, the books of the lodge, preserved in the archives, abound in names of Magistri from the neighbourhood of Como, both architects and sculptors.[272]
Among them are some famous names, such as Martino da Mantegazza, Dolcebono Rodari (sculptor of the beautiful north door at Como), and Gerolamo della Porta, who entered the lodge in May 1490, with a letter of recommendation from the Duke, advising his being specially trained in the art of sculpture. His talents warranting this, he was sent to Rome with four other stone-sculptors, to remain ten years, and perfect themselves in sculpture, to study the antique, and to return to the laborerium as fully qualified masters. There was also Bartolommeo da Campione, who carved some of the richly ornate capitals of the columns. I suspect he was the man who became famous in Venice.
The cathedral of Milan was now reaching completion. There only remained the crucial question of the dome, and with this the Masters now occupied themselves. Jacopo da Campione had made a model which the Council of Administration preserved in their rooms, together with a beautifully made wooden model begun by Giovannino de' Grassi, and finished on his death by his son, Salomone. These were not adopted, for on Giovanni Solari's death in 1471, we find the name of Bartolomeus de Gorgonzola, magister super Tiburium. This was on September 26, 1472. The same phrase is repeated in another entry on November 25, 1471, where a payment is registered, made to Branda da Castiglione, on account of the work he has to do at Gandolia, in making certain columns to place above the Tiburio.