MASO DI BARTOLOMMEO

Two account-books, which Maso di Bartolommeo kept between 1447 and 1452, record many of his smaller decorative commissions from important Florentine patrons. For Piero de’Medici he made a pair of candlesticks and two gilded bronze eagles for the Cappella del Crocefisso in San Miniato al Monte and the bronze railings (1447) around the miraculous Annunciation in Santissima Annunziata.

Two sets of bronze doors for the paired sacristies of Florence Cathedral were commissioned from Donatello in 1437, but because he made little progress, the commission for one set was cancelled and in 1446 awarded to Luca della Robbia, Michelozzo, and Maso di Bartolommeo; the final payment for these doors was not made until 1475, when they were put into place.

The model for the panel of St Gregory the Great on the lower left has been attributed to Maso di Bartolommeo, the other nine were designed by Luca. The doors were cast by Maso.

The seated figures flanked by angels on the doors of the New Sacristy (Sagrestia delle Messe) of Florence Cathedral include Madonna and Child, the four Evangelists, and five other saints, including the patron of Florence, St John the Baptist.

In 1446 Maso received a joint commission with Luca della Robbia and Michelozzo for the bronze doors of the New Sacristy in Florence Cathedral. Work was suspended after Maso’s death until his brother Giovanni took over his part in 1461.

In 1440, Donato de’Medici, Bishop of Pistoia, commissioned from Maso a bronze candelabrum and two pedestals for silver candlesticks, which were completed by the end of 1442. The monumental candelabrum is still preserved in Pistoia Cathedral and shows a classicist taste in the decorative finishes that recalls certain details of Donatello’s works.

Due to the similarity between the candelabrum in Prato and that in Pistoia, the present candelabrum, of which a wooden model is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, is also unanimously attributed to Maso.

Michelozzo di Bartolommeo’s design for the Palazzo Medici (now Palazzo Medici Riccardi; 1444), Florence, may have been inspired by Brunelleschi’s grandiose design, which had been rejected, perhaps because it was considered incompatible with Cosimo de’Medici’s political and cultural image. Michelozzo’s design, however, with its relatively regular plan organized around a central colonnaded courtyard, its rear garden flanked by loggias, and with its three-storey fa�ades crowned by massive cornices, became a model for early Renaissance architecture.

The courtyard portico has Corinthian columns. The graffiti are the work of Maso di Bartolommeo, and the medallions on the architrave above the arches are attributed to Bertoldo. Behind the statue of Orpheus by Bandinelli is the entrance to the garden.

The photo shows part of the architrave in the courtyard.

From 1438 to 1442 Maso executed part of the bronze grille of the Cappella del Sacro Cingolo in the cathedral, until a dispute halted his work. It is Gothicizing in style, with a pattern of delicate rosettes and elegantly twisted stems of naturalistic plant forms interspersed with animals and putti.

From 1438 to 1442 Maso executed part of the bronze grille of the Cappella del Sacro Cingolo in the cathedral, until a dispute halted his work. It is Gothicizing in style, with a pattern of delicate rosettes and elegantly twisted stems of naturalistic plant forms interspersed with animals and putti.

Donatello practiced as a bronze sculptor in Padua, Florence and Siena. At Padua his high altar provides a background for the mass of small bronzes that were turned out in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In Florence he inspired Maso di Bartolommeo, the artist who presided over the bronze grille of the Cappella della Cintola at Prato, where we find, entangled in the scrolls and fronds, small figures, adapted from classical originals, which in all but function are statuettes.

Maso worked on a wide variety of projects and employed many assistants. The portal of San Domenico in Urbino, which he designed in 1449 and whose light architectural forms encrusted with elaborate surface decoration show the influence of Michelozzo, appears to have been entirely executed by assistants, while the reliefs in the lunette and pediment were commissioned from Luca della Robbia.

