1910] on Renaissance Monuments in the Roman Churches, 881 



heads of the sphinxes are reminiscent of those on the Tuornabuoni 

 monument in the Minerva. The little putti between the garlands 

 are masterpieces of decorative workmanship. It was copied some 

 twenty years later for the grave of Cardinal Savelli in the Aracoeli 

 Church, which comes no doubt from Andrea Bregno's workshop. 

 There was evidently here no question of casting and accurate repro- 

 duction. It is a mere copy, with all the essential differences of the 

 two manners. The one is individual and full of charm, the other 

 characterless and mechanical. 



And now we have to consider the problem of an artist whose indi- 

 viduality has only recently been disengaged and re-established, though 

 he worked for at least forty years in Rome and perhaps much longer. 

 The name of Master Andrea appears first, chronologically speaking, 

 ill an inscription on the old high altar of Sta. Maria del Popolo, erected 

 by Cardinal Roderigo Borgia (Alexander YI.) in 1473, and now pre- 

 served in the sacristy. The inscription states that while Andrea was 

 at work on it, fate cut the thread of life of his beloved Marcantonio 

 at the age of seven, owing to the carelessness of his attendants. The 

 boy had probably climbed the scaffolding to see his father's work, and 

 fell from the top, therefore the inscription on the altar. It is clear 

 that the sculptor of this altar was also the author of two tabernacles 

 in the first chapel to the left of the door, and it is also clear, though 

 I cannot to-night explain all the chain of proof, that he is identical 

 with the Andrea Mediolanensis, of Milan, who inscribed his name on 

 the great Piccolomini altar in the cathedral at Siena. Now with re- 

 gard to this altar we have a letter from the illustrious Platina to 

 Lorenzo di Medici, recommending to him one Andrea, an eminent 

 sculptor, his neighbour in Rome and intimate friend, who wished to 

 bring marble through Tuscan territory from Liguria for an altar on 

 account of Cardinal Piccolomini. In a contract which Piccolomini 

 made in 1501 with the great Michel Angelo for the completion of 

 this altar with certain additional figures, Andrea is again referred to. 

 Milanese, who edited this document, obscured his individuality by add- 

 ing the name Fusina. The Lombard sculptor, Andrea Fusinse, is, 

 however, a very different person, and quite rudimentary powers of 

 critical observation suffice to show that our Andrea has nothing to 

 do with him. Once more our Andrea is mentioned in the rhyming 

 chronicle of Giovanni Santi, Raphael's father, who speaks of " the 

 eminent Andrea Verrocchio, and that other Andrea who at Rome is 

 such a master of composition." 



Who, then, was this master who stood so high in the esteem of con- 

 temporaries ? The clue is afforded by a monument, long lost sight of 

 in a corridor leading from the church of the Minerva, which is now 

 incorporated in the Ministry of Public Instruction. The inscription 

 tells us that it was erected to the memory of Andrea Bregno, of 

 Osteno, in the territory of Como, a very celebrated sculptor, known to 

 contemporaries by the name of Polycletus, who first restored to use 



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