YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

WALKS IN FLORENCE

VOL. n.

Frontispiece. I J .

MarzoccOy hy DonaUllo.

WALKS IN FLORENCE

By SUSAN" Iand JOANNA ' HORNER

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. IL

STRAHAN & CO.
S6, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON
1873
[The Right of Translation is reserved.]

LONDON :
PRINTED PY VIRTUE AND CO.,
CITY ROAD.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

-?-

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
San Firenze — Vicinity of Sta. Croce  i

CHAPTER H.
Sta. Croce — Architecture .... . . 15
CHAPTER III.
Sta. Croce — Monuments ........ 25
CHAPTER IV.
Sta. Croce — ^the Pazzi Chapel — ^Inquisition ..... 40
CHAPTER V.
Sta. Croce — ^Frescos  49
CHAPTER VI.
Pia Casa di Lavoro— The Villani ... . . 76
CHAPTER VII.
Sta. Maria in Campo— Sant' Ambrogio  87
VOL. II. l>

PAGE

vi I.ONTENTS.
CHAPTER VHI.
The Protestant Cemetery, &c  9°
CHAPTER IX.
Convent and Churchof the SS. Annunziata . . . .113
CHAPTER X.
Piazza of the SS. Annunziata — the Innocenti .... 129
CHAPTER XI.
Convent of Sta. Maria degli Angeli — Palazzo Ginori . . • '35
CHAPTER XIL
Convent of San Marco  154
CHAPTER XIII.
San Marco — Library — Church . . . . . .171
CHAPTER XIV.
The Via San Gallo— The Palazzo Strozzi  180
CHAPTER XV.
Palazzo RuceUai — Piazza Sta. Maria Novella  192
CHAPTER XVI.
Sta. Maria Novella  206
CHAPTER XVII.
Sta.' Maria Novella — {Continuation-)  22q

CHAPTER XVIIL
The Via della Scala — Bridges

239

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTER XIX. iwr.v.
Via de' Bardi«— Porta San Giorgio  254

CHAPTER XX.
Sta. Felicita to the Piazza Soderini  274
CHAPTER XXI.
Fondaccio di Santo Spirito — San Felice  286
CHAPTER XXII.
Santo Spirito  295
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Carmine, &c  3°4
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Boboli Gardens— Palazzo dei Pitti . . . . 321
~~ PUBLIC GALLERIES OF FLORENCE. ,
The Academy : —
First Room  33^
Second Room ......... 35^
The Pitti Gallery : —
Large Rooms  3^7
Small Rooms  399

Tabernacles  .... 400
Manufacture of Pietra-dura  4'2
,Egypi'ian Museum. — Etruscan Remains .... 416
Museum of Natural History  44"
VOL. II.

LIST OF I LLI' STR ATIONS TO VOL. II.

!M-\K,'iitc'.i. IiV J iiNAJ ELi.iJ /'runiispu'LL'.
Friosco by (_tio:tino, o.\ the Staikc.a.se of 'ihe Fi;.ar-
MONJC.\. y\.\ Ghibellina ... . Face page 76
Ax.\r.\CIATR)N, BY LfC.'i. DELL.A. RoBBLA, HOSMTAL OF THE
IX.\OCI-,MS  . . 12()
PoRT.v San Xicoj-o . .  254
FORiL^ OF Ei;;r,sCAX Va.ses . . . 427

WALKS IN FLORENCE.

CHAPTER I.
SAN FIRENZE.— PALAZZO GONDI.— LOGGIA DEL GRANO.
—PIAZZA CASTELLAN!.— PONTE ALLE GRAZIE.—
VICINITY OF STA. CROCE,
'T'HE Piazza di San Firenze, south of the Bargello, is in
the shape of an irregular triangle. At one corner is
the entrance to the Via de' Librai, a continuation of the Via
del Proconsolo, which took its name from the book-stalls
near the Badia, where the Benedictine monks probably-
formed the principal reading public of Florence. Beside
the Bargello stood the Church of San Apollinare, long since
demolished, which at one time gave its name to the piazza ;
here Beccheria of Pavia, Abbot of VaUombrosa, was executed
in 1258. Beccheria was a notorious Ghibelline, whose fac
tion had been defeated, and the leaders, Uberto degli
Uberti and Mangia degli Infangati, beheaded in the Orto
di San Michele.''' Trusting, however, to the immunity of
his sacred office, Beccheria ventured to enter Florence:
•*
* See "Or San Micliele," chap. xii. vol. i.
VOL, IL B

2 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
but was seized, charged with hatching plots against the
State, put to the torture, and, in spite of his protests and
appeals, beheaded in this piazza. His name has been im
mortaUsed by Dante, who placed him beside Count Ugolino
among the traitors in the " Inferno : " —
" Se fossi demandato altri chi v' era,
Tu hai dallato quel di Beccheria,
Di cui segd Firenze la gorgiera." *
The Church of San Firenze is supposed to occupy the site
of a Roman Temple of Isis ; but, more probably, of a build
ing connected with the Amphitheatre. The remains of the
foundations and of some broken columns were excavated in
1772, when a noble statue of a Roman senator was dis
covered, which is now in the Palazzo Gondi. San Firenze
was one of the oldest churches in the city; but in 1640 it
was ceded to the Fathers of the Oratory of San FUippo
Neri, who undertook to enlarge the monastery attached to
the church ; the famiUes of Magalotti and Mancini pulled
down their towers to afford more room, and the Work was
commenced in 1 646 ; but whilst it was still incomplete the
last of the Serragli famUy died, and bequeathed his Vast
wealth to the Fathers with one condition, that instead of
using it to enlarge their own dweUing, they should include
all that had been already built in the church. The
fagade was added in 1732, and partakes of the bad taste
prevalent in that century. The interior of San Firenze

" If thou shouldst questioned be, who els^was there.
Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria,
Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder."
Longfellow's Translation.

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. 3
is handsome, and contains several modem pictures of
merit. The Palazzo Gondi is a good specimen of the architecture
peculiar to Florence. It was bmlt in 1501, after a design
by Giuliano di San Gallo, who was employed by a wealthy
merchant, Giuliano Gondi. The cortile is surrounded by
graceful columns supporting arches, but is most remarkable
for the staircase, with its fine balustrade, and curious variety
of deUcate ornamentation in animals and foliage. At the
head of the interior staircase, leading to the principal apart
ments, is the statue of the Roman senator, taken from the
supposed Temple of Isis. A magnificent chimney-piece, the
work of Giuliano di San GaUo, adorns the large entrance-
hall, round which are hung family portraits. The most dis
tinguished of these are : — Maddalena, daughter of Simone
Gondi, who married one of the Salviati, and who, by the
marriage of her daughter Maria with Giovanni de' Medici
delle Bande Nere, became the grandmother of Duke
Cosimo I. ; Giuliano de' Gondi, surnamed II Vecchio, who
was employed in various affairs of State by Catharine de'
Medici, and by her sons, Charles IX. and Hemy III., as
well as by Henry IV. of France. Giuliano refused a pension
offered him by the King of Naples for services he had
rendered that sovereign, because he did not consider the
citizen of a free repubUc could honourably accept money
from a foreign prince. He founded this palace in 1501 ;
and towards the close of his Ufe he built the noble palace
behind the archbishop's residence, which afterwards became
the property of the Orlandini. The scruples of Giuliano do
not appear to have been shared by his descendants, who
were frequently in the pay of France, and were created

4 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
French generals, admirals, govemors of provinces, and even
archbishops. The celebrated Cardinal de Retz was of this
family. Passing behind the Palazzo Vecchio, we reach a piazzetta
in which is the Loggia del Grano. This shelter for the corn
vendors was built in 1619 by the Grand-Duke Cosimo II.,
whose bust is in front, and who employed the architect
Giulio Parigi, a pupil of the still more celebrated Buonta
lenti, The Loggia del Grano is an elegant structure, con
sisting of a vaulted roof, resting on columns, with an upper
chamber, lately converted into a theatre. The pavement of
the loggia is raised a few feet from the ground, and here,
until within a few years, was held the com market.
A narrow street connects the Loggia del Grano with the
Piazza de' CasteUani or de' Giudici. At the right-hand
corner, facing the river, stood the Castle of Altafronte,
which was purchased by one of that name from the Ghibel
Une Uberti. The land attached to the castle extended
some distance eastwards, and Altafronte bestowed a portion
on the Franciscans, who thereupon commenced their church
of Sta. Croce. The descendants of Altafronte sold the pro
perty to the CasteUani, whose name has been erroneously
supposed to refer to the office of Chitelain or Govemor of
the Castle of Altafronte. In 1558 the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I. purchased the CasteUani palace, which had risen
on the site of the old castle, and removed thither the
Tribunal of the Giudici a Ruota, which had previously held
its sittings in the Bargello; the lawyers attached to this
court had their chambers around the piazza. In i860 the
piazza underwent another change : the palace of the Castel-
lani became a Govemment office, and opposite, where once

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. S
Stood a tiratojo, was built the Banca Toscana — the Bank
of Florence. Several of these iiratoji once existed in thecity,
which, as the trade in woollen cloth diminished, gradually
disappeared. The tiratojo in this piazza was attributed to
Arnolfo di Cambio. On the parapet beside the river is a
small tablet, with a Latin inscription, to the memory of a
horse which belonged to the Venetian ambassador, and
which was killed during the siege of 1529 by a shell from
the Prince of Orange's camp, beyond San Miniato.
The bridge higher up the river, with its singukr row of
detached houses, was built in 1235 by Rubaconte da Man-
della, a Milanese Podestk of Florence. He employed
Lapo, the father of Arnolfo de' Lapi, for the work. This
same Rubaconte caused Florence to be paved with large
¦diagonal stones instead of brick. The bridge is thus
alluded to by Dante, when describing the position of the
Church of San Miniato on the hill above : —
" Come a man destra, per salire al monte
Dove siede la Chiesa, che soggioga
La ben guidata sopra Rubaconte." *
The bridge had originally nine arches, but in 1346 two
were included in the mill-dam which was on the left bank
of the river, but which has now been filled up to form part
of the new quay. The little chapel on the right bank once

' As on the right hand to ascend the mount
Where seated is the Church that lordeth
O'er the weU-guided,t above Rubaconte."
Longfellow's Translation.

t La ben giud,-Lta — the well-guided — is ironically spoltea of Florence.

6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
contained an image of the Virgin and Child, which was held
in peculiar veneration, and gave the name "Alle Grazie" to
the bridge. It was founded in 1372 ty one of the Alberti
family, whose arms— the Fetters— are carved on a shield at
the corner of their palace, opposite. There were likewise
three chapels, dedicated to Sta. Caterina, Sta. Barbera, and
San Lorenzo, but they have aU disappeared. The smaU
houses at intervals, which give this bridge its peculiar
character, were bmlt in the fourteenth century by ladies of
distinction, under the direction of one Monna or Madonna
ApoUonia. These ladies, scandalised by the loose morality
of convent life, immured themselves here, receiving their
food through the windows, and were known as the Romite
— female hermits— of the Ponte Rubaconte. Their number
increased so rapidly, that theywere at length obUged to
remove into a convent near Sta. Croce, caUed, from their
vows, the Murate, or Immured, The hermitages, thus
abandoned, became the dweUings of poor artisans, and in
one of them, in 1646, was bom the poet Benedetto
Mengini. He became a priest in Florence, and went to
Rome, where he gained his celebrity under the patronage of
Queen Christina of Sweden. He died in 1704."'
From the quay which bears the name of Alberti is seen
one of the most lovely views of this neighbourhood : the
weir, the suspension-bridge, and the Porta San Nicolo on
the opposite bank ; beyond, the heights of the Mozzi and
Boboli gardens, skirted by the city wall with its Middle-
Age towers ; and still more distant, San Miniato al Monte
* These houses wiU probably be soon demolished in order to widen
tlie bridge, and the chapel will be transferred to one of the adjoining
houses of the Alberti.

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. 7
and San Francesco, bounded by the ranges of mountains
and forests of pine and beech of VaUombrosa.
The street leading from the Ponte alle Grazie to the
Piazza di Sta. Croce was formerly composed of the palaces,
towers, and loggie of the Alberti family, who were regarded
with especial favour by Cosimo de' Medici and his de
scendants; the most celebrated was the author Leon
Battista, who was also an artist, and constructed the foun
tain of Trevi at Rome for Pope Nicolas V. In the adjoin
ing street, the Borgo Sta. Croce was the residence of the
painter and author, Giorgio Vasari.
The Canto delle Colonnine, at the comer of the Borgo
Sta. Croce, was originally part of a loggia of the Alberti ; its
projecting roof, resting on columns with quaint old capitals,
was at one time the workshop of Nicolo Grossi, surnamed
Caparra (pledge), so called by Lorenzo de' Medici because
he refused to undertake any commission without receiving a
part of the payment in advance. His delicately-wrought
iron fanali, which adom the external comers of some of
the Florentine palaces, are among the finest works of the
kind in existence. Near this spot was the Porta dei Buoi,
in the second circuit of walls, called thus from the cattle
market which was held here.
Opposite this loggia is the former church of San Jacopo
tra Fossi, which stood between the ditches of the city waUs,
but which has long ceased to be used for sacred purposes.
It was built on part of the site of the Roman Amphitheatre,
which extended from San Jacopo to San Firenze. San
Jacopo had three Gothic naves, and the principal entrance
was in the alley leading from the Piazza dei Peruzzi to the
Canto dei Soldani. In 1170 the church was bestowed on

8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the VaUombrosian monks of San Salvi, whose monastery
was outside Florence ; but in 1531 they were deprived of
San Jacopo, which was transferred to the Augustinians, as a
reward for their adherence to the Medici.
Between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Piazza de Sta. Croce
are houses belonging to the family of the Peruzzi. They
were buUt on the site of the Roman Amphitheatre, whose
circular form is retained in the piazetta, where shields
bearing six pendant pears mark the former residences of the
Peruzzi. In this amphitheatre, San Miniato, to whom the
Lombards dedicated not less than thirty churches, was
twice exposed to wild beasts in the reign of the Emperor
Decius. The Via delle Burelle, or dungeons, immediately
behind San Firenze, was so named from the dens of wild
beasts which were kept here for the games of the circus ;
and as the dens were not destroyed till many centuries later,
they were occasionaUy hired by the Signory from the
Peruzzi and other families to whom they belonged, and
used as State prisons, when there was an excess of prisoners.
After the battle of Campaldino, in which Dante took part,
seven hundred and forty human beings were thus immured.
Yet, dreadful as this may sound, these caverns could not
exceed in horror the prisons of the same, and even a later
period, of the Tower of London, and of other European
countries, where torture and cruel executions were as
common as in Florence.
At the corner of the Via de' Cocchi, near the Via
Anguillara and of the Piazza di Sta, Croce, was the Porta
delle Pere, alluded to by Dante in the sixteenth canto of
his " Paradiso : " the remains of a hinge on one side of the
Palazzo Cocchi marks its exact position. Part of the quarter

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. 9
of the Pemzzi bears the name of Borgo de' Greci, and is sup
posed to have been so called when the Byzantine Emperor
and his brother, the Patriarch of the Greek Church, were
lodged here in 1436; in which year Pope Eugenius IV.
held a Councjl at Florence in the hope of reconcUing the
diflferences between the Greek and Latin Churches ; which
Council is commemorated on a marble tablet in the choir
of the cathedral. The Emperor and Patriarch were met by
the Signory at the Porta San Gallo, and conducted hither
with great pomp and ceremony. This supposed origin of
the name Borgo de' Greci has, however, been disputed, as
the street is said to have once been inhabited by a family
of the name of Greci.
The Piazza di Sta. Croce was formerly the theatre for all
public games, probably derived from old Roman days, when
the games of the circus were exhibited in this neighbourhood.
Here in the fifteenth century a famous tournament was held,
which has been immortalised by PoUtian in a poem in
honour of the feats performed by Lorenzo and Giuliano de'
MedicL But the Piazza di Sta. Croce was especially used
for the national game of m/cio, or football, thus described
by an author of the seventeenth century : " The games
of the Florentine youth in spring are the pa/la and the
pome — throwing the -ball and wrestling ; in summer, swim
ming; in autumn, the chase; and in winter, the calcio —
footbaU. The calcio is supposed to have been an ancient
Roman game, since a Greek author, Julius PoUux, m a book
written a.d. 177, and dedicated to the Emperor Commodus,
describes it precisely as it has since been played in Florence.
Though the name calcio — a kick — may lead to the inference
that the game was played with the foot, the great force with

10 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
which the baU had to be hurled obliged the player to use
his hand. The number of players was fifty-four, young and
active men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, as
both strength and agility were required. AU the ladies and
gentlemen of Florence, as well as the populace, assembled to
witness these games. The players adopted a costume which,
whUst graceful, aUowed the free use of their limbs. The
season for the calcio was from January to March, both
because the temperature was cool, and because it was the
time of Camival. When the two parties into which the
fifty-four players were divided were ready for the onset, the
Tuscan trumpets sounded ; the balls were made of leather,
and filled with air." '''
This game was of sufficient importance to be noticed in
various works of prose and poetry. During the siege of
1529, the Florentines, in order to defy the enemy, held the
calcio here as usual, and even placed the trumpeters on the
roof of Sta. Croce, exposed to the hostile missiles. Luckily
for them, the unskilled gunners of those days vainly sent
their shot in this direction from the Giramonte, or circle of
hills beginning with the Poggio Imperiale, where the Piince
of Orange had his camp. The last game of calcio was
played in the Piazza di Sta, Croce in 1739.
The piazza was not always the scene of amusements.
Here, in 1250, the first Parliament or meeting ofthe people
was held; and here, in 1342, Walter de Brienne, Duke of
Athens, when sheltered by the monks of Sta, Croce, con
vened a meeting of the populace to rouse the poor against
the rich. The Priors of the Republic took alarm, and
* See " Discorso sopra il Giuoco di Calcio — Memoria del Calcio."
Fiorentino, 1688,

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. ii
offered De Brienne greater power and privileges on con
dition of his swearing not to infringe their liberties,
and to hold the proposed meeting in the Piazza della
Signoria, under the supervision of the Government; and
Walter de Brienne accordingly rode forth, leaving his
retreat among the friars, and with a hundred and twenty
armed followers at his back, he started for the Palazzo
Vecchio, there to commence his reign of terror.
The last great public spectacle in the piazza was held at
the centenary of Dante's birth, 1864, when the statue ofthe
poet, by the sculptor Pazzi, was unveiled in the presence of
the King of Italy and of the assembled Florentine people.
Deputations from aU parts ofthe Peninsula, carrying banners,
paraded the piazza — the Lion of Venice and the Wolf of
Rome draped in mouming, because then forming no re
cognised part of the ItaUan kingdom, and none could then
anticipate that in less than six years their deliverance would
be accomplished.
The fountain in the piazza derives its waters from a source
near Arcetri, and is carried to Sta. Croce across the Ponte alle
Grazie. Around the piazza are palaces which once belonged
to distinguished famUies — the Barberini, one of whom,
Maflfeo, was elected Pope in 1623, under the name of
Urban VIII. He was the persecutor of his countryman
Galileo, and was guilty of nepotism to as great an extent as
any who ever occupied the pontifical chair. The Seristori
Palace was built after a design by Baccio d'Agnolo, for one
of the Cocchi family. The ground-floor has three arches,
resting on little rustic columns ; the upper storeys are adorned
with columns of the Doric order. The Palazzo Stufa, once
Antellesi, when it belonged to the Antella family, was

12 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
designed by GiuHo Parigi, and is covered with frescos,
which were all executed in one month. Among the artists
employed were Domenico Passignano, Matteo RosseUi, and
Giovanni di San Giovanni. Their work is almost effaced,
which may partly be attributed to the hasty execution.
Traces may be discovered of three children supporting the
shield ofthe Antella family overthe door, which was painted
by Giovanni di San Giovanni ; an amorino with a swan, by
the same artist, has been greatly admired, as well as an old
man in the centre of the lowest tier of paintings, who is
supposed to represent the father of Nicolb da Antella, the
first owner of this palace. Within, are paintings by Pocetti ;
and in the garden behind, a statue by Giovanni Bologna.
A marble disk outside, below the third window, counting
from the Church of Sta. Croce, marked one of the extremities
of the Une which divided the parties engaged in the game
of calcio. In an apartment beneath the roof of this palace,
once in close proximity to the Inquisition which held its
sittings in the Monastery of Sta. Croce, is now a Protestant
school, established on the principles of the British and
Foreign Schools of England, admitting the children of
members of all persuasions.
South of the Church of Sta. Croce, and paraUel with the
river, is the Corso dei Tintori — the quarter of the dyers,
who held horse-races here on the anniversary of Saint
Onophrius, Young lads ambitious of being admitted into
the gmld were made to ride the horses, as a first step towards
initiation. In the Borgo dei Tintori, beside the garden of
the friars of Sta, Croce, at one time lived a painter, II Rosso,
a disciple of Michael Angelo. Vasari relates that II Rosso
possessed an ape, which became a great favourite with one

SAN FIRENZE, ETC. 13
of his apprentices, caUed Battistino, who employed the
animal to steal the friars' grapes, by letting him down by a
rope into the garden, and drawing him' up again with his
paws full of fmit, A friar who missed the grapes set a trap
for rats, but one day catching the ape in the fact, he took up
a stick to thrash him ; a stmggle ensued, in which the ape
had the best of it, and contrived to escape ; the friar, how
ever, summoned II Rosso to appear before the judges, and
his favourite was condemned to have a weight fastened to
his tail. A few days afterwards an opportunity occurred for
revenge : the friar was performing mass in the church, when
the ape was made to climb the roof of his ceU, and, in the
words of Vasari, he " performed so lively a dance with the
weight at his taU, that there was not a tile nor vase left
unbroken, and on the friar's retum a torrent of lamentations
was heard, which lasted three days,"

CHRONOLOGY.
A.n.
Alberti, Leon Battista  1475 — 1520
Amphitheatre, Roman, excavated . . . . 1772
Baccio d' Agnolo  1462 — 1560
Beccheria, Abbot of VaUombrosa, executed . . . 1258
Calcio, Game of, played last  1 739
Cosimo II  1609 — 1620
Council of Florence — Eugenius IV. .... 1436
Gondi, Palazzo, buUt  1501
Grano, Loggia del, buUt  1619
Grazie, Ponte alle, built  , 1235
„ ,, two arches diminished , . , 1346
,, Chapel of the, founded  1372
II Rosso  1496—1541
Mengini, Benedetto  1646 — 1704

14 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Parliament of the people in Sta. Croce .... 1250
Passignano, Domenico  1560 — 1638
Retz, Cardinal de  1614 — 1679
Rosselli, Matteo  1578 — 1650
San Firenze ceded to the Fathers of the Oratory . . 1640
„ rebuilt  1646
,, fa9ade built  1732
San GaUo, Giuliano di  1485 — 1547
San Giovanni, Giovanni.di  1590 — 1638
Urban VIIL, Pope  1623

CHAPTER II.
STA. CROCE,
Architecture.
^17" HEN St. Francis visited Florence in the year 1211,
he found several brethren of his newly established
Order, who had already formed themselves into a community
beyond the Porta San Gallo. Their numbers rapidly in
creased; and when, in 1 288, the family of Altafronte bestowed
on them a tract of marshy land, with a hospital upon it,
near the Amo, they removed thither, and built a small
chapel, which they dedicated to St. Anthony. This chapel,
consisting of one simple cross-vaulting, may still be seen
beneath the choir of the Church of Sta. Croce. That same
year, 1288, Pope Gregory IX., who had canonized his old
friend Francis of Assisi, took this little community of Fran
ciscans under his special protection.
The Church ¦ of Sta. Croce was commenced by the friars
nine years later, on the Day of the Holy Cross — the isth
May, 1297 — when the foundation stone was laid, and
Arnolfo di Lapo was employed to make the design. As
Arnolfo, who had at the same time been commissioned to
undertake Sta. Maria del Fiore, laid the foundation stone of
the Florentine Cathedral the foUowing year, 1298, these two
sacred edifices rose simultaneously.

i6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Unfortunately for the early history of Sta. Croce, the
archives of the monastery were nearly all destroyed by the
floods from the Amo, which took place in 1333* and in
15575 but the scanty records which remain inform us that
in the year of the foundation. Cardinal Matteo d'Acqua-
sparta, general of the Franciscan Order, proclaimed an
indulgence to whoever should contribute money for the pious
work.t We also leam that in 1320 the church, though stUl
unfinished, was opened for pubUc worship; that in 1334
Giotto was chosen master of the works; and that in 1371
a Board of six citizens was appointed by the Signory of
Florence to superintend the buUding both of the Church of
Sta, Croce and of the Cathedral. PoUtical disturbances
caused some delay, and the friars were obliged to resort to
fresh devices to raise a fund for the continuation of their
church : they were assisted by two of the guilds, or arti —
the Mercatanti (merchants), and the CaUmala (dealers in
foreign wool), who undertook to collect the required sum.
The exterior of Sta. Croce has little left of the original
construction. On the northem side is a porch, under which
are some curious early monuments ; the front, however,
continued a wall of rough masonry. In the fifteenth century
one of the Quaratesi family offered to defray the expenses
of a handsome fagade, but appended the condition that the
arms of his family should be introduced among the oma
ments ; to this, however, neither the friars nor the Board

• * This flood is recorded in a Latin inscription on a tablet on the
Ponte Vecchio.
t Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta is mentioned by Dante in his
" Paradiso," as having relaxed some ofthe severities of the Franciscan
Order. — Paradiso, canto xii. v. 124.

STA. CROCE. 17
would consent, and the munificent donator accordingly
withdrew his gift of 100,000 golden florins, and assigned
the money for the construction of another Franciscan
Church, near San Miniato al Monte, which he dedicated to
the Saviour, San Salvador.*
A layer of green and white marble, at the base of the
fagade, is all that remains on Sta. Croce to commemorate
Quaratesi's generous intention. In 1834 Lorenzo BartoUni,
the celebrated Tuscan sculptor, urged upon the Government
the completion of the exterior of this noble church in a
manner worthy of the interior; but want of funds again
prevented the undertaking. Preparations were, however,
made for a future fagade, by the removal of a block of
masonry in front of the church, popularly called the " Massa
di Sta. Croce." This Massa was the remains of a campanile,
commenced after a design by 'Frangesco di Giuliano di San
GaUo, in 1 549, at the north-westem angle of the edifice, and
which was the second attempt, and failure, to erect a belfry
for the church, after the first had been destroyed by a great
storm in 15 12. The Massa di Sta. Croce was left un
touched for nearly two centuries, an ugly projection on the
wall, frequently used as a hiding place for thieves. The
present campanUe, at the eastern extremity of the church,
was buUt in- 1842.
After the removal of the Massa di Sta. Croce, the design
ofthe sculptor Nicola Matas was chosen for the new fagade;

* Tliis church is Imown as Michael Angelo's BeUa VUlaneUa, from
its simpUcity and beautifiil proportions. The design was by Cronaca ;
but as he was only eleven years of age when Quaratesi died — 1466 —
San Salvador was not built imtil many years after the death of the
founder. VOL. II. C

i8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the expense was reckoned at 25,000 scudi {£sfi'^'^> ^ ^^"^
impossible to have been raised, had not an EngUsh gentleman
who had long resided in Florence, the late Commendatore
Sloane,* offered to advance as a loan 3,000 scudi (;£7oo),
and thus enabled the Government to begin the work. On
the 2 ist August, 1857, the foundation stone was laid with
great solemnity by Pope Pius IX., in the presence of the
Grand-Duke Leopold II. and his family, and of an immense
concourse of spectators. That same day the Commendatore
Sloane converted his loan into a gift, and subsequently
added to the sum, until, on the completion of the fagade,
his contribution alone became upwards of twelve thousand
poimds sterling.
Matas raised upon Quaratesi's base of green and white
marble, a facing in the same style ofthe old Florentine sghero-
nata, which when mellowed by time will have a more agree
able eflfect than it has now. Over the three doors Matas has
introduced pointed arches and canopies, crowning the whole
with pinnacles of white marble. The statues and bas-reliefs
were added by Giovanni Duprd of Sienna, Aristodemo CostoU,
Frangesco Giovanozzi, Luigi Fabbmcci, and Pietro Giusti.
The reUef above the central door is by Giovanni Duprd; it
represents the Exaltation of the Cross, whilst above it, by
the same artist, is a most beautiful statue of the Madonna.
The rose window is left free, and the monogram of our
Saviour in yeUow on a blue ground is placed above the
Madonna, Two angels in bronze support the cross at the
apex of the central pinnacle. The gates are also in bronze;

* The Commendatore Fran9esco Sloane, an active and generous
benefactor of Florence, died at his viUa of Careggi, October, 1871.

STA. CROCE. 19
the subject of the central gate is the Via Cmcis, divided in
twelve compartments from designs by Emilio SantareUi.
The fagade was uncovered in the presence of Pope
Pius IX. in May, 1863.
The interior of Sta. Croce is a good example of the style
of Arnolfo di Lapo, more remarkable for ingenuity of con
straction than architectural invention.* He was required to
build a church large enough to contain the vast numbers
who sought the confessionals ofthe Franciscan friars. Cold
and severely simple in his decorations, Arnolfo has, however,
succeeded in leaving an impression of solemn grandeur, by
vast space and long lines of perspective. The form is
that of the old Roman basiUca; the long nave and two short
transepts make the Latin Cross. The eastem extremity is
divided into nine chapels, the apse being' only an enlarge
ment of the central chapel.
The length of the nave is divided by seven pointed arches
resting on octagonal columns ; the clerestory above is sup
ported by brackets, between which are windows of coloured
glass. The ceiling of the nave and aisles is composed of
beams, which were originally coloured in soft harmonious
Saracenic tints, now in the process of restoration. The
height of the columns and the wide span of the arches
made it unsafe to impose any great superincumbent weight ;
Arnolfo therefore constructed gable roofs, with stone gutters
to prevent water settling and causing decay. The pavement
is brick, with many marble sepulchral slabs.
The architectural proportions of Sta, Croce have been
injured by the removal of a step, which, like that of Sta.
• See " Cicerone von Jacob Burkhardt," i860, p. 143.

20 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Maria NoveUa, raised the pavement of one-third of the
nave towards the eastem extremity. This part was further
divided from the body of the church by a screen, such as is
found in most English cathedrals, with gates — regge — which
term was exclusively applied to the doors shutting out
the congregation from the Holy of Holies, where the priests
performed the sacred ceremonies. Dante calls the gates of
Purgatory, regge.* The choir belonged to the wealthy 'family
of the Alberti, whilst the chapels within the transepts and
round the choir were the property of other distinguished
Florentines, who caused them to be decorated with frescos,
and placed iron gratings before those containing marble
monuments. These frescos were painted by Giotto, Giottino,
Memmi, Lippi, Taddeo Gaddi, &c. &c. In 1512, the storm
which destroyed the first campanile and broke the roof of
the church, likewise damaged the choir, which was still
further injured by a flood in 1557. The friars, seconded
by the Board of Works, petitioned the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I. to be permitted to remove the screen, and carry
the choir into the apse. Their request was granted, in spite
of the remonstrances of the Alberti, who were thus deprived
of all their rights within the church, except that of interment
in the space once occupied by the choir. The chapels
which had been attached to the choir were destroyed, and
thus some valuable works of art were lost ; an Enthrone
ment of the Virgin, by UgoUno of Sienna, after lying
neglected for centuries in the dormitory of the monastery,
was sold for a mere trifle, and found its way in fragments to
the Ottley CoUection in England.!
* "Purgatorio," canto ix., v. 134.
t See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 53.

STA. CROCE. 21
¦Wlien the choir was removed, the frescos on the lateral
walls ofthe church were ruthlessly sacrificed to make room
for chapels, constmcted by Giorgio Vasari along the whole
length of the nave, which were bestowed on famUies
who had been deprived of their chapels around the former
screen. All tliat remains of these paintings are the figures
of St. John the Baptist and St. Francis, by Andrea del
Castagno, near the Cavalcante Chapel. The Baptist is
drawn with Castagno's usual dry hard outline, and has all
the appearance of starvation given with characteristic
realism. It was probably painted soon after the artist's
return from Rome.
For many years banners were suspended over -the illus
trious dead, but, by order of the Signory, they were after
wards carried into the clerestory gallery, where they hung
until very recently, when they were finally removed from the
church. One of the most beautiful objects in Sta. Croce is the
pulpit of white Seravezza marble, which a wealthy Florentine
merchant, named Pietro MeUini, commissioned Benedetto
da Majano to execute about the year 1493.* Benedetto is
much commended by Vasari for the skUl he displayed in
attaching this pulpit to one of the columns of the nave, in
which he inserted a spiral staircase. The reliefs, surrounded
by an elegant framework of marble, are especially beautiful.
The scenes represented in five compartments are taken
from the life of St. Francis : — Pope Honorius III. confirms
the rules of the Franciscan Order; St. Francis passes un
scathed through a fire, in the presence of the Sultan ; he
* Near the litde corridor of the Uffizi GaUeiy is a fine bust of Pietro
MeUini by Benedetto da Majano.

22 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
receives the Stigmata at La Vernia, in the Casentino ; his
dead body is exposed in the Church of Assisi — onS of the
finest of the series; and, lastly, the martyrdom of his
foUowers in Mauritania, Small figures, seated in niches of
red marble, represent Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, and
Justice. Over the western door is a bronze statue of St. Louis of
Toulouse, which was formerly outside the church. This
saint was the son of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples,
and of Maria, a Hungarian princess, and nephew of King
Louis IX. of France. When only fourteen years of age he
with his two brothers were delivered as hostages to the
King of Aragon, and he spent several years in captivity.
The cmel treatment he received in Spain appears to have
quenched aU that might have existed of worldly ambition
in his gentle nature, and on regaining his liberty Louis re
nounced the throne of Naples in favour of his brother
Robert, and assumed the Franciscan habit. Two years
later he was made Bishop of Toulouse by Boniface VIIL,
and died at the age of twenty-tour. . He was canonized by
Pope John XXII. in 1317."' This statue is the last executed
by Donatello, who did not value his own work greatly, and
it is certainly one of his most inferior productions. He has
represented St. Louis in the same attitude as he is painted
by Taddeo Gaddi on one of the pilasters of the Capella
Rinuccini, in the sacristy of this church. When Donatello
was reproached for having made so indifi'erent a statue, he
replied it was good enough for a man who had been so dull
as to exchange a kingdom for a monastery.t
* See life of this saint in Mrs. Jameson's " Monastic Orders."
t See Vasari, " Vite dei Pittori— DonateUo."

STA. CROCE. 23
The rose window above has a Deposition in coloured
glass, after a design by Lorenzo Ghiberti, and over this is a
stone tablet containing the monogram of our Saviour, by
San Bernardino, which was formerly outside the church.
San Bernardino was bom in 1380 of a noble Siennese family,
and assumed the Franciscan habit at twenty-five years of
age ; it is related of him, that when preaching to the people
he held a tablet before him on which the monogram of
Christ was inscribed within a circle of golden rays. A man
who eamed his livelihood by the manufacture of cards and
dice was reduced to sore distress by the reformation of
manners produced under the influence of San Bemardino,
who accordingly suggested, as a compensation, that he
should manufacture tablets similar to that he had invented,
and seU them to the people. The man took his advice and
prospered. The original tablet was, by permission of the
Signory, placed on the fagade of Sta. Croce, with great-
ceremony, by San Bernardino, in 1437. Around it he
caused to be inscribed in Lombard characters the following
words: — "In nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur caelestum,
terrestrium et inferomm."

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Amo overflowed  . 1333
„ ,, again  1557
Benedetto da Majano  1442— 1497
Bemardino, St., bora  13^8
Church of Sta. Croce commenced  1297
„ „ opened for public worship . . 13^°

24 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D,
Church of Sta. Croce, choir destroyed .... 1557
„ ,, facade finished .... 1863
,, ,, Giotto, Master of the Works . 13 71
Francis, St., came to Florence  I2n
Ghiberti, Lorenzo  1378 — 1455
John XXIL, Pope  1316— 1334
Louis, St., of France, died ...... 1297

CHAPTER III.
STA. CROCE.
Monuments.
CTA. CROCE has always been a favourite place of inter-
ment, but for many past years it has been reserved for
the illustrious dead — ^the Westminster Abbey of Florence.
The gates at the western extremity are surrounded by monu
mental slabs, most of which bear the names of remarkable
men, belonging to the present and the last century. Two
are dedicated to the Targioni Tozzetti, father and son, the
elder of whom published his " Travels in Tuscany," " Viaggi
in Toscana," with an account of the physical condition and
natural history of his native province : the younger is well
known as an eminent botanist and horticulturist. To the
left of the entrance is a portrait in relief of the numisma-
tician, Domenico Sestini, born in Florence in 1730, who
travelled in the East, and made a collection of coins. He
was afterwards appointed Royal Librarian by Princess Elisa
Buonaparte, Queen of Etruria ; and on the restoration of the
Grand-Duke Ferdinand IIL, he was confirmed in this office.
He died in 1835.
A smaU slab, higher on the wall, has the eflfigy of Daniel
Manin, the Venetian patriot. By birth a Venetian Jew,

26 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
whose family had become Christian, he received at baptism
the name of their patrons, the Manins. Young Daniel
early imbibed a hatred for Napoleon, to whose ambition
Venice had been sacrificed at the Peace of Campoformio,
when the last Doge, Manin, had been forced to abdicate.
As he had been educated for the bar, he was well able to
appreciate the evasions of the spirit, as well as of the letter
of the law, and the unjust practices of the Austrian ralers,
so intolerable to the educated classes of Italy. In 1847
he was arrested for having protested against the illegal
acts of the Govemment. He was liberated by the people
during the Revolution of February, 1848, and borne in
triumph round the Piazza di San Marco. He then learnt
that a constitutional govemment had been proclaimed at
Vienna, and that he himself was chosen to lead the revolu
tionary movement in Venice. After the expulsion of the
Austrians, he was elected President of the RepubUc, His
courage, honesty, and zeal, united with moderation, as well
as his great talents, enabled him to retain his influence over
his fellow-citizens during the long siege. When Venice fell,
Manin retired to Paris, where he died at the age of fifty-
three, ten years before the liberation of his country from a
foreign yoke had been accompUshed. His remains were
carried to Venice in 1870,
The first chapel to the right of the entrance belongs to
the Buonarotti family. Here repose the remains of Michael
Angelo, who died in Rome in 1564, in the ninetieth year of
his age. Pope Pius IV. endeavoured to retain his body,
but the Florentines had it secretly conveyed to his native
city. The night after its arrival, it was bome to Sta. Croce
by the members of the Florentine Academy, and his cata-

STA. CROCE. 27
falque was displayed for several days to crowds of visitors.
A funeral service in his honour was performed at San
Lorenzo. The monument to Michael Angelo is from a
design by Giorgio Vasari, and his bust was considered an
excellent likeness. AUegorical figures of architecture, sculp
ture, and painting are represented, lamenting the loss of the
great artist.
On the column facing this monument, above the vase for
holy water, is an oval, or mandorla, within which is a marble
reUef of the Madonna and Child surrounded by cherabim,
by Antonio Rosselino, erected to the Nori family. Beneath
this spot lie the remains of Frangesco Nori, Prior of the
Republic, who fell in the Pazzi conspiracy, 1478, a victim
to his attachment to the Medici, as he threw himself between
Lorenzo and the assassin, and received the blow intended
for Lorenzo. Leo X. granted an Indulgence to all who
should pray for the soul of Frangesco Nori.
The huge pile of marble erected to the memory of Dante
Alighieri in 1829, was the work of Stefano Ricci, a tardy act
of acknowledgment by Florence of her greatest poet, who
died 1321.
The monument to Vittorio Alfieri was placed here by his
widow, the Duchess of Albany. It is a good example of
Canova's treatment of monumental sculpture. A graceful
figure of a matron leaning on the tomb in a sorrowful atti
tude, is intended to represent the genius of Florence. Alfieri
was born at Asti, in Piedmont, in 1749, of a noble family.
He spent his early life in dissipation and in rapid journeys,
visiting nearly all the countries of Europe : it was only
after he had passed his twenty-fifth year that he attempted
to write poetry, applying himself diligently to the study of

28 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Italian and Latin ; and in the course of fourteen years he
produced as many tragedies. After his forty-eighth year he
began Greek. He died in Florence, at the age of fifty-four,
in 1803. A sincere patriot, and in his youth an ardent
liberal, his aristocratic prejudices received too severe a shock
by the violent democratic outbreak of the French Revolu
tion, not to recoil in an opposite direction. His poetry con
stitutes an era in Italian literature, because he was one of
the first to give expression to modern patriotic sentiments ;
but this evaporated in mere abstract denunciations of
tyranny, and in aspirations after liberty, such as he supposed
existed in ancient Greece and Rome."" Ugo Foscolo, in his
poem, "I Sepolcri," supposes Alfieri meditating in this
church : — - " E a questi marmi
Venne spesso Vittorio ad ispirarsi.
Irato a' patrii numi, errava muto
Ove Amo 6 piii deserto, i campi e il cielo
Desioso mirando ; e poi che nuUo
Vivente aspetto gli molcea la cura
Qui posava 1' austero, e avea sul volto
II paUor deUa morte e la speranza.
Con questi grandi abita Etemo, e 1' ossa
Fremono amor di patria." t
Near the tomb of Alfieri, and in front of the monument
to Dante, the bones of the patriot and poet, Ugo Foscolo,
* See " I Poeti ItaUani Modemi," with English Notes and Biogra
phical Notices, by Louisa A, Merivale, pp. 1—3.
t " And to these marbles
Vittorio often came to be inspired ;
Irate with all his country's gods, he wandered mute
Where most deserted is the Arno,
With longing eyes beholding land and sky ; and

STA. CROCE. 29
brought from Chelsea in 1871, are laid temporarily, until
some fitting monument shall be erected in his honour.
Foscolo was an Ionian, of Venetian parentage. When a
professor at Pavia, in 1808, he offended the Austrian
govemment by his liberal and patriotic sentiments, and had
to leave Italy for England, where he occupied himself in
the study of Dante until his death in 1827.
Between the fourth and fifth chapels is the tomb of
MacchiavelU. The great Florentine historian's last resting-
place was without a monument until 1707, when Lord
Cowper raised a subscription for this medallion. Nicolb
Macchiavelli was bom in Florence in 1467. He was
appointed Secretary of the RepubUc, and was sent on
embassies to the Courts of France, Germany, and Rome,
and to Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VL, of
whom Macchiavelli gives a lively description in his corre
spondence with the Florentine Signory. His most important
works are his " Istorie Florentine,'' " Discorsi sopra Tito
Livio," and the "Principe." In his satire on the ambition of
princes, contained in this last work, Macchiavelli maintained
that a man who craves for power must not be troubled with
conscientious and humane scruples, but must consent to be
shamelessly selfish. Ugo Foscolo, in the " Sepolcri," alludes
to Macchiavelli in these words : —
" Quando U monumento
Vidi ove posa il corpo di quel Grande
When no living sight cDuld soothe his care,
Here the austere man rested, and on his face was seen
The palour of death and hope.
With these great spirits he dwelt in the Etemai,
For with the love of country chafed their bones."

30 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Che, temprando Io scettro a' regnatori,'
Gli aUor ne sfronda, ed aUe gente svela
Di che lagrime grondi e di che sangue," &c.
Beyond the fifth chapel is a portrait of the celebrated
writer on Italian art, the Abate Luigi Lanzi, placed here by
pubUc subscription. Lanzi was bom near Macerata in 1732,
and belonged to the Order of Jesuits. He was appointed
Conservator of Arts in Florence, and founded the collection
of Etmscan antiquities. He died in 181 o. The sixth
chapel belongs to the old Florentine family of the Caval
cante. The monument is that of Benedetto Cavalcante, a
friar of Sta. Croce ; and the fresco, by Andrea del Castagno,
is the last remnant of the paintings on the lateral waUs of the
church. Beside it is a group, in macigno — freestone — of the
Annunciation, by Donatello, executed in 141 1. Over it
are four angels, carved in wood, holding back a curtain.
Vasari bestows great commendation on this monument, and
informs us that it was the first of Donatello's works which
attracted public notice, and was the commencement of his
fame. He especially mentions the figure of the Virgin,
who, startled by the sudden apparition, bends timidly for
ward, her countenance bespeaking gratitude and humi
lity : he also alludes to the draperies, and the lines of
form in which Donatello endeavoured to emulate the an
tique. Over the lateral door, next this group, is a lunette, con-
* " When I beheld
Where rests the body of that great man
Who, bumbling the pride of rulers.
Strips of their leaves their laurels, and reveals
The tears and blood which drop from them," &c.

STA. CROCE. 31
taining a fresco representing St. Francis and St. Dominick
embracing. Above, is the organ.
Just beyond is a handsome monument in memory of
Leonardo Bruni, surnamed Aretino from his birthplace in
Arezzo. He was an exponent of the Aristotelian phUosophy,
as well as eminent jurist of the fifteenth century. After
having fiUed the ofl&ce of Apostolic Secretary to four Popes
in succession, he became Chancellor of the Florentine
Republic, and at his death, in 1444, his funeral expenses
were defirayed by the Commonwealth; his monument by
Bernardo GambarelU, or II RosselUno, is one of the finest
in Sta. Croce. Leonardo is represented in a recumbent
posture ; angels hold a scroU. The eagle and the canopy
are very beautifully composed. A lunette above contains a
relief of the Virgin and Child, by Andrea Verocchio.*
Next the monument of Leonardo Aretino, is the bust of
the eminent botanist, Pietro Antonio Micheli, who was born
in Florence in 1679. He travelled throughout Italy for
scientific objects, and published several works, the most
important of which relates to " Cryptogamic Plants and
Fungi." He died in 1737.
The last monument on this side of the Church is that of
the natural philosopher, Leopoldo NobiU, bom in 1784, and
died in 1833. Nobili served as a soldier in Napoleon's
Russian campaign, where he was taken prisoner by the
Cossacks after the burning of Moscow. On his release and
return to Italy, he devoted himself to scientific pursuits.
He directed his principal attention to the study of magnetism,

* See engraving of this monument in Cicognara's " Storia deUa
Scultura," tom, ii. tav. xxv.

32 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
and he threw fresh light on the discoveries of Volta, Oersted,
and Ampfere. , NobUi was banished for political reasons in
1831, and found a refuge in France, from whence he returned
to Florence in 1832.
The large monument in the south transept, lately erected
to the memory of Don Neri Corsini, Marchese Laiatico, is
by Fantacchiotti. The Marchese Laiatico took an active
and honourable part during the political difficulties of 1848.
Though an ardent liberal, he was personally attached to the
late grand-duke, and desired to retam him on the throne
of Tuscany; but Leopold II, relied more on Austrian
soldiers than on the wise counsels of his best Italian friends.
Don Neri Corsini was at one time Governor of Leghom, where
he made himself universally beloved ; but when sent on a
mission to the Court of St. James's, he was seized with smaU
pox, and died prematurely in 1859. A female, representing
Florence, is pointing to a tablet on which Fame as a winged
genius is inscribing the good deeds of the deceased.
On a bronze plate in the wall, near this monument, is an
inscription by Bocaccio in memory of Frangesco Barberini,
an eminent jurist and poet, who died in the year 1300. He
is chiefly known as the author of " A Discourse on Love."
In front of the last central columns of the nave, are
modern monuments to two ofi the Alberti family, who had
their burial vaults beneath this part of the church, the site •
of.the ancient choir. That on the southem side, by the
sculptor Santarelli, is to the senator Giovanni Vincenzio
Alberti, who left a son, Leon Battista, the last oi the family,
by whom the Alberti became extinct, in 1836. The
monument opposite, by BartoUni, is to commemorate the
most distinguished man in the family, another Leon Battista,

STA. CROCE. 33
called the modern Vitruvius, who was born in 1398 ; he was
eminent as a mathematician, natural philosopher, elegant
writer, and orator. He pubUshed works on mechanics,
painting, perspective, architecture, hydraulics, &c.
In the northern transept is a monument, by Fantacchiotti,
to the celebrated musical composer Cherubini, born in
Florence, 1760, where a mass composed by him at the age
of thirteen was first performed. He spent most of his life
in Paris, where he was appointed head of the Conservatoire
de Musique, and where he died in 1842. He composed
forty-two operas, and twenty-nine pieces of church music. In
a recess is the monument to the Polish Countess Zamoyska,
of the family Czartoryska, by the celebrated modern Tuscan
sculptor BartoUni — one of his best works. She is seated
almost upright on her bed, painfully emaciated, and with all
the appearance of approaching death. The execution is
admirable, but the representation of disease and dissolution
is as unpleasing as it is inappropriate in a record of the life
and immortality of the soul.
Retuming to the nave, the first monument in the north
aisle was erected to the celebrated engraver Raffaelle
Morghen, by his pupils and friends, in 1854. Morghen was
a Neapolitan, bom in 1761, and he leamed his art from his
father, when engaged in taking engravings of the paintings
discovered in Herculaneum. He studied under Volpato
at Rome, and was afterwards appointed Professor of En
graving at Florence, by the Grand-Duke Ferdinand III.
He died in 1833.
Near the monument to Morghen is that to Antonio
Cocchi, who was remarkable as a physician, philologist, and
antiquarian. He was also a Neapolitan, born in 1695, but
VOL. IL D

34 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
educated at Pisa. He visited England, and became
acquainted with Newton, Clarke, and other remarkable
men. He died in Florence in 1758,
The monument to Vincenzio Filicaia foUows. FiUcaia
was one of the best ItaUan lyric poets, and was born in
Florence in 1642, He is best known to the EngUsh reader
by his celebrated sonnet to his country : — ¦
" ItaUa, Italia ! o tu, cui feo la Sorte
Dono infelice di bellezza onde ai
Funesta dote d' infiniti guai,
Che in fronte scritti per gran doglia porta ;
" Deh ! fossi tu men beUa, o almen pii forte,
Onde assai piii ti paventasse, o assai
T' amasse men chi del tuo bello ai rai
Par che si strugga, e pur ti sfida a morta !
" Che or gii daU' Alpi non vedrei torrenti
Scender d' armati, n6 di sangue tinta
Bever 1' onda del Po gaUici armenti ;
" Ne te vedrei del non tuo ferro cinta
Pugnar col braccio di straniere genti
Per servir sempre, o vincitrice o vinta," *
* " Italy, Italy ! thou on whom Fate
The hapless gift of beauty has bestowed
A fatal dowi7 of unceasing woes !
Thou bearest suffering written on thy brow. -
" Ah ! hadst thou been less lovely or more strong.
Or had they feared thee more or loved thee less
Who, basking in thy beauty's rays, seera
To dissolve, yet to a mortal combat chaUenge thee,
" Thou wouldst not then see pouring from the Alps
ToiTents of armed men, nor GaUic hordes
Drink of the blood-stained waters of the Po ;
" Nor wouldst thou see thy sons girt with a sword
And use their arm to help a stranger's cause —
Conquering or conquered — ever stiU to serve."

STA. CROCE.

35

The next monument is to Carlo Marzuppini, also
known as Carlo Aretino from his birth-place. On the
pavement below is the monumental slab to Carlo's father,
who was secretary to Charles VI. of France. Marzuppini
was born in 1399, and was educated by leamed Greeks.
He was appointed secretary to Pope Eugenius IV., and
afi:erwards Secretary to the Florentine Republic ; he died
in 145 s, when he was honoured by a public funeral.
This monumept is the best example of the delicate
and captivating style of work of Desiderio da Settig-
nano, and is considered one of the three finest tombs
of Tuscany, Marzuppini is represented lying on a sarco
phagus with a book upon his breast. Genii at either end,
hold shields, and it is adomed with sphynxes, festoons, and
various ornamental devices. The recess is crowned by a
vase with a flame, and two graceful angels support gar
lands which hang down the sides of the arch. The lunette
contains a representation of the Madonna and Child
adored by Angels, in high relief. Although the whole
surface is covered with elaborate ornament, yet, owing to
the exquisite deUcacy of the sculpture, the effect is extremely
rich, without being overloaded.*
Count Vittorio Fossombroni, whose monument adjoins
that to Marzuppini, was minister to the Grand-Dukes Pietro
Leopoldo and Ferdinand III., and was distinguished for his
efforts to improve the agriculture of Tuscany by drainage
and irrigation. He died, at the age of ninety, in 1844.
The antiquarian and historian Giovanni Lami's monu
ment follows. He was bom in 1697, near Florence, and
* See " Tuscan Sculptors," Perkins.

36 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
became Professor of Ecclesiastical History ; he was a man
of vast leaming, conversant with Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
German, Spanish, and French, and he published several
works against the Jesuits.
The last monument deserving notice is that of Galileo
Galilei: born in 1564, immediately after the death of
Michael Angelo, he died in 1642. He studied medicine
when a boy, at Pisa, where the oscillations of a lamp
in the cathedral awoke those reflections which led to his dis
covery of the pendulum ; and at twenty-four years of age he
was already far advanced in physical science, of which he
became professor at Pisa in 1589. In 1592 he removed to
Padua, where he held the chair of physics for many years,
and invented the thermometer and telescope, for which the
Venetian Republic granted him public honours. In 161 2
he invented the microscope. But he had aroused the fears
;0f the Jesuits and Roman inquisitors, and therefore w^s
summoned to appear before their tribunal, who obliged him
to abjure his so-called errors contained in his " Dialogo sui
Due Grandi Sistemi del Mondo," and to take an oath never
again to speak nor write on the movement of the earth.
As he rose from his knees, he whispered to those near him,
" E pur si muove," — " nevertheless it moves." He was con
demned to the prisons of the Inquisition, but his sentence
^ was commuted by the Pope to a residence within the
gardens of the SS. Trinitk di Monte ; he was at length
aUowed to retum to Tuscany, and took up his abode in
the neighbourhood of Florence. His latter days were
saddened by domestic afflictions, and by the loss of sight.
He died in 1642, at Arcetri, where our poet Milton visited
him. It was many years' later that his body was removed to

STA. CROCE. 37
Sta. Croce. The forefinger and thumb were then cut off by
a certain Giovanni Vincenzio, Marchese Capponi, who ex
pressed a desire to possess the instruments with which Galileo
had written his great works ; on which Giovanni Targioni
Tozzetti observed, touching the forehead of the corpse, " he
would rather possess that contained within the head."
Another finger was removed by the antiquarian Gori, which
is now preserved in the Tribune, dedicated to Galileo, in the
Museum of Natural History.
The pavement of Sta. Croce has many monumental slabs.
The first disciples of St. Francis were buried near the
centre, and their bronze eflfigies may still be traced, though
worn by time and the footsteps of successive generations.
One, richly ornamented with decorations by Ghiberti, was
placed here in honour of Frangesco Sansom, of a Siennese
family, though he himself was from Brescia; he was
General of the Order of Minor Friars, and much esteemed
by Pope Sixtus IV., to whom he offered fifty thousand of
the brethren to fight in a crusade to the Holy Land, In
the centre of the nave the English traveller may be interested
to find the burial-place of John Ketterick, Bishop of Exeter,
who died in Florence- in 141 9, when on a mission from-
Henry V. of England to Pope Martin V., then on his retum
to Rome from the CouncU of Constance. One ofthe'
oldest monumental slabs is in remembrance of Biordi degli
Ubertini, 1358, a valiant defender of the Florentine
Republic against the attacks of Fra Moreali, Count of
Lando, and his Free Companies ; another bears the name of
Giovanni d' Aste, a follower' of Sir John Hawkwood, who-
fought against Gian Galeazzo Visconti, 1392.
Giovan Frangesco Megalotti, one of the Otto della.

38 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
BaUa, or Goverament of Florence, who died in 1377, has
" Libertas " inscribed on his slab : he distinguished himself
by his gallant defence of his native city against the Papal
troops. Another slab is to Lodovico degli Obizzi, who
died fighting against Milan, 1424.
Lorenzo Ghiberti is also said to have been laid in Sta.
Croce, though the exact spot is unknown.. The historians
Villani are likewise buried here. Beyond the lateral door of
the northem aisle, beneath the outer porch, are two old
monuments — one to Frangesco Pazzi, attributed to Nino,
son of Andrea Pisano ; the other to Alamanni dei Car-
raccioli, who died 1337. In the cloister beyond the southern
aisle is a monument which was brought here from the
interior ofthe church, when the central choir was destroyed.
It was erected to Gastone della Torre da Milano, Bishop of
Aquileia, and is a fine monument in the old Tuscan style,
attributed to Agostino da Sienna. Gastone was the son of
Corrado della Torre, Lord of Milan, and in 1308 he was
created archbishop of that city by Pope Clement V. His
family was unfortunate; he himself suffered imprison
ment, and was then sent into exile. In 13 16 he was ap
pointed Patriarch of Aquileia by John XXIL, and came to
Florence, where he died the foUowing year from a fall from
liis horse. His monument was. erected by the Torreani and
Bareucci families, with whom he resided, and who had their
arms sculptured upon it in commemoration of their good
deeds. The reUefs represent the Resurrection of our Lord,
and his Appearance to the Disciples at Emmaus. The eagle
.above denotes the archbishop's Guelphic sympathies.

