ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO

The tomb of St Dominic, now dismembered, was the product of Nicola Pisano’s workshop. On stylistic grounds the contribution of Arnolfo di Cambio is supposed and some of the reliefs on the back and sides of the sarcophagus are assigned to him.

One of the grandest building projects in early Renaissance Florence was the construction of a new cathedral in 1296. It was a civic as much as a religious undertaking, and the monument captured the ambition and spirit of the city. The building and its impressive marble fa�ade were designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, Florence’s most celebrated sculptor and architect at that time. Although work progressed quickly, Arnolfo died with barely a third of the fa�ade realized.

A sixteenth-century drawing indicates that this sculpture, essentially a high relief, was placed above the main entrance of the cathedral, flanking a large statue of the Virgin and Child that was at the centre of the tympanum. The skillful handling of the marble, the deeply undercut drapery, and brilliant drill work, especially in the angel’s hair, reveal the close observation of, and renewed interest in, ancient sculpture that was an essential underpinning of the Renaissance.

The statue of Charles I, King of Naples and Sicily, must have been made at in the 1280s, possibly in connection with Charles’s renewed appointment as Roman senator in 1281. Regarding the attribution to Arnolfo, it is suggested not only by the sobriety of expression, the solidity of form and the dry, angular handling of the drapery, but also by the detailed and unusually naturalistic treatment of the features, which is closely paralleled in the de Braye monument.

The original location of the statue, which has been associated with a fragmentary trumpeting figure, is not known, nor is it clear whether the sculptures were ever finished and installed. It seems likely that it was the intention to install it in a monumental setting on the Capitoline Hill in the vicinity of the church of the Aracoeli.

The statue present Charles as an heir to the Caesars - an imperial law-giver, seated on a lion throne with a jeweled crown on his head. The statue’s fabric depended on the architectural heritage of classical Rome. The evidence for the original use of the material is still visible at the back of the figure. It can be seen that the sculpture was fashioned from a colossal fragment of a moulded architrave, the dimensions of which may have limited the depth of the figure.

The statue present Charles as an heir to the Caesars - an imperial law-giver, seated on a lion throne with a jeweled crown on his head.

The ciborium above the high altar of San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome, is dated 1285 and inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNULFUS CUM SUO SOCIO PETRO. The socius Petrus named on the inscription has been identified as both Pietro Cavallini and Pietro di Oderisio, but there is no supporting evidence for either attribution. The ciborium was donated by Abbot Bartolomeo, who is shown presenting St Paul with a model of the ciborium in the spandrels of the western arch. The Gothic canopy is supported on antique porphyry columns and is richly ornamented with superb foliate capitals, small corner statues in a classicizing style, relief figures and Cosmatesque mosaic decoration.

The ciborium differs radically from the earlier, much simpler Roman ciboria, but its similarity to the ciborium of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, on which it has been said to have been modelled, is slight. Arnolfo’s ciborium is much richer in its figural ornamentation, and the architecture is also more strongly directed towards the accommodation of figure sculpture, in corner niches and on spandrel and gable surfaces. Another distinctive feature is the way in which current Gothic architectural motifs (pinnacles, gable crockets, trefoil arches) are independently articulated and transformed into solid, geometric forms. In both the synthesis of elements drawn from diverse sources and the strict rectilinearity of its architecture, the ciborium is a characteristic early example of Arnolfo’s architectural style.

At the end of the 13th century the mixture of tradition and innovation reached at its highest point in the work of the Tuscan Arnolfo di Cambio during the period he spent in Rome. Architecture, sculpture, and mosaic Cosmatesque decoration came together to form an organic whole, as in the ciboria at San Paolo fuori le Mura (1285) and Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1293) or in the tomb of the papal notary Annibaldi, who died in 1283 in St John Lateran and the tomb of Boniface VIII, from some time before 1296, in St Peter’s.

In architectural terms the ciborium in San Paolo is the supreme surviving example of what could be accomplished through the fusion of Roman Cosmatesque and Northern Gothic traditions.

The San Paolo ciborium was executed in collaboration with a certain Pietro who may perhaps be identified with the still somewhat mysterious figure of Pietro di Oderisio, who made the tomb of Clement IV in the church of San Francesco in Viterbo.

The ciborium on the altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere seems to be complete in its state of conservation. According to a recently discovered inscription, it was made by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1293. It forms part of the final moment of an ample and consistent effort at restoration of the entire decorative system of the church of Santa Cecilia, which included the well-known Cavallini frescoes, the liturgical furnishings, and sculptural ornament.

