Intarsia and Marquetry

INDEX

A
Angelo di Lazzero, of Arezzo, 19
Anselmo de' Fornari, 77-78
Antique inlaid furniture, 2, 3, 6 (note)
Antonio da Melaria, 35
Antonio di Minella, of Siena, 10
Antonio Manetti, 19
Antonio Paolo Martini, 13
Assisi, 10, 46
—— Stalls of the Upper church of S. Francesco, 46
Arezzo, S. Agostino and S. Michele, 41
Augsburg work, 85, 90
B
Baccio Albini, 40
Baccio d'Agnolo, 42-43
Barck, Klaus, 88
Barili, Antonio, of Siena, 37, 38, 39
—— —— Panel in K.K. Museum at Vienna, 37, 38
—— —— description of Chapel of S. Giovanni, Siena, 39, 40, 41
—— Giovanni, 39
Bartolommeo Poli, surnamed dalla Polla, 35, 36
Beck, Sebald, 84
Belli, Giovanni and Alessandro, 73
Bencivieni da Mercatello da Massa, Antonio di, 46-51
Benedetto da Majano, Vasari's story of the reason of his giving up working in tarsia, 20
Bergamo, Choir of S. Maria Maggiore, 79, 80
—— Tassi's account of, 80
—— Stalls in church of S. Stefano, 76
Bernardo di Tommaso di Ghigo, 19
Bernardino da Lendinara, 32
Brescia, Lectern from Rodengo in
Galleria Tosi, 64
Bologna, S. Domenico tarsie, by Fra Damiano, 70, 73, 75
—— Sabba Castiglione's account, 74, 75
—— Stalls in S. Giovanni in Monte, 66
—— S. Michele in Bosco, stalls now in S. Petronio, 65, 66
—— S. Petronio, 36
Boulle, AndrÉ Charles, 96, 97
—— Works by him, 21
Joiners' tools, priced list of Perugian of 1496, 47, 48
K
Kellerthaler, Hans, of Dresden, 85
Kiening, Isaac, of Frissen, 91
Kraus, Hans, marqueteur du roi, 94
L
Lavoro alla Certosa, or tarsia alla Certosina, 9
Leipzig Museum, Cabinet in, 91
Lendinara, Cristophano d' Andrea da, 21
Limitations of the art of intarsia, 122, 123
Loblein, Sixtus, of Landshut, 91
Lodi, Stalls in S. Bernardino, by Fra Giovanni da Verona, 63
Louvre, 4 panels from S. Benedetto Novella, Padua, of Fra Vincenzo dalla Vacche, 68
LÜbeck, Kriegs Stube, 86
Lucca, panels in sacristy of Cathedral, by Christoforo da Lendinara, 32
—— Stalls from Cathedral in Pinacotheca, 32
Luchet, M., Excursus on furniture in France, 1867, 113, 114
LÜneburg, Rathsaal, 86
M
MacÉ, Jean, of Blois, 92-95
Majano, Benedetto da, 19, 20
Majano, Giuliano di Nardo da, 18, 22
—— Leonardo d' Antonio da, 19
Manuello, of Siena, 9
Marchi, of Crema, Family of, 6, 36
Mariotto di Mariotto, of Pesaro, 45
Marquetry, Derivation of, 1
Marti, Leonardo, 32
Masi, Antonio di Antonio, The Fleming, 46
Massari, Andrea, of Siena, 54
Mastei, Antonio, of Gubbio, 53
Mastro Crespolto, of Perugia, 26
Mastro Vanni di Tura dell' Ammanato, Sienese, 10
Matteo di Bernardino, of Florence, 17
Meo di Nuti, of Siena, 10
Michele Spagnuolo, 21
Milan, Cathedral, 15
Minelli, Giovanni and Cristoforo de, 45
Miniatures at Villanova, by Fra Giovanni da Verona, 59
Minnesinger's harp, of 14th Century, 8
Modern French marquetry, 125
Monte Oliveto, 55, 59, 60
MusÉe Cluny, wire-drawing bench made for Augustus, Elector of Saxony, 91
N
Zanetto da Bergamo, 72, 73
Zanetto da Bergamo, 72, 73

