Page:On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV.djvu/22

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16
VATICAN LIBRARY OF SIXTUS IV.

Florentine (Joannes florentinus), and at a later date as Joanninus; but the consideration of these important entries, as of those referring to the furniture of the rooms previously considered, must be postponed for the present.

In December, 1477, a German glass painter, called simply Conrad, is employed upon the windows, and in May, 1478, he, or his workmen, make a wooden trellis to protect the glass:

Habuit Conradus Theutonicus qui restituit fenestras vitreas et tres denuo [de novo] fecit ducatos duos et carlenos quinque die xi decembris 1477.

Item dedi ducatum unum his qui fecerunt fenestras ex ramo pro tutella fenestrarum vitrearuin die viiii maii 1478.

Item dedi ducatos duos his qui fecere prædictas ramatas[1] die xviiii maii 1478[2].

At this juncture the work seems to have been interrupted for two years or more; for the next entries concerning the glass and other matters belong to the latter half of 1480; by which time the new library ordered by the Pope (Bibliotheca pontificia) had been begun.

Emi libras xii vitri albi pro armis faciendis in fenestra vitrea bibliothecæ novæ à vi b. [bononenos] la libra.

Item uncias iii smalti à b. iiii l'onza, et xxx filcete (filzette?) de paternostri pro eisdem fenestris b. vi, die qua supra [27 August, 1480] d. I. b. xviii[3].

In this year a second German glass-painter, Georgius theutonicus, is employed. In October he was paid four ducats for working up into a window for the new library the glass bought in the previous August:

Item habuit Georgius theutonicus pro factura fenestræ vitreæ magnæ in bibliotheca nova factæ ducatos iiii auri, die xviii octobris 1480[4].

While this work was going forward, considerable changes were effected in the fabric, such as the blocking of windows and doors, and the repairs of the walls. It is evident that the room destined for the "new library" had previously been put

  1. Ducange, s.v. Ramata, says that it is equivalent to the modern French treille.
  2. Müntz, p. 131.
  3. Ibid., p. 132.
  4. Ibid., p. 133.