Constantinople till the Dogeship of Ordelafo Faliero, in 1105. Cicognara not believing it possible that the work should be so long in progress, comes to the conclusion that the Pala must have been sent to Venice soon after it was ordered, and was only altered and reconstructed with additions by Faliero. At any rate the inscription on the Pala itself records, that in 1105, under the Doge Ordelafo, it was made new (nova facta fuit); that it was renewed under the Doge Pietro Ziani, in 1209, and that it was ultimately restored and enriched with gems by the Doge Andrea Dandolo, in 1345.[1]
On examining carefully the engravings given by Cicognara and Du Sommerard of the altarpiece, and some of its details, I feel convinced that the six large subjects at the top, the Archangel Michael, the twelve archangels, and four of the prophets, which all have Greek inscriptions, are of the same date and workmanship as the figures of the Empress Irene and the Doge Faliero. They must, therefore, have been made about 1105, and at Constantinople. The remainder of the enamelled medallions, amongst which occur repetitions of the subjects enumerated above, though in a different style, and which are accompanied by Latin inscriptions, must therefore belong to the alteration made by Pietro Ziani, in 1209, and may have been made either by native artists, or Byzantine workmen residing at Venice. Lastly, the setting and silver work of the whole, which is very Gothic in its details, and contains some beautiful heads of saints in silver, belong to the renewals of Andrea Dandolo, in 1345. We learn from an inscription which has come to light during recent repairs, that Giambattista Bonesegna was employed in their execution in 1342. The general effect of this altarpiece is very gorgeous; the art displayed in it is necessarily somewhat limited, owing to the unmanageable nature of the materials.[2]
- ↑ These inscriptions are as follows:—
"Anno milleno centeno jungito quinto
Tunc Ordelaphus Faledrus in urbe ducabat
Hæc nova facta fuit gemmis ditissima pala,
Quæ renovata fuit te, Petre, ducante Ziani
Et procurabat tunc Angelus acta FaledrusAnno milleno bis centeno que noveno
Post quadrageno quinto post mille trecentos
Dandolus Andrea preclarus honore ducabat
Nobilibusque viris tunc procurantibus almam
Ecclesiam Marci venerandam jure beati
De Lauredanis Marco Frescoque Quirino
Tunc vetus hæc pala gemmis pretiosa novatur." - ↑ Lord Lindsay, in speaking of the Byzantine art of the tenth and eleventh centuries, characterises the Pala d'Oro as "an accumulation of sculpture and painting of the most wretched description," and compares it, much to its disparagement, with the ivory carvings on the Bamberg missals noticed above. Now, the only sculpture in the Pala is some