[1] Pliny, Book 16, Chap. 83—"Glue, too, plays one of the principal parts in all veneering and works of marquetry. For this purpose the workmen usually employ wood with a threaded vein, to which they give the name of 'ferulea,' from its resemblance to the grain of the giant fennel, this part of the wood being preferred from its being dotted and wavy." Chap. 84—"The wood, too, of the beech is easily worked, although it is brittle and soft. Cut into thin layers of veneer it is very flexible, but is only used for the construction of boxes and desks. The wood, too, of the holm oak is cut into veneers of remarkable thinness, the colour of which is far from unsightly; but it is more particularly where it is exposed to friction that this wood is valued, as being one to be depended upon; in the axle trees of wheels, for instance, for which the ash is also employed, on account of its pliancy, the holm oak for its hardness, and the elm for the union in it of both these qualities.... The best woods for cutting into layers and employing as a veneer for covering others are the citrus, the terebinth, the different varieties of the maple, the box, the palm, the holly, the holm oak, the root of the elder, and the poplar. The alder furnishes, also, a kind of tuberosity, which is cut into layers like those of the citrus and the maple. In all the other trees, the tuberosities are of no value whatever. It is the central part of trees that is most variegated, and the nearer we approach to the root the smaller are the spots and the more wavy. It was in this appearance that originated that requirement of luxury which displays itself in covering one tree with another, and bestowing upon the more common woods a bark of higher price. In order to make a single tree sell many times over laminÆ of veneer have been devised; but that was not thought sufficient—the horns of animals must next be stained of different colours, and their teeth cut into sections, in order to decorate wood with ivory, and, at a later period, to veneer it all over. Then, after all this, man must go and seek his materials in the sea as well! For this purpose he has learned to cut tortoise shell into sections; and of late, in the reign of Nero, there was a monstrous invention devised of destroying its natural appearance by paint, and making it sell at a still higher price by a successful imitation of wood.

"It is in this way that the value of our couches is so greatly enhanced; it is in this way, too, that they bid the rich lustre of the terebinth to be outdone, a mock citrus to be made that shall be more valuable than the real one, and the grain of the maple to be feigned. At one time luxury was not content with wood; at the present day it sets us on buying tortoise shells in the guise of wood."—Pliny's Natural History, Bohn's Translation.

[2] There were nineteen subjects, divided by channelled pilasters with a carved frieze, above a bench which ran round the circular wall from one doorpost to the other, the whole work crowned with a cornice also carved with foliated ornament. The first subject on the right was an open cupboard with architects' and joiners' tools. The second was the portrait described above. The third showed a cupboard half open, worked with a grille of pierced almond shapes and divided. "In the upper part is a naked boy, standing with a ball in his left hand, below is a large circle with a bridge within and without in the form of a diamond. Within the closed part of the grille one sees a ewer above and a basin below. The fourth is a figure of S. Ansano, half-length, below whom is the head of a man who receives baptism with joined hands, and the saint with a vase in his hand pours water on his head, holding in his right hand a standard. The fifth shows a cupboard open and shelved in the middle—above is a chalice and paten, below is a salver with fruit within and falling from it. The sixth contains an organ case with a man who, with raised head, enjoys the sweetness of the sounds, on the side of the organ are the arms of the Opera and below are the arms of the rector Arringhieri. The seventh is a cupboard half open with pierced doors, in the upper half a censer, and an incense boat, with a label above with these words, 'Dirigatur Domine oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo.' Below is the holy water pot with the sprinkler within, and with a pair of sacrament cruets. The eighth shows the figure of a man with a glory and a diadem on his head, with face and right arm raised to heaven, representing whom I do not understand; above him is a garden full of different flowers and trees. The ninth is a cupboard cut across and half open; in the upper part a label with these words 'Qui post me venit, ante me factus est. Cujus non sum dignus calceamente solvere;' below are different musical instruments, the words above are set to plain song. The tenth, that is the centre one, is a half-length of S. John Baptist with the cross in his left hand, and in the right a label with the words, 'Ecce Agnus Dei,' while with his finger he points to Christ in a figure which represents him. The eleventh shows another cupboard half open and shelved, above is a label on which are some lines of the hymn of S. John Baptist, with notes in plain song and with the name of the author above, which was Alessandro Agricola, and below is a flute and a violin with its bow. The twelfth is the figure of a young man with a label below which says, 'Johannis BaptistÆ discipulus.' This is generally thought to represent S. Andrew the apostle. The thirteenth is another open cupboard with a shelf. In the upper part is a chalice and more fruit, and in the lower a hollow dish with a foot also full of fruit. The fourteenth shows the half-length of a man who plays a lute, above him appears a garden with different trees. The fifteenth is a cupboard with open division, with a little gate and grating with almond shaped openings, above is a candlestick with a candle half burnt, and below is a box full of yellow tapers. The sixteenth represents S. Catherine with her wheel, half-length, disputing with the tyrant, before her is an open book on which are cut these words, 'Catharina disputationis virginitatis ac martirii palmam reportat.' The seventeenth shows a cupboard divided and half closed, with a grating like the others, above is a missal laid down, with a chalice upright, and a paten on the missal, and there are also a pair of spectacles and another paten leaning against the wall, below there is a closed book which seems to be a breviary, upon which is an open book with these words, 'Ecce mitto angelum meum ante faciem tuam, qui preparabit viam tuam ante te. Vox clamantis in deserto; parate viam Domini: rectas facite semitas ejus.' The eighteenth shows a fine gate through which one sees a garden, within which appear different trees with fruit on them, and at the bottom is a little table upon which is an inkstand with a pen and a penknife with a label which issues from the inkstand with these words, 'Alberto Aringherio operaio fabre factum.' The last panel shows an open cupboard with shelf and grating, above is a harp and below is a violin and other musical instruments. The rector Arringhieri paid 4090 scudi for the work as a matter of compromise on the valuing of Fra Giovanni da Verona. It was in so dark a place that it could not be seen except with lighted torches, and it was also damaged because it was put in a newly built place, the walls of which were not sufficiently dry to receive such delicate work." This account was written in 1786.

