Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . in Italy, whereno Norman influence is suspected ; for instance, onthe west front of San Paolo a Ripa dArno in Pisa. The cathedral was enriched, according to thefashion prevailing when funds were forthcoming,with costly bronze doors ; those of the west ormain entrance by Bonnano of Pisa, dated 1186,those of the north doorway by Barisano of two magnificent pairs of doors are to usdoubly remarkable as representing, side by side,the two great forces in all art endeavour, not thenyet fused in monumental sculpture ; the twocu
Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . in Italy, whereno Norman influence is suspected ; for instance, onthe west front of San Paolo a Ripa dArno in Pisa. The cathedral was enriched, according to thefashion prevailing when funds were forthcoming,with costly bronze doors ; those of the west ormain entrance by Bonnano of Pisa, dated 1186,those of the north doorway by Barisano of two magnificent pairs of doors are to usdoubly remarkable as representing, side by side,the two great forces in all art endeavour, not thenyet fused in monumental sculpture ; the twocurious innate human instincts that together haveproduced what we call art: the deep instinctivedesire for expression, so potent in the men of theMiddle Ages, with their intensity of feeling, theirchildlike minds, filled with marvel and mystery,and thronged with living conceptions that soughtfor utterance ; and the keen instinctive childlikeioy in representation, in craftsmanship, in art forarts sake, in a wholesome, irresponsible, whole-hearted XXXVI. IART OF BRONZE DOOR BY HONNANO OF PISA, CATHEDRAL, MONREALEAlinati *? 210 THE CATHEDRAL OF MONREALE To us the great west doors by Bonnano of Pisaappeal mainly by virtue of the strong narrative anddramatic instinct there revealed, struggling withinadequate means of expression, while yet showing,as the work of these dramatic sculptors often does,an innate perception of effective composition. Yetthe work of the Tuscan master, set up in i i8o inhis own native cathedral, must have appealed tocontemporaries as masterly in a way that nowescapes us, since he was called in to execute themain doors of this great Sicilian cathedral, forwhich no expense was spared. Entirely different is the work of Barisano. Heis preoccupied with style, with the medium ofexpression, with pleasing comeliness of has evidently found inspiration and stimulus inEarly Christian or sea-borne Byzantine ivories(diptycha, caskets or pyxes), and has be
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectart, bookyear1910
