Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

Gold and SilYer

25

feet Ьigh. Some of the gold employed was the first ever bгought froш America. The whole stгucture ,veighed thгee hundred and eighty-eight pounds. A1·phe macle а similar cнstodia for Coгdova авd another f01· IJeon. His gгanclson, Jнan d'Arphe, wrote а veгse about the Toledo custodia, in wЬich these lines occur:

" Custodia is а teшple of ricl1 plate ,vroнght for the glory of Our Saviour true • • • That holiest ark of old to iшitate,

Fasbloпed Ьу Bezaleel the cшшing Jew, Cl10se11 of God to work his sovereign will, And greatly gifted with celestial skill."

Juan d'Arphe himself made а custodia for Seville, the decorations and figures on which were directed Ьу the learned Francesco Pacheco, the fatЬer-in-law of Velasquez. "\Vl1en tl1is custodia was completed, d'Arpt1e w1·ote а description of it, alluding boldly to tbls woгk as " the largest and finest work in silver known of its kind," and this could really Ье said witlюut conceit, for it is а fact. А Gothic form of goldsшith's work oЬtaiпed in Spain in the 13tl1, 14th and 15th centuries; it ,vas based upon arcbltectural шodels and was knO\vn as "plateresca." Tl1e shrines for holdiпg relics became in these centuries positive buildings оп а small scale in pгecious material. In England also were many of these shrines, but few of theш now гemain. The first Mayor of London, from 1189 to 1213, was а goldsшith, Henry Fitz Al wy n, the Founde1· of the Royal Exchaпge; Sir Thomas Gresham, in 1520, ,vas