STA. CROCE. 39
CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Alberti, Leon Battista  d. 1472
„ „ last of the family .... d. 1836
Alfieri, Vittorio  d. 1803
Alighieri, Dante  d. 1321
Andrea Castagno  d. 1457
Barberini, Fran9esco  d. 1300
Buonarotti, Michael Angelo  d. 1564
Bruni, Leonardo  d. 1444
Cherubini  d. 1842
Cocchi, Antonio  d. 1758
Corsini, Don Neri  d. 1859
FUicaia, Vincenzio  d, 1701
Fossombroni, Vittorio  d. 1844
Foscolo, Ugo  d. 1827
Galilei, Galileo  d. 1642
Lami, Giovanni  d. 1770
Lanzi, Luigi  d. iBlo
MacchiaveUi, Nicol6  d. 1467
Manin, Daniel  d. 1851
Marzuppini, Carlo  d. 1435
Micheli, Pietro Antonio  d. 1787
Nori, Fran9esco, murdered in the Pazzi conspiracy . . 1478
NobUi Leopoldo  d. 1833
RosselUno, II, GambareUi  1427— 1478 .'
Sestini, Domenico  d. 1135
Targioni Tozzetti  d. 1783

CHAPTER IV.
STA. CROCE {Continuation).
The Pazzi Chapel. — Inquisition.
C TA. CROCE has been frequently the scene of political
meetings, as weU as used for the deUvery of orations
on morals and philosophy ; and not seldom severe denun
ciations were thundered from its pulpit against the rivals of
the Franciscans — the Dominicans of San Marco and Sta.
Maria Novella.
Outside the church, to the south, are arcades, within
which are old frescos representing scenes from the life of
St. Francis, by scholars of Taddeo Gaddi, of no great
merit, but interesting from the representation of the Cathe
dral of Florence and other buildings as they appeared in
early days. A flight of steps leads down to the cloister,
which was built by Arnolfo di Lapo, and was for many years
divided in two, but which has been recently restored to its
primitive condition. Beneath the arcade are monumental
slabs, most of which are modern.
In the midst of the court is a large and ponderous statue,
intended to represent the Etemai, by Baccio BandineUi. It
once stood in the choir of the cathedral, fonning part of a
group, the remainder of which was the reclining statue of

57".^. CROCE. 41
the Saviout, now in the Baroncelll Chapel of Sta. Croce.
The ground enclosed by this cloister is paved with the
gravestones of the monks. The beautiful portico on the
eastern side, supported by Corinthian columns and pilasters,
leads to the Pazzi Chapel, built after a design by Filippo
Brunelleschi, and one of his most beautiful compositions.
The work was executed at the expense of Messer Andrea
de' Pazzi, a distinguished knight of the court of R^nd, King
of Naples, early in the fifteenth century, and he dedicated
the chapel to his patron-saint, St, Andrew. Both the
portico and chapel are adorned with coloured Robbia work,
in which the arms of the Pazzi family — two dolphins and
four daggers — are conspicuous. These arms, surrounded
by a garland of fruit, form the central ornament of the
cupola of the portico. Over the entrance-door, which is
in beautiful proportions, is a medallion in blue and white
Robbia ware, representing our Lord bearing his Cross, and
beneath it the Etemai, with Adoring Angels. The Pazzi
arms are borne upwards by angels. The door-posts and
window-frames are decorated with garlands of oak-leaves,
carefully executed. A favourite device of Brunelleschi's, the
scallop, or pilgrim shell, is probably placed here in allusion
to the crasading exploits of the founder of the family, who
planted the first Christian standard on the waUs of Jeru
salem. The interior of the chapel^ from its grand and
symmetrical proportions, is as strikingly beautiful as the
portico, though it is to be regretted that an unpleasant
efi'ect is produced by the contrast of the dark hue of the
stone, of which the pilasters and arches are constructed,
with the whitewash on the walls and vaulting of the roof.
The cupola over the altar is peculiar in form, divided

42 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
into two compartments ; the circular windows are filled in
with white and yellow glass. The Twelve Apostles in
medallions of white and blue Robbia ware, the Four
Evangelists in the later style of greater variety of colour,
and the Pazzi arms, decorate the upper portion of the walls
of the chapel ; a narrow frieze, composed of lambs and
cherubim, also in coloured Robbia ware, is carried round
the building.
With the consent of the Pazzi this beautiful chapel was
used by the monks as a chaiJter-house, and, in 1566, above
four thousand friars were assembled here to listen to the
new regulations for the Inquisition in Tuscany, issued by
Pope Pius v., vesting all the power in the hands of one
head Inquisitor, who was to be a Franciscan; the depu
tation from Rome was aboUshed, but every process was to
be referred to the Roman consistory.
The larger refectory of the convent is entered from this
cloister. At the farther end is a fresco covering the entire
wall, attributed to Giotto, but supposed by CavalcaseUe to
be by his scholar, Taddeo Gaddi. " Beneath a vast Cruci
fixion and Tree of Jesse, and four sides from the life of St.
Francis and St. Louis, by some unknown Giottesque, a
Last Supper is depicted. In this fresco the Saviour sits
behind a long table in the midst of his disciples, and St.
John falls fainting on his bosom, Judas alone is seated in
front of the table, and places his hand in the dish. St.
Peter, from his place at the side of St. John, looks sternly
at the traitor, whilst the Apostles generally are distinguished
by animated movement. Amongst the episodes depicted
at the sides of the Crucifixion are St. Francis receiving the
Stigmata, and the Noli me tangere. The wall, so adorned,

STA. CROCE. 43
has a fine and imposing aspect, though much of the back
ground is damaged or repainted. The grandeur of the
composition in the Last Supper is, however, marred by the
somewhat weighty character of the figures and the large
size of the heads. The eyes are drawn in close horizontal
lines, and without comers, as was usual with Taddeo
Gaddi ; the foreheads are low, the necks broad, the heads
short and coarse. Abruptness in the passage from Ught to
shade, abuse of red in the shadows, a bold neglectful ease
of hand in the drawing and colouring of the parts, draperies
more arranged than natural, gay tones of vestment, are all
peculiarities of Taddeo. The Crucifixion, on the other
hand, is composed of figures remarkable for exaggeration
of length, and without the just proportions which Giotto
always succeeded in maintaining. Some of those in the
foreground are indeed very feeble. This subject, with its
attendant figures in the Tree of Jesse and side frescos, is
executed, however, with a certain ease of hand, and betrays
an artist of the middle of the fourteenth century, confident
in somewhat slender powers, and sacrificing the great prin
ciples of art to boldness and rapidity of execution."*
The central subject is the Tree of Life, whose branches
as scrolls spread on all sides, and are inscribed with rhymes
declaring the attributes of the Saviour. Twelve prophets
are at the ends of these scrolls. The Holy Spirit descends
on Christ, and the pelican feeds her young on the top of
the tree. St. Francis embraces it at the foot ; St. Louis is
seated beside it writing ; the fainting Virgin is supported by
St. John. To the right and left of this centre-piece the
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 354.

44 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Saviour appears to St, Romanus; St. Benedict is at the
mouth of his cave drawing up his food, and the DevU is
flinging a stone at the bell by which the saint announced
his hunger; Mary Magdalene is anointing the Saviour's
feet ; and below all is the Last Supper.*
The smaller refectory of the convent contains a fresco
by Giovanni di San Giovanni, sumamed Manozzi, a painter
of moderate attainments, but whose frescos possess more
merit than his easel pictures. He was born in 1590, and
was a pupil of Matteo Rosselli. The subject of this fresco
is a miracle supposed to have been performed by St.
Francis, in imitation of our Saviour, multiplying loaves of
bread during a chapter of the Order.
A severe fire in 1423 destroyed the Dormitory of the
Convent and a great portion of the building, which has also
suffered at various times by floods from the Arno. The
Infirmary and the Foresteria, or reception room for pUgrims
or other strangers, extended in the direction of the Corso
dei Tintori, where there were also extensive gardens. The
Friars had once a fine library, commenced in 1426 from
the bequest of a butcher, Michele di Guerdicio. It was
united to the Laurentian Library by a decree of Pietro
Leopoldo in 1766 ; but some of the manuscripts were kept
back, and preserved in a part of the Monastery less exposed
to fioods than the original buUding,
When Cosimo I. became Grand-Duke of Tuscany, he
filled a great part of the Monastery with the Spanish
soldiers who accompanied his father-in-law, the Viceroy of
Naples, to assist him in the conqjiest of Sienna ; and, deaf
• See Lord Lindsay's " Christian Atis,'.' vol. ii. p. 240,

STA. CROCE. 45
to the remonstrances of the friars, the Spanish prince made
use of their gardens for his stud.
That part of the convent which is nearest the piazza
contained the chambers where the Inquisition held its
infamous Tribunals, from 1284 to 1782, when the Holy
Ofifice was suppressed. The Gate went by the name of II
Martello — the hammer — from the knocker employed to
summon the porter ; over it was once a fresco, long effaced,
by Lorenzo de' Bicci. The two most celebrated trials by
the Inquisitors within these walls were those of Cecco
d' Ascoli and Pandolfo Ricasoli. Frangesco Stabili, better
known as Cecco d' Ascoli from his birthplace, born in
1257, was from his youth devoted to inteUectual pursuits,
especially the study of astrology. He was denounced by
the Court of the Inquisition in Bologna for having maligned
the Roman Catholic faith ; and was condemned to a public
penance, and to be deprived" of all his astrological books.
He accordingly removed to Florence ; but there his enemies
pursued him, and he was again summoned to appear before
the Tribunal of the Holy Ofifice sitting in Sta. Croce, where
he was sentenced as a heretic to be bumt alive, at seventy
years of age. His greatest crime was the prediction of the
descent of Louis of Bavaria into Italy, and of the ag
grandisement of Castmccio Castracani, Lord of Lucca; his
condemnation was therefore caused by Guelphic influence ;
even Pope John XVII. exclaimed, in the presence of his
court — " The Minor Friars have persecuted and murdered
the prince of peripatetic philosophy."
Pandolfo RicasoU was a man of great learning, who was
celebrated in his day as a preacher and instructor of youth.
He was, however, accused of immoral conduct with Faustina

46 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Mainardi, a woman of low condition, who kept a girl's school,
to which Pandolfo Ricasoli was spiritual director. He was
brought before the Tribunal of the Holy Ofifice, held that
day in the Refectory of Sta. Croce, which was turned into a
court of justice.* A scaff'old, hung with black, as for a corpse,
was placed in the centre of the hall, and the Inquisitors were
seated around. Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, the younger
princes of the blood, the priests and nobles of Florence,
with other persons holding places of authority, filled the
remaining space. The two prisoners, in dresses painted
with flames and demons, were made to kneel at the feet of
the Grand Inquisitor., whilst a monk recited the accusations
against them, Ricasoli and Faustina were condemned,
and sentenced to be walled up alive in one of the dungeons
ofthe Inquisition.!
It was not untU 1782, as has been already stated, that
this barbarous Tribunal was suppressed, and the Inquisition
banished from Florence, by the order of Pietro Leopoldo I.,
when that part of Sta. Croce which had been assigned to
the Inquisitors was converted into an Infirmary and
Foresteria. The Convent of Sta. Croce enjoyed the privUege cf
keeping one of the two urns which contained the voting
balls for the election of the magistrates. One of these
Franciscan friars, as well as a Dominican from St. Mark's,
always assisted at the ceremony ol election on the Ringhiera
in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, where a solemn oath
was administered to the new magistrates, who swore to
* A picture representing this scene is in the gaUery of the Marchese
Gino Capponi.
t See Napier's " Florentine Histoiy," vol. v. p. 499.

STA. CROCE. 47
"leave the government as they found it, to do justice, and
hate iniquity."
Sta. Croce has more than once offered an asylum to fugi
tives from justice; as in 1312, when the Monastery was
selected by Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens, as a resi
dence, until he felt secure of his despotic power in Florence.
During the famous siege of Florence, in 1529, the friars
were suspected of treachery. The accusation arose from the
incaution of one of the monks, Vittorio Frangeschi, who
was much beloved by the lower orders from his preachings
and consolations, and among whom he was known by the
name of Fra Rigagolo : on his return to the city from one
of his apostolic missions into the country, he was led from
curiosity to examine the defences and guns. The suspicions
of the soldiers and their commanders having been aroused,
the Monastery of Sta. Croce was searched by night, but
nothing found to justify the sacrilege. The Council of War
who directed the operations of defence received another
accusation against the monks, through the Tamburo, or
Lion's mouth of Florence, by which they were declared to
have had secret communications with the Pope, and even
to have received the enemy's soldiers, disguised as Fran
ciscans, within their walls. Fra Rigagolo was said to have
himself opened the city gates to them. He was arrested
and imprisoned in the Bargello, and finaUy executed within
the building. Some hundred soldiers were quartered in
the Monastery, and it would have gone stUl harder with the
monks, had not Florence faUen a prey to the Medici, who
regarded the Franciscans of Sta. Croce with more favour
than the Dominicans of St. Mark.
During Napoleon Buonaparte's administration of Tuscany,

48 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Sta. Croce was not suppressed, but its property was confis
cated, and the monks only allowed an annual pension and
their food. In 1809 a lay board of works was appointed
to superintend the repairs of the church ; and the manu
scripts, pictures, statues, and reliefs, with all the objects of
art, were confided to a commission for the preservation
of artistic monuments. In 1814 the convent was restored
to the monks, and it was only finally suppressed in 1871.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Amolfo di Lapo  1240-^1711
Baccio BandineUi  I-g,  icfio
Brienne, Walter de, at Sta. Croce  1312
Bi-unelleschi, FUippo  1379— 1416
Cecco d' AscoU  i2cj  1,27
Convent of Sta. Croce burnt  -L^21,
.. .. suppressed ..... jg^f
Cosimo I  ' . . i537_i575
Giovanni di San Giovanni  iryg  jg,^
<^'°"°  '. 1276-1337
Inquisition in Sta. Croce  1284  1782
Pazzi Chapel, assembly of monks  j-g.
Reng, King of Naples and Sicily  1409—1480
RicasoU, Pandolfo, immured alive ..... 164.1
RigagoU, Fra, accused and beheaded .... irjg

CHAPTER V.
STA. CROCE {^Continuation).
Frescos.
' I 'HE frescos on the walls of the interior of Sta. Croce,
from which the whitewash has been lately removed,
are principally at the eastem extremity of the church. On
the sides of the arch leading to the apse are represented
the Twelve Apostles. To the right, St. Francis is receiving
the Stigmata, or marks of our Saviour's wounds, in the
rocky wildemess near La Vernia ; the composirion is nearly
identical with that in one of the small paintings in the
Florentine Academy, attributed to Giotto, but more probably
by Taddeo Gaddi. To the left of the apse, the Virgin is
represented in the mandorla, or vesica piscis, supported
by angels. These frescos, if not actually by the hand of
Taddeo Gaddi, must have been painted by one of his
scholars. The frescos in the interior of the apse have never under
gone the process of whitewashing, and are the undoubted
work of Agnolo Gaddi, the son of Taddeo, and the pupil
of Giovanni da Milano and of Jacopo da Casentino : they
were executed at the expense of Jacopo degli Alberti. The
subject chosen is the origin and discovery of the Cross
VOL. II. E

JO WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The tradition is as foUows : — When our first father Adam
lay sick, his son Seth prayed for him at the Gate of Para
dise, and received a branch of the Tree of Knowledge from
the Archangel Michael, bidding him plant it on Mount
Lebanon, and that when it bore fruit his father would be
healed. Adam was, however, dead before his son returned,
and Seth planted the branch on his grave, where it took
root and flourished, till the days, of Solomon. The wisest
of men ordered it to be cut down, and used in building the
Temple ; but the buUders rejected it as unsuitable in size
and quality, and they threw it into a marsh, where it served
as a bridge. When the Queen of Sheba came to Jerasalem,
and was preparing to step upon the tree, she beheld in a
vision the Saviour of the world suspended on it, and in
place of walking over the bridge, she fell down and wor
shipped. Solomon accordingly ordered the tree to be
buried deep in the earth on the spot whence afterwards
arose tlie Pool of Bethesda, whose healing powers proceeded
as much from the tree below it as from the angel who
descended to trouble the waters. When the time of our
Saviour's Passion drew near, the tree rose and floated on
the surface, and the Jews seized upon it to make the Cross.
After the Crucifixion the tree lay buried three hundred
years, until Helena, the mother of Constantine, was inspired
with a desire to discover the wood of the Cross, and she
constrained a certain man, of the name of Judas, to show
her where it was hidden ; then Judas led the way to Gol
gotha, where, in answer to the prayers of Helena, tliree
crosses appeared. The difficulty of distinguishing that of
our Saviour from those on which the thieves were crucified
was solved by the Bishop of Jerusalem, who caused a sick

STA. CROCE. 51
woman to touch all three, and when she came to the true
Cross she was made whole. Helena caused the Cross to
be cut in two; one half she enclosed in a silver shrine,
which she left at Jerusalem ; the other half she carried
away to present to her son the Emperor Constantine ; and
she appointed the Feast of the Discovery or Invention of the
Holy Cross to be celebrated every isth of May throughout
die whole world. Many years afterwards, Chosroes King of
Persia subjugated all the kingdoms of the East, and when
he came to Jerasalem, he carried away the portion of the
Lord's Cross left there by Helena. He built a tower of
gold and silver and gems, and placing the Cross beside him,
commanded all people to worship him as King of kings,
and Lord of lords. Then the Christian Emperor HeracHus
arrived on the Danube with a large army, to fight against
the son of Chosroes and recover the Cross ; and they agreed
to settle their dispute by single combat, in which the son of
Chosroes was killed ; and immediately his whole army was
converted to Christianity, and were baptized. Heraclius
seized Chosroes in his tower, beheaded him, and carried off
the Cross, intending to restore it to Jerasalem, But when,
mounted on his royal charger, he was about to enter the
city by the gate our Lord had entered on an ass, the stones
descended and made an impenetrable barrier; then an
angel bearing the sign of the Cross appeared, and re-
firoached the Emperor for his presumption, Heraclius
accordingly dismounted, and presented himself barefoot
with the Cross on his shoulder before Jerusalem, when,
behold ! the stones resumed their place, and he was thus
enabled to enter and restore the precious relic whence it
had been taken.

52 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
This legend is represented in eight divisions of the wall,
and in the foUowing order :— On the south wall, beginning
from the top. i. Seth receiving the branch from the angel,
and planting it on the breast of Adam. 2. The Queen of
Sheba adoring the tree, and King Solomon causing it to be
buried. 3. The tree taken out of the Pool of Bethesda,
and made into the form of a Cross. 4. The discovery of
the Cross by Queen Helena, and the restoration of the sick
woman. On the north wall : — 5. The Cross carried in pro
cession by Queen Helena and worshipped by the people.
6. The invasion of Chosroes, and the capture of the Cross.
7. The vision of Chosroes, the victory of HeracUus over the
son of Chosroes, and Chosroes seated on his throne within his
tower. 8. Heraclius carrying the Cross into Jerusalem ; he
is first seen on horseback, and afterwards, when admonished
by the angel, he is on foot. In this last fresco there is a por
trait of the painter, Agnolo Gaddi, at the right-hand corner ;
he wears a red hood, and has a small beard, according to
the fashion of his time. Agnolo crowds his space with too
many figures, but there is a certain dignity in all of them ;
the colour is clear and bright, and he gives animation and
interest to the story. According to CavalcaseUe, " Agnolo
composed better than his father Taddeo, and gave more
repose and dignity, more nature and individuality to his
figures. He did not exaggerate in the direction of slender
ness, and his general outlines were at once more graceful,
more true and grand than those of his father. As a
draughtsman he was free and bold, defining everything
equally, but he frequently faUed to define form truly ; and
whUst the rest of his figures are stiU below the standard of
Giotto, certain forms are purposely and persistently false.
i^

STA. CROCE. S3
The eyes are drawn according to a conventional model;
the noses are straight and narrow, and expanded flatly at
the end, and the mouths generaUy droop at the corners. .. .
... In the drawings of hands and feet he bestowed more
care ; but he evidently never possessed the clear compre
hension of the nature of the form he depicted. . . . ^ .
As a colourist Agnolo was bold. His tones are bright,
clear, and transparent, and he shows a feeling, for the true
nature of harmonies. His idea of relief was greater than
that of Taddeo."* The windows behind the apse are filled
in with fine coloured glass.
Retuming to the transepts, the first chapel south of the
apse belonged to the family of Bardi, who, with the Peruzzi,
— the owners of the adjoining chapel, — were the two great
banking families of Florence during the fourteenth century.
The walls of the Bardi Chapel are decorated with frescos
containing scenes from the life of St. Francisi Ridolfi de
Bardi, one of the sons of this house, though bred to arms,
and a vaUant soldier in the wars with the GhibeUine faction
led by Louis of Bavaria, became finally a Franciscan monk.
The frescos on the walls ofthe Bardi Chapel were executed
by Giotto ; but were covered with- whitewash, and only dis
closed in [853. They were probably painted after 13 10
(the date of the death of Bartolo de' Bardi, the father of
Ridolfo). In the upper compartment, on the left, St.
Francis is represented abandoning the world; below,, he
appears to St. Anthony of Padua at; Aries; and stiU
further down, is- the death of St. Francis ; his dead body
surrounded by his weeping brethren. The portraits of
? See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 469.

54 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Amolfo di Lapo and his father, who wears a black cap, are
introduced in the left-hand corner of this fresco. On the
opposite wall above, the Order of St, Francis is instituted ;
below, St. Francis passes through fire in the presence of the
Sultan ; and, in the third compartment, the body of the
saint is translated from Sta. Maria degli AngeU, where he
died, to Assisi, where he is buried. Ghirlandaio has fol-
•lowed this composition of the death of St. Francis in his
fresco in the Sassetti Chapel of the SS. Trinitk. On either
side of the window are frescos, as well as on the vaulted
ceUing. Beside the altar are St. Nicholas, St. Louis, St.
EUzabeth of Hungary, and St. Clara. The rude altar-piece
of this chapel has a figure of St. Francis painted on panel,
with eight episodes on either side.
The Peruzzi Chapel is also surrounded by frescos of
Giotto, which were covered with whitewash early in the
eighteenth century, and restored in 1841 and 1863. The
Perazzis were generous patrons of the Church of Sta. Croce,
and these frescos are the finest series ever executed by
Giotto. The subjects represented are scenes firom the lives
of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The
lunette above, on the left, represents Zacbarias standing
on the steps of the altar, waving, a censer, with two lute-
players and a piper behind ; the angel appears to him under
the portico of the altar. Two women are witnesses of the
miracle, to which the younger appears to call the attention
of the elder, who seems absorbed in thought and tremulous
with fear. In the compartment below, St. Elizabeth lies on
a bed, with two attendants, one of whom gracefully bends,
and looks at a man, with a noble figure, who turns his back
to the spectator. A partition, with an opening, separates

STA. CROCE. 55
this room from another, where Zacbarias is writing the
child's name on a tablet which he holds on his knee : he
looks up at the infant, which is carried to him by a man
and woman, behind whom are several other persons. The
lowest fresco represents Herod seated, with two guests,
behind a table under a rich portico, supported by slender
columns with statuettes. Before Herod stands a soldier,
who presents him with the head of John the Baptist.
Salome dances gracefuUy to the sound of her own lyre and
ot a viol played by a youth, who stands to the left of the
picture : two figures behind contemplate the dance. In
another room Salome is kneeling before Herodias with the
Baptist's head.*
On the opposite wall, is the Vision of Patmos — the Evan
gelist asleep on a solitary rock, and above him in a cloud
is the Son of Man holding a scythe in his hand ; on his
right, the angel who calls on him to mow ; the woman pur
sued by the dragon ; the mystic child in its cradle ; the
angel and the four beasts — the whole is much damaged and
repainted. In the compartment beneath is a very fine com
position, representing the restoration to Ufe of Drusiana
— the saint is on the left of the picture, with a man kneeUng
beside him ; two of his disciples, a cripple on crutches, and
two spectators are behind ; in the front kneel the relations
or friends of Drusiana, who is rising from her couch, and is
supported by one of the bearers ; behind are the priests.
There is a wonderful variety, of emotions expressed in the
countenances of the spectators, and simpUcity and grandeur
in the drapery. In the lowest compartment is represented
* See "CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 301.

56 JVALKS IN FLORENCE.
the Resurrection of St. John. According to the legend,
the favourite apostle of our Lord, being nearly ninety years
old, ascended a lofty mountain, after he had commanded
his disciples to dig a deep grave for him in the church. On
his retum from the mountain he found that they had done
as he had ordered them, and, throwing his mantle into the
pit, he descended and composed himself to sleep. His
disciples believed he was dead, and at daybreak a crowd
assembled to view the body ; but when they looked into
the grave, St. John had disappeared, leaving his sandals to
prove that he had been there. The heads in this fresco
are earnest in expression, the action natural, easy, and
appropriate. The Riccardi Chapel, which is next to the Perazzi,
formerly belonged to the Giugui family, and was also
decorated with frescos by Giotto, representing incidents in
the lives of the martyrs ; they have, however, entirely dis
appeared. This chapel was bestowed on Joseph Buona-
parte, the ex-king of Spain, and brother of Napoleon I.,
when he resided here : his monument and those of his
family adorn the side walls. That to JuUa Clary, the wife
of Joseph, is by the Florentine sculptor Pampaloni. Bar
toUni was employed for the monument to Charlotte, their
daughter, who was married to the only brother of Louis
Napoleon, late Emperor of the French: she was much
beloved, and died in 1839, aged thirty-seven.
Next to this chapel is that of the Soderini, which had
formeriy paintings by Taddeo Gaddi, of which no traces
remain. The vaulted ceiling was painted in 1621, with
incidents from the life of St. Andrew, by Giovanni di San
Giovanni. The painting representing the Discovery of the

STA. CROCE. . 57
Cross, is by Jean Bilivert, 1576 — 1644; St. Francis dis
tributing his possessions to the poor is by Passignano,
1560 — 1638; and of St, Francis in prayer, by Matteo
Rosselli. The last chapel is next to the door of the sacristy, and is
called the Morelli Chapel; but it formerly belonged to the
Velluti, and contains frescos on the right-hand wall, in a
damaged condition, by a pupU of Giotto, representing inci
dents from the story of the Archangel Michael, to whom
the chapel was dedicated by Gemma de' Velluti, a Fran
ciscan nun. The frescos on the left wall give the legend of
Sipontum, near the site of the modern Manfredonia, in
Apulia, where it is recorded that a man named Galgano, or
Garganus, lived in the fifth century, who was rich in pasture
land, cattle and sheep. One of his bulls happening to
stray, he set out with his servants in quest of him, and
found him at the entrance of a cavem on the summit of a
mountain overhanging the city of Sipontum. Enraged at
the trouble the beast had given him, Garganus ordered that
he should be slain ; but the arrow discharged, instead of
hitting the buU, returned to the bosom of him who sent it.
who fell down dead. Garganus applied to the Bishop of
Sipontum to explain this strange occurrence, and the bishop
fasted and prayed for three successive days, at the end of
which time the glorious Archangel Michael appeared to him
in a vision, and informed him that the spot where the
servant aimed at the bull was pecuUarly sacred to himself,
and commanded that a church should be built there, which
order Garganus readily obeyed. The altar-piece of the
Velluti Chapel is an Assumption of the Virgin, a good
example of the work .of Cristofano AUori. St. Thomas

58 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Aquinas and two chUdren are supposed to be by Passignano ;
this painting is very superior to that of AUori both in grace
of composition and beauty of colour. The family of Velluti,
to whom the chapel belongs, were Florentine merchants,
who were employed on political missions to the Pope and
Neapolitan sovereigns, and are now represented by the
Duca di San 'Clemente.
The south transept terminates in a large chapel, belong
ing to the Baroncelli family, over which are recently-dis
covered frescos, in an imperfect condition — an old and
young man, and Christ with the Doctors. To the right of
the entrance is a monument, with the shield ot the Baron
celli family, and within the arch are statuettes of the
Annunciation, probably by Andrea Pisano. The monu
ment itself is attributed to Nicolo Pisano, though some
give it to Andrea. It is a beautiful specimen of monu
mental decorations of an early period. The inscription
states that in Febmary, 1327, this chapel was finished,
and dedicated to God and the Virgin of the Annuncia
tion. The wall to the left is covered with frescos by Taddeo
Gaddi, representing incidents from the life of the Virgin.
As an example of an early work by this master, these
frescos are especially interesting : they were probably exe
cuted while Giotto was in Naples. Taddeo has divided his
subject into a lunette above, and five compartments below,
separated by twisted columns and cornices. Within the
lunette, Joachim, the father of the Virgin, is expelled from
the Temple ; below are the meeting of Joachim with his
wife Anna, the birth of the Virgin, her presentation when a
chUd in the Teinple, where she is supposed to have been

STA. CROCE.

59

educated by the priests with other young girls, and lastly her
marriage to Joseph. In the Presentation she is seen ascend
ing the steps of the Temple; Joachim and Anna stand below;
the High Priest above is prepared to receive her ; on each
side of the foreground groups of persons kneel, and on the
right, behind these spectators, are two females beautifuUy
drawn, and a man with a long beard seen in profile, who is
supposed to be a portrait of the painter's father, Gaddo
Gaddi ; near him is another bearded man, dressed in white
and wearing a cap, who represents Andrea Tafi, the worker
in mosaic. In the Marriage of the Virgin there is a total
absence oi repose or order in the composition.
On either side of the window Taddeo Gaddi has painted
the foUowing subjects : The Annunciation ; the Visitation ;
the Angels appearing to the Shepherds ; the Adoration of
the Shepherds ; the Star appearing to the Wise Men ; and
their Visit to the Stable of Bethlehem. Within the pilasters
supporting the arch are David with the head of Goliath, to
represent the triumphs of the ancestor of the Saviour, and
Joseph with his rod which has budded.
In the legend of the Virgin's life, it is related that there
were many competitors for her hand. The high priest
ordered every unmarried man of the house of David to
lay a rod on the altar, and declared that he whose rod
should give forth buds should be the husband of Mary;
among the rivals was Joseph, an old man and widower, who
had already sons and grandsons; his rod alone budded,
and as it did so, a dove descended from heaven and lighted
upon it. In all early pictures of the Marriage of the
Virgin the traditional scene is represented of youths in
despair breaking their rods, and even administering

60 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
blows to Joseph, who receives them with the utmost
equanimity. Facing the larger frescos by Taddeo Gaddi is a fresco
by Sebastian Mainardi, a pupil of Domenico Ghiriandaio,
and one of his best productions, which has even been some
times attributed to his master. The subject is the Virgin
letting down her girdle to St. Thomas. According to the
legend, the doubting apostle Thomas was absent when the
Virgin ascended into heaven, leaving her tomb fuU of roses,
to the wonder of aU the apostles who were present. Thomas
refused to believe the tale on his return, but when the grave
was opened, he found it empty; and the Virgin, pitying the
weakness of his faith, let down her girdle to him from heaven
to remove all further doubt.
The altar-piece of this chapel is a very remarkable and
authentic picture by Giotto, probably painted between 1299
and 1303, on the return of the artist from a visit to Rome,
and before his departure for Padua. He has inscribed his
name as foUows : Opus Magister locti. The altar probably
once stood where is Mainardi's fresco, and this picture was
then opposite the fresco of Taddeo Gaddi; it has been
reduced in size and set in its present omamental framework.
The painting is on five panels ; the centre has the Coronation
of the Virgin, who bends with modest grace and folded arms
as the Saviour puts the crown on her head ; the mild dignity
of his expression and the eamest gaze of the four worshipping
angels is very beautiful. In the lower half of the four com
partments — two on either side — very lovely angels play
musical instruments and sing hymns; above them are
numerous heads of patriarchs, prophets, and saints in glory.
Each is painted with characteristic portrait-like reality. In

57'.^. CROCE. 6i
the five hexagons of the predeUa are the Saviour, St. Francis,
the Baptist, St. Peter, and Paul the Hermit ; they are deli
cately painted and varied in expression.
According to CavalcaseUe, " No traveller to Florence will
have failed to visit Sta. Croce, or to study the BaronceUi
altar-piece. It was long a standing piece for the critics of
Giotto's style. It will therefore be needless minutely to
describe the beauties of the principal group. . . . Let the
student mark how admirably the idea of a heavenly choir is
rendered — how intent the choristers on their canticles, the
players on their melody — ^how quiet, yet how full of purpose
— how characteristic and expressive are the faces, how ap
propriate the grave intentness and tender sentiment of some
angels, how correct the action and movement of others — how
grave yet how ardent are the saints, how admirably balanced
the groups. Nor will he pass by without a less than
cursory glance the five figures in the lower hexagons : the
Ecce Homo, with a broad thorax and wasted arms, calmly
grieving, but a type reminiscent of more distant times ; the
wild, austere, and emaciated Baptist, with his long unkempt
locks, and arms reverently crossed on his naked breast; and
St. Francis showing the stigmata. To perfect decoram and
repose, Giotto added in this altar-piece his well-known
quaUty of simpUcity in drapery." *
Unfortunately, this interesting picture is half concealed
by a heavy and awkward figure of the Saviour by Baccio
BandineUi, brought here from the cathedral with the statue.
of the Eternal which was placed in the cortile of the
monastery. * See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 308.

62 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
To the right of the BaronceUi Chapel, facing the east, is
another and larger, caUed the Chapel of the Holy Sacra
ment, which formerly belonged to the CasteUani family, one
of whoiA, a Prior ofthe Republic, ' founded this chapel,
which he dedicated to St. Anthony, and which he caused an
artist, of the name of Gherardo Stamina, to adom with
frescos. Gherardo, bom in Florence in 1354, was a pupil
of Antonio Veneziano, and the master of MasoUno, the
father of Masaccio. In 1378, soon after he had finished
his work in this chapel, he joined in the riots of the Ciompi,
or " Woodenshoes," of Florence, and was forced to quit the
city. He travelled to Spain, where he became wealthy ; but
he returned to his native place in 1387, and after painting
several frescos died there, in 1406. UntU very recently
all the paintings in the CasteUani Chapel were buried in
whitewash, with the exception of those on the ceUing. Vasari
mentions that Stamina's paintings were thus concealed ; it
is even now, however, doubtful whether the recently-dis
covered frescos are all or any of them the work of this
master. CavalcaseUe attributes them to Agnolo Gaddi.*
He adds that the prophet in the recess, holding a scroll on
which Hebrew lines are inscribed, is of a later date than
those of the ceUing. Within the last two years, however,
the careful and persevering efforts of a friar of the convent
has brought to light some of the most interesting. The
frescos appear to have been the work of more than one
hand ; those representing the histories of St. Anthony and
St. Nicholas, though dramatic and powerful, are in the
simple artless style of composition and drawing belonging
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 454.

STA. CROCE. 63
to an early period. The sleeve of the dress is curved, and
the bent arm is without an elbow, the eyes are long and
small, and the whole figures are Giottesque in treatment,
reminding us of the frescos by Taddeo Gaddi in the Baron
celli Chapel, or of Agnolo in the apse of this church. The
frescos representing the lives of our Saviour and of St. John
the Evangelist belong to a mdre advanced period in art;
they retain the simple narrative style in the composition,
but with greater ease and freedom ; the drawing and expres
sion of the heads and figures is correct, noble, and often
very beautiful; there is also more variety, and a closer
approach to nature, with a fine disposition of drapery.
The History of St. Nicholas of Bari is to the right on
entering the chapel; he was, as Mrs. Jameson observes,
essentiaUy the saint of the people. Above is represented
the assistance he gave a poor nobleman who was without
dowries for his daughters — St. Nicholas is throwing a purse
of gold into an open window, that none might know from
whence it came ; he is seen restoring a saUor to life who
had fallen overboard from a vessel which was conveying
the saint to the Holy Land; he restores three children
who had been cut to pieces and salted for provisions ; he
brings a lost child to his parents.
The most beautiful fresco of the series is that of the Life
of our Saviour, near the window. Opposite is the Life
of St. Anthony, bom at Alexandria, A.D. 357, in aflfiuent
circumstances, but who joined a company of hermits in
the wildemess. Here he was pursued by demons tempting
him, all of whom he overcame, and, shutting himself up in a
cavem, he lived twenty years in solitude. When he had
reached ninety years of age, he flattered himself with the

64 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
idea that no one else had passed a longer time in seclusion
and the exercise of self-denial ; but he was informed in a
vision that a certain hermit caUed Paul had exceeded him
m both. Anthony resolved to find him out, and was guided
10 his cavern by centaurs and satyrs. The hermits discoursed
together with infinite deUght, and a raven supplied them
with bread, until Paul died, when two lions came to dig his
grave, where Anthony buried him, Anthony retired, with a
lew other monks, to another solitary place, where he lived
tourteen years, and, finally, his spirit was received by angels
and carried to heaven. The last frescos on this side repre
sent the life of St. John the Evangelist ; they are very grand,
and recall the frescos in the Carmine by Masaccio, which
is not surprising if this work be by the hand of his master,
Gherardo Stamina.
The monuments in this chapel have no interest, but there
are two statues of Robbia work on a large scale, well
executed. One represents San Bernardino, the other St.
Dominick. A handsome door to the left of the Baroncelli Chapel
leads to the Sacristy and to the Capella del Noviziato,
Chapel ofthe Novitiate, of the Medici. Within a lunette over
the door is a fresco of the Madonna and Child, by Mainardi.
This chapel is entered at the farther end of the corridor, on
one side of which are windows, on the other monuments and
a curious wooden Crucifix, attributed by some to Margheri-
tone of Arezzo, 1236. It is said to have been presented by
the artist to Farinata degU Uberti, the great Ghibelline
leader, as a token of admiration for his having rescued his
native city from the destruction threatened by his own party,
in 1260, after the GhibeUine victory of Montaperti, when it

STA. CROCE. 6s
was proposed to raze Florence to the ground; it was
the single voice of Farinata degli Uberti which protested
against so barbarous an act. Dante aUudes to this when he
makes Farinata, from his place in the " Inferno," utter these
words — " Ma fu' io sol colat, dove sofierto
Fu per ciascuno di tor via Firenze,
Colui che lo disse, a viso aperto." *
Inferno, canto x. 1. 83.
The Chapel of the Novitiate, or Capella Medici, is dedi
cated to San Cosimo and San Damiano, and contains
several beautiful works of art. There is a most exquisite
specimen of Luca della Robbia's work over the altar : a
Madonna and ChUd surrounded by cherubim, which have
wonderful variety of expression ; angels crown the Mother
and Infant Christ; to the right is St. John the Baptist
and St EUzabeth with her lap full of roses; to the left
St. Lawrence, St. Francis, and a bishop. There is also a
lunette over the door facing the altar, with angels and a
garland of fruit. To the right of the entrance is a very
lovely shrine to hold the consecrated wafer, by Mino da
Fiesole, brought hither from the Convent of the Murate, in
18 15. Mino was born in 1433, and died in 1484; though
called of Fiesole, he was really a native of Poppij in the
Casentino, and he was the intimate friend of Desiderio da
Settignano. His style is sweet, refined, and graceful. This
Comunicatorio represents angels waiting at the tomb of the
Saviour. Opposite to this is . another Robbia work of a
* " But there I was alone, where every one
Consented to the laying waste of Florence,
He who defended her with open face."
Longfellow's Translation.
VOL. II. F

66 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Madonna and ChUd ; and over the two doors on either side
of the altar are representations in the same material of St.
Dominick and St. Francis. A large monument on one side
of this chapel to a young girl, MademoiseUe de Fauveau, is
the work of a living sculptress of the same name. There
are several good paintings on panel of the school of Giotto.
In this chapel the body of GaUleo was laid, and remained
for many years; when the great philosopher died in 1642,
the Romish Church would not permit him a more honourable
place of burial, and here were Ukewise brought the remains
of Vincenzio Viviani, his favourite pupil, who died in 1703,
and desired to lie beside his master. Viviani had succeeded
in raising, by subscription, a sum of three thousand scudi
for the monument of GaUleo within the church, near the
spot where GaUleo had desired that his bones should repose,
beside those of his ancestors; but it was only in 1757, at a
meeting of the professors belonging to the University, of the
members of the Florentine Acaderay, and of the Franciscan
Friars of Sta. Croce, in the Pazzi Chapel, that it was resolved
to disinter the remains of GaUleo and Viviani, and bear
them to their resting-place in the nave of the Church.
The Sacristy of Sta. Croce is a spacious square chamber,
built by the Perazzi family. It is surrounded by fine
intarsiatura work, which was executed by Giovanni di
Michele, a master carpenter, who lived early in the fifteenth
century, along which was inserted the series of small
pictures by Giotto or by Taddeo Gaddi, representing the
lives of St. Francis and of the Saviour, which are now in the
Florentine Academy. Some splendid illuminated books,
church plate, and priests' vestments are exhibited here
under glass. The south waU of the Sacristy is adorned with

STA. CROCE. 67
frescos by pupUs of Giotto. The Crucifixion is attributed
by CavalcaseUe to Taddeo Gaddi, though the frescos on
either side, which were also assigned to him, are more
probably by Nicola di Pietro or Gerini. One of the painted
cracifixes on the wall is supposed to be by Cimabue, the
other by Giotto. The Nativity, with Joseph and the patrons
adoring the Child, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bartholomew,
St. Ambrose, and St. John the Baptist, painted on panel, is
by Bugiardini, and was formerly in the CasteUani Chapel.
Bugiardini, bom in 147 1, was a pupil of Domenico Ghir
landaio, and worked under Mariotto Albertinelli and
Michael Angelo, but never rose to great eminence. There
are, besides, a Cracifix by Santi di Tito ; a Vision of St.
Thomas, by one of the school of Andrea del Sarto ; and
St. Anthony of Padua, by Perugino. Above the entrance-
door is a' fine head of Christ in Luca della Robbia. ware ;
on the north side is a delicately carved lavabo, with St.
Francis on the pediment, and above are paintings of the
Saviour, and two small pictures set into the wood.
Separated from the Sacristy by a grating of finely
wrought iron-work, is the Rinuccini Chapel, built by one
Lapo di Rinuccini, towards the end of the thirteenth
century. It is decorated with frescos by Giovanni da
Milano, the favourite pupil of Taddeo Gaddi ; which were,
however, for a long time attributed to Taddeo himself.
These paintings are superior in drawing, as well as com
position, to those of Taddeo in the Baroncelli Chapel,
and belong to a more advanced period of art. On the
vaulted ceUing are painted St. Anthony, St. Francis, St.
Andrew, and St. Louis; between them are half-length
figures of the Apostles, and in the centre is the figure

68 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
of the Saviour in relief, with the usual act of benedic
tion. On the walls are the lives of the Virgin and of Mary
Magdalene. To the left, in the lunette above, is the Expulsion
of Joachim from the Temple ; below, as in the frescos by
Taddeo in the BaronceUi Chapel, are the Meeting of Joachim
and Anna, the Birth of the Virgin, her Presentation in the
Temple, and her Marriage. In the lunette, on the right wall,
the Magdalene is represented anointing the Saviour's feet ;
below, she is seated at the Saviour's feet in a beautiful and
earnest attitude of attention ; the Resurrection of Lazarus
follows, and the Noli mi tangere ; lastly, a monkish legend
of the life of Mary Magdalene. The story of the Virgin
is told with peculiar grace and truth to nature; but
that of the Magdalene is perhaps superior in variety and
interest. In the lunette where the Saviour, addressing
Simon, points to the Magdalene at his feet, the attitudes of
Simon and of the two Apostles, who have stopped eating to
listen, are easy and natural ; all the compositions are well
ordered and the figures animated ; where Mary is seated at
the feet of Jesus, Martha is seen reproaching her, and
pointing to the kitchen, where she is again represented
occupied over the fire. In the Resurrection of Lazarus the
painter descends to details which might as well be avoided,
because unnecessary, and diverting the thoughts from the
principal object of the picture : two of the disciples drag
Lazarus from the grave, and the spectators hold their noses.
The concluding legend is as follows : — Mary Magdalene,
with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus, were set adrift
in a ship by the heathen, and their vessel was driven to
Marseilles, where, soon afterwards, arrived a certain prince

STA. CROCE. 69
with his wife, who caine there to sacrifice to the heathen
gods. They were, however, dissuaded from the act by the
preachings of Mary Magdalene, and were finally converted
to Christianity. Through her prayers, their wish for progeny
was granted ; but on their road to visit St. Peter at Jerusalem
the princess died, after giving birth to a child. The prince
left her body on a rocky island, with the infant beside it.
Two years afterwards, when he had been confirmed in the
Christian faith by the preaching of St. Peter, he quitted
Jerusalem, and on his homeward way, landed on the island
where he had left his dead wife and her child ; he was sur
prised to find the child living, preserved by the prayers of
Mary Magdalene ; and his wife suddenly rose as he ap
proached, and stretched out her arms to him. They all
returned to Marseilles, where they were baptized by the
Magdalene, and all the people of MarseUles and of the
country around became Christians.
The altar-piece in the Rinuccini Chapel is also by
Giovanni di Milano, and is a good specimen of the master ;
both that and the frescos bear the date of 1379. The
predella represents the Magdalene in the Wildemess, St.
John in the Island of Patmos, the Visit of the Magi, the
Baptism, and St. Francis receiving the Stigmata.
Returning to the church, the first chapel to the left of
the apse was once richly adomed with paintings by Giotto,
all of which, however, have perished. It once belonged to
the Tosinghi family, from whom it passed to the SpineUi,
who bestowed a large portion of their wealth on the Monas
tery of Sta. Croce. Within the last few years it was pur
chased by the late Cavaliere Frangesco Sloane, who so
generously contributed to the fagade of the church.

70 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The second chapel is dedicated to St. Anne, and contains
the remains of a celebrated composer and violinist, Pietro
Nardini, bom in Leghorn in 1725, and who died in
Florence, 1796. The third chapel belongs to the Ricasoli
famUy, and is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The
walls are painted in oil by the modern painter Luigi
Sabatelli, and by his two sons, Frangesco and Giuseppe.
The subject is the Life of St. Anthony, a Portuguese and
Franciscan monk, who taught Divinity at Padua. He
boldly remonstrated with the tyrant of Padua, Eccellino;
and after a time resigned the Professorship of Divinity to
preach to the people.
At the entrance to the Ricasoli Chapel is a heavy stone,
fastened by a chain to the wall, which is said to have fallen
from the roof of the Church in 1698, without causing any
injury; which miracle was attributed to the intercession of
the Saints.
The adjoining chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence and St.
Stephen, belonged to the Pulci and Berudi families. The
frescos were painted in the middle of the fourteenth century
by Bernardo Daddi, who was a contemporary of Jacopo da
Casentino, and disciple of Spinello Aretino, and was ad
mitted into the company of Florentine Painters in 1355.
" The only remaining frescos of Daddi that have been pre
served are those of San Stefano, which represent the Mart)^:-
dom of San Lorenzo and San Stefano, and have been injured
by time and retouching. They betray the weakness of an
artist of a low order ; not ignorant, however, of the laws of
composition as they were known to most inferior Giot-
tesques." * * See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 6.

STA. CROCE. 71
The fifth chapel belonged to the Conti Bardi, and is
dedicated to St. Sylvester.
According to tradition, Sylvester was bom at Rome in
the fourth century, when the Emperor Constantine was still
unconverted. He had been chosen Bishop of Rome, but
fled from persecution, and dwelt for some time in a cavem
near the summit of Monte Calvo. 'Whilst he was there,
Constantine was seized with leprosy, and having refused to
follow the advice of his false gods, who desired him to
bathe in a bath of children's blood, St. Peter and St. Paul
appeared to him in a vision, and bade him send for
Sylvester, who would show him a pool in which, if he
dipped three times, he should be cleansed from his leprosy.
And when Sylvester came to the emperor, he explained to
him who were Peter and Paul, and Constantine became a
Christian from that day. Sylvester was then invited by the
emperor to dispute with the Jewish rabbis, in order to
clear away the doubts of his mother, the Empress Helena,
who was then inclined to Judaism. One of the rabbis defied
Sylvester to prove his faith by an exhibition of the power of
God ; and he whispered in the ear of a fierce bull, when the
animal instantly dropped down dead. He then bade the
Jew restore the buU to life, which he tried, but could not ;
upon which Sylvester made the sign of the Cross, bidding
the bull rise, and go in peace, and the beast accordingly
rose tame and docUe. Then the Jews who were present
believed, and were baptized. Some time afterwards, the
priests of the heathen complained to Constantine, that since
he had been baptized a great dragon had appeared in the
moat of his castle, which .had destroyed more than three
hundred men by his envenomed breath; but Sylvester

72 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
descended into the moat and exorcised the dragon in the
name of Christ, and thus delivered the people from the
double death of idolatry and the dragon.
The frescos in the Conti Bardi Chapel represent the
principal incidents of this legend, and are by Tommaso
Giottino, who was bom in 1324, and was the contem
porary of Gaddi. The subjects to the right, beginning from
above, are the Conversion of Constantine, the Miracle of
the BuU, and the Victory over the Dragon. The Miracle
of the Bull is the finest composition. Constantine sits
enthroned in the centre ; the Jews and other spectators are
behind the balustrades on the right and left, and the bull is
rising from his knees at the word of Sylvester. The story
is well told, and the composition has been most happily
adapted from one very frequently engraved on the Consular
diptyches of the Romans.*
Within this chapel is the tomb of Ubertini, a valiant
captain, probably by Giottino, who painted the legend of
Sylvester ; it is unique among the monuments of the four
teenth century. The architectural design is that of the
Pisan school ; instead of the usual marble effigy recumbent
on the sarcophagus, the deceased warrior is represented
rising from the tomb at the Resurrection : angels blow a
trumpet and hold the' instmments of the Passion. The
sarcophagus is of stone, but the rest is painted in fresco ; a
rocky wUderness is represented in the background. Ubertini
rises in armour, "a pale but composed countenance; his
hands joined in prayer ; feature and attitude alike expressive

* See " Christian Art," Lord Lindsay, vol. ii. p. 279 ; also, " Crowe
and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 412.

57-.^. CROCE. 73
and sublime. It is a daring and bold idea, and one only
regrets that it has not been entirely wrought out in marble ;
the drawing is somewhat hard, and the colouring paler than
in the adjacent frescos ; but in a subject like this, such a
defect becomes a merit," *
The Niccolini Chapel terminates the series at this ex
tremity. It was here that the Company of the Laudesi,
or Singers of Praise (to the Virgin), had their place of
interment. The Company was composed of both men
and women ; and, in the early days of the Republic, they
were in the habit of meeting near the Church of Sta.
Reparata to sing hymns, as well as secular songs —
laudi vulgari, as they were called ; an inscription com
memorating this custom is to be seen on the walls of the
present Cathedral, on the side near the campanile. One of
the latest members was Lorenzo de' Medici, who composed
some of his most licentious poetry for this society, which
excited the animadversions of Savonarola, and thus contri
buted to its dissolution. This chapel was only transferred
from the Laudesi to the Niccolini family towards the end of
the sixteenth century. It is richly decorated with coloured
marbles; the statues of Moses and Aaron, of Chastity,
Prudence, and Humility are by Francavilla, a mediocre
sculptor of the school of Giovan Bologna. He was a native
of Cambrai, but educated in Tuscany. The Assumption of
the Virgin in the cupola was painted by Volterano in the
seventeenth century.
The Chapel of St. Louis and St. Bartholomew, founded
in the fourteenth century, occupies the northern extremity
* " Christian Art," Lord Lindsay, vol. ii. p. 282,

74 WALkS IN FLORENCE.
of this transept, facing the Baroncelli Chapel. It contains
an old monument to one of the Bardi family, very similar
in style to that of Ubertini by Giottino. Over the altar
of this chapel is a crucifix by Donatello, one of his earliest
works, and associated with an anecdote related by Vasari.
Donatello, when young, studied painting under Bicci di
Lorenzo, and executed this cracifix, which Branelleschi,
who ventured frankly to criticise the young artist's works,
told him was more like a common peasant than the
Saviour of the world. Donatello, considerably discon
certed, observed it was easier to find fault than to make
another as good; Brunelleschi made no reply, but shortly
afterwards invited Donatello to breakfast with him at his
studio ; and as Donatello entered the room, with his apron
full of cheese and frait from the market, the first thing he
beheld was the cmcifix Brunelleschi had just finished ; the
eatables fell to the ground, as he exclaimed with generous
admiration, " BruneUeschi is capable of forming a Christ,
but I can only make a peasant ! "

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
BaronceUi Chapel built  1337
BmneUeschi, FUippo  1379 — 1446
Bugiardini ......... 1475 — 1554
Daddi, Bernardo, joined the Florentine painters . . 1355
Donatello  1386 — 1466
FrancaviUa . ,  b. 1548 ....
Galileo .......... d, 1642
Gaddi, Agnolo ¦  1333 — 1396
„ Gaddo  1259 — 1332

STA. CROCE. 7S
A.D.
Gaddi, Taddeo  1300— 1366
Gherardo Stamina  1354 — 1406
Giotto  1276 — 1337
Giottino .  aUve in 1350
Giovanni da Milano  alive in 1366
Luca della Robbia  1400 — 1482
Mainardi, Sebastiano  alive in 1482
Margheritone di Arezzo  1236
Mino da Fiesole  1431 — 1484
Montaperti, Battle of  1260
Nardini, Pietro  1725 — 1796
Pisano, Andrea  1273 — 1349
,, Nicol6  d. 1278
Santi di Tito  1536 — 1603
Tafi, Andrea  ... 1250 — 1320
Viviano, Vincenzio  d. 1703

CHAPTER VI.
PIA CASA DI LAVORO.— BORGO ALLEGRI.— ACCADEMIA
FILARMONICA.— HOUSE OF MICHAEL ANGELO,— THE
VILLANI. *
'D EHIND the Church of Sta. Croce, and within the
second circuit of walls, was the old mint, Zecca
Vecchia, where the coinage took place, until the building
for the same purpose in the Ufifizi was finished. North of
Sta. Croce is the Via de' Malcontenti, appropriately named,
since along this street criminals were led to execution
beyond the Porta alia Giustizia. They were accompanied
by the Black Brothers, Confratemitk dei Neri — instituted in
1361, who, like the Misericordia, (ievoted themselves to
acts of mercy; the chief vocation of the Black Brothers
was to administer the last consolations to those condemned
to die, and they buUt a chapel beyond the Porta alia
Giustizia, where they enclosed a cemetery for the burial of
such unhappy persons.
At the end of the Via de' Malcontenti there once existed
two convents, the Monticelli and the Monte Domini ; both
were suppressed during the French occupation, and the
two buUdings thrown into one became the Pia Casa di
Lavoro, or workhouse of Florence.
The Franciscan nuns of Monticelli had their convent
first outside the walls, on a rising ground beyond the Porta

Fresco hy Giottino, on the staircase of the Filarmonica^ Via Ghibellina,

Page 76. II.

PIA CASA DI LA VORO, ETC. 77
Romana, whence the name ; it was destroyed during the
siege of 1529, to make room for the fortifications ; the nuns
were then conveyed within the town, and caUed their
new habitation MonticeUi. It was in the old Convent
of MonticeUi that Piccarda Donati, the sister of Corso
Donati, and a cousin of Gemma Donati, the wife of Dante
Alighieri, took the veil, as Sister Costanza. Piccarda
became a nun to avoid a marriage with Messer RosselUno
della Tosa ; but her father Simone Donati and her brother
Corso carried her forcibly from her refuge, and insisted on
her union with Delia Tosa, No sooner had the marriage
ceremony ended, than Piccarda threw herself on her knees
before the cracifix, entreating for protection, when she sud
denly became so Ul that her father was constrained to yield
to her request, and to send her back to her convent, where
she died in eight days. Dante has placed Piccarda in
Paradise, in the moon, or lowest heaven, reserved for those
who, however involuntarily, had broken their vows. The
description of Piccarda is one of the inost beautiful passages
in the " Paradiso." To the question —
" Grazioso mi fia, se mi contenti
Del nome tuo, e deUa vostra sorte .' "
Piccarda replies —
" Io fui nel mondo Vergine soreUa !
E se la mente tua ben mi riguarda
Non mi ti celerS 1' esser piii beUa ;
Mi riconoscerai ch' io son Piccarda
Che posta qui con questi altri beati
Beata son neUa spera pii tarda." *
Paradiso, canto iii.
• " Gratefiil 'tvrill be to me, if thou content me
Both with thy name and with your destiny?"
* » * » •

78 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The Convent of Monte Domini, Uke that of MonticeUi,
was formerly outside the walls, and was removed hither
during the siege of 1529. When the French converted both
buildings into a workhouse for the aged and infirm, the
name of Piccarda's convent was suppressed, and the Pia
Casa di Lavoro is known as the Monte Domini ; a school
for indigent chUdren has been lately added. The institu
tion was in a neglected state under the late grand-ducal
govemment, but the praiseworthy exertions of the Florentine
municipaUty have made it a real charity, and the order,
cleanliness, and cheerful, wholesome life within its walls,
render it worthy the attention of all interested in the
subject of workhouses.* No able-bodied man or woman is
admitted ; work, according to the abUity of each individual,
is required from all ; a pleasant garden within the cloisters
of the old convents is used for their recreation, and a play
ground is set apart for the young. Boys and girls receive a
good education, and workshops are attached to the institu
tion, which supply the means for teaching each child some
branch of trade, before he is sent out to earn his own live
lihood. The director, who has his ofifice in the building, is
ready at stated times to see any of the inmates, and to Usten
" I was a Virgin Sister in the world.
And if thy mind doth contemplate me weU,
The being more fair wiU not conceal me from thee ;
But thou shalt recognise I am Piccarda,
Who, stationed here among these other blessed,
Myself am blessed in the lowest sphere."
Longfellow's Translation.
* The phUanthropist, the Marchese Cario Torrigiani, tdok especial
interest in the welfare of this institution, and left money for the supply
of good beds for the inmates.