The obvious Gothic ‘Rayonnant’ character of this revision has recently been attributed to the patronage of a French cardinal, while the direction of the whole project has been attributed to Arnolfo, who, working in the last decades of the thirteenth century in the service of the major families, the new preaching orders, and the popes, without a shadow of doubt dominated the panorama of the most innovative Roman trends in the artistic field.

The ciborium repeats the structural complex and decorative scheme of the San Paolo fuori le Mura ciborium but simplifies and strengthens the Gothic forms, creating a new proportional balance between the parts and revoking the concept of the whole in light of a more mature assimilation of the classical references. With respect to his first interpretation in Rayonnant taste, here Arnolfo reduced and redirected the ascending elements of the base of the cupola and the pendentives of the crown, and in addition attenuated the vertical soaring of the four gables and the trefoil arcades of the baldacchino, but created a notable development in the height of the supporting columns, to which he also added the original solution of cube-shaped dosserets, decorated with Cosmatesque mosaic.

The ciborium over the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is similar to that in San Paolo fuori le Mura in type but simpler in construction and somewhat modified in both its form and proportions. It is inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNULFUS ANNI DNI M CCLXXXXIII M NOVEBER D XX on the pedestal of the front left-hand column, although this is now hidden by Baroque alterations.

In this ciborium the decorative program has been drawn up as part of a larger scheme to honour the patron saint of the church. Four figures stand at the corner, St Cecilia and the most important characters of her life, Sts Valerian, Tiburtius and Urban. Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels, and there is evidence that Arnolfo was by now limiting his direct involvement in the actual carving of the sculptures.

The ciborium over the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is similar to that in San Paolo fuori le Mura in type but simpler in construction and somewhat modified in both its form and proportions. It is inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNULFUS ANNI DNI M CCLXXXXIII M NOVEBER D XX on the pedestal of the front left-hand column, although this is now hidden by Baroque alterations.

In this ciborium the decorative program has been drawn up as part of a larger scheme to honour the patron saint of the church. Four figures stand at the corner, St Cecilia and the most important characters of her life, Sts Valerian, Tiburtius and Urban. Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels, and there is evidence that Arnolfo was by now limiting his direct involvement in the actual carving of the sculptures.

The ciborium over the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is similar to that in San Paolo fuori le Mura in type but simpler in construction and somewhat modified in both its form and proportions. It is inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNULFUS ANNI DNI M CCLXXXXIII M NOVEBER D XX on the pedestal of the front left-hand column, although this is now hidden by Baroque alterations.

In this ciborium the decorative program has been drawn up as part of a larger scheme to honour the patron saint of the church. Four figures stand at the corner, St Cecilia and the most important characters of her life, Sts Valerian, Tiburtius and Urban. Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels, and there is evidence that Arnolfo was by now limiting his direct involvement in the actual carving of the sculptures.

Four free-standing figures - Sts Paul, Peter, Timothy and Benedict - occupy the niches at the corners, and in the spandrels between are shown the Abbot Bartholomeus offering a model of the ciborium to St Paul (front), the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel (side), two prophets (back), The temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam (side). Above, flying angels appear to support the oculi of the gables. Inside the ciborium four angels float around the boss of the vault and a further four at the corners hold censers and a candlestick.

The picture shows the side of the ciborium with the Temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam in the spandrel.

Four free-standing figures - Sts Paul, Peter, Timothy and Benedict - occupy the niches at the corners, and in the spandrels between are shown the Abbot Bartholomeus offering a model of the ciborium to St Paul (front), the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel (side), two prophets (back), The temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam (side). Above, flying angels appear to support the oculi of the gables. Inside the ciborium four angels float around the boss of the vault and a further four at the corners hold censers and a candlestick.

The picture shows the front side of the ciborium.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The figures of the ciborium of Santa Cecilia are allowed a greater degree of independence from their architectural frame, as can be seen here in the mounted figure of St Tiburtius.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins. In the flatter gables above, the flying angels of the earlier ciborium have been replaced by more solid kneeling angels.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents St Matthew.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents St Luke.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents St John the Evangelist.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents St Mark.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents a Wise Virgin.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents a Wise Virgin.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents a prophet.

Alluding to the source of St Cecilia’s inspiration, the spandrels of each side of the archivolts show the four evangelists and two prophets, while her purity and sagacity is underlined by the presence of two of the Wise Virgins.

The detail represents a prophet.

