Italian Decorative Iron Work 
LANTERN, PALAZZO STROZZI, FLORENCE 
acanthus leaves, the bold arches, the architraves, 
the frieze, the cornice, and lastly, the six slender 
surmounting spikes. Could these details be better 
designed by a valiant architect or be better repro¬ 
duced in a delicate miniature ? 
The lantern of the Palazzo Guadagni in the Piazza 
Sto. Spirito, on the other hand, furnishes an example 
of purely classical architecture. Six brackets are 
encircled by foliage. The balustrade is formed of 
small columns, the capitals are of the Corinthian 
order, a delicate frieze encircles the top, and on the 
base and on the apex the spikes are bound together 
by lilies and convoluted scrolls. 
And now let us glance at the masterpiece of Cap- 
arra, the lanterns of the Palazzo Strozzi, at which 
many generations have gazed in wonder and ecstatic 
admiration. Too well known to need minute descrip¬ 
tion, too beautiful to be sufficiently lauded, I will 
confine myself to saying with Vasari, “never has any 
modern man wrought iron work so grand and so 
difficult, with such science and such skill. ” 
The necessity of defending windows and chapels 
with some object that should not debar light and air 
was a need that arose quite early: thus came into 
being the first screens, consisting of large crossed 
bars which, according to an old tradition, were intro¬ 
duced into Florence by Walter de Brienne, Duke of 
Athens. In the course of time the exquisite sense 
LANTERN, PALAZZO RICCARDI, FLORENCE 
of the beautiful, innate in even the humblest Italian 
workman, brought a vivifying breath of decorative 
art even into these coarse works, and, hence, these 
screens, still retaining entire their solidity, began to 
take on the most varied shapes. At first the black¬ 
smiths probably took their inspiration from the win¬ 
dows of those days, introducing a geometric design 
obtained by joining together a series of iron circles, 
as may still be observed in the Church of S. Miniato 
in Monte. After, by an easy development of lines, 
they came to adopt that characteristic model of quatre- 
foils that represents the Gothic current which had 
filtered into Tuscany and was so well adapted to 
the sober architecture of the pointed arch. An 
interesting monograph could be written upon this 
theme of how, in the course of two centuries, time, 
customs, and artistic standpoints had changed and 
influenced this design, enriching it with supplemen¬ 
tary ornaments, while leaving intact the primary 
design and sentiment. The outline of a quatrefoil 
was first produced by piercing and cutting a solid 
plate of iron. Later, this figure was obtained by 
cutting out four semicircles and welding them together 
at the extremities. Still later, there were inserted 
at the junctures of the curves some secondary points 
cleaving into trefoils. Afterwards these quatrefoils 
were enclosed in square bars or in circles, the whole 
surmounted with a border of plate, pierced with 
41 
