The author looks at the research carried out since Malaguzzi Valeri’s second
volume on Bramante and Leonardo (1915) noting particularly that
the list of buildings attributed to him has hardly changed, but that important
discoveries have been made in other respects, particularly of the
Bergamo frescoes, of the fact that Gaspare Visconti owned the house in
which the Uomini d’Arme and Democritus and Heraclitus were painted;
and of whether some or all of the paintings usually attributed to Bramante
should be transferred to Bramantino. Malaguzzi Valeri’s skepticism
about Bramante’s early life and his possible relationship to Fra Carnevale
and the painters of the Nicchia di San Bernardino are considered. Bramante’s
relationship with Francesco di Giorgio is examined with the conclusion
that the planning of San Bernardino in Urbino must antedate the
death of Federico da Montefeltro in 1482 and, more broadly, that a number
of the architectural details of the ducal palazzo at Urbino built under
Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio probably owe much to the illustrious
basilica of San Salvatore at Spoleto. The attribution to Bramante of a
project-drawing for Santa Maria presso San Satiro is rediscussed as well
as the thorny problem of the original fenestration of the church. The discovery
of a copy of a document for the Duomo in Pavia as well as a recent
suggestion concerning Bramante’s original plan for the church are
weighed-up. Documents recently discovered by Eduardo Rossetti form
the basis for the attribution to Bramante of the project to face the ex-
Arcimboldo palace on the Corso Magenta and another block on the Via
Terraggio with plinths, then semicolumns superimposed over pilasters to
left and right thus accounting for the many examples of the use of the
same architectural device from the late 1480’s in Lombardy in many different
media: the arrangement was taken by Bramante to Rome where it
appeared on the second story of the lower courtyard of the Belvedere and
on the exterior of St. Peter’s, and in many other places throughout the
16th century and afterwards. Santa Maria delle Grazie is considered on
the basis of recent investigations by Luisa Giordano in an attempt to clarify
the story of Beatrice’s d’Este’s tomb and those of others, and the
arrangements of the wooden stalls in the new choir. Finally the significance
of a reference in Biagio Guenzati’s life of Federico Borromeo, which
evidently concerns a project to construct a third side to the Canonica of
Sant’Ambrogio, is analysed.
The codex includes a description and depiction of famous monuments
of ancient Rome and the Arena of Verona. The piece can be dated to
the last two decades of the 15th Century, thanks to the direct account
of the partial destruction of the so-called Septizodium and the killing
of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza, both in 1476; the mentioning of
Galeazzo Maria’s death is also one of the elements attesting the Lombard
origin of the manuscript.
The described monuments are the Colosseum, the Arena of Verona, the
Circus of Maxentius, the Stadium of Domitian, Trajan’s Column, the Arch
of Janus, the Vatican Obelisk, the Septizodium, the Circus Maximus, the
Sanctuary of Palestrina, the Baths of Diocletian, of Caracalla and others,
and a theatre.
The drawings show a method of representation similar to that of Filarete,
displaying a suggestive use of perspective, as well as very early examples
of architectural sketches combining elevation and floor plan. The repertoire
of architectural details is very rich: frames, capitals and bases. The
buildings are articulated in a proportional system, with no indication of
measurements, with one exception in which the chosen metric system is
the one in use in Milan. While references to Alberti’s theories abound,
very few words are dedicated to architectural annotations, and more
space is given to the functions and activities of each building. Historical
thoroughness prevails on any artistic or technical purpose, even though
the drawings themselves show remarkable accuracy and a proper use of
instruments, which accounts for the author’s knowledge of representational
techniques. The codex has the form of a brief treatise, and the
drawings might actually be copies, a possibility suggested by the fact
that included in the Uffizi collection are several plates derived form a
common source, supposedly a book of models. The author is well read in
both Latin and vernacular sources for Roman history: he describes gladiatorial
games and circuses in detail, as well as races, naumachiae and
battle simulations, but also baths and shows, often described adapting
categories from Renaissance theater. The description of a feast almost
identical to the famous one held on the occasion of the wedding of
Costanzo Sforza di Pesaro and Camilla Marzano d’Aragona (1475), also
recounted in the chronicles of the time, supports the attribution of the
codex to the Milan milieu of the Sforza period, since representatives of
Milanese branch of the noble family had taken part to the celebration.
The apparent connection to the court, the erudite, descriptive and yet not
at all philological account suggest a likely attribution of the work to one
of the time’s humanists appointed to diplomatic and cultural tasks, such
as Bergonzio Botta.
