172 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
seen in the Cathedral of Pavia on the front of the monument to Saint
Augustine. There they are carved in stone and each figure is named:
Claude, Nicostratus, Symphorian, and Simplician (which are not the
usual names of the Martyrs). They are holding a hammer, a compass, a
chisel, and some other tools and the third figure is holding a label on
which can be read "Martuor. Coronatorum." The same patronage of
the Martyrs can be found in Sienna, Arezzo, Perugia, Florence, and
Palermo in Sicily.
Development of mastery associations in Italy was considerably
hampered by the extreme territorial divisions of the country, the politi-
cal struggles that endured for centuries, and occupation of the country
by foreign forces. During the sixteenth century, on the fringes of these
mason corporations, academies were formed whose purpose was to
emancipate art from the shackles of the association and assert the inde-
pendence of artists. The most famous is the Accademia del Disegno, the
Academy of Drawing, inaugurated in 1563 in Florence under the aus-
pices of Cosmo di Medici. Open to sculptors, painters, and amateurs
(emphasis mine), it was chiefly concerned with the sciences related to
architecture and/or the art of drawing—sciences that art historian
Eugene Miintz (Florence et la Toscane) described as "transcendent."
This institution went on to become the Academy of Fine Arts, whose
palace on Saint Mark's Square now houses some prestigious collections.
Later, when we discuss the birth of speculative Freemasonry, we
will learn how these Italian academies indirectly influenced the English
Lodges at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Builders Corporations in Germany and SwitzerlandThe arts corporations in Germany attained their freedom later than
those in Italy but followed their lead whenever possible in the develop-
ment of their political power. Sometime after the first half of the thir-
teenth century, trade representatives were admitted into the municipal
councils in, for example, Cologne (1259), Frankfurt am Main (1284),
Fribourg (1293), and Magdeburg (1294).^6
The builders communities in Germany are among the oldest. Their
origins follow the same pattern as those in France: monastic associa-