Two account-books, which Maso di Bartolommeo kept between 1447 and 1452, record many of his smaller decorative commissions from important Florentine patrons. For Piero de’Medici he made a pair of candlesticks and two gilded bronze eagles for the Cappella del Crocefisso in San Miniato al Monte and the bronze railings (1447) around the miraculous Annunciation in Santissima Annunziata.

This reliquary box consists of a wood core sheathed with a blacked horn veneer that creates the backdrop for sixteen dancing putti carved in ivory. Only six of the putti are original; the others, copied from those that remained, were added during a restoration in the nineteenth century. The box is inserted into a gilded-copper framework that is embossed and engraved and to which the base and cover are connected by ten small columns with Corinthian bases and capitals. The cover is crowned with a double volute, and has on its interior, the coat of arms of Niccolòzzo Milanesi, which is only visible when the box is opened for display of the relic.

In its exceptionally design, the reliquary is a small architectural object. It is conceived in terms of a small Renaissance altar. In designing this object, Maso must have had in mind Donatello’s Cantoria in the Florence Cathedral.

The reliquary was commissioned from Maso di Bartolommeo in 1446 as a replacement of one that already existed. It contained the most important civic relic in Prato and was to be the sacred fulcrum of the area in the cathedral dedicated to the Virgin’s girdle.

This reliquary box consists of a wood core sheathed with a blacked horn veneer that creates the backdrop for sixteen dancing putti carved in ivory. Only six of the putti are original; the others, copied from those that remained, were added during a restoration in the nineteenth century. The box is inserted into a gilded-copper framework that is embossed and engraved and to which the base and cover are connected by ten small columns with Corinthian bases and capitals. The cover is crowned with a double volute, and has on its interior, the coat of arms of Niccolòzzo Milanesi, which is only visible when the box is opened for display of the relic.

In its exceptionally design, the reliquary is a small architectural object. It is conceived in terms of a small Renaissance altar. In designing this object, Maso must have had in mind Donatello’s Cantoria in the Florence Cathedral.

The reliquary was commissioned from Maso di Bartolommeo in 1446 as a replacement of one that already existed. It contained the most important civic relic in Prato and was to be the sacred fulcrum of the area in the cathedral dedicated to the Virgin’s girdle.

From 1438 to 1442 Maso executed part of the bronze grille of the Cappella del Sacro Cingolo in the cathedral, until a dispute halted his work. It is Gothicizing in style, with a pattern of delicate rosettes and elegantly twisted stems of naturalistic plant forms interspersed with animals and putti.

The commission for the bronze screen and gates of the Cappella del Sacro Cingolo in Prato Cathedral was originally given to Maso di Bartolommeo and then to Antonio di ser Cola. Maso was responsible for the overall design, and both he and Antonio di ser Cola executed some of the delicate, openwork screen. In 1460 Pasquino da Montepulciano continued the work and he may have been responsible for the classicising acanthus-leaf frieze. On 25 April 1461 he undertook to complete the work within three years. However, in 1467 the decorative frieze of candelabra and palmettes was being put into place, and the gates were finished only in 1468 or even later.

Maso di Bartolommeo arrived in Ragusa (now Dubrovnik in Croatia) in October 1455. In February 1456 he delivered to the Signoria some architectural drawings for the new cloister of the city convent of San Domenico. The cloister was built after his death in the same year, and the changes made during the construction do not allow us to fully recognize his original plan.

Michelozzo di Bartolommeo’s design for the Palazzo Medici (now Palazzo Medici Riccardi; 1444), Florence, may have been inspired by Brunelleschi’s grandiose design, which had been rejected, perhaps because it was considered incompatible with Cosimo de’Medici’s political and cultural image. Michelozzo’s design, however, with its relatively regular plan organized around a central colonnaded courtyard, its rear garden flanked by loggias, and with its three-storey fa�ades crowned by massive cornices, became a model for early Renaissance architecture.

The courtyard portico has Corinthian columns. The graffiti are the work of Maso di Bartolommeo, and the medallions on the architrave above the arches are attributed to Bertoldo. Behind the statue of Orpheus by Bandinelli is the entrance to the garden.