The fa�ade is characterized by over two hundred and fifty coats of arms, representing the coats of arms of all the vicariates of the city, from the oldest of 1410 to the most recent of 1769. These decorations are made of stone, in ceramics, and others are carved into the pillars of the building, or are frescoed.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures on it included episodes from the childhood of Christ and the life of Mary, a Virgin and Child, and statues of prophets and saints, including Pope Boniface VIII. The museums of Florence (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) and Berlin preserve two sculptures of the Virgin reclining that come respectively from the Nativity and the Dormition, and a seated Virgin holding the Child. The arrangement of the facade introduces statues in niches, thus covering the walls of the lower parts.

The photo was taken before 1945.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures on it included episodes from the childhood of Christ and the life of Mary, a Virgin and Child, and statues of prophets and saints, including Pope Boniface VIII. The museums of Florence (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) and Berlin (Bodemuseum) preserve two sculptures of the Virgin reclining that come respectively from the Nativity and the Dormition, and a seated Virgin holding the Child. The arrangement of the fa�ade introduces statues in niches, thus covering the walls of the lower parts.

This fragment, badly damaged in May 1945, was the centrepiece of a figural group depicting the death of the Virgin Mary that Arnolfo di Cambio made as part of a cycle on the life of the Virgin that was in the tympanum of the right portal of Florence cathedral’s old fa�ade, demolished in 1587. A double bust of two apostles, part of the same group, is also in Berlin. The sculptural quality of the undamaged half-figure of St John the Apostle, with its head reminiscent of Hellenistic sculpture, and the monumental character of the entire marble block show a grandeur that makes this fragment, despite the destruction of Mary’s face, one of the most magnificent works in the history of Italian art.

Vasari attributed a number of important buildings, renovations and urban development projects in Florence and its territory to Arnolfo, among them the structure of the city San Giovanni Valdarno, and the Palazzo Pretorio (known as Palazzo d’Arnolfo) that constituted for centuries the centre of power of the city. In fact, the city was part of the Florence project of 1300, which consisted of designing cities with a rectangular plan having a gate on each side and perpendicular streets that meet in a main square.

The medieval building was remodeled in the fifteenth century, but recently restored to its original appearance and extended both in length and width.

The fa�ade is characterized by over two hundred and fifty coats of arms, representing the coats of arms of all the vicariates of the city, from the oldest of 1410 to the most recent of 1769. These decorations are made of stone, in ceramics, and others are carved into the pillars of the building, or are frescoed.

This fragment came from the Baptistery.

The erection of elaborate ciboria or baldachins over high altars had been common practice in Rome throughout the Early Middle Ages. The figurative element of these constructions was mostly limited to the carving of capitals, so that the principal decorative effect was gained through the application of glass mosaic to the surfaces of the architectural features. Although Arnolfo’s first ciborium, for San Paolo fuori le Mura, belongs to this tradition it departs quite radically from the earlier ciboria in both embracing the Gothic forms of France and creating a programme of sculpture which complemented the decorative scheme of the basilica’s interior and referred specifically to its setting.

The spiky architectural form of the ciborium has been related to that of Rayonnant Paris, more particularly to the similar structure containing the Crown of Thorns in the Sainte-Chapelle, and it may be that such forms were introduced through reduced versions in metalwork. Four free-standing figures - Sts Paul, Peter, Timothy and Benedict - occupy the niches at the corners, and in the spandrels between are shown the Abbot Bartholomeus offering a model of the ciborium to St Paul (front), the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel (side), two prophets (back), The temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam (side). Above, flying angels appear to support the oculi of the gables. Inside the ciborium four angels float around the boss of the vault and a further four at the corners hold censers and a candlestick.

The photo shows the interior of the basilica with Arnolfo’s ciborium in the centre.

The photo shows a view of nave towards the ciborium over the high altar in Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.

Although Arnolfo’s known works are not uniform in style and quality of execution, clearly revealing a heavy reliance on assistants, they provide a starting-point for the attribution to him of a large number of other works, most of which were already included by Vasari in Arnolfo’s oeuvre. They belong exclusively to his time in Rome and most have survived in a fragmentary state. The first is the tomb of Pope Adrian V in San Francesco, Viterbo, which was probably made soon after the Pope’s death in 1276. Arnolfo’s responsibility for this work has more recently been questioned, but both the architectural forms and the figure sculpture support the attribution, even if this relatively early work is less richly ornamented with figures than Arnolfo’s later tombs.

