Arnolfo di Cambio (Di Lapo Vasari)
architect and sculptor; b. about 1232; d. about 1303.
Arnolfo was not the son of Lapo, as supposed by Vasari. In a document of 1266 they are mentioned as associates in the atelier of Niccolo da Pisa at Siena. In the "provisione" of 1300 (Florentine cathedral) he is mentioned as "Magister Arnolfus de Colle, filius olim Cambii, Capud Magister laborarii et operis. In 1295 he began the Church of S. Croce (Florence). Vasari credits him with the marble facing of the Baptistery (Florence). Villani notes in his Cronica that in 1294 the citizens of Florence decided to rebuild the Cathedral Church of S. Reparata built in 407. The work was begun by Arnolfo in 1296 at the western end. His name appears in an inscription on the wall opposite the campanile, "ISTVD AB ARNOLFO TEMPLVM FVIT EDIFICATVM." He probably had charge of the building for six or seven years and built a part of the outer wall of the nave. His plan was much changed and enlarged by later architects. The name Santa Reparata was afterward changed to the present Santa Maria del Fiore. The construction of the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence) is attributed to Arnolfo by Vasari without corroboration. The fine monument of the Cardinal de la Braye in the Church of S. Dorneuico at Orvieto with its mosaics and sculpture is by Arnolfo.
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