driven from the city in the year 1343. The design of the Duke Gualtieri to give the palace the form of a strong fortress, was nevertheless effected in great part, since he made such important additions to the buildings previously constructed, that the edifice then received its present form; the houses of the Filipetri, with the towers and houses of the Amidei and the Mancini, and those of the Bellalberti, being comprised within the circuit of the palace walls. Gualtieri, moreover, not having all the materials required for the vast fabric which he had thus commenced, with its immense walls and barbicans, at hand, delayed the progress of the Ponte Vecchio, which the city was constructing with all possible speed, as a work of necessity, by taking possession of the hewn stones and wood-work prepared for the bridge, without any consideration for the public convenience. In none of his undertakings, would the duke employ Taddeo Gaddi, because that master was a Florentine, although he was not inferior as an architect, perhaps, to Andrea the Pisan, whose services Gualtieri constantly preferred. The duke had also formed the design of demolishing the church of Santa Cecilia, to the end that he might be able to see the Strada Romana and the Mercato Nuovo from his palace. Pie meant to destroy San Scheraggio likewise for his own purposes, but had not obtained permission from the pope to do so, when he was expelled, as we have said, by the fury of the people.
By his honourable labours of many years, Andrea Pisano acquired not only rich rewards, but the right of citizenship, which was awarded to him by the Signoria of Florence, who further conferred on him magisterial and other offices in their city.[1] His works, also, were held in honour, both while he lived and after his death, none being found to surpass him in ability until the times of Psiccolo of Arezzo, Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, by whom sculpture and other works of art were executed in a manner that taught the nations the extent of the errors in which they had lived until those masters appeared. For by these the art which had for long years been
- ↑ It would seem that Andrea Pisano added prudence in conduct to his excellence in art, since he retained the confidence of the people notwithstanding his favour with the duke; nay, was even appointed to magisterial offices after Gualtieri had been driven from the city, according to the narrative of Vasari.—G. Montani.
