Neue Forschungen zu den Florentiner Künstlern in Ungarn: Buda, Esztergom und die Bakócz-Kapelle
Authors: Carl Doris 
Published: April 2023

New research concerning Florentine Artists in Hungary at Buda, Esztergom and the Bakócz-Chapel. The hitherto unknown documents discussed here regard the time from ca. 1470 to 1504. They give us the names of Florentine artists who worked for Matthias Corvinus and his successor Wladislaw II as well as for the Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate of Hungary, Tamás Bakócz. Until now, only the sculptor Gregorio di Lorenzo, the wood carver Chimente Camicia and five carpenters who worked under his supervision in Buda were known. According to Vasari, Chimente Camicia was the leading master who worked not only in wood but was also an architect and engineer who is said to have looked after Corvinus’ buildings including fountains and gardens. However, this can no longer maintained because the newly discovered documents establish that Gregorio di Lorenzo was Corvinus capomaestro. He was in Buda between 1475 and the early 1490’s. Besides his figural works, he was also responsible for a certain Hungarian decorative style that went back to Giovanni di Bertino who was the brother-in-law and collaborator of his teacher, Desiderio da settignano. The recognition that a stone carver without architectural expertise could direct building projects for Matthias Corvinus confirms the view that the extant Gothic buildings in Buda were rather ‘modernized’ than newly created Renaissance structures.

The new documents also give us the names of six stone masons and sculptors so that we have a more precise picture of the Buda artistic scene. Among these, were Francesco di Bartolomeo telli and his companion Simone di Francesco, Filippo di Pagno di Lapo Portigiani, Martino di Matteo di Mario di Maino, Giovanni di Romolo di Tomaso Michi and Francesco di Antonio di Piero. More exact informations are obtainable only for Filippo di Pagno and Giovanni Michi. This enables the suggestion that Filippo di Pagno who was trained in Bologna by his father Pagno di Lapo as a sculptor and architect, may have been responsible for the invention of a double tiered loggia in the Court of State in Buda in order to hide the heterogeneous Gothic buildings for a more harmonious appearance. Palace courtyards with such loggia were typical of contemporary Bologna but not of Florentine palace architecture.

Giovanni Michi is documented as a collaborator of the bronze specialist Bertoldo di Giovanni who was in the service of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Therefore, he belonged to the inner circle of Medici artists which included Giuliano da Sangallo and Francione. He must certainly have been involved with the execution of the glazed terracotta frieze at Poggio a Caiano which Bertoldo created at Lorenzo il Magnifico’s behest. Michi was also a close friend of Michelangelo whom he knew from the San Marco garden workshop and from his subsequent activity as manager of Michelangelo’s Roman studio between 1508 and 1510. Since Michi very probably learned bronze techniques from Bertoldo, he is a plausible candidate for some of the documented bronzes in Buda, such as the Centaur Battle which was undoubtedly indebted to the precedents made by Bertoldo and Michelangelo in Florence.

New names also emerge for the carpenters and intarsia makers in Corvinus’ employ in Buda among whom were two other members of the Camicia family: Niccolò di Nardo and Jacopo di Biagio Camicia. It also turns out that Gaetano Milanesi’s claim concerning the brothers Baccio and Francesco Cellini in Buda can now be substantiated. The most important of those artists was Jacopo Camicia whose artistic career has been reconstructed by the author. He was trained in the important workshop of the Geri brothers who worked for Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici and there made excellent professional contacts. Jacopo was in Buda at the latest from 1477 and is further traceable into the early sixteenth century. He led the workshop which made the burial chapel in Esztergom for Tamás Bakócz. Since 1475/1476 Jacopo had been involved with the first project for the inner façade of Santo Spirito in Florence which influenced the architecture of the Bakócz-Chapel as already noticed in the literature, he may well have been its architect.

The account books of the Florentine merchant active in Buda, Antonio Bini, mention other Florentine artists then busy there and elsewhere in Hungary. Among these was the scarpellino Giovanni di Romolo di Domenico Baccelli who was Giuliano da Sangallo’s nephew. He had been trained in the workshop of Jacopo del Mazza and Andrea Ferrucci who worked closely together with the Da Sangallo brothers. These connections suggest that Giovanni Baccelli and his workshop carried out the two sacrament tabernacles at Pest and Pécs, and also provide reasonable evidence to attribute to him the execution of the ornament in the Bakócz-Chapel since these are closely related to the design and style of the formal vocabulary of the Del mazza/Ferrucci workshop. Therefore, we can now identify the Florentine masters who created and executed the most important Renaissance building in Hungary: Jacopo Camicia who planned the chapel and Giovanni Baccelli who directed the stone masters who carved it out.