Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) publie à Florence en 1550 puis en 1568, Les Vies des meilleurs peintres, sculpteurs et architectes (Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori), considéré comme l’un des ouvrages fondateurs de l’histoire de l’art. Il y évoque dans sa préface la construction au Moyen-Âge du Duomo de Pise. Celle-ci débute au XIe siècle sous la direction de l’architecte Buschetto, est de style roman mais aux influences byzantines.
Vasari décrit le réemploi de matériaux qui y est pratiqué – notamment des colonnes, des bases, des chapiteaux et des corniches – ainsi que la façon dont le projet a été pensé pour intégrer ces éléments. En fin d’article, retrouvez un extrait en anglais du texte de Vasari, également consultable sur le site internet du projet Gutenberg (bibliothèque online).
« From such beginnings design and a general improvement in the arts began to make headway in Tuscany, as in the year 1016 when the Pisans began to erect their Duomo. For in that time it was a considerable undertaking to build such a church, with its five aisles and almost entirely constructed of marble both inside and out. This church, built from the plans and under the direction of Buschetto, a clever Greek architect from Dulichium, was erected and adorned by the Pisans when at the zenith of their power with an endless quantity of spoils brought by sea from various distant parts, as the columns, bases, capitals, cornices and other stones there of every description, amply demonstrate. Now since all these things were of all sizes, great, medium, and small, Buschetto displayed great judgment in adapting them to their places, so that the whole building is excellently devised in every part, both within and without. Amongst other things he devised the façade, which is made up of a series of stages, gradually diminishing toward the top and consisting of a great number of columns, adorning it with other columns and antique statues. »
Le texte complet consultable ici : Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, Giorgio Vasari