Among the vast production of graphic works linked to the projects for
the Duomo and its construction, several drawings can be connected to
the plates in Cesare Cesariano’s edition of Vitruvius, although with different
dates and motivations. As partly shown by Luca Beltrami’s studies of
the 1880s, Cesariano’s plates have a very particular function: on one
hand they constitute a graphic testimony of other drawing now lost, dating
back to the beginnings of the history of the Cathedral. On the other
hand, they were themselves a fundamental benchmark and starting point
for the many projects surrounding the Duomo since 1521, as demonstrated by the choice of Cesariano’s Ichnographia as a reference for later
plans. Moreover, a thorough analysis of two drawings representing the
cross-section of the building (and in particular the one at p. 4v in the
second volume of the Bianconi collection) reveals them to be connected
– each in its own way – to the plate with Vitruvius’ Scaenographia; such
finding leads to a series of observations on Cesariano’s knowledge and
use of the sources then available regarding the origins of the Cathedral.
L’articolo torna su un’attribuzione proposta oltre un secolo fa e da allora
caduta nell’oblio, quella a Cristoforo Solari del rilievo con le figure a tutto
busto del Cristo passo, della Madonna e di San Giovanni Evangelista,
conservato presso il Castello Sforzesco di Milano (inv. 1149). L’autrice
suggerisce che il rilievo sia stato realizzato dal Solari durante l’apprendistato
presso la bottega del cugino Pietro Antonio, di cui è possibile ipotizzare
una collaborazione, soprattutto per quanto riguarda l’impianto formale
dell’opera. Sulla base dei tratti stilistici, il manufatto è individuato
come il primo lavoro del giovane e ancora inesperto apprendista, ed è
pertanto databile attorno agli anni 1487-88. Entro l’inverno del 1493, ma
probabilmente molto prima, Cristoforo si era trasferito a Venezia, dove,
nell’aprile 1494, è attestata la sua presenza per la realizzazione delle
Virtù per l’altare di Giorgio Dragan, in Santa Maria della Carità. A parere
dell’autrice, lo stile innovativo, decisamente classicista di queste figure
lascia supporre un soggiorno a Roma, probabilmente tra la fine del 1493
e l’inizio del 1494, durante il quale Solari avrebbe visto il sarcofago delle
Muse oggi al Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna, ma anche l’Apollo Belvedere
e l’altare maggiore di Andrea Bregno in Santa Maria del Popolo,
tutte opere che avrebbero influenzato i lavori eseguiti dal Solari nell’aprile
1494.
The library of Collegio San Francesco in Lodi possesses an Antiphonale
parvum decorated with an individual miniature depicting the Annunciation,
recently studied, from a codicologic perspective, by Lisa Longhi.
A comparison between the codex and two cropped miniatures individuated
by Mirella Levi D’Ancona in 1963 – the letter E with St. Augustin and
the Resurrection of Christ signed “Nebridius ME P”, the latter discovered
by Giordana Mariani Canova in 1975 at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
University – makes it possible to attribute the manuscript to the miniaturist
Frate Nebridio from Cremona, the last standing representative of
the local Late-Gothic culture. While his production denotes an undeniable
connection with the painting of Bonifacio Bembo, it is also rich of
personal stylistic features, such as the introduction of frames along
which musician angels peer out, becoming the artist’s very signature.
Nebridio died before 1503, and he entrusted his nephew Marchino with
the completion of his unfinished works, as suggested by the payment
Marchino received for completing a Gradual for the monastery of San
Sigismondo.
Stored in the archive of Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) at Villa I Tatti in
Settignano are the notebooks from the scholar’s journeys together
with Mary Berenson (1864-1945), upon which he completed his famous
“lists”. The documents contain writings by both authors, an intricate
maze of diverse thoughts nearly impossible to break down for today’s
readers. Notes taken on the spot are elaborated to constitute two
indexes, “notes artists” and “notes places”, into which the collected information
is divided. The essay takes into consideration the materials concerning
Piedmontese painter Gaudenzio Ferrari (1475/80-1546), which
reveal some interesting research, early trips to Varallo Sesia (1892) and a
later presence in Valtellina (1912), aimed at exploring a period of the
artist’s activity that had not yet been analyzed thoroughly.
Among Berenson’s working notes are several unpublished materials
witnessing the evolution of his understanding of Gaudenzio, which
grew broader and more complex with each new piece of information,
each visit and each discovery?
The analysis of such materials reveal the attitude of the connoisseur
who compares images, looks for connections between iconographies
and formal references. Such method was heavily influenced by the early
relationship with Giovanni Morelli (1816-1891) and Gustavo Frizzoni
(1840-1919), to whom credit is due for Berenson’s decision to visit
such places.
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