The sepulchral monuments executed in the third quarter of the thirteenth century in Rome emerged from the workshop of the Cosmati. In the earlier of them a classical sarcophagus is set in a simple classicizing ciborium, but soon after 1268, in Pietro di Oderisio’s monument of Pope Clement IV in San Francesco, at Viterbo, the ciborium is replaced by a Gothic canopy, and the effigy itself takes on a Northern character. This tomb type was taken over by Arnolfo in the monument of Pope Hadrian V (d. 1276), also at Viterbo, where the importance of the architectural component is much enhanced and the effigy is more strongly carved. In the tomb of Pope Clement IV the sarcophagus is encrusted with the coloured tesserae that are a common feature of works from the Cosmati workshop, and this practice is taken over by Arnolfo in the Hadrian V monument and in his later Roman tombs.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures on it included episodes from the childhood of Christ and the life of Mary, a Virgin and Child, and statues of prophets and saints, including Pope Boniface VIII. The museums of Florence (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) and Berlin (Bodemuseum) preserve two sculptures of the Virgin reclining that come respectively from the Nativity and the Dormition, and a seated Virgin holding the Child. The arrangement of the fa�ade introduces statues in niches, thus covering the walls of the lower parts.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures on it included episodes from the childhood of Christ and the life of Mary, a Virgin and Child, and statues of prophets and saints, including Pope Boniface VIII. The museums of Florence (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) and Berlin (Bodemuseum) preserve two sculptures of the Virgin reclining that come respectively from the Nativity and the Dormition, and a seated Virgin holding the Child. The arrangement of the fa�ade introduces statues in niches, thus covering the walls of the lower parts.

This impressively solemn figure presents the pope of the jubilee of 1300 in all the splendour of his array and curial pomp.

Castelfranco di Sopra is a medieval village located on the hills of the Valdarno. At the entrance of the town is the splendid tower from the 1300s, the Torre di Arnolfo, symbol of the town, the design of which is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.

Vasari attributed a number of other important buildings, renovations and urban development projects in Florence and its territory to Arnolfo, including the castles of San Giovanni and Castelfranco in the Arno Valley. However, only the Badia and Santa Croce in Florence are now seriously regarded as Arnolfo’s work.

In the 1280s, probably during the reign of Pope Honorius IV (1285-87), Arnolfo created the Praesepe (crib) group for Santa Maria Maggiore (in the oratory of the Presepio, beneath the Cappella Sistina, since 1586, when the figures of the Virgin and Child were replaced by a 16th-century Virgin Enthroned attributed to Pier Paolo Olivieri.

The Presepio Group, consisting of the Adoration of the Magi, has been dismantled and falsely reconstructed, but with the exception of the Virgin and Child all the original pieces appear to exist. Although the ensemble was designed by Arnolfo, the carving of the squat figuresseems to have been done entirely by members of hie workshop.

The figures of the Virgin and Child were replaced by a 16th-century Virgin Enthroned attributed to Pier Paolo Olivieri.

The detail represents the three Magi.

The detail represents two of the Magi.

The detail represents the three Magi.

The detail represents one of the Magi.

The detail represents the head of one of the Magi.

The detail represents the three Magi.

The detail represents one of the Magi.

The detail represents the head of one of the Magi.

The detail represents St Joseph with the ox and the ass.

The detail represents two ox and the ass.

The detail represents the head of St Joseph.

The sculpture belonged to a group representing the birth of Christ.

This statue of Apostle Peter, seated on a throne, is one of the few surviving monumental bronze statues from the Middle Ages. The antique elements of the work, such as the drapery, make this figure one of the outstanding examples of classicising tendencies of thirteenth-century European sculpture.

The majestic figure looks grave and solemn, with dense curls in the hair and beard, and is dressed, antique style, with tunic, heavy mantle, and sandals, while holding the symbolic keys of St Peter in his left hand and giving a blessing with his right.

The statue was originally made for the apse of the oratory of San Martino situated externally, near the right side of the apse of Constantinian basilica. From 1605 it is placed in front of the first column on the right of the dome in St Peter’s.

This statue of Apostle Peter, seated on a throne, is one of the few surviving monumental bronze statues from the Middle Ages. The antique elements of the work, such as the drapery, make this figure one of the outstanding examples of classicising tendencies of thirteenth-century European sculpture.

The majestic figure looks grave and solemn, with dense curls in the hair and beard, and is dressed, antique style, with tunic, heavy mantle, and sandals, while holding the symbolic keys of St Peter in his left hand and giving a blessing with his right.

The statue was originally made for the apse of the oratory of San Martino situated externally, near the right side of the apse of Constantinian basilica. From 1605 it is placed in front of the first column on the right of the dome in St Peter’s.

This figure - the stark embodiment of poverty and thirst - is one of the surviving pieces of a fountain, made in Perugia and destroyed in 1308.

