As far as I have been able to ascertain, there are but three other examples of Pavement work, similar to that employed in the Siena Duomo. Mosaic pavements, of course, abound all over Italy, with more or less elaborate designs, fanciful, historical, or symbolical;221 but none of them really resembles this kind of work, which seems to have been peculiar to the artistic mind of the Sienese. The only other works, that I can find, that can, in any degree, be allied to it are:

1. The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca.

2. The Pavement of the Piccolomini Chapel at S. Francesco, in Siena.

3. The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico, in the same town.

Let us take them in order of date.

1. The Cathedral Pavement at Lucca.

This floor is covered with geometrical patterns in inlay, and was executed during the Rectorship of Jacopo di Chivizzano (1470–1484). We know, from several references in the Archives of the “Opera” of that Cathedral, that it had been commenced before 1475,222 and that, among others, Matteo Civitali, the great Lucchese sculptor, was employed upon some of the designs on it. It principally consists of merely ornamental friezes and geometrical designs. In the centre of the Nave, however, there is one picture, to which I would draw special attention. It represents the Judgment of Solomon, and is the work of one Antonio di Ghino of Siena. It was commissioned, we read,223 by a certain Bartolommeo Guarguaglia, and finished in 1477.224 The work is of the same kind as that at Siena, but is coarser and heavier in type. In design it most resembles the work of Domenico di Bartolo, but there are suggestions in some of the female figures of the influence,—Botticellesque perhaps,—that produced Matteo di Giovanni’s Judith and her maid, in the Relief of Bethulia. Solomon sits on a throne, under a sort of pillared loggia, surrounded by courtiers and attendants, while before him stand the claimants and their infants. The colouring of the picture, the somewhat brutal force of the composition, and the plentiful use of vari-coloured marbles, recall Matteo di Giovanni’s Massacre of the Innocents, although that work was not executed until several years later. Being in the centre of the nave, and not covered, it has been much injured by time and hard usage. Of its maker, Antonio di Ghino, we know but little. From a note given by Milanesi,225 we gather that, though here called “da Siena,” he really came of Lucchese stock, and was the son of one Ghino di Paolo of Lucca, a sculptor who lived long in Siena, and died in 1482. Antonio apparently had a son, who signed the Painters’ Brief in 1533.

2. The Pavement of the Cappella Piccolominea in S. Francesco.

This chapel, which was originally dedicated to S. Andrew, has recently been entirely rejuvenated, at the expense of the late Signora Anna Camaiori Saracini, and re-dedicated to Sta. Anna. There is not, therefore, at first sight much trace of the original work left. We know that, in 1504,226 Lorenzo di Mariano (Il Marrina) was employed by Giacomo Piccolomini, brother of Pope Pius III., to adorn their family chapel in this church; and, that he not only made an altar, the decorations around the windows, and the entrance arch to the chapel, but also laid down four Cardinal Virtues: Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance, on the floor.227 Of all this work, the various conflagrations, that have destroyed the great church of S. Francesco, have left only the arch, the coats of arms, the windows, a small portion of the altar, and the pavement. Restoration, of a too complete kind, has even further concealed the original nature of what remained; and one’s first impression on looking at this pavement is that it is brand-new, so well has Professor Leopoldo Maccari done his work.228 The figures, however, on close inspection, show high merit. They are finely conceived, on the lines of the Sibyls in the Duomo, and are imposing pieces of work. Lorenzo di Mariano (Il Marrina) was one of the finest sculptors of his time. He was born on the 11th of August, 1476, and was the son of Mariano di Domenico Nanni, a goldsmith. In 1506, he became Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo,229 where he had been employed since 1490, under the mastership of Giovanni di Maestro Stefano. On the 28th of January, in the following year, he married Elisabetta, daughter of Ser Jacopo Bertini, by whom he had four sons: by name, Girolamo, Gio.-Battista, Agostino, and Giacomo, who were goldsmiths; and one daughter, Bartolommea, who married Lattanzio di Gio. Lotti. He worked a great deal for the various members of the Piccolomini family; the finest extant piece commissioned by them remaining, being the doorway of the Libreria in the Duomo. A tabernacle in the chapel of the Convent of S. Girolamo, and, above all, the exquisite altar in the church of the Fontegiusta by him, testify that the admiration, in which he was held, in his day, was not misplaced.

3. The Pavement of the Chapel of Sta. Caterina in S. Domenico.

Of this work we have no reliable record; but it is clearly of late date, perhaps made in the sixteenth century, and most probably, as a sepulchral memorial. We learn from Abate Faluschi,230 that this chapel belonged to the Benzi family, and was their burial-place. Hither was brought the body of the famous Marco, son of Giovanni Benzi and Nicola Serfucci, who was physician to Niccolo, Marchese d’Este, and died in Ferrara in 1429. The corpse was buried by his uncle Ugo, son of Andrea Benzi and Minoccia Pagni, in 1448; and the chapel was built over the grave by Niccolo Buonsignore Benzi in 1488. The following inscription, now effaced:—

was placed to the memory of Marco Benzi. We find too, that another physician, Sozzini Benzi, belonging to the same family, was also buried here. The decoration of this chapel, by Sodoma, did not take place until 1526; and it is not improbable, that the floor was subsequent to that date. So that it may have been the work of the last of the Pavement Masters, Giovanni Battista Sozzini, spoken of above. The Sozzinis were a distinguished family, and if the name tells us anything, may have been related to this very Sozzini Benzi. The figure of Æsculapius, seated among various wild beasts, would then have appropriate reference to the merits of these two physicians. It is strange to find such a classical piece of composition in a chapel dedicated to Sta. Caterina di Siena, a saint so pre-eminently ecclesiastical; but it is quite in accordance with the spirit of the time. Æsculapius, a handsome nude youth, resembling Orpheus or Bacchus, is seated on a rock in a grove of oaks, laurels, and fruit-trees. In his right hand he holds a mirror in which is reflected his own face. To his right, are an unicorn and a wolf: to his left, a leopard and a lion. Perched on the trees, in various directions, are sundry birds: owls, vultures, eagles, etc. One vulture, on the right of the principal figure, is screaming at a monkey, who is eating fruit. On the other side, another bird is clawing at an over-grown squirrel. Around the composition is a frieze representing water, on which are swimming swans and ducks.231 The composition is good, but the perspective is odd, and the use of many coloured marbles profuse, and not altogether happy.