PIA CASA DI LAVORO, ETC. 79
to complaints, with a view to redress every well-founded
grievance. The person appointed is an educated gentleman,
and he is assisted by a councU. The fund for the support
of the Pia Casa di Lavoro is supplied by the municipality.
The Via Ghibellina was thus named in 1261, in com
memoration of the Ghibelline victory at Montaperti, The
large building nearest the waUs is the Murate, now the
prisons of Florence, but formerly the convent of those nuns
who left their hermitages on the Ponte alle Grazie to seek a
more commodious dwelling. When Catharine de' Medici
was a child of seven years of age, she was brought to the
Murate, and placed under the protection of the nuns,
during the siege of 1529.
A narrow, straggling, dirty street, crossing the Via
GhibeUina, bears the pleasant name of Borgo Allegri ; here
the car was once kept which carried the Sacred Fire from
San Biagio to the Canto dei Pazzi and to the Cathedral, on
the Saturday before Easter Sunday. In this part of the
borough, beyond the second circuit of waUs, between San
Pietro Maggiore and Sta. Croce, were gardens, in which,
according to tradition, Cimabue had his first workshop or
sfudio. Here he painted his Madonna enthroned, now in
Sta. Maria NoveUa, a wonderful picture for the time ; and
here the painter was visited by King Charles of Anjou,
when in Florence on his way from France to Naples. The
story is thus related by Vasari : " Cimabue painted on panel
a picture of our Lady, for the Church of Santa Maria
Novella, which work was of greater size than any yet
executed. . . . Whence it excited so much wonder in the
people of that age, that it was bome in solemn procession
with rejoicings and with trumpets from the house of Cimabue

8o WALKS IN FLORENCE.
to the church, and he received great rewards and honours.
It is said, as may be seen in records of the old painters,
that whilst Cimabue was painting this panel in certain
gardens near Sta. Croce, King Charles the Elder of Anjou
passed through Florence, and, among the entertainments to
do him honour by the people of the city, he was taken to
see Cimabue's picture ; as no one had until then obtained
a glimpse of it, a vast crowd of men and women collected,
making great signs of rejoicing whilst it was exhibited to
the king, and pressing upon one another; and because of
the joy this occasioned in the neighbourhood, the district
was called Borgo Allegri (Joyful Borough)."
The Accademia Filarmonica and the Pagliano Theatre —
the largest theatre in Florence — occupy the site of the
Stinche Vecchia, the old prison, which succeeded that of
the tower called II Pagliazzo, in the Piazza di Santa
Elisabetta. The Stinche was built in 1301, on ground
which had belonged to the same Ghibelline family of Uberti
who sold the land on the Amo to Altafronte. Just as the
building was ready for use, the Florentines had subdued a
powerful family or clan, at some distance from the city,
whom they brought captives to Florence, and these were
the first occupants of the prison, which was thenceforward
caUed by the name of their castle, the Stinche. In later
times, only debtors were confined here, and finally all
prisoners were lodged in the Bargello. Among the men of
note who were imprisoned in the Stinche was Carnesecchi,
when he wrote a piteous appeal for the means to provide
himself with suflficient food, addressed to the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I., already mentioned in the National Library.
On the staircase of the Accademia FUarmonica are the

PIA CASA DI LAVORO, ETC. 8i
remains of a singular old fresco, supposed to have been
painted by Giottino, caUed the Scimia della Natura. It
represents an aUegory of the Expulsion of the Duke of
Athens, whose portrait is the taU figure to the right ; St.
Anna enthroned is supported by angels on either side ; she
points to the Palazzo Vecchio, represented as it then stood.
The saint presents the banners of the Cily of Florence to
the new guardians, who, clothed in armour, kneel and do
her homage. The dethroned duke tramples on the symbols
of justice and law, and clasps a monster emblematical
of treason, a hoary human head with the tail of a
scorpion, — the usual symbol of the Gentile or heretic,
and significant of the hatred with which the tyrant was
regarded.* A tabemacle outside the Accademia Filarmonica, at the
comer of the street, refers to the former prison ; it is a good
example of the powers of Giovanni di San Giovanni, and
represents a Florentine merchant bestowing alms on the
prisoners, who are looking through the bars of the win
dows ; the Saviour and two saints stand beside the charitable
donor, and angels hover above.
Near the Filarmonica a street crosses the Via Ghibellina,
called the Via del Diluvio — the Street of the Flood — a con
tinuation of the Via del Fosso. All this quarter was sub
ject to floods from the Amo, when the Piazza di Santa
Croce formed a peninsula, or island, in the river. In the Via
del Fosso, the Palazzo Conte Bardi is an interesting speci
men of Florentine architecture, and was probably an early
work of Brunelleschi; twelve slender columns support
round arches in the court. The extemal omaments on this
* See iUustration to this chapter.
VOL. IL G

82 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
palace are among the earliest specimens extant of the mural
painting peculiar to Florence.*
Behind the Pagliano Theatre is a small piazza in front
of the Church of San Simone, which was built by the
Benedictines of the Badia, in 1209, on the site of a little
oratory which stood in their vineyard ; the church was
restored in modern taste in 1630. Here was buried the
Florentine painter, RaffaeUino del Garbo. An ancient
record informs us that in 1294 the Comune assigned twenty
lire for deepening the fosse from the Porta GhibeUina to the
Porta San Simone, which stood near the present church.
Nearly opposite the PagUano Theatre is the house of
Michael Angelo Buonarotti. The marbles, terra-cottas,
and other objects of ancient art contained in the first room
were collected in the beginning of the seventeenth century
by the Senator Filippo Buonarotti. In the gallery beyond,
the same senator caused the events in the life of his great
ancestor to be commemorated by frescos of a size dispro
portionate to the dimensions of the room, and therefore,
though they were painted by the best masters of the day,
it is diflficult to form an opinion of their merits. Fourteen
of the subjects are allegorical. A fine seated statue of
the sculptor by one of his scholars is placed near the
entrance ; at the farther end of the gallery is a mezzo-relievo
of Hercules and the Centaurs by Michael Angelo. Politian
suggested the subject, and the work was executed with so
much ability as to astonish all who beheld so near an
approach to the antique. The sculptor himself set' a high
value on this reUef, and would never part with it, but, even
• See "Der Cicerone," pp. 158—170,

PIA CASA DI LAVORO, ETC. 83
in old age, took pleasure in its contemplation.''' Beside this
is a picture of the Virgin with Saints, attributed to Michael
Angelo. The room beyond is surrounded by a fresco
representing the ancestors of the sculptor. The most
interesting part of this house is a light closet, whose ex
istence had been forgotten, untU accidentaUy discovered
by the wife of the last Buonarotti. This cabinet appears
to have been the study of Michael Angelo, where we may
suppose him to have written his noble sonnets, and designed
his great works in sculpture ; his cmtch is on the wall, and
his sUppers on the desk ; and a portrait, probably recently
placed there, is thought to represent Vittoria Colonna.
In a fourth room, his first model for the statue of David is
exhibited among several others of inferior interest ; such as
that for the group of Hercules and Cacus, which he was not
allowed to execute ; also a copy of the antique group, now
under the Loggia de' Lanzi, representing Ajax supporting
the body of Patroclus. In all these little models we can
perceive the trae comprehension of the grand in nature,
and the powerfiU invention as well as skUl of the great
artist. Retuming to the entrance, a door to the left leads to a
room containing a collection of drawings, many of which
are original designs by Michael Angelo. No. 123 is a
Madonna and Child, in which the artist has combined
grace and tenderness with his usual strength of treatment.
On a sheet of paper, covered with sketches for his picture
of the Last Judgment (No. 114), is some of his writing.
This room also contains a very lovely Venetian picture.
• See " Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti," by Herman Grimm,

84 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
In the court below is a slab of sandstone with the figure
of an Etruscan warrior in relief, nearly nude ; his hair hangs
loosely down his back ; he holds a spear in one hand, and
a lotus flower with a little bird on a stalk in the other ;
this slab was discovered at Fiesole, and, from the Egyptian
rigidity of the figure, it may be supposed to belong to a
very early period.
Leaving the house of Michael Angelo, the visitor arrives
at a small street between the Via Palagio and the Via Ghi
bellina called the Via Giraldi, in which are the remains of
the Church of SS. Procolo e Nicomede, one of the oldest
in Florence ; it belonged to the monks of the Badia, but
was suppressed by the Grand-Duke Pietro Leopoldo. Op
posite were the houses of the Villani family, where lived
the celebrated chroniclers of that name. Their residence
is now included in the Palace of Prince Borghese in the
Via GhibeUina,
Giovanni and Matteo Villani were born early in the
fourteenth century; the elder brother filled many honour
able offices in the State, such as Master of the Mint, and
Commissioner appointed to superintend the construction of
the Gates of the Baptistery, and the Campanile of the Badia.
He was, however, falsely accused of peculation, and thrown
into prison. Though acquitted and released, it was only to
meet with fresh misfortunes : he became a partner in the
mercantUe house of Buonaccorsi, which was involved in
the bankruptcy of the Bardi and Peruzzi, occasioned by
Edward III. of England repudiating his debts, incurred for
his invasion of France. In 1339, Edward issued a decree
suspending aU payments to creditors of State, not excepting
his " beloved bankers Bardi and Peruzzi of Florence." The

PIA CASA DI LAVORO, ETC. 85
debt was accordingly never paid.* Giovanni Villani died
of the plague in 1348. His Treatise on the Gold Florin
is little known; his most famous work is his Chronicle,
the first ten books of which bring the history of his country
down to the year 1303; but he had not completed more
than two books of the second part when his death inter
rupted the work. The best edition is that of 1587, madeby
Baccio Valori, whose house and bust have been described in
the Via degli Albizzi. Giovanni's son Matteo made a copy
of his father's work, which became the property of the
celebrated translator of Tacitus, Bernardo Davanzati, and is
now in the Riccardi Library of Florence. Another Matteo, the
brother of Giovanni, continued the Chronicle until 1363,
when he also died of the plague. His son, FUippo ViUani,
who wrote a commentary on the " Divina Commedia " of
Dante, added forty-two chapters to the Chronicle ofhis father
and uncle, bringing the history down to 1365. The Chro
nicle has not only the merit of being a minute and faithful
record of the times in which the Villani lived, but it is con
sidered a model for elegance of style and purity of language ;
in both of which, however, FUippo is greatly inferior to
those who preceded him. The remains of Giovanni, of his
brother Matteo, and of his nephew FUippo, repose side by
side in the vaults of Sta. Croce.
The last division of the Via GhibeUina, opposite the Bar
gello, where once stood the residences of the formidable
Counts Guidi, bears the name of Via del Palagio. This
powerful family were expelled from their possessions in the
• " Storia del Commercio e dei Banchieri di Firenze," dal Com
mendatore Simone Peruzzi, p. 471,

86 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Casentino by the Florentines in the year 1400. The district
of the Casentino, behind the mountains of VaUombrosa,
contained the principal cities of the Guidi — ^viz., Palagio and
Montemezzano ; they were united in one community, under
the name of Palagio Fiorentino, and annexed to the Re
public.

CHRONOLOGY.
Athens, Duke of, driven from Florence ..... 1343
Buonarotti, Michael Angelo, bom  1475
» »> died  1564
Cimabue, Giovanni, bom  1240
Crecy, Battle of  I,.6
Donati, Corso, died  j,Qg
Edward III. of England began to reign .... 1327
» » died  1377
GhibeUine, Via, named  j26i
Giottino  1324-1356
Guidi, Counts, conquered by Florentines . . . . 1400
Montaperti, Battle of  j26(j
MonticeUi, Convent of, founded  ; j26o
Poitiers, Battle of  j-^g
San Simone, Church of, built  ^^oa
» .. restored  ,5^^
VUlani Giovanni died .... . , ,,.0
„ Matteo died  ' J
„ Filippo died after  [ \ ^

CHAPTER VII.
STA. MARIA IN CAMPO.— BANCA NAZIONALE.— SAN
MICHELE DEI VISDOMINI, — PALAZZO DINO CAM-
PAGNL— HOSPITAL STA. MARIA NUOVA, — SANT'
AMBROGIO.
T N the Via del Proconsolo, between the Via degli Albizzi
and the Piazza del Duomo, is a small church, Sta.
Maria in Campo, so called from having been built on a
field outside the first circuit of walls. The name is also said
to have been derived from the site having been that of the
Campus Martius ofthe Florentines. Until 12 16 the church
belonged to the bishops of Fiesole, and a miraculous image
of the Virgin was brought hither from the Cathedral of
Fiesole in 1529 ; but Sta. Maria in Campo was claimed like
wise by Florence, and was a constant subject of dispute
between the Fiesolan and Florentine diocesans. On the
northern side of the little piazza, a house formerly belonging
to the Vannini family was the scene of a curious custom on
the Feast 9f St. John the Baptist : a man in a costume to
represent the Baptist was led on a car throughout the city,
and stopped before this house, from the window of which was
lowered a basket with wine, bread, and confectionery. This
custom ceased in 1 749, and the car only carried a banner,

88 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
which was presented to the victor at the races held on
St. John's Day.
Tuming to the right, on leaving the Via del Proconsolo,
the first street is the Via dell' Orivolo, or Sun-Dial. The large
palace recently built on the foundations of what was the
Palace ofthe Pazzi, where the conspiracy against the Medici
was hatched, is the Banca Nazionale of Florence, built after
a design by Professor CipoUa, a Roman architect. The
sculpture over the doors oi putti, or boy-genii, is from a
design by Girolamo Bastiniani, a Florentine, and are spirited
and weU-executed. Here, when a palace of the Pazzi, the
members of the Accademia degU Apatisti, a Uterary club,
were in the habit of meeting to discuss absurd and trivial
questions, which, as described by Goldoni, were only cal
culated to display much idle pedantry ; the Abate Giovanni
Lami was, however, once the President, and the Grand-
Duke Cosimo III. took the society under his special pro
tection. In 1783 it was merged in the Accademia della
Crusca. The Vicolo Folco Portinari, formerly Via de Pappe, con
ducts to the Via "Sant' Egidio, and the Hospital founded by
the father of Dante's Beatrice. At the farther end of the
Via Sant' Egidio is the small Church of San Michele dei
Visdomini, near which stood the Porta dei Visdomini,
and the Porta a Balia, in the first and second circuit of
walls. There were formerly two paintings of Andrea
Orgagna in this church, one representing Paradise, in which
he introduced the most deserving citizens erf the Republic ;
the other HeU, in a part of which he placed the Duke of
Athens and his followers, as well as all who had acted con
trary to the public interest ; therefore a common gibe

STA. MARIA IN CAMPO, ETC. 89
between Florentines was, " You are painted in the Infemo
of San Michele." The church was modernised in 1655.
The palace of the old chronicler Dino Compagni is in
the Via Sant' Egidio, and was inhabited by the late Com
mendatore Sloane. Dino Compagni was born in the middle
of the thirteenth century; his "Chronicle" begins in 1280,
and ends in 13 12. It includes the history 01 the Bianchi
and Neri factions, which commenced at a period when the
Guelphs were predominant in the State, but who were thus
divided among themselves. The Bianchi, who were inferior
in numbers to the Neri, recaUed the GhibeUines, in order
to obtain equal power with their rivals ; and it was when
parties were thus evenly balanced that the Florentine Con
stitution was framed : the Arts or Guilds were formed, and
the Priors were chosen from the most influential citizens.
Just as peace appeared possible, Charles of Valois anived
in Florence, ostensibly to reconcile contending parties, but
really to sow dissension by adopting the side of the Neri,
and banishing the GhibeUine supporters of the Bianchi,
among whom were the fathers of Petrarch and of Dante.
On a tablet, in a house of the Via Sant' Egidio, is recorded
that here Lorenzo Ghiberti cast the bronze Gates of the
Baptistery in 1403.
Between the years 1285 and 1288, Folco Portinari was
engaged in founding the Hospital of Sta. Maria Nuova.
The building originally occupied the space a Uttle in ad
vance of the present Hospital, to the left of the church.
Among the archives there stUl exists the contract, dated
1285, by which Folco Portinari became the owner of land
beyond the walls of the city, which he had purchased in the
parish of San Michele dei Visdomini, and on which he

go WALKS IN FLORENCE.
proposed to build his Hospital. According to tradition,
the good work was first suggested to him by his servant,
Monna Tessa, or Madonna Tessa, who had already begun it
by receiving and nursing the sick in a room of her master's
house. Folco Portinari was soon obliged to increase the
size of his Hospital from the number of afflicted persons
who applied for admittance. At his death, in 1288, the
Signory ordered the same honours to be paid to him as
to one of themselves, and his merits are recorded on a
tablet near the high altar of the church attached to the
Hospital. A relief, inserted in the wall of the cloister,
leading from the outer porch to the oflfice-room of the Com
missary, is supposed to represent Monna Tessa. In the
year 1300, part of the adjoining Monastery of Sant' Egidio
was added to the Hospital, and assigned to male patients,
whilst that part which had been buUt by Folco Portinari was
reserved for women. During the Plague of 1348, large gifts
and rich legacies were bestowed on this institution, which,
according to ViUani, added at that time twenty-five thousand
golden florins to its funds. The building was altered to its
present form by Buontalenti and GiuUo Parigi in 164 1. The
loggia had been already built by Buontalenti in 161 2.
The church was consecrated by Pope Martin V. in 1458.
Over the central door is a Coronation of the Virgin in high
reUef by Dello, an artist of the fifteenth centurj' j the
angels on either side were painted much later by the scholars
of Pomarancia. To the right of the door is a fresco by
Lorenzo de' Bicci, the same artist who was employed in the
Cathedral. This painting represents Michele da Panzano,
Govemor of the Hospital, attired in a black monastic dress,
kneeling at the feet of Pope Martin V. to receive the con-

STA. MARIA IN CAMPO, ETC. 91
firmation of those pontifical privileges which had already
been granted to the Hospital. The Venetian cardinal,
Antonio Cordera, is seated with the other cardinals in Con
sistory ; and Pope Eugenius IV., likewise then- a cardinal,
is attired in the blue dress of the Canons of San Giorgio
in Alge. To the left of the door, another fresco represents
the same governor, Michele da Panzano, receiving a Brief
from Pope Martin V., in front of the Church of Sta. Maria
Nuova. Panzano kneels and kisses the pope's hand ; he
wears a priest's vestments ; behind him are the officials
belonging to the Hospital, all in the monastic habit. The
Panzani were a branch of the Ricasoli family, and were
called Panzano, after a stronghold in their possession.
They must have been people of importance in Florence
when Michele was made the first Govemor of Portinari's
Hospital; and one of the family fought in the battle of
Montaperti. The daughter of Firidolfi da Panzano married
a Ricasoli in 181 8, thus renewing the connection between
the families, after an interval of eight hundred years.
The frescos in the rest of this compartment, under the
loggia or porch in front of the Hospital, are by Antonio
della Pomerancia, a painter of the sixteenth century. The
fresco at the farther extremity is an Annunciation by
Taddeo Zuccbero, of the same period, but is much
damaged. Within the church, to the right of the entrance, a plain
monument marks the spot where Folco Portinari was
buried. In a picture by Hugo Van der Goes the groups of
chUdren are portraits of the faraily of Folco ; a penitent
Magdalene is by Andrea del Castagno ; over the altar is a
Crucifix, attributed to Giovan Bologna ; and behind it is a

92 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
fine Luca deUa Robbia ; there are, besides, a Madonna by
Cristofano AUori, the Nativity and Flight into Egypt by
Veneziano, and Sant' Egidio discovered in his Cave by the
King of France, by Giunto Gemignano. Sant' Egidio, who
first showed his piety by healing a sick man, is an appro
priate saint for a hospital.* On the cassa, or shrine, there
is a Madonna and Angels by Fra Filippo, and the Missal
belonging to the church has admirable miniatures by
Cosimo Rosselli, painted between 1460 and 1470.
In the gardens of the Campo Santo, beside the cloister
where is the likeness of Monna Tessa, are the remains of a
once beautiful fresco of the Last Judgment, by Fra
Bartolommeo, finished by his friend Mariotto Albertinelli.
It is now protected by a shed ; and though a great part of
the painting is effaced, enough remains to prove its excel
lence. The drawing, expression, and movement of the
heads and figures, which can still be traced, are full of life,
beajity, and grace. Christ is seated above — a dignified
figure with a sad countenance ; he is surrounded by chera
bim. On either side are the Apostles, whose heads have
great variety as well as grandeur ; St. Peter and the Virgin
are nearest the Saviour: below, the archangel Michael
stands in the centre (but this part of the painting is almost
wholly destroyed) ; an angel, looking down, has a wonder
fully beautiful expression, and the two angels who blow
their trampets as they descend, give the idea of rapid move
ment by their outspread wings and flying draperies. The
lowest part of this fresco is, as usual, divided by the accepted
and the rejected ; among the last, one gazing upwards with
* See " Legends of the Monastic Orders," by Mrs, Jameson, p. 31.

STA. MARIA IN CAMPO, ETC. 93
a look of despair, and another walking with his hands raised,
are powerfully drawn.
In the Cloister, beyond the monument of Monna Tessa,
is a small tabemacle by Giovanni di San Giovanni.
In the first room of the Hospital there is a Madonna
with Saints by II Rosso. The Hospital contains about two
thousand beds, and is attended by twelve medical profes
sors ; there is a supply of instraments, and a library of five
thousand volumes, founded by the celebrated mathematician,
Vincenzo Viviani, the pupil of Galileo, is attached to the
institution. Among its treasures are some interesting manu
scripts relating to the history of Florence, one of which is the
original autograph copy of the works of Scipio Ammirato.
By the Via Sant' Egidio the visitor reaches a piazzetta in
which meet the Via dell' Orivolo and the Via Pietra Piana,
leading to the old Church of Sant' Ambrogio.
Sant' Ambrogio di Pietro Piana is one of the oldest
churches in Florence. The convent attached to the
church was the first containing nuns in Florence. They,
as well as the monks of the Badia, were Benedictines, until
during the French occupation of the last century, part
of the immense building was destroyed, and the nuns were
expelled. A few years afterwards the convent was bestowed
on the nuns of the Sacrd-Cceur, who stUl inhabit it. There
are between forty and fifty Sisters, who never leave the
walls, and are occupied with needlework, chiefly making j
priests' garments. Some have attained a great age ; and^
even those in middle life have been twenty-eight years thus
immured. There is nothing of artistic interest in the
dilapidated building, except an old fountain in the Cloister,
next the Refectory.

94 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The Church of Sant' Ambrogio was rebuUt by Giov. Batt.
Foggini ; and Luigi AdemoUo, a Milanese painter, within
this century decorated the fagade, nave, and choir with
representations of the life of St. Ambrose and of our
Saviour. Here Andrea Verocchio, the master of Leonardo
da Vinci, was buried; but the greatest treasures of this
church are the fresco by Cosimo RosseUi, and the marble
altar by Mino da Fiesole, both of them in the Capella della
Misericordia, to the left of the high altar. The fresco of
Cosimo Rosselli is esteemed his finest work ; it was painted
in 1476, and represents a miraculous chalice, containing the
sacramental wine, which was conveyed to the Archbishop's
Palace after it had been converted into the real blood of
the Saviour. Though much injured by a fire which took
place in this chapel, enough of the painting remains to give
an idea of its excellence. There is great variety of move
ment, and many of the heads have the air of portraits. In
a group to the left, the figure facing the spectator is said to
be a portrait of Pico della Mirandola, whose likeness is also
in the small room of Tuscan painters in the Ufifizi Gallery.
The head in this fresco appears to have been retouched.
Pico was a younger son of the Lord of Mirandola, bom in
1463. He acquired proficiency in Latin, Greek, Arabic,
Hebrew, and Chaldee, besides various sciences ; and, after
visiting the universities of France and Italy, settled in
Florence, where he devoted himself to the study of religion
and Platonic philosophy. He died in 1494. The female
figures in Rosselli's fresco are dignified and graceful, and
some of them, as well as the children, very lovely. The
dififerent impression made by the miracle, on young and old,
is admirably given.

STA. MARIA IN CAMPO, ETC. 95
The paintings on the ceUing of the chapel are almost
wholly destroyed.*
The richly carved marble altar to the right is that by
Mino da Fiesole. The Infant Saviour is represented stand
ing in the cup; adoring saints are on either side. The arch
above is covered with delicate foliage, interspersed with the
heads of cherabs ; the Etemai is seen above. The gradino,
or predella of small figures below the altar, is almost con
cealed by the table with candles and decorations in front.
In the centre a priest holds up the chalice, and worshipping
multitudes are on either side.
Descending the church on the same side with the Chapel
of the Misericordia, there is a finely carved wooden statuette
of St. Sebastian by Leonardo Tassini. Along the whole
length of the nave, on either side, is a series of shrines
or arches of carved stone, beneath which are pictures and
altars. In the third from the entrance, a painting on
panel is likewise by Cosimo Rosselli ; the Madonna in glory
surrounded by chembim and angels ; the Etemai above, and
below, St. Ambrose and St. Francis, with a landscape back
ground. The picture is wanting in force, but the predella
is extremely beautiful. It represents scenes from the life of
St. Francis : the Confirmation of his Order, by Pope
Honorius III. ; St. Francis receiving the Stigmata ; his
Death, surrounded by his disciples.
In a shrine on the opposite side of the nave is a Descent
from the Cross, by one of the school of Giotto. The ex
pression of the Magdalene, who receives the body of the
Saviour firom Nicodemus,, is full of beauty, in spite of
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 183.

96 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
exaggeration. The Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and St.
Catherine, stand passively by, as spectators.
In the next shrine there is a picture attributed to Giotto,
but with little probability. It is called the Madonna del
Latte, as the Virgin is suckUng the Child. To the right is
St. John the Baptist ; to the left St. Bartholomew with his
knife. There is a certain dignity in this composition, and
the picture is in tolerable preservation. In the third shrine
is a much-damaged picture, but good in drawing and com
position. The subject is St. Benedict, who is attired in
black, and seated ; an angel leads to him the youthful
Tobit, symbolical of the human pilgrim; St. Nicholas on the
left has his three balls in his hand.
In the Via de' Pilastri, nearly opposite the Church of
Sant' Ambrogio, is a house which in 1639 was the scene of
one of the most horrible tragedies of Florentine history. In
the reign of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand II. there Uved here
an elderly Florentine gentleman, Giustino Canacci, who had
been twice married, and his second wife, Caterina, was cele
brated for her beauty and virtue. Jacopo Salviati, Duke of
San Giuliano, was among her admirers, which excited the
jealousy of his duchess, Veronica Cibo, a Princess of
Massa. She determined to get rid of one she thought a
rival, and Caterina, having unfortunately incurred the hatred
of her step-son, Bartolommeo Canacci, he consented to
guide three assassins, hired by the duchess, to this house,
where Caterina was one evening entertaining some of her
friends. Here they murdered her, with her maid, who
remained beside her mistress when the rest of the party
had taken flight. Caterina's head was then cut oflf and
carried to the duchess, who concealed it in a bason of clean

STA. MARIA IN CAMPO, ETC. 97
linen, which it was customary to place in her husband's
apartment on the first day of the year. The duke un
covered the bason, and nearly fainted away on seeing its
contents. Though the crime was of so heinous a nature,
Bartolommeo Canacci alone suflfered punishment; he was
seized and beheaded, whilst the rest of the culprits escaped ;
the duchess left Florence, in greater dread of the fury of
the populace than of the justice of the tribunals. Crime
in high places had little to fear, when Ferdinand himself
entertained and employed the assassin Fra Paolo to get
rid of troublesome persons.* A well in the Via de Pento-
lini StiU exists into which the body of Bartolommeo Canacci
is said to have been thrown.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Cosimo Rosselli  . b. 1416 — d. 1484
Dino Compagni began his " Chronicle " . . 1280
„ „ ended „ ... 1312
Ferdinand II. ....... 1621 — 1670
Hospital of Sta. Maria Nuova bmlt ... 1285 — 1288
„ Church of Sta. Maria Nuova, consecrated
by Pope Martin V.  1456
Mino da Fiesole ....... b. 1431 — d. i486
Pico deUa Mirandola ...... !b. 1463^-d. 1494
Plague of Florence  1348
Sta. Maria in Campo belonged to the Bishops of
Fiesole until  1216
Sta. Maria, Miraculous Image brought to . , 1529
San Michele dei Visdomini modernised . . 1655
Verocchio, Andrea  b. 1432 — d. 1488
• See vol. i.— " Bargello."
VOL. II. H

CHAPTER VIII.
THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY.— STA. MADDALENA DE'
PAZZI.— THE PANCIATICHI GALLERY.— THE CAPPONI
GALLERY.— GAME OF PALLA E MAGLIO.
Tj'ROM Sant' Ambrogio a wide street leads to the modem
Piazza of Massimo d' Azeglio, which contains a large
public garden, with seats for the accommodation of the
pubUc. On one side is a new theatre, or circus, called
after Prince Umberto. Near this piazza lies the old Pro
testant Cemetery of Florence, once beyond the Porta Pinti,
and under the shelter of the ivy-covered walls, both of
which have been included in the recent demolitions. The
greater number of the tall old cypresses which crowned the
summit of the niound have been cut down, and the pictu
resque beauty, as well as seclusion of the spot, which were
so congenial to the feeUngs of mourning friends, no longer
exist. It is now protected by a neat iron railing, within
which have been planted cypresses and various shrabs,
which it is to be hoped will, in time, restore some of
its former beauty. The mountains of VaUombrosa and
Fiesole are not quite shut out by the row of houses
rising on all sides, and the order and care bestowed by
the municipality, into whose hands it has faUen by pur
chase, leave no room for complaints. The white marble

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. 99
monuments, to each of which is attached a little garden of
roses or other flowers, give a peculiar loveliness to this
cemetery, far removed from gloom, and in the spring-time,
the remains of the departed seem to repose under a shower
of sweet blossoms. Among the monuments raised to those
whose names are known to the world, may be mentioned
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mrs. TroUope and her accom
plished daughter-in-law, the poet Arthur Clough, and the
American divine Theodore Parker.
Returning to the Piazza Massimo d' Azeglio, and passing
the Teatro del Principe Umberto, we arrive at the Via della
Colonna, which leads to the Borgo Pinti. To the left is
the Convent of Santa Maddalena de' Pazzi ; to the right the
Palace of the Marchese Panciatichi. Strangers have only
lately been permitted to enter the sacred precincts of this
convent, where a fresco in the chapter-house, representing
the Cmcifixion, is the finest work of Peragino. As the
chapter-house is now separated from the convent, the
privacy of the nuns is still held sacred.
The saint from whom the convent derived its name, was
a lady of the Pazzi family, who took the veil, and lived and
died in a convent on the other side of the Amo, opposite the
Church of San Frediano. She was Canonized, for her sin
gular piety, by Pope Alexander VlII. in 1670.* The sisters
were then transferred to their present habitation, which pre
viously, since 1220, h^d been occupied by Cistercian monks
who employed Perugino, when on a visit to Florence, to
paint the fi-esco. It was at this period that he likewise painted
the Madonna and Child with the Baptist and St. Sebastian,
• See Mrs. Jameson, " Legends of the Monastic Orders," p. 475.

100 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
for the monks of San Domenico in Fiesole, now in the
tribune of the Uflizi Gallery. Perugino's chief patrons
were the Gesuati, or monks of St. Justus, whose monastery
was just beyond the Porta Pinti, and whose skill in painting
on glass, displayed in the windows ofthe Florentine cathedral,
was probably derived frora Flanders.*
In the fresco of the chapter-house of Sta. Maddalena de'
Pazzi, the influence of the Florentine on the Umbrian
School may be clearly perceived — the union of dramatic
power with grace and tenderness. The subject is divided
in three compartraents. In the centre the Saviour hangs on
the Cross, and the Magdalene kneels below ; in the com-.
partment to the right are St. John, the beloved disciple of
our Lord, and St. Benedict; in that to the left are the Vir
gin and St. Bemard. The composition is perfectly siraple,
and is in harmony with the solemnity of the scene repre
sented. A beautiful landscape background unites the three
corapartraents. A winding river skirts a range of low hiUs,
reserabling the country in the neighbourhood of Orvieto,
where Perugino was at this tirae engaged to paint with Pin
turicchio. Tall trees with light foliage crown the surarait of
the hill behind St. Bemard. But the attention of the spec
tator is rivetted by the raajestic and touching beauty of our
Saviour's head, over which the shadow of death truly seeras
to pass. It is encircled with a green fillet, and a purple
cloth is bound round the loins. The body has none of the
meagreness of Perugino's usual 'work, but is .drawn and
coloured with great breadth and softness. The Magdalene,
* This art seems to have been successfully practised by the Cistercian
Order. The fine glass in the choir of Lichfield Cathedral was brought
from a Cistercian nunnery near Lifege.

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. loI
attired in black, with a red mantle lined with green over her
shoulders, gazes upwards at the Saviour, her countenance
calm in the repose of entire trust that her sins are forgiven.
St. John is truly represented as the apostle of Love.
He is clothed in green, whilst St. Benedict wears the original
black habit of his Order. The Virgin is also in black, with
a purple mantle. She stands with her hands meekly clasped,
and with lips apart, the image of resignation, and of deep",
unspoken grief. A beautiful sketch for this figure by
Pemgino is among the drawings exhibited in the Ufifizi.
St. Bemard, the founder of the Cistercian branch of the
Benedictines, is in white, beside the mother of our Lord.
The entrance to the present Convent of Sta. Maddalena
de' Pazzi is in the Borgo Pinti. To the right is a chapel,
built by a cousin of San Filippo Neri, the founder o. the
Order of the Oratory ; he at first intended to dedicate his
pious work to San Filippo, but he changed his mind when the
canonization of his cousin was delayed, and the chapel was
therefore instead dedicated to Santi Nereo ed AchUleo. The
walls are covered with frescos by Bernardo Pocetti, which
are among the best works of this artist. The original design
for the cupola is among the drawings exhibited in the Uffizi.
A picture by Passignano commemorates the Martyrdom of
the Saints. Beyond this chapel is the outer cloister of the
monastery. The Ionic columns in front of the church are
by Giuliano di San Gallo, and, as Vasari states in his life of
San Gallo, were intended to imitate the antique. The church
does not contain any picture of extraordinary merit, except
the Coronation of the Virgin by Cosimo Rosselli, painted in
tempera, and treated with much grandeur. The Virgin is
very dignified and lovely ; she bends gracefully to receive

102 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the crown ; an angel below the Saviour bears the lily and
the erablems of the Passion. Behind the Virgin other angels
carry musical instruments; a garland of chembs surround the
principal group, with prophets and saints ; St. Peter and
St. John kneel in the centre ; John the Baptist is to the
right. This picture appears to have been painted contem
poraneously with the fresco in Sant' Ambrogio. In the
sacristy is an excellent copy of a Madonna by Luca Gior
dano, the original ofwhich is in the choir. In the left transept
is the Sepulchre of Sta. Maddalena de' Pazzi, whose body was
embalmed, .and is preserved under glass in the convent.
There is also an interesting picture of Sant' Ignazio and
San Roch by Raffaellino del Garbo, who painted the
Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes for the refectory of the
convent. This artist was a pupil of Filippino Lippi, and
contemporary of Lorenzo di Credi, 1466 — 1524. Of early
promise, he appears to have disappointed the hopes of those
who expected to see him a great artist, and affectation and
mannerism prove hira to have been more the mechanic than
the man of genius.* The remaining pictures within the
church are a Coronation of the Virgin, by Fabrizio Boschi,
who painted the Tabemacle at the corner of the Bargello ;
an Annunciation, by Botticelli, but too much defaced or too
dark to be visible ; and pictures . by Matteo Rosselli, Santi
di Tito, and others of inferior name. The pavement of
coloured marbles before the high altar is worthy of notice ;
and within the choir are the paintings by Luca Giordano,
already referred to.

• See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iu. p. 416, and Vasari, "Vite
dei Pittori," vol. vu. p. 191.

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. 103
Opposite the Convent of Sta. Maddalena de' Pazzi is the
fine palace buUt by Ammanati, with gardens attached to it,
which belonged to the family of Simone di Firenzuole. The
Panciatichi, to whom the palace next Sta. Maddalena de'
Pazzi belongs, is a very ancient family of Pistoia, who carry
their history back to the eleventh century. They owed
their greatness to Imperial favour, and first settled in
Florence in 1352. The rich collection of paintings belong
ing to the present representative of the family are, most of
them, on sale, as well as a valuable collection of objects of
virtii ; the prices asked are high, and when any of the
treasures, which fill twenty-six rooms of the palace, are sold,
they are iraraediately replaced by articles of equal value.
Every picture has a ticket with the name of the artist, and the
date of his birth. One of the most interesting pictures here
is the Madonna della SteUa, by Fra Bartolommeo. The
beauty and tenderness expressed in the countenance of the
Virgin, who bends reverentially to kiss the head of her
infant, is truly exquisite. A Magdalene, evidently the por
trait of a young lady, by the same master, is likewise very
beautiful. Both these paintings have been long in the Pan
ciatichi family. Near the Madonna is a good specimen of
Baldassare Pemzzi, a late acquisition : the subject is a
Holy Family, the Virgin reading. It is in a fine old Floren
tine frame of carved dark wood, picked out with gold. Two
pictures are attributed to Joas Cleef, called II Pazzo — the
Mad — mentioned in Walpole's " Lives of the Painters "
among artists in England during the reign of Queen Mary.
The pictures here by Cleef represent an Entombraent, and
Christ crowned with Thoms, both very powerful. The
Madonna and Child, with St, John the Baptist, painted in

104 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
chiaroscuro by Andrea del Sarto, is a replica of the picture
in the Pitti. A portrait of Baccio Valori is by the same
artist. Baccio, bom in 1467, was one ofthe chief adherents
of the Medici, and was in great favour with Pope Clement
VII. After the accession of Duke Cosimo I., he joined
Filippo Strozzi in his attempt to liberate Florence from the
new sovereign, and was taken prisoner after the battle of
Monte Murlo. He was led through the streets of Florence
on a pony, exposed to the insults of the multitude, who had
already demolished part of his house in the Via degli Albizzi,
and he was executed in the court of the Bargello, 1537.
The finest portrait in this gallery is that of Piero Soderini,
by Leonardo da Vinci. Soderini, born in 1450, was created
perpetual Gonfalonier ofthe Republic in 1502, which ofifice,
however, he only held ten years. Though a strong opponent
of the Medici, he was a man of mild and unpretending cha
racter, and a patron of Art and Literature. 'When the
Medici returned to power, he was banished, and ended his
days in Rome.
A beautiful picture by Mariotto Albertinelli represents the
ChUd seated on a pedestal with the head of Joseph appearing
behind ; the Virgin, a lovely figure, stands beside him, and
lays her hand on the head of the Christ ; in the background
is a landscape with monks. There is also in another room
a very small but beautiful Annunciation, by Albertinelli.
A singular rather than beautiful composition, by Fra Filippo
Lippi, represents angels oflfering grapes and corn, typical of
the Resurrection, to the Infant Christ, who is seated on the
lap of the Virgin ; the charm of this composition consists in
the thoughtful, earnest expression in the face of the Virgin,
and timid doubt in that of the Child, who shrinks from

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. 105
the angel, yet seems to desire the gifts. A picture containing
a multitude of figures, also by Fra Filippo, represents the
betrayal of a small fortified town or castello in a war between
Sienna and Arezzo ; there is much animation in the figures,
especially in the groups of fighting horseraen in the land
scape behind.
Two most exquisite small paintings, by Andrea Mantegna,
represent St. John the Baptist and St. Peter ; and in the same
room is a Deposition, by Crivelli, the precursor of the Bellini
and of Titian ; it is rich in colour and gilding, as well as
highly finished, and forcible, if somewhat exaggerated in
expression. A very finely coloured portrait, by Titian, repre
sents Laura, one of the three wives of Alfonso of Ferrara,
the brother of the celebrated Leonora of Tasso. A large
and valuable picture by Garofalo, belonging to a friend of
the Marchese Panciatichi, is on sale here. The subject is a
Madonna and Child in glory, with angels; and below,
three saints. There are several pictures by Sustermans,
among them a group of three chUdren of the family — 1577
— and a portrait of a lovely princess of the house of Medici
— 1597 — with another of her mother, who strongly resembles
her daughter. There are likewise interesting portraits of
Neri di Gino Capponi — 1568 — and of Frangesco Valori,
who was tom to pieces by the mob, because a follower of
Savonarola ; his monument is in the cloisters of the Badia.
The portrait of a boy is by Correggio. A likeness of
Metastasio is by Pompeo Battoni, who died in 1787. In
the same room are two lovely heads by Guido Reni, repre
senting Diana and Endymion. There are several splendid
landscapes by Rosa di Tivoli and Salvator Rosa, and a
small cabinet, painted by this last artist in sea-pieces, and

io6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
landscapes. His finest picture in this coUection is a battle-
piece, which unites his usual power and animation with
a finish, light, and clearness unusual in his works. A
portrait of Salvator Rosa by hiraself, in a black cloak and
hood, and a torn glove on one hand, is one of the most
powerful pictures here, both in expression and colour.
There are several bronzes of merit in the gallery ; two by
Giovan Bologna, the Arno and the Tiber ; and a shepherd
carrying a lamb on his shoulders ; but the finest is a small
but noble group by Donatello, of David springing on GoUath,
with his sword raised to slay him. The giant struggles to
rise, his head is thrown slightfy back, the stone is in his fore
head, his mouth is open as if uttering a cry, and he grasps the
earth with both clenched hands ; the curve of his body, and
the muscular action of his legs as he strives to rise, are
grandly composed, and true to nature : in wonderful and
graceful contrast is the easy, light, and slender figure of
David, who with one hand seizes his enemy by the hair,
and with the other grasps his sword raised to strike.
In an upper storey of the palace is displayed a rich col
lection of objects of virtii. On one table is a large set
of the black Wedgewood ware ; cups and vases of blue
Sfevres, agate, and rock-crystal, are on other tables; a
loug gallery is lined with glass cases, containing guns,
pistols, and swords, the old manufacture of Brescia and
Pistoia ; and one richly ornamented pistol is the work of
Benvenuto Cellini. A gold vase has delicate sUver figures,
copied from the antique. The largest and most valuable
part of this collection are blue enamelled bronze vases from
China, with various Chinese and Japanese curiosities;
among them a figure in complete armour made of iron and

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. 107
silk ; a black iron mask is on the face, and the shoes have
so high a polish as to resemble fine jet or glass.
The Panciatichi Palace was built by Giuliano and Antonio
di San GaUo for their own abode : when Napoleon Buona
parte was in Florence, in 1796, he lodged in this palace,
then the residence of the French minister.
In the Borgo Pinti, near where was once the Porta, is
the Palazzo Gherardesca, inhabited by a collateral descendant
of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, of Pisa, celebrated
by Dante in his " Infemo." This palace contains little of
interest beyond the beauty of its gardens ; but it formerly
received within its walls the historian Bartolommeo della
Scala — 1430 — the son of a poor miller from Colle, on the
road to Sienna, who was patronised by the Medici.
The Via della Pergola crosses the Via della Colonna and
the Via della Mandorla ; the Pergola, or Bower, was pro
bably at one time in the midst of gardens. Here is the
fashionable theatre or opera-house of Florence. The first
theatre in the Ufifizi, built by Buontalenti for the Grand-Duke
Francis I., was abandoned in the seventeenth century, and
applied to other uses. The passion for theatrical amuse
ments, however, induced some young dilettanti to form
themselves into a company, which assumed the narae of
Accademia degli Infuocati, and adopted as their emblem a
bombshell ready to burst; they gave dramatic representations
at the house of their patron Don Lorenzo, the son of Ferdi
nand I., which was on the .site bf the Palazzo Corsini, Via del
Parione. After Don Lorenzo's death they hired a house in
the Via del Cocomero, now Ricasoli, where is the present
Teatro NiccoUni ; but the number of performers increasing,
part of them separated, and purchased a tiraioio of the

ro8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Guild of Wool, in the Via della Pergola, on which they con-:
stracted a theatre of wood. Such was the beginning of the
Florentine opera house. In the Via della Pergola, a
tablet marks the house where Benvenuto CeUini cast his
Perseus, as described in his Memoir.* Cristofano AUori
had also a house here.
At the end of the Via deUa Mandorla, joining the Via
San Sebastiano, is alarge house, a detached portion ofwhich
in the Via della Mandorla is decorated with sculpture, the
residence of Andrea del Sarto, when he returned from
France, and afterwards of Federigo Zucchero.
In the Via San Sebastiano — so named after the Pucci
Chapel in the opposite Church of the SS. Annunziata, is a
group of Luca della Robbia work over a door leading to an
elegant though small cloister, adorned with frescos by
Pocetti, which once belonged to the Confratemity of San
Piero Maggiore.
Towards the centre of the street is the Palazzo Capponi,
the largest palace, with the exception of the Pitti, in Florence.
The gardens behind join those of the Gherardesca. The
palace is still inhabited by the last representative of the
elder and most celebrated branch of the family, who is
revered and beloved by bis countrymen, and hardly less
held in honour by every stranger visiting Florence.
The Capponi were in the fourteenth century a powerful
popolano family, belonging to the Arte della Seta — Guild
of Silk — and inhabited the quarter of S^n Frediano
beyond the river. They were always found taking part
against the turbulent nobles of the city, ready to check,
* The Perseus is under the Loggia de' Lanzi,

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. 109
as far as in them lay, the undue aspirations for power of
ambitious citizens, and fearlessly maintaining the liberties
and greatness of Florence. Gino Capponi, bom 1360, first
gave importance to his family, by successfully directing a
war which gave Pisa to Florence. Of his three sons, the
descendants of one settled at Lyons in France, where they
were noted for benevolence, but this branch became extinct
in 1797. A descendant of another founded the Riccardi
library of Florence, and is still represented by the Marchese
Capponi, who inhabits a palace in the Via Bardi. Frora
the eldest Neri is descended a long line of patriots, the
last of whom is the present Marchese Gino Capponi.
The palace in the Via San Sebastiano was built after a
design by Fontana. On a magnificent staircase, within the
right wing, is a modem statue of Piero Capponi, who made
himself famous by his bold defiance of Charles VIII. of
France. A narrow staircase, in the left wing, leads to the
library, rich in manuscripts, and to the picture gallery,
containing a large collection of paintings, and where the
ceilings are painted in fresco. Among the most interesting
is a portrait of Piero Capponi in the second room, pro
bably taken from authentic sources, by Angiolo AUori.
Another good picture, by a recent artist, Sabatelli, repre
sents Piero tearing the treaty in the presence of the King of
France. Nearer the window is a fine, though small, picture
of St. Jerome, by Carlo Dolce ; and facing the light another
St. Jerome (No. 114), attributed to the school of Albert,
Diirer, though corrected in the catalogue to Pinturicchio, a
beautiful and highly finished picture. The Infant Christ and
St. John the Baptist conversing, in the rocky background,
are most lovely, and the expression of the saint is very fine.

IIO WALKS IN FLORENCE.
In a third room is a picture, by Gardini, of Pandolfo Ricasoli
and his companion in guilt listening to their sentence by
the Inquisition, pronounced in the Refectory of Sta. Croce
before a crowd of witnesses. A Last Communion of St,
Jerorae is by Andrea del Castagno ; a very sweet picture
ofthe Madonna and Child, No. 173, is by Marco d' Oggione,
a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci ; above it is a fine Christ ill
the arms of Nicodemus, by Andrea del Sarto. No. 160 is
a good portrait of a gentleman, with a little girl holding a
flower, of the Venetian school. But the gem of the col
lection is a Communion of St. Jerome, by Filippino Lippi, a
most exquisite miniature ; the expression of the saint, of the
priest who places the wafer in his mouth, and ofthe attend
ant monks, is true to nature, forcible and eamest ; and every
detail of the accessories is finished with the utmost delicacy.
In a fourth room is a portrait of the present Marchese Gino
Capponi when young ; a fifth roora contains some exceUent
portrait-heads. A large bed of state is shown in a room
near the entrance, with rich carving, cherubs, Src., in wood
gilt. Nearly opposite the Capponi Palace is the Palace of the
VeUuti-Zati, Dukes of San Clemente, formerly among the
merchant- princes of Florence, and inventors of velvet.
They were employed at various times on important political
missions abroad, and received the title of Dukes of San
Clemente from one of the popes. This palace was in
habited by Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, and
afterwards by the EngUsh minister at the Court of Florence.
Proceeding westward, we arrive at an old Dominican
convent, directly behind San Marco, now used by the
government, and therefore cleared of anything it might have

THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY, ETC. in
possessed of artistic value. Nearly opposite is the oldest
botanical garden in Europe, which was enclosed by order
of the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., to prevent the nuns being
disturbed at their devotions by the noisy sounds of the
game of "palla e maglio," at that time a favourite pastime of
the Florentines. The game was introduced from Naples in
the fifteenth century, and the ground chosen for this diver
sion was between San Marco and the walls, where there were
no buildings at that time, except the Convent of the Domini
can nuns and the Studio Fiorentino, or Academy for Artists,
erected from a dying bequest of Nicolo d' Uzzano. The
maglio was a bat by which the ball was sent to a given
distance. The amusement appears to have had sorae
analogy with our game of cricket. Pall Mall was pro
bably named after it. For a fuU description the reader is
referred to "L' Academie Universelle des Jeux," printed at
Amsterdam in 1756.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
AlbertineUi, Mariotto  b. 1475 — d. 1520
AUori, Angiolo  b. 1511 — d. 1580
„ Cristofano ;  , b. 1577 — ^d. 1621
Ammanati  b. 1511 — ^d. 1589
Andrea del Sarto ....... b. 1488 — d. 1530
Battoni, Pompei  b. 1702 — d. 1787
Bologna, Giovan  b. 1525— d. 1608
Boschi Fabrizio  b. 1570 — d. 1642
Capponi, Neri, founded the greatness of his famUy . 1360
„ Neri di Gino  d. 1568
„ Piero ....... d. 1496
Castagno, Andrea del  b. 1409— d. 1477

112 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
CeUini, Benvenuto  b. 1500 — d. 1570
Cistercian monks established in the Via della Colonna 1 220
Cleef, Joas  b. 1500 — d. 1536
Correggio  b. 1494— d. 1529
Crivelli flourished  1450 — 1476
Dolce, Carlo  b. 1616— d. 1686
DonateUo  b. 1383— d. 1466
Fontana  b. 1634— d. 1714
Fra Bartolommeo .  b. 1469 — d. 1517
Garofalo  b. 1481 — d. 1559
Giordano, Luca  b. 1632 — d. 1705
Lippi, Fra FiUppo  b. 1400— d. 1469
„ FUippino  b. 1460— d. 1505
Neri, San Filippo . . . ... . . b. 1515— d. 1595,
Panciatichi settled at Florence .... 1352
Passignano  b. 1558- d. 1638
Pazzi, Sta. Maddalena dei, canonized, and nuns
transferred to the Via deUa Colonna . . . 1670
Pemgino, Pietro .  b. 1446— d. 1524
Peruzzi, Baldassare  b. 1481— d. 1536
Pmturicchio  b. 14S4— d. 1513
RaffaeUino del Garbo  b, 1466— d. 1524
Rosa di TivoU  b. 1613— d. 1649
Rosa, Salvator  b. 1613— d. 1673
RosseUi, Cosimo  b. 1439— d. 1506
San GaUo, Giuliano di  b, 1443  d. IC17
„ Antonio di  b. 1482— d. 1546
Scala, Bartolommeo deUa  b. 1430— d. 1495
Soderini, Piero  b. 1450- d. isi4(.?)
Sustermans  b. 1597-d. i68i
Valori, Baccio  b. 1354— d. 1427
„ Fran9esco  b. 1439— d. 1498
Vinci, Leonardo da  b, 1445— d. 1519

CHAPTER IX.
CONVENT AND CHURCH OF THE SS. ANNUNZIATA.
' I 'HE Convent and Church of the SS, Annunziata was
built by the Servi or Serviti, an order of monks
founded in 1239 by seven rich and noble Florentines, who
were in the habit of meeting daily to sing the " Ave Maria,"
or evening service to the Madonna, in the Chapel of San
Zenobio, on the site of Giotto's Campanile, Their piety
was so conspicuous, that the women and children as they
.passed them would exclaim, " Guardate i Servi di Maria,"
" Behold the Servants of the Virgin." This religious
fervour at length led them to retire from the world, and to
devote themselves wholly to the service of the Madonna.
They selected for their retreat a poor and wretched cottage
near the Porta dei Perazzi, on the site of the present Church
of Sta. Croce; but finding an abode so near the city
unfavourable to contemplation, they removed to the
summit of Monte Senario, one of the Apennines, about
seven miles north of Florence, where their monastery, in
the midst of its dark woods, is stUl visible from many parts
of the city. * See Mrs. Jameson's " Monastic Orders."
VOL. II. I

114 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The Convent and Church of the SS. Annunziata was built
in 1250, on the site of the ancient oratory, by one of the
seven original founders of the order. At that period this
quarter of Florence was outside the third circuit of walls,
and was known as Cafaggio, Campo di Faggio — Field of
Beech. The convent has nothing reraarkable in its struc
ture ; but the church, altered and erabelUshed at dififerent
periods, is handsorae and very richly decorated. The
entrance was originally towards the north.
The atrium or portico of the church faces the piazza,
and is composed of seven arches, raised on slender
Corinthian columns. The central arch was erected by
Leo X., after a design by Antonio di San Gallo, and in
1512 it was decorated with a fresco representing Faith,
Hope, and Charity, by Jacopo Caracci da Pontormo (1493
— 1588) ; but of which unfortunately little now reraains.
Pontorrao was only nineteen years of age when he executed
this fresco ; and Michael Angelo esteemed the work so
highly, that he declared, " If the youth continued in this
path he would raise painting to the skies.". There are
three doors under the portico ; that to the left opens on
the cloister and- leads to the convent; to the right is the
entrance to the Chapel of the Pucci family, dedicated to San
Sebastiano. It was founded about the year 1300, and
was adomed with frescos by Pocetti, in the seventeenth
century. It formerly contained an altarpiece — the Martyr
dom of St. Sebastian, by Antonio PoUajuolo (1426 — 1498),
which is now in the National Gallery of London, as it was
sold by the Marchese Pucci in 1857. The picture is one
of PoUajuolo's most celebrated works.
The central door under the portico opens on the cortile.

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 115
or court of entrance ; over this door is a lunette, containing
a mosaic of the Annunciation, by David Ghirlandaio, who,
inferior to his brother Domenico in painting, excelled him
as a mosaicist. The cortile is surrounded by an arcade,
according to the old basilican type,* here a late addition
made by the Medici ; it is decorated with frescos, most
of which are preserved under glass. They are best
seen in the morning light. The earliest of the series,
by Alessio Baldovinetti (1422 — 1499), represents the Na
tivity, and is painted at the back of the Chapel of the
Annunciation. Alessio made use of a strong vehicle, com
posed of yolk of eggs mixed with varnish, by which he
hoped to preserve his paintings from the weather, but un
fortunately it peeled oflf, and the colours disappeared, as
may be seen in this fresco, of which Vasari writes, that it
was executed vdth such pains that every wisp of the straw
thatch of the cottage can be counted ; he imitated the
efifect on stone caused by rain and ice in the rained walls,
and faithfully copied from nature the root of a great ivy,
painting the diflferent colour of the two sides of the leaves, &c.
A close imitator of nature, the outline drawing here, which
is discovered by the destruction of the painting, is very pure
and correct. The Virgin kneels in prayer before the Infant,
who lies on the ground. St. Joseph is plunged in thought,
his hands clasped over his right knee ; two shepherds
advance towards the group, and a serpent behind them is
retreating through a hole in the waU, symbolizing the sin of
our first parents departing with the birth of the Saviour.
The Annunciation to the Shepherds is represented to the
* See " Christian Art," Lord Lindsay, vol. i. p. 13.

ii6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
left of the picture, with a beautiful landscape background ; a
frame painted in medallions surrounds the composition.*
The genuine works of Alessio Baldovinetti are very rare.
Next this fresco is the Life and Miracles of San Filippo
Benizzi, by Cosimo RosseUi and Andrea del Sarto, in six
corapartraents, preserved beneath glass. This saint joined
the Servites in 1247, fifteen years after the foundation of the
order ; he had begun life as a physician, and had studied
in Padua and at Paris,''before he retumed to Florence to
practise his art. In obedience to a vision which appeared
to him whilst attending mass in the Chapel of the SS. An
nunziata, he resolved to abandon the world, and he retired
to Monte Senario, where he becarae distinguished as a
preacher, and ultimately rose to be General of the order ;
he died in 1285. Leo X. granted him the title of beato \
in 1516, but he was not formally canonized until 1671. It
was on the occasion of his beatification that this cortile was
decorated with frescos. The first of this series was painted
by Cosimo Rosselli (1439 — 1506 ?), and represents the
saint assuraing the habit of the order. It is not a picture
of superlative merit, nor even the best specimen of the
master. The five other compartments, representing the
miracles of San Filippo Benizzi, are by Andrea del Sarto,
and painted after 1548, Vasari relates that the sacristan
of the convent, one Fra Mariano, when he engaged
Andrea's services, ingeniously contrived, by rousing his
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 375.
t The decree of beatification did not confer the privUege of being
invoked as an intercessor and portrayed in the churches ; it was
merely a_ declaration that the person so distinguished had passed a holy
Ufe, and been received into bUss — beato, "blessed."

