1180, and while the campanile was in course of construction, the same Bonanno executed the principal door of the cathedral of Pisa; it is of bronze, and bears the following inscription:—“Ego Bonannus Pis. mea arte hanc portam uno anno perfeci tempore Benedicti operarii.”[1]
The art now made continual progress, as may be seen at San Giovanni in Laterano, in Rome, the walls of which were formed from the spoils of ancient buildings, during the pontificates of Lucius III and Urban III (when this latter pontiff crowned the Emperor Frederick). Many small chapels of this basilica have considerable merit of design, and are well deserving of notice. Among other circumstances of this building, it may be remarked that its vaults were formed of small tubes,[2] with compartments of stucco, to the end that the walls might not be too heavily burthened,—a very judicious contrivance of those times; the cornices and other parts of the church also proving that artists then contributed effectually in their efforts towards the amelioration of their art.
Innocent III caused two palaces to be erected, about this time, on the Vatican hill, and from what can be seen of them, they appear to have been of good style ; but as these buildings were destroyed by other pontiffs, and particularly by Nicholas V, who demolished and rebuilt the greater part of them, I will say no more respecting them than that a portion of them may still be seen in the great Round Tower,[3] and in the old sacristy of St. Peter’s. The above-named pontiff, Innocent III, who reigned nineteen years, and greatly delighted in architecture, caused many buildings to be erected in Rome, particularly the tower of Conti, so called from his own name, he being of that family. The tower was constructed after the designs of Marchionne of Arezzo, a sculptor and architect, by whom the capitular church of Arezzo was completed, together with its campanile, in the year of Pope Innocent’s death; the front of this edifice was adorned with
