Italian Decorative Iron Work 
old and the new! In the old there frankly 
dominates the aesthetic, in the modern flashi¬ 
ness and haste. We Italians who vaunt our 
civilization and yet have such splendid exam¬ 
ples to follow, such glorious traditions to pre¬ 
serve, create monstrosities and then place 
them audaciously in full view of the works 
made hy our ancestors. We invent clumsy, 
insipid, pretentious lamp-posts and put them 
under an ancient cresset light. Take, for 
example, the lantern made hy order of Pope 
Pius II., Piccolomini for his loggia. What sim¬ 
plicity, but at the same time what elegance! 
Two twisted branches, one with three Gothic 
semicircles, sustain a species of skeleton iron 
basket. The vertical bars are surmounted 
alternately by horses’ heads and pine cones, 
just faintly indicated, tiny leaves cover the 
interstices between the uprights and the semi- door grille, palazzo orsetti, lucca, xvi century 
yet it is a serious piece of work, full of character, 
that harmonizes perfectly with the dark stone bosses 
of the wall that supports it. 
More Italian, on the other hand, is the banner 
holder we admire on the column of the Piazza Pas- 
ticula Cozzarelli. The workmanship is not fine, 
quite otherwise; still it shows movement and ele¬ 
gance. Its date is 1457. The hoop that encircles 
the column is 
incised with 
the familial- 
design an d 
decorated with 
two shields. 
In front, a 
Vandyke edg¬ 
ed bar, that 
terminates i n 
foliage, bends 
downward and 
supports a 
socket orna¬ 
mented hy the 
o; r a V e r. A 
O 
twisted brack¬ 
et of two Goth¬ 
ic semicircles, 
embellished hy 
a third crest, 
unitiiip; itself to 
another arched 
bar, supports a 
reversed cylin¬ 
der; while a 
dragon wit h 
o u t s p r e a d 
w i n g s, his 
GRILLE IN THE PALAZZO BARTOLOMMEI, FLORENCE llideOUS mOUth 
circles. A pointed pole, fixed into the centre 
of the base, loses itself on high. The fourteenth 
century banner holder of the Palazzo Grisoli is 
carried out in somewhat heavy iron and inspired 
by a frankly Gothic taste, which I should almost 
call German. It represents an eagle cowering upon 
a simple capital holding in its claws a single socket, 
gracefully cut and rimmed with the usual twisted 
cord. Though perchance a little humpy in shape. 
169 
