Bartolommeo Bono worked much with his father, and later his younger brother Pantaleone joined them, and became more famous than either of them. To these three we owe in a great measure the reconstruction and decoration of the Ducal Palace, which in the first place had been built by Justinian and Narses. At the end of the tenth century, the Doge Pietro Orseolo restored Justinian's building. To this restoration belong probably some of the fine mediæval capitals of the columns of the Loggia, of which we have given an illustration on [page 253]. It has been said that Marino Faliero, when Doge, engaged his friend and fellow-conspirator Filippo Calendario to make a plan for a new palace, but no proofs of this, nor any designs are to be found.
Authentic documents, however, prove that a meeting of the Grand Consiglio was held on September 27, 1422, in which it was proposed to "rebuild the palace in a decorous and convenient form." On April 20, 1424, the decree went forth that the old walls were to be thrown down, and the façade rebuilt. The first Masters mentioned in the books are the three Buoni. A minute, dated September 6, 1463, registers that the Salt Office should pay "Maistro Pantalon," sculptor, for the work done for the Ducal Palace—that this work included many other works besides the figures; and that it should not remain incomplete, the Doge wished it to extend across the piazza and up to the last built Sala[281]—i.e. the Sala del Squittinio. This would include all the façade and its colonnades, with the internal Sala del Squittinio and Scala Foscara leading to it, on which is placed the statue of Francesco della Rovere.[282] The part of Bartolommeo, brother of Pantaleone, was the Porta della Carta, of which we speak in the chapter on decoration. Their father Giovanni (Zambono) must have died about the time the palace was finished, which was May 13, 1442, for on November 25, 1443, Bartolommeo writes himself in a notarial act as "Ego Bartolommeus lapiscida q. ser Johannis Boni."
Ducal Palace at Venice. The side built by the Buoni Family.
Part of the palace was burned not many lustres after, and in 1484, Antonio Rizo or Riccio was nominated Proto for its rebuilding. He came to Venice with good recommendations. He was the son of a deceased Magister Giovanni Rizo, as we see in a deed of June 25, 1484, where he is nominated as "Ser Antonius Rizo lapiscida q. ser Joannis de contrata sancti Joannis Novi," and had been in the East, where he built the fortifications of Scutari, for Antonio Loredan. His fortifications resisted the attack of the Turks so well that they had to raise the siege, and Antonio, who was wounded, was rewarded by a pension for himself and children, and by the appointment of chief architect for the Ducal Palace, when it was restored after the fire. It would seem that the façade built by the Buono trio had not been injured, as Rizo turned his attention to the inner court, which he built in a beautiful style, together with the great staircase, now known as the "Scala dei Giganti," from Sansovino's two giants, which were added—not much to the grace of the stairway—in 1566.
Bernardino da Bissone, and Domenico Solari of Val d'Intelvi, both Como Masters, assisted in the sculpture of the beautiful balustrade. Riccio has the characteristic Comacine mixture of round arches in the foundation, and pointed ones above. He added a third colonnade, in which the round arches again appear. It is all enriched by exquisite sculptural decoration; the frieze of Nereids and sea-horses on the third order is very fine.
Selvatico attributes also to Riccio much of the side of the palace towards the prisons. The two statues of Adam and Eve facing the Giant's Stairs are signed in the plinths, one "Antonio," the other "Rizo." They are fine works of sculpture, which have been wrongly attributed, in spite of the signature, to various persons, such as Antonio Bregno, and Andrea Riccio of Padua. A proof of Rizo's lengthened tenure of the office of Proto is given in a document in the Venetian archives quoted by Cadorin. The document, dated October 10, 1491, is an order from the Magistrates of the Salt Office, who were at the head of the Administration of the works of the Ducal Palace, "to increase the salary of Rizo Antonio, Proto of the building works, from one hundred and fifty ducats to two hundred, as the former salary was not enough to support his family in his old age, and also having regard to his long and valuable services and fatigues, and the necessity of retaining him, for the prosperity and the beauty of the said building."[283]
Another document, quoted by Merzario from the Diary of Marin Sanuto, seems to throw a cloud over the close of Antonio's head membership. It seems that 10,000 ducats were missing from the accounts of the works, and that Antonio, being unable to explain it, sold all his possessions, and shouldering his belongings went towards Ancona and Foligno. This entry is dated April 5, 1498.[284]