This figure is one of the surviving pieces of a fountain, made in Perugia and destroyed in 1308.

While working with Nicola Pisano in the 1260s Arnolfo may have collaborated on the Arca di San Domenico in San Domenico, Bologna. The statue of Three Acolytes in the Bargello belongs to this project.

While working with Nicola Pisano in the 1260s Arnolfo may have collaborated on the Arca di San Domenico in San Domenico, Bologna. The statue of Three Acolytes in the Bargello belongs to this project.

The last Roman work that can be certainly attributed to Arnolfo is the tomb of Pope Boniface VIII, which was completed by 1300, and possibly as early as 1296. It is more simply constructed than the de Braye tomb and is more unified, the relationship between the sarcophagus and recumbent effigy showing stronger compositional control. The effigy was flanked at head and foot by angels holding a curtain. The sarcophagus and sculpted figures were originally installed in a rectangular niche above the altar to St Boniface IV on the entrance wall of Old St Peter’s; there was a mosaic above by Jacopo Torriti showing the Pope kneeling before the Virgin and Child, accompanied by Sts Peter and Paul. The original appearance of the tomb and the chapel of St Boniface in which it stood is reproduced in the Album of Giacomo Grimaldi (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Archivio Capitolare di San Pietro, Rome). Soon after its completion, the tomb was being used as a model for those of several other Roman prelates, for example the tombs of Bishop Durandus (d 1296) in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Cardinal Gonz�lez Garc�a Gudiel (d 1298) in Santa Maria Maggiore and Cardinal Matteo d’Acquasparta (d 1302) in Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The novel positioning of Boniface’s tomb above or directly behind the altar was also soon imitated.

According to Vasari, the chapel of St Boniface, which was consecrated on 6 May 1296, bore the inscription HOC OPUS FECIT ARNOLPHUS ARCHITECTUS. This would be the first time that Arnolfo was described as an architect, the principal activity of his later years.

The last Roman work that can be certainly attributed to Arnolfo is the tomb of Pope Boniface VIII, which was completed by 1300, and possibly as early as 1296. It is more simply constructed than the de Braye tomb and is more unified, the relationship between the sarcophagus and recumbent effigy showing stronger compositional control. The effigy was flanked at head and foot by angels holding a curtain. The sarcophagus and sculpted figures were originally installed in a rectangular niche above the altar to St Boniface IV on the entrance wall of Old St Peter’s; there was a mosaic above by Jacopo Torriti showing the Pope kneeling before the Virgin and Child, accompanied by Sts Peter and Paul. The original appearance of the tomb and the chapel of St Boniface in which it stood is reproduced in the Album of Giacomo Grimaldi (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Archivio Capitolare di San Pietro, Rome). Soon after its completion, the tomb was being used as a model for those of several other Roman prelates, for example the tombs of Bishop Durandus (d 1296) in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Cardinal Gonz�lez Garc�a Gudiel (d 1298) in Santa Maria Maggiore and Cardinal Matteo d’Acquasparta (d 1302) in Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The novel positioning of Boniface’s tomb above or directly behind the altar was also soon imitated.

According to Vasari, the chapel of St Boniface, which was consecrated on 6 May 1296, bore the inscription HOC OPUS FECIT ARNOLPHUS ARCHITECTUS. This would be the first time that Arnolfo was described as an architect, the principal activity of his later years.

The tomb of Pope Boniface VIII, executed by Arnolfo in St Peter’s between 1294 and 1296, has reached us only fragmentarily and out of context, and the reconstruction of the whole presents many problems. The principal remains, at present in the Vatican Grottos, include two angels holding back curtains and the recumbent figure in pontificial robes on the sarcophagus, which is covered with rich draped fabrics and embroidered with the arms of the Caetani family, repeated below in the mosaic of the plinth. Further, a series of architectural and sculptural fragments with Cosmatesque decoration of uncertain provenance survives, with further complicated attempts at reconstruction of the whole, destroyed in 1605 together with Old St Peter’s, but fortunately documented by a series of different sources, both graphic and documentary.

Based on these, it has been possible to determine the original structure of the tomb. It took the form of a small chapel, placed behind the counter-facade of the early Christian basilica, bounded by an iron enclosure containing at its centre an altar dedicated to Pope Boniface IV (608-15). The ceiling of the chapel presented an extrados cupola decorated with at the base with a rich gallery of gables and standing on four architraved columns. Inside, on the back wall, opposite the altar and under a mosaic panel, the recumbent figure was placed n the sarcophagus between a niche framed with drapery and flanked by two curtain-holding angels.

