Italian Decorative Iron Work 
GRILLE OVER THE PRINCIPAL DOORWAY OE THE PALAZZO 
CENAMI, LUCCA, XVI CENTURY 
not too happy for the complication ot a 
design so naturally elegant. 
In order the better to study the Tuscan 
works in wrought iron during the sixteenth 
century we must go to Lucca. 1 here we 
shall hnd a large numher of splendid fan¬ 
lights all of that century and nearly all alike, 
so as to cause us to surmise that they are the 
work of a single smith or at least of a single 
school of smiths. See, for example, the prin¬ 
cipal lunette of the Palazzo Cenami, executed 
like all the others in thick bars of iron. 1 wo 
semicircles are hound togetherwith bars placed 
ray-shaped, that are inflated in such a manner 
as to form so many knots at a certain height, 
expanding into lilies a little higher up and 
ending with a sharpened point. The lilies 
further serve as a species of base for a num¬ 
ber of small Gothic arches, while a series of 
tripartite points, like to little plants, branch off' 
from the inferior semicircles alternately with 
the rays, and a frieze of foliage interrupted 
at regular intervals by roses, winds around the whole, 
encircling it. Lastly a shield of purely sixteenth cen¬ 
tury shape, supported by volutes, occupies the centre 
of the smaller lunette. After examining attentively 
this work of art of indisputable value, let us consider 
the fanlights of the Palazzo Boccella, formerly Conti, 
and compare them. The same frieze, almost the same 
rays, the same small Gothic scrolls, the same tripar¬ 
tite bars, in short, the same fundamental conception. 
This applies also to the fanlight of the Palazzo Bran- 
coli Busdraghi. The small bars, subdividing, are 
surmounted by rosettes that are relatively large. The 
shield, simpler and less well proportioned, bears the 
initials of the Saviour and the monogram of Our 
Lady. This is all that distinguishes this fanlight 
from the number that exist in Lucca. The same more 
or less faithful repetition recurs also in the lunette 
surmounting the door in the Via Santa Giustina of 
the Palazzo Orsetti and that which gives access to 
the Palazzo Bernardini. But, in any case, the author 
of this species of iron work (because I believe we 
have to do with but one most able man), if he re¬ 
peated himself a little monotonously, nevertheless, 
repeated so perfect a model as to cause his fanlights 
to be considered the most beautiful in Italy. 
That of the Palazzo Bonvisi is a little different 
from the rest, a trifle lighter of aspect. The 1 . H. S. 
seems carried out with a silver ribbon, the rosettes 
seem truer, cut out of a thick plate, and the twisted 
spikes issuing from a numher of tulip buds are per¬ 
haps more elegant. The whole is an excellent com¬ 
position, the various decorative designs being skil¬ 
fully distributed over the whole semicircle. 
Exquisite, too, is the fanlight of the other 
door of the Palazzo Orsetti, that certainly 
reveals another maker’s hand. What 
grace in the simple lily frieze, in the little 
arches, in the fine twisted rays, in the 
cusps crowned with stars! How far above 
its sister for sobriety, nobility and purity 
of line! And, now, before Anally (juitting 
these Lucca fanlights, let us give a rapid 
irlance at that which closes the arched 
o 
doorway of the Monastero delle Barhan- 
tine. It is an intricate hut not too large 
geometric design, executed in thick (|uad- 
rangular bars, which closely cover a semi¬ 
circle divided into six equal compart¬ 
ments. Quite different from the others, 
a little too dense in the centre, it has, 
nevertheless, a severe massive heautv that 
cannot fail to please. 
IN THE PALAZZO BOCCELLA, LUCCA, XVI CENTURY 
