Lapo, still but little advanced, the people of Arezzo resolved to erect a tomb in marble to his memory, in the episcopate itself, and confided the execution of the work to Margaritone. To this he devoted himself with great diligence, and completed it so successfully—including portraits of Gregory taken from nature, both in painting and marble, among its ornaments—that it was considered the best work he had yet produced[1]* The chapel of San Gregorio was also dedicated to the memory of this pontiff by the people of Arezzo ; and there, too, Margaritone executed a painting. He next undertook the erection of the episcopal buildings, in which he made considerable advance, abiding by the plans of Lapo ; but he did not bring the work to completion, the war between the Florentines and Arezzo being renewed in the year 1289, by the fault of Guglielmino degli Ubertini, bishop and lord of Arezzo, who was aided by the Tarlati of Pietramala, and the Pazzi of the Valdarno, when the money left by the Pope for the expenses of the episcopal edifice was all expended ; while an evil end befel the leaders, who were routed and slain at Campaldino. It is true that the people of Arezzo then allotted the amount of a toll levied on the surrounding districts as a perpetual revenue for this work, which has continued to be exacted to the present time, and is likely to continue so still. But to return to Margaritone. He appears to have been the first—judgingfrom what we see in his works in painting—who considered the precautions required by him who paints on wood, to the end that the joinings should hold firmly, and that no clefts and fissures should become apparent after the completion of the painting. It was his custom to cover the whole surface with canvas, which he secured by means of a strong glue, made from the boiled shreds of parchment ; over this canvas, he next applied a layer of gypsum, as may be seen in his pictures, as well as in those of others ; on the gypsum, which was mixed with the glue above described, he then formed diadems and other ornaments in relief. He was also the inventor of grounding in bol-armoniac, whereon he laid leafgold, which he discovered the means of fixing and burnishing.[2]
- ↑ The painted portrait is almost entirely effaced ; that in marble, with the other sculptures of the tomb, are still in good condition, two of the figures have been engraved for the great work of Cicognara. — Ed. Flor.
- ↑ Most of the commentators agree in declaring, that these methods were all practised before the time of Margaritone.