The authorship of the tomb is based on epigraphical sources, referring the mosaic to Jacopo Torriti and the definition of the structural project to Arnolfo.

As befits the official character of the work, the pontiff has been depicted with the insignia of his office: two keys and a treble-crowned tiara. The mimetic features of the face were made while Boniface was still alive.

Historically, this is an image of great importance which testifies, after centuries of neglect, to the rebirth of the portrait taken from life.

As befits the official character of the work, the pontiff has been depicted with the insignia of his office: two keys and a treble-crowned tiara. The mimetic features of the face were made while Boniface was still alive.

Historically, this is an image of great importance which testifies, after centuries of neglect, to the rebirth of the portrait taken from life.

The two figures are preserved sections from the funerary chapel of Boniface VIII. The chapel was built under the supervision of Arnolfo di Cambio between 1294 and 1296, and originally formed part of the interior facade of Old St. Peter’s. In addition to the recumbent figure of the deceased, there are two angels who originally pulled back a curtain framing the tomb, thus making a uniquely dramatic contribution to the spectacle of the pope’s grave.

In the 1280s and 1290s Arnolfo lived mainly in Rome, where he was in charge of a moderate-sized workshop. Several signed works from this period survive, the earliest being the tomb of Cardinal Guillaume de Braye (d 1282) in San Domenico, Orvieto, which is inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNOLFUS. The tomb was dismantled in 1680 and reassembled in 1934, but in an incomplete form; the architectural frame survives only in fragments (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Orvieto).

With the de Braye monument Arnolfo not only created one of the most important and lavish tombs of the Duecento but he also introduced a new type of wall tomb, surpassing in both size and richness of decoration the slightly earlier wall tombs of Clement IV (reg 1265–68) and Hadrian V (reg 1276) in San Francesco, Viterbo. The decorative richness is principally evident in the increased use of figure sculpture and the animated scenes involving groups of figures.

The centre of the tomb consists of a chamber enclosing the effigy, with curtains swept back by two deacons on either side. In the upper section are the Virgin and Child enthroned, with the kneeling figure of the deceased accompanied by St Mark (the patron saint of the Cardinal’s titular church) and St Dominic, forming a monumental, triangular composition. Both the overall structure and the individual motifs of this tomb were still being followed in the 14th century: a particularly faithful imitation is the tomb of Benedict XI (reg 1303-1335) in San Domenico, Perugia.

In the 1280s and 1290s Arnolfo lived mainly in Rome, where he was in charge of a moderate-sized workshop. Several signed works from this period survive, the earliest being the tomb of Cardinal Guillaume de Braye (d 1282) in San Domenico, Orvieto, which is inscribed HOC OPUS FECIT ARNOLFUS. The tomb was dismantled in 1680 and reassembled in 1934, but in an incomplete form; the architectural frame survives only in fragments (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Orvieto).

With the de Braye monument Arnolfo not only created one of the most important and lavish tombs of the Duecento but he also introduced a new type of wall tomb, surpassing in both size and richness of decoration the slightly earlier wall tombs of Clement IV (reg 1265–68) and Hadrian V (reg 1276) in San Francesco, Viterbo. The decorative richness is principally evident in the increased use of figure sculpture and the animated scenes involving groups of figures.

The centre of the tomb consists of a chamber enclosing the effigy, with curtains swept back by two deacons on either side. In the upper section are the Virgin and Child enthroned, with the kneeling figure of the deceased accompanied by St Mark (the patron saint of the Cardinal’s titular church) and St Dominic, forming a monumental, triangular composition. Both the overall structure and the individual motifs of this tomb were still being followed in the 14th century: a particularly faithful imitation is the tomb of Benedict XI (reg 1303-1304) in San Domenico, Perugia.

Arnolfo di Cambio, a contemporary of Giovanni, was Nicola Pisano’s chief assistant on the Siena pulpit. After its completion in 1268, he worked on the Pisano shrine of St Dominic in San Domenico, Bologna, leaving the shop to work independently in Perugia and Rome around 1270. His sculpture fuses the art of Nicola, the antique and the traditions of medieval Rome in a distinctive manner.

Arnolfo played a seminal role in creating the trecento sepulchral monument. A case in point is the very mutilated and badly reconstructed tomb of the French cardinal De Braye, who died in 1282. This tomb was moved and, in its present form, lacks a unifying Gothic architectural tabernacle. Its majestic, enthroned Madonna, taken from a Classical goddess, presides over the heavenly realm. Below, flanking the central inscription, are two saints, one of whom (probably St Mark, the deceased’s patron saint) presents the kneeling cardinal to the Virgin. Arnolfo has monumentalized the funeral portrait, taken from the French tradition, wherein the deceased is also shown alive.

