of the ancient Buildings of Pisa. 275 



►J«. £)• FI----0 • DE • MEDICIS • 

 ARCHIEPO • PISANO • ANTO 

 NIVS • IACOBI • ALMI • TEMPLI- 

 PISANI • OPERARIVS • SACRI • 

 HV1 ? • ET • INTER • MORTALES • 

 PRECLARISSIMI • SEPVLCRI • 

 OPVS- I-I-I-I- ARCVBVS- XXVIII • 

 Qj • pFORATIS • FENESTRIS • 

 MARMOREIS- I- I- I- ANN • SVA- 

 DILIGENTIA • PERFICI • CVR 

 AVIT • D • I • AN • MCCCCLXIIII- 



Whatever difficulty there 

 may be in understanding 

 some parts of this inscrip- 

 tion, in reference to the 

 number of the arches, there 

 can, it is submitted, be no 

 doubt that its intention is to 

 record the erection of perfo- 

 rated marble windows in the 

 year 1464; and it is diffi- 

 cult to imagine what other 

 objection can be made to 

 the date assigned, than that, 

 according to a general theory, Gothic Architecture must have 

 been discontinued at an earlier period. How far this opinion 

 is supported by facts, will be left for future inquiry. One cir- 

 cumstance only will be noticed in coiifirmation of the date. It 

 is known that the design of the patrons of this later work was 

 to fill the arches with coloured glass ; this, considering the 

 vast size and number of the windows, it is not likely would have 

 been attempted with the ancient stained glass composed of 

 small pieces ; it is therefore more reasonable to refer the work 

 to an age in which the fabric of 'painted glass, in larger panes, 

 was commonly known. With regard to the notice taken of 

 the Campo Santo by Vasari, it may first be observed that his 

 description is perfectly indefinite ; but allowing it to be in 

 hostility with the date assigned, it remains to be demanded 

 whether the negative evidence, arising from his omitting to 

 notice an alteration which took place eighty or an hundred 

 years before his time, can be placed in opposition to the posi- 

 tive and authentic testimony which has just been advanced *. 



To proceed to the Battistero : this magnificent structure 

 was begun by Diotisalvi in the year 1 1 53, Pisan style, and is 

 for the greater part in the circular Romanesque manner which 

 prevails through the whole of the Diiomo, and characterizes 

 most of the early buildings at Pisa. The lower story is 

 adorned with large arches supported by Corinthian pillars, 

 and is free from the slightest mixture of Gothic ornament. 

 The second is a range of smaller round arches, much re- 



* Tronci says of the Campo Santo, " Non reeto fmito c pcrfezionato in 

 tatto U magttifieo edifixiofino alt' anno 14fi4, in tempo dell' Arcivescovo Fitip- 

 l><> (/<■' Medici, come si tegge in tm ultra inscrizione pure in marmo nello sti- 

 pitc (l<l portone moontro la eappeUa delta Barbaresca, hoggj </<•' Battagkm, 

 mila fact ia the mina verso U ampo." Mem. 1st. tife. p. C 2'M. 



M m 2 sembling 



