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Italy handbook for travellers [V.1]

(1876-1882)

p. 491

346 Route 51.
PISA.
Campo Santo.
todian on leaving). After the loss of the Holy Land the archbish¬
op conveyed 53 ship-loads of earth hither from Mt. Calvary, in or¬
der that the dead might repose in holy ground. The structure
which surrounds the churchyard was begun in 1278 by order of
the senators of the city, and completed in 1283 by Giovanni
Pisano, in the Gothic-Tuscan style. It is 138 yds. in length, 57
yds. in width, and 48 ft. in height. Externally there are 43 flat
arcades resting on 44 pilasters, the capitals adorned with figures.
Over one of the two entrances is a marble canopy, with a Madonna
by Giovanni Pisano (?). In the interior there is a spacious hall, the
open, round-arched windows of which, with their beautiful tracery,
62 in number, look upon a green quadrangle. Three chapels adjoin
the Campo; the oldest is to the right of the entrance, in the cen¬
tre of the E. side, with dome of later date. The walls are covered
with *Frescoes by painters of the Tuscan school of the 14th and
15th centuries, unfortunately in bad preservation. Below these
is a collection of Roman, Etruscan, and mediaeval sculptures, these
last being important links in the history of early Italian sculpture.
The tombstones of persons interred here form the pavement.
Paintings. To the right of the chapel, on the E. Wall: Ascension,, the
doubting Thomas, Resurrection, and Crucifixion, by a follower of Giotto,
supposed to be Buffalmacco, end of 14th century.
On the S. Wall: ^Triumph of Death, represented as filling with horror
those who are devoted to earthly joys, but as welcome to the miserable and
self-denying (on the left an admirable equestrian group, who on their way
to the chase are suddenly reminded by three open coffins of the transitori-
ness of human pleasures). The *Last Judgment (attitude of the Judge
celebrated), attributed by Vasari to Andrea Orcagna, and Hell, the next
picture, attributed by the same authority to Bernardo, Andrea's brother,
have been pronounced by modern investigators not to be the works of
these masters. — Next is the life (temptations and miracles) of the holy
hermits in the Theban wilderness, by Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti of
Siena (about 1340; the two preceding paintings perhaps by the same
masters). — Between the two entrances, the life of St. Ranieri, the tutelary
saint of Pisa; the three upper scenes (conversion from a worldly life,
journey to Palestine, victory over temptation, retirement to a monastery)
completed by Andrea da Firenze in 1377 (erroneously attributed to Simone
Memmi and others); the three lower and better-executed scenes (return
from Palestine, miracles, death, and removal of his body to the cathedral
of Pisa, the last much injured) were painted by Antonio Veneziano about
1386. — Then, above, scenes from the life of St. Ephesus (who as a
Roman general, fighting against the heathens, receives a flag of victory
from the Archangel Michael, but is afterwards condemned and executed);
below, scenes from the life of St. Potitus, admirably pourtrayed by Spinello
Aretino about 1390, but now almost obliterated. Next, the history of Job,
by Francesco da Volterra (erroneously attributed to Giotto), begun in 1371,
a vigorous work, but in bad preservation.
On the W. wall no paintings of importance.
On the N. Wall the history of the Genesis : first the Creation (God
the Father holding the world in both hands, 'il mappamondo1); then in
the upper series, Creation of man, the Fall, Expulsion from Paradise,
Cain and Abel. Building of the ark, Deluge, and Noah's Sacrifice, by
Pietro di Puccio of Orvieto, about 1390 (erroneously attributed to Buffal¬
macco). — The lower series and all the following paintings on the N. wall
are by Benozzo Gozzoli of Florence, 1469-85, twenty-three "Representations
from the Old Testament, admirably executed 'a tempera1: Noah's vintage

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1.8.2

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