Directly below is the tomb chamber whose side curtains are being drawn by two acolytes to reveal the recumbent effigy. Below this area is a sarcophagus (not a recycled antique one as in other contemporary tombs) with columns and a base heavily decorated in cosmati work (polychromatic mosaic inlay named after a Roman family associated with its inception and popularity), a feature running like a leitmotif through the monument.

The effigy of the deceased lies, with eyes closed and hands crossed, on a splendid bed set on top the actual sarcophagus and enclosed in a kind of tabernacle. Two acolytes, clerics in lower orders, are drawing back the curtains to reveal the recumbent figure.

The effigy of the deceased lies, with eyes closed and hands crossed, on a splendid bed set on top the actual sarcophagus and enclosed in a kind of tabernacle. Two acolytes, clerics in lower orders, are drawing back the curtains to reveal the recumbent figure.

The effigy of the deceased lies, with eyes closed and hands crossed, on a splendid bed set on top the actual sarcophagus and enclosed in a kind of tabernacle. Two acolytes, clerics in lower orders, are drawing back the curtains to reveal the recumbent figure.

The effigy of the deceased lies with eyes closed and hands crossed.

The Virgin and Child enthroned are in the upper section of the monument.

Directly below is the tomb chamber whose side curtains are being drawn by two acolytes to reveal the recumbent effigy. This dynamic duo - one shown from the front almost in a dancing pose and the other from the back in typical Italian fashion to balance and enliven the composition - is the most novel feature, yet they descend from ancient models. The detail shows the left acolyte.

The detail shows the right acolyte.

The detail shows the kneeling figure of the deceased accompanied by St Mark (the patron saint of the Cardinal’s titular church) in the upper section of the monument.

The detail shows the kneeling figure of the deceased accompanied by St Mark (the patron saint of the Cardinal’s titular church) in the upper section of the monument.

The picture shows St Dominic, the left figure of the triangular composition in the upper section of the monument.

Like the tomb of Pope Hadrian V, the Annibaldi monument rested on a mosaic base, and was in this respect indistinguishable from the monuments of the Cosmati. What was not assimilated by Roman sculptors is a frieze originally set behind the effigy showing six deacons assisting at the office for the dead. This relief on a “cosmati” background seems to have been inspired by drawings of French monumental sculpture.

The attribution to Arnolfo is on stylistic grounds. The relief is typical in its overall simplification of the draperies, and their particular round jowly type of face with small, rather pig eyes.

Only fragments survive from the Annibaldi monument (now in the cloister of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome). It was not, as previously supposed, erected for Riccardo Annibaldi (d 1276), the Cardinal Deacon of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria, but for his nephew of the same name, a notary and subdeacon who died in 1289. One distinctive feature of this monument, which recalls French Gothic tombs, is the funeral procession of clerics on the frieze at the rear of the death chamber. This scenic enrichment of the centre of the tomb surpasses even the ornamentation of the de Braye monument.

Literally “towering” over Florence, the 95 m. hight Tower of Palazzo Vecchio is one of the city’s unmistakable symbols and focal points. It is also one of the oldest parts of the building built between 1299 and the early 14th century, possibly to a design by Arnolfo di Cambio, as the seat of the city’s government.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures created c. 1300 for the fa�ade of Florence Cathedral (now mainly in Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, and Bodemuseum, Berlin) are well authenticated works.

The picture shows the group from the central portal of the Duomo. The enthroned Virgin is flanked by Santa Reparata (left) and San Zanobi (right).

The Palazzo Vecchio (or Palazzo della Signoria, formerly Palazzo dei Priori) dates from 1298 to 1340. It was the Town Hall in Florence, and its design is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio despite the absence of any corroborating documentation.

The building presents a strongly fortified appearance from the street and has a bell tower, for the ringing of the tocsin was an official means of giving warning or causing the citizens to gather. The design is kept simple; a certain amount of rustication, with windows made up of two lights set in a pointed arch and separated by a colonette. The ground floor windows are small. The design of the building is that of a rectangle enclosing a central court, roughly square in plan, which serves as a means of obtaining light and air, and which also has a well.

