This contract very much offended Gio. Antonio Amadeo, who had gone to Bergamo to make a monument for the Colleoni family, and he appealed to the Colleoni, and also to the Duke of Milan, to enforce his claims on the work, which were so far recognized that he was engaged to do half the work, at a price to be estimated, receiving a podere (vineyard) in part payment.
Another act of notary, dated October 12, 1478, records the ceremony of valuing several works of sculpture, by Amadeo and the brothers Mantegazza, by two Masters of the guild, Giovanni, junior, da Campione, and Luchino of Cernuscolo, which took place in the presence of the Prior and the chief architect, Guiniforte Solari;—a proof that Solari was still the capo maestro. He died early in January 1481, and on the 13th of the same month, Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza wrote to the "Dominis Priori et monacis Carthusie Papiensis," to recommend his son, "Pietro Antonio (suo figliuolo peritissimo de la medesima arte et de divino ingenio"), as a worthy successor to his father as chief architect. Antonio Mantegazza succeeded him, but he, too, died in 1495, and Cristoforo Solario, named Gobbo, who had worked with him, became architect in his turn. His election was on October 11, 1495, by the recommendation of Ludovico il Moro. Gobbo, however, did not long remain in office, for in 1497 we find him employed at the Duomo of Milan, and the sepulchre of Beatrice d'Este, at the church of the Grazie there. In 1506 he became head architect at Milan.
In 1499, a letter from B. Calco, dated May 1, declares that the works at the Certosa are nearly finished (sarà presto presso el fine).[277]
The church had already been opened for service since May 1497, when the Cardinal di S. Croce came in state to consecrate it, and a grand refection was offered him. The documents cited by Sig. Merzario are certainly conclusive as to the epoch and authorship of both the convent and the church.
We must not leave the Lombard Lodge without a mention of one of its principal Masters, Matteo da Campione, who was architect for the fourteenth-century restoration of the cathedral at Monza, which his forerunners of the guild had built for Queen Theodolinda. He is spoken of in the registers at Milan, when he attended a general meeting of the guild there on January 6, 1390, as Matteo da Campione "inzignero in Monza," and again on July 10, 1390, when, on the death of Marco da Campione, it was deliberated in council to send for Maestro Matteo from Monza, and see whether he would take Marco's place in the works. He was, like almost all the Comacines, a sculptor as well as architect. The baptismal font at Monza, which was once noted for its beauty, is now ruined and mutilated. The pulpit and the sculptures on the façade of Monza cathedral are attributed to Matteo's own hand. The pulpit is a fine piece of sculpture in white marble. It was originally square, but has been altered in form during the last century. Fourteen figures, the twelve apostles with St. Paul and Barnabas, are sculptured around it, and there are many small reliefs. It has a prominent part in the front, called by the Italians the pulpitino, or little pulpit. On this are sculptured the Redeemer with a book, and a thunderbolt in His hands, and the four Evangelists. The façade is a curious instance of the transition of Comacine art, between the Romanesque and the Gothic. The door is very much like those of Verona and other Comacine churches of the same era. Matteo has put his lions in front of the pillars of the porch, instead of beneath them. The mixture of style shows more in the windows. The four lower windows are distinctly Gothic, with pointed arches, three lights, and Gothic tracery; the upper ones are round-arched Lombard two-light windows, the archlets of which are a little cusped. The lines of the façade are quite Lombard, the internal divisions being marked on the front by pilasters running the whole height. The Lombard gallery is indicated like a memory of past time by a row of archlets beneath the eaves, but they rest on nothing, and are of no practical use as their prototypes were. Probably, as the interior was not rebuilt, Matteo da Campione so far respected the work of his older brethren, as to adapt his façade to the rest of the building. Over the portico is a fine rose window, and above that a row of saints in niches; the space between them is filled with geometrical sculpture. He has used the ancient sculpture of "Agilulf and Theodolinda" in the lunette of the doorway. Its style is much earlier than the figures above. Matteo was buried in the church, and on his tomb is the inscription—"Hic jacet magnus ille ædificator devotus magister Mattheus de Campiliono, qui hujus sacrosanctæ Ecclesiæ fatiem ædificavit evangelistarium ac battisterium qui obiit anno Domini MCCCLXXXXVI die XXIV mensio maii." It is said that he has sculptured his own likeness in the rigid and thoughtful figure of the saint near the turret, over the rose window.
Façade of Monza Cathedral. Restored 14th century.
Another work which we have seen commenced by earlier Comacines was the cathedral of Como. That too was restored and redecorated by Comacines about this time. The old church had been ruined in the wars between Como and Milan, and in 1335, Azzo Visconti, building his fortresses at Como, ran his walls close round the church, cutting it off from the town. In 1386, however, the Bishop of Como persuaded Gian Galeazzo to transpose his fort and open the church again to the people. In gratitude for this, the people proposed to restore their church, and Gian Galeazzo promised his aid. The work was begun in 1396 and went on till 1513. Authors disagree as to whether the church were renovated, i.e. restored, or rebuilt. Whichever it was, there is no doubt that the whole façade was executed in the fifteenth century. The north door is of rich ornate Renaissance style, and much later than that on the façade, although the lions are still under the columns. The façade follows in its lines the old Lombard form, but the dividing pilasters here are lavishly enriched. They are in fact but a perpendicular line of niches with a statue in each. The three doorways are round-arched, the windows above them slightly pointed. Over the central door is a Gothic vestibule with saints in its canopied arches.