essitente nell' Archivio dello Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova di Firenze.-Libri dello Spedale di San Paolo, 12 Febb°. 1850.' On comparing these extracts with Pierotti's pamphlet, I found that the two copies agreed word for word with one another. It was evident that Pierotti had made use of Milanesi's manuscript (indeed, he owns as much in his concluding note), and that he may never have seen the original manuscript.

Last autumn, having occasion to make some researches in the Archivio of Santa Maria Nuova, with my friend Sir Domenic Colnaghi, for his 'Dictionary of Florentine Painters,' I took the opportunity of renewing my search for the missing volume. On the top shelf of one of the presses which contain the books and papers of the hospital of San Paolo, I came across a 'filza' labelled 'Libri Diversi,' and filled with miscellaneous account-books of the hospital, chiefly of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among these was a small, upright book of forty-seven leaves, bound in a parchment cover which was inscribed :

RICHORDI'

On the recto of the first leaf was written : '1470. In this book I will keep a record of all the expenses that I shall incur in the chapel of the High Altar of Santa Trinita, namely of gold, blue, green, lake, with all other colours and expenses that shall be incurred on behalf of the said chapel; and so we may remain in agreement [I and] Messer Bongiani Gianfigliazi, the commissioner of the work, and the patron of the said chapel, as appears by a writing which I hold, subscribed by his own hand.' ¶Fol. 2 tergo, and fol. 3 recto, were filled with entries relating to the purchase of colours and other materials for the work of the chapel, and fol. 3 tergo contained two further entries in the same hand; after which was written, in a different hand: Here follow the records of the hospital of the Pinzochere of the

1 Appendix, Doc. VIII.

third order of St. Francis, written by Gio- A Newly vanni di Ser Antonio Vianizzi.' The re- Discovered mainder of the book was filled with entries Libro di relating to the hospital of San Paolo, the Ricordi' of first of which recorded a payment of twenty- Alesso three lire, made by the hospital on Octo- Baldovinetti ber 19, 1499, to Luca d'Alesso Baldovinetti. On comparing the 'Ricordi' relating to Santa Trinita, with the 'Portata al Catasto,' returned by Alesso in 1471, it was clearly evident that both documents were in the handwriting of the painter. Of the 'Portata al Catasto,' returned by Alesso in 1480, two copies exist in the same hand; but they do not appear to have been written by the painter himself, although Milanesi has reproduced a portion of one of them, in his Scrittura di Artisti Italiani,' Florence, 1876, Vol. 1, No. 74, as a specimen of his handwriting. What is more, this manuscript, which I may call 'Libro B,' throws a light upon the nature of the missing volume, 'Libro A.' In the case of 'Libro B,' what undoubtedly happened was, that the good Pinzochere, on looking over Alesso's property after his death, found an accountbook of which only the first three leaves had been used. With a proper spirit of economy, they determined to make use of the rest of the book for the accounts of their hospital but instead of tearing out the leaves containing Alesso's 'Ricordi,' they fortunately allowed them to stand; their procurator adding the note I have cited above. The same thing probably happened in the case of Libro A.' From the extracts that Milanesi made, it appears that Alesso's 'Ricordi' only filled some sixteen pages of a volume, that cannot well have contained fewer leaves than Libro B.' With this clue to its discovery, I leave my friends and rivals in Florence to continue the search for a volume, whose loss every genuine student of Italian painting must regret. ¶ The history of the Cappella Maggiore of Santa Trinita affords a curious instance of the tardy process by which many of the Florentine churches and their chapels were brought

Number

IV

The to completion. The present church of Santa Burlington Trinita was begun c. 1250, but many of the Magazine, lateral chapels remained unfinished until the fifteenth century, and among them the Cappella Maggiore. On November 1, 1371, the abbot of Santa Trinita, inter missarum solepnia, made an appeal to many of the chief parishioners, who had assembled for mass, to contribute to the expenses necessary for the erection of the Cappella Maggiore.' The work appears to have proceeded very slowly, since it is on record that the chapel was but half built in the year 1463. In order to bring it to completion, the abbot, having assembled the parishioners in the church, gave notice that since money was wanting to finish the work, licence to do so would be granted to the family that was able and willing to undertake the expense; and accordingly on February 4 of the same year, the patronage of the chapel was granted by acclamation of the parishioners, to Messer Bongianni Gianfigliazzi and his descendants.¶The Gianfigliazzi were an ancient Florentine family, of no little repute in the conduct of affairs and arms during the last two centuries of the republic. Ugolino Verino celebrates them in his Latin poem, 'De Illustratione Urbis Florentiae':

3

Non genus externum est: agro venere paterno, Janfiliazze, tui, si vera est fama, priores. Protulit illustres equites generosa propago. According to Piero Monaldi, the Gianfigliazzi were descended and took their name from one 'Ioannes filius Acci,' who is named in a treaty concluded between the Sienese and Florentines in the year 1201.4 Besides knights of Malta and Santo Spirito, this family boasted of ten gonfaloniers of the republic, and thirty priors; the first of whom held office in 1345. Gherardo Gianfigliazzi was gonfalonier in 1462; and Messer Bongianni, his brother, in 1467, and again in 1470. The latter, 'magnificus miles 'as he is styled in documents, was a 'cavalier

1 A. Cocchi, Le Chiese di Firenze, Firenze, 1903, Vol. I, p. 180. 2 Appendix, Doc. IX.

31. C., Lib. III, ed. 1790, p. 122.

4 Firenze: Biblioteca Nazionale, Codice II, I, 129; Storia della Notilita di Firenze: Scritta da Piero di Gio. Monaldi. [c. 1626.]

