POLO
217
POLO
refined and elegant, but pagan. The monument to
Innocent VIII at St. Peter's was also executed by
Pollajuolo. In the lower part the pope is represented
as dead, while above he is depicted as in life, seated
on his throne and gi%'ing his blessing. The ornamental
female figures of ^'irtues are charming but profane.
Antonio Pollajuolo also carried his passion for anatomy
and the nude into painting, even in reUgious pictures
such as the "Martyrdom of St. Sebastian", where it
is quite offensive. He was "the first of those great
pagan artists of the Italian Renaissance for whom the
human form, living or dead, and the study of anatomy
and the nude became the sole aim and irresistible
passion" (A. Perat6).
Vasari, Le vite de' pill ecceUenii pittori . . ., ed. Milanesi, III (Florence, 1S78), 289-301 (tr. London, 1SS5); Crowe and Cavalcaselle, a new history of painting in Italy, II (London, 1S69), 382; Bl.\nc, Ecole florentine in Histoire des peintres de toxUes les Ecoles (Paris, 1869-77); LuBKE, Gesch. der itatienischen Malerei, I (Stuttgart, 1878), 313; Mwntz, Histoire de I'art pendant la Renaissance, II (Paris, 1891), 471-3, 507-11, 574-5, 661-9; CRtrrrwELL, Antonio Pollajuolo (London, 1907); P£rat£. Pein- tures des PoUajuoli: Falke, Antonio Pollajuolo, orjkvre, in Michel, UHistoire de VArl, III (Paris, 1908), pt. ii. 672-6, 884-5; Michel, Antonio Pollajuolo sculpteur in UHistoire de V AH, IV (Paris, 1909), pt. 1, 139-47.
Gaston Sobtais.
Polo, Marco, traveller; b. at Venice in 12.51; d. there in 1324. His father Nicolo and his uncle Matteo, sons of the Venetian patrician, Andrea Polo, had established a house of business at Constantinople and another at Sudak on the shore of the Black Sea, in the southeast of the Crimea. About 12.5.5 they left Constantinople with a consignment of jewels and after reaching Sudak went to the residence on the banks of the Volga of Barka (Bereke), Mongol Khan of Kiptchak, who welcomed them and paid them well for their wares. But war having broken out between Bereke and Hulagu, the Mongol conqueror of Persia, and Bereke having been defeated, the Venetians were at a loss how to return to their own country. Leaving Kiptchak they continued their journey towards the east, thus reaching Bokhara, where "they stayed tlu-ee years. Envoys from Hulagu to the Great Khan of Tatarj' passing through this town and finding these "Latins" who spoke the Tatar language induced them to accompany them to the residence of the great khan, which they reached only after a year's journey. Kublai, the great khan, was the most powerful of the descendants of Jenghiz Khan. While his brother Hulagu had received Iran, Armenia, and Eg>-pt Kublai was master of Mon- golia, Northern China, and Tibet, and was to con- quer Southern China. This intelligent prince en- deavoured to maintain intercourse with the West and favoured the Christians, whether Nestorians or Catholics. Hence Nicolo and Matteo Polo were well received by him, he questioned them with regard to the Christian states, the emperor, the pope, princes, knights, and their manner of fighting and confided to them letters to the pope in which he asked for Christian missionaries.
Accompanied by a Mongol "baron", the two brothers set out in 1266 and after three years of travel reached St-Jean d'Acre in 1269. 'There the papal legate, Teobaldo Visconti, informed them that Clement IV was dead and they returned to Venice to await the election of a new pope. The cardinals not having reached a decision at the end of two years the brothers Polo determined to return, but this time they brought with them the youthful Marco, son of Nicolo, then aged eighteen. All three went to Acre to see the legate and request of him letters for the great khan, but they had scarcely left Acre when they learned that this same legate had been elected pope under the name of (Jregory X (1 Sept., 1271). Over- joyed, they returned to Acre and the new pope gave them letters and ajipointed two Friars Preachers to accompany them. But while going through Armenia,
they fell amid troops of the Mameluke Sultan Bibars
the Arbelester, the monks refused to go further, and
the Venetians continued their journey alone. It was
only after three years and a half that, after having
escaped all kinds of dangers, they reached the dwelling
of Kublai, who received them probably at Yen King
near the present Peking (1275). The great khan
was delighted to see them once more; the}' presented
him with the letters from the pope and some oil from
the lamp at the Holy Sepulchre.
Kublai conceived a great affection for the youthful Marco Polo, who readily adopted the Tatar custom and soon learned the four languages as well as the four writings of which they made use (probably Mongolian, Chinese, Persian, and Uighur). The great khan sent him on a mission six months' journey from his residence (probably to Annam) and the in- formation he brought back with regartl to the coun- tries he traversed confirmed him in the good will of the sovereign. For three years he was governor of the city of Yang-chow (Janguy), on which twenty- seven cities were dependent. The question of his share in the siege of Siang-yang and the engines of war constructed under his supervision are much more doubtful. According to Chinese historians the re- duction of this city took place in 1273, prior to Marco Polo's arrival in China; on the other hand the details which he gives concerning Kublai's expedition against the Kingdom of Mien (Bunna, 12S2) leave it to be supposed that he participated therein. He was also charged with several missions to the Indian seas, Ceylon, and Cochin China. At last after having journeyed tlirough almost the whole of Western Asia the three Venetians obtained, but not without dif- ficulty, the great khan's permission to return to their own country. They set sail with a fleet of fourteen four-masted ships and were charged with the escort of an imperial princess betrothed to Arghun, Ivhan of Persia. After a perilous voyage through the Sonda Strait and the Indian Ocean, they 'landed at Ormuz and after having delivered the prin- cess to the son of the lately deceased Arghun they continued their journey by land as far as 'Trebizond, where they took ship for Constantinople, finally reaching Venice in 1295 after an absence of twenty- four years.
In costume and appearance they resembled Tatars; they had almost forgotten their native tongue and had much difficulty in making themselves recognized by their friends. Their wealth speedily aroused admiration, but their marvellous accounts were sus- pected of exaggeration. Marco, who was constantly talking of the great khan's millions, was nicknamed "Messer Millioni" and in the sixteenth century their dwelhng was still called the "Corte dei mil- lioni". War having broken out between Genoa and Venice, Marco Polo was placed in command of a galley (1296), but the Venetian fleet having been destroyed in the Gulf of Lajazzo he was taken pris- oner to Genoa. There he became associated with Rusticiano of Pi.sa, an adaptor of French romances, who WTote down at his dictation the account of his travels. On his release from prison Marco Polo became a member of the Great Council of Venice and lived there till his death.
The "Book of Marco Polo" dictated to Rusticiano was compiled in French. A more correct version, revised by Marco Polo, was .sent by him in 1307 to Thibaud of Cepoy, the agent of Charles of Valois at Venice, to be presented to that prince, who was a candidate for the Crown of Constantinople and the promoter of a crusading movement. The Latin, Venetian, and Tuscan versions are merely transla- tions which are often faulty, or abridgments of the first two texts. The compilation of his l«)ok may be regarded as one of the most imiiortani events in the history of geographical discoveries. Hitherto