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 117
jealousy of his brother-artist Franciabigio, to get as much
as possible from him at the smallest remuneration. The
first fresco by Andrea del Sarto represents San Filippo, on
his road to the Papal Court at Viterbo, dividing his cloak
with a leper. Next to this is one of the best of the series,
— the saint, with three of the brethren, is on his way to
Monte Senario, and is persecuted by tlie insults and gibes
of a party of loose fellows ; a storm arises, and these raen
take refuge under a tree, where they are killed by the light
ning, while San Filippo and his companions pull their cowls
over their heads, and quietly pursue their way. This fresco
exhibits Andrea's versatility in composition, as well as his
skill in landscape. In the fourth fresco, San FiUppo heals
a woraan possessed with a deraon ; the incident is rendered
with simplicity, the interest of the spectators is well-sus
tained, and there is neither coarseness nor exaggeration in
the attitude and expression of the afflicted person. These
three frescos were the first Andrea executed, and excited so
much admiration that he was at once ordered to commence
the two last of the series, — the Miracle performed on the
death of San Filippo, and children healed of disease by
touching his garments. In the first, a friar leans over the
dead body, while groups of spectators are gathered together
on either side, in the foreground ; the priests in the back
ground suspend their chant in astonishment, as they witness
the miracle : a chUd is lying dead on the floor, but, revived
by the touch of the saint's bier, he rises to life. The other
fresco, in which children are brought by their parents
to touch the garments of San Filippo, is remarkably well
composed. A priest stands in a doorway, and lays the
clothes on the head of a child, who kneels beside his

ii8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
mother; to the left a cripple receives charity; to the right
an aged man approaches, leaning on his staflf, supposed to
be the portrait of Andrea della Robbia, personally known
to Andrea del Sarto, and father of the more celebrated
Luca.* An admirable bust of Andrea del Sarto, in the
centre of the arcade, is by Raffaelle da Montelupo, a pupU
of Michael Angelo, and is placed over his grave.
The opposite side of the cortile, also protected by glass,
contains two other frescos by Andrea del Sarto, one by
Franciabigio, another by Jacopo da Pontormo, and the last
by II Rosso Fiorentino.
The Visit of the Magi, and the Birth of the Virgin, are
by Andrea. The forraer was intended for a continuation of
Baldovinetti's Nativity. In the foreground, araong the fol
lowers of the kings, Andrea has introduced several por
traits. To the right, the figure facing the spectator is the
sculptor, Jacopo Sansovino ; the head seen in profile is
the musician, Frangesco AjoUe ; the figure leaning on
the arm of Sansovino is Andrea himself. The Nativity of
the Virgin is one of Andrea's finest compositions. The
picture is divided into two groups, of which Joachim, who
sits meditating, forras the connecting link ; St. Anne is the
centre of attraction in the group to the right, the infant
Virgin in that to the left. The females in attendance are
singularly graceful and dignified. When Jacopo da Empoli,
about 1570, some years after the death of Andrea, was
copying this fresco, an old lady who was on her way to
mass paused beside his easel, and pointing to the central
figure, informed him, that was the portrait of the painter's
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iu. pp. 546 — S5°-

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 119
wife. .After conversing with Jacopo some little time, she
acknowledged herself to be Lucretia, the beautiful widow of
a hatter, whom Andrea married, and who became the
torment of his life.
The Marriage of the Virgin is by Frangesco di Cristofano,
better known as Franciabigio (1482 — 1525), a pupil of
AlbertineUi, and friend of Andrea del Sarto. He painted
this fresco in 15 13. The High Priest marries Joseph and
Mary before a noble palace, covered with reliefs of Scripture
subjects. The despair of the unsuccessful suitors is well re
presented. Franciabigio had nearly finished his painting on
the eve of a great festival of the Church, some touches
were still wanting, when the monks, impatient to display
the work, removed the screens. The wrath of the artist
knew no bounds ; he hastened to the convent, and, seizing
a hammer, nearly obliterated the heads of the Virgin and of
several other persons, to the great amusement of his com
panions, none of whom could be persuaded to restore what
the master had destroyed. To this day the fresco, although
the best work of Franciabigio, has remained in the condi
tion in which he left it.
The adjoining fresco, the Visitation of Elizabeth to
Mary, is by Jacopo da Pontormo, the pupil of Andrea del
Sarto, who executed it in 1516. Vasari praises the work,
and says that Pontormo painted it in a new manner, and
was especially successful in the flesh, referring particularly
to the boy seated on the steps. The Assumption of the
Virgin, the last of the series in the cortile, is by II Rosso
Fiorentino (1496' — 1541); ''vho painted it in 1513, when only
seventeen years of age. II Rosso afterwards visited Rome
and Venice, and proceeded to France, where he painted for

120 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Francis I., and was appointed by that monarch superin
tendant of the works at Fontainebleau. The Madonna is
surrounded in the heavens by a crowd of angels; the
Apostles stand below ; St. James, who wears the dress of a
pilgrim, is the portrait of Frangesco Bemi, the satirist;
and the smUe Franciabigio has given him is probably in
aUusion to the style of comic poetry which he invented,
and which has been caUed after him Bemesca.
The Church of the SS. Annunziata is composed of a single
nave, with five chapels on either side, two short transepts,
and a circular choir, surmounted by a cupola. The whole
is richly decorated with paintings, stucco, and gilding. The
Assumption of the Virgin on the ceiling of the nave is by
Baldassare Frangeschini, called II Volterrano (1611 — 1689),
one of the best painters in fresco of his day, and a pupil
of Matteo Rosselli (the best colourist of the Revival), and
of Giovanni di San Giovanni. The cupola of the tribune is
also by him. Twelve frescos along the whole length of the
nave, on the wall beneath the ceiling, are by Cosirao UUvelli
(1625 — 1704), a pupil of II Volterrano. Before the church
was as much decorated as it now is, it was customary to
suspend from the roof waxen images of living eminent per
sons. This privilege was only granted to citizens entitled
to the highest magisterial ofifices, or to foreign sovereigns.
The efifigy of Lorenzo de' Medici, by Andrea Verocchio,
was thus suspended in the dress he wore when he miracu
lously escaped death frora the daggers of the Pazzi. To
remove any such efifigy was considered the greatest insult
and disgrace ; and if one fell to the ground it was thought
an evil omen. The images of Florentine citizens were
hung on one side of the church ; those of Popes and foreign

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 121
potentates on the other. When the SS. Annunziata was
altered to please modem taste, these eflfigies were trans
ferred to the outer cortile, but in the reign of Pietro Leopoldo
they were wholly removed.
There are few pictures of any importance in this church.
The first chapel, to the right of the entrance, contains the
last work of Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli (15 54 — 1 640). The
subject is the Virgin with St. Nicholas and other saints.
Jacopo was a dUigent copyist of the paintings of Andrea
del Sarto, and one of the best masters of his period,
which was that of the reformed Florentine School. This
picture has, however, been so much meddled with, that it is
difficult to recognise the hand of the master.
The second chapel has a good altarpiece by Piero Dan-
dini(i646 — 1712), aFlorentine painter of considerable merit,
patronised by the Grand-Duke Cosimo IIL, but negligent
in the finishing of his works.
In the fifth chapel, on this side, is the torab of Orlando de'
Medici, who lived in the fifteenth century, but was in no
way distinguished except having been knighted by the
Eraperor Frederick III. in the Florentine Cathedral. The
monument is, however, a fine exaraple of the sculpture of
that period, and is attributed to Simone, by some supposed
to have been the brother of Donatello.
The sixth chapel contains the grave of the painter
Giovanni Stradone ; his bust is by his son Scipio. Strada,
Stradanus, or Stradone, born at Bmges in 1536, and rauch
employed in Rorae, where he worked in conjunction with
Daniele da Voltena, was a member of the Florentine
Academy, and died in Florence in 1605.
The nave is terrainated on either side by richly sculptured

122 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
marble organ galleries, with altars below, the work of Fran
gesco Silvani.
In the eastem transept is a chapel containing the tomb
of Baccio BandineUi, the vain, ambitious, feeble rival of
Michael Angelo, of whom so many diverting anecdotes are
related by Benvenuto Cellini; he was laid here in 1529 =
the raonument was executed by himself; the subject is a
Pietk ; the Saviour resting in the arms of Nicodemus, whom
BandineUi intended' for his own portrait. His profile, and
that of his wife, in relief, decorate the frieze to the back of
the monuraent.
The tribune is approached from the nave by a lofty arch,
on either side of which are monuments ; that to the right is
to the memory of the Senator Donato dell' Antella, and is
by Giovan Battista Foggini, AnteUa, after enjoying his
worldly possessions and dignities to advanced life, became
a priest, and bestowed all he had on the Servites, with the
condition that his money should be expended on the deco
ration ofthe church. He died in 1666. The opposite very
striking monument was erected to the meraory of Angiolo
Marzi Medici, and is the work of Frangesco di San Gallo.
Angiolo Marzi was a notary of San Gemignano, and began
his career as secretary to Piero Soderini, Gonfalonier of the
Republic. Accommodating his views to the times, he
became a faithful adherent of the Medici faction, when
Soderini was expelled in 1512; and he accompanied Cardinal
Giulio de' Medici when he assumed the tiara as Clement VII.
Marzi was afterwards appointed Secretary to Duke Alex
ander, and StUl later to Cosimo I., who allowed him to add
the name of Medici to his own, and to adopt the Medici
balls in his coat of arms. He is here represented in the

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 123
dress of a bishop, with a mitre on his head, and reclining on
a couch. He died in 1546, and his remains repose beneath
this monument.
The tribune, or choir, is circular, and surrounded by
chapels. The cupola above was built about the middle of
the fifteenth century, after a design by Leon Battista. Alberti,
and at the expense of Luigi Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua,
sumamed the Turk, who reigned from 1444 to 1478. He
was one of the first generals in Europe, but was still more
celebrated for his taste in the fine arts, and for his patronage
of artists at his court.
The high altar in the centre of the choir, or tribune, is
raised several steps, and has a splendid ciborio — pyx — carved
in wood by Baccio d' Agnolo, 1543. Baccio also executed
the intarsiatura, or wood mosaic, of the choir. Immediately
behind the altar is the Capella del Soccorso, where lie the
reraains of Giovan Bologna. He selected this place hira
self, and decorated it at his own expense, with the inten
tion that any Fleming rendering good service to sculpture
or architecture, might likewise be buried here. The altar-
piece of the chapel, the Resurrection of our Lord, is by
Domenico Cresti (1558 — 1638), called Passignano, frora his
birthplace, near Florence. The Crucifix and bronze reliefs
were executed by pupils of Giovan Bologna, under his
directions. The two sraall statues of Active and Contera
plative Life are by FrancaviUa, the French artist, who
made . the statues on the bridge of the SS. TrinitL The
frescos on the vaulted ceiling, which are nearly effaced,
are by Bemardo Pocetti. In the adjoining chapel is a good
altar-piece by Angelo Bronzino, representing the Resurrec
tion. The next chapel contains a painting attributed to

124 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Perugino, but more probably by one of his pupils ; the Virgin
is seated on a throne, surrounded by four saints ; it is much
injured by restorations.
The cloister and sacristy are approached through the
western transept. The latter is a handsome apartment ; the
marble frame round the door, within the room, is deUcately
sculptured in the style of Benedetto da Majano.
Descending the nave to the left of the high altar, the fifth
chapel from the entrance, on this side, contains an altar-piece
by Perugino (1446 — 1524), representing an Assuraption of
the Virgin. The conteraporaries of Peragino accused hira
of repeating his early pictures in his later works ; and he
defended hiraself by maintaining that he only copied what
had already obtained the approbation of the pubUc; his
reputation, however, suflfered in consequence, and he quitted
Florence to return to Perugia. Giannicolo Manni, his
pupU, is said to have painted a great part of this picture.
The fourth chapel — Capella del SS. Crocifisso — has an altar-
piece by Stradone, which is esteemed his finest work. In the
third chapel is a copy of Michael Angelo's Last Judgraent,
by Alessandro AUori (1533 — 1607). Alessandro was the
father of the more celebrated Cristofano. The head, seen
above the body covered with a white sheet, is supposed to
be a portrait of Michael Angelo.
The last chapel is called the Chapel of the Annunciation.
It was constructed by Piero, son of Lorenzo the Magnifi
cent, after a design by Michelozzi, and contains the so-
called miraculous painting of the Annunciation, attributed
by some to a certain Bartolommeo, by others supposed
to be by Pietro CavalUni, the disciple of Giotto, who
practised the art of mosaic as well as painting. Vasari

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 125
states that Cavallini was born at Rome in 1279, and died
in 1364; but others assign an earlier date to this artist, and
believe him to have been the architect of Edward the Con
fessor's shrine in Westminster Abbey, erected by Henry III.,
1269, as well as of the crosses to the memory of Eleanor,
Queen of Edward I. There is a repetition of this picture
of the Annunciation, also by Pietro Cavallini, in the Church
of San Marco ; but that belonging to the SS. Annunziata
is said to have been finished by an angeUc hand, when
the artist had fallen asleep and dreamt that he was un
worthy to paint the raother of our Lord. This picture
is considered so sacred that it is only exhibited on great
festivals of the church, when the crowd of worshippers
renders it irapossible for any stranger to obtain a glimpse ;
at all other tiraes it is invisible. The wooden Crucifix
in this chapel is by Giuliano di San Gallo, and the raarble
iraage of the infant Jesus is by Baccio BandineUi. The head
of the Saviour over the altar is a good work of Andrea del
Sarto. The silver lamps and rich decorations, in pietra-
dura, or Florentine mosaic, were made at the expense of
the Grand-Duke Cosirao I., and of his son, Ferdinand I.
Ferdinand is represented in a relief, on his knees, invoking
the aid of the Holy Virgin.
The Cloister of the SS. Annunziata was built by Simone
PoUajuolo, " II Cronaca," towards the end of the fifteenth
century. It is surrounded by frescos, chiefly by Bernardino
BarbatelU, called Pocetti, who was bom in Florence, 1542.
In a lunette over a door in this cloister is Andrea del Sarto's
most celebrated work, the Madonna del Sacco, so called
from Joseph being represented leaning on a sack of corn.
Vasari declares that " for drawing, grace, beauty of colour.

125 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
liveliness, and relief, no artist had ever approached this
fresco," and though this praise appears exaggerated, the
work, even in its present ruined state, possesses a simple
grandeur and nobleness of conception and execution which
has rarely found its equal. Frangesco Bocchi, a friend of
Giovan Bologna, who wrote a guide to Florence,* relates
that Michael Angelo was stfch an admirer of this work, as
well as of other paintings by Andrea del Sarto, that he
observed to Raffaello d' Urbino, " There is a little man
(homocettd) in Florence who, if he is eraployed in works of
magnitude, will make you sweat for it — ti fard, sudar la
fronte;" which observation, however (always granting the
high merits of Andrea del Sarto), was, if tme, an amusing
piece of egotism in the great sculptor, as well as in the
writer who recorded it, and must have sprang as much from
jealousy for the honour of the city he belonged to, as
from any just comparison between Andrea and Raffaelle.
The Corapany of St. Luke, or Confraternity of Artists,
which was instituted in 1350, at one time held their
meetings in an oratory of the Hospital of Santa Maria
Nuova, but in the middle of the sixteenth century they
were transferred to a chapel within this cloister. In the
small vestibule leading to the chapel is a well-executed
crucifix in bronze, and a very sweet low relief of the
Madonna and ChUd, with two angels, by Mino da Fiesole.
The ceiling of the chapel is painted in fresco by Luca
Giordano, who was born in Naples 1632, and died 1705.
Over the altar is a fresco by Vasari — St. Luke painting

* " Le Bellezze della Citta di Firenze da M. Francesco Bocchi, da
M. Giovanni CineUi ampUate ed accresciuto." Firenze : 1677.

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SS. ANNUNZIATA. 127
the Virgin. Three other frescos decorate the walls — The
Trinity, by Angelo Bronzino ; a Madonna and Saints, by
Jacopo Pontormo ; and Solomon building the Temple of
Jerusalem, by Santi di Tito. Two marble busts, by Montor
soU, the pupil of Michael Angelo, are over the doors of
the chapel — one represents the Saviour, the other his own
portrait. The statues around are copies from the frescos of
the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and are by the pupils of
Michael Angelo. The small fresco, in monochrome, above
these statues, are by Pocetti. Several celebrated artists are
buried beneath this chapel — Jacopo Pontorrao, Franciabigio,
Benvenuto Cellini, &c. The last buried here was Lorenzo
BartoUni, whose graceful works in sculpture are frequently
met with in Florence.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Alberti, Leon Battista  b. 1398— d. 1480
AUori, Alessandro  b. 1533- d. 1607
Baccio d' Agnolo  1543
Baldovinetti, Alessio  b. 1422 — d. 1499
BandineUi, Baccio  d. 1529
Benizzi, San FiUppo  b. 1232 — d. 1285
„ „ his Beatification . . . 1516
„ „ frescos by Andrea del Sarto of 1548
Berai, Fran9esco  d. 1536
Bologna Giovan  b. 1525 — d. 1608
Bronzuio, Angiolo  b. 1502 — d. 1570
CavaUini, Pietro  . b. 1279 — 1364 (?)
Chapel of S. Sebastiano founded .... 1300
Church of SS. Annunziata founded , . . 1250
Company of St. Luke founded .... 1350
Cronaca, Simone PoUaiolo  b. 1454 — d. 1509

128 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Dandini, Piero  b. 1646— d. 1712
Empoli, Jacopo Chimenti da  b. 1554 — d. 1640
Foggini, Giovan Battista  b. 1715- d. 1783
Franciabigio  b. 1482— d. 1525
„ „ his fresco in the SS. Annunziata . 1513
Franceschini, Baldassare, II Volterrano . . b. 1611 — d. 1689
Giordano, Luca  b. 1632 — d. 1705
Gonzaga, Luigi, Marquis of Mantua . . . b. 1444 — di 1478 .
Michelozzo de' Michelozzi  b. 1396 — d. 1470
Mino da Fiesole  b. 1431 — d. i486
Marzi Medici  d. 1546
Passignano  b. 1558 — d. 1638
Perugino, Pietro  b. 1446 — d. 1524
Pocetti, Bernardo  b. 1542 — d. 1612
PoUaiaolo, Antonio  b. 1426 — d. 1498
Pontormo, Jacopo Caracci da . . . . b. 1493 — d. 1588
Rosselli, Cosimo  b. 1439 — d. 1500
Rosso, II  b. 1496 — d. 1541
San GaUo, Giuliano di  b. 1443 — d. 1517
„ Fran9esco di  b. 1482 — d, 1546
Servites, Order of, founded  1239
Silvani, Gherardo  b. 1570 — d. 1675
Stradone, Giovanni  d. 1605
UUveUi, Cosimo  b. 1625 — d. 1704

Annunciation y hy Lttca deha Rjbbia^ — Hospital of the Innocents.

Page 129. II,

CHAPTER X.
PIAZZA OF THE SS. ANSTUNZIATA, AND HOSPITAL OF
THE FOUNDLINGS— "INNOCENTI."
nPHE piazza in front of the Church of the SS. Annunziata
is adomed by two handsome fountains, placed here in
1643. They are composed of a mixture of bronze and
raarble, and represent sea-monsters, executed by Pietro
Tacca, of Carrara, a pupU of Giovan Bologna, who Uved
in the early part of the seventeenth century. He also cast
the equestrian statue of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand I. in
the centre of the piazza, which was modelled by Giovan
Bologna in his old age, and was placed here six months
after his death. The bronze was suppUed from cannon
taken from the Turks at Bona, in Africa, by the knights of
St. Stephen, a mUitary order instituted by Cosirao I. Fer
dinand was the second son of Cosimo, and was educated
for the church ; but on the death of his brother Francis*
he ascended the throne of Tuscany, and as he was less
¦crael than his father, though not less eager for territorial
aggrandisement, he was not quite as much hated by his
subjects. * Francis I. and his wife Bianca Capello died within' a few hours of
one another at Poggio a Cajano, in 1587.
VOL. II. K

130 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
On either side of the piazza are arcades of very elegant
proportions, raised several steps. That to the left of the
church was built by the monks of the adjoining convent of
the SS. Annunziata about the year 1520, after a design of
Antonio Giaraberti di San Gallo, a brother of GiuUano di
San Gallo. The houses beneath this arcade are let out to
private individuals. The arcade to the right of the church
was buUt after a design of FUippo Brunelleschi. It is
decorated with medaUions of the Della Robbia schoql,
representing swaddled infants, variedin forra and expres
sion, and charmingly executed. Beneath - the arcade ¦ are
busts of the Medicean grand-dukes, and over the doors are
lunettes, one of which is modern, the other a fine, fresco, by
II Graffione, a pupil of Alessio Baldovinetti,* representing
. the Eterrial surrounded by angels. The central door leads
into the cortile of the Foundling Hospital — Spedale degli
Innocenti — round which are again iraages of swaddled
infants, the cock of the Bigallo, and the gate of the Art of
Silk. This institution, one of the earliest of the kind, was
founded in 1421, when Giovanni de' Medici was gonfalonier,
who was stimulated to this good work by an eloquent appeal
from Leonardo Aretino. t The management was confided
to the Guild of Silk, and the building was constructed
by Frangesco della Luna, after a design of his master
Brunelleschi, upon gardens and land belonging to the
Albizzi family. The hospital was opened in 1444, and
gradually acquired additional funds by the successive incor
poration of sraaller analogous institutions previously exist-
* See Vasari, "Vite dei Pittori," vol. iv. p. 106.
t The monument of Leonardo Aretino is in Sta. Croce.

PIAZZA OF THE SS. ANNUNZIATA, ETC. 131
ing.* It was liberaUy endowed by the Medici and succeed
ing grand-dukes. During the reign of Pietro Leopoldo, 1765
— 1790, the Innocenti underwent some important reforms.
Most of the boys admitted to the charity are brought up as
field labourers, but receive aid from the institution until
the age of eighteen. The girls can claim marriage dowries,
and are under the guardianship of the institution until the
age of thirty-five ;' but when younger, they are sent out as
domestic servants, or are educated for a trade. Between
seven and eight thousand foundlings are annually supported,
though few are actuaUy maintained within the building.
The larger number,, soon after admission, are dispersed
among the peasantry living round Florence, who are paid
for their maintenance until they are old enough to return to
the institution within the city.
There are several interesting pictures in the Commission-
room of the Innocenti, the pious gifts of artists and their
patrons. One of the most important is by Filippo Lippi,
1412 — 1469, in which a boy-angel brings the Christ-child to
the Madonna. It is alraost a replica of one in the room of
early Tuscan raasters in the Ufifizi Gallery ; this picture is,
however, superior in refinement, grace, and fresh harmonious
colour. Instead of two angels there is but one ; the head,
throat, and hands of the Virgin are exquisitely modelled,
and the figure of the Child is drawn with the utmost care
and delicacy. Another very fine picture in this room is by
Piero di Cosimo, 1460 — 1521, the master of Andrea del
* An institution in the Via della Scala was converted into the Con
vent of San Martino, but remained long in possession of a fine piece
of Robbia ware, representing swaddled infants, which is now in the
BargeUo.

132 WALKS IN FLORENCF.
Sarto ; Elizabeth of Hungary is here represented offering
roses to the Christ-child, who is seated on his mother's
knee. Groups of saints are on either side. The Virgin is
sweet and tender in composition, and the drawing good. A
predeUa, divided into four parts, is by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The subjects are : The Marriage of the Virgin, The Presen
tation in the Temple, The Baptism, and The Entombment ;
the last is especially fine. This predella originally belonged
to the altar-piece of the Church of the Innocenti. The other
pictures are : The Martyrdom of St. John, by Ghiriandaio; an
Annunciation, by Piero di Cosimo ; the sarae subject by
Pietro CavalUni, who, as already mentioned, painted the
sacred picture in the SS. Annunziata; and a Madonna
gathering children beneath her mantle, by an unknown
roaster, probably painted in allusion to the object of this
institution ; the children are extremely lovely, playful, and
tender. Near the entrance to the Church, within the cloister, is a
most exquisite relief in Robbia work, representing the
Annunciation. The angel, with look inspired, bends reveren
tially before the meek and lovely Virgin ; a vase of UUes is
between them, and a garland of cherubs' heads, beautiful
and varied in their infantUe expression, surrounds the group.*
The only picture of merit within the church is the
altar-piece — The Adoration of the Magi, by Domenico
Ghirlandaio, executed in 1498, his greatest work on
panel. The Virgin, a calm, dignified figure, holds the
Child tenderly on her knee ; Joseph stands near, with the
usual accompaniments of the ox and the ass ; the principal
* See illustration at the beginning ofthis chapter.

PIAZZA OF THE SS. ANNUNZIATA, ETC. 133
king, a noble old man, kneels reverently and kisses the
Child's foot ; the second king, a beautiful youth, with long
fair hair, holds a jewelled glass cup in his hand ; his cloak
faUs from his shoulders in majestic folds ; behind hira are
three fine portrait-like heads. On the opposite side are
groups of persons, evidently portraits, who represent the
followers of the Magi, and in the far distance is seen the
Annunciation to the Shepherds, who are feeding their flocks
on a hill. The Murder of the Innocents is represented to
the left, where a winding road leads up to a convent and
a church. The shed over the Holy Family is supported by
pilasters with rich arabesques, and beyond is a river and
mountainous landscape, a town and church with a spire.
Two shepherds look over the waU. The group of the
Murder of the Innocents has evidently formed a study for
Raffaelle in his composition of the same subject, especiaUy
that of a mother escaping with a child in her arms, whilst
an older one is running towards the river. One mother is
seated on the ground, whilst a third attempts to fly from a
soldier, who holds her back by her hair, and raises his arm
to strike. Two of the Innocents, clothed in white, typical
of their having entered into glory, and with bleeding wounds,
kneel before the Saviour, and are presented to him by St.
John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist ; these children,
who form the most beautiful part of the picture, are, how
ever, attributed to Fra Filippo Lippi. In the midst of the
group to the left of the Virgin, and the fourth figure frora
the side of the picture, is Ghirlandaio's own portrait. The
colour is fuU and simple ; the detaUs are carefully finished,
and there is great power and precision in the drawing, but,
above all, a wonderful grace and truth of expression.

134 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Aretino, Leonardo . . . . . . b. 1369 — d. 1444
Bologna, Giovan  b. 1525 — d. 1608
BruneUeschi, FUippo  b. 1377— d. 1444
Cavallini, Pietro . . : . . b. 1279— d. I364(?)
Cosimo, Piero di . . . ,. . . . b. 1460— d. 1521
Fountains in the Piazza di SS. Annunziata . . 1643
Ghirlandaio, Domenico  b. 1449 — d. 1493
,, ,, his altar-piece in the Innocenti 1498
Innocenti Hospital founded  1421
,, ,, , opened . -  1444
Lippo, Fra Filippo  b. 1412 — d. 1469
Robbia, Luca della  b. 1400— d. 1481

CHAPTER XL
CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELL— IL CASTEL
LACCIO.— CINQUE LAMPADE.— VIA RICASOLI.— VIA
DELLA SAPIENZA.— PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO.— VIA
CAVOUR. — MARUCELLIANA LIBRARY. — PALAZZO
RICCARDI.— PALAZZO MARTELLL— PALAZZO GINORI.
T^ROM the Innocenti, the Via dei Fibbiai, where lived
Andrea del Castagno, leads to the Via degli Alfani.
In this street was formerly one of the most considerable
monasteries of Florence, known as the Sta. Maria degli
Angeli : the roughly-hewn wall at the corner is the reniains
of an unfinished building designed by Brunelleschi, with
the intention of enlarging the church; from its octagon form,
resembling a fortress or castle, it has obtained the name of
the Castellaccio, or the ugly castle. The monastery was
founded about 1293 by a certain Fra Guittone, of Arezzo,
assisted by Don Fridiano,- the -prior of the Calmaldolese
monastery in the Casentino.
Fra Guittone, of Arezzo, was one of the Gaudenti, or Jovial
Friars, mentioned by Dante in his "Divina Commedia."
Guittone was a poet, and first brought the Italian sonnet to
perfection ; he left behind him the earUest specimens of Italian
letter-writing. One of his most celebrated letters was ad-

136 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
dressed to Florence, beginning, " O queen of cities, court
of justice, school of wisdora, mirror of life, and mould of
manners ! whose sons were kings reigning in every land, or
were above all others, who art no longer queen but servant,
oppressed and subject to tribute ! no longer court of justice,
but cave of robbers, and school of all folly and madness,
mirror of death and mould of felony," &c., &c.
Dante mentions Guittone in his " Purgatorio," where
another poet, Buongiunta, of Lucca, addresses the author in
these words : —
" Ma di, s' io veggio qui colui, che fuore
Trasse le nuove rime, cominciando,
' Donne ch' avete intelletto d'amore ? '
Et io a lui : ' Io mi son un, che, quando
Amore spira, noto ; et a quel modo
Che detta dentro, vo significando.'
' O Frate, issa veggio,' diss' egU, ' U nodo
Che '1 notaio,* e Guittone, eme ritenne
Di qua del dolce stil nuovo, ch' i' odo.
Io veggio ben, come le vostre penne
Diretro al dittator sen vanno strette
Che delle nostre certo non awenne ;
E qual pii a gradire oltre si mette,
Non vede piii daU' uno aU' altro stUo.'
E quasi contentato si tacette."f Purgatorio, xxiv. 49.

* Jacopo da Lentino, or " the Notary," was a SicUian poet who
flourished about 1250, in the later days of the Emperor Frederick II.
See notes to "Dante," Longfellow, p. 431.
t " But say if him I here behold who forth
Evoked the new-invented rhymes, beginning
' Ladies that have intelligence of Love ? '

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. i;j7
Dante apparently did not place a high value on Guittone's
verses, or at any rate esteems him inferior to another poet,
Guido GuiniceUi, who is supposed to speak thus to the
friar :. — " Cosi fer molti antichi di Guittone ;
Di grido, in grido, pur lui dando pregio.
Fin che 1' ha vinto 1' ver con pih persone." *
Purgatorio, xxvi. 124.
The spot chosen for Sta. Maria degli Angeli was outside
the Porta a Balia, on the same ground of Cafagiolo — Campo
di Faggio, Field of Beech — on which the SS. Annunziata was
also built, and the foundations were laid with great pomp and
ceremony bythe bishop, the gonfalonier, and othermagistrates
of Florence. The wealth of the monastery rapidly increased
by donations in money and land. During the plague of
1348 all the monks perished, and a fresh supply were sent

And I to him : ' One am I who, whenever
Love doth inspire me, note, and in that measure
Which he wifhin me dictates, singing go.'
' O brother, now I see,' fie said, ' the knot
"Which me, the Notary, and Guittone held
Short of the sweet new style that now I hear.
I do perceive fuU clearly how your pens
Go closely foUowing after him who dictates,
Which with our own, forsooth, came not to pass ;
And he who sets himself to go beyond,
No difference sees from one style to another.'
And, as if satisfied, he held his peace."
Longfellow's Translation.
" Thus many ancients with Guittone did ;
From cry to cry stiU giving him applause,
Until the truth has conquered with most persons."*

^ * See Longfellow's tranalation and notes.

138 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
from the Hermitage of Calmaldoli, who soon gained; a
reputation for industry in embroidering priests' vestments,
and in illuminating liturgies and choral books. 'Whilst the '
Ciompi riots were raging in the city, many Florentines'
brought their treasures for security to this monastery, but it
was unhappily attacked and plundered by the mob. The
enlargement of the church, for which Brunelleschi was em
ployed, was commenced with funds bequeathed for that pur
pose by one Matteo degli Scolari in 1424 ; but the Govern
ment used the money for a war with Lucca, and the Cas- '
tellaccio was left as a monument of their unfaithful discharge
of a dying man's request. The Grand-Duke Cosimo I. pro
posed to turn it into a drawing academy, but changed his
intention ; the roof was allowed to fall in, and the work of
BruneUeschi was left a ruin. It is now the studio of the
sculptor Signor Pazzi, who composed the statue of Dante,
whieh is in the centre of the Piazza di Sta. Croce, and who
has just completed a fine statue of Savonarola.
The pious lives of the monks of Sta. Maria degli AngeU
induced Pope Boniface IX. to gfant plenary indulgence to
every person dwelling within the precincts of the monas
tery ; and the Florentine Republic cancelled all their debts.
Early in the fourteenth century, a Neapolitan, Ambrogio
Traversari, celebrated for his learning, was chosen General
of the Order. WhUst yet a simple monk, he persuaded the'
prior to allow a new academy for the study of Greek and
Latin to hold its meetings within their walls; and here Cosimo,
afterwards Pater Patrise, and his brother Lorenzo, sons of
Giovanni de' Medici, with Gino Capponi, Landini, Bemardo
Pucci, and others, who afterwards became celebrated,
received their education. When Pope Eugenius IV. came

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 139
to Florence in 1435, Ambrogio was sent with several emi
nent citizens to meet him at Leghorn. Besides his reputa
tion for learning, and as a reformer of morals within the
monasteries, Ambrogio was known for his skill in rausic
and embroidery.
Not long ago there was a beautiful group of Luca della
Robbia over the doorway leading to the former monastery,
but this, with other works of art within the building, have
been removed. A few frescos still remain ; one by Ridolfo
Ghirlandaio in the cloisters, and two Crucifixions by Andrea
del Castagno ; that by Castagno, in the first cloister, repre
sents the Saviour life-size, between the Virgin and St. John ;
St. Benedict is next to the Virgin, and, St. Romualdo by St.
John ; the Magdalene is at the foot of the cross. The
figure of Christ is in good proportions, and the action well
studied. The second Crucifixion, in tlie fifth cell of the
second cloister, is without the Magdalene. All this part
of the building has been incorporated into the Hospital
of Sta. Maria Nuova, and is partly used for lecture-rooms.
Opposite Sta. Maria degli Angeli is the fine palace of the
Counts deUa Porta, once Palazzo Guigni, to which family
it had descended from .the family Da Firenzuola. The
palade was built after a design by . Ammanati, upon the
remains of the ancient Convent of Sta. . Margherita, which
was inhabited by Camaldolese nuns. Betweeii this and the
Canto alia Catena, called so from, the Alberti arms-^the
Fetters — on a house there, was one of the celebrated tiratoj
of the Guild of Wool. At the comer ofthe "Via del Castel
laccio, leading into the Via de' Servi, is a tablet, marking
the dwelling of the sculptor Benedetto da Majano. In the
Via de' Pucci, between the Via de' Servi and the Via

140 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
RicasoU, is the Palace of the Marchese Pucci, whose family
contributed to the decorations of the Church of the SS.
Annunziata; within the palace is a gallery of pictures,
including some good Botticelli's, but difficult of access,
since the marchese has given strict orders to refuse admit
tance to all strangers. At the corner of the Via Ricasoli,
formerly Cocomero, is a tabemacle before which hang five
lamps, well known throughout Florence as the " Tabernacolo
delle Cinque Larapade." * In the house to which it is
attached Uved Andrea Tafi, the author of the miraculous
picture of a Madonna and Child, contained within the
tabernacle. Buffalmacco and Giotto were likewise inhabi
tants of this dwelling. The little palace adjoining was built
by Buontalenti, and belonged to Serguidi, the Secretary of
the Grand-Duke Francis I.
In the Via RicasoU, opposite the suppressed Convent of
San Nicolb, lived Donatello.
Returning to the Piazza della SS. Annunziata, the large
palace to the left of the Via Ricasoli belongs to the ManeUi
family, who date their origin back to Roman tiraes, and
at whose expense the Ponte Vecchio was built ; but their
history belongs to the Oltr' Arno. In one of the houses
under the arcade in the piazza, opposite the Innocenti,
lived, until 1528, the painter Frangesco Rustici. Here he
entertained his companions at supper ; and a story is related
that on one occasion Andrea del Sarto brought hither, a
dish of sausages and jeUies, buUt up to resemble the Bap
tistery, with quaUs in the midst, to represent the priests in
the choir.
* The Cinque Lampade formed the subject of tales by Sacchetti and
Bocaccio.

CON-VENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 141
In the Via della Sapienza, adjoining the Monastery of the
SS. Annunziata, a building was commenced, intended for a
college to instract youth in science and letters. The money for
this purpose was provided by the will of Nicolb Uzzano,
and the trust confided to the Consuls of the Mercanzia.
But the college was never finished, and all that remains of
Uzzano's bequest is the name Sapienza given to the street,
and his arms on the outer walls of the monastery. The
incomplete building was used by the Grand-Duke Cosimo I.,
partly to contain the lions of the State, partly as a stable for
his horses. The opposite side of the street is now chiefly
occupied by sculptors who have their studios here, and of
whom Dupre, who executed the principal statues and reliefs
for the fagade of Sta. Croce, is the most remarkable. The
comer house of the Piazza di San Marco is the Accademia
delle Belle Arti, which contains the finest collection of pic
tures by the early raasters, and has also lecture rooms for
the professors of the Florentine University. The building
was originally the Hospital of St. Matthew, founded by one
Lemmo, who confided the care of it to the Consuls of the
GuUd of Merchants of Exchange, " del Carabio," to which he
himself belonged, and of which St. Matthew was the patron
saint. The arms of Lemmo and of the Guild of Exchange
still remain on the walls, and a fresco within one of the
rooms, by Andrea del Sarto, commemorates the ward for
sick women. Leopold I. converted this hospital into the
Acaderay of Fine Arts. A row of low houses once occupied
the side of the piazza facing the church, one of which was
inhabited by the beautiful Bianca Capello, when she fled
hither with her husband from Venice ; and here she was
first seen by the Grand-Duke Francis I. — an event which

142 WALKS IN FLORENCE. .' . '->
led to the murder of Capello, and to his widow becoming
Grand-Duchess of Tuscany. On the western side was the
Nunnery of Sta. Caterina, divided' by the Via degli Araz-
zieri, now demoUshed for a Government building, and
beyond it, towards the north, was the Giardino Medici di
San Marco, where Lorenzo the Magnificent instituted a
school or academy for young painters and sculptors. The
place was sacked in 1494, when Piero de' Medici was
driven from Florence, but restored to its original purpose
by GiuUano de' Medici in 1512. Under Cosimo I. the
funds for its support were withdrawn, but it was again
restored by Prince Antonio, the son of the Grand-Duke
Francis I. and Bianca Capello ; here he was allowed, by
the succeeding Grand-Duke Ferdinand I., to end his days
unmolested. Ottaviano de' Medici, the ancestor of the
Neapolitan branch of the Medici, occupied the Palace at
one time, and bestowed a part of it on the Scalzi, or Bare
footed Friars, for whom Andrea del Sarto painted the frescos
in the cloister.
The Via Larga, or Cavour, extending from the walls to the
Via Martelli, or Piazza del Duomo, is a wide street of palaces.
Near where once stood the Convent of Sta. Caterina, were
the houses of the Marucelli family, one of which contains
the Public Library. Seven members of this faniily filled the
office of Priors of the Republic, and Frangesco MaruceUi,
an accomplished scholar, who died in 1703, bequeathed
his valuable library to his native city. The number of
volumes on all subjects is now nearly twelve thousand
arranged partly in rooms on the ground-floor, partly on the
first floor of the palace. The governors propose to confine
this Ubrary as much as possible to subjects relating to Art,

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 143
and to increase the collection of engravings, which is very
meagre compared with the Uffizi, or with other public
collections in Europe, for the present collection hardly
exceeds six thousand. One of the most interesting
volumes here contains the portraits of the; first members of
the Accademia del Cimento, drawn in crayon by II Padovan-
nino, an artist of the Venetian School, who was famous for
his accurate likenesses ; he was born in 1562, and died 1617.
This Uttle volume contains upwards of ^ twenty portraits,
beginning with the painters ; the sculptors follow, next . the
poets-, and lastly the philosophers. The most remarkable
are — Annibale and Agostino Caracci, Michael Angelo da
Caravaggio, Guercino, Cesare d'Arpino, Simon Vouet, and
Galileo Galilei, which last seems to convey a far more life
like, and therefore truer idea of the man, than the portraits
of him in oil. The forehead is singularly high ; the small
blue eyes are full of animation, and, though the features are
coarse, there is nobility and dignity of soul in the calm
serious expression of the great philosopher.
A copy of Dante, painted in Florence in 1481, by Lorenzo
della ¦ Magna, and illustrated by Botticelli, is the most
perfect extant, except that in the Riccardiana Library;
eighteen of the twenty illustrations are to be fbund in this
volume. A folio volume contains' specimens of various eafly
masters of engraving, beginning with nielli, or impres
sions made from engravings on a silver pilate. There does
not; however, appear to be any examples of the inventor of
this art, Maso Finiguerra ; they are chiefly by Peregrini and
Da Cesena, or Da Cesio, of the sixteenth century,, who
also bears a high reputation ; the Combat of .Giants in

144 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
a Forest, is a well-known engraving by Antonio PoUaiolo ;
several are by Robetta, one of which is the Visit of the
Wise Men; another by the same artist, ofa mother point
ing to some object beyond the picture, whilst a pair of
lovely chUdren Usten to her, is a charming composition, full
of nature and grace. Robetta was a Florentine engraver,
bom about 1460, of whora little is known except that he
belonged to one of those numerous societies in Florence,
the members of whom called themselves La Compagnia
del Pajuolo — (stock pot), who supped by tums at one
another's houses, bringing their own food. Andrea del Sarto
belonged to this club, of which, from the anecdote related
of Andrea's contribution to a supper at his house, Rustici
was probably also an associate.* The Calurany of Apelles,
by an unknown engraver, with the naraes of the allegorical
personages inscribed, throws Ught on Botticelli's composition
in the GaUery of the Uflfizi. There are several very fine
specimens of the works of Andrea Mantegna ; four dancing
nymphs beautifully drawn, light and graceful in movement,
and very lovely in features and expression ; Judith with the
Head of Holofemes is a magnificent composition. The
rest of this volume contains principaUy German and French
engravings. Among the Florentine engravings are several from Michael
Angelo's Last Judgment; a splendid copy of the great
sculptor's group of Christ sinking between Nicodemus and
Mary, which is behind the high altar of the Duorao, but
which is reproduced here with a landscape background ;

* See above at p. 140. Also Bryant's " Dictionary of Painters and
Engravers."

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 145
the Dream of Human Life, by Michael Angelo, of which
the oil-painting is in the National Gallery of London ; a
portrait of Baccio BandineUi, displaying some of his groups
of sculpture. One volume contains engravings from the
designs of Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, and Baccio BandineUi,
by the celebrated Venetian engraver, Agostino Musi, born
1490, and a pupil of Marc Antonio ; among these engravings
is one from Michael Angelo's celebrated cartoon, now lost,
of Soldiers bathing ; also a copy of the Apollo Belvedere, as
it must have appeared before the restorations were added.
The remainder in this volume are again German prints.
Another contains engravings by a German named Kruger—
1576 — from the paintings of Andrea del Sarto.
The EngUsh school is only represented by Houbraken's
iUustrations of Birch's Lives.
Not far frora the MaruceUiana Library, at the corner of
the Via Guelfa, is the house once inhabited by Bernadetto
de' Medici, the son of Ottaviano de' Medici, and brother of
Pope Leo XI. He was a patron of art and letters.
At No. 37 in this street lived and died the modern poet,
Giovan Battista Niccolini. He was born in 1782, at a
period when Tuscany, following the example of France, was
attempting to introduce reforms into her administration, and
when the Inquisition was at length abolished, and the
instruments of torture publicly burned. Niccolini was con
nected, by his mother's side, with Vincenzio. Filicaia, whose
Ode on Italy is read by every ItaUan scholar. Whilst
studying at Pisa, in 1799, he became one of the most ardent
advocates for a republic, but necessity obliged him to seek
the means of gaining a livelihood, and he therefore could
only take a passive interest in politics. In 1807 he was
VOL. II. L

146 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
appointed Professor of History and Mythology in Florence,
under the auspices of EUsa Buonaparte, Queen of Etruria, who
was an enthusiastic admirer of all that belonged to ancient
Greece. The subjects for his muse were taken from classical
story, and eUcited the warm eulogiums of Ugo Foscolo. His
aim in all he wrote was to inspire his countryraen with the
ancient spirit of freedora, to expose the impostures of
priests, and the turpitude of princes. The " Foscarini " was
acted at the theatre which now bears Niccolini's narae, in
the Via Ricasoli, then Cocomero, where it was received with
enthusiasm, as well as throughout Italy ; Niccolini's words,
addressed to the foreigner, French and Austrian, " Repass the
Alps and you will again become our brothers," were every
where repeated. His raost faraous tragedy is " Arnaldo da
Brescia," in which he reproduced Dante's idea that the
temporal power of the Pope was inconsistent with the office of
a Christian bishop and head of the Church. Niccolini died
on the 20th September, 1861.
At the farther end of the Via Cavour is the Palazzo
Riccardi, formerly Medici, one of the noblest structures in
Florence. It was in 1430 that Cosimo U Vecchio, the
Pater Patriae, began this magnificent palace, after a design
by Michelozzo Michelozzi. He chose the site near the
Church of San Giovannino, then a Uttie oratory built where
once existed houses belonging to a great-uncle of Cosimo.
The lower par* of the palace consists of bold, roughly hewn
stones, usual in Florentine architecture, which unites an
appearance of soUdity and strength with light and shadow,
»0 essential to beauty under the glare of a southern sun.
Above, is the equaUy characteristic broad overhanging roof
supported by brackets. The windows are extremely beau-

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 147
tiful, arched, and with a column in the centre ; they were
designed by Michael Angelo, who added to those in the
lower storey the grating with that peculiar projection out
wards, which has been called inginnocchiata, or the kneeling.
Iron rings are attached to the sides of the windows for the
purpose' of holding banners or for illuminations, whilst
those below were for torches. The larger rings were used
to tie the horses of visitors to the palace. In the corner is
one of Nicolb Caparra's beautiful fanali, lanterns — inferior,
however, to that on the Pazzi Palace. No sooner was the
Medici Palace finished than the death of Cosimo's favourite
son, Giovanni, plunged the owner into the deepest sorrow.
The broken-hearted father caused himself to be carried
through all the rooms, exclaiming that his home was now
too large for his faraily.
When Charles VIII. of France visited Florence, he
inhabited this palace'; here also Giovanni de' Medici, the
son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, retumed as Pope Leo X.,
accompanied by the Emperor Charles V. It was in this
palace that Duke Alexander, the Moor, was murdered by
his ovm cousin Lorenzino, and his successor, the Grand-
Duke Cosimo I., caused the wing in which the murder
was committed to be pulled down, when a lane called
Del Traditore — the Traitor — connected the Via Cavour
with the Via Ginori. This was afterwards blocked up by
stables built by the Riccardi, who bought the palace in 1659
from the Grand-Duke Ferdinand II. ; but the Riccardi
were only allowed to build their stables here on condition
that an empty space should be left above, where had
been the room in which the ancestor of Ferdinand was
assassinated, and that the public should be aUowed a free

148 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
passage across the court of the palace to the Via Ginori.
The sarcophagi around this court were the same which once
stood outside the Baptistery, and the statues and other
antiquities were collected by the Riccardi, and brought here
in 1718. A rich library of rare works, coUected by the
Marchese Vincenzio Capponi, was brought to the Riccardi on
the marriage of his daughter with one of that family. The
library, with the palace, is now public property. In one
room there is a ceiling gorgeous with carving and gilding ;
in another, a fine fresco by Luca Giordano, a Neapolitan
painter, born in 1632, whose merits lay rather in a fertile
invention, facile execution, and brilliant colouring, than in
taste or beauty of composition.
The greatest treasure of the palace is the old chapel
painted in fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli, which, both from its
exceUent state of preservation and intrinsic merits, is one of
the most valuable as well as interesting works of art in
Florence. Benozzo Gozzoli, bom in 1400, was a pupil of Fra
Angelico, and though he possessed a mind less exalted than
his master, he had merits which entitle him to a high place
in Art. He was most successful in landscape, and his com
positions are varied, and display marveUous ingenuity in the
arrangement of numerous figures. This chapel had origi
nally no window, but was lighted by silver lamps. The
altar-piece is supposed to have been the picture of the
Madonna to whom angels bring the infant Christ, by Fra
FUippo Lippi, now in the room of old masters in the GaUery
of the Uffizi. On either side of the altar, Benozzo GozzoU
has painted angels worshipping; those nearest the altar
kneel in natural and graceful attitudes ; their heads are

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 149
bent, their countenances absorbed in eamest devotion, dnd
their hands are clasped in prayer or crossed on their bosoms ;
behind them, angels approach on foot, whilst others descend
from the heavens, and nestle in the tall branches of the trees
or gather roses in a lovely garden ; birds of various kinds
are introduced in these compositions. On the angles of the
walls, within the chapel itself, are seen the shepherds leaving
their flocks to follow the Star of Bethlehem ; these are
beautifully composed. The rest of the walls is covered with
innumerable figures, who represent the visit of the Wise Men
of the East, most of whom are portraits of distinguished
men ; that of Gozzoli himself and of other painters are in
troduced amidst the crowd of followers to the right of the
altar ; in the foreground are Cosirao Vecchio and his brother
Lorenzo, the ancestors of the two branches of the House ot
Medici. The youth on horseback in front was probably
intended for Lorenzo the Magnificent ; the Emperor of the
East faces the window, and in the corner, on the wall to the
left, is seen the grey-bearded head of the Patriarch of the
Greek Church. The second youth on horseback may pos
sibly be a portrait of Giuliano, Lorenzo's brother ; he has a
hunting leopard seated behind him, and another held in
leash below. The landscape background is enUvened with
groups of persons, as well as every description of animal, and
in the distance are other groups.
Next the Palazzo Riccardi is the Church of San Giovan
nino, or San Giovanni EvangeUsta, on the site of the Oratory
built in fulfilment of the will of Giovanni di Lando de' Gori,
at the comer of what was once the Via degli Spadai, or
Swordmakers, afterwards de' Martelli, from the family of
that narae who had their houses in this neighbourhood.

ISO WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The body of the raurdered Duke Alexander was concealed
in this church in 1536. When the Jesuits came to Florence,
under the patronage of Eleanora di Toledo, the wife of the
Grand-Duke Cosimo I., this Oratory and the adjacent
houses were given to thera, on the site of which to build
their church ; and Bartolommeo Ammanati, the celebrated
architect and sculptor, gave his whole patrimony to furnish
the means. He had married Laura Battiferi, a lady who
was remarkable as a painter and poetess as well as for her
literary attainments : Ammanati and his wife are buried in
the Chapel of St. Bartholomew in this church, where is a
picture, by Bronzino, of Christ and the Apostles : an old
woman behind is the portrait of Laura Battiferi.
The Via della Forca, behind the Via Martelli, contains
the Palazzo Martelli, belonging to a descendant of one
Roberto Martelli, whose greatest distinction is having been
the patron of Donatello, whom he received as a boy into his
house, and treated like a son. As a token of his gratitude
Donatello afterwards presented him with a statue of St.
John the Baptist, still in the possession of the faraUy,
one of the raaster's best productions. The figure is full-
length, with eraaciated Urabs, and clothed in the garment
of camel's hair. The eflfect of long fasting is given by the
pinched nostrils and large. eyes ; the lips are apart, showing
the teeth, and the eyebrows are raised; the detaUs are
highly finished. In the same room with this statue is a very
fine bust of St. John the Baptist when a youth, by DonateUo ;
the round forms and the surface given to the marble is
extremely beautiful, and there is a peculiar sweetness in the
expression of the mouth and half-closed eyes ; the throat and
hair are carefully modeUed. This bust was conveyed to the

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 151
Baptistery in 1541, to grace the ceremony of baptisnx of
the eldest son of the Grand-Duke Cosimo I, and Eleanora
of Toledo.
In the Via della Forca is a very lovely image of the
Madonna and Child and St. John, by Mino da Fiesole. It
is in rather flat relief, but is a particularly sweet example of
this artist's works.
At the corner of the Via della Forca and the Via Cerre-
tani is a tablet, pointing out the former residence of the
poetess Corilla, who was crowned in Rome.
In the Via de' Ginori, behind the Palazzo Riccardi, and
running parallel with the Via Cavour from the Piazza di
San Lorenzo to the Via degli Arazzieri, is the Palazzo
Ginori. The faraily of Ginori, which has given many remark
able and patriotic citizens to Florence, is descended from
one Gino Benvenuto, who settled in Florence in this district,
near San Lorenzo, about the year 1304, The Marchese
Carlo Ginori, who died in 1757, instituted the manufacture
of porcelain near Florence, which is still celebrated through
out Europe. He began by collecting all the diflferent earths
of Tuscany ; and he freighted a ship in which he sent out
young men to collect models not only from the principal
manufactures of Europe, but from China. They also im
ported rare plants from the East, which were introduced into
Italy, as well as gold fish from China. His porcelain
manufactory was opened in 1740, and was enlarged and
improved by his son, the Marchese Lorenzo Ginori.
The Palazzo Ginori contains a small but select collection
of pictures. The most valuable is a very fine painting, by
Luca Signorelli, of the Holy Family. The Madonna stands
behind a wall or ledge, on which the infant Christ bends to

152 WALKS IN FLORENCE:
kiss the little St. John, who kneels, and whose countenance
is most lovely, expressive of child-like innocence and rever
ence. To the left, in the landscape background, St. Jerome
is represented, to the right, St. Bernard, with a church on
a hill. Another picture of a Madonna and ChUd is by
Botticelli — a very sweet and good example of the master ;
over this is another doubtful picture, by Signorelli. Some
landscapes by Albani, and a highly finished head of an old
man by a German artist, with one or two other pictures, are
all contained in this room ; in the ball-roora, beyond, are
some interesting sketches by Paolo Veronese, and a good
portrait by Sustermans.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Alexander, Duke, de' Medici, began toreign . 1532— murdered 1537
Ammanati, Bartolommeo  b. 1511 — d. 1560
AngeU, Sta.^Maria degU, founded .... 1293
,1 ,, church enlarged . . 1424
Andrea del Castagno  b. 1409— d. 1480
Arpino, Cesare d'  b. 1560— d. 1640
Baccio BandinelU  b. 1487  d. 1559
Battiferi, Laura ....... d. ii;8q
Benedetto da Maiano  b. I490(?)  d.'isso
Boniface IX., chosen Pope  1389  d. 1404
BotticeUi, Sandro  b. 1437— d. 1515
Buffalmacco  b. 1262— d. 1340
Buonarotti, Michael Angelo da .... b. 1474  d. ii;63
Capello, Bianca, Grand-Duchess . . . . b. 1579  d. 1587
Capponi, Gino, founder of the family ... d. I420
Caracci, Annibale ....... b. 1560— d. 1609
„ Agostino  b. 1558— d. 1602
Caravaggio, Michael Angelo da , . . . b. 1569- d. 1609

CONVENT OF STA. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ETC. 153
A.D.
Charles VIII. of France, at Florence . . . 1494
Ciompi Riots  1378
Donatello  b. 1383 — d. 1466
Eugenius rv. came to Florence .... 1135
GalUei GaUleo  b. 1564 — d. 1642
Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo  b. 1485 — d. 1560
Ginori porcelain manufacture opened ... 1 740
Giordano, Luca  b. 1632 — d. 1705
Giotto  b. 1276 — d. 1336
Gozzoli, Benozzo  b. 1400 — d. 1478
Guercino  b. 1590 — d. 1666
Houbraken, Jacob ....... b. 1698
Landino  b. 1424 — d. 1504
Leo XI., Pope  1695
ilaruceUiana Library founded .... 1 703
Medici, Cosimo de', Pater Patriae . . . . b. 1389 — d. 1464
Michelozzi, Michelozzo  b. 1396 — d. 1478
Mino da Fiesole ..,..., b. 1431 — d. i486
Niccolini, Giovan Battista  b. 1782 — d. 1861
Padovannino, II  , b. 1502 — d. 1617
Peregrini da Cesena, his first engraving . . 1511
PoUaioli, Antonio  b. 1426
Riccardi or Medici Palace founded . . . 1430
Robetta, engraver  b. 1460 (?)
Rustici, Fran9esco, painter  b. 1595 — d. 1625
Tafi, Andrea  , b, 1213 — d. 1294
Traversari, Ambogio  b. 1378 — d. 1439
Uzzano, Nicolo  b. 1382 — d. 1417
Vouet, Simon  b, 1582— d, 1641

CHAPTER XIT.
CONVENT OF SAN MARCO.
TN the year 1290 some monks belonging to a branch of
the VaUombrosian order, called Silvestrini, came to
Florence. The name was derived from their founder, one
Silvestro Gozzolini. They procured for themselves an
Oratory close to the city walls, and there in 1299 they
built a large church and raonastery, which were consecrated
under the name of San Marco Nuovo, to distinguish the
edifice from San Marco Vecchio, outside the Porta San
GaUo. The piety of these monks won the respect and
reverence of the Florentine citizens, which continued until
the year 1400, when the city was ravaged by the Plague, and
the friars, instead, of becoming more earnest in the presence
of so terrible a calamity, relaxed the severity of their disci
pline, and thus greatly diminished their influence with the
people. An equal laxity of morals displaying itself in the
convents of the Dorainican order, a monk of Sta. Maria
Novella was appointed to atteiij{>t a reformation; and in
1405 the Monastery of San Domenico, on the slopes of
Fiesole, was assigned for the members of this reformed
community; who, however, a few years later, 1435, were
permitted by Pope Eugenius IV. to return to Ploreflce.

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 155
The Signory ceded to them the little monastery of San
Giorgio on the Costa, Oltr' Arno ; but meantime no such
reform appearing to have taken place araong the Silvestrine
monks, the Pope and Signory decided that they should
yield their larger and more important monastery to the
Dominicans. The exchange was raade in two solemn pro
cessions, moving from San Marco and San Giorgio, preceded
by the clergy and people singing canticles.
The Dorainicans found San Marco in a state of dilapida
tion, for the entire dorraitory had been consumed by a
great fire the previous year, and part of the roof of the
church had fallen in. The monks were therefore obUged to
build wooden cabins to protect themselves from the weather,
until Cosimo de' Medici oflfered to restore the building, and
entrusted the work to Michelozzo Michelozzi. This archi
tect demoUshed the whole edifice, with the exception of the
refectory and church ; he then commenced building the
cloisters and the library above, and also enlarged the
church, sacristy, and refectory, and built a dormitory to
contain forty-four beds over the outer cloister, the walls of
which were painted in fresco by Fra Angelico and his
brother. This pious and accomplished monk was bom
about 1387 at Vicchio in the Mugello, a district beyond
Fiesole. He was baptized by the name of Guido ; but at
twenty years of age he and his brother assumed the
Dorainican habit at the convent below Fiesole, and took
the names of Fra Giovaiini and Fra Benedetto. The
angelic temper and blameless purity of Fra Giovanni's life
procured him the epithet of " Angelico,'' to which was after
wards added the title of " Beato," so that the name which
has been handed down to posterity is " Beato Giovanni,

iS6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
detto Angelico da Fiesole." Both brothers were sent for
several years to the Dominican- Convent at Cortona under
the care of the Master of the Novices, the Beato Fra
Lorenzo di Ripa Fratta. They were early distinguished as
illuminators of choral books, and Fra AngeUco left several
frescos on the walls of the Convent of Cortona. On his
return to Florence, in 1436, he began his frescos in San
Marco, most of which are admirably preserved to this day.
Some of the first works he executed are the lunettes in the
outer cloister.*
Facing the entrance from the piazza is a fresco of the
Crucifixion by Fra Angelico. St. Dominick kneels at the
foot of the cross, which he embraces, looking upwards at the
Saviour with an expression of deep grief. Above the door,
leading to the sacristy and the church, Fra Angelico has
painted St. Peter Martyr, with his forefinger pressed against
his lips to impose silence. The knife buried in his shoulder
conveys the history of his martyrdom. In a second lunette,
over the entrance to the chapter- house, St. Dominick is
represented holding a book and a whip of nine tails, erable
raatic of the stern discipUne of the order. A third, over the
portal, leading to the Great Refectory, exhibits the Saviour
rising from the sepulchre. Over the entrance to what was
formerly the Foresteria, or. guest chamber, are two
Dominicans who welcome the Saviour, in the garb of a
pilgrim, a staflf in his hand, and his hat hanging over
his shoulders. Over a fifth entrance is a fresco, much
damaged, of St. Thomas Aquinas, who is regarded by the

* This cloister, and the cells above, now form a kind of museum,
open daily to the pubhc on payment of a franc.

