Enrico Ridolfi

Enrico Ridolfi (1828 - 1909), Italian art historian.

Quotes

*Enrico Ridolfi, L'arte in Lucca studiata nella sua cattedrale, coi tipi di B. Canovetti, Lucca, 1882.

Although the Cathedral of Lucca is not one of the largest churches built in Italy during the Middle Ages, it is nevertheless one of the most remarkable for its structure and one of the most beautiful, especially inside, thanks to the harmonious lines and the admirable balance between the fantastic and the severe, which gives the building a truly sacred and solemn character, achieved in equal measure by very few of those that surpass it in size and richness of ornamentation. (p. 5)

The exterior of the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca does not have the same harmony of style as the interior; on the contrary, the architectural features of the different centuries to which the various parts belong are clearly visible, and even a different style, due to the fact that it was designed by Comacine and Tuscan craftsmen. Many of these parts, however, are beautiful, notably the interior of the atrium, the north side and the rear. (pp. 5-6)

The money changers and other merchants known as ‘speciarii’ (sellers of aromatics) had their stalls under the portico of the church. A special office, or special court, called the Curia di s. Martino; it was located near the basilica, and the merchants themselves had to swear an oath not to commit fraud in the exercise of their trade. (p. 11)

That the simulacrum of Christ Crucified known as the Holy Face (which Dante also wanted to touch in his Poem) is very ancient is not to be doubted; all its characteristics, which we will discuss below, are those of an image of great antiquity and, in the opinion of many, of a Byzantine image. And although explicit records do not show it in the Cathedral of Lucca until the 12th century, and the coins bearing its effigy cannot be traced back beyond the 13th century, according to numismatists, such documents suggest that it existed long before that, and there are many reasonable inferences that demonstrate that its transfer to Lucca dates back to the end of the 8th century. (pp. 135-136)

This small temple [of the Holy Face in Lucca Cathedral] is extremely elegant. It was designed by Matteo Civitali in a composite style, both in terms of its proportions and its [modinature] and all the details that compose it, the ornaments with which it is decorated having been chosen with the finest taste from among the most beautiful and elegant examples of Roman architecture. (p. 143)

[...] in Lucca Cathedral [unlike that of Florence] it seems instead that the neglect [of the stained glass windows] has been very great, and perhaps no thought was ever given to repairing them until, due to the quantity of missing glass, they were in such a state that they could no longer be ignored; and even then, instead of having them carefully restored by a skilled craftsman, the repairs were carried out in such a way that they could not have been done worse. The only round window that remains and those of the choir, especially the large stained glass window that had suffered the most, clearly show how the work was carried out; that is, broken or damaged pieces of glass were replaced with other pieces of glass at random, of whatever colour they were, if coloured ones were available (perhaps remnants of some of the small windows that had been completely destroyed) or white ones, which were given any colour, without any concern for whether the designs of the figures and ornaments were badly distorted and disfigured. (p. 221)