spron d'oro,' and famous in his day as a leader of the Florentine forces. He was several times created ambassador of the Florentine republic, and one of the Dieci di Balia. In 1471 he was one of the six 'orators' sent to felicitate Sixtus IV on his election to the papacy; and in 1483 he was appointed commessario' in the war against the Genoese, which ended in the capture of Sarzana. Alesso was not the only famous artist which this family patronized. Their shield of arms, carved with a lion rampant, by Desiderio da Settignano, is still to be seen on the front of their palace on the Lung'arno Corsini, at Florence.' ¶ Giuseppe Richa states that the deed granting the patronage of the Cappella Maggiore of Santa Trinita to the Gianfigliazzi, was engrossed by Ser Pierozzo Cerbini on February 13, 1463-4, which we may well believe; but he adds that the 'ius patronale' was vested in the persons of Messer Bongianni and Messer Gherardo.3 The latter statement, however, would seem to be incorrect, for Gherardo was already dead at that time, as we learn from the inscription on the sepulchral slab (one of the most beautiful of its kind in Florence), which is still to be seen on the floor of the chapel, but now partly covered by a choir-organ : GHERARDO . IANFILIATIO. DE. SE. FAMILIA. ET. PATRIA. BE[? NEMERITO BONIOANNES] FRATRI . PIENTISSIMO. SIBI . . . . . IDVS. SEP. AN. SAL. MCCCCLXIII

Messer Bongianni appears to have proceeded at once with the work of finishing the chapel. His share of the work may yet be made out: the vaulting, with its heavy roll ribs, too large for the corbels on which they rest, was clearly erected by him. The corbels themselves probably date from the thirteenth century. Furthermore, he constructed the large window of two roundheaded lights, and an 'occhio,' or circular light, above, which is still to be seen in the

1 Vasari, ed. 1568, Vol. I, p. 417.

2 I have searched in vain for it, in the protocols of that notary, preserved in the Archivio di Stato at Florence.

3 G. Richa, Chiese Fior. Vol. III, p. 177

head of the chapel. The structure being completed, he next turned to the decoration, which he began by filling the lights of the window with painted glass. Alesso Baldovinetti enters, in his 'Ricordi,' Libro A, that 'Lionardo di Bartolommeo, surnamed Lastra, and Giovanni di Andrea, glazier, owe me this 14th day of February, 1465[−6], lire 120; which moneys are for the painting of a window placed in the Cappella Maggiore of Santa Trinita; and Bongianni di Bongianni Gianfigliazzi has ordered this window to be executed by the said Lastra and Giovanni, master-glaziers; and I, Alesso, have designed and painted it for them, at the rate of forty soldi the square braccio : the 'occhio' above being estimated with the said window, in the said sum, and according to the said measure.' It appears from the 'Trattato' of Cennino Cennini that it was the common practice of the 'maestri di finestre' in Florence in the fifteenth century not only to employ painters to design cartoons for their windows, but also to paint the design upon the glass. The 'maestro di finistre,' says Cennini,' will come to you with the measure of his window, both breadth and length. You will take as many sheets of paper glued together as will be necessary for your window; and you will draw your figure first in charcoal, afterwards you will outline it in ink, having shaded your figure as completely as if you were drawing it on panel. Then the master-glazier takes this design and spreads it out on a desk or board, large and even, and according as he wishes to colour the draperies of the figure, so, piece by piece, he cuts the glasses, and gives you a colour made of copper filings, well ground; and with this colour, piece by piece, you proceed with a little pencil of minever, having a good point, to contrive your shadows, making the joins of the folds and other parts of

your figure agree, one piece of glass with another, just as the master-glazier has cut and put them together; and with this colour you are able, without exception, to shade

1 Appendix, Doc. VII

I

on every sort of glass.' In 1616, the A Newly
glass designed and painted by Alesso, 'being Discovered
all spoiled, broken, and patched, in such a 'Libro di
manner that it yielded no light, except where Ricordi' of
there was no wire-screen,' the whole of Alesso
the lights were reglazed anew, at the joint Baldovinetti
expense of the monastery and the patrons
of the chapel. The beautiful stonework of
the window, however, designed in the classic
taste of the time, with finely-wrought pilas-
ters at the jambs and mullion, was restored
and filled with modern stained-glass during
the recent restoration of the church, in
1890-7. ¶ It appears from the 'Ricordi,'
Libro A, of Alesso Baldovinetti, that the
painter gave designs for several windows
to the maestri di finestre.' In 1472, he
designed an Annunciation to be executed
in glass for the cathedral church of San
Martino, at Lucca; and in 1481, he designed
a window for the church of Sant' Agostino,
at Arezzo.3 These windows have perished,
but there still remains in Florence a painted
window which was undoubtedly executed
from a cartoon by Alesso. This window,
which, so far as I am aware, has never been
ascribed to him, is above the altar of the
Pazzi chapel, in the first cloister of Santa
Croce. [Plate I.] It consists of two lights,
a lower circular-headed light containing a
full-length figure of St. Andrew, the patron
saint of the chapel, with the arms of the
Pazzi below; and an upper round win-
dow, or 'occhio,' containing a half-length
figure of God the Father. This win-
dow affords a good example of the use
of the pure and brilliant colours which
the Florentine maestri di finestre' em-
ployed in the fifteenth century, and
which to our northern eyes are apt to ap-
pear crude and too little wrought upon.
But seen, as such windows were doubtless
intended to be seen, with the full power of
the Italian sun upon them, their colours be-
come fused, and take that jewel-like quality
which is essentially distinctive of the finest

1 C. Cennini, Il Libro del Arte, Firenze, 1859, cap. clxxi, p. 122.
Appendix, Doc. IX.
Ricordi di Alesso Baldovinetti, Lucca, 1868, pp. 14 and 16.