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 157
Dominicans as the most leamed of their order, as St. Peter
Martyr is considered the most holy.
The other frescos with which the walls of this cloister are
adorned exhibit incidents in the Ufe of San Antonino, and
are of a later date.* They are by a variety of masters, but
several of the best are by Pocetti (1542 — 161 2), and are
interesting as representations of old Florence and its
neighbourhood. On the east side of the cloisters, Anto
nino is represented as a boy, praying before the cracifix
at Or San Michele ; a most graceful composition : on the
south he appears, when bishop, in a procession, about to
enter the Duomo, the fagade of which is represented be
fore the decorations attributed to Giotto were removed.
Savonarola, his cowl drawn over his head, is also intro
duced; he is seen in profile standing amidst a group of
monks and other spectators. The compartment immediately
on the left, when entering from the piazza, exhibits a bride
entering the Duomo, and San Antonino driving away the
crowd of curious spectators : the bride is worthy of Ghir
landaio. A fourth fresco, also by Pocetti, on the northern
side, has Dante da CastigUone (the hero of the Siege of
Florence in 1530), and his wife, kneeling before Antonino
(a slight anachronism, as Antonino died in 1459), to invoke
the aid of his prayers for the blessing of offspring. In the
distance appears the villa of Dante da Castiglione with the
Uttle viUage of Cercina, stiU to be seen in its primitive sim
pUcity on the slopes of Monte Morello. All these, be
sides a few others, are by Bernard Pocetti. The compart-

* For a sketch of the life of Bishop Antonino, see chapter describing
Or San Michele,

158 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
ment to the left of the entrance to the Great Refectory,
representing the body of San Antonino surrounded by a
crowd of mourners, is by Matteo RosseUi (1578—1650),
and is a very good composition. This painter was rauch
eraployed by the Grand-Duke Cosimo IL, and excelled in
fresco. The Refectory contains a very good, though damaged
fresco by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani (1492 — 1544), a pupil
of Lorenzo Credi. St. Dominick is seated with his brother
monks around a table, and two angels bring them food.
According to the legend, when St. Dominick was residing
with forty of his brethren in the Convent of St. Sabina, at
Rome, sorae of their number who had been sent out to buy
provisions returned with nothing but a smaU quantity of
bread. St. Dominick ordered them to sit down in the Re
fectory, and having pronounced the usual blessing, two
youths clad in shining garments appeared, carrying a basket
of bread, and a pitcher of wine.* Above this is painted
the Crucifixion. St. John and the Virgin stand on either
side of the Cross, and beyond are seen, kneeling in ado
ration, St. Antonino and St. Catherine of Sienna, who,
among the Dominicans, was the type of female sanctity
and self-denial. The date of this fresco, 1536, is inscribed
upon it. '
The Chapter-house of this convent has the Crucifixion
painted in fresco by Fra Angelico. The crucified Saviour
is the feeblest part. The good and the wicked thief are
suspended on either side. The fainting Virgin is supported
by the two Marys and by St. John. Beyond this group are
* See Mrs. Jameson's " Legends of the Monastic Orders."

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 159
St. John the Baptist, St. Mark kneeUng, St. Lawrence, and
St. Cosimo and St. Damian, the patron saints of the Medici
family. St. Cosirao is said to be the portrait of Nanni di
Banco, a friend of the artist, who executed some of the
statues around Or San Michele, To the right of the cross
are all the Fathers and Doctors ofthe Church — St. Dominick,
St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose ; St. Francis, St.
Bernard, St. Anthony, St. Peter Martyr, St. Thomas Aquinas,
&c. The most beautiful portion of the fresco is the group
around the Mother of our Lord. The heads are throughout
full of character. The kneeling St. Jerome is peculiarly
grand. The background was probably once blue, but in its
present state is a dull red. At the base of the fresco,
St. Dominick supports a framework containing the Tree
of Life, with medallion-portraits of the dififerent monks of
the order. Prophets, sibyls, and saints are around. A
pelican, the ancient symbol of our Saviour, looks down upon
the cross.
Two large carved Crucifixes, suspended against the side
walls of the Chapter-house, on either side, are wonderfully
executed, though painfully realistic.
At the foot of the stairs leading to the cells above, is the
smaller Refectory of the convent. It contains on one side
a Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted subsequent
to a Cenacolo which he executed for the Church of Ogni
Santi in Florence, and exhibits the same anangement ; the
Saviour in the centre of a double-winged table, and Judas
alone on the opposite side, between Christ and the spectator.
The fresco has suflfered by time and damp, but is very inte
resting, and exhibits great attention to details. A lunette
outside one of the doors which opens from this Refectory

i6o WALKS IN FLORENCE.
into a small inner cortile, has a beautiful fresco by Fra
Bartoloraraeo, representing the Meeting of Christ and the
Apostles at Emmaus. As one of the saints is recorded by
Vasari to have been the portrait of a monk who was prior
of the convent between 1505 and 1506, we can probably
assign this work to a period when Fra Bartolommeo was
about thirty years of age. It is one of his masterpieces for
tendemess and grace, as well as for richness of colour.*
At the head of the stairs leading to the cells above this
cloister, is a very beautiful fresco by Fra Angelico of an
Annunciation, in which subject this master pecuUarly ex
celled, and he has therefore made numerous repetitions in
his fresco and distemper paintings. The angel Gabriel
bends before the Virgin, with his arms reverentially crossed
on his breast. The Virgin's figure is slender ; she stands
gracefully, and, as Lord Lindsay remarks, " she has a look
of naive curiosity mingled with modesty and humiUty.'' A
park paling encloses a meadow with flowers, which is sup
posed to have an allegorical meaning relating to the Church
of Christ. Facing the Annunciation is a Crucifix, with St.
Dominick embracing the cross, almost a repetition of that
below, but inferior in merit.
The old Dorraitory of the convent was buUt over three
sides of the cloister, and for some tirae was not divided
into cells, but was arranged like the ward of an hospital,
with beds on either side. On the walls, over the beds, Fra
AngeUco, assisted by his brother Fra Benedetto, executed a
series of lovely frescos, with subjects selected from the life

* This fresco is in so dark a position that it wiU probably be shortly
removed to the chapel of the Giovanati, adjoining Savonarola's ceU.

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. i6i
of our Saviour. The division into cells was an after-thought,
though the alteration appears to have been made shortly
after the execution of these works.
Proceeding down the long corridor, the entrance to which
nearly faces the head of the staircase, the cells on the left
contain frescos entirely by the hand of Fra Angelico, while
those on the right of the corridor are chiefly by Fra Bene
detto, although many were designed by his more gifted
brother. Two of these only are the entire work of Fra
Angelico, namely, a " Via Crucis," Christ bearing the Cross ;
in which He is represented younger than usual, the mother
aged, and full of suffering, a Dominican monk contem
plating the scene ; and another of the Baptism of our Lord :
John the Baptist advances eagerly to perform the sacred
rite, while two angels kneel on the left of the fresco ; these
last are especially beautiful. The first subject to the left of
the corridor is a " Noli me tangere.'' The expression of reve
rence in the eyes of the Magdalene and in her action tells
the story admirably. Immediately beyond is a Pietk. St.
Dominick gazes at the body of the Saviour. In the third
cell is an Annunciation, a most simple and lovely composi
tion ; St. Peter Martyr is represented as a spectator. _ The
fourth cell has the Crucifixion. In the fifth, the Virgin and
St. Joseph adore the Infant Christ ; St. Peter Martyr and
other saints also worship.
Nearly opposite this cell is a fresco in the corridor (once
a tabemacle in the dorraitory), in remarkably good pre
servation — an Enthronement of the Virgin, the " Madonna
del Trono." The Infant Saviour, seated on her knee, is very
finely painted, and with more majesty than the artist usually
imparts to this subjegt. On either side stand saints : St.
VOL. II. M

i62 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Mark, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Lawrence, and St. Peter
Martyr on the right ofthe picture ; St. John the EvangeUst, St.
Cosimo, and St. Damian clothed in red, and St. Dominick,
on the left. The saints have very expressive countenances.
Returning to the cells, the sixth cell on the left con
tains the Transfiguration, a magnificent composition. The
Saviour is here represented as a majestic figure in long
flowing white drapery, his arms extended. The disciples
below are overpowered by the dazzling Ught ; St. John, in
the centre, is a very graceful figure ; above are the heads of
Moses and Elias, beneath are St. Dominick and the Virgin.
The seventh ceU has Christ buflfeted. He is again repre
sented in white, seated, and meekly enduring this persecu
tion. The Virgin and St. Dominick appear below, seated
on a step ; the first absorbed in thought, the other reading.
The eighth cell has the Resurrection ; a very lovely angel,
seated on a tomb, points upwards with his finger ; he
addresses the three Marys and St. John, who with looks
of wonder gaze into the empty tomb. Fra AngeUco had
painted his own portrait kneeling below in the left-hand
corner. The ninth cell has the Coronation of the Virgin.
Lord Lindsay especially commends this fresco.* The
Virgin is represented as in a vision, seated in the clouds,
and meekly bending to the Saviour, who with both hands
holds the crown destined for his mother. Her hands are
crossed on her breast, and in her countenance is expressed
deep and intense joy. St. Paul, SL Peter Martyr, St. Francis,
St. Dominick, St. Benedict, and St. Thomas Aquinas are
beneath, in groups of three on either side, and look up,
* See Lord Lindsay, " Christian Art," vol. iu. p. 185.

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 163
with outstretched arms, as if eager to attain to heavenly
bliss.* The tenth cell has the Presentation at the Temple.
The Infant Jesus rests in the arms of Simeon. The Virgin
holds out her hands to receive her child again. Joseph
stands behind with a basket of offerings. St. Peter Martyr
kneels in front to the left. The Beata Villana kneels on the
right.t The eleventh cell contains the Enthronement of
the Virgin ; a very inferior production.
The end of this corridor was formerly divided by a parti
tion wall and door from the corridor on the southern side,
and included the cells of the younger monks — Giovanati —
who had just passed through their novitiate. The prior's cell
was at the farther end, and he thus had them under his
immediate supervision. Each of these cells contains a
fresco of the Crucifixion, apparently the work of Fra
Benedetto. The prior's cell, divided into two small chambers, is
reached by passing through what was formerly a chapel
raised three steps above the corridor. A marble tablet at
its entrance records that Leo X., after visiting the convent
in 15 16, as a tribute to the memory of the pious Savonarola,
granted an indulgence of ten years to whosoever visited the
inner cell.
Two wonderfully fine frescos by Fra- Bartolommeo are
represented here ; both represent the Madonna and Child.
That facing the entrance was brought hither from a villa
* See Crowe and CavalcaseUe, "Italian Painters," "Lifeof Fra
Angelico," vol. i. p, 581 — 583.
t La Beata Villana, a Dominican nun of remarkable sanctity, who
lived in the eighteenth century, and is buried in the church of Sta. Maria
NoveUa.

i64 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
a few miles distant from Florence; the other has been
greatly injured byan attempt to remove it. Both are noble
compositions, above Ufe-size. The drawing is in grand
proportions, the colour good. Raffaelle himself never
attained greater success in the representation of womanly
tenderness and childlike innocence, combined with dignity,
and a holiness almost divine. This chamber also contains
two excellent imitations of old terra-cotta busts by an artist,
Girolamo Bastiniani, who died recently (i868). One is
intended for Savonarola ; the other for his admirer and
friend, the poet Girolamo Benivieni.*
The two small cells within have a more than usually his
torical interest, from having been occupied by Girolamo
Savonarola when he was prior of this convent. Born at
Florence, in 1452, of a noble Paduan family, he assumed
the Dominican habit at the age of three-and-twenty. In
1482 he came to Florence, and entered the Convent of St.
Mark's. About this time he began to preach, but neither
his raanner nor his language gained hira many auditors. He
was soon afterwards sent on a religious mission to Lom
bardy, where he remained several years, and where his ear
nest zeal and rare mental powers attracted public notice.
At Reggio he happened to meet Pico della Mirandola, the
friend of Lorenzo -de' Medici, who at once conceived such
an admiration for his eloquence and powers of mind, th^t
he persuaded Lorenzo to recall him to Florence. Savona
rola accordingly returned to St. Mark's in 1489, and a few
* Giiolamo Bastiniani, a modern Florentine sculptor, who died
young, and exliibited remarkable powers in imitating the execution of
Middle-Age Art. A bust by him was sold by a dealer in Paris, as a
genuine antique work, at the enormous price of 12,500 francs.

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 165
months later was appointed prior of the convent. Lorenzo
de' Medici was not long in discovering that the stem virtue
of the Dominican monk was above corruption. Even while
attending Lorenzo on his death-bed, according to popular
tradition, Savonarola with his usual inflexibility left Lorenzo
unshriven, because he refused to show repentance for his past
misdeeds, by sanctioning the restoration of Florentine Uberty.
Savonarola's steadfast moral courage and earnest pleadings
for the cause of duty obtained for him an unbounded influ
ence over the multitude, and, although he denounced their
errors in unmeasured language, his sermons in the Duomo
were thronged with eager listeners. He, however, com
mitted the fatal mistake of believing that the regeneration
of the city could be effected by a foreigner and a monarch,
and he welcomed Charles VIII. of France, in the hope of
finding that love of republican virtue and Uberty in a feudal
king, which his exhortations could not awaken in the breast
of an ambitious citizen. Charles entered Florence as a con
queror, rather than protector ; and at the soUcitation of
the Signory, Savonarola, discovering his error too late^
had to use his eloquence to persuade him to depart from
the city. The Dominican was no theological reforraer, but
exhorted both clergy and laity to greater purity of morals
and politics, and was eager to give liberty on a sounder
basis to the Florentine Commonwealth. For this end he
first suggested the CouncU of Five Hundred, for whose
accommodation Cronaca designed the Great Hall in the
Palazzo Vecchio, Savonarola's persistent defiance of the
orders sent him by Pope Alexander VI. to desist frorn
preaching, finally brought him into conflict with certain
parties in Florence, headed by the Franciscans, who became

1 66 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
so violent that, in 1490, he and two brother monks were
dragged from the Convent of St. Mark's to the Palazzo
Vecchio, where they were judged and conderaned by the
Great Council he had hiraself helped to institute. His
death only converted the stem reformer into a saint and
martyr ; and his relics were preserved and hidden until the
name of Savonarola was revered as one of the greatest of
Florentine citizens. In the prior's cell which he long in
habited are preserved his hair-shirt, rosary, a small portion
of the wood from the pile on which his body was burnt, and
the chair on which he sat. A desk made in exact iraitation
of that which he used, as the original was falling to pieces,
contains a copy of some of his sermons in his small, but
wonderfully distinct handwriting ; also some other religious
books, with his annotations on the margin. Upon this desk
is his wooden crucifix, and on the wall a portrait of him,
attributed to Fra Bartolommeo. The inner cell contains
the copy of a picture executed within half a century after
Savonarola's execution, representing the Piazza della Signoria
on the fatal 29th May.
Retracing our steps to the head of the stairs, which leads
frora the cloister to the dormitory, the cell exactly facing
the staircase was formerly occupied by the good Archbishop
Antonino, before Pope Eugenius IV., at the suggestion of
Fra Angelico, raised him to the episcopate of Florence.
On the wall of this cell is a fresco by Fra Angelico, of
Christ's descent to Limbo. Adam and his companions are
represented meeting the Saviour with eager anxious faces.
The vestments of the archbishop, a mask of his face, and
his portrait in crayon by Fra Bartolommeo, also two church
books in his handwriting, are preserved here. Opposite the

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 167
window is a Genealogical Tree of the monks of the convent,
in which the name of Savonarola is nearly obUterated by the
kisses of his admirers. Above it is a good canvas portrait
of Fra Lorenzo Ripa Fratta, taken at a later period. He was
master of the novices, and accompanied Fra Angelico and
his brother to Cortona, when they first assumed the Domi
nican habit. The cell beyond contains another fresco, by
Angelico, of the Sernion on the Mount. Judas has a black
glory round his head, the syrabol of a virtue which is dead,
a custora derived from the Greeks, and still adopted by the
devout painters of Mount Athos. The adjoining cell has a
fresco of the Temptation. Opposite these, and next the
staircase, is a cell now used as the private apartraent of
the inspector of the Museum. As long as the monks
occupied this part of the convent, this was used as a
penitential cell, and was surrounded by a stone bench, with
iron rings attached to the walls, to which the refractory
monks were fastened. The adjoining cell has a fresco of
the Crucifixion. Beyond the entrance to the library are
several other cells on either side. The first on the left is
divided into two, and contains an exquisite reliquary, with
a panel by Fra AngeUco, transported hither lately frora the
Sacristy of Sta. Maria Novella. It is called the " Madonna
della Stella," frora a star over the head of the Virgin. She
carries the Child tenderly on her bosom ; his cheek rests
against her own. The sweet seriousness of the mother, and
the playfulness of the Child, is rendered with great truth and
nature. Angels worship on either side, and swing censers.
The Etemai, surrounded by cherubim, looks down from
above. Beneath, two angels seated on the ground play
organs ; a vase containing flowers in the centre. The angeJ

i68 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
on the left is singularly beautiful. Beneath the whole are
represented St. Dominick and Peter Martyr. It is altogether
a wonderful littie miniature, painted with the utmost delicacy
and finish. The jewels with which it was encmsted have
been all removed. The fresco in this ceU, also by Fra
Angelico, represents the Betrayal of Judas, and Peter cut
ting oflf the ear of Malchus. The inner cell contains another
reliquary, painted by Angelico, and likewise brought hither
from Sta. Maria Novella. The subject is the Coronation of the
Virgin ; angels around play musical instruments, saints kneel
at the foot of the throne. The predeUa below is most ex
quisite. Joseph and Mary worship the new-bom Infant ; angels
hand in hand move in a mystic dance, while two of these
play musical instraments. The adjoining cell has a fresco
of Christ in the Garden, the three Apostles asleep, and
Martha and Mary waiting at the entrance ofa house. A third
•
reliquary, also by Fra Angelico, represents his favourite
subject of the Annunciation ; and below, the worship of the
kings. On the predella are the Virgin and Child, and
saints with their names inscribed. The following cell con
tains a fresco of the Last Supper. The Saviour walks round
the table, and places the wafer in the mouth of his disciples.
Judas is again represented in a black glory, and two other
apostles kneel in the foreground. The Virgin is on the left
of the painting. The next fresco has Christ fastened to the
cross by two soldiers ; the Virgin and St. John on the left ;
St. Peter, the rich man, and a soldier, on the right. The
last cell in this corridor contains a_fresco of Christ on the cross
between the two thieves, which is treated much iri the manner
of the fresco in the chapter-house. The three cells on the
opposite side also contain frescos, but they are much

CONVENT OF SAN MARCO. 169
damaged. The last cell on the right, adjoining the church,
has an inner chamber raised several steps. An inscription
over the entrance records that it belonged to Cosimo de'
Medici, who built it for himself, in order that, when visiting
the convent, he might converse in greater privacy with
St. Antonino, and the two brothers Fra Giovanni the
Beato Angelico, and Fra Benedetto.* Here lodged Pope
Eugenius IV., in 1432, when he assisted at the consecration
of the church. It contains a very fine fresco of the
Visit of the Magi, by Angelico, in excellent preservation.
Opposite this is a good canvas portrait of Cosimo Vecchio,
by Pontormo, transported hither recently from the Uflfizi
Gallery ; also a very interesting terra-cotta bust of Bishop
Antonino, lately found in a neglected condition in a comer
of the convent, and placed here by the inspector, Signor
Roiidoni.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Cosimo IL, Grand-Duke  1609 — 1621
Dominick, St.  1170 — 1221
Dominicans came to San Marco ..... 1435
Eugenius IV., Pope  1431 — 1447
Fra AngeUco  1387—1455
,, began his frescos in San Marco . . 1436
Fra Bartolommeo  1475 — 1517
Ghirlandaio, Domenico  1449 — 1494
Leo X., Pope, visited San Marco  1516
Michelozzi, Michelozzo  1391 — 1472
• The dormitory could not have been then divided into cells, but
open the whole length, like the ward of an hospital, as described above.

I70 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Nanni di Banco  1420
Pocetti, Bemardo BarbateUi, II  1542 — i6i2
RosseUi, Matteo  1578 — 1650
Sant' Antonino '  1389 — 1459
San Domenico di Fiesole given to Silvestrine monies . 1405
San Marco first built ....... 1299
Savonarola, prior of San Marco  1489
Silvestrine monks came to Florence .... 1290
Sogliani, Giovan Antonio  1492 — 1544

CHAPTER XIII.
SAN MARCO {Continuation).
Library — Lower Dormitory — Church.
HTHE Library of San Marco was built after a design by
Michelozzo Michelozzi, and Cosimo de' Medici con
tributed a fine coUection of MS. which had once belonged
to Nicolb Niccoli,* the friend of Poggio Bracciolini. Ni
colb had desired in his will that sixteen learned Florentine
citizens should be appointed to decide where his library
could be placed, so as to render it most extensively useful ;
but, after his death, his property was found burdened with
such heavy debts, that no one seemed wUling to accept the
trust until Cosimo de' Medici oflfered to settle with the
creditors, and at the same time fulfil the wishes of his
deceased friend respecting the disposal of his Ubrary.
Nicolb Niccoli left about six hundred MSS., of which
Cosimo retained two hundred for his own private use —
the nucleus of the Laurentian Library. He then bestowed
the remaining four hundred MSS. of Niccoli's collection
on the friars of San Marco, but added a few volumes of
his own, in order to secure for himself and his heirs a right
over the whole coUection.
* See chapter on " Laurentian Library.''

172 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The Library of San Marco was further enriched by con
tributions from- Sienna and Lucca, as well as by private gifts
from Florentine citizens and from various monks of the
convent. In 1453 the room was injured by an earthquake,
but Cosirao and his son, Piero il Gottoso, took immediate
steps for its repair. The library received large additions
during the exile'of Piero de' Medici, the son of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, when the monks purchased the Medici collec
tion after its confiscation, by order of the Signory. Two
years later, 1498, after the' execution of Savonarola, the
Signory not only deprived the Dorainicans of the volumes
they had so lately sold them, but even laid hands on the
rest of their library, and refused to restore the property until
the monks consented to their conditions. Soon afterwards
the Dominicans were obliged to sell some of their MSS. to
pay their debts, and the larger number were purchased by
Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici (Leo X.), who carried them
to Rome. The monks of San Marco were the first in Italy
to aUow the pubUc free access to their library.*
The shelves of the cabinets which line the walls of the
room are now nearly empty, for the few monks who remain
(1872), not above twenty, have removed many volumes to
that part of the convent which is still reserved for them.
The cross transept at the end of the long room was for
merly closed, and contained books forbidden by the Church,
but it is now open to the public, and within the cases are
some of the most valuable illuminated MSS. of the collec
tion. There are several iraitations of the old convent-chairs

* See" San Marco, Conventi dei Padri Predicatore in Firenze, &c., •
dal Padre Vincenzo Marchese, Dominicano.'' Firenze : 1853.

SAN MARCO. 173
in the library ; the rings at the extremity of the arms, carved
out of the same block of wood, were intended to aflford the
friars the sleepy amusement of twirling them round as they
dozed ; even Savonarola's chair, which is preserved in his
cell, is of the same description, though the rings have
broken away with age.
A numerous collection of choral books, brought here
from various convents, lately suppressed in Florence and
its neighbourhood, have been added to those already be
longing to San Marco. They are arranged under glass, in
cases down the centre of the long room. About twenty-four
of these books are the property of the convent, and four
teen were illuminated by Fra Benedetto, the brother of
Fra Angelico. A very beautiful Psaltery is adorned by
paintings of Fra Eustachio, who also illuminated some of
the choral books in the Cathedral, and whom Savonarola
introduced into San Marco in 1496. The date of the
Psaltery is 1505. Fra Eustachio's illuminations are remark
able for the care bestowed on the smaller decorations round
every page, and his delight in painting children. Several
of the finest choral books are from the Badia of Flo
rence; one is painted by Monte di Giovanni, of the
fifteenth century ; another is by Giovanni Boccardini, of the
sixteenth. Several of the volumes are from the Carraine,
Santo Spirito, Ogni Santi, Monte Uliveto, and Sta. Elisabetta
in Capitolo, a suppressed nunnery of Franciscans, not far
from Sta. Croce. One of the books from Sta. Maria Nuova
is decorated by Bartolommeo del Frosino, a goldsmith.
Among the most beautiful missals in this collection is that
which formerly belonged to Maria Antoinetta, wife of the
last Grand-Duke Leopold IL, and which is Uluminated by

174 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Fra AngeUco. It was a marriage present from her husband.
The margins of the volume have unfortunately been woe
fully cUpped, probably by some modern bookbinder. Two
of the missals are illuminated by Sor. Plautilla NeUi and her
sister, who were nuns of St. Catherine of Sienna, living in
a convent adjoining San Marco, where is now a govern
ment building in the Via Cavour. A subterranean passage
once existed which afforded a communication between
the convent and inonastery; Savonarola encouraged the
nuns in rainiature-painting, as an occupation which might
prevent the demoralisation produced by idleness. The
missals from Sta. Maria Novella are all inferior in execution.*
Parallel with the library was once a terrazza, or balcony,
now enclosed so as to form another chamber, in which are
collected three or four hundred banners, sent to Florence in
1865, on the sixth centenary of the birth of Dante. They
were carried in the procession which, led by the King of
Italy in person, paraded the streets of Florence to celebrate
the union of the peninsula, the fulfilment of the great poet's
aspiration : the Venetian and Roman banners are veiled with
crape, as both cities were then panting for that liberty which
they soon afterwards obtained. A fine bust of Dante
Alighieri, by the sculptor Pasquale RomanelU, stands on a
pedestal at the end of the gallery. Several relics of the
poet and patriot Ugo Foscolo are exhibited here. His
remains were brought frora England in 187 1, and on
opening the coflSn in Sta. Croce, before reinterment, the
features of the poet were found unaltered.

* The CavaUere Rondoni has lately pubUshed a catalogue of the
choral books.

SAN MARCO. 175
On the ground floor, adjoining the inner cloister, was the
Dormitory for the Novices ; it is now used for the meetings
of the Accademia della Crusca. Over the doors admitting to
the former cells are lunettes painted in fresco, portraits of
Dominican monks, by Fra Bartoloraraeo, and executed
towards the end of his life, in 1516. They have alrhost the
force and richness of colour of the Venetian school. Un
fortunately, they are rauch injured. Of the eight lunettes,
five only are by the frate. That farthest reraoved frora the
entrance of the conidor represents St. Dominick with a star
above his cowl, and a lily in his left hand, whilst his right
imposes silence ; the second, Peter Martyr, holds a palm-
branch and red book ; the third is reading out of the book
bound in red — he has a wonderfully fine head ; the fourth is
preaching ; the fifth and sixth are by an inferior hand ;
the seventh, also by Fra Bartolommeo, represents a bare
headed monk, with rays diverging from his head — he
holds the City of Florence in his hand ; the eighth is of
more recent date, probably the seventeenth century, but is
not without merit.*
The Church of San Marco has been several times altered
and embeUished. It consists of a simple nave, with chapels
on either side and a square tribune richly decorated. The
design is by Piero Frangesco Silvani, an artist who lived
in the seventeenth century, so that very little exists of
the church as it appeared when Savonarola was prior of
the convent. A few traces of fresco, said to have been
by Pietro Cavallini, reraain on the left waU of the nave.

* See Crowe and CavalcaseUe's remarks on these frescos, vol. iii.
p. 468.

176 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
On the facciata outside is St. Dominick with his dog,
which Mrs. Jameson alludes to, as a typical statue of
this saint, " famiUar to strangers visiting Florence." Over
the principal entrance within the church is suspended a
wooden Crucifix, painted by Giotto, with a gold ground ; this
is supposed to be the same which estabUshed Giotto's supe
riority over Cimabue, and caUed forth the Unes in the
" Purgatorio :" —
" O vanagloria deUe umane posse
Com' poco verde in su la cima dura
Se non 6 giunta dall' estati grosse !
Credetto Cimabue neUa pintura
Tener lo campo, et ora ha Giotto il grido
Si che la fama di colui oscura." , xi. V. 91 — 96.*

Vasari mentions this Crucifix with commendation, and sup
poses it to have been painted after Giotto's visit to Naples
and Rome.
The first altar to the right of the entrance contains an
Annunciation by Pietro Cavallini, which is never exhibited
without special permission frora the Pope. Over the fourth
altar in the chapel of the Ricci family, is a large mosaic of
a Madonna, brought hither in 1609 from the Oratory of the
Porta Santa and presented by Michael Angelo to the
Ricci.

' O thou vain glory ofthe human powers
How little green upon thy summit lingers
Ift be not followed by an age of grossness !
In painting, Cimabue thought that he
Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry.
So that the oUier's fame is growing dim."
Longfellow's Translation.

SAN MARCO. 177
The arch over the last chapel on this side is crowned by
a statue of San Zanobius ; it is placed too high to judge of
its merits ; but opposite is a good statue of Sant' Antonino,
by Giovan Bologna. A door to the right of the high altar
leads to the sacristy and convent. The sacristy contains a
statue of Sant' Antonino, by MontorsoU, a pupil of Michael
Angelo. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, to the left of
the high altar, contains paintings by Bernardo Pocetti, Santi
di Tito, Jacopo d'Enipoli, Passignano, Bilivert, Salsetti, dnd
Curradi, all of them good artists of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries ; but none of these pictures are of great
interest, and the chapel is so dimly lighted, they are not
easily seen.
The left transept is entirely occupied by the Chapel of
Sant' Antonino, and contains the remains of the good bishop.
The walls are covered with frescos by Passignano, who was
the pupil of Federigo Zucchero ; he was the friend of
Cigoli, and the Master of the Caracci. On the right wall
is painted the interior of San Marco, as it appeared when
the body of the saint was exposed to public view, and his
panegyric pronounced from the pulpit. On the opposite
wall is represented the procession when the body of Sant'
Antonino, bome on the shoulders of four bishops, was carried
to its last resting place in this chapel : the fresco is in
Passignano's best manner, when he approaches Paolo
Veronese. Behind the altar is a painting by Bronzino,
representing the Fathers of the Church leaving Limbo.
The marble statues on either side of St. Philip and St. John
the Baptist, are by Francavilla, who worked under Giovan
Bologna. The bronze reliefs of scenes from the life of
Sant' Antonino are by Fra Domenico Partigiani.
VOL. II. N

178 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
On the left wall of the nave are inscribed the names of
PoUziano, Pico della Mirandola, and Girolamo Benivieni.
The remains of the two last repose in one coflfin. Angelo
PoUziano, born at Monte Pulciano in 1454, early ac
quired a reputation for his acquaintance with Greek and
Latin Uterature. He was at one time tutor to the sons of
Lorenzo the Magnificent, and died in 1494. Girolamo Pico
della Mirandola was born in 1403; while still a chUd, he
was a prodigy of memory and leaming, and his mother pro
vided for him the best instractors, so that at ten years old
he was compared to the first poets and orators of Italy. He
studied canon law in Bologna, and passed seven years in
the most celebrated universities of Italy and France, in
order to acquire greater perfection in Latin, Greek, Arabic,
Hebrew, and Chaldee. In i486 he proceeded to Rome ;
on his return to Florence he bestowed all his worldly pos
sessions on a nephew, and passed the rest of his days in
retirement, surrounded by his books and friends, until on the
17th November, 1494, the day that Charles VIII. of France
made his triumphal entry into Florence, Pico della Mirandola
died, at the age of ninety-one, Girolamo Benivieni, bom
in 1453, was a poet who endeavoured to restore the study
of the Italian language. He was buried by his friend Pico
in 1542, having attained his eighty-ninth year.
Beneath the pulpit of San Marco is a stone which marks
the burial place of the Lapi family, a name rendered faraous
by the historical roraance of Massimo D'Azeglio, founded
on the life of Nicolb de' Lapi, of which, the obsequies to
Bindo, the young son of Nicolb, in this church, is so
graphicaUy described.

SAN MARCO. 179
CHRONOLOGY,
A.D.
Bartolommeo, Fra, last fresco in San Marco . 15 16
Benvieni, Girolamo  1453 1542
Cavallini, Piero  1364 (.')
Cimabue  1240 (?) 1302 (?)
Eustachio, Fra, at San Marco .... 1496
Foscolo, Ugo  1776 1827
FrancaviUa . ... . . . . . 1548
Giotto  1276 1337
Leo X., Pope  1515 1521
Library of San Marco injured by earthquake . 1453
Michelozzi Michelozzo  1391 1472
MontorsoU  1507 1563
Pico della Mirandola ...... 1403 1494
Piero de' Medici  1496
Savonarola executed ...... 1498

CHAPTER XIV.
THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZI.
IVT EAR where formerly stood the Porta Pinti, and as far
as the Porta San Gallo, the old WaUs have been de
molished, and the nevv Boulevard has received the name of
the Viale Principe Umberto. Beyond the Porta San Gallo
is a meadow or grove, where once stood an hospital for the
reception of children abandoned by their parents ; still
earlier, the ground belonged to Dante Alighieri, who is said
often to have rested here to meditate. The triumphal arch
in front of this public garden was erected to commeraorate
the entrance of Francis IL, the husband of the Empress
Maria Theresa, who received Tuscany in exchange for his
hereditary Duchy of Lorraine, which was ceded by the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1737 to Stanislaus of Poland, and
later to France.
The Porta San GaUo was built in 1284, and received its
name from a neighbouring church, dedicated to San Gallo.'
Before the siege of 1529, this gate was closed, and a postern
opened at a little distance lor the use of the public. It was
again closed by the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., when he for-
* GiuU.rno di San Gallo rebuUt this church, and thus obtained- the
name of San G.illo.

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZI. i8i
tified this part of the city, but was finaUy reopened in i65i.
On the side facing the country is a curious antique head
carved in the stone, and within the arch is a lunette con
taining a fresco of the Virgin and Child and St. John the
Baptist, painted by Michele, the pupU of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.
The high towers, which once rose above all the gates of the
city, were demolished by the Grand-Duke Cosirao I., and a
broad roof raised on pUasters erected in their stead to pro
tect the cannon placed there; the Porta San Nicolb and
the Porta Pinti were alone left in their original state, whilst
the Porta di Faenza, following the Porta San Gallo, was
included in the Fortezza del Basso.
The Via San Gallo rans parallel with the Via Cavour.
Near the Porta are the Convents of San Rocco and Sta.
Caterina, which last has been converted into an Hospital for
Incurables. Next San Rocco is San Clemente, once a
convent of Augustinian nuns, under the special patronage
of the Medici, and where two daughters of Duke Alexander
ended their days. San Clemente is now joined to the sup
pressed Convent of Sta. Agata, and they form together a MUi
tary Hospital. Nearly opposite the entrance to the Via deUe
Ruote is the Church of San Giovannino dei CavaUeri, which
belonged to the nuns of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
This church possessed several fine pictures, which have all
been recently removed to the public galleries.
In the Via delle Ruote is the Church of Sta! Maria dei
BattUani, where the Florentine insurgents of the thirteenth
century, called the Ciompi, held their meetings, led by
Michele di Lando the Wool Carder. Casa Baci, in this
street, is the ¦ house built by the artist Santi di Tito for
himself, and where he died in 1603.

i82 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Returning to the Via San Gallo, the Church dei Pretori
forraed a refuge for secular priests who happened to arrive
as strangers in Florence. On the pavement, at the entrance,
is a singular epitaph over the grave of a Florentine wit, the
parish priest Arlotti, The inscription is to this eflfect: —
" This sepulchre was constmcted by the Piovano Arlotti for
himself, and for aU who may desire to enter." "Questa
sepoltura il Piovano Arlotti la fece fare — per se e per ehi ci
vuol entrare."
At the corner of the Via SUvestrino is the beautiful Palazzo
Pandolfini, buUt after a design by Raffaello of Urbino ; the
architect was Frangesco di San Gallo,, who was employed
by Giannozzo Pandolfini, Bishop of Troy. The cornice
and projecting roof are considered models of proportion in
Florentine architecture. The Ionic windows on the first
story are extremely beautiful ; but the Doric windows below
have less strength and solidity, and greater elegance, than is
usuaUy characteristic of this style.
The Pandolfini were originally from Signa, half-way be
tween Florence and Pisa ; they fought on the Guelphic side
in the battle of Montaperti, 1260, and afterwards became
distinguished as Florentine citizens, fiUing the office of
Priors and Gonfaloniers of the Republic, and were sent on
important missions abroad. Giannozzo, Bishop of Troy,
who built this Palace, was highly favoured by Pope Leo X.,
who appointed him his legate to the army sent against
Frangesco della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. The King of
Naples made him Bishop of Troy, a title also conferred on
his nephew Ferdinand.
On the opposite side of the Via San Gallo is the Lunatic
Asylum of Florence, San Bonifazio, founded in 1377 by one

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZI 183
Bonifazio di M. Ugolotti Lupi, Marquis of Soragna, a valiant
captain, who served the Florentines in a war against Pisa
in 1362. He built this hospital for the sick, which was
afterwards converted into a lunatic asylum.
Not far from San Bonifazio is Sta. ApoUonia, founded in
1339 for Camaldolese nuns. The door of the church was
renewed in the sixteenth century after a design by Michael
Angelo. In the Refectory is a Cenacolo by Andrea del
Castagno ; the composition is very original, vigorous, and
powerful, especially the head and attitude of St. Thomas,
who is looking upwards in meditation. In a chapel off the
spacious church is another Cenacolo by Bronzino, painted
in 1 56 1. There is rauch sweetness in the expression of the
angels below, and in the female figures on either side,
typical of Religion. The church, which is now used as a
magazine for military stores, is built in the same style as the
Church of San Felice Oltr 'Arno ; the tribune, or gaUery for
the nuns, extends half over the church, and is supported by
six stone pillars ; the ceiUng is very handsome, of wood, and
richly gilt ; the altars are supposed to have been designed
by Michael Angelo.
Parallel with the Via San Gallo is the Via Sta. Reparata,
once popularly known as the Campaccio, because here was
the Jews' Cemetery. The Church of San Barnaba, at the
comer of the Via San Zanobi and the Via Guelfa, was
founded in 1309 in commemoration of the Battle of Cam
paldino, won by the Guelphic faction, in 1289, in which
Dante fought. Near the suppressed Convent of San Barnaba,
Luca della Robbia was born in 1388.
The Piazza deUa Indipendenza beyond was laid out in
1845 ; a small marble tablet over the entrance to some

184 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
houses in a street leading to the Fortezza del Basso marks
the raodel lodging-houses for poor artisans, built by the
late Marchese Carlo Torrigiano, who died in 1865. At the
north-western angle of this Piazza is the house once inha
bited by the accomplished authoress, Theodosia TroUope,
daughter-in-law of the more celebrated Mrs. TroUope.
Both died in Florence, and were laid in the Protestant
Cemetery of the Borgo Pinti. Theodosia Trollope pub
lished, in the form of letters to a London periodical, the
most accurate account of the last revolution in Tuscany,
which led to the formation of the Italian kingdom.
The Fortezza di San Giovanni Battista, or Del Basso, was
comnienced in 1533 by Duke Alexander dei Medici, at the
instigation of Filippo Strozzi, in order to repress any attempt
of the Florentines to recover their liberty : it was finished
by Alexander's cousin, the Grand-Duke Cosimo I. Strozzi
himself fumished the means forthe subjugation ofhis fellow-
citizens, and he was among the first incarcerated in that
fortress, which he had intended for others, and where he died
by violence; some suppose by his own hand, but more
probably, murdered by the order of Duke Cosimo.
In the Via Nazionale, leading from the Piazza della
Indipendenza to the Piazza Vecchia di Sta. Maria Novella,
is a large Tabernacle in Luca della Robbia Ware, probably
by bne of the nephews, as it is highly coloured, and inferior
in composition to the works of his uncle.
Amidst the narrow streets in this quarter of the town,
entering the Piazza Madonna, or Campo dei CorbeUini — as
it is called in old chronicles of the city — and behind the
Church of San Lorenzo, is the Via dell' Amore, which had
its name from a romance by MacchiaveUi : here was the

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZI. 185
Palace of Vincenzo Viviani, the astronomer, mathematician,
and favourite pupil of Galileo GalUei. He received a pen
sion from Louis XIV. of France in 1622, and died in 1702,
at eighty years of age. The bust of GaUleo is over the
door, and inscriptions in his honour are placed on either
side. GalUeo left Viviani his Library, which has since
passed to the Hospital of Sta. Maria Nuova.* In the Campo
dei CorbeUini lived the Gaddi family, Gaddo, Taddeo, and
Agnolo, of the schools of Cimabue and Giotto ; and the Via
Melarancio, at the corner of the Via dell' Amore, was so
called, from the pomegranates in their garden. The Palace
of the philosopher Poggio BraccioUni was in the adjoining
Via del GigUo, leading to the Via Panzani, and here lodged
our English poet, Milton, when he came to Florence to visit
GalUeo GalUei.
The irregular space which forms the Piazza Vecchia di
Sta. Maria Novella was once a usual meeting-place for both
the Guelphic and Ghibelline factions. The Via Panzani
and the Via Cenetani lead from the Piazza Vecchia to the
Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore. Nearly opposite this church
is the Albergo di Firenze, on the site of the houses of
Nicolb de' Lapi, the Florentine citizen, who has been iraraor-
talised by the romance of Massimo D'Azeglio. Sta. Maria
Maggiore is supposed to have been founded in the sixth
century, and the first building to have been an exact copy
of the Basilica of the same name in Rome. The Florentine
Sta. Maria Maggiore was made a Collegiate Church in 102 1,
with a condition attached, that all the canons should be of
noble blood. In 131 1 the building was restored after a
• Among the recent alterations in Florence a splendid market is
nearly completed in this immediate neighbourhood.

l86 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
design by Arnolfo di Cambio, and decorated with frescos by
Paolo Uccello, Spinello Aretino, Agnolo Gaddi, Masaccio,
Sandro BotticeUi, Lippi, Bugiardini, &c., but all these paint
ings have disappeared. In 151 5 Leo. X. bestowed the
patronage of this church on the Chapter of the Cathedral,
and the canons of Sta. Maria Maggiore ceded their rights to
the Camielite friars of Mantua, who were transferred, here
from their monastery at San Bamaba in 1521. Within the
cloister was buried Ser. Brunetto Latini, a celebrated philo
sopher, the master of Dante Alighieri and of Guido Caval
cante. He died in 1294, after having filled the ofifice of
Prior of the Republic. In the Piazza beside this church is
the Palazzo delle Cento Finestre — Hundred Windows —
where lived the painter Cigoli.
Behind Sta. Maria Maggiore is the beautiful Palazzo
Orlandini, built early in this century, but including within
its walls the original Palace of the Gondi, and that of the
Beccuti, who represent the extinct famUy of the Orlandini,
and in whose house lodged Pope John XXIII. after he had
been deposed by the Council of Constance.
Between the Via Cerretani and the Piazza di San
Gaetano is the Via Rondinelli, where the faraily Rondinelli
had their residence, one of whom became the husband of
Ginevra, who was buried and came to life again, as related
in a former chapter.* The Church of San Gaetano was
built on the site of San Michele Bertoldi, one of the raost
ancient chuirches in Florence, but it contains nothing of in
terest. Opposite is the Palazzo Antinori, where once was
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio's finest work, a Spasimo, or Christ
• See "Piazza del Duomo."

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZL 187
bearing his Cross, now removed to the Academy. The
palace was built in the fifteenth century after a design by
Giuliano di San Gallo for one of the Boni family, from whom
it came to the Antinori.
The Palazzo Corsi, belonging to the ancient family of that
name, is in the Via Tornabuoni. It was designed by
Michelozzo Michelozzi, but has lately been renewed, and
the groimd-floor let out in shops. Beyond is the magnifi
cent Palazzo Strozzi, which was commenced in 1489, after a
design by Benedetto da Majano, for the wealthy merchant
Filippo Strozzi the elder, who was dissatisfied with the
dimensions of the small though solidly-built palace, which
still remains in the Piazza deUe CipoUe, behind the dwelling
of Prince Strozzi, The merchant had his shop in the Via
Porta Rossa, and his chUd, the younger Filippo, who ended
his days in the Fortezza del Basso, was carried to the foun
dations of the new palace and made to drop a small coin in
the ground to bring good fortune to the inhabitants. II
Cronaca continued the work begun by Benedetto da Majano,
but neither the architect nor the owner lived to see it
finished.* The Cortile, with its beautiful columns, was
wholly designed by II Cronaca. The uppermost story is
surmounted by a gallery supporting the roof, which, where
complete, projects beyond the walls, casting a broad shadow
beneath, characteristic of Florentine architecture. The rough
masonry below gives the usual appearance of strength or
solidity to the buUding. At the corner is a pecuUarly elegant
Fanale, the work of Nicolb Caparrk. This delicately
wrought-iron ornament, used for the purpose of fire-works
* See " Vasari Vite de' Pittori," vol. vui. pp. 117—120,

iS8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
or illuminations was, it may be remembered, a privilege only
conceded to distinguished Florentine citizens.
The suite of reception rooms is adomed by a very
choice collection of pictures and sculpture. In the first
room is a portrait bust by Mino da Fiesole, of Nicolb
Strozzi, the father of the elder Filippo. The forehead is
narrow and the lower part of the face heavy, but is not
wanting in intelligence. Near it, is a portrait of Lorenzo
Strozzi. A small Annunciation, by Filippino Lippi, is
extremely beautiful. A bronze statuette on a table of St.
John the Baptist is by Donatello, and on one side there is
a copy of Michael Angelo's celebrated Pietk at Rome, by
Giovan Bologna. Two fine Carlo Dolce's, and David, by
Guido Reni, are also worthy of notice. In the next room
is one of the most celebrated busts by Desiderio di Set
tignano, of Marietta Strozzi, who married one of the family
of the Este of Ferrara. The grace, refinement, delicacy of
finish, and fine surface, are all characteristic of this artist :
the bust is cited by Vasari. Facing the window is the I'ut-
tina, the portrait of a little girl feeding her dog, by Titian.
She is in a white dress, with a pearl necklace, and a girdle
or chatelaine of jewels. She stands on a balcony, with a
landscape background. The picture, though very charming
from the childlike animation and grace, united with great
elegance in the composition, has been probably much
repainted ; in a letter of the Countess of Pomfret to Lady
Hertford, in the middle of the last century, she describes La
Puttina as in " so ruined a condition " that she expresses a
hope that " a good copy may be made before the original
wholly disappears." This little girl was a niece of Luisa
Strozzi, who was celebrated for her beauty and misfortunes.

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZI. 189
Beside the Puttina, another lovely young girl of the family is
by Leonardo da Vinci, A portrait of Giuliano de' Medici,
the brother of Lorenzo de' Medici, who was murdered by the
Pazzi, is by PoUaiolo ; it was taken after death. A sraall and
early picture of a Holy Family is by Andrea del Sarto ; the
Virgin resembles the raost celebrated Madonna of Andrea
in the Pitti. A large faraily picture is by Sustermans. The
Garden of Gethsemane, a small picture by Perugino, is
in composition like the larger in the Academy, but whilst
the Academy picture has more of Raffaelle in the drawing,
this is quite in the manner of Perugino.
In the third room is the bust of FiUppo Strozzi the Elder,
by Benedetto da Majano. Though more refined and in
telligent-looking than his father, judging by the bust,
Filippo has the same narrow forehead and pecuUar
elevation of the head. Above it hangs the portrait of
Filippo Strozzi the Younger, the friend of the Grand-
Duke Cosirao I., who ended his days in the Fortezza
del Basso. This picture is a fine copy of the original
by Titian, which is in Vienna. Filippo is dressed in a
cloak trimmed with fur, and in the gracefvl but nervous
action of the hand, and, in his whole bearing, the character
of the feeble but accomplished gentleman is well given.
The portraits of his three sons, the brothers of Luisa Strozzi,
are good pictures, by Alessandro AUori ; Piero, the eldest, is
in armour : he spent the days of his exile in France,
protected by Catherine de' Medici, who saved him from the
attempts at poison of Cosimo I. Roberto, the father of the
" Puttina," is beside him. Leone, the prior of Capua, is on
the other side of their father, and beyond him is Filippo,
a son of Piero, who served as a French general. A round

190 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
picture over the door, of a Madonna worshipping the Child,
is by Perugino or Pinturicchio, and opposite is a Holy
Family by Lorenzo Credi.
In the last roora are two exquisite Uttie landscapes by
Salvator Rosa, and graceful portraits of two youths; one
represents Cardinal Bembo, and is by Angelo Bronzino : he
stands facing the spectator holding a book, and leaning on
a table : the other, a still more interesting portrait, is the
poet Ludovico Martelli, by Raffaelle. These portraits are
placed near one another, to prove how Bronzino could
approach the great master. A good portrait of Pope
Paul III. is by Paolo Veronese ; a large picture of card-
players is by Caravaggio; and opposite, there is a good
picture, by the Uving painter Gordigiani, of the present
Princess Strozzi.

CHRONOLOGY,
A.D.
ApoUonia, Church of Sta., founded . . . 1339
Arnolfo di Cambio  b. 1232 — d. 1310
Barnaba, Church of Sta., founded . . . , 1309
Bembo, Cardinal  b. 1470 — d. 1547
Benedetto da Majano  b. 1442 — d. 1497
Bonifazio, San, founded ..... 1377
Botticelli, Sandro . . . . . , . b. 1447 — d. 1510
Bronzino  b. 1535 — d. 1607
Brunetto Latini  1294
Bugiardini  b. 1481 — d. 1556
Campaldino, Battle of  , 1289
Caravaggio, Michel Angelo da .... b. 1569 — d. 1609
Castagno, Andrea ...... b. 1409— d. 1480 {il)
CigoU, Ludovico Cardi  b. 1559 — d. 1613
Ciompi Riots ....... 1378

THE VIA SAN GALLO.— THE PALAZZO STROZZL 191
A.D.
Dolce, Carlo ........ b. i6i6 — d, 1686
Fortezza del Basso commenced .... 1533
GaUleo Galilei  b. 1564 — d, 1642
Ghirlandaio, Domenico  b. 1449 — d. 1493
„ Ridolfo  b. 1485 — d. 1500
Guido Reni  b. 1575 — d. 1642
II Cronaca, Simone PoUaiolo .... b. 1459 — d. 1508
Leo X., Pope  b. 1475 — d. 1521
Lippi, Fra FUippo ...... b. 1400 — d. 1469
„ Filippiuo ....... b. 1460 — d. 1505
Lucas van Leyden ...... b. 1494 — d. 1533
Maria Maggiore, Cliurch of Sia., made coUegiate . 1021
„ restored by Arnolfo di Cambio . 1311
MarteUi, Ludovico ...... b. 1499 — d. 1527
Masaccio ........ b. 1401 — d. 1443
Montaperti, Battle of  1260
Orcagna, Andrea  b. 1329 — d, 1375
Perugino, Pietro ....... b. 1446 — d, 1524
' Pragmatic Sanction  1737
RaftaeUino del Garbo  b. 1476 — d. 1534
Ltaffaello d'Urbino ...... b. 1483 — d, 1520
Salvator Rosa  b. 1615 — d. 1673
San GaUo, Fran9esco di  b. 1498 — d. 1570
,, Porta di, buUt  1284
Santi di Tito  b. 1538 — d. 1603
Spineilo Aretino .,,.... b. 1308 — d. 1400
. Strozzi, FiUppo  b. 1488 — d. 1538
„ Piero  b. — d. 1558
,, Palazzo, commenced .... 1489
Sustermans  b. 1597 — d. 1681
Titian  b. 1477 — d. 1576
UcceUo, Paolo  b. 1349 — d. 1436
Viviani, Vincenzo  b. 1622 — d. 1703

CHAPTER XV.
PALAZZO RUCELLAI.— SAN PANCRAZIO.— VIA TORNA
BUONI.— SS. TRINITA.— PALAZZO CORSINI.— PIAZZA
STA. MARIA NOVELLA.
/^PPOSITE the Palazzo Strozzi, a corner house between
two streets bears a shield, with the lion rampant.
Here lived and died Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumber
land, the son of Queen Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of
Leicester, and of Amy Robsart, the unhappy heroine of Sir
Walter Scott's " Kenilworth," As his mother's marriage was
never acknowledged, and he was not allowed to bear his
hereditary title, although his possessions were restored to
him, he quitted England in 1612, and sought a refuge in
Tuscany at the court of the Grand-Duke Cosimo II. , who
appointed him chamberlain to the Grand-Duchess, sister of
the Gennan Emperor Matthias. At her request the Em
peror created Dudley a Duke of the Holy Empire, with the
title of Duke of Northumberland. He was a man of great
learning and accomplishraent ; his chief studies were mathe
matics and nautical science, and he designed the Mole at
Leghorn, besides pubUshing works of value on naviga
tion, &c.
The narrow street to the left is the Vigna Nuova, in
which is the Palazzo Rucellai, with its beautiful Loggia on

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 193
the opposite side of the way. The family Rucellai are
descended from a certain Alemanno, a wealthy cloth mer
chant, who, when trading in the East, discovered a fine
purple dye for wool, produced from a plant called orchel —
Lichen Roccella, Linn: and thence, on his return to
Florence, he obtained the name of Oricellaij or Rucellai.
A descendant of Alemanno, Giovanni Rucellai, excited the
jealousy of Cosimo de' Medici — Pater Patriee — by his great
wealth : he built the beautiful palace in the Vigna Nuova,
as well as the Loggia in front, after designs by Leon Bat
tista Alberti, whom he likewise employed to build the chapel
of the Holy Sepulchre, in the neighbouring Church of San
Pancrazio, and also the fagade to Sta. Maria Novella. Gio
vanni's son, Bemardo, was a distinguished historian, and on
the occasion of his marriage with a daughter of the house of
Medici, a splendid banquet was given in the Uttle Piazza
before the palace. Bemardo and his son Cosimo were
members of the Platonic Academy, who then held their
meetings in the RuceUai Gardens, which had been laid out
for the family by Leon Battista Alberti, on a piece of ground
some little distance from the palace. The Rucellai had
become ardent supporters of the elder branch of the Medici,
but the representative of the family in the sixteenth century
opposed the election of the Grand-Duke Cosimo, and was
therefore sent into exile.
The palace contains a fine collection of pictures. The
most remarkable is that of the Assumption of the Virgin,
who lets down her girdle to St. Thomas, by Frangesco
Granacci, 1469 — 1543. The artist has treated the same
subject in his picture now in the Ufifizi Gallery, but Caval
caseUe considers the Rucellai picture the most favourable
VOL. II. o

J 94 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
example of Granacci's manner. St. Thomas, St. John,
St. James, St. Laurence, and St. Paul, stand below. Ac
cording to CavalcaseUe, "There is soft gravity in the
deportment of the saints conversing by the tomb, and .the
drapery is grand in the breadth of its cast. Two angels,
supporting the glory of flaming rays, almost embody the
grace of FiUppino. But the muscular type and energetically
forced motion of the St. Thomas rising from his knees to
take the girdle handed down to him by the Virgin, as weU
as the enameUed surface of the panel, and its minute
laboriousness, are derived from Michael Angelo,in emulation,
perhaps, of the Madonna at the Uffizi, which seems to date
from the first years of the sixteenth century."* The picture
was painted for the Church of San Piero Maggiore ; it is in
oU on panel, and the figures are life-size. A Holy Family,
by Granacci, in this gaUery, appears to have been executed
after the artist had studied the works of RaffaeUe. There
are, besides, a Madonna by Michael Angelo, and pictures
by Carlo Dolce and other distinguished artists.
The Loggia before the palace, though waUed up, and used
as a magazine for pictures, has not lost the beauty of the
original design. Beneath its arches one of the Rucellai
arranged the marriages of three of his daughters at once ;
for it was the simple custom of those old Florentine mer
chants to transact public and private business in these
appendages to their palaces, as well as to sit under their
shade in the hot days of summer, to play chess and watch
the gambols of their children.
By the Via del Moro we arrive at the Via della Spada,
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. in. p. 538.

