Part 33 (2/2)
The _Bibliotheca secreta_ is 20 ft. wide by 38 ft. 6 in. long. It is lighted by a single window in the north wall (fig. 98, F), of the same size and shape as the rest. The light is sufficient, even under present conditions.
The fourth and last room--spoken of in 1480 as ”that addition which our Master lately made”--is 29 ft. wide by 40 ft. 6 in. long. It is at present lighted by only a single window in the north wall (fig. 98, G), and is very gloomy. But in former days, before Julius II. (1503-1513) built the _Cortile di San Damaso_, it had another window in the middle of the east wall (_ibid._, H), where there is now a door. Nothing certain can be made out about its decoration.
It is much to be regretted that so little is said about the glazing of the windows throughout the Library. Great care was evidently bestowed upon them, and the engagement of foreign artists, with the purchase of gla.s.s at Venice, are proofs that something specially beautiful was intended.
Coloured gla.s.s is mentioned, which may have been used either for coats of arms--and we know that the Papal Arms were to be set up in the _Bibliotheca secreta_--or for subjects. But, in forming conjectures as to the treatment of these windows, it should be remembered that the transmission of light must always have been the first consideration, and that white gla.s.s must have preponderated.
The rooms for the Librarian and his a.s.sistants were in a small building which ab.u.t.ted on the Library at its S.W. corner, and stood between the two courts, obtaining light from each. Over the door of entrance was the inscription:
SIXTUS . IIII . PONT . MAX.
BIBLIOTECARIO . ET . CVSTODIBVS . LOCVM . ADDIXIT[381].
The accommodation provided was not magnificent, two rooms only being mentioned. A door (fig. 98, _a_), now blocked, gave access to the Library from this building. It is interesting to note, as a proof of the richness of all the work, that it was of inlaid wood (_pino intarsiata_).
The work of fitting up this Library occupied about six years. It began in September 1475, and proceeded continuously to January 1477, when Melozzo's fresco was in progress. In December of that year the windows of the _Bibliotheca secreta_ were begun; but during 1478 and 1479 nothing was done. In 1480 work was resumed, and the last payment to painters was made in 1481.
Let us now consider how these rooms were fitted up for the reception of books. I will first collect the notices in the Accounts respecting desks, or _banchi_, as they are called, and then compare them with the rooms themselves, and with the descriptions in the catalogues, which are fortunately extremely full; and I think that it will be possible to give a clear and consistent picture of the arrangements.
Platina ordered the desks for the Latin Library first, in 1475. This is set down in the following terms:
I have counted out, in the presence of Clement, steward of the household of His Holiness our Master, Salvatus the library-keeper (_librarius_), and Demetrius the reader (_lector_), 45 ducats to Francis the carpenter of Milan, now dwelling in the fishmarket of the city of Rome, towards making the desks in the library; and especially ten desks which stand on the left hand, the length of which is 38 palms or thereabouts; and so having received a part of the money, the total of which is 130 ducats, he promises and binds himself to do that which it is his duty to do, this 15th day of July, 1475[382].
The full name of this carpenter is known, from his receipts, to have been Francesco de Gyovane di Boxi da Milano. He received in all 300 ducats instead of the 130 mentioned in the first agreement, and when the last payment was made to him, 7 June, 1476, the following explanatory note is given:
Moreover I have paid to the same [Francis the carpenter]
30 ducats for what remains due on 25 desks for the Library: for the longer ones, which are 10 in number, there were paid, as entered above, 130 ducats; for the rest there were paid 170 ducats, making a total of 300 ducats, and so he has been paid in full for all the desks, this 7th day of June, 1476[383].
In 1477 the furniture for the next room, the _Bibliotheca secreta_ or Inner Library, was begun. The work was entrusted to a Florentine, called in the Accounts merely _Magister Joanninus faber lignarius de Florentia_, but identified by M. Fabre with Giovannino dei Dolci, one of the builders of the Sistine chapel. The most important entry referring to him is the following:
Master Giovannino, carpenter of Florence, had from me Platyna, librarian of His Holiness our Master, for making the desks in the inner library, for the great press, and the settle, in the said room--all of which were estimated by Master Francis of Milan at one hundred and eighty ducats--he had, as aforesaid, sixty-five ducats and sixty groats on the 7th May, 1477[384].
The last payment on this account was made 18 March, 1478, on which day he also received eight ducats for three frames ”to contain the names of the books,” and for some repairs to old desks[385]. These frames were painted by one of Melozzo da Forli's workmen[386]. In February, 1481, 12 book-chests were supplied[387].
The desks for the fourth room or _Bibliotheca pontificia_ were ordered in 1480-81. The workmen employed were Giovannino and his brother Marco.
Master Giovannino of Florence and Master Marco his brother, a carpenter, received XXV ducats in part payment for the desks which are being made in the library now added by His Holiness our Master, 18 July, 1480[388].
These workmen received 100 ducats up to 7 April, 1481, but the account was not then settled. Up to this period the bookcases had cost the large sum of 580 ducats or, if the value of the ducat be taken at six s.h.i.+llings and sixpence, 188 10_s._ of our money.
The purchase of chains began in January 1476[389]. It is worth notice that so simple an article as a chain for a book could not be bought in Rome, but had to be sent for from Milan; where, by the way, the dues exacted by the government made the purchase irksome and costly. The total number of chains bought was 1728, and the total cost 102 ducats, or rather more than 33. The rings were found to be too small, and were altered in Rome.
Nothing is said about the place from which the rods came (_ferramenta quibus catenae innituntur_).
In 1477 (14 April) ”John the chain-maker (_Joannes fabricator catenarum_)”
supplies ”48 iron rods on which the books are strung on the seats[390]”
and also 48 locks, evidently connected with the same number of rods supplied before. In the same year a key-maker (_magister clavium_) supplies 22 locks for the seats and cupboards in the _Bibliotheca secreta_[391]; and in 1480, when the _Bibliotheca pontficia_ was being fitted up, keys, locks, chains, and other ironwork were supplied by Bernardino, nephew of John of Milan[392].
For further information we must turn to the catalogues. For my present purpose the first of these[393] is that by Platina, of which I have already spoken, dated 14 September, 1481. It is a small folio volume, written on vellum, with gilt edges, and in plain binding that may be original. The first page has a lovely border of an enlaced pattern with the arms of Sixtus IV. in a circle at the bottom.
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