The tabernacle

at Or San

Michele;

finished in

1359.

he had gone to superintend the mosaics of the cathedral, Orcagna returned to Florence to design and construct this work, which, perhaps, embodies more than any other the spirit of mediæval Christian art. Built of white marble in the Gothic styleenriched with every kind of ornament, and storied with bas-reliefs illustrative of the Madonna's history from her birth to her death -it rises in stately beauty towards the roof of the church, and whether considered from an architectural, sculptural or symbolic point of view, must excite the warmest admiration in all who can appreciate the perfect unity of conception through which its basreliefs, statuettes, busts, intaglios, mosaics and incrustations of pietre dure, gilded glass and enamels are welded into a unique 'ensemble.'

Che passa di bellezza, s' io ben recolo,

Tutti gli altri che son dentro del secolo.1

The front of the tabernacle is occupied by the altar, and over it is placed the picture of the Madonna, above which rises the openwork roof, crowned by statuettes of the Archangel Michael and an attendant angel. Upon three sides of its base are set reliefs, in octangular recesses, representing the Birth, Presentation, and Marriage of the Virgin, the Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and lastly, we see the Madonna receiving the announcement of her approaching death from an angel, in which she appears as an aged woman, gazing wistfully and submissively at the celestial messenger, who brings to her a palm branch, which, according to the legend, was endowed with miraculous power to conceal her dead body, while on its way to the tomb, from the eyes of the Jews.2

As this relief is remarkable for its sentiment, so is that of the Marriage of the Virgin for its composition. In the midst stands

Poem upon the Tabernacle, by Sacchetti.

2 This event, which is said to have occurred at Jerusalem twenty-two years after the death of our Lord, is related in the apocryphal book, entitled De Transitu B. M. Virginis.

the dignified high priest, who solemnly joins the hands of Joseph
and Mary; while on either side are grouped other persons, one of
whom, a disappointed youth, angrily breaks his rod, which did
not bud (Plate IX.). In the other six reliefs the subjects are
clearly illustrated, and equally charming in composition and
sentiment. They are separated by smaller reliefs of the Christian
virtues, and surrounded by twenty half-figures of virtues and
saints, and busts of the sciences and arts. A large relief above
the base, and at the back of the shrine, represents the death
of the Madonna, who lies upon a couch surrounded by the
apostles, among whom Orcagna has introduced himself with
a hood upon
his head and a shaven beard (see tailpiece to
Chapter III.), and her ascension in the mystic mandorla, from
which she drops her girdle to the incredulous St. Thomas.2

3

Loggia de'

Orcagna's next great work was the Loggia de' Lanzi (so called The from its location near the guard-house of the German lanzi or Lanzi. landsknechts), intended as a place of assembly for the discussion of political or commercial matters in rainy weather, instead of the uncovered 'ringhiera' before the Palazzo Vecchio. Three wide arches in front and one at the end, whose bold span recalls those of ancient Rome, are supported upon pilasters with Corinthian capitals, and surmounted by a broad entablature, adorned with six half figures in relief of the cardinal and theological virtues, and with a group of the Madonna and Child seated beneath a canopy.*

A voice came from the sanctuary commanding that every man of the house of David, who was not wedded, should place his rod on the altar; and that he whose rod should bud and upon which the Holy Spirit should descend in the form of a dove, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, should be the spouse of Mary.' As the rod that budded was that of Joseph, he became the husband of Mary. 2 The inscription upon the Tabernacle runs thus: Andreas Cionis Pictor Fiorentinus extitit hujus MCCCLIX.' Orcagna generally signed his sculptures Pictor,' and his paintings Sculptor;' so Francia signed his pictures 'Aurifex,' and his goldsmith work 'Pictor;' and Vecchietta his sculptures 'Pictoris opus,' and his paintings Scultoris opus.'

3 Gaye (Casteggio, vol. i. pp. 526, 528) says, Orcagna began this Loggia in 1276; Ricci (vol. ii. p. 258) says, in 1374. 4 Vide Appendix, letter E.

The

Certosa,

1341.

1366.

Michael Angelo advised Duke Cosimo I. to continue this loggia round the piazza, but unfortunately the project was given up on account of its great cost, as it has again been in our day when suggested as a national monument to Dante, the poet of Italian independence a plan all the more fitting, as Orcagna, like so many of the great Italian artists, was a poet of no mean ability.1 The year of his death is uncertain, and variously fixed in 1379 or 1389.2 If the first date be correct, he left the Loggia de' Lanzi to be completed by his brother Bernardo, who succeeded him as architect to the commune. His other brother Jacopo, architect, sculptor, and painter, was, like himself, a scholar of Andrea Pisano."

Whether Andrea Orcagna built the Certosa near Florence, is founded in uncertain, but the monuments of its founder Niccolò Acciajuoli and his family, which exist in its subterranean church, belong to his time, and were perhaps executed by some of his scholars. Buried in The tomb of Niccolò (Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples under Queen Joanna I.) consists of his recumbent statue, clad in armour, placed high against the wall, beneath a rich Gothic canopy. His son Lorenzo, upon whose funeral obsequies he spent more than 50,000 gold florins, lies below, under a marble slab, upon which is sculptured the effigy of this youth of a most lovely countenance, cavalier and great baron, tried in arms, and eminent for his graceful manners, and his gracious and noble aspect.' Next him lie his grandfather and sister.

With Orcagna, the Pisan school, whose rise and progress we have now traced through the better part of two centuries, may be said

His humorous poems are called Burchiellesca, from Burchiello, a poet who adopted his peculiar style. Orcagna's sonnets exist in MS. in the Strozzi and Magliabecchian libraries at Florence. See Appendix, letter F.

2 Vasari (vol. ii. p. 134) says, he died in 1389. The annotators of his Lives say he was dead in 1376.

3 He sculptured four stone lions (Marzocchi) for the Palazzo Vecchio, built the tower of the church of San Piero in Gattalino, and made the monuments of Piero di Farnese, formerly in the Duomo.

4 F. Villani. Appendix to ed. in 8vo. No. 169, p. 128.