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 195
mnning parallel to the Vigna Nuova, and meeting where the
house of Robert Dudley forms an angle opposite the
Palazzo Strozzi. In the Via della Spada, behind the Palazzo
Rucellai, is the former old Church of San Pancrazio, now
used for courts of law, San Pancrazio was founded in
1078, when it stood beyond the first circuit of walls. In
1488 it was rebuilt by the Rucellai and Federighi famUies.
The adjoining monastery was at one time inhabited by
monks from VaUombrosa, whose residence here is com
memorated by a fresco in the cloister by Neri de' Bicci, in
which Giovanni Gualberto, the founder of the Order, is seen
seated amidst bishops and saints. The fresco is a fair
specimen of Neri de' Bicci's work. The Chapel of the
Holy Sepulchre was built, as before raentioned, by Giovanni
Rucellai, who employed Leon Battista Alberti as his archi
tect, and sent one of his own retainers to Jerusalem to
obtain the exact measurements. It is entered from the Via
deUa Spada.
The Via Tornabuoni, the fashionable street of Florence,
with its gay shops and Jockey Club, received its name from
a famUy, whose history contains little reraarkable, except
that a lady of the house, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, noted for
her literary attainments, became the wife of Piero de'
Medici, and the mother of Lorenzo the Magnificent; and
that Nicolb Tomabuoni, Bishop of Borgo San Sepolcoro, in
1560 introduced the use of tobacco into Tuscany, which
was first known as the Erba Tornabuona.
In the centre of the Piazza SS. Trinitk is an ancient
Roman column, from the Baths of Caracalla, which was
presented to the Grand-Duke Cosimo I. by Pope Pius IV.
The statue of Justice, in porphyry, is the work of Fran-

igS WALKS IN FLORENCE.
gesco Ferucci, caUed II Tadda, and was placed here to
comraeraorate the final discomfiture of Cosimo's greatest
enemy, Piero Strozzi, at the battie of Marciano, in 1554. It
was probably not without intention that Cosimo, who had
caused the murder of his father FUippo in the Fortezza del
Basso, celebrated his triumph over Piero in the vicinity of
the Strozzi Palace, and in front of the church where their
ancestor, Palla Strozzi, lay buried.
The Church of the SS. Trinitk is one of the most ancient
buUdings in Florence, and is supposed to haye been com
menced in the ninth century. The monks of VaUombrosa
possessed a monastery here in 1091. The nave of the
church was formerly divided into five aisles, but one on
either side was enclosed in the thirteenth century, and
broken up into chapels, when the entire building underwent
alterations after a design of Andrea Pisano. In 1395 the
belfry was added. The fagade was the composition of
Bernardo Buontalenti, who lived in the latter half of
the sixteenth century, and removed the ancient mosaics
which decorated the building, to make roora for his ovra
tasteless design. Above the principal entrance there is a
small bas-relief of the Holy Trinity, by Giovanni Coccini,
who also executed a good statue of St. Alexis over the door
nearest the Arno. This statue is popularly believed to be
the portrait of a pilgrira, who suggested the means by which
the column in the Piazza was raised. St. Alexis, whom it
is really intended to represent, belonged to the fifth century,
and is said to have quitted a wealthy and luxurious horae
to Uve and die a beggar, and he thus eamed the honour of
canonisation. Within the church, to the right of the central door, is a

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 197
shrine of white marble, resting on columns, carved with
the most delicate arabesques and flowers, the work of Bene
detto da Rovezzano, 1490 — 1550, In the first chapel of
the right aisle is a bronze Crucifix of some merit, presented
to the city of Florence by the religious confraternity of the
Bianchi. The fifth chapel has a beautiful iron grating,
behind which is an important picture by Lorenzo Monaco,
considered, by CavalcaseUe, the best specimen of the
master. The subject is an Annunciation : " The angel
kneels, whUst the Virgin presses her right hand to her
bosom, and raises her head to listen. Her form is long and
slender, and her parted lips and the soft expression of her
countenknce, have an air of timid inquiry. The figure of
the angel recalls one by Agnolo Gaddi, at Prato. The
drapery has a certain breadth in the folds." The predella
of the altar-piece is likewise described by CavalcaseUe as
most carefiiUy executed.*
At the end of this aisle is a lateral door, opening into the
Via Parione, and a second door leading to the Sacristy,
buUt in 1421 by Palla Strozzi. It contains his monument,
which consists of a sarcophagus beneath an arch. Palla
Strozzi was an accomplished scholar, who was banished to
Padua with the Medici, with whom he likewise returned to
Florence in 1434, and he built the first Palazzo Strozzi in
the Piazza deUa CipoUe. Close to the door of the sacristy,
and to the right of the high altar, is the chapel belong
ing to the Sassetti faraily, long since extinct, and which
contains the monuments of Frangesco Sassetti and his wife
Nera Cosi, by Giuliano di San GaUo. They are siraple
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 555.

igS WALKS IN FLORENCE.
black sarcophagi, under an arch of white marble, ornamented
with delicate sculpture, bas-reliefs, &c., representing below
classical subjects. The most remarkable works of art in
this chapel are the frescos on the waUs by Domenico
Ghirlandaio, some of which are stUl in fair preservation, al
though, from their situation in the church, they can only be
seen on a very bright day. Next the altar are the portraits of
Sassetti and his wife kneeling. Above are painted incidents
from the Ufe of St. Francis. In the three lunettes nearest
the ceiling are represented the saint resigning his patrimony
and assuming his serge dress and cord; Pope Honorius
confirming the Rules of his Order ; the saint in the presence
of the Sultan. In the frescos below, St. Francis receives
the Stigmata near his raonastery of La Vernia in the Casen
tino. The Saint performs a miracle on a child of the Sas
setti family, who had fallen frora a window and was restored
to life. The background represents the Palazzo Spini, and
the bridge of the SS. Trinitk. The funeral of the saint and
the four sibyls, who. are supposed to have predicted the
advent of the Saviour, conclude the series. Beneath the
portrait of Sassetti and his wife is the following inscription :
" A.D. MCCCCLXXXV. XV."
In the Via del Parione, paraUel with the river, is the
entrance to the Palazzo Corsini, once forming part of the
houses of the powerful Acciajuoli family, whose residences
appear to have extended all along the Arno. The present
buUding was after a design by Silvani.
The Corsinis were feudal nobles in the neighbourhood of
Poggibonsi, when they reraoved to Florence in 123 1. In
1342 the faraUy were ruined by the failure of the Banks of
Peruzzi, Bardi, and Acciajuoli. Tomaso Corsini, who a

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 199
few years later was distinguished as a statesman, recovered
the fortunes of his house, but, towards the end of his life, he
retired to the Monastery of the Gaggio, beyond the Porta
Romana, where he died in 1366, with a reputation for
exalted piety. The father of the present Prince Corsini,
Don Neri Corsini, Marchese Laiatico, whose monument is
in Sta. Croce, is remembered by his countryraen for his
patriotisra in difficult times, and for his other virtues.
The Palace contains a good collection of pictures. In
the first room there is a fine portrait by Sustermans of
Cardinal Neri Corsini, whose brother Bartoloraraeo was
created Marchese di Laiatico, in 1644, by the Grand-Duke
Ferdinand II. There are several sraall pictures of interest
— Cupid in a Garden, by Albano ; Venus looking into a
glass, by Titian ; the Baptism of our Saviour, by Santi di
Tito; a good specimen of the raaster, though the Christ
is feeble ; Tobit and the Angel, a sraall but very beautiful
picture, by Andrea del Sarto ; a Holy Family, by Palma
Vecchio ; the Suonatore, a replica, by Raffaelle (?) of his
beautiful picture in the Sciarra Palace in Rome — the
colour of the dress is, however, not identical; a very
fine bead of a dead Christ, by Cigoli, painful from the
reaUstic representation of great bodily suffering ; Venus with
the dying Adonis, by Annibale Caracci — a good example of
the master ; a portrait attributed to Holbein ; a Madonna
surrounded by a garland of flowers, by Carlo Maratta.
The second room contains the most interesting pictures
of the collection — the original sketch by RaffaeUe for his
portrait of Pope Julius II. , with holes pricked for con
veying the drawing to the canvas ; a Madonna and ChUd,
by Carlo Dolce, nearly a repetition of that in the Pitti

20O WALKS IN FLORENCE.
gallery. In a recess at the further end of the room, facirig
the windows, is a large circular picture, by Filippino Lippi,
the subject of which is a Holy Family, with angels who
present flowers to the ChUd, whilst other angels sing from a
scroll of music — the background is composed of a land
scape with buildings, and the whole picture is carefully
drawn, and the colour very agreeable ; a Madonna and
Child with angels, by Sandro Botticelli, though mannered,
is sweet and tender; a fine head of Christ, in pastel, is
by Cigoli — it was the study for an altar-piece in Sta. Croce ;
a Madonna and Child, in pastel, by Carlo Dolce, is very
charming from the sweet modest expression of the Virgin ;
a Holy Family, by Mariotto Albertinelli, and another by
Fra Bartoloraraeo, are most lovely — the hands in this last
are beautifully painted; there is also a Holy Family, by
Andrea del Sarto, and another by Sustermans. Within the
roora itself is a Holy Faraily, by Jacopo Pontorrao, a good
example of the master ; another Holy Faraily, by Andrea
del Sarto ; and a St. Sebastian, by Carlo Dolce.
The room beyond is hung with family portraits — a
charming group of children, by Cavaliere Pietro Benvenuti,
the best Italian painter of the beginning of this century,
represents the late Prince Corsini, his brother Don Neri
Corsini, and their sister, an infant, seated on a dog. There
is also a good portrait of Pignotti, the author of the " Fables,"
by Benvenuti.
In the last room is a wonderfully fine painting, by Sebas
tiano del Piombo — the Bearer of the Cross. The picture
is cited by Vasari : it consists of three half-length figures,
and is a fine composition. A portrait of PoUaiolo, by him
self, is a very interesting picture, and one of the most

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 201
valuable in this collection — it is highly finished ; Poetry, by
Carlo Dolce, a good picture.
From the Palazzo Corsini the Via Parione leads to the
Via Borg' Ogni Santi, and, turning to the right, the Via del
Fosso — a record of the ditch beyond the second circuit
of walls — connects the Amo with the Piazza di Sta. Maria
Novella. Before reaching the Piazza, we arrive at the Via
Palazzuolo, in which is the old church of San Paolo,
bearing the apocryphal date of a.d. 335. San Paolo was
made a collegiate church in the tenth century, but in 1 2 1 7
was bestowed on the Dominicans, who afterwards removed
to Sta. Maria Novella. In 15 16 Leo X. conferred the
church on the dean and chapter of the Florentine Cathe
dral, with whom it continued until it finally became the
property of the barefooted Carmelites. Some monuraents
of the Albizzi family, which had formerly stood in San
Piero Maggiore, were carried hither, when San Piero was
demolished in 1783. Beyond San Paolo, in the Via Palaz
zuolo, is the suppressed Convent of the Confratemitk dei
Vanchetone, so called because the merabers of this society
were bound to walk silently in the religious processions
which passed through the streets of the city — Vanno chetone
•—they go in silence. The confratemity was founded by a
Cardinal Alexander de' Medici, in 1602, and was com
posed principally of artisans, especially silk weavers. The
Medici arms are painted on the ceiling of their church, with
subjects from the lives of the Saints, by Giovanni di San
Giovanni. The church has a vestibule with two altars, one
of which contains the image of the black Virgin of Loretto,
presented by the Medici. It is spacious and elegant in
form, but contains nothing remarkable, and has been

202 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
recently appropriated for secular purposes by the munici
pality. There are some fine examples of wooden mosaic —
Intarsiatura — in the sacristy; cupboards with small columns,
every one with a diflferent capital, picked out with gold, the
-wfixk of Pietro Libri of Padua ; a head of the Saviour, by
Carlo Dolce ; and a second, probably by the same master,
though attributed to Salvator Rosa. The skeleton of a distin
guished member ofthe order, Ippolito Galantini, is preserved,
dressed, and crowned with a garland of lilies in silver ; his
portrait is in the saloon, reserved for the members of the
society. There are two beautiful busts of boys, by Donatello,
within the church, on either side of the sacristy. A wooden
Crucifix over the altar is finely executed, though painful.
Nearly opposite the Church of San Paolo is the Hospital
dedicated to the same saint, begun in 1451 ; the Porch or
Loggia, in the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella,, facing the
church, was built after a design by Filippo Brunelleschi;
and the series of medallions above, are by Luca and Andrea
della Robbia ; Vasari raentions them as fairly executed —
" assai buono." The medallions at the end, near the comer
of the Via del Fosso, contain the portraits of Luca and
Andrea. It is supposed that Luca began the work which
was finished by his nephews. On the site of the Loggia,
the celebrated raeeting between St. Francis and St. Do
minick is said to have taken place, and the interview
is commemorated in a relief by one of the scholars of Luca
over a door at the end.
The hospital was at one time intended for the Pilgrims,
or Pinzocheri, of the third order of St. Francis ; and as,
before the CouncU of Trent, aU monasteries had a nunnery
at no great distance, so likewise here was a convent of Pinzo-

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 203
chere, who assisted the friars in the care of the sick untU the
monastery was suppressed in 1500, when the whole charge
devolved on the nuns. Disputes, however, arose between
them and the governors of the hospital, which ended in the
nuns being deprived of their privileges, and the Grand-Duke
Francis I. converting the building into a convalescent
hospital, to which were sent the patients from aU the other
hospitals ofthe city, who were allowed to reraain there four
days, and to partake of eight meals. Pietro Leopoldo
afterwards assigned the Loggia di San Paolo for girls'
schools, in which useful arts were taught, and all that might
conduce to raake good raothers of families. Near this
Loggia was the house of the eccentric librarian Maglia-
becchia. The Piazza di Sta. Maria Novella was laid out in 1244, at
the instigation of Pietro Martire, who wanted greater space
for the multitudes who flocked thither to listen to his
sermons ; and as the open-air preaching of the Dominican
Friars continued popular, the Piazza was still further
enlarged at the expense ofthe city in 1331. The fagade of
the church, as has been already stated in this chapter, was
buUt by Giovanni Rucellai, and his name is inscribed in
large letters above the rose window. The Piazza was used
on various festive occasions under the Republic. Chariot
races were introduced here by the Grand-Duke Cosimo I.,
in 1563. The obelisks in the centre served for \!a.Q gugli —
goals — of the race. They were first made of wood, but the
Grand-Duke Ferdinand I. ordered them to be rebuilt of
mixed marble from Serravezza. The lily at the top and the
tortoises on which they rest are by Giovan Bologna. In
a smaU Piazza to the right, facing the church, is the

204 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Croce al Trebbio, a granite column, the work of Giovanni
Pisano, erected in 1308, to commeraorate a battle which
took place on this spot with the Paterini, or heretics,
against whom the eloquence of St. Peter Martyr was
durected in the Piazza di Sta. Maria Novella. The capital
of the column supporting the cross, which is protected by a
roof, is composed of rade images of the animals typical of
the Evangelists, a favourite subject of the school, and of
which there are examples in the pulpits of Pisa and Sienna.
The column was at first crowned with a statue of St. Peter
Martyr, as may be seen in a fresco in the large cloister of
Sta. Maria Novella.
Between the Piazza Nuova and the Piazza Vecchia di
Sta. Maria Novella, beside the church, is the Via degli
Avelli, or the Street of Tombs, forraed by a series of pointed
arches, beneath which are burial places once belonging
to some of the principal families of Florence. There is a
tradition that the bones contained in these tombs were
carried here from the ceraetery around the Baptistery and
Cathedral, when Arnolfo de' Lapi leveUed the ground of the
Piazza del Battisterio, and paved it with stone.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Alberti, Leon Battista  b. 1398 — d. 1480
AlbertineUi, Mariotto  b. 1475 — d. 1520
Andrea del Sarto  b. 1488 — d. 1530
Benedetto da Rovezzano  b. 1490 — d. 1550
Benvenuti, Cavaliere Pietro  b. 1769 — d. 1844
BotticeUi, Sandro  b, 1437  d. 1515

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, ETC. 205
A.D.
BruneUesco  b. 1377 — d. 1444
Caracci, Annibale  b. 1560 — d. 1609
CigoU, Ludovico Cardi  b. 1559— d. 1613
Corsini famUy came to Florence .... 1231
„ created Marchesi di Laiatico . . . 1644
Corsini, Tommaso  d. 1366
Cosimo I., Grand-Duke  b. 1519 — d. 1574
Dolce, Carlo  b. 1616— d. 1686
Dominick, St  b. 1170 — d. 1221
Dudley, Robert, Duke of Northumberland . . b. 1573 — d. 1639
Francis, St  b. 1182 — d. 1226
Granacci, Fran9esco  b. 1469 — d. 1543
Julius IL, Pope  1503— 1513
Lippi, FUippino  b. 1460 — d. 1505
Marciano, BatUe of  1554
Maria NoveUa, Piazza di Sta., laid out . . . 1244
„ „ enlarged. . . 1331
„ ,, „ chariot races . . 1563
Pancrazio, Church of San, founded . . . 1078
,, ,, „ re-buUt .... 1488
Paolo, Church of San  335
„ „ „ bestowed on the Dominicans 1217
„ „ „ Dominicans removed thence
to Sta. Maria NoveUa  1516
Pinzochere Nuns of San Paolo suppressed . . 1500
Pius IV., Pope  1559— 1565
Pontormo, Jacopo  b. 1493 — d. 1566
Robbia, Luca deUa  b. 1400— d. 148 1
San GaUo, Giuliano di  b. 1443— d. 1517
Sebastiano del Piombo  b. 1485 — d. 1547
Sustermans  b. 1597 — d. 1681
Tobacco introduced into Florence .... 1560
Trinita; Church of SS  1091
„ „ bemy buUt .... 1395
,, „ „ sacristy built . . . 1421

CHAPTER XVI.
STA. MARIA NOVELLA.
'"PHE Dominican Convent of Sta. Maria NoveUa was at
one time, with the exception of the other Dominican
Convent of San Marco, the most important religious institu
tion in Florence. A small church, built in the ninth century
by the faraily of Tomaquinci, stood on the ground occupied
by the transepts of the present beautiful edifice. The
principal entrance was in the Piazza Vecchia, beyond the
Bacchiera gate, or postem, in the second circuit of walls,
which was situated where the Via de' Banchi and the Via
Panzani meet — a comer since known as the Canto de'
Carnesecchi. This church was caUed Sta. Maria tra le
Vigne — Sta. Maria among the Vines — until the tenth century,
when it was enlarged by the canons of the Florentine
Cathedral, and the name was changed to Sta. Maria Novella.
It was about the year 12 19 that St. Dominick sent a certain
Giovanni da Salemo, or, as he was afterwards calle'd, the
Beato Giovanni, with twelve other Dominican friars, to
introduce his Order into Florence. They first lodged in the
Hospital for Pilgrims outside the Porta San Gallo ; but when
St. Dominick hiraself arrived there in 1221, the Papal
Legate. and the Bishop of Florence assigned the Church of

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 207
Sta. Maria Novella, as well as the adjacent land, to the
Dominicans, on which they raised their monastery. They
immediately commenced building, and the first stone of the
new church was laid by the Legate, Cardinal Latino degli
Orsini.'^ After a lapse of seventy years, two of the brothers,
Fra Ristori and Fra Sisto, pupUs of Arnolfo di Lapo,
or Cambio, aided by contributions from several of the
principal famUies of Florence, finished the church, which,
from the elegance of its form and proportions, Michael
Angelo called La Sposa, the Bride,
Sta. Maria Novella is one of the few churches in Florence
whose fagade is nearly complete. The base was begun in
the middle of the fourteenth century, but the whole was
only finished as we now see it in 1470. The architect,
Leon Battista Alberti, ignoring all rules, has produced a
mixture of German, Gothic, Greek, and Roraan architecture,
incrasted with black and white marbles, in the manner of
the Baptistery and Cathedral, and the result is a composi
tion of so much beauty and refinement, that thqugh peculiar,
it is impossible to deny its charm.
The inflated sails of the Rucellai forming the ornament in
the frieze, and the decorations round the principal gate, are
especiaUy beautiful. Tall columns of black marble, with com
posite capitals, are on either side ; within the lunettes over
each of the three doors are frescos by UUsse Ciocchi.t That
in the central lunette represents the ceremony of the Holy
Sacrament at the Feast of the Corpus Doraini, when the

* The Pope then reigning was Nicholas III.
t Possibly the son of Giovan Maria Ciocchi, a Florentine painter of
the seventeenth century.

2o8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Host was carried in procession to the Church of Sta. Maria
Novella. In the foreground St. Dominick is kneeling, and
is ministered to by angels. The lunettes over the other
doors contain figures of Aaron with the manna, and Mel
chisedek with the shew-bread, and are both very mediocre
paintings. On either corner of the fagade are wheel-like
patterns of great elegance, one of which is only half finished ;
below these, are astronoraical instraments attached to the
building. One is a marble gnomon, or dial ; the other,
armillas for the observation of the solstices. Both were
made by Ignazio Danti (1537 — 1586). Ignazio was a
Dominican monk from Perugia, who was employed by the
Grand-Duke Cosimo I. for geographical as well as astro
nomical researches, and was the author of the maps in the
Stanza della Guardaroba of the Palazzo Vecchio.
Cosimo proposed to draw a meridian line within this
church, but his project was frustrated by his death. He
had, however, already caused a hole to be pierced through
the wall to allow the sun's ray to pass into the nave, and
placed this gnomon, or marble quadrant, and the bronze
equinoctial and meridian armillas, with an inscription in
honour of hiraself, as well as a stone with a smaU line which
marks the edge of the solar solstice in the winter of 1575.
The first armilla was to indicate the moment of midday ;
the second that of the equinox ; and they are so constmcted,
that when the sun is at midday or at the equator, the light
strikes the concave of both armillas, leaving two thin
threads of light on either side, and when these two threads
are equal, it is exactly noon.
To the right, a smaU oblong-shaped cloister flanks the
whole side of the church, as far as the Piazza Vecchia, and

STA. MARIA NOVELI.A. 209
tl)e external walls of two sides are formed by the succession
of white marble monuments under pointed arches, which
contain the coats of arms of the famUies to whom they
belonged. These tombs have been recently repaired, and
placed somewhat farther back than their original position,
so as to widen the Via degli Avelli, which connects the
Piazza Nuova and Piazza Vecchia of Sta. Maria Novella.
The interior of the church is in the form of a Latin
cross, and, although not one of the largest, is one of the
most beautiful buildings in Florence. The nave and aisles
are divided by clustered columns of excellent propor
tions. In order to give an appearance of greater raagni
tude, Fra Ristori and Fra Sisto allowed wider intervals
between the three first columns nearest the principal
entrance, and raised the paveraent two steps towards the
choir, the whole width of the nave and aisles. UntU the
year 1568 a marble screen, with frescos and monuments
attached to it, divided the church in half, and separated
the male from the female worshippers.* By order of
Cosimo I., Vasari destroyed this screen, and added the
chapels along the aisles. The so-called Italian-Gothic style
of the interior of Sta. Maria Novella is not correct accord
ing to architectural rules, but is nevertheless extreraely
beautiful. On either side of the central door are frescos, transferred
to their present position from the former screen. That to
the right, facing the spectator, is an early Florentine repre
sentation of the Annunciation. Beneath, in three corapart-

* This is still usual in the Church of San Zenone at Verona,
where the ascent to the choir is by a numerous flight of steps.
VOL. II. P

210 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
ments, are the Nativity, the Baptism of our Lord, and the
Adoration of the Magi. The fresco to the left is a very
remarkable painting by Masaccio. The subject is the Holy
Trinity, but it has been much injured. The Saviour on the
cross is supported in the arms of the Eternal, who is seen
beneath an arch resting on Ionic colurans and pilasters ;
the dove hovers over the head of the Saviour. The Virgin,
who is represented advanced in life, points to her Son ; St.
John, on the other side, stands with his hands clasped ; in
front is the donor, in a red cap and Florentine mantie, and
his wife dressed in black. The expression of these four
heads, and the arrangement of their drapery, which faUs in
large folds, is very grand.*
Above the central door is a large wooden Crucifix,
attributed to Giotto and his pupil Puccio Capanna, but
Giotto is in reaUty supposed to have had very littie, if any,
hand in it. Below is a mosaic representing the Holy
Family in the Stable of Bethlehem ; above the Crucifix is
the rose-window of stained glass, which has a Coronation of
the Virgin, surrounded by a garland of angels.
Beside the door to the. left is a large raarble slab, the
monument of one of the Vecchietti family, whose mansions
were near the Mercato Vecchio. The first altar proceeding
up the church has a picture of the Martyrdom of St.
Lawrence, by Girolamo Macchietti, a pupil of Ridolfo
Ghirlandaio. The modem raonuraents on either side to
the Senator Ippolito Venturi and his wife, are by the sculptor
Stefano Ricci. The four altars which follow contain pictures
by Giovanni Battista Naldini (1544 — 1600), who was a pupil
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 543.

57-.^. MARIA NOVELLA. 211
of Pontormo and of Angiolo Bronzino. The subjects are —
The Nativity, the Presentation at the Temple, the Deposi
tion from the Cross, and St. Francis preaching, with our
Saviour in the clouds above. Both these last are highly
praised by Borghini for composition and design. The
chapel containing the Deposition from the Cross is dedi
cated to St. Thomas S, Becket, and near it are two old monu
ments transferred here from the forraer screen, and which
were erected to the memory of Tomraaso and Ruggieri
Minerbetti, liberal benefactors to the church, and whose
family claimed kindred with the celebrated archbishop of
Canterbury. The archbishop's family is supposed to have
, been so cmelly persecuted in England that they had to fly
their country, and about the end of the twelfth century to
have estabUshed theraselves in Lucca, from whence they
removed to Florence. The name of Minerbetti is supposed
to be a corraption of that of Becket. Messer Ruggero
Minerbetti fought on the Guelphic side in the battle of
Montaperti, 1260, and thirty merabers of the faraily filled
the office of Priors of the RepubUc between the years 128^
and 1531.
These monuments were made by Silvio da Fiesole, a
pupil of Andrea da Fiesole, who Uved towards the end of
the fifteenth century : they are sarcophagi of white marble,
beneath an architrave resting on Corinthian pilasters, and
decorated with the arras of the family — three daggers on a
shield — and with four very lovely cherubs' heads. Four door
ways succeed one another along the wall of this aisle ; they
are decorated with carved stone cornices of similar design,
and one of these opens on the Chiostro degli Avelli ; the two
which follow are built up, and the last leads to the CapeUa

212 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
deUa Puritk. Two mart)le busts above these doors are to the
meraory of Josephus Zenobi del Rosso, Professor, 1760; and
Cosmee Raynor Rossio Melocchio, Knight of St. Stephen,
1820. In the Capella della Puritk is the Cmcifix before
which a celebrated Dominican nun, the Beata Villana, always
prayed. There is nothing otherwise worthy of note in this
plain square room. The next chapel has an altar-piece by
Jacopo Ligozzi, a native of Verona, and pupil of Paolo
Veronese (1543 — 1627), who lived long in Florence, where
he was much employed by the Grand-Duke Ferdinand II.
The subject ofthis picture is St. Raymond de Peniforte, a
Spanish saint, raising a dead child to life. The groups,
though not free from affectation, are graceful and well
placed. The stone decorations on either side of the altar
are extremely beautiful. One of these is the monument to
a member of the RicasoU family, and is the work of Romolo
di Taddeo da Fiesole. Giovanni Battista Ricasoli, whose
profile is represented in reUef on this monument, was the
counsellor and confidential friend of the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I. Born in 1504, the godson of Pope Leo X.,
RicasoU was educated for the Church, and was the fast
friend of the Medici. He became chamberlain to Clement
VIL, and accompanied that pope to Bologna for the
coronation of the Emperor Charles V. In 1533 he escorted
Catherine de' Medici to Marseilles, when she went to
marry Henry, the son of Francis I. The same year he
was appointed by the Pope military commissioner, and was
sent to Hungary against the Sultan Soliman. After the
death of Clement VII. he attached himself to IppoUto de'
Medici, and on his death by poison, he foUowed his cousin,.
O'lke Alexander. When Alexander was murdered, in 1537, ,

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 213
he attended the court of Cosimo I., and was created Bishop
of Cortona, and sent on various missions to Charles V.
at Madrid, and to Rome. In 1548 he accorapanied Prince
Francis (afterwards the Grand-Duke Francis I.) to Genoa, to
do homage to PhiUp II., the son of Charles V., and was
then sent to Flanders to demand succour from Charles
against the French, who were coming to the aid of the
Siennese, then besieged by Cosimo. From Flanders Ricasoli
proceeded to England, and was present at the marriage of
Philip to Queen Mary. He was afterwards eraployed at
Rome, on the death of Pope Paul IIL, to procure the elec
tion of a pontiff favourable to Medicean interests. In 1557,
Cosimo sent him to Henry II. of France, charged to
administer a poison, prepared by the grand-duke hiraself,
for his enemy, Piero Strozzi. This design was frustrated
by Catherine de' Medici, and Ricasoli had to take flight ;
but from that tirae forth he was known as the " Vescovo dell'
Ampollina'' — the Bishop of the Poison-cup. The corre
spondence between Cosimo and Ricasoli, when at the
court of Naples, still exists among the archives of the
Strozzi family. Ricasoli fulfilled several other missions for
Cosimo, but finding himself advanced in years, he thought
it best to provide for his soul; and in 1561 took up
his abode in Pistoia, to which See he had been appointed
the previous year, and devoted himself to his episcopal
duties. He died in 1572, and was buried in Sta. Maria
Novella at Florence, where his nephews raised a monument
to his memory. He was a patron of letters, and contributed
to the foundation of the Florentine Academy : his manners
were so attractive that he gained the affections of all con
nected with him, and had friends amongst the most illus-

214 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
trious personages of the day. When Charles V. bade him
farewell, he not only embraced him, but — a rare honour —
kissed his cheek.*
Turning into the eastem transept, there is a very interest
ing portrait-bust of the Archbishop Antonino in terra-cotta,
A very ancient monument above this bust is to the memory
of Tedice Aliotti, a bishop of Fiesole, who died in 1336 ;
the monument is attributed to Lino or Tino of Sienna. The
bishop reclines on a sarcophagus, which rests on three
crouching lions, and has a relief of our Saviour rising
from the tomb, with the Virgin and St. John on either side ;
a canopy above is supported on twisted columns and
pilasters ; still higher is an arch with the shield of the
deceased, a lion rampant.
A large fresco much damaged, beyond the monument,
and lower down, was painted in memory of Joseph, the
Patriarch of Constantinople, who died in Florence in 1440,
during the CEcumenical Council which was summoned by
Pope Eugenius IV. in the hope of reconciling the Latin
and Greek Churches. The patriarch is represented in his
robes, with an image in his hand. Over this fresco is a
monument to Fra Aldobrandini Cavalcanti of Florence, who
died in 1229, and contributed largely to the restoration of
the church : the friar, clothed in a bishop's robes, is repre
sented in relief. The statuette of the Virgin and Child above,
beneath an arch of black and white marble, is of the school
of Nicolb Pisano, A fiight of stone steps leads to the
chapel belonging to the Rucellai faraily, and at the head

* " Genealogia e Storia deUa Famiglia RicasoU "—Luigi Passerini,
i860.

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 215
of the Steps is a marble sarcophagus, containing the bones
of Paolo Rucellai, the father of Giovanni Rucellai, at whose
expense the facciata of Sta. Maria Novella was constmcted.
In this chapel is the celebrated Madonna of Cimabue,
painted in 1240, and borne hither from his workshop in the
Borgo Allegri in a festive procession. The Virgin, above
life-size, is seated ; she is clothed in a red tunic and blue
mantle, which is drawn over her head as a hood ; her feet
rest on the step of the throne, which is carved in a rich
pattem and gUt ; over the back of the chair is a drapery
equally rich in gold and embroidery ; the throne itself is
supported by six angels kneeling, three above each other, on
eitiier side. The infant Saviour is clothed in white, with a
gold mantle over his knees.* It is from this picture we may
date the impulse given to art, which developed the Floren
tine school of painting under Giotto. The features of the
Virgin are straight and regular ; her eyes are long and
almond-shaped, but more open than is usual with masters of
that period ; her head is slightly inclined on one side
towards her child, as she looks up with a soft and dignified
expression; the mouth is pecuUarly sweet, the hands and
fingers are exaggerated in form and length, the head is too
large ; but she sits gracefully, her elbow resting lightly on
the arm of the throne. The child's head is too small and
his arms too long, but the expression of his countenance, as
well as his attitude, possess dignity and power. The faces
of the angels are singularly lovely.
In the right-hand corner of this chapel is the old monu
ment to the Beata Villana, removed hither from a chapel
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 204,

2i6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
near that of the Puritk. ViUana was a Florentine lady of
pecuUar sanctity, who died in 1360. The daughter ofa certain
Andrea di Messer Lapo, a wealthy merchant who had his
dwelUng near the Piazza di San Felice, Oltr' Arno, she was
devoted from her chUdhood to a life of religious contempla
tion, fasting, wearing a hair shirt, and spending day and night
in prayer. Her parents insisted on her marrying a youth of
the noble family of Benintendi, and after her marriage she
was surrounded by all the temptations and pleasures of this
Ufe, in the midst of which she forgot her religious aspira
tions. One day, when dressed with unusual splendour,
turning to look at herself in a mirror, she beheld, to her
horror, a demon in her clothes. She caUed for another
mirror, and a third, but in each, she saw herself more hideous.
She accordingly changed her gay garments for her hair
shirt, and hastened to the Church of Sta. Maria Novella,
where, confessing her sins to one of the friars, she thenceforth
returned to a life of penitence and prayer, assisting the poor,
and seeing visions, untU, worn out by absteraiousness, she
died at the early age of twenty-eight. Many marvellous
stories are told of the Beata ViUana. Her son was buried
in the tomb afterwards used by the Minerbetti family, and
her grandson erected this monument to her memory.
Vasari attributes it to Desiderio da Settignano ; but more
recent writers on art give it to Bernardo RosseUino, also
known as GambareUi. The saint appears as in sleep, re
posing beneath a tent-like drapery, the folds of which are
held back by graceful angels. In the centre are hands
holding a crown, which radiates Ught. There are several
pictures in this chapel, though none of transcendent merit.
One of Sta. Lucia is by Benedetto Ghiriandaio, a brother

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 217
of Domenico, but very inferior as a painter. This picture
was executed for a Dominican monk, Fra Tomraaso Cortesi,
who is represented adoring the saint. The Martyrdom of
St. Catherine is by Giuliano Bugiardini, a Florentine (147 1
— 1 554), an assistant of Mariotto Albertinelli, and pupil of
Domenico Ghirlandaio. He never became very eminent,
and this is his best performance. The idea for the composi
tion was taken from a design by Michael Angelo, for whom
Bugiardini had the profoundest admiration; and a group
standing apart on a terrazza is supposed to be by the
hand ofthe great master himself. The saint is represented
as a fair young girl, whose joy and thankfulness at being
saved from a torturing death is well expressed. An early
picture of an Annunciation has a lovely angel ; and another
painting, representing the Virgin appearing to St. Dominick,
is treated almost precisely as in another picture in the;
Church of San Felice in Florence.
The first chapel to the left of the transept, and on a line
with the high altar, is dedicated to the Holy Sacrament. A
mde bas-relief on the pilaster supporting the arch, which is
kept closed by an iron grating, represents St. Gregory bless
ing the founder of this chapel. The adjoining chapel
belongs to the Strozzi family. At the back is the monument
to FUippo Strozzi (the elder), who built the splendid palace
in the Via Tornabuoni; he died in i49i,and Benedetto da
Majano (1442 — 1498) was the artist employed to execute
his monument. This sarcophagus is of black marble, and
above it is a most beautiful relief in white marble of the
Madonna and Child with four angels, surmounted by an ex
quisitely carved garland of roses and heads of cherabim.
The arch beyond is also delicately carved in arabesques

2i8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
There was formeriy here the bust of Filippo Strozzi, which
is now in the Strozzi Palace. The frescos on the walls
of this chapel have been exceedingly injured by repainting ;
they were originally by FUippino Lippi, of whom FUippo
Strozzi was the patron, but were not executed until after
Strozzi's death. The subjects chosen by Filippino were
incidents in the Uves of St. PhUip and St. John the Evangelist.
St. PhUip is represented exorcising a dragon, which had
been worshipped as the god Mars by the inhabitants of
Hieropolis, in Phrygia. The dragon has crept from beneath
the altar, and emits such a poisonous breath that the son of
the king has fallen dead in the arms of his attendants.
PhUip, aided by Divine power, is restoring him to life.
The priests of the dragon, incensed against the apostle,
crucify him, as represented in the lunette above ; the
moment chosen by the painter is when St. Philip, already
nailed to the cross, is raised by cords. The action of the
men who are pulling the cords is much praised by Vasari.*
On the opposite wall St. John restores Dmsiana to Ufe.
The saint is supposed to have passed a year and a day on
the island of Patmos, and was returning to Ephesus amidst
the rejoicings of the inhabitants, when he met a funeral
procession issuing from the gates, and was told that Dmsiana,
in whose house he had formerly lodged, was dead. She was
a woman much esteemed for her good works, and St. John,
desiring the bearers to set down the bier, prayed eamestly
for her restoration to life. His prayer was granted, and the
apostle went home with her, and dwelt again under her roof.t
Drusiana is represented in this fresco, rising from the trestle
* See also " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 448.
t See " Sacred and Legendary Art," by Mrs. Jameson, p. 150.

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 219
on which she is carried ; St. John is looking at her with a
serious countenance ; there is little elevation, but a great
deal of dramatic power in the coraposition. The group to
the right, of a child startled by a dog, is full of nature and
truth, and the women and children here, as well as in the
beautiful little group of Charity in the corner, are very lovely.
The monochrome imitation of architecture round these
frescos is not in very good taste. On the ceiling are the
Patriarchs and their symbols. The painted glass of the
window, with the Madonna and Child, St. John, and St.
Philip, is very finely executed.
There was formerly a high altar here, the work of Baccio
d' Agnolo, which was removed for the present altar, rich in
mosaic work, but out of keeping with the rest of the building.
Beneath it are the remains of the Beato Giovanni da Salerno,
the Dominican who founded the church. On the paveraent
before this altar there was also at one tirae a slab in bronze
with the eflfigy of Fra Leonardo di Stagio Dati, Prior of the
Convent and Grand-Master of the Dorainicans. This monu
ment was executed in 1426 by Lorenzo Ghiberti, when part
of the church was included in the choir, but, as it was much
wom from the feet of visitors, it has been removed behind
the altar and within the present choir, where it is placed in
an upright position. This prior was a raan of exemplary
conduct, and was distinguished in letters ; he was present
at the Council of Constance, and was sent by Pope Martin V.
to the Council of Pavia ; the monument was decreed to him
at the public expense, in recognition of his important diplo
matic services.
The choir of Sta. Maria NoveUa, in the apse behind the
high altar, was originally a chapel belonging to the Ricci

220 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
family; at their expense it was decorated with frescos by
Andrea Orcagna, to whom may perhaps also be attributed
the elegant architecture of the roof. These early frescos
were much daraaged by a storra in 1458, when the Ricci,
finable to bear the expense of the repairs, yielded their rights
to Giovanni Tornabuoni, who some time afterwards employed
Domenico Ghirlandaio, then a young man, to repaint the
walls in fresco with scenes from the lives of the Virgin and
St. John the Baptist. Ghirlandaio had already gained a repu
tation by his beautiful frescos in the Sassetti Chapel of the
SS. Trinitk, and Tornabuoni offered to pay him one thou
sand two hundred gold florins for this new work, with two
hundred florins more, if he was satisfied with the perform
ance when finished. Ghirlandaio devoted four years to
the undertaking, but although Tomabuoni expressed his
satisfaction, he refused to pay him the two hundred addi
tional florins ; and Ghirlandaio, who esteemed his art raore
than money, declared that to have succeeded in pleasing his
employer was to him of higher value than any payment.
The subjects on either wall are divided in seven compart
ments, in three parallel lines, with a lunette above. Sepa
rating each space, are painted architectural decorations,
executed with great elegance and richness of detail. In the
lower compartraents, on the side which contains the life
of St. John the Baptist, are the Angel appearing to
Zacbarias at the altar, and the Salutation of EUzabeth and
Mary; above, the Birth of John the Baptist, and Zacba
rias naming his child ; stiU higher up, the Preaching in the
Wildemess, and the Baptism of Christ. In the lunette is
the Daughter of Herodias dancing before Herod ; among
the spectators, in the fresco of the Angel appearing to

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 221
Zacbarias, are portraits of several of the Tomabuoni family ;
Giovanni, at whose expense the frescos were painted, is
next the angel. The four half-length figures at the right-
hand comer are aU portraits of distinguished literary men
inhabiting Florence : the first, attired as a canon, is Mar
silio Ficino ; the second^ with a red cloak, and black scarf
round his neck, is Cristofano Landino, the coraraentator on
Dante; the third, turning round, is Messer Gentile, a
bishop of Arezzo ; and the fourth, standing in the midst
of the group and raising his hands, is Angelo Poliziano.
The three half-length figures of youths, on the left, are
Federigo Sassetti, Andrea de' Medici, and Gian Frangesco
Ridolfi, who all belonged to the Medici Bank. The lady
in a gold brocade dress in the group of the Salutation was a
celebrated beauty, Ginevra de' Benci, whose portrait Ghir
landaio also introduces in his frescos of the life of the
Virgin. The small figures in the distance, standing on a
terrazza overlooking the town, are said to have been drawn
by Michael Angelo, who was a boy studying under Ghir
landaio when this fresco was painted.
In the lower compartment on the opposite wall, which
contains the life of the Virgin, are Joachim's Expulsion from
the Temple, and the Birth of the Virgin ; above, the Virgin's
Presentation in the Temple and her Marriage ; and on the
Une, still higher up, the Adoration of the Magi, and the
Massacre of the Innocents. In the lunette are the Death
and the Ascension of the Virgin ; but this last painting has
been much damaged. In the compartment where Joachim
is driven from the Temple there is a group of four men in
the comer nearest the window ; the old man behind with a
bald head and a red cap is Alessio Baldovinetti, Domenico's

222 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
master in his art ; the artist has taken his own portrait in
the man wearing a red cloak over a grey dress, with his hand
resting on his hip ; the third figure, with long black hair and
thick Ups, is the pupil of Domenico, Sebastian Mainardi of
San Gemignano ; and the fourth, seen in profile and wear
ing a cap, is the artist's brother, David Ghirlandaio. Ginevra
de Benci, in her gold brocade dress, appears a second time,
in the Birth of the Virgin.
Ghirlandaio accomplished a great work by coverin g so large
a space with a design so rich, and executed with so much
boldness. The men have all the character of portraits, and
have the quiet dignity and sobriety of demeanour appropriate
to citizens of a free Republic; the women are very lovely, pure,
and refined, and have a modest grace and dignity which is
extremely fascinating. The drawing of the figures and the
grandiose arrangeraent of the drapery show the stride forward
Ghirlandaio had made in art. The landscape, architectural
reliefs, sculpture, and perspective of the pavement are all
excellent, and kept in due subordination, as mere acces
sories to the principal subject. On either side of the win
dows are the portraits, life-size, of Giovanni Tornabuoni and
his wife, in the costume of the day. Giovanni has taken
care that his share in the decoration of the apse should not
be forgotten, for he not only sat for his portrait in the
frescos, but he has blazoned his coat of arms in the most
conspicuous places, although the Ricci appended one condi
tion to their cession of the chapel, that their coat of arms
should be retained in its place. They sued him at law for
the nonfulfilment of this compact; but Tornabuoni gained
the suit by proving he had inserted the arms of the Ricci in
an obscure corner behind the altar.

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 223
Above the portraits of Giovanni and of his wife are St.
John the Baptist departing for the Wildemess, and an
Annunciation ; St. Francis before the Soldan, and the Death
of Peter Martyr. Over the window is the Coronation of
the Virgin. The window itself is in three divisions of richly
coloured glass, the work of Alessandro Fiorentino, an expert
master in his craft. In one division are six saints ; in another,
the Presentation in the Temple ; and in the last, the Virgin
in Glory. It was completed the year after the frescos. In
the vaulted ceiUng are the Evangelists.
The wood-carving of the stalls is by Giovanni GargiolU.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Aliotti, Tedice  d. 1376
Andrea da Fiesole  1465 — 1526
Baccio d' Agnolo ........ 1462 — 1543
Baldovinetti Alessio ....... 1427 — 1499
Benedetto da Majano  1442 — 1498
Bugiardini  1471-1554
Cavalcante, Fra Aldobrandi ...... d. 1229
Cimabue, his Madonna painted  1240
CouncU of Florence ....... 1440
Danti, Ignazio  . . 1537—1586
Ghirlandaio, Benedetto  1458 — 1497
„ David  1452 — 1525
,, Domenico ....... 1449 — 1494
„ Ridolfo  1483-1561
Giovanni da Saleino came to Florence .... 1219
Giotto  1276 — 1337
Landino Cristoforo ........ 1424 — 1 504
Ligozzi, Jacopo  '543—1627

224 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Lippi FUippino  1457— IS04
Macchietti, Girolamo, pupU of R. Ghirlandaio . . 1534—1592
Masaccio  1401— 1428
MarsUio Ficino  1433— 1499
Naldini, Giovan Battista  1537-1592
Poliziano, Angelo  I4S4 — '494
Sta. Maria Novella finished  1470
ViUana, Beata  d. 1360

CHAPTER XVII.
STA. MARIA -iiONE.-L-LA.—{Continuation).
nPHE first chapel to the left of the choir belongs to the
Gondi family, and is encrusted with marbles, arranged
after a design by Giuliano di San Gallo ; it is dedicated to
St. Luke, and is soraetiraes called the Chapel of the Cracifix,
because it contains the crucifix of FiUppo Brunelleschi,
made after seeing a crucifix by Donatello, now in Sta. Croce,
which he stigmatised as the representation of a peasant — ¦
contadino.* The Gaddi Chapel is dedicated to St. Jerome, and was
decorated by Giovanni Antonio Doscio, a pupil of Raffaello
da Montelupo, in 1533. The columns of pietra-serena
have very beautiful capitals. The altar-piece, of Christ re
storing to Life the Daughter of Jairus, is a feeble production
of Angelo Bronzino. On the sides of the chapel are reliefs
by Giovanni dell' Opera, a pupil of Baccio BandineUi : the
Marriage of Mary and Joseph, and the Presentation in the
Temple, Above, in the ceiling, are frescos of the Life of
St. Jerome.
The chapel in the southem transept is reached by a
* See chapter on Sta. Croce.
VOL. II. Q

226 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
flight of steps, in the same manner as the RuceUai Chapel
opposite. It belongs to the Strozzi family, and is dedicated
to St. Thomas Aquinas. Here are preserved the reUcs of a
certain Beato Alessio degU Strozzi, who caused the chapel
to be paved with marble about the middle of the fourteenth
century. The waUs are painted in fresco by the brothers
Andrea and Bernardo Orcagna, and represent the Last
Judgment, the Pains of Hell as described by Dante, and
the Glories of Paradise, with a numerous assemblage of
saints and holy personages. These frescos were probably
executed prior to the altar-piece, which is also by Andrea
Orcagna, and bears the date 1357. The Last Judgment is
at the end of the transept, and covers the walls on either
side and above the window. The Saviour in the clouds dis
penses blessings and curses, and is accompanied by angels
who bear the symbols of the Passion. To the left, the
Virgin is kneeling ; six of the Apostles are beside her ; the
Baptist is at the head of the remaining six to the right.
Beneath the Virgin are patriarchs and prophets — Noah
with his Ark, Moses and Abraham, saints and martyrs. In
a corner of the foreground angels help one of the chosen,
who is rising from the grave. The condemned, who are on
the side below St. John the Baptist, show their despair by
their gestures.
Although the painting on the wall to the left has suflfered
much frora darap and restorations, enough of the fresco
remains to enable us to judge of Andrea's composition.
The Saviour and the Virgin — a sweet, yet dignified and
queen-like woman — are seated side by side on a throne, and
higher up on either side are fiery seraphim and cherubim ;
beneath, the angels play on musical instmments. The rest

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 227
of the space is covered with a multitude of figures — apostles,
prophets, saints, and martyrs, each accompanied by his or
her guardian angel, who play on instruraents, sing, or are
engaged in prayer. An angel in the foreground is intro
ducing a nun into Paradise. The Inferno — Hell — on the
opposite wall, has been wholly repainted. Ghiberti, In his
" Commentaries," attributes this fresco to Bernardo Orcagna.
A record in the Strozzi collection of documents mentions
that a certain Tomaso di Rossello Stiozzi, whose remains
are laid beneath the chapel, ordered Andrea Orcagna to
paint the altar-piece in 1354, on condition of its being
finished in a year and eight months ; but Orcagna was un
able to fulfil that part of the contract. The panel is divided
in. five corapartraents. The Saviour, on a throne, is in the
centre ; above him are seraphim and chembim. He pre
sents the Gospel to St. Thomas Aquinas, who is led to him
by the Virgin, and the keys to St. Peter, who is supported
by John the Baptist. The saints kneel, and angels play
musical instruments. St. Catherine and St. Michael are
behind the Virgin, St. Lawrence and St. Paul behind the
Baptist. In the centre-piece of the predella, our Saviour is
saving St. Peter, who is sinking on the waters. On one side
is the celebration of mass, on the other a king dying amidst
the lamentations of a crowd of spectators, whilst a monk and
two angels weigh the soul of the departed in a balance, and
save it from the expectant demons. CavalcaseUe considers
this altar-piece the finest panel picture by Orcagna.
St. Thoraas Aquinas is represented on the coloured glass
of the window, holding a head, frora whence emanate rays
which fall on a church he has in his other hand. Above
are the Strozzi arras, and a Virgin and Child. The window

228 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
was probably also designed by Andrea Orcagna. Beneath
the staircase leading to the Strozzi Chapel, is the imitation
of a sepulchre under a low arch, in which is an Entombraent
of Christ, attributed to Giottino. Above, is the portrait of
Messer Fuligno di Carbone de' GalU da Campi, Bishop of
Fiesole, who died in 1348, and was buried here. To the
right of the staircase is a small door leading to the lower
church and cemetery of the friars, entered from the cloisters,
the walls of which are painted in frescos attributed to
Greek artists who carae to Florence in 1225, and to whom
the Italian painters, among whom was Cimabue, were in
debted for much of their skill in art. A sraall chapel con
tains a fresco of St. Anthony, and in the vaulting above is
represented the Life of St. Benedict. In^ another chapel,
dedicated to St. Martin, are paintings attributed tb Jacopo
da Casentino, of the fourteenth century. There is also, in
a cloister adjoining this cemetery, a fine Robbia representa
tion of Mary Magdalene in the Garden.
The door, on the left side of the staircase to the Strozzi
Chapel, leads to the Bell-tower — CampanUe — which was built
by Fra Giovanni da Campi, a monk of Sta. Maria Novella,
assisted by another friar, Fra Jacopo Talenti, in 1334.
They were both well-known architects, and rebuilt the bridge
of the Carraia when it had been destroyed by a heavy
flood. The Sacristy beyond was built after a design by Fra
Jacopo Talenti, and intended for a chapel for the Caval
canti family. It is now surrounded by presses of walnut-
wood, containing the priests' garments, reliquaries, &c. To
the left of the entrance is a beautiful lavatory of terra-cotta,
by Luca della Robbia — a Madonna and Child with angels,-

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 229
4
surrounded by a rich garland of flowers. Within the arch
is a landscape, and on the pilasters delicately wrought
arabesques, flowers, and fruit. The corresponding lava
tory, by one Fortini, has heads of cherubim well executed.
Above the door is a Crucifix, in relief, attributed to Masaccio,
but more probably by a sculptor of that name, who lived
in the fifteenth century. The window of old stained-glass
here is very rich. In one of the presses is preserved,
within a reUquary, the only remaining banner of the twelve
which Peter Martyr presented in this church to the twelve
captains whom he sent forth on Ascension Day, 1244, to
destroy the Paterini, or Heretics, in Florence.* Here also
is preserved the parchment built of Gregory IX., 1227,
which confirraed the Order of St. Dorainick. Leaving the
sacristy, at the corner of the transept is a granite vase
brought from the Uttle village of the Irapraneta, south of
Florence, where once was a rairaculous Virgin : it rests on
a marble figure, the work of Michael Angelo.
The first altar in the aisle, after leaving the sacristy,
contains the benes of the Beata Villana. Above it is a
picture, by Bronzino, executed in 1592, of St. Hyacinth, a
Polish missionary saint, who belonged to the Dominican
order. The Organ Gallery, of perforated marble, is a copy from
the original, by Baccio d' Agnolo, which the monks sold,
and which is now in the Kensington Museura, in London.
There are no other works of interest in this aisle, except a
monuraent by Andrea da Fiesole, who was assisted in his
* See vol. i. ofthis work, " Bigallo and Misericordia."
t BuU — bolla, stamped or sealed document.

230 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
work by his two scholars, Angelo Maso Boscoli and Silvio
Cosini da Fiesole. This monument, which is a siraple
black marble sarcophagus, was placed here to the memory
of a jurisconsult named Antonio Strozzi.
The marble pulpit, with bas-reliefs picked out in gold,
was executed for the Rucellai family by Maestro Lazaro,
after a design by Filippo Branelleschi. The subjects are
the Annunciation ; the Birth of the Saviour ; the Presenta
tion in the Teraple ; and the Virgin in glory, letting down
her girdle to St. Thomas.
The Cloisters of Sta. Maria Novella, which are entered
from the church, are very large, and adomed with fresco
paintings. The Green Cloister — Chiostro Verde — so called
from the frescos around painted in terra-verde, was buUt early
in the fourteenth century. On the wall, close to the steps
leading to the church, is a painting in tempera, by Spinello
Aretino, who died in 1400 — the pupil of Jacopo da
Casentino — representing Saints of the Dominican order :
San Vincenzio Ferraris, a Spaniard, 1357 — 1455, ^'^^ Santa
Caterina of Sienna, with the archangel -Raphael. The
frescos round the cloisters contain scenes from the Old Testa
ment. Those nearest the church, turning to the left, are
by Paolo Uccello, arid represent the Creation, the Expulsion
from Paradise, the Building of the Ark, and the Deluge,
which last is one of the most remarkable for truth to nature,
powerful drawing, and perspective — a man cUngs to the Ark by
his fingers, whilst others are drowning ; among whom one in
the foreground wears a primitive specimen of a life-preserver.
The last of th e series, executed by Uccello, is Noah's Sacrifice.
They were all painted between 1446 and 1448, and are the
more valuable aS his genuine works are rarely found in the

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 231
public galleries.* The remaining twenty-four frescos are by
a still rarer artist, Dello Delli, 1 404, but inferior in execu
tion to Uccello. Near the gates close to the entrance to
the old ceraetery is a fresco, in a dilapidated condition, of
the cmcified Saviour, with the tree from the root of Jesse,
the sun, moon, and a head of St. Thomas Aquinas, probably
by a scholar of Giotto's.
Beyond the gates of the cemetery is a door with two
beautiful windows, formed by an arch and twisted columns,
belonging to the Spanish Chapel, so called because used on
particular feast days by the Spaniards who came to Florence
to attend Eleonora of Toledo, on her raarriage with the
Grand-Duke Cosimo I. The frescos were then cleaned.
The altar-piece, by Alessandro AUori, represents St. Jaraes,
the patron saint of Spain ; and the tribune is painted
in fresco by Pocetti. The chapel was built about
the middle of the fourteenth century, at the expense
of a certain Buonamico Guidalotti, a rich and devout
Florentine citizen, for the purpose of celebrating the festival
of the Holy Sacrament, or Corpus Christi, instituted in
1264 by Pope Urban. IV. The architect employed by
Guidalotti was a Dorainican monk, Fra Jacopo da Talenti
da Nipozzano, of the diocese of Fiesole, who has been
already mentioned as having assisted in the construction of
the sacristy. The architecture is simple ; the roof groined,
and supported by intersecting pointed arches. The spaces
between the ribs, and the four walls beneath them, are
richly decorated with frescos, which have been usually
attiibuted to Taddeo Gaddi and Siraone Memmi, of Sienna.
There is some doubt whether Merarai painted any of these
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe :" Life of Paolo Uccello. ¦

232 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
frescos, since when Guidalotti made his wiU in 1355, none
of thera were finished, and Siraone Memmi died in 1345.*
The subjects were selected by another Dominican, Fra
Jacopo Passavanti,t aman of considerable Uterary eminence,
whose writings are praised by Silvio PeUico. He was born
at Florence towards the end of the thirteenth century, and
was the grandson, by his mother, of Giovanni Tomaquinci,
who contributed to the choir of Sta. Maria Novella, and
who fell in battie, valiantly defending the Caroceio, on the
Guelphic side, at Montaperti, Passavanti was sent by the
Dominicans to Paris to complete his studies in Divinity
and Humanity. He becarae the Superior in the Con
vents of Pistoia, San Miniato, and lastly Sta. Maria Novella,
and died at the age of sixty in 1357. His raonuraent is
believed to be that beneath the Chapel of San Giovanni
in the church, on which the figure of a raonk may still be
traced. He was the author of the " Specchio della vera
Penitenza," a book of devotion, considered a model of
purity and grace of style, worthy of Bocaccio, whom he
preceded by ten years.
The series of frescos commence on the eastern wall, the
subject of each ascending to the space above. The four
frescos on the roof, and the whole of the wall to the left, are
attributed to Taddeo Gaddi ; that to the right to Siraone
Memrai. Vasari relates, that Taddeo was engaged to paint
the whole chapel, and had only completed part when the
* CavalcaseUe considers these frescos overpraised, and that they are
aU by one hand, probably a scholar of the Siennese school who painted
the fresco of San Ranieri in the Campo Santo of Pisa, possibly a cer
tain Andrea di Florentia. See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i.
p. 375 ; voh ii. p. 89.
t See Lord Lindsay's " Christian Art," vol. iii. p. 30.

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 233
Prior of Sta. Maria Novella invited Memmi, who had gained
universal admiration by his frescos in Santo Spirito, to assist
in this work. The subject on the eastem, or altar wall, is
the Procession to Calvary, the Crucifixion, and the Descent
into Hades. On the roof above is the Resurrection, painted
by Taddeo Gaddi. Lord Lindsay observes, that it is the
first instance in which the Saviour's body is made the source
of illumination. On the western or entrance wall opposite,
are frescos which fill up the space between the windows, the
door of entrance, and the side walls ; but they are so rauch
injured by damp that they are hardly recognisable. They
represent scenes from the lives of various Dorainicans —
St. Thomas Aquinas receiving the habit of his Order, the
Murder of St. Peter Martyr, and several miracles perforraed
by Dominican saints. On the ceiling above is the Ascen
sion of our Lord, by Taddeo. On the northern wall is the
Triumph, or Glorification, of St. Thomas Aquinas, also by
Gaddi ; and on the ceiUng, the Descent of the Holy Ghost
on the Apostles. This last approaches the style of the old
Byzantine mosaics ; the Virgin and Apostles are in a large
building closed by folding doors, which various persons out
side, in an Eastern costume, endeavour to open. In the
frescos beneath, St. Thoraas Aquinas sits in state ; he is
elevated above a screen containing fourteen stalls. The
heretics Arius, Sabellius, and Averrhoes,* lie at his feet, and
he is attended by saints of the Old and New Testaraent.
The four Cardinal and the three Theological Virtues float
* Arius, bom in Libya in the fourth century, died 336 ; SabelUus,
born in the Ptolemaid, was conderaned by the Alexandrian Council,
261 ; Averrhoes, born at Cordova, in Spain, in the twelfth century,
died in Morocco, 1198.

234 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
above; and below, in the fourteen staUs, are the seven
Profane and seven Theological Sciences, in the form of
beautiful raaidens, with their earthly representatives beneath
thera. The subject on the southern wall is significant of the
Church MiUtant, defended by the Dominican Order. The
representatives of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Power, the
pope and the emperor, are seated on thrones. The pope
is Benedict XI. ; he is accorapanied by a cardinal and
bishop; the emperor is Albert, and a kirig near hira
is supposed to be Philippe le Bel of France. To the left is
th§ spiritual army of the Church ; to the right, the attendants
on the emperor. Araong these is a supposed portrait of
Cimabue in profile, wearing a hood and short cloak ;
Petrarch is near him, and Laura, with a burning heart, be
sides Amolfo de' Lapi, Giotto, and Simone Memmi.* At the
feet of the pope is a flock of sheep, symbolical of the faith
ful, as the black and white dogs which protect them are
of the Dorainican order. Imraediately in front, to the
right, are more of these dogs, kilUng wolves, representing
the Inquisitors destroying the heretics who had worried the
sheep of Christ. St. Dominick is again seen confessing
a knight, beside whom are some dancing girls, and he
points the way to Paradise to those who have already
received absolution at his hands. St. Peter is in the gate
way ; behind him is Paradise, peopled by the blessed of all
ages and both sexes, with the Saviour enthroned, and the
Virgin Mary. Behind the pope and emperor, and other

^ * CavalcaseUe throws great doubts on the authenticity of these
portraits. See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 86.