[3] The panel illustrated from the Albert and Victoria Museum is a good average specimen of this kind, but not quite a masterpiece.

[4] In 1453 Matteo di Giovanni Bartoli, painter, says that he possesses the half of certain tools and appliances of his art, which are not worth 20 florins, and that the other half belongs to Giovanni di Pietro, painter, his partner. That they are in a house or dwelling that they hire from Guicciardo Forteguerri in the Palazzo Forteguerri, which they have as a house and not a shop, and that he has nothing else in the world but a few debts (!). He says that he makes no profit, but is learning as well as he can, and that his uncle, Ser Francescho di Bartolo, the notary, keeps him. This is a young and promising artist who cannot get on. Priamo della Quercia, brother of the celebrated sculptor Jacopo della Fonte, painter, says that he is poor and without anything to live on; that he has a girl of marriageable age and a young boy; that he owes money to several people. He had a dower of 200 florins which came from a possession which the nuns of Ogni Santi held, because they said that they were heirs to his daughter-in-law, a nun in that convent (!) and they had kept possession for six years and he could not sue these nuns at law on account of his poverty. There are several documents referring to money and property which his brother left to this man, but which he seems to have difficulty in obtaining possession of, and he gives one the impression of being unfortunate through life. In the same year Antonio di Ser Naddo, painter, says he has a house with an oven within the walls of Siena, "male in ponto," in which he lives in the Contrada of Camporegi. That he has three useless mouths in the house which gain nothing, two children, one a boy, and the other a girl of marriageable age, but if he dowered her, so that she could be married, he would have nothing to live on. Also that he owes 20 florins to various people. In the same year others, both painters and woodworkers, complain that they have nothing to live on and owe money, some saying that they have become old and poor in the art. In 1478 Ventura di Ser Giuliano, architect and woodcarver, says that he has a little house in the city division in the place called of S. Salvador, and that he is away at Naples because of his debts, for he is afraid to return. That he owes Ser Biagio, the priest, 80 florins and other persons 402. In 1488 Giovanni di Cristofano Ghini, painter, says that he has a vineyard at Terraia in the commune of S. Giorgio a Papaino from which he receives in dues about 24 florins. That he has a wife and three sons and nothing to keep them on. That five years ago he had sold all that he had in the house, for times were very bad. That though he sticks to his work so closely that he does not even go for a walk he has not made the bread which he has eaten in the last six years. That he and his father have to keep a sister who was married to Andreoccio d'Andrea di Pizichino with her three little sons unless they are to die of hunger, and that they have a girl of marriageable age in the house, his sister, "Che È il fiorimento d'ognichosa." In the same year Benvenuto di Giovanni says that he is obliged to work away from Siena because his gains are so small; and finally in 1521, Ventura di Ser Giuliano di Tura petitions the Balia as follows:—He was a master joiner and says that he passed his youth and almost all his age in gathering ancient objects and carvings, which the craftsmen of the city have copied, so that one may say that the antique in the city has been re-discovered by his labours. But that he has not by this benefit to the craftsmen provided for his old age, since both he and his wife have been very unwell for years past, and that he finds himself old, with four little daughters, "one no heavier than the other," so he asks for a little pension of eight lire a month (which has been suspended apparently), so that he may not have to go to the hospital for bread with his wife and the four little ones.

Willam Hodge & Co., Glasgow and Edinburgh

Transcriber's note:

Many of the illustrations had a caption stating 'facing page 1' etc. These were dropped from the captions in this etext. It was also seen as beneficial to avoid splitting the very long paragraphs, so some illustrations are not quite in the same place as in the original book.

Clyx.com