The early reviver of Sculpture in Italy; memorable for being the first Italian artist who quitted the dry, stiff, traditional forms which had long prevailed, and founded a school based upon Truth and Nature. His finest productions preceded those of Cimabue; and it was said of him that “he was the first to see the light and to follow it.” His great work is the marble pulpit, with bas-reliefs from Scripture, in the Baptistery at Pisa.
[By Alessandro d’Este. Vasari mentions a Bust of him by his son Giovanni, from which this may have been taken.]
130. Andrea di Cione, better known by his surname Orcagna or Orgagna. Painter, Sculptor, Architect.
[14th century.]
Precise time of his birth unknown; it appears that he died about 1370. Executed several works in his three vocations. The dignified grandeur and admirable grouping of the figures in his paintings were at a later period copied or adopted, even by Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. Orcagna was a good as well as a great man. His chief works still exist, though in a half-ruined state, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, and in the Strozzi Chapel, and the Or-San-Michele at Florence.
[This Bust is by the Cav. Massimiliano Laboureur. There is, however, a mezzo-relievo, by his own hand, behind the altar in Or-San-Michele, at Florence, which contains his portrait. He is there represented as an Apostle, shaven, and wearing a hood.]
131. Filippo Brunelleschi. Sculptor and Architect.
[Born at Florence, 1377. Died there, 1446. Aged 69.]
The self-taught constructor of the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which, though smaller than that of St. Peter’s at Rome, surpasses it in elegance and lightness. A builder of churches, palaces, and fortifications. Michael Angelo declared that it was difficult to imitate and impossible to excel him. Small and insignificant in person, but of commanding genius. With many competitors, his goodness and prudence preserved him from enmity.
[His tomb is next to that of Giotto, in the Cathedral at Florence, and bears an epitaph by Aretino. This bust was done by Alessandro d’Este. It is no doubt taken from that in the Church of Sta. Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which was done from the life, in marble, by his pupil, Il Buggiano. In 1830, statues of him and Arnolfo, his fellow architect, were placed in the new chapter-house: they are by Luigi Pompaloni, a Florentine.]