bidden, or but imperfectly comprehended, was fully recovered and restored. The period of Andrea’s labours was about the year of our salvation 1340.
This master left many disciples: among others the Pisan Tomrnaso, who was an architect and sculptor. He finished the Campo Santo, and completed the building of the campanile, —of the upper part that is, wherein are the bells. Tomrnaso is believed to have been a son of Andrea,[1] being so inscribed on the picture of the high altar in the church of San Francesco di Pisa, where are a Virgin and other saints, carved by him in mezzo-rilievo, while he has placed his name and that of his father beneath these figures.
Andrea also left a son, called Nino, who devoted himself to sculpture. His first work was executed in Santa Maria Novella at Florence, where he finished a Madonna in marble, commenced by his father,[2] and which is now within the side door, near the chapel of the Minerbetti.[3] From Florence Nino proceeded to Pisa, where he executed a half-figure of the Virgin in marble, at the Spina: she is suckling the Child, who is wrapped in fine linen.[4] This Madonna, Messer Jacopo Corbini caused to be surrounded, in 1522, with marble ornaments, and had still finer and more magnificent embellishments made for a whole-length figure of the Virgin, also in marble, and by this same Nino. The mother is here seen to offer a rose to her son, in an attitude of much grace, while the child takes it with infantine sweetness; and the whole work is so beautiful, that one may truly affirm Nino to have here deprived the stone of its hardness, and imparted to it the lustre, polish, and vitality of flesh. This figure stands between a San Giovanni and a San Pietro, both in marble, the
- ↑ Documents lately discovered by Professor Bonaini confirm the supposition, that Tomrnaso was the son of Andrea. — Ed. Flor. 1846.
- ↑ This work is preserved in the Campo Santo of Pisa; the inscription here alluded to is as follows:—“Tomaso figliolo di..........stro Andrea F...........esto lavoro et fu Pisano.” Thomas, the son of Maestro Andrea, executed this work, and was a Pisan.—Ibid.
- ↑ Cicognara remarks that even in this his first work, Nino surpassed all the sculptors of his age, in the softness which he imparted to the flesh of his figures. —Montani.
- ↑ Morrona doubts whether this Madonna should not rather be attributed to Niccola or his son; but Cicognara proves that it cannot be ascribed to any other than Nino, the son of Andrea.—Ibid.
