Part 35 (1/2)
9. ”We also determine and ordain that Maestro Simone da a.r.s.enigo, as being chief architect of the said fabric, shall order and provide for all the works done in the said church, and that he shall show diligence, etc. etc....”
Here we have the exact organization we have seen at Siena, Parma, Florence, etc.; and as there the Lombard Masters are the founders of it, we find the same filing of doc.u.ments, the same a.s.signing of different parts of the building to different Masters, and the same calling of councils in the guild to consider and value the work. The registers of administration are kept in precisely the same way. The _spenditore_ keeps his books just as the Florentine _Provveditore_ does. Here are a few translations from the bad Latin of his entries--
”1387. _January 15._--For two lbs. of _morsecate_ for Maestro Andrea degli Organi, four lire.” (Andrea degli Organi of Modena was the Ducal architect, the father of Filippo da Modena, a first-rate architect.)
”_January 19._--For a Master and forty-seven workmen to place the foundations of the pilasters.”
”_March 19._--To Simone da a.r.s.enigo, chief architect, for eighteen days in which he was engaged in work himself.” (This entry would seem to prove that when a Master did manual work with his men, he was paid as they were in addition to his salary as architect.)
”_April 2._--To Maestro Marco da Frisone” (Magistro Marcho de Frixono), ”who was in the service of the Fabbrica, and began to work on March 5, and finished on April 2, for his pay 12 lire 13 denari.”
”_April 13._--To Maestro Andrea da Modena, architect to the Duke, for his pay for the days he gave to the church in Milan, with the permission of the Vicario Sig. Giovanni de Capelli, and the _XII di provisione_” (one of the city councils, which acted as the president of the lodge, as the Arte della Lana did in Florence), ”and also of the deputies of the Fabbrica, L. 19. 4.”
”_May 2._--Lent to Maestro Marco da Frisono, 22 lire.”
”_August 12._--For 84 workmen, 13 lire 13. 6. To 4 master builders, _i.e._ Giovanni da a.r.s.enigo, 5 lire 10; to Giovannino da a.r.s.enigo, his son, 5. 10; to Giovanni da Azzo, 5. 9; and Giovanni da Trnzano, 5.
9;--18 lire in all.”
In August we get entries of expenses for rope to draw water from the well, and rope for raising scaffolding, for nails, baskets, plumb-lines, water-levels, red paint to mark the planks, and other things. On October 9, 1387, we find the _spenditore_ paying a messenger to go to Crema with letters from the lodge to Maestro Guglielmo di Marco, to call him to Milan to give advice on business connected with the buildings.
On October 15 Guglielmo di Marco is paid 16 lire for his journey and eight days' employment in examining and judging the work of the church.
On October 18, 1387, we have payment to Maestro Simone da a.r.s.enigo and ten companions (eleven in all), master builders. To Maestro Zeno da Campione and twenty-one companions (twenty-two including himself), master sculptors of ”living stone” (_pietra viva_). The word which I translate companions is _sotiis_ (_Mag. Symoni de Ursanigo et sotiis, etc._), which would imply that they were all members (_soci_) of one society, and is thus valuable as a confirmation of the brotherhood in this guild.
In October 1387, Andrea da Modena, the Duke's architect, is again engaged, but only as adviser; for which he receives _in dono fiorini venti_; and Leonardo Zepo and Simone da Cavagnera are deputed to take note of his suggestions.
”1387. _November 19._--For the payment of two large sheets of parchment consigned to Simone da a.r.s.enigo.” (These must have been to draw the plans.)
”1388. _April 19._--Paid Maestro Marco da Frixone and _soci_ for plaster to make models of the four _piloni_.”
In another entry, noting the payment of 81 lire as salary, Marco da Frixone is named as Marco da Campione _detto_ di Frisone.
Merzario is of opinion that such names as Marc the Frisian, who was one of the Campione school; Jacopo Tedesco, whom all old writers agree was Italian; Guglielmo d'Innspruck, also a Campionese, have been the cause of much misunderstanding, and have sent authors off on false scents. It was the custom, in the books of the Comacines, to name people from their _provenienza_, i.e. the last place they came from.
Thus at Siena you will find Niccol da Pisa, while at Pisa he is Niccol di Apulia. Lorenzo Maitani was Lorenzo da Siena to the Orvieto people, and Lorenzo d'Orvieto to the Florentines. Marco il Frisone, born at Campione, is therefore a link between the German guilds and the Italian; he must have worked at Friesland, and probably brought back ideas of a more pointed Gothic from there.
These registers are ample proof that the builders just called in for the building of Milan cathedral were of the Lombard Guild, and chiefly of the Campione branch. It is not till 1389 that we find a single German name, and then a certain ”Anichino (Annex) di Germania” is paid 16 soldi for having made a model of a _tiburio_ (cupola) in lead, and Giacobino da Bruge, who falls ill while working at the church, has a slight subsidy given by the guild _per amor di Dio_. They are not mentioned again, and neither of them seem to be Masters.
That Simone da a.r.s.enigo was chief architect at this time, not a doubt can exist. It is especially emphasized in a deed executed in December 1387. In it the Administration, ”in consideration of their long and continued experience of the pure and admirable goodwill, and the _opera multifaria_ which the worthy man, Magister Simone da a.r.s.enigo, most worthy chief architect and master, has achieved in this church, by constant diligence, and wis.h.i.+ng to remunerate him better (pro aliquali remuneratione bene meritorem), decide that whereas his salary hitherto has been ten imperial soldi a day, it shall now be raised to ten gold florins a month.”
It is plain, however, that he worked in concert with the guild. Just as at Florence and Siena, great councils of the Masters, both architects and sculptors, were held to consider whether the foundations were strong before continuing the building, so in Milan a great meeting was called on Friday, March 20, 1388, in which all the _Magistri_ were cited before their patrons, the Imperial Vicar-General, and the Council of XII. (In Florence the Arte della Lana took the post of President of the Works.) All the _Magistri_ were charged to give their opinion on the building in its present state, and to suggest any improvements they could.
First uprose Master Marco da Campione (Surrexit primus Magister Marchus de Campilione, Inzignerius), and said there was an error in the wall on the side of Via Compedo, the wall being, in one part, ”half a quarter” wider than the measure given. He suggested undoing that part to the foundation.
Then the chief architect, Simone da a.r.s.enigo, rose, and proposed to cut the stones down to the ground, but not to remove them.
Maestri Giacomo and Zeno agreed with Maestro Marco, as did Maestro Guarnerio da Sirtori and Ambrogio Pongione.
Then uprose Maestro Bonino da Campione (whom we saw last at work on the Scaligers' tombs at Verona), and said that he not only agreed with the others, but found an error in the _piloni_ in the body of the church, towards the door of the facade.
Gasparolo da Birago, worker in iron, Magistri Ambrogio da Melzo, Pietro da Desio, Filippo Orino, Ridolfo di Cinisello, and Antonio da Trnzano, all voted with him.
The words ”according to the measure given” (_justa mensuram super hoc datam_), prove that however many architects superintended special parts, there was one supreme Master who made the design.