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 235
august personages, is the cathedral of Florence, with its
first cupola. The lines over the perforated parapets are
broken by statues of saints, prophets, or angels, which have
all been removed, if they ever really existed. Above this
fresco is St. Peter rescued from the waves, by Taddeo Gaddi,
which is the finest of the paintings on the ceiling, and sup
posed by CavalcaseUe to have been painted by Taddeo's
pupil, Antonio Veneziano.
The Chiostro Verde communicates with another and much
larger cloister ; and between the two is an altar with a paint
ing, by Simone Memmi, of a Madonna and Child, and
saints, in the Greek style. Beside the altar are two saints
in fresco, by Bernardo Pocetti ; and in a lunette above the
gate, a Cracifix between St. Thomas Aquinas and St.
Dominick, by Stefano Fiorentino, the pupil of Giotto.
The great Cloister of Sta. Maria Novella is one of the
most spacious in Europe. UntU recently a statue of the
Beato Giovanni di Salerno stood in the midst, but this has
been removed; it is surrounded by frescos representing
incidents in the lives of saints of the order, separated by
pilasters, on each of which is a portrait of a Dominican
friar. The frescos in the lunettes are the best ; and the
fourth to the right represents St. Peter Martyr and his
followers fighting with heretics in the Piazza della Croce al
Trebbio. The coluran is crowned with a statue of Peter
Martyr, as it once appeared. The thirteenth lunette, by
Cosimo Garaberucci, has an historical interest, because it
represents Fra Giovanni di Salemo founding the Church of
Sta. Maria Novella, on the site of Sta. Maria delle Vigne,
which is ceded to the Tomaquinci famUy, in presence of
the papal legate. The twentieth lunette, by Santi di Tito,

236 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
represents angels supplying the table of St. Dominick and
his monks. Near a glass door which opens on the Farmacia,
or dispensary of the friars, is a lunette by Giovanni Balducci,
containing a fresco representing Sant' Antonino received by
the Signory of Florence on the Ringhiera of the Palazzo
Vecchio. It is interesting, both for the costumes of the
period and because a picture of the Ringhiera. A chapel
in the cloister, built by Messer Agnolo degl' Acciajoli, in
1303, when Bishop of Florence, was ceded by the friars to
the Council of Eight, during the Ciompi Riots,
The principal entrance to the Farmacia is in the Via
della Scala, where the stone framework of the door is
carved in fruit and flowers by a modern artist. After pass
ing through a corridor and anteroom, we arrive at a small
vaulted chapel, with beautiful frescos by Spinello Aretino.
The two frescos on the wall to the right of the window
represent the Scourging of the Saviour, who looks reproach
fully at his persecutors ; and Christ bearing the Cross, in
which the women who follow are pushed back by soldiers.
Over these frescos, in a lunette, Christ is represented blind
fold on a throne, and mocked by the Jews. Facing the
window is a Pietk ; the Virgin kisses the lips of the Saviour ;
the mourning women are behind her ; St. John kisses his
hand, and St. Peter is weeping at the feet, whilst gazing at
the Saviour's face, and raising the cloth on which he lies ;
the other spectators look on in wonder and sadness. Next
this fresco is a " NoU me tangere." The eamest, prayerful
gaze of the Magdalene, and the thoughtful expression of the
Saviour, are given with much beauty. Lovely angels tell
the woraen at the torab that Christ has risen. Above is
the Crucifixion, in which St. Jerome's lion, seated, forms a

STA. MARIA NOVELLA. 237
curious balance to the fainting Virgin : the soldiers cast
lots for the garment. On the wall to the left is the Last
Supper, and Christ washing the feet of his disciples ; and
above is Christ with the tribute money.
Beyond this chapel are the rooms used for distilling from
various flowers and herbs, as well as ante-chambers, where
are sold perfumes, &c., manufactured by the friars. All
this part of the former monastery looks on the great
cloister. A large and lofty apartraent, built in 1848, and
richly gilt and omamented, is reserved for the reception
of royal personages. The pictures, busts, &c., which orna
ment these rooms, are not of any great value.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
AUori, Alessandro  1535 — 1607
Aquinas, St. Thomas  1226 — 1274
Baccio BandinelU  1493-1560
Baccio d' Agnolo ,  1462 — 1543
Benedict XL, Pope  1303-1304
BruneUeschi, FiHppo  1379 — 1446
CampanUe of Sta. Maria NoveUa built .... 1334
Dello DeUi  1404—1463
DonateUo  1386—1466
Gaddi, Taddeo  1300—1366
Giottino  Living in 1395
Jacopo da Casentino . . . Middle of Fourteenth Centuiy.
Memmi, Simone  12IS(?)— 1344
Orcagna, Andrea  i3o8(?)— 1368(?)
Philippe le Bel of France reigned  1285 — 1314
Raffaello da Montelupo  1505—1567

23S WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Robbia, Luca della  1400 — 1482
San GaUo, GiuUano di  1445 — 1516
SpineUo, Aretino . . . . . . . . d. 1410
UcceUo, Paolo  1397 — 1475
Veneziano, Antonio, elected to the Guild of Physicians
and Apothecaries  1374

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE VIA DELLA SCALA.— GARDENS OF THE ORICEL-
LARI.— STA. LUCIA.— BORG' OGNI SANTI.— LUNG'
AEINO ACCIAJOLI.— BRIDGES.
' I "'HE Via della Scala has its name from a well-known
Foundling Hospital in this quarter, Sta. Maria della
Scala, which was called after a similar hospital in Sienna,
with three staircases — scale, or scalini. The founder of the
Florentine hospital, at the comer of the Via Oricellari and
the Via della Scala, was a certain Clone di Lapo de' PoUini,
or Clone, the son of Lapo, of the family of PoUini, whose
marble bust is in the cortile of the Innocenti, In 1531 the
building was ceded to the nuns of San Martino al Mugnone.
In a chapel within the walls of the convent are frescos
from the life of San Bernardo degli Uberti, and outside this
chapel, which stands in a small piazza, is an inscription
recording that here twenty thousand persons were buried
during the plague of 1479. Sta. Maria della Scala, or San
Martino al Mugnone, recognisable by the old style of rough
masonry, is now used as a penitentiary. On the northem
side of the Via della Scala, nearer the walls or boulevard, is
the Conservatorio in Ripoli, once the Convent of San
Jacopo in Ripoli, where was formerly a picture by Ridolfo
Ghirlandaio, now in the GaUery of the Louvre at Paris. In

240 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the lunette over the door of this church is a fine example
of Luca della Robbia ware ; the subject, a Madonna and
Child, with St. Dominick on one side and a saint on the
other, surrounded by a beautiful garland of fruit. The
treatment of this reUef differs frora most of Della Robbia's :
the Child lies on his side, and is not as lovely as in other
representations, but the Virgin and saints are grand and
statuesque. Ripoli is a village near Florence, where the
Dominicans first had an oratory, dedicated to San Jacopo.
It finally becarae a convent of Dominican nuns, who
removed to the Via della Scala in 1300.
The Via Oricellari crosses the Via della Scala ; and, pro
ceeding towards the Arno, the high iron gates on the right
are the entrance to the Orti Oricellari, or Rucellai Gardens,
where at one time the Platonic Academy, founded by
Cosimo de' Medici, Pater Patrise, held their raeetings. A
grotto and teraple commemorate the exact spot ; and the
names of the academicians are inscribed on a column in the
Garden ; viz., Giovanni Rucellai, Angelo Poliziano, Lorenzo
de' Medici, Pico della Mirandola, Nicolb Macchiavelli,
Bernardo and Cosimo Rucellai, Luigi Pulci, Giovanni
Corsini, Leon Battista Alberti. The palace in the midst of
these gardens was built by Bernardo Rucellai, after a design
by Leon Battista Alberti, who also laid out the ground. It
underwent alterations at the hands of the architect Silvani
in the seventeenth century, when it becarae the property of
the Marchese Stiozzi Ridolfi, and was known as the Palazzo
Stiozzi. It was not until after the death of Lorenzo de'
Medici that the Platonic Academy was transferred here by
the invitation of Bernardo Rucellai; and it was in these
gardens that Nicolb Macchiavelli recited his famous dis-

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 241
courses on Livy, and that the first Italian tragedy, Rosa
munda, the composition of Giovanni Rucellai, was read in
the presence of Pope Leo X. The beautiful Bianca Capello
occupied this Palace before her marriage with the Grand-
Duke Francis I. The huge statue of Polyphemus in the
midst of the garden is by Antonio Morelli. There is Uke
wise a statue of Pope Boniface VIIL, which was on the
6Tst facciata of the Cathedral.
In a direct line with the Via Oricellari, and at the end of
the broad street called the Porta Prato, is the Church of
Sta. Lucia del Prato, which in 1251 was built in the midst
of meadows by a Confraternity of Frati UmiUati, an Order
founded in 1180, and first coraposed of Milanese who had
been expatriated by the Gerraan eraperors. During their
exile in Germany they improved themselves in the manu
facture of cloth, and on their return to Italy settled in
Florence, where they built their church and convent on this
spot, and carried on their trade. In 1 547 the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I. obliged them to sell their convent to the Scolopi,
who were canons of San Salvatore, and whom the Grand-
Duke had expelled from their own Convent of San Piero
Gattolino, near the Porta Romana, to make roora for the
fortifications of the city. The Chrirch of Santa Lucia is
now under the patronage of the Torrigiani family.
In the first chapel to the right on entering, is a picture of
St. Joseph with the infant Christ in his arms, and San
Frangesco di Sales and Sta. Teresa below ; they are sweet
in expression and soft in colour. Behind the high altar is a
Nativity, by Doraenico Ghirlandaio ; a good picture, but in
an obscure position. In the first chapel to the left is an
Annunciation, by Pietro CavaUini, who painted the same
VOL. II. R

242 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
subject in the SS. Annunziata. The Virgin is seated on a
bench in a garden with a book beside her. She has a simple
and innocent expression as she looks upwards at the dove
which hovers over her ; the angel kneels on the opposite
side of the picture ; and, though false in drawing, it is an
interesting composition.
Beyond this quarter of the town is the Cascine, or PubUc
Gardens of Florence, the fashionable promenade of the
Florentine beau monde, and a favourite resort of all classes.
Long avenues of fine trees and tall hedges of ilex and other
evergreens aflford shade and shelter in the hot days of sum
mer ; and in the evenings of May and June they are brilliant
with thousands of fire-flies. The Amo, with a lovely view
of the hills and villas beyond, is on one side of the Cascine,
on the other, the magnificent range of Monte Morello and
the Apennines. A casino, or farm, which once belonged
to the grand-dukes, is now converted into a cafiffe, and the
space before it is generally crowded with carriages.
The first palace of any importance along the Arno is
modern ; it was built by the celebrated actress Madame
Ristori, but is now in the possession of the Marchese
Fransoni, who belongs to an old Genoese family, and is
nephew of the late Archbishop of Turin. The Palace con
tains several pictures of value, especially those of the early
Florentine school, amidst which is a fine Botticelli ; there; are
besides an unfinished Madonna by Francia, a most exquisite
little picture of Christ amidst the Doctors, by Mazzuola,
of Ferrara, and some interesting famUy portraits; a fine
Vandyke, and a group consisting of a lady of the Fransoni
faraily, with her son and daughter, by the raost celebrated
Genoese painter, Bernardo Strozzi.

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 243
In the Borg' Ogni Santi, the street parallel with the Amo,
and at the corner of the Piazza Manin, is a Palazzo which
belonged to the Quaratesi family, one of the oldest private
dwelUngs in Florence, designed by Brunelleschi; thi§ palace
was at one time in the possession of the Gondi family,
when it was painted by Andrea Feltrini in the peculiar
Florentine manner, called Sgraffiato.
The Church of Ogni Santi, or San Salvador, was founded
by the Padri UmiUati after their removal from Sta. Lucia.
They had already purchased the space occupied by the pre
sent Piazza, which they converted into a pool, filled with
water from the river, for cleansing the wool, and here they
built their monastery and the adjoining church. In 1 554 they
were obUged to yield their rights to the Franciscans, who
in 1627 rebuilt the church. A fresco was discovered this
year — 1872 — behind the fine Luca della Robbia above the
principal entrance; this fresco has been removed to Sta.
Croce, but the Lucca deUa Robbia group is restored to its
original position.
The interior of the church consists of a nave and tran
septs, in the forra of a Latin Cross. In one of the tran
septs are two paintings which were originally by Andrea
Castagno ; St. Francis receiving the Confirraation of his
Order, and the Death of the Saint. Both pictures have been
repainted, and the later artist has converted St. Francis
into San Bernardino, who presents his tablet with the narae
of Jesus on it to Pope Martin V., and whose body is
exhibited to the public.
The only works of real artistic merit in the church are
two frescos on either side of the nave ; that to the left is
by Domenico Ghirlandaio, and represents St. Jerome in his

244 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Study ; it is one of the earliest works of the master before
his style was formed, and though faulty in drawing, — the leg
of the saint actually appearing severed from his body, — there
is a dijigence and attention to detail, with variety of in
vention and power of expression, which show the promise
of future excellence ; the colour is clear and bright, and
every detail, to the pattern of the table-cover and the various
articles on the shelf above, are finished in a style which
recaUs early German or Fleraish pictures.* The old raan
sits gracefully in a thoughtful attitude at his desk, which has
the date 1480.
The fresco opposite is by Sandro Botticelli : St. Augus
tine in prayer ; he looks upwards absorbed ; beside him is
an orrery : the hands and fingers are in Botticelli's peculiar
manner ; the saint is represented as an ordinary peasant —
but the drawing is free and vigorous, the drapery falls in
large and noble folds, and the colour is sober, t
, The inside of the cupola over the tribune is painted by
Giovanni di San Giovanni; and the Ufe of St. Francis is
represented in Pietra-Dura mosaic over the high altar : the
bronze cracifix is by Cennini, a pupil of Tacca. The two
marble . angels on the gates of the choir are by Andrea
Ferroni di Fiesole. The picture of San Bonaventura guided
by an angel is by Fabrizio Boschi. The choir was built by
Count Pandolfo Bardi ; a Virgin in a dark situation over
the entrance to the choir is by Bernardo Orcagna. J
Within the sacristy, to the left of the choir, is an interest
ing picture of the Crucifixion, probably by Nicola di
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. u. p. 464.
t Ibid, vol. U. p. 415—420. + Ibid, vol. i. p. 453.

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 2^5
Pietro Gerini, the pupil and assistant of Taddeo Gaddi.
Four angels hover above ; Mary Magdalene is at the foot
of the Cross; the Virgin, St. John, and two raonks on
either side. This painting has also been attributed to
Frangesco da Volterra, of the school of Giotto and a pupil
of Gerini.* In the left transept is a fine Crucifix by Giotto,
and over the altar a wooden iraage of St. Francis in prayer.
The walls of the cloisters of Ogni Santi are painted by
several good artists, and represent incidents and miracles in
the life of St. Francis. Beginning from the door, the first
five lunettes leading to the second cloister, and those on
tbe side wall next the church, are by Giovanni di San
Giovanni. The meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominick,
and St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, are by Jacopo
Ligozzi, who also painted aU the lunettes on the northern
and eastern walls. The door opening on the second or
inner cloister conducts to the Refectory, where there is a
noble Cenacolo, or Last Supper, by Domenico Ghirlandaio,
bearing the date 1480, the same year that he painted the
St. Jerome in the Church, when he was only thirty-one
years of age. Although the arrangement is in accordance
with the conventional rule, the composition is very original.
The Saviour's head is extremely beautiful; and the absorbed
expression of his countenance, serene yet serious, as if the
treachery of his disciple was forgotten in the thought that
the great sacrifice was shortly to be consummated, is truly
sublime. St. Peter, beside him, true to the impetuous
nature of this apostie, has taken on himself -to reprove
Judas, and points significantly with his thumb to the
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 365 — 395.

246 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Saviour. Perhaps to enhance the nobility of the head of
Christ, the artist has erred in giving too rauch vulgarity to
Peter, whose countenance nevertheless is very fine, animated,
and expressive. The low, hardened villain, which Judas is
represented, is well-expressed by his defiant attitude, and the
sneer with which he meets Peter's angry reproof. St. John
is asleep; his head is inferior to the same subject treated
by other masters. Beyond him, one of the apostles leans
his head on his hand, and appears plunged in melancholy
reflections ; his countenance and attitude are very beautiful,
and are in contrast with the animation and questioning interest
of the rest. CavalcaseUe remarks on this Cenacolo : — " It
js ndt as yet here that Ghirlandaio impresses the beholder
•with his greatness as a coraposer; but the old syraraetry of
sitting apostles is already varied by a clearer exhibition of
tbe raoving thought in the assemblage, and great variety of
individual expression and action is also Apparent. But
Ghirlandaio shows that his talent is not raatured, especially
in his handling of colour. Some roughness in the surface
is caused by stippling. Some flatness is created by the
absence of broad shadow; and the greatest depth being
near the outline, communicates to the figures an unpleasant
hardness, not diminished by the effort to define the forms
with a wiry line. Sculptural grandeur, clearly within the
painter's aira, is iriarred by too much arrangement of
drapery, and the liquid general colour is of an unpleasant
reddish tone."*
The Hotel de la Ville, on one side of the Piazza Manin,
was the Palace of CaroUne Murat. Not far from the Church
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 464.

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 247
of Ogni Santi is the Convent and Church of San Giovanni in
Dio, adjoining which is the Hospital of that name on the
site of the former houses of the Vespucci family. In one of
these was born, in 1453, Amerigo Vespucci, who, from his
discoveries north*of where Columbus landed, gave his name
to the Continent of America.
The Hospital of San Giovanni in Dio was founded
by Simone, the son of Pietro^ Vespucci, in 1400. In
1587 it passed into the hands of the neighbouring Con
fraternity of San Giovanni in Dio, and was enlarged in
1735, at which time all the houses of the Vespucci were in
corporated into the building. After the discovery of North
Araerica, the Vespucci were allowed the honour of attaching
a Fanale to their houses, which has, however, been long
reraoved, though an inscription records the birth-place of
Araerigo Vespucci.
The first bridge across the Arno, after the Suspension
Bridge at the further end, near the Cascine or Public Gar
dens of Florence, is the Ponte alia Carraia. The foundation-
stone was laid in 12 18 by a certain Lapo, a friend of
Amolfo di Lapo. It was then called Ponte Nuovo, to dis
tinguish it from Ponte Vecchio, but it was afterwards known
as the Carraia, from a postern or gate which stood at the
entrance to the present Via Borg' Ogni Santi. The first Ponte
alia Carraia was swept away by a flood in 1274, butitwas re
built at the expense of the Padri UmiUati of Ogni Santi, and
after a design of Fra Ristoro and Fra Sisto, the Dominicans
who built Sta. Maria Novella. They laid the piles in stone,
but constmcted the bridge itself of wood, in consequence of
which a fatal disaster took place during a theatrical repre
sentation conducted by the painter Buffalmacco, and given

248 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
by the inhabitants of the Borgo San Frediano. The amuse.
ment consisted in an exhibition of the Infemal Regions upon
the river ; the advertisement ran as foUows : — " Chiunque
avesse desiderato di aver nuove delT altro mondo, si fosse portato
aldl di calan di Maggio sul Ponte alia Carrdia.* Boats were
filled with persons dressed to resemble deraons, who, amidst
fire and smoke, uttered cries, to simulate the agony of the
tormented. The bridge was crowded with spectators, when
it suddenly gave way, all fell into the river, and, between
fire and water, most of those who had come to leam some
thing of another world, perished miserably. The bridge- was
rebuUt, but again destroyed by an inundation of. the Amo
in 1333; it was restored, but partially injured in 1557, and
repaired by Araraanati in 1559, by order of the Grand-
Duke Cosirao I. Within the last few years a chapel at
the Oltr' Arno extremity has been removed, and the bridge
widened. The quay of the Lung' Amo Corsini connects the Ponte
alia Carraia with the Ponte SS. Trinitk. This bridge was
founded in 1353 by Laraberto Frescobaldi, whose Palace is
on the opposite side ; it was carried away by the flood of 1 2 69,
and reconstracted by Fra Ristori and Fra Sisto ; but it was
again destroyed when the Ponte alia Carraia was swept
away in 1333. Taddeo Gaddi began its restoration, which
lasted until 1557, when it was destroyed for the last tirae,
and rebuilt, as well as the Carraia, by Ammanati. It is
considered one of the finest speciraens of construction, and
is much admired for the elegant curve of the arches. The

* "Whoever desires to have news ofthe other world, let him come to"
the Bridge of the Carraia, on the Calends of May.

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 249
four marble statues above, life-size, represent the seasons :
Winter is by Taddeo Landino ; Spring and Autumn by
Caccini, and Summer by Francavilla, a pupil of Michael
Angelo. Francavilla was accused of having made the neck
and right leg of his figure too long.
The Lung' Arno Acciajuoli, where once were the houses
of the Acciajuoli family, extends from the Ponte deUa SS.
Trinitk to the Ponte Vecchio. The Acciajuoli family are
supposed to have been workers in steel or iron at Brescia,
who, about the year 1 1 60, emigrated to Florence to escape
the savage cruelty of Frederick Barbarossa. In 1313 one
Dardano Acciajuoli was sent as Florentine Ambassador to
King Robert of Naples. Their influence and power de
clined with the failure of the Bank of Bardi, Peruzzi, and
Corsini ; but they soon recovered their fortune. The year
of this calamity (1342), Angelo Acciajuoli, a Dominican
monk, was chosen Bishop of Florence, but he proved a
traitor to his country, when he persuaded the Signory to
invite Walter de Brienne Duke of Athens to take the city
under his protection ; afterwards, by a double act of treachery,
he headed the conspiracy against him which ended by
causing his own fall.
The most distinguished man of this family was Nicolb
Acciajuoli, who, when on a journey to Naples for purposes
connected with his trade, found favour in the eyes of
Catherine, titular Empress of Constantinople, and wife of
the Prince of Taranto. King Robert, perceiving the talents
of Nicolb, encouraged this attachment, as he believed the
Florentine merchant might be of use to his nephews, the
sons of Catherine, and he appointed him Bailb or Governor
of the PrincipaUty of Taranto. In 1338 Nicolb accom-

250 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
panied one of his pupils to Greece, and for three years he
conducted a war against the Turks with consummate ability.
King Robert on his deathbed named as his successor his
grand-daughter, Joanna, married to Andrew, Prince of
Hungary. Andrew was hated by the Neapolitans, and no
less hated, it appears, by his wife, who caused him to be
strangled in 1345. It is uncertain whether Nicolb was
an actual accomplice in this deed, but he contrived to turn
it to advantage, by persuading the widowed queen to marry
his pupil, Lodovico, Prince of Taranto, when he took the
government of the kingdom into his own hands, whilst main
taining Lodovico on the throne. When the King of Hungary
threatened vengeance for the raurder of his brother, Nicolb
carried the Prince to Avignon, and only brought him back
to Naples in 1348, when the plague had broken out in the
south of France. In reward for these services, Nicolb was
created Seneschal of Naples, and various rich estates in the
kingdom were bestowed on him. Peace was at length con
cluded with Hungary through the mediation of the Pope,
and Acciajuoli turned his attention to rid the country of
brigands, and to recover Sicily from the Aragonese. When
Naples was threatened with an interdict, Nicolb hastened
to Innocent VI. and persuaded him to desist from this
intention ; the Pope was so fascinated by this extraordi
nary man, that he presented him with the Golden Rose,
an honour hitherto reserved for royal persons, created him a
Roman Senator, and sent him as his ambassador to Bernabb
Visconti Lord of Milan. On his return to Naples, Acciajuoli
enjoyed an almost sovereign power until his death in 1366.
But though his life was thus spent abroad, he never forgot
Florence, in whose neighbourhood he erected the splendid

THE VIA DELLA SCALA, ETC. 251
monastery of the Certosa, where he was buried, and where
Andrea Orcagna raised a superb inonument over his
reraains. Acciajuoli endowed there a college for fifty
youths, who were to be instructed in the liberal arts, but
this part of the monastery was never finished. Though
proud of their great citizen, the Florentines jealously
guarded against any attempts on his part to obtain power at
home. They accordingly passed a decree that any citizen
having jurisdiction in a city or castle out of Florence, should
be excluded from holding oflftce ; but in order to raitigate
the severity of this law they, at the same tirae, exempted
hira from the payment of taxes.
A bishop of the Acciajuoli family, who inhabited the
palace on the Lung' Arno, which is now the Hotel dell'
Arno, employed Pocetti to paint frescos, still in preser
vation in one of the rooms. The last of the family was
Monsignore FiUppo Acciajuoli, who died at Venice in
1834. Close to the Palazzo AcciajuoU is the Ponte Vecchio, the
oldest bridge in Florence, which, until 1080, was constructed
of wood ; in 1 1 7 7 it was carried away by a flood, and rebuilt
of stone ; but it was again swept away by the great inunda
tion of 1333, and was rebuilt by the painter and architect
Taddeo Gaddi, and it has ever since resisted the violence of
the Arno. Frora the year 1422 to the middle of the six
teenth century, the butchers of Florence had their shops
here, but the Grand-Duke Cosimo I. disraissed them, and
established the goldsmiths in their place ; Vasari made use of
the shops on the eastem side as a support for his gallery
connecting the Palazzo Pitti with the Uflftzi. The various
coats of arras on the bridge are those of the GuUds which

252 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
contributed to its repair, and an inscription commemorates
a flood of the Amo. On the opposite side of the river, to
the right of the bridge, was once the hospice of the Knights
of Malta, which had been buUt in 1050 for the Templars.
Near this spot, at a stiU earUer period, stood the column on
which was the statue of Mars on horseback, at the foot of
which fell young Buondelmonti, murdered by the enemies of
his famUy ; the statue of Mars was replaced by the group of
Ajax and the wounded Patroclus, afterwards removed to the
Loggia de' Lanzi. A small hospital was attached to the
hospice of the Teraplars, which was afterwards ceded to the
monks of San Miniato al Monte, and called the Oratory of
the Holy Sepulchre ; this was handed over to the Knights of
Malta when the Order of Templars was suppressed in 13 11.
In this house the poet Ariosto lodged for six months in
1 513, the year Leo X. ascended the Pontifical throne, an
event celebrated in Florence with pecuUar magnificence.
Ariosto carae to study the Tuscan idiora, and was received
by Nicolb Vespucci, the Superior of the Order, who had at
the sarae time permitted Alexandrina Benucci, the beautiful
widow of Titus Strozzi, to spend the months of her retire
ment from the world in this hospice. An attachment sprung
up between her and Ariosto, which only terrainated with the
poet's death at Ferrara, in 1533.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
AcciajuoU carae to Florence from Brescia . . . 1313
„ bankrupt  1342
„ NicolS in Greece  1338

^J.J.JJ. V .L^l. X^iii.i..i-1 Ol..^i.^^, ii.ZL/.

A.D.

Alberti, Leon Battista 

140s— 1472

Amerigo Vespucci born 

1453

Ammanati, Bartolommeo ...

1511-1592

Ariosto died at Ferrara 

1583

BotticeUi, Sandro . . ....

1447-1510

BruneUeschi, Filippo 

1379—1446

Castagno, Andrea 

1396-1457

CeUini, Benvenuto 

1500-1571

Feltrini, Andrea 

1477— 1540 (?)

Francia, Fran9esco 

1450—1517

Gaddi, Taddeo .... . .

1300 — 1366

Gerini, Nicola ... ...

1385 (?)

Ghirlandaio, Domemco ....

1449—1494

Giovanni di San Giovanni . . . .

1576-1636

Joanna, Queen of Naples, reigned ....

1343-1381

Ligozzi, Jacopo 

1543-1627

Lucia, Sta., in Prato built 

1251

„ Frate UmiUati obUged to leave .

1547

Macchiavelli, Nicold 

1469-1527

Mazzuola di Ferrara ....

1504—1540

Medici, Lorenzo de' . . . .

1448—1492

Mirandola, Pico deUa ...

1463-1494

Ogni Santi, Church of, built 

1547

,, ,, inhabited by Franciscans

1554

rebuUt ....

1627

Poliziano, Angelo 

1454-1494

Ponte alia Carraia swept away by floods in

1274

)» ,1 • ¦

1333

»» »»

1557

„ finally restored

1559

Ponte SS. Trinita founded by Frescobaldi

1252

,, swept away by floods .

1333

»» ,j . ¦

1557

Ponte Vecchio buUt of stone 

1080

„ destroyed by floods .

1171

>, »> • ^ ¦

1333

Pulci, Luigi 

d. 1490

Robert, King of Naples, reigned 

1309-1343

San Giovanni in Dio founded ....

1400

Vandyke 

1509 — 1641

CHAPTER XIX.
VIA DE' BARDI.— PALAZZO TORRIGIANI.— CHURCH OF
SAN NICOLO.— PORTA SAN NICOLO AND PORTA
SAN GIORGIO.
/^PPOSITE the Templar's residence, at the corner of
the Ponte Vecchio and the Via de' Bardi, is the Palazzo
ManeUi, where Bocaccio spent many an hour with his friend
Frangesco di Amanetti, who made a copy of the Decameron
from the original manuscript.
The street foUowing the course up the river from the
iPalazzo ManeUi to the Piazza de' Mozzi is known as the
Via de' Bardi; but the Une of picturesque houses, ofwhich
it once consisted, have been in great part destroyed to form
the new quay. Many a bloody battle took place in this
long winding street, but the hardest fought was in the year
1343, when the nobles offered a stout resistance to the
attack of the popular party, whom they had roused to anger
by their insolent pretensions, even after they had lost all
polilical power by the faU of the Duke of Athens, which
they themselves had been the first to occasion.*
Araong the buildings lately demolished was the Uttle
Church of Santa Maria sopr' Arno, once under the patron
age of the Buondelmonti family, and connected with a
* See " Fantozzi PLmta Geometiica di Firenze," p. 233.

Porta San. NicoU.

Page 254. II.

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 255
lantic story, which is illustrative of old Florentine man-
3. The Buondelmonti, who were Ghibellines, held in
orrence all the Bardi who belonged to the Guelphic
ty. It chanced, however, one day that Ippolito Buon-
tnonti, a handsome and accompUshed youth, raet in the
jtistery, or Church of San Giovanni, Dianora, the beau-
l daughter of Araerigo de' Bardi, who inhabited a
ace which, amidst late demolitions, is still left standing,
1. is better known as the Palazzo Tempi. IppoUto
uired her name, and from that hour sought every
portunity to pay his court to the lady, although he
¦ed not declare his attachment from the enmity which
)sisted between their faraiUes. This concealraent preyed
his health, and his mother, with difiSculty, extracted
m hira the cause of his raalady. In her anxiety for the
of her son, she sought counsel from a lady related
Dianora, named Contessa, who contrived a meeting
the lovers at her villa outside Florence. A secret
rriage followed, and IppoUto and Dianora were thus
de happy. But one evening when Ippolito was on his
y to visit his wife, carrying a rope ladder in his hands,
was observed and seized by the Bargello and his officers,
o were going the rounds of the city, and mistook him for
obber. Rather than betray Dianora, Ippolito subraitted
this accusation, and when his father Buondelmonti was
nmpned, his entreaties for the pardon of his son were all
vain. The following day, the flag of justice, the sign of a
ideranation to death, was hoisted over the gate of the
lazzo del Podestk. Ippolito's one prayer was, however,
.nted— that, on his way to execution, he should be led
it the house of Amerigo de' Bardi, in order, as he said.

2S6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
that he might seek a reconciliation with his enemies.
Dianora was at the window when the procession appeared
below, and rushing down the staircase she acknowledged
IppoUto as her husband. The young couple and their
parents were brought before the Podestk, who persuaded
Amerigo de' Bardi to consent to the marriage, when peace
was for awhile restored to the city.* On the fagade of
the Church of Sta. Maria sopr' Arno was an inscription —
" Fuccio mi feci, M.C. CXXIV." — supposed to have been
placed here by Ippolito Buondelmonti in commemoration
of his exploit, and of his having feigned hiraself a robber,
as Fuccio was the name of a noted brigand of those tiraes,
who has been celebrated by Dante : —
" son Vanni Fucci
Bestia, e Pistoia mi fu degna tana
In qui son messo tanto perch' 6 fui
Ladro aUa sagrestia de' beUi arredi." f
Inferno, canto xxiv., v. 124 — 151.
A sarcophagus was attached to the outer wall of Sta.
Maria sopr' Arno, where a certain CavaUere de' Bardi was
interred in the year 1342. A priest contrived to climb into
it that night with the intention of robbing the dead of the
jewels and money placed there. One of the bravos em
ployed by the Duke of Athens happening to pass that way.

* This tale is preserved in a MS. in the Peruzzi family, who were
partners with the Bardi in the bank of Bardi and Peruzzi.
t ..." I'm Vanni Fucci
Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.
So low am I put down, because I robbed
The sacristy of the fair ornaraents," Longfellow's Translation.

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 257
the priest, raising himself from the tomb, gave a shout,
which so terrified the assassin, who imagined he beheld the
ghost of the dead man, that he fled to his house, and
dedared that he would never again consent to go on the
Duke's missions. This was reported to Walter de Brienne,
who was so much enraged, that had not the man feigned
sickness and declared he had seen a vision, he would not
have escaped death.
The Palazzo Tempi, from the windows of which Dianora
saw her husband led to execution, is most celebrated for a
most beautiful Madonna by RaffaeUe, possessed by the
Tempi faraily, but now in the Gallery at Munich.
Behind the new Quay is all that remains of the Via
de' Bardi. In the earUest times this street, under tiie name of
the Via Pidiglioso, was inhabited by the raost wretched popu
lation of Florence, until the Bardi, partners of the Peruzzi,
in a bank which was the richest in Europe, took up their
abode in this quarter, and built a street of palaces. The
family were originally from the country, and settled ip
Florence in the tenth century. At the commencement -of
the quanels between the nobles and popular party in the
year 1215, the Bardi took the side of the Buondelmonti or
GhibeUine faction, and it was not untU much later that they
became Guelphs. In 1338 the Bardi and Peruzzi Bank
failed for the sum of 900,000 florins, which they had lent to
Edward III. of England for his invasions of France, and
which he refused to repay ; but the Bardi soon recovered
from this blow, and even after other losses they became
as powerful as ever. When Walter de Brienne ventured
to order the amputation of the hand of one of their
foUowers, Ricci de' Bardi was so indignant at the inflic-
VOL. II. s

2S8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
tion of a raode of punishment reserved for'the coramon
people, that he joined the conspiracy which caused the
downfaU of the • tyrant : in reward for this service the
Bardi as well as the rest of the nobles were admitted to
a third share in the govemment, untU their attempts to
usurp greater power occasioned the privilege to be viath-
drawn. Bishop Acciajuoli of Florence was sent to announce
to them the decree by which they were excluded frora the
governinent, but he was received with high words frora
Messer Ridolfi de' Bardi, who excited the populace against
the democratic party in the state, whilst sending for arms
and other assistance from Lombardy. The nobles of the
Oltr' Arno barricaded the bridges, streets, and houses ; the
Nerli undertook the defence of the Ponte alia Carraia ; the
Frescobaldi and ManeUi that of the SS. Trinitk : the Rossi
and Bardi defended the Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte
Rubaconte. The Government succeeded in suppressing
the rebellion on the right bank of the Arno, and attempted
to pass the Rubaconte, but were repulsed by the Bardi, who
were at length taken in the rear and forced into flight ; they
were received by the Quaratesi, and other nobles, but their
houses, as before related, were sacked, and many of them
burnt to the ground. With this destruction of the Bardi, the
humiliation of the nobles was accompUshed.
The wall which supports the gardens on the hill to the
left, was built after the landslips had caused the fall of
houses, and destruction of life and property ; in the last,
which occurred in 1547, Bernardo Buontalenti, then a chUd
of five years old, was buried. When dug out, his forlom
condition excited^the compassion of the Grand-Ducal faraily,
fro'ra whom he received the education which made hin^

r/A DE BARDI, ETC. 259
the first architect of his day. Nearly opposite this wall
is the Palazzo Capponi, formerly Uzzano, belonging to a
younger branch of the Capponi family. It was built by
Nicolb da Uzzano, after , a design by Lorenzo de' Bicci.
Nicolb was one of the raost distinguished Florentines of
the fourteenth century. He was born in 1350, and filled
the office of Gonfalonier three times. Alike opposed to- the
ambition of the Albizzi and Medici, and foreseeing danger
to the Republic from both these influential families, he pre
vented Giovanni de' Medici being chosen Gonfalonier, and
it was only after Uzzano's death, in 1433, that Cosimo
attained to power. Uzzano's only daughter, Ginevra, was
married to a Capponi.
The bust of Nicolb d'Uzzano, in terra-cotta, by Donatello,
is still preserved in the Palace which he built ; it belongs
to his descendant the Marchese Capponi ; the head is full
of life and truth, and is finished with marvellous care and
attention to detail, even to every wrinkle in 'the face, the
peculiar form of the ears, and a raole on the upper lip.
The drapery is simple, and arranged in large folds. At the
foot of the staircase of this Palace, in the entrance hall, are
two ancient porphyry Lions, supposed to be Etruscan.
Next to the Palazzo Capponi is the Palazzo Canigiani, at
one time the Hospital of Sta. Lucia, buUt in 1283. In this
Palace was born Eletta de' Canigiani, who became the
mother of Petrarch, and died in Avignon, at the age of
thirty-eight. The adjoining Church of Sta. Lucia degli Magnoli was
founded by one Uguccione della Pressa, and finished by his
son Magnolo, who gave his name of Magnoli to the church.
In 1244 the patronage . was bestowed by the Bishop ot

26o WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Florence on the raonks of San Miniato al Monte ; but in
1425 the archbishop transferred this privilege to Nicolb da
Uzzano, in recompense for having caused the principal
chapel to be painted and decorated at his own expense.
The beautiful distemper picture of the Madonna and Saints,
by Domenico Veneziano, in the Ufifizi Gallery, was once in
Sta. Lucia degli Magnoli ; but there is no good picture now
remaining there. , A graceful composition by Luca della
Robbia is over the entrance door.
At the end of the Via de' Bardi is the Piazza de' Mozzi.
The Mozzi was an ancient Guelphic family, who, frora the
thirteenth century, were the Pope's bankers; and when
Roraan prelates or any other church dignitary arrived in
Florence they were lodged in their palace. Pope Gregory X.
was entertained here, when he came to attempt the recon
ciliation of the Ghibelline and Guelphic parties in 1273;
and when he laid the foundations of the Church of St.
Gregory in this Piazza. The raotto of the Mozzi famUy, —
" Pax " — dates from Pope Gregory's visit. The fine gallery
belonging to their palace was sold sorae years ago.
On one side of the Piazza de' Mozzi is the Palazzo
Torrigiani, begun by Baccio d'Agnolo for the Nasi fanuly,
for whora Raffaelle painted his Madonna del CardelUno,
now in the Ufifizi Gallery. The Torrigiani belonged to the
GuUd of Vinattieri — Vintners — in the fourteenth century. One,
of the family, Benedetto di Ciardo, after having been twice
Prior, was chosen Gonfalonier in 1380; but, wholly devoted
to commerce, they only became distinguished in the seven
teenth century, when a Torrigiani became Archbishop of
Ravenna, and his brother was made a Senator : in 1657 he
purchased the Barony of Decimio, which, in 17 19, his son

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 261
exchanged for a Marquisate. The Marchese Giovan Vin
cenzio had been brought up for the Church, and was made
a Cardinal in 1753, and Secretary of State to Pope Cle
ment XIII. At his death, in 1777, his nephew, Pietro
Guadagni, the son of his sister, Teresa Torrigiani, succeeded
to the titie and name. A tablet has been lately placed over
the door of that part of the palace which was inhabited by
the late Marchese Carlo Torrigiani.*
The Palazzo Torrigiani contains one of the finest private
collections of pictures in Florence.
No. I., in a small entrance room, is a fanciful production
of Botticelli's — a nymph in a wood hunted by a raan on
horseback and his dogs; two men are looking on. The
subject is taken from one of Bocaccio's .tales, so curiously
iUustrative of the manners of those days, and the light in
which ladies were then regarded who refused to return the
affection of their admirers, that we think it worth while to
give a soraewhat curtailed translation of the tale : — " In
Ravenna, an ancient city of the Romagna, lived many
noblemen and gentlemen, among whom was a youth called
Nastagio degli Onesti, who, at the death of his father and
uncle, inherited iraraense wealth. Being without a wife, he,
as is usual with youths, fell in love with a daughter of Messer
Paolo Traversari, a young maiden of far nobler birth than
his own, but whom he hoped to persuade to love him by his
virtuous acts. Yet, although his acts were most generous,
lovely, and praiseworthy, they were not only fruitless, but
rather seemed to injure hira in her eyes, so crael and savage

* The Marchese Carlo Torrigiani, already mentioned for his philan
thropy, was grandson to the Marchese Pietro Guadagni,

262 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
was his mistress's behaviour towards him; which conduct
was so hard for Nastagio to bear, that often, after having
lamented in vain, he would fain have killed himself But as
often he tried to take courage and abandon her, or if pos
sible hate her, as she hated him ; but it seemed the more
his hopes failed him the greater grew his love. As he per
severed in lavishing vast sums on the lady, certain of his
friends and relations began to fear that he would end by
destroying himself and wasting his whole substance. They
therefore entreated him, and advised hira, to leave Ravenna,'
and to go for a while to another place, that he might
diminish his expenses and cure his passion. Nastagio often
ridiculed this advice, but at last consented, and ordered
great preparations to be made as if he intended to visit
France or Spain, or some other distant place. Mounting
his horse, and accompanied by his friends, he then left
Ravenna; and when he reached a place called Classis,
three mUes beyond the town, he told them that he had
determined to remain there, and that they might return
•whence they carae. Having pitched tents and erected
pavilions, Nastagio began to lead the gayest and most
splendid Ufe, now inviting one friend, then another, to
supper. It happened that in the beginning of May the
weather was unusually fine, which brought the recollection
of his cruel raistress to his mind, and, desiring all his
servants to leave him that he might indulge in thoughts of
her, he dragged himself along, step by step, lost in contem
plation, until he reached a pine wood. Suddenly he beard
a great weeping and loud lamentations as from a woman,
which interrupted his pleasant thoughts ; and, raising his
head to see whence these arose, he beheld a most beautiful

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 263
damsel approaching him, running through the briers and
thorns towards the place where he stood, torn and scratched,
and crying aloud for mercy : and he also beheld a pair of
large and fierce mastiffs in pursuit, which, whenever they
reached her, tore her cruelly ; and after them, a knight on a
black horse, with a rapier in his hand, using terrible words,
and menacing her with death. This sight struck terror into
Nastagio, who, taking compassion on the unhappy lady,
desired, if possible, to rescue her. Being unprovided with
weapons, he seized a branch of a tree, and thus approached
the dogs and the knight. But the knight called out from afar,
' Nastagio, do not interfere in this matter ; leave the dogs
and me to deal with this wicked woman as she deserves : '
to which Nastagio replied,- ' I do not know who thou art ;
but this much I tell thee, that it is the basest cowardice for
an armed knight thus to seek the life of a helpless female,
and to set thy dogs at her, as if she were a wild beast ; and
I shall certainly defend her to the best of my power.' The
knight then said, ' Nastagio, I am from the same land as
thyself, and when thou wert yet a little child, I, who was
called Guido degli Anastagi, was far more enamoured with
this woman than thou art with her of the Traversari ; by her
pride and cruelty I was driven into such misery that, in my
despair, I slew myself with this rapier which thou beholdest
in my hand, and was condemned to etemai torraents. Nor
was it long before she, who was enchanted to hear of my
death, died also, and for the crirae of her cruelty, and for
her joy at ray torraents, ofwhich she did not repent, as she
did not believe to have sinned but to have done well, she
likewise was condemned to the pains of hell ; in which, as
-she descended, the punishment assigned to her and to me

264 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
was for her to fly before me — and for me, that had loved
her so fondly, to pursue her as my mortal enemy, and not
as ray mistress, and when I reach her to kiU her, as I
kiUed rayself with this rapier ; to tear out her hard and crael
heart, in which neither love nor pity ever entered, and give
it to my dogs to eat ; and, in no long interval, she rises again,
to recommence her flight, and I and my dogs follow ; and
every Friday at this hour I arrive at this place, and here I
punish her, as you wUl see ; and do not suppose that we re^
pose the other days of the week, but we arrive somewhere
else, where she cruelly thought and acted against me ; and
I, who from a lover have become an avenger, am forced in
like manner to pursue her, for as many years and as many
months as she was cruel to me. Allow me, then, to fulfil
the mandate of Divine Justice, nor oppose what thou canst
not prevent.' Nastagio, hearing these words, was so terri
fied, that there was hardly a hair of his head which did not
stand on end, as he gazed at the unhappy damsel, who
timidly awaited her fate. The knight, like a mad dog,
sprang upon her, who was held down by his mastiffs, and,
whUst she cried for mercy, plunged his rapier through her
breast. The damsel fell on her face to the ground, and he,
seizing a knife, cut out her heart, and threw it to the
mastiffs, who devoured it instantly. But before long the
damsel rose suddenly again, as if nothing had happened,
and began her flight in the direction of the sea, the dogs
after her, and the knight, remounting his horse, renewed his
pursuit ; so that in less than half an hour, they disappeared,
and Nastagio saw them no raore. He remained there long
in fear and pity, when it occurred to him that as this scene
was to be repeated every Friday, it might be of use to him-

VIA DEf BARDI, ETC, 265
self. Marking the place, he returaed to his servants, and
sending for his friends, he addressed them thus : ' You
have long urged me to cease from loving her who is my
enemy, and I am ready to do it, if you wiU grant me one
favour, which is this, that next Friday you persuade Messer
Paolo Traversari, and his wife and daughter, and all the
ladies of their faraily, and any others you please, to come
here and dine with me.' His request appeared a very
trifling one to those present, and, returning to Ravenna, they
invited all whora Nastagio wished to see ; and, though it
was difficult to persuade the lady beloved by him, she
nevertheless went with. the rest. Nastagio ordered a mag
nificent repast to be prepared, and had the tables placed
under the pines round that place, where he had beheld the
punishment of the crael maiden, and so arranged that his
mistress should be seated exactly opposite where the deed
would be done. The last dish had just been brought, when
all began to hear the cries of the hunted damsel, and, in
wonder, asked what it meant. Rising from their seats to
see what it could be, they beheld the unhappy lady pursued
by the knight and dogs. The knight, addressing them, as
he had Nastagio, filled them with terror and wonder ; and
when he repeated what he had done before, all the women
present — and there were a great raany who had been relations
of the unhappy darasel, as weU as of the knight, and remera
bered the story of his love and of his death — wept, as if
they too suffered with her : which scene being ended, and
the darasel and the knight having disappeared, all the spec-r
tators fell into raany and various discourses on what they
had seen. But araong those most terrified was the crael
maiden beloyed by Nastagio, who had distinctly seen and

266 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
heard everything, and was conscious that the scene was
more addressed to her than any one else, remembering
the cruelty she had always shown her lover ; so that she al
ready seemed to fly before his wrath, and to have the mas
tiffs at her heels. And such was her fear, that she herself
told her father and mother she was ready to marry Nastagio,
at which they were well pleased, and the following Sunday,
Nastagio espoused her, and after the marriage they lived
long and happily together.*
The next picture in the Torrigiani Gallery is a Magdalene,
by Jacopo da Pontormo, extremely lovely, and the expression
of sorrow and devotion very beautiful. Nos. 5 and 7, the Tri
uraph of David, frora a cassone, or bridal chest, painted by
Benozzo Gozzoli. The figure of David, in No. 7, is very
dignified, as he is borne along in a triumphal car after
Saul. In No. 5 the perspective and horses recall Paolo
Uccello's picture in the corridor of the Uflfizi Gallery.
Nos. 22 and 23, opposite — the Fable of Acca, — an Etruscan
legend of the nurse of Roraulus and Remus, — and the Expe
dition of the Argonauts, are by Paolo Uccello ; both likewise
belonged to a cassone. The subjects are treated with much
animation, though the pictures have neither the elegance
nor the beauty of the work of Benozzo Gozzoli.
Some of the finest pictures in the Gallery are in the
second room — three noble portraits : No. 9, GirolamoBeni-
vieni, by Leonardo da Vinci. Girolamo was a Florentine,
bom in 1452. He was the author of various sonnets and
songs, chiefly of a religi&us character, many of which were

* See "Decameron" of Bocaccio, vol. iii. p. 387. Also Poetical
Works of John Dryden, Esq., " Theodore and Honoria,"

IVA DE' BARDI, ETC. 267
composed for the children who formed the celebrated pro
cessions of Savonarola. to collect works of art of an imraoral
tendency, which they burnt in the Piazza della Signoria.
Benivieni was an ardent admirer of Savonarola ; after the
siege of Florence he had the courage to address a letter to
Pope Clement VII. reproaching him with the calamities he
had brought on his native city, and demanding, as the sole
compensation in his power, that he should give Florence a
free govemnient. Benivieni was noted for the sanctity of
his life. He died in 1542, at ninety years of age. This
portrait is wonderfully expressive : the poet has a noble
countenance ; he wears a black cap and dress. The back
ground is a very sweet landscape, treated sketchily, in a pale
greenish-blue colour. No. 7 is the portrait of Masaccio, by
himself — a splendid drawing, careful, correct, and finished
with surprising delicacy and truth. No. 11, a portrait of
Luca Signorelli, likewise by himself— grandly drawn, forcible,
and carefuUy finished, though hard in outline. No. 21,
PoUaiolo — characteristic, though hard, angular, and somewhat
stiff. No. 24, a very fine Spanish picture, a head of St. An
thony, by Ribera. No. 3, a picture, by Garofalo, of Christ
and the Woraan of Saraaria. Over the door. No. i, is the
Riddle of .^sop, by the Cavaliere d'Arpino, from a drawing
by Michael Angelo. A Madonna, by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio,
is very sweet and soft, but rather feeble.
In the third roora are two most beautiful paintings for a
cassone by Filippino Lippi, representing the history of
Esther. In the first. No. 8, Ahasuerus is seated on his
throne; Esther kneels before him to invite him to the
banquet; the surprise of Haman, who holds his hand to
his mouth, is weU given. The attendants of Esther, deli-

268 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
cate and refined maidens, wait without ; her own figure in
white, walking away, is very lovely. In the background
is seen the banquet. The sharp brilliancy of the Ughts
in the open air, the distinct drawing of the small figures
which yet preserve their distance and proper planes
although the foreground figures and principal part of the
story is kept in a comparatively subdued Ught, is very
remarkable. Nos. 21 and 22, small pictures by FUippino
Lippi, represent Esther, and the triumph of Mordecai.
No. 7 is a very lovely Madonna and Child, generally attri
buted to Raffaelle, of his Florentine period ; in coraposition
it reserables the Cowper Madonna. The child lays across
his mother's lap, and looks back with a raost sweet expres
sion, as he playfully holds her veil ; the Virgin's head and
hands are extreraely beautiful and graceful.
No. 3 is a Deposition from the Cross, by Titian, painted
in his old age — a noble production, wonderfully vigorous ;
tbe figure and head of Christ are especially beautiful. No.
12, a fine portrait of one of the Alberti faraUy, by Paolo
Veronese. No. 14, a very interesting portrait of the his
torian Frangesco Guicciardini by an unknown artist.
In the furthest room is a fine Lucrezia by Guido Reni ; a
good portrait of Duke Alexander, the Moor ; and a female
portrait called Ginevra de' Benci, attributed to Leonardo da
Vinci. Retuming through this apartment and crossing the first
small entrance roora, in a further suite, are several pictures of
merit : Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, by Passignano ;
Muleteers, by Salvator Rosa ; and a very fine Hobbema.
Beyond the Torrigiani Palace, on the former Renai, now
laid out in flower gardens, is a monument commenced by

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 269
BartoUni and finished by RomanelU, to the memory of Prince
Demidoff, who, in conjunction with the Marchese Carlo
Torrigiani, liberally assisted the cause of education in
Florence. Behind the palace, where was once a picturesque
line of houses, forraing the back of the Via Bardi, are also
now plats of flowers, and a broad paved road.
At the end of the Piazza dei Renai, facing the Torrigiani
Palace, is the Palazzo dei Senistori, a faraily who were,
from an early period, adherents of the Medici. Some, how
ever, made an honourable exception ; and Frangesco Ser
ristori, with his sons Guglielmo and Nicolb, attempted
to liberate their country from the tyranny of the Grand-
Duke Cosimo I. They were declared rebels, and the
youngest, Nicolb, when taken prisoner at the battle of
Montemurlo, was confined for life in the horrible subter
ranean dungeons of the Tower of Volterra. The Palazzo
Serristori was occupied during the siege of 1528 by Mala
testa Baglioni, of Peragia, to whora was confided the conduct
of the defence, and who betrayed the city to the Iraperialists.
Malatesta consulted his astrologer on all occasions ; and
the roora supposed to have been inhabited by this irapostor,
is all that remains of the palace, as it existed in the six
teenth century. In another palace of the Renai, facing the
river, are some good frescos by Overbeck; the subject
is the tribute paid to genius in every country.
Near the Palazzo Serristori is the Church of San Nicolb
sopr' Amo. In the Piazza before this church the citizens
met in 1529, and swore to defend their Republic to the
last drop of their blood : after Florence had been sur
rendered to the Imperialists, it was in the Belfry of
San Nicolb that Michael Angelo concealed himself, until

270 TfALKS IN FLORENCE.
Pope Clement VII. promised to pai'don him for having
constructed the fortifications above Florence,
San Nicolb was one of the first twelve churches of
Florence erected about the tenth century. Before 1184 it
belonged to the monks of San Miniato al Monte, but in
1374 Gregory XI. placed it under the jurisdiction of the
Bishop of Florence. On the external walls of San Nicolb
is a tablet recording the height reached by the Arno during
a flood in 1557. Over the high altar was once a picture by
Gentile da Fabriano, painted for the Quaratesi family, much
praised by Vasari, but of which nothing now remains ex
cept the side panels with saints which ^\•ere on either side of
the Madonna. CavalcaseUe observes : — " The side panels
of the votive piece are stUl at San Nicolb, filled with a
pretty graceful Magdalene in profile ; St. Nicolas, on whose
cope scenes from the Passion are given with exquisite
minuteness ; a fine St. George and a Baptist were in the old
Siennese antique style ; the whole omamented with profu
sion, flat and fused in tone, and with a rosy flesh tint
shadowed in cool grey. In the gables of these panels are
figures of canonized friai's between angels." * In the
sacristy is a much-injured fresco, attributed to Ridolfo Ghii--
landaio, of the Virgin letting down her girdle to St. Thomas.
St. Thomas is a graceful figure, and expresses in his action
the gratitude and humility with which he receives the gift.
A picture on panel, recently discovered in the church, but
also now in the sacristy, is worthy ot attention ; it is thus
spoken of by CavalcaseUe : — " The Etemai, surrounded by
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. p. 102. A faithful
engraving from this picture may be seen in Rosini's " Storia Favola,"
^xxviii.

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 271
a glory of Cherubira of Umbrian type, sending dbwn the
dove of the Holy Ghost to the Virgin and Christ, both of
whom kneel on a rainbow, spanning a golden heaven lighted
by a sun in relief. The resurrection of Lazarus, in the
foreground of a landscape, and St. Louis of Toulouse, form
the subjects of one side; whilst on the other are St.
Cosimo, .Damian, and a third saint together, and St. Bene
dict with a chained devil. It is more hasty than the Virgin
of the Quaratesi, and strongly impressed with the defects of
the Umbrian and Gubbian schools."
The Porta San Nicolb is the only gate remaining in its
original height and form.
The Porta San Miniato, between the Porta San Nicolb
and the city wall which skirts the gardens of the Boboli,
leads to the churches of San Francesco and San Miniato,
beyond Florence, and is novv connected with, the Porta
Romana by the beautiful road of the Colli. In the Fon
daccio di San Nicolb was the house of Doni, the patron of
Raflfaelle d'Urbino.
Returning from San Nicolb to the Via Bardi, on tiie top
of the Costa, is a large building, now the Villa Petrovitz,
but formerly a monastery, of barefooted Augustinians. It
"¦was founded by the Grand-Duchess Christina of Lorraine in
the sixteenth century, upon the demoUshed houses of the
Serraanni family. A narrow passage leads to the Via della
Costa, or HiU of San Giorgio ; the ascent to the top is ter
minated by the Porta San Giorgio and the Fortress of the
Belvedere. Halfway up this street, on the right, is a house
once inhabited by Galileo Galilei; the sun-dial in the
garden behind is supposed to have been constructed by the
philosopher.

272 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The Fortress of San Giorgio or Santa Maria in Belvedere
was built by the Grand-Duke Ferdinand I., who employed
Buontalenti for this purpose. The first stone was laid in
1590. Beneath it is a subterranean chamber, in which the
Medici kept their treasures, and for which Buontalenti
invented a lock which none could open without being
made acquainted with the secret of its construction.
The Porta di San Giorgio was built in 1324, and was so
called from a little Church of St. George which once existed
in that neighbourhood. On the side towards the country is
a square raarble tablet, on which is sculptured in high
relief St. George and the Dragon. Within the arch is a
fresco, better preserved than any other on the gates of
Florence. The Virgin and ChUd are seated on a raagnifi
cent throne. On the right is St. George in armour leaning
on a shield, on which is painted the arms of Florence, the
Red Cross on a white field ; and on the left is a saint with
a pen and book, who either represents St. Sigismund or St.
Maxirailian. This fresco is attributed by Vasari to Bemardo
Daddi, a scholar of Spinello Aretino.
Descending the hill, and passing the Augustinian Con
vent, the street divides into two narrow ways — that to the
right leading again to the Via Bardi, near the Palazzo
Tempi ; and that to the left, a steep descent to the Piazza
della Sta. Felicitk. A small church at the entrance of this
street, near the Costa, is called San Girolamo, and at one
time possessed a painting by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, but it
is now Govemment property.

VIA DE' BARDI, ETC. 273
CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Benivieni, Girolamo  1452 — 1542
Bocaccio  1313— '375
BotticeUi, Sandro  1447^1510
Brienne, Walter de, Duke of Athens, died . . . 1356
Buontalenti, Bemardo, buried under a landslip . . 1547
DonateUo  1386 — 1466
Gregory X., Pope, in Florence  1273
Guicciardini, Frances90  1482 — 1540
Guido Reni .  1575 — 1642
Lippi, FUippino  1457 — 1504
Lucia, Sta., de' MagnoU, under the monks pf San Miniato
al Monte  1244
,, the patronage bestowed on Uzzano . . . 1425
Nicol6, San, Sopr' Amo, buUt before . ... 1184
„ meeting of citizens in Piazza . . . 1529
Petrarch  1304 — 1374
Polaiolo, Antonio  1429 — 1498
Salvator Rosa  1615 — 1673
SignoreUi, Luca ........ 1441 — 1523
Spinello Aretino  1410
Uzzano, Nicolo  '350—1433
Vinci, Leonardo da  1452 — 1539

VOL. II.