Originally the palazzo was not called Vecchio, meaning old, but Pubblico, having come into being to house the gonfaloniers and priors, the lawmakers of the city and the council of the republic. Later, during oligarchic times, it was used by the lords of the city, becoming the ducal palace, called Palazzo della Signoria, after 1540 when the Medici moved there. They used it as their seat of government until 1567 when they moved to the Palazzo Pitti. It was then referred to as the Palazzo Vecchio and became a symbol of past times.

The palazzo was built by Arnolfo di Cambio and rose somewhat proud and forbidding on the town square which had been cleared of houses and Ghibelline towers. The strong stone fa�ade had twin-light mullioned windows and was crowned by a gallery that jutted out with Guelf-style corbels and crenellations, topped by a superb tower.

Although Arnolfo’s architectural activity is now less clearly defined than his work as a sculptor, in Vasari’s view his reputation was based on his architecture. The only documentary evidence of Arnolfo’s work as an architect relates to the rebuilding of Florence Cathedral, plans for which were being made from 1294.

Vasari attributed a number of other important buildings, renovations and urban development projects in Florence and its territory to Arnolfo, among them the Loggia dei Lanzi, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Piazza della Signoria. However, Only the Badia and Santa Croce are now seriously regarded as Arnolfo’s work.

Arnolfo’s contribution to the Palazzo Vecchio is hard to assess. Completed in 1310, it was started in 1299 at a time when he was Master of the Cathedral Works. It can therefore be safely assumed that Arnolfo had some influence on the building of the town hall of Florence, although scholars are overwhelmingly inclined to doubt, or accept only with reservations, the claim made by Vasari that he was the designing architect.

On the left is the Palazzo dei Priore (now known as Palazzo Vecchio), while on the right is the Loggia della Signoria (now Loggia dei Lanzi). A Florentine citizen entering the Piazza della Signoria from the main street that connects the religious centre of Florence, Piazza del Duomo, with this civic centre, would have experienced the massive Palazzo dei Priori from a similar dramatic angle.

In the thirteenth century, the Dominicans and the Franciscans became major rivals in Florence, expressed in their position on opposite ends of the city. The Franciscan church of Santa Croce was begun on the eastern side of the city in 1294, the Dominicans built their church of Santa Maria Novella in the western part. Both churches are cavernous enlargements of earlier monastic structures on their sites, reflecting the size of the congregations who came to hear the preaching for which both orders were renowned. In spite of their size, both churches are relatively restrained in their decoration. Both churches are laid out in modified cruciform plan, with a shallow apse.

The plan of Santa Croce is modified Burgundian-Cistercian, with ten chapels flanking the choir and a five-sided apse. A major factor in the design is the open-trussed wooden roof that runs, unbroken, down the nave to the entrance wall of the choir. The unelaborated lancet windows project an image of austerity, albeit on a monumental scale.

View the ground plan of Santa Croce, Florence.

The architect of Santa Croce was Arnolfo di Cambio, who was also important as a sculptor. as a pupil and coworker of Nicola Pisano, and as the first architect of the new Cathedral of Florence. The construction of Santa Croce, founded in 1294, continued well into the Trecento. The plan combines a long timber-roofed nave of seven bays with a lower, vaulted polygonal apse that is separated from the nave by a triumphal arch. From the very start the wall surfaces were intended for painting. The early Trecento painted decoration of the ceiling beams is still largely intact.

The plan of Santa Croce is modified Burgundian-Cistercian, with ten chapels flanking the choir and a five-sided apse. A major factor in the design is the open-trussed wooden roof that runs, unbroken, down the nave to the entrance wall of the choir. The unelaborated lancet windows project an image of austerity, albeit on a monumental scale.

View the ground plan of Santa Croce, Florence.

The sculpture shows the Virgin seated on a narrow, profiled bench as Queen of Heaven with a head veil and crown. The smoothly polished area on her left thigh refers to the lost figure of Christ.

The elegiac facial expression and the contrast of the sharp-edged, parallel pleat style on the dress, which makes the body appear rigid, with the elegant, flowing lines of movement of the coat hem and the head veil suggest the attribution to Arnolfo di Cambio.

The statue probably originates from the Assumption Chapel in Pisa Cathedral.

In later life Arnolfo di Cambio returned to Florence (1296) and embarked on the ambitious project for the fa�ade of the Duomo until his death. It is known from paintings, a drawing and descriptions, which show that Arnolfo’s fa�ade then rose only to the height of the tympanum of the central portal. The sculptures created c. 1300 for the fa�ade of Florence Cathedral (now mainly in Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, and Bodemuseum, Berlin) are well authenticated works. Of these, the large Virgin and Child Enthroned from the main portal tympanum occupies pride of place as a late masterpiece by Arnolfo.