CHAPTER XX.
STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINL
T N the Piazza di Sta. Felicitk, a column resembling that
of the Trebbio is said to mark the spot where another
discomfiture of the heretics — Paterini — took place. From
this piazza, the remnant fled to the Gaggio, a nobleman's
house, afterwards a raonastery, beyond the Porta Romana,
where they found protection. The Rossi family, mentioned
by Dante, whose quarter was behind the Church of Sta.
Felicitk, were violent Papists, and led the fight and mas
sacre. A terra-cotta statue of Pietro Martire was after
wards placed on the top of the colunin, but this has long
since disappeared. The coluran itself was of much older
date, and belonged to an ancient cemetery on this spot,
where stood a Uttle church dedicated to the Maccabees, as
well as a celebrated convent of Benedictine nuns, which in
1059 was taken under the special protection of Pope
Nicholas II. The nuns aU belonged to noble families, and
their convent was 'only suppressed, with other monasteries,
on the entrance of the French into Italy early in this cen
tury. The church received its present form as late as
1736, when the adjoining Oratory of St. Mary Magdalene,
of the twelfth century, was included within its waUs. The

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINI. 275
tribune within belongs to the Guicciardini family, and a
slab on the paveraent, in front of the high altar, marks the
burial-place of the historian Frangesco Guicciardini. The
loggia or porch in front was erected by Giorgio Vasari in
1 564, to support the corridor, which he carried from the
Ufifizi to the Pitti Palace. Beneath this porch are monu
ments inserted in the walls, which were transferred there
from the old ceraetery. A figure in flat relief represents
Barduccio Barducci, who died in 1414. He was a wealthy
merchant on Exchange, and was twice Gonfalonier. His
son Giovanni was of the Otto di Balik, who formed the
Government of that period, and was the intimate friend
of DonateUo, who represented him as one of the prophets
on the Campanile, which, from Barducci's bald head, is
known as " II Zuccone." * Below the monument of
Barducci is the Mausoleum of Arcangiola Paladina, the
daughter of a Pistoiese painter; she died in 1622, at the
age of twenty-three, already faraous for her skill in paint-»
ing and rausic. The bust is by Agostino Buggiardini, a
scholar of Giovanni Caccini. On the opposite side of the
loggia is a well-executed monument to Cardinal Luigi de'
Rossi, by Baccio di Montelupo (1445 — 1512). The statue
is life-size and in repose, and the face extremely beau
tiful. The cardinal died in Rorae, 1519; but his re
mains were brpught hither for interment by order of Pope
LeoX.
The Church of Sta. FeUcitk is in the form of the letter T,
and has seventeen chapels, with raarble altars. The first,
to the right, is the CapeUa Capponi, built after a design by
* " The Gourd." See vol. i. chap. iii.

276 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
FiUppo BruneUeschi, who also made the pillar to contain
t'he holy water at the entrance to the church. Within
this chapel is a Deposition , from the Cross, by Jacopo
Pontormo, who, according, to Vasari, painted it without dark
shadows, and in a clear and united colour, so graduated as
to make hardly any distinction where the lights ceased and
the half-tints began, or where the half-tints were followed
by the shadows, thus producing great softness. The picture
was destroyed by restorations in 1723. The four Evan
gelists are represented on the ceiUng; three are by Pontormo,-
and one by Angelo Bronzino. The windows, with the
arms of the Capponi, were executed by the celebrated
French painter on glass, Guglielmo da MarciUa. Vasari
relates that this chapel was decorated by order of Lodovico
di Gino Capponi, who bought it . from the Barbadori, for
whom it was built by Filippo BruneUeschi.
In the fourth chapel after that of the Capponi is a fine
picture executed by the living artist , Cesare, representing
the mother of the Maccabees mourning over her dead sons
— a paraUel story to that of Sta. Felicitk. A painting by
Taddeo Gaddi follows : it is in the same style as his fresco
in the Baroncelli Chapel of Sta. Croce — the subject is a
Madonna and Saints, and is in good preservation. The
sacristy is supposed to have been built by BruneUeschi : it
is in fine proportions, and has his favourite ornament of
cherubs' heads round the comice, which he adopted from
the mosaic frieze of the Baptistery. .A picture, attributed
to Neri de' Bicci,* represents Sta. Felicitk with her seven

* This picture was engraved for Mrs. Jameson's work on " Le-
gendai7 Art,''

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINI. 277
sons, who all underwent raartyrdom, exhorted "by their
raother to suflfer any torments rather than abjure their faith.
Sta. Felicitk " is seated on a throne, a majestic colossal
figure, holding in one hand the Gospel, which rests on her
knee ; in the other, the palm ; while her seven sons, small in
proportion and treated as accessories or attributes, are
ranged on either side, the youngest standing in front." All
have palras and golden glories, and wear rich dresses,
and all. but the youngest appear as warriors.* There are
several other early pictures here, but none of any import
ance. The most interesting works of art are in the chapter
house of the nuns, or Oratory of St. Mary Magdalene,
where the frescos are attributed to Cosimo UUvelli and
Agnolo Gheri. Over the altar is a .fine picture on panel of
the Crucifixion, probably by Nicolb Gerini, who worked
with Taddeo Gaddi. The Christ is feeble, and the grief of
the angels who catch the blood is exaggerated to caricature ;
but the fainting Virgin, with the women round her, as well
as the men with upraised hands, are very fine. The Mag- '
dalene at the foot of the cross, with lips apart, raises her
eyes to the Saviour; the tall figure of St. John, whose
drapery falls in large folds, the Centurion, who, with his
finger on his lips, stands in silent wonder, and the old
Pharisee behind, are extremely good. The eyes are small,
but the faces are rounder and fuller than usual with Giotto.
The predella below is by an inferior hand : it represents
the Martyrdom of Sta. Felicitk and her sons. On the
ceiling are eight ovals, painted in fresco with much gran-
* See " Legendary Art," p. 381,

278 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
deur : the subjects are Christ and the Seven Cardinal
Virtues ; Faith, in the centre, is very fine. Within the
cloister leading frora the chapel are several frescos, which
have been transferred here frora other places : the Annuncia
tion is pleasing, and the Visit of the Shepherds is interest
ing from the animation with which the story is told ; the
Madonna, seated beneath the projecting roof of a house,
is very lovely.
From the Piazza di Sta. Felicitk the Via Guicciardini
leads to the Piazza dei Pitti, at the comer of which is the
Palazzo Guicciardini, buUt by the architects Cigoli and
Gherardo Silvani, who incorporated in this palace a small
housp where was born San FUippo Benizzi, one of the
Order of the Servites, whose history, or legend, is recorded
by Andrea del Sarto on the walls of the portico of the
SS. Annunziata.
The records of the family Guicciardini date as early as
1 1 99, when an ancient document mentions a merchant of
that name, one Tuccio di Guicciardini. The grandson of
this Tuccio -made the fortune of the faraUy, and Luigi, of a
later generation, was Gonfalonier during the Ciompi riots of
1378. The historian Frangesco, the godson of MarsUio
Ficino, was bom here in 1482. In 1511 he was sent
ambassador to Spain, and on his retum in 15 15 he was
chosen one of the Priors of the Republic. When deputed
to meet Leo X., at Cortona, the Pope appointed him advo
cate of the Consistory, and afterwards governor of Modena
and Reggio, and commissary-general of the papal forces.
In 1527 he offended both the Florentines and Pope
Clement VII. ; the first by his attempt to restore the
Medici to power, and the last by not having been suf-

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINL 279
ficiently ardent in their cause. He therefore retired to
Arcetri, near Florence, where he began his history. Guic
ciardini was the friend and tool of Duke Alexander, which
is the greatest blot on his name ; and when the duke was
assassinated he assisted to raise Cosimo to the throne. Dis
gusted by Cosimo's resolution to reign alone and to reject
all advisers, Guicciardini soon afterwards again retired to
Arcetri, where he was occupied with his history until his
death in 1540.
A tablet, on a house nearly opposite the Palazzo Guic
ciardini, records that here Nicolb Macchiavelli died, in the
fifty-eighth year of his age, from the effects of a medicine
he had prepared for himself Macchiavelli was bom in
1469, and was descended from a family who were Lords
of MontespertoU, and belonged to the Guelphic party in
Florence. In 1599 Nicolb was appointed chancellor of
the great councU, which had been shortly before instituted
by Savonarola, and he was afterwards made secretary to
the RepubUc. He was employed in twenty dififerent em
bassies abroad, and araong these were raissions to fhe
infaraous Cesare Borgia. If the scheraes of this prince for
the unification of Italy found favour in his eyes, he never
theless, in his celebrated work of the " Principe," painted
the man who aspired to despotic power in the blackest
and most contemptible colours. Taken literally, this essay
has deservedly held up the author's name to obloquy ; but,
considered .as a closely concealed satire — since the most
astute of Florentine statesmen would hardly have been
capable of the folly of advocating crime — and as an ex
posure of the degradation to which a human being must
lend himself to obtain supreme power, MacehiaveUi's work

28o WALKS IN FLORENCE.
was no doubt intended to serve as a waming to mankind
not to put their faith in princes. Accused of complicity in
aconspiracy against Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, afterwards
Leo X., MacchiaveUi was thrown into prison and put to the
torture. He was only liberated at the intercession of Pope
Leo himself, when he became Pope. The Macchiavelli
houses extended back as far as the Fondaccio di Santo
Spirito. The Borgo San Jacopo was so-called from having been a
borough of the city. At the corner of the Via Guicciardini
were houses of the Cerchi family, whose principal residences
were near the Piazza della Signoria, In this palace was
included the tower of the Rossi family, and behind the
marble bason of the. fountain once stood the group of
the Centaur, now under the loggia of the Uflizi, but which
has been replaced by a mediocre statue of Bacchus be
longing to a late period of art. Near the Cerchi Palace is
the Palazzo Barbadori. It was for this family that FiUppo
BruneUeschi built the present Capponi Chapel in Sta. Feli
citk, as weU as the palace itself. One of the faniily, Donato
Barbadori, was employed in many iraportant missions
abroad, but finally he was implicated in a conspiracy, and
was seized and beheaded.*
The Church of San Jacopo sopr' Amo is one of .the
twelve oldest churches in Florence ; but, with the monastery
attached to it, was wholly rebuilt in 1580, and in 1709 it
underwent fresh restorations, when the stuccos were added
inside the church, and busts of the Medici family placed on
the fagade of the raonastery, in the Piazza Frescobaldi.
• See MacchiavelU, " Storie Florentine," lib. iii. p. 80.

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINL 281
The beautiful Uttle portico of Corinthian columns in front of
the church belonged to the earlier construction, and is com
posed of the remains of ancient monuraents. According to
the chronicler, Dino Compagni, it was in the Church of San
Jacopo sopr' Arno that the nobles, led by Berto Frescobaldi,
held a meeting in the year 1293 to protest against their
exclusion from the Govemraent by the popular party led by
Giano della Bella, and where they deterrained to resort to
arms rather than submit to the decree. The campanUe of
the church was built by Gherardo Silvani.
Opposite Sari Jacopo is one of the most perfect of the old
FlorentUie towers remaining, which belonged to the Barba
dori family. The inscription by one Sorbi, who placed the
images in Luca della Robbia ware on the front, is modern.
In the piazza beyond is the Palazzo Frescobaldi, which
belonged to a faraily who were araong the most turbulent of
the Florentine nobles. Of Gerraan origin, they were all-
powerful in Florence during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Messer Lamberto di Fresco di Baldo caused a
wooden bridge to be thrown across the Arno near his house,
which was called the SS. Trinita, from the Church on the op
posite bank. This same Lamberto. bore the banner of King
Charles of Anjou at the battle of Campaldino. The Fresco
baldi were engaged in every battle of the Florentines, and
gained great renown for their valour ; but their domineering
spirit awakened the jealousy of the citizens, and caused
their exclusion from power in 1292, when, as already related,
they called a meeting of nobles in San Jacopo sopr' Arno.
Their indignation was still further aroused by the banish
ment of Messer Teglia Frescobaldi in 1303, who, in re
venge, allied himself with Castruccio Castracani, Lord of

282 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Lucca, and endeavoured to seize on castles belonging to the
Florentines. The proscriptions which followed this act
of treason were resented by the nobles in general, and
Bardo dei Frescobaldi and Piero de Bardi conspired to
overthrow the Govemment. Their schemes were discovered,
and they were driven frora Florence, orily to return with the
Duke of Athens. As the Frescobaldi afterwards joined the
Bardi in another conspiracy to expel the Duke, they were
for a time reconciled with the popular party ; but the peace
was of short duration, and the power of all the nobles was
broken in the final discomfiture of the Bardi. To the
greater honour of this faraily, it is recorded that the com
pletion of Dante's poem was due to Dino di Lambertuccio
Frescobaldi. Hiraself a poet, or " rhymer," and the friend
of the great poet, Dino discovered and preserved the first
seven cantos of the " Inferno," which Dante when sent into
exile believed to have been lost ; Dino sent them tb him
to the house of MoreoUo Malaspina, in the Lunigiana, where
Dante had taken refuge.
On the opposite side of the Piazza Frescobaldi, and
facing the river, is one of the numerous palazzi belonging
to the Capponi faraily. This palace was inhabited by
Piero Capponi, already frequentiy raentioned for his heroic
act in tearing to pieces a treaty destructive of Florentine
liberty, and defying Charles VIII. of France to do his worst.
Piero was killed in a war with Pisa, 1496, and bequeathed a
greater name than fortune to his sons Nicolb and Giuliano.
Nicolb was elected Gonfalonier amidst the rejoicings ofthe
people, for. the election of Nicolb Capponi was a signal for
the restoration of order and the security of Florentine liberty.
After the people had confirmed the election ofthe new Gpnfa-

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINL 283
lonier and Priors, a Franciscan and Dominican friar, according
to custom, ascended the Ringhiera in front of the Palazzo della
Signoria, carrying Ughted torches, and followed by a canon of
the Cathedral with the Gospels, to administer the oath to the
new magistrates ; after which ceremony the Signory, preceded
by the trumpeters, walked in procession to the Baptistery to
attend mass. On their retum to the palace they were led
to the apartments assigned them and sat down to a banquet,
whilst the bells rang and the shouts of the people resounded
in the piazzas and streets at the return of a popular govem
ment A general Ulumination took place in the evening, the
fanali or lumieri at the comers of the great palaces blazing
with fireworks. The Mercato Nuovo, then an open space
before the loggia was buUt, was cleared of its booths belong
ing to the silk merchants, and covered with an awning under
which danced sixty youths and sixty maidens dressed in pearls
and jewels ; every maiden wore a garland of gold -or silver,
the manufacture of which made Ghirlandaio famous before
he was more celebrated as a painter. The youths and maidens
did not dance together, but separately, and at every new dance
they all appeared in new dresses, which amusement lasted
the whole night.*
One of the first acts, of Nicolb Capponi, in imitation of
Fra Girolamo Savonarola, was to propose that the people
should acknowledge no sovereign but their Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. In the course of time, however, Nicolb gave
serious offence to some of the greater citizens ; and araong
his ofifences was the marriage of his son to a daughter of
the historian Frangesco Guicciardini, instead of to a sister
* See " Marietta de' Ricci," vol. ii.-pp. 144 — 151-.

284 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
of Tommaso Soderini. Among his bitterest enemies were
Frangesco Valori and Jacopo Gherardi, who were jealous of
his popularity ; they contrived, by suspicions of treason, to
have him dismissed frora office, and he narrowly escaped
with his Ufe. But his patriotic endeavours to save his
country from enemies, domestic and foreign, continued to
the end of his Ufe, which was shortened by grief at being
unable to frustrate the scheraes of Pope Clement VII. and
the Emperor Charles V. for the destruction of the Republic.
In a large room of this little palace are frescos by Pocetti
comraeraorative of the history and patriotic deeds of the
Capponi family.
Pursuing the quay along the river, the present Casa
Molini, and the houses on the same side of the piazza
beyond, belonged to the Soderini family, who from the
earliest times exercised great influence in the Republic. It
was here that one Nicolb Soderini received St. Catherine of
•Sienna, a remarkable woman, who was employed on various
embassies, and whose genius and religious enthusiasra gained
for her an extraordinary influence in her own and succeed
ing ages. The crucifix before which she worshipped is still
preserved in the faraily of the Soderini. In 1502 Piero
Soderini was created Gonfalonier for Ufe, an honour unpre
cedented in the history of Florence. He was, however, a
man of feeble resolution, and he vainly endeavoured to
arrest the encroachments of the Medici ; he was at last
obliged to.fly from Florence, and retired to Rome, where he
died in 1522, and was buried there in Sta. Maria del Popolo,
although a splendid monument in his honour, the work of
Benedetto da Rovezzano, was erected in the Carmine at
Florence, When Gonfalonier, Soderini employed Mac-

STA. FELICITA TO THE PIAZZA SODERINL 285
chiavelli as his secretary, who has thus described his cha
racter — " La notte che mori Pier Soderini
L' alma n' ando dell' Inferno aUa bocca,
E Pluto la grido, 'Anima sciocca,
Che, Infemo? Va, nel Limbo coi bambini.' " *

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Barbadori, Donato, beheaded  1379
Barducci, Barduccio  d. 1414
Benedictine nuns under the special protection of Pope
Nicholas III  1059
Benizzi, San FUippo  1247 — 1285
Bicci, Neri de, was aUve in  1458
Bronzino Angelo  1502 — 1572
BruneUeschi, Filippo  1379 — 1446
Capponi, Piero  . d. 1496
CigoU  1559— 1613
Ciompi Riots  1378
Felicita, 5ta., reduced to its present proportions . . 1736
„ Loggia buUt by Vasari .... 1564
Gerini, Nicolo  d. 1385 (.')
Guicciardini, Fran9esco  1482 — 1540
Jacopo, San, meeting of nobles held here . . . 1292
Macchiavelli, Nicol6  1469
Montelupo, Baccio di  1445 — 1512
Paterini, theh defeat  1182
Pontormo, Jacopo  1494 — 1557
Rossi, Caidinal Luigi de'  d. 1519
Silvani, Gherardo  1579^.1675
Soderini, Piero, Gonfalonier  1502 — d. 1522
UUveUi, Cosimo  1625 — 1704
* " The night that Piero Soderini died,
His soul passed onwards to the mouth of HeU,
When Pluto cried, ' You foohsh soul, begone !
¦What, HeU for you ? Go, with the babes, to Limbo.' "

CHAPTER XXI.
FONDACCIO SANTO SPIRITO.— VIA MAGGIO.— CHURCH
OF SAN FELICE.
"PARALLEL to the quay already traversed, and leading
back to the Piazza Frescobaldi, is the Fondaccio di
Santo Spirito ; and on a tablet to the left there is an inscrip
tion recording the birthplace of Frangesco Fenuccio. The
family of Ferruccio was from Piombino, and derived their
name hova. ferro, " iron," having probably been workers in
that raetal. Theywere Florentine citizens in 1253, when
one of the Fermcci had a seat in the governraent. Fran
gesco was bom in 1489, and was destined for a merchant,
but his inclinations were more for war and the chase, in
which last occupation he spent much of his tirae in the
Casentino, where he possessed land. He was sent on
several raissions to Malatesta Baglioni, then a celebrated
leader of Free Companies ; and he once had occasion to
witness a signal defeat of this captain, in a vain endeavour
to rescue Arezzo, which was attacked by the enemy ;
Fermccio came to the rescue, when Baglioni was obliged
to acknowledge the superior iriiUtary skill of this Floren
tine merchant, and hated him accordingly. In 1529 Mala
testa was invited to undertake the defence of Florence
against the Imperialists, and Fgrruccio volunteered to

FONDACCIO SANTO SPIRITO, ETC. 287
second his efforts by harassing the enemy and creating
diversions outside the city ; but his ability and success only
increased the envy and spite of Baglioni, who finally
betrayed Florence to the besiegers, and conspired to cause
the overthrow and murder of Ferruccio at the Battle of
Gavinana, among the mountains above Pistoia. In Fer
ruccio the Florentines lost the last defender of their Re
public, and his name is stiU venerated among those of the
greatest of their heroes.
Opposite this palace, at the corner of the Via de Serragli,,
is the Palazzo Rinuccini, now let out in apartments, and
its rich gallery and library sold and dispersed. It was
built by the architect Luigi Cardi Cigoli about the end
of the sixteenth century, and the windows on the ground
floor are much admired. The earliest record of the Rinuc
cini is when they built the Sacristy of Sta. Croce for their
chapel, in 1294. They were frequently eraployed on em
bassies abroad; and in 1645 o^^^ of t^^e faraily was sent as
Papal Legate to Ireland, to endeavour to ameliorate the
condition of the Catholics, who were barbarously persecuted
by Cromwell. The Marchese Carlo Rinuccini was sent
ambassador to Queen Anne to congratulate her on her acces
sion to the EngUsh throne, and afterwards for the sarae pur
pose to George I.
Before the raiddle of the thirteenth century there were no
houses of any iraportance on this side of ithe Arno, and when
Buonaccorso Velluti, one of the ancestors ofthe present Duke
di San Clemente, built himself a palace in this neighbourhood,
his friends ridiculed his choice ofa situation so remote from
Florence. The first palace to the left after entering the Via
Maggip is the, ofi&cial residence ofthe American Consul ; it

2:88 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Was formerly the Palazzo Firidolfi, a branch of the RicasoU
family ; they were among the most valiant defenders of
Florence against the Emperor Henry VII. — 131 2 — and were
in consequence placed under the ban of the Empire. The
last male descendant died in 1818, leaving an only daughter,
Lucrezia, who married a Ricasoli, and, as before stated, thus
reunited the families after an interval of eight centuries.
The two palaces which follow are Turco and Amerigo, and
opposite thera. No. 26, is the palace built for herself by
Bianca Capello, and decorated with paintings in the Floren
tine manner. Her husband, one night when returning home,
was murdered between this palace and the bridge. Bianca
was the daughter of an old patrician family of Venice, and
she was persuaded to form a secret marriage with a young
Florentine named Piero Bonaventura. Fearing discovery
by her parents, they escaped to Florence, where they lived
in complete retireraent in an apartraent in the Piazza di San
Marco. It happened, however, that Prince Francis, the
eldest son and heir of the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., saw
Bianca at a window, and was struck with her extraordinary '
beauty. The assassination of Bonaventura, ¦ which ' took
place many years afterwards, was by some attributed to
Francis, who had succeeded his father as grand-duke;
and on the death of the Grand-Duchess Joarina of Austria,
in 1579, he married Bianca, who was iramediately adopted
as a daughter by the Venetian Republic. She summoned
her brother, Vittorio Capello, to join her in Florence, and
he soon became the sole adviser and favourite of Francis,
which so much excited the jealousy and hatted of the
Medici family, that every means was employed to oblige
Francis to dismiss Vittorio from his court. Bianca's volu-

FONDACCIO SANTO SPIRITO, ETC. 289
minous correspondence with her brother, in her clear,
bold handwriting, is still preserved in the Archives of the
Uffizi, The dismissal of Vittorio did not, however, satisfy
the enemies of the grand-duchess, who were resolved on
her death ; and one evening after she and the grand-duke
had partaken of a supper at their favourite villa of Poggio-
a-Cajano, both were seized with violent pains, and they died
within a few hours of one another. Cardinal Ferdinand de'
Medici, the brother of Francis, who succeeded to the throne,
is accused of being the author. of this crime, which accusa
tion appeared the more probable by the contumely with which
he caused the body of the unhappy grand-duchess to be
treated, and her son only escaped persecution by leading a
life of retirement in Florence.
Beyond the opposite Palazzo Amerigo is the Palazzo
Ridolfi. The Ridolfi came to Florence frora Ravenna, in
the fourteenth century. Twenty-one of the faraily filled the
office of Gonfalonier, and fifty-two that of Priors of the
RepubUc. Nicolb de' Ridolfi was beheaded, in 141 7, for
having attempted to restore the Medici to Florence; but
his son married a daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent,
and exercised great influence in the Govemment until his
death, in 1525. His son again married a daughter of the
celebrated Filippo Strozzi, and the favour he showed towards
the Florentine exiles was the cause of his banishment by
the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., when he found protection with
Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France. From hira are
descended the present Ridolfi family. The most distin
guished of the Ridolfi belonged, however, to another branch.
Lorenzo de' Ridolfi govemed the Florentine Republic
towards the end o£ the fourteenth, and the beginning of the
VOL. II. U

290 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
fifteenth centuries, assisted by Messer Maso degli Albizzi,
and Messer Filippo Corsini, before Cosirao de' Medici
attained to power; and it was these three raen who raised
Florence to the high position she afterwards held. In the
year 1425, eight years after his cousin Nicolb de' Ridolfi
had been beheaded for his friendship to the Medici, Lorenzo
di Antonio Ridolfi was sent to Venice to solicit the Vene
tians to join in a league against Filippo Visconti, Lord of
MUan. The cautious Venetians hesitated, when Lorenzo
burst forth in these words : — " Venetians, last year the
Genoese, when we abandoned them, created Filippo a
prince ; if you deny us your aid in our present difificulties,
we will make him a king; and should we conquer, and you
are left standing alone, none coming to your aid, however
you may desire it, you will be the cause of his becoming
emperor.'' Ridolfi then turned his back on the Senators
and left the room, when they immediately consented to join
the League.
The late Marchese Cosimo Ridolfi was one of .the most
honest and patriotic statesmen of Florence during the dis
turbed period antecedent to the union of Italy under Victor
Emmanuel, which was the more to be admired in him, as he
was tutor to the grand-ducal children. At the corner of
the Via Maggio and the Via MarsiU, is a house painted
by Pocetti in chiaroscuro. This house was at that time
possessed by the architect, Bernardo Buontalenti, and it
was here that he received a flying visit from the poet
Torquato Tasso. Tasso's poetry had been severely criti
cised by the Accademia della Crusca, and Ariosto preferred
before him; he had felt the mortification acutely, when
news reached him in Ferrara that his Pastoral of " Aminta "

FONDACCIO SANTO SPIRITO, ETC. 291
had been produced on the Florentine stage, with scenery by
Buontalenti, which had secured for it the greatest success.
Tasso instantly started for Florence, and rode up to this
door in the Via Maggio. When Buontalenti appeared, Tasso
asked, " Are you that Bemardo Buontalenti of whose won
derful inventions so much is spoken, and who contrived the
machinery for a draraa lately • recited, the coraposition of
Tasso?" "I am Bernardo Buontalenti," was the reply,
" but not such as you have the kindness and courtesy to
describe me." Upon this the poet embraced hira, kissed his
forehead, and with the words, "You are Buontalenti, I
Torquato Tasso ; adieu, ray friend ; " remounted his horse,
and left Florence by the way he came. Buontalenti im
raediately inforraed the Grand-Duke Cosimo of this visit,
but, though messages were sent to recall Tasso, it was too
late, and he never returned to Florence.
Opposite this Palace is the Via Michelozzi, at the corner
of which is the singular old Palace of the Michelozzi family,
the upper storey overhanging the lower, and supported by
brackets. One of the Michelozzi was Prior in 1386, and
another was employed with Averardo de' Medici, the grand
father of Cosimo, to punish a rebeUious town, in 1433. Gio
van Battista di Tomraaso Michelozzi, in the sixteenth century,
placed the rich canopy over the high altar of the neighbour
ing Church of Santo Spirito. The celebrated architect be
longed to another branch of this family. At the further end
of the Via Maggio is the Casa Guidi, an old tower trans
formed into a modem mansion, and over the door is a
beautiful inscription to the memory of the English poetess
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who lived and died here.
At the opposite comer, in the Piazza di San Felice, is the

292 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
church of that narae, where many noble famiUes have their
burial-place ; it belongs to a convent of Dominican nuns,
called the Nuns of San Pietro Martire, who are permitted
to afford protection to unhappy wives flying from their
husbands. The Coro, or gallery, set apart for the nuns,
above the entrance to the church, is supported by Doric
columns. To the right of the door is a much injured fresco,
grandly composed and with deep feeUng, probably of the
period preceding the schools of the Lippi and Masaccio ?
The Saviour is rising from his torab ; the Virgin, with one
arm round his neck, and supporting his wounded arm with
her other hand, kisses his face ; St. John and Mary Magda
lene kneel on either side.
On the opposite side of the church is a panel picture of
three Saints, attributed to Piero di Cosimo, but rather
reserabling the style of the PoUaioli. St. Roch, in the
centre, points to the plague-spot on his leg ; on one side, is
St. Anthony and his pig; on the other, St. Catherine; the
legends of the Saints are given in the predella below : St.
Anthony is chasing away his pig, the erablem of gluttony
and a life of indulgence ; St. Catherine is suffering martyr
dom between two wheels ; the legend of St. Roch in the
centre is not sufiSciently seen to ascertain its meaning. The
colour and expression is very fine throughout.
A little further down the nave on the sarae side is a feeble
picture, by Salvator Rosa, of St. Peter walking on the Sea.
St. Matthew at the Receipt of Custom is by Cosimo
RosseUi, and is a fair specimen of the master. The
Madonna appearing to San Pietro Martire, by Ridolfo
Ghirlandaio, aided by his favourite pupil, Michele, is also a
good picture. The chapel which follows is dedicated to

FONDACCIO SANTO SPIRITO, ETC. 293
the Holy Wafer. Above it is a Madonna, in a lunette,
which was brought here from the western entrance, where it
is supposed to have worked miracles during a plague. A
marble arch, with delicately carved foliage, encloses the
whole. The Ancona, containing the wafer, has a Virgin and
four saints, with adoring angels rising over, the casket.
Above is the Saviour rising frora the tomb. To the right of
the Virgin is an old and a young saint ; to the left St. John
the Baptist and another saint : angels fill up the interstices
of the arch. A picture by Giovanni di San Giovanni repre
sents an incident in the life of San Felice, when a bishop of
Nola, who was dying of bnnger and thirst, was relieved by
him. The last picture on this side is so much injured, as to
be alraost incomprehensible. On the opposite side are, —
a Virgin arid Child, with saints ; St. Anthony healing the
Sick, by Ottavio Vanni; and St. Dominick, with other
saints, by Vignoli, an artist of no great name. A fine Giot
tesque Crucifix is attached to the gallery for the nuns.
From the Piazza San Felice a street leads directly to the
Piazza Santo Spirito, at the comer of which is another fine
exaraple of Florentine architecture of the sixteenth century,
possibly after a design by II Cronaca ; a beautiful Fanale,
similar to those on the Strozzi, Riccardi, and Pazzi Palaces,
is attached to the comer. The Palace belongs to the family
of Guadagni, whose gallery of pictures was adomed by two
splendid landscapes by Salvator Rosa, which have been
sold. The Guadagni derive their origin from Ser Guadagno
di Guitto, a notary, who was one of the councillors of the
Coraraune in 1204. Frora 1289 to 1528, the family reckon
eleven Gonfaloniers and nineteen Priors. Bernardo Gua
dagni advised the exUe of Cosimo de' Medici — Pater

294 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Patrise — ^in 1433 ; in revenge for which, Cosimo, on his rec
tum, not being able to seize on Bemardo, who had made
his escape, treacherously seized on his son, and caused him
to be beheaded. One branch of the faraily settled in
France, where they were received with honour at the Court
of Francis I.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Buontalenti, Bemardo  1536 — 1608
Capello, Bianca  d. 1587
Cronaca, II  1454 — 1509
Ferruccio, Fran9esco, murdered  1530
Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo  1485 — 1560
Giovanni di San Giovanni  1576 — 1636
Henry VIL, Emperor, attacked Florence . . . 1312
Pocetti, Bernardo  1542 — 1591
Ridolfi, Lorenzo de', ambassador to Venice . . . 1425
„ Nicold de', beheaded  ' 1417
Rinuccini in Ireland ....... '645
Tasso, Torquato  1544 — 1595
Vanni, Ottavio  1585 — 1643
VeUuti Buonaccorso died  1296

CHAPTER XXIL
SANTO SPIRITO.
"T'HE earliest Church and Monastery of Santo Spirito was
built in 1292 by the Augustinians, who received such
liberal contributions from the citizens that they were enabled
to raise a temple of considerable size, which they adorned
with paintings by Cimabue, Simone Memmi, and Giottino.
After the expulsion of Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens,
in 1343, when the city was divided in quartieri — quarters —
in place of the old division of sestieri, this iraportant Augus
tinian monastery gave this quarter the narae of San Spirito.
The church, however, soon was found too small for the in
creasing population, and in 1433 a new edifice was cora
raenced under the auspices of Filippo Brunellesohi. He
proposed that the church should face the Arno, with a large
Piazza before it ; but the Capponi family, whose houses
were along the river, made objections, and the plan was
therefore altered. As Brunelleschi died in 1446, the build
ing was not far advanced, and a calamity which occurred in
1470 caused a still further delay. Galeazo Maria Sforza, Duke
of Milan, that year paid a visit to Lorenzo de' Medici, when
a grand display of ceremonials was arranged for Easter
Sunday in the Church of Santo Spirito ; but, from the care
lessness of some of the workmen, the building caught fire

296 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
and was wholly consumed. It was recommenced according
to the original design of Brunelleschi, which was followed as
closely as possible. A contemporary anonymous author
records that Brunelleschi was in the habit of only making a
rough model of his architectural compositions, leaving the
details vague and uncertain, and giving his directions to the
masons as the work proceeded, altering and modifying his
design. This fact must account for various defects in Santo
Spirito, which some critics have attributed to one Antonio
Manetti, a workraan who had been a pupil of BruneUeschi,
but who later set up as his rival, and ventured to disparage
his designs. The church, nevertheless, is a noble example
of Brunelleschi's compositions. The erection occupied
above twenty years. The cupola was buUt after a design by
Salvi d' Andrea, and was only finished in 1482, in which
year, according to the diary of Luca Landucci, a Florentine
citizen, a sermon was preached here. The sacristy was
added in 1488, after a design by GiuUano di San Gallo, and
the beautiful little vestibule which connects the sacristy with
the church and cloister, was the joinl^work of Siraone Pol-
lajuolo, sumamed II Cronaca and GiuUano di Sari Gallo.
The sculpture within was executed by Sansovino (Contucci).
The cupola of the sacristy was designed by Antonio del
PoUajuolo. The belfry, which has been much adraired for
its perfect proportions, was the work of Baccio d'Agnolo.
The interior of Santo Spirito is very grand from the im
mense space, the extreme simplicity of the architecture, and
its beautiful proportions. It is in theform of a Latin cross,
315 feet long, and 191 feet across the transepts. The aisles
are carried round the nave and transepts by a line of hand
some columns, of pietra-serena, with Corinthian capitals.

SANTO SPIRITO. 297
The chapels are raised a step above the pavement, a defect
vvhich Brunelleschi is said tohave copied from the littie Church
of the SS. Apostoli, which he so greatly admired, that he
refused to admit an error in the composition. Some of
these chapels contain good altar-pieces. The first to the
right of the entrance contains an Assumption of the Virgin,
with saints, by one of the scliool of Piero di Cosimo. The
second chapel contains a copy of Michael Angelo's Pietk
at Rome, by his pupil, Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The third
has a wooden statue of San Nicolb, in Tolentino, by San
sovino : the angels on either side are by Franciabigio, the
friend of Andrea del Sarto. The rest of the chapels on
this side of the nave contain nothing of iraportance.
In the right transept, however, are several interesting
pictures. One of these, in the Capponi Chapel, is in a dark
position, and represents a nun enthroned, supposed to be
Santa Monaca, the mother of St. Augustine. She is giving
the rules of her order to twelve other nuns ; angels
kneel on either side. CavalcaseUe considers this picture to
be in the style of the PoUaioli, although not one of the best
specimens.* The nuns, who have very marked countenances,
are portraits of ladies of the Capponi family.
The fourteenth chapel from the entrance belongs to the
Nerli famUy, and contains a very beautiful picture by Filip
pino Lippi, painted in the artist's best manner. The Virgin
is seated on a throne within a shrine, supported by pilasters,
and adomed by lovely cherubs. The Christ-child on her
lap is singularly beautiful ; one hand clasps his mother's
fingers ; the other rests on a cross oflfered him by the little
f See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe,'' vol. ii. p. 397,

•298 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
St. John, who appears full of eamest devotion. The finest
part of the picture is St. Martin, who wears a bishop's stole,
and presents the donator of the picture to the Virgim
The donator was Tanai de' Nerli, who belonged to one of
the most distinguished families among the Florentine
citizens; he was frequently employed on diploraatic mis
sions, and made himself conspicuous by his persecution of
Girolamo Savonarola; he even caused the bell of San
Marco, which had been rang to rouse the citizens the night
when Savonarola was seized, to be taken from the convent,
and carried to San Miniato on an ass's back, as a sign of
opprobrium. This fierce persecutor of a good and wise man
is here represented kneeling humbly, and his countenance,
as well as the action of his hands, express well the mingled
wonder and reverence with which he approaches the mother
of our Lord. On the opposite side of the picture St.
Catherine presents the wife of Tanai de' Nerli to the Virgin,
who turns her head towards her. In the landscape back
ground is the gate of San Frediano, and Tanai, dismounting
-from his horse, gives the reins to an attendant, and kisses
his littie daughter who has come to the door of the house
with a servant girl to meet her father. CavalcaseUe observes
that rio portraits of this time are more admirably real than
these of the Nerli family — " FiUppino never approached
nearer than here to the ideal of simple and grand drapery.
'His precision in defining form is admirable, his ability in
depicting popular life in distance astonishing for its realistic
truth : his colour is a little raw but pleasant still, and
modeUed with gi-eat breadth and success." *
.* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. u. p. 441.

SANTO SPIRITO. 299
The adjoining chapel has a copy of Perugino's picture of
St. Bernard appearing to the Virgin, the original of which
is in the Munich Gallery. At the angle of the transept, op
posite the Capponi Chapel with the altar piece of Santa
Monaca, there is another chapel, likewise belonging to the
Capponi, and containing a marble monuraent behind an
iron grating, to the memory of the first Gino Capponi, and
erected by his son Neri, who is also buried here, as well as
Piero, the grandson of Neri, celebrated in Florentine history.
Gino was bom in 1360, and rendered his name famous by
the part he played in a war against Pisa, which city he con
quered for the Florentines in 1404, and, when appointed
govemor, he gained the affection of the Pisans by his gentle
behaviour. His son Neri, whose profile in basso-relievo by
Simone di Betto is on this raonument, was distinguished in
the war carried on by the Florentines against the Duke of
Milan, and by his spirited defence of the republic frora the
encroachraents of Cosirao de' Medici. He died lamented by
all his fellow-citizens in 1447. His grandson Piero was the
champion of Florentine liberty, when threatened by Charles
VIII. of France; and his spirited reply to that monarch's
insolent declaration that if the treaty he had dictated were
not signed he would sound his trampets — " Then we shall
sound our bells,'' will never be forgotten in Florence.'''
Piero Capponi was killed in 1496 in an assault against the
Pisans ; his reraains were brought up the Arno in a funeral
barge, and deposited in his house near the bridge of the
SS. Trinitk, from whence they were bome to the Church of

* See " Savonarola and his Times," by Pasquale ViUari, translated
by Leonard Homer, vol. i. p. 226.

300 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Santo Spirito, accompanied by the magistrates and a vast
multitude of the citizens. The church was lighted by innu
merable tapers, and Uned with four ranges of banners, bear
ing alternately the arras of the Florentine magistracy and of
the Capponi family. A funeral oration was deUvered over
the coflfin, proclaiming, in words of the highest praise, the
distinguished life ofthe deceased, and the deep sonow felt for
the loss of the valiant soldier and eminent citizen. His
remains were then deposited in the same tomb which his
grandfather Neri had caused to be constructed for his illus
trious great-grandfather Gino Capponi.* The opposite
monument is that of Cardinal Luigi Capponi, a lineal
descendant of Piero, who died in 1659.
In the nineteenth chapel, which is within the apse, there
is an altar-piece with saints by Agnolo Gaddi. In this chapel
is buried Piero Vettori, a literary critic of some reputation,
born in 1499 ^t Florence. Although the Medici were the
constant theme of his satire, the Grand-Duke Cosimo I.,
who had a just estimatioii for tfilent in every form, appointed
him, in 1538, Professor of Classics; his lectures were
attended by a vast concourse of students, who spread his
reputation. He died in 1565.
The next altar-piece of a Madonna enthroned with saints
On either side, is in the raanner of Botticelli. Over the
twenty-first altar are Martyrs, by Alessandro AUori; the
predella is in the style of BotticeUi, and contains a represen
tation of the Pitti Palace as it appeared when first built,
The twenty-fourth altar has an Annunciation by Sandro
Botticelli : the twenty-fifth, a Madonna and Child, with
* See " Savonarola and his Times," &c. vol, ii. p. 93,

SANTO SPIRITO.

301

two angels, St. Bartholomew, and St. John the Evangelist,
The twenty-seventh altar contains a good, though daraaged,
picture of the Madonna enthroned, with angels, St. Thomas,
and St. Peter, with die date 1482. CavalcaseUe supposes
these pictures to have been the joint production of Piero di
Cosimo and Cosimo Rosselli, and he observes that " the
styles of Ghirlandaio and Filippino are mingled with that of
Cosimo Rosselli in both pictures."
The altar which follows is enclosed in a fine marble
grating, the work of Andrea Sansovino. CavalcaseUe
attributes the picture in the adjoining chapel to Raffaellino
del Garbo ; the subject is the Trinity, adored by St.
Catherine and Mary Magdalene, who are on their knees.
" The predeUa contains some pretty things, representing
the Nativity between the Comraunion of St. Mary of Egypt
and the Martyrdom of the Alexandrian Saint." * The same
author adds, that he considers the picture "a carefully
handled and gay specimen of his (RaflfaelUno's) painting —
not the best example."
Over the thirtieth altar is again the Madonna enthroned
with angels, St. Bartholomew, and St. Nicholas with his
three loaves, attributed to Antonio PoUaiolo, but believed by
CavalcaseUe to be another production of Piero di Cosimo
and Cosimo Rosselli.
The thirty-second altar has Christ bearing his cross, in some
respects identical with one of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio's best
pictures, formerly in the Antinori Palace.
Near the door of the sacristy, beneath the organ, is
another picture by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, a Virgin and Child
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol, iii. p. 417.

302. WALKS IN FLORENCE.
with St. Anna behind. Four saints stand on either side,
and St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine kneel. The
picture has been much damaged. There are no other pic
tures deserving notice in this church.
The choir in the centre, between the transepts, though a
raarvellously rich display of raarbles, is, as a whole, heavy
and ugly, and disturbs the architectural beauty of the build
ing. It was placed here in 1599, during the reign of the
Grand-Duke Ferdinand I., by the Senator Giovan Battista
Michelozzi, already raentioned, who entrusted the work to
Giovanni Caccini, the first artist in Florentine mosaic, or
Pietra-Dura, a royal manufacture introduced and encouraged
by the patronage of the Grand-Dukes Francis I. and Ferdi
nand I. The arms of the Michelozzi family are introduced
in various parts. The choir, though rich in sculpture, is
altogether in bad taste; the details, however, are worth
studying. The altar is finely decorated with mosaics and
bronze statuettes, and the carved wooden seats, and marble
and bronze balustrade and candelabra very excellent in their
kind. The cloister beyond the sacristy is surrounded by frescos,
representing scenes from the life of St. Augustine. An inner
doister is likewise decorated with frescos. A painting by
Agnolo Gaddi was once here, but has been lately removed
to the Bargello.*
It was in the Church of the Santo Spirito that Martin
Luther preached when he carae as an Augustinian friar to
Florence, on his road to Rome. His name was inscribed
in the books of the Monastery, but the library was dispersed
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. p. 472.

SANTO SPIRITO. 303
after the suppression of the raonasteries by the French, to
wards the end of the last century. Many valuable works
were then lost, and araong thera the writings of Bocaccio,
bequeathed by him to the Augustinian friars.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
AUori, Alessandro  1535 — 1607
Brunelleschi, FUippo  1377 — 1444-
Capponi, Gino  1360 — 142 1
„ Neri  1457
„ Piero  1447 — 1496
Capponi, Cardinal Luigi  1659
Contucci, Andrea Sansovino ...... 1460 — 1529
Cosimo, Piero di  1462^1528
D'Agnolo, Baccio .  1462 — 1543
Franciabigio  1482 — 1528
Gaddi, Agnolo  1333— 1396
GaUo, Giuliano di San ....... 1443 — 1517
Garbo, RaffaeUino del  1466 — 1524
Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo  1483 — 1561
Lippi, FUippino  1457 — 1504
Sforza, Galeazzo Maria  1444 — 1476
Spirito, Santo, founded  1292
„ new church commenced .... 1446
„ bumt  1470
Vettori, Piero ..,,.... 1499-1565

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CARMINE.- PORTA ROMANA.— THE ANNALENA.
"T'HE Piazza di Santo Spirito, which, until 187 1, was an
open paved square, has been recently laid out in
gardens. Opposite the church at the entrance of the Via
Sant' Agostino leading to the Carmine, is a house belonging'
to the Marchese Stufa, who possesses a most interesting
bust of the Gonfalonier Nicolb Soderini, by Mino da
Fiesole, which was discovered in a cellar. It is carefully
finished in the manner of the old Flotentirie artists, full of
life, and evidently a correct likeness, and every detail faith
fully rendered, to the squint in the eyes and a mole on the
lip. The Marchese has also three good reliefs in pietra-
serena, and a Madonna, which were found in the cellar with
the bust of Soderini.
The corner of the Via Sant' Agostino and the Via de'
Serragli is commonly knoWn as the Canto della CucuUa, be
cause this spot was once in the midst of the gardens belong
ing to the Velluti, frequented by the cuckoo. Here a
triuraphal arch was erected in honour of Charles V., when
he entered Florence in 1515, and Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and
his pupil, or son, Michele, exerted all their inventive powers
and skill to make it more splendid. In a house near the

THE CARMINE, ETC. 305
Canto della Cuculia a poor child was charitably received,
who afterwards became the celebrated painter Filippo Lippi.
His father was a butcher, and his raother died when FiUppo
was only two years old, when the boy was consigned to his
aunt, who lived here, and kept him until he had attained
his tenth year; her poverty obliged her to place her
nephew in the neighbouring Monastery of the Carraine,
where he was registered as an inmate, and where he re
mained until he was past twenty, in the year 1432, having
been already entered on the books of the Carmine as a
painter. The Church and Monastery of Sta. Maria della Carmine
was built for the Carmelite friars by Agnes, widow of Cione
Tifa di Praniere Vemacci, in fulfilment of her husband's
last will. The Soderini, Manetti, Nerli, Ferucci, and Ser
ragli farailies gave generous contributions to the church,
which was finished in 1475. ^'^ i77i ^ great part of the
building was destroyed by fire, and it was restored in its
present form by Giuseppe Ruggieri, chiefly at the expense
of the Marchese Lorenzo Niccolini. The monastery was
built by Count Guido da Montefeltro, and enlarged by one
of the Soderini.
The Carmelites pretend to derive their origin from Elijah,
"who dwelt solitary in the midst of Carmel." In England
they are called White Friars, from their mantles, which, by
order of Pope Honorius IIL, were white, wom over a dark
brown mantle.*
The Senator Giovanbattista Michelozzi, who built the
canopy for the high altar of Santo Spirito, erected the covered
• See Mrs. Jameson, " Legends of the Monastic Orders," p. 429.
VOL. II. X

3o6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
entrance to the cloister in the year 1600, and on that occa^
sion the friars had the barbarity to whitewash and partially
destroy a celebrated fresco in the cloister by Masaccio,
which represented the Consecration of the Church, and con
tained portraits of the Archbishop Amerigo Corsini, Branel
leschi, DonateUo, Giovanni de' Medici, Nicolb da Uzzano,
Bartolommeo Valori, Lorenzo Ridolfi, and other celebrated
men of the period. As much as remains of this fresco has
been recently uncovered. A Florentine gentleman, in a red
dress, is supposed to represent Giovanni de' Medici, the only
virtuous citizen of the family which he founded. The face
here is nearly obUterated, but the figure and action is refined
and dignified, and the drapery arranged in grand yet simple
folds ; near him two friars converse with animation as they
enter the church. Higher up, on the sarae wall, is a repeti
tion of the favourite subject of herraitages, probably referring
to the first herraits on Mount Carrael. One group is very
arausing, and the figures composing it are evidently por
traits. A stout jolly friar is seated on the ground, and tums
towards the spectator with a broad smile ; a younger monk
addressing him, appears hardly able to keep his countenance.
A piece of drapery which is all that reraains of a third figure,
descending the hill, would prove an admirable study for the
young painter.
On another part of the same wall is the fresco of a knight
and a nun, who are presented to the Virgin, by their patron
saints. This fresco, though of an earUer date, is in better
preservation. CavalcaseUe attributes it to Giovanni da
Milano, the friend of Taddeo Gaddi. The expression of the
nun is singularly sweet and earnest, and the saints behind
are dignified. The remaining fresco of this cloister reprer

THE CARMINE, ETC. 307
sent a series of events in the life of the prophet Elijah, whom
the Carmelites claim as the founder of their Order.*
The interior of the church, which is in the form of a
Latin cross, is spacious and lofty, but has no pretension to
beauty. The roof is painted in fresco in a bad period of
art. The pictures in the chapels on either side of the nave
are all mediocre, except one by Pocetti, to the right, repre
senting the Eternal appearing to the Virgin, who is mourn
ing over her dead Son.
The southem transept contains the celebrated Brancacci
Chapel, with the paintings by Masaccio and Filippino Lippi,
which commenced a new era in Art, and formed the greatest
painters of the Cinque-Cento period. Though preceding
Raffaelle by nearly a century, Masaccio was well worthy of
being his master ; and when the youthful artist arrived in
Florence, with ideas derived from the conventional types
and formal, though correct, drawing of Perugino. he must
have delighted in the freedom of hand, the close observation,
and fine selection from nature, the dignity and grace of the
figures, as well as the life and ease with which the story is told
in these frescos. As a proof of RafifaeUe's appreciation of
these works, and of his unfailing industry, it is recorded that
he copied them seven times.
Though injured by the fire of i 777, and in an obscure
light, enough can still be distinguished to deUght and
astonish the spectators. Masaccio was born in 1402,
and died in 1429, at twenty-seven years of age. When
he had just commenced life as an artist, he was enrolled in

* Two heads frora this fresco were long in possession of the poet
Samuel Rogers, Esq., and are now in the National Gallery of London,

3o8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the GuUd of Speziali — Apothecaries — who, as we have be
fore raentioned, were peculiarly allied to the painters, from
the chemical knowledge required in the preparation of
colours. He travelled to Rome to paint a chapel in the
Church of San Clemente, for the Cardinal di San Clemente ;
and on his return to Florence he painted the portrait of
Giovanni de' Bicci de' Medici, and soon afterwards com
menced his frescos in the Brancacci Chapel, by order of
Felice di Michele di Piuvichese Brancacci of the quarter of
Santo Spirito. The share attributed to another and earlier
painter, MasoUno, is denied by CavalcaseUe. Filippino
Lippi, 1457 — 1504, finished what Masaccio's early death
obliged him to leave incomplete. On the pilasters at the
entrance are represented Adam and Eve under the Tree of
Knowledge and the Expulsion from Paradise. The walls
of the chapel are divided in twelve compartments, including
these two frescos — St. Peter heals Tabitha, and cures a
cripple at the Gate of the Temple. He preaches and bap
tizes ; the youth who has just thrown ofif his garment, and
stands shivering with cold, is a figure which, according to
Lanzi, formed an epoch in Art. Peter and John heal a
cripple ; the houses in the background have windows con
structed for blinds, before the use of glass ; the two Floren
tine youths converse in the centre of the composition : their
draperies are finely dravra, and the colouring is soft and
agreeable. Peter rescued from Prison ; the expression of the
angel, who, with a smile on his countenance, is listening to
the apostle, is singularly sweet. The grand figure of St.
Paul standing before the prison is by Filippino Lippi, and
was introduced by Raflfaelle into his cartoon of Paul preach
ing at Athens. Peter finding the Tribute Money in the

THE CARMINE, ETC. 309
Fish's Mouth, is a large compartment, in which the compo
sition is divided in three separate events; Andrew calls
Peter; Peter seeks for the money in the' raouth of the
fish ; and in the centre and principal group, the Saviour, a
calm and dignified figure, is seated in the midst ofthe apostles:
Peter is eagerly expostulating with hira. The heads of the
apostles are very fine, and may have suggested to RaflfaeUe
his group in the cartoon of " Feed my Sheep." A grand
range of mountains forras the background, not unlike the
Carrara, as seen from the Mediterranean. Below this
fresco, St. Peter raises a youth to life, a scene from the
apocryphal history of the apostles. The story is thus given
by Mrs. Jaraeson ; — " Simon the magician challenged Peter
and Paul to restore to life a dead youth, who is said to have
been a kinsman or nephew of the Roraan emperor. The
sorcerer fails of course. The apostles resuscitate the youth,
who kneels before them. The skull and bones near him
represent the previous state of death. A crowd of specta
tors stand around and behold the miracle. All the figures
are half the size of life, and quite wonderful for the truth of
expression, the variety of character, the simple dignity of the
forms and attitudes." *
Masaccio died when at work on this picture, and the
central group of the composition was finished many years
later by Filippino Lippi. The kneeling youth is said to
have been a portrait of Frangesco Granacci, who was born
in 1469, and was, when painted, apparently about sixteen.
Among the spectators are several portraits. The first head
on the left is Marco Soderini, who died in 1485 ; the poet
* See " Memoirs ofthe Early Italian Painters," by Mrs. Jameson.

310 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Luigi Pulci is on his right, and the two on each side of
raonks are Piero Guiccardini, the father of the historian, and
Piero del Pugliese.
Opposite is one of the finest composition of the series,
Nero condemning Peter to Death, with the Apostle's
Crucifixion, attributed to FUippino Lippi. Nero is seated
on a throne, his head crowned with laurel; to the right,
behind his extended arm, are three portraits ; that to the
right of the pro-consul is Antonio PoUajuolo; the third
from Nero is Masaccio, and resembles the portrait by him
self in the Uflizi Gallery, frora which it raay have been
taken. There are also portraits to the left of Nero ; one is
probably FUippino, with a bald head, seated. At the
further end of the coraposition St, Peter is crucified with
his head downwards : the cross is supported by two half-
nude executioners, who are letting down the saint by a
rope; BotticelU's portrait is among the spectators with
sorrowful countenances. FiUppino likewise executed the
remainder of the frescos in this chapel. As Mrs, Jameson
observes : — " In considering these works, their superiority
over all that painting had till then achieved or attempted is
such that there seems a kind of break in the progression of
Art, as if Masaccio had overleapt suddenly the limits which
his predecessor had found impassable ; but Ghiberti and
his gates explain this seeming wonder. The chief excel
lencies of Masaccio were those which he had attained, or
at least conceived, in his early studies in modelling. He
had learned from Ghiberti not merely the knowledge of
form, but the eflfects of light and shade, in giving relief and
roundness to his figures, which, in coraparison to those of
his predecessors, seeraed to start from the canvas. Masaccio

THE CARMINE, ETC. 311
added a precision in the drawing of the naked figure, and a
softness and harmony in colouring the flesh, never attained
before his time, nor since surpassed, till the days of Raphael
and Titian. He excelled also in the expression and imita
tion of natural actions and feelings. . , . Add the aniraation
and variety of character in his heads^so that it was said of
him that he painted souls as well as bodies — and his free-
flowing draperies, quite different from the longitudinal folds
of the Giotto school, yet grand and siraple, and we can form
some idea of the combination of excellence with novelty of
style which astonished his contemporaries." *
The artists who, Vasari inforras us, studied here, besides
Raflfaelle, were Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Andrea
del Sarto, Fra Bartoloraraeo, Perugino, and Baccio Ban
dineUi. In a chapel of the Sacristy of the Carmine some interest
ing frescos have been recently discovered beneath the
whitewash, which are supposed to have been by the hand
of Agnolo Gaddi. The subject is the legend of St. Cecilia,
with her husband, St. Valerian, and their friend, St. Tiburtius.
St. CeciUa is a most lovely woman, and the same fair face,
with the deUcate features, long golden hair, and dignified,
yet sweet and serious expression, are preserved with por
trait-like fidelity in every representation of the saint. In
the lunette on the wall to the left, facing the high altar, is
the Marriage of Valerian and CecUia ; below is the banquet,
in which the servants bring in meat, whUst Cecilia plays on
her organ ; and at the opposite end she is seen conversing
with her 'husband. In the lunette above the window an
* See " Memoirs of the ItaUan Painters," by Mrs. Jameson.

312 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
old man is seated on a martyr's tomb, and points out St.
Urban to Valerian. In the lunette on the wall to the right
of the altar. Valerian is instracted in Christianity by an old
raan, and is baptized by St. Urban. In the second division,
on the left wall. Valerian is seen in prayer crowned by
angels ; Tibertius is instructed in Christianity by Valerian
and Cecilia, and is baptized. On either side of the window.
Valerian and Tibertius distribute alms and bury the dead ;
they are led before the Prefect ; on the right waU they are on
the way to execution, when they convert their jailer and all
his family ; they are prepared for death by CeciUa, and are
executed. On the lowest corapartraent, to the left, CecUia
distributes alras, and is taken prisoner; on her road to
execution she instmcts the bystanders, and four thousand
persons are converted. On the right wall, opposite, Cecilia
is beheaded, and the blood is coUected as it flows from her
neck ; her figure here is especially graceful ; she is buried
in the catacorabs, and her house is consecrated as an oratory
by St. Urban.
In the choir of the church, which was built by the
Soderini family, is the monument by Benedetto da Rovez
zano, to the memory of the celebrated Piero Soderini,
who was Gonfalonier of Florence in 1502, and who
died and was buried in Rome. It consists of a plain
dark green marble sarcophagus beneath an arch of white
marble, richly decorated with delicate carving, and skulls
which have a circle of hair like that of monks. On the
supports and other parts of the monument are larger
skulls, with hair starting from the head, giving them a still
more ghastly appearance ; figures of men, animals, genii
with scrolls of acanthus leaves, and imitations of antique

THE CARMINE, ETC. 313
arabesques are included araong the ornaments ; and lower
down, leopards, the papal keys, and the favourite Florentine
decoration of festoons of fruit.
In the northern transept, which belongs to the Corsini
faniily, built in 1675, is the tomb of Sant' Andrea Corsini,
to whpm the chapel is dedicated. The painted ceiling is
by Luca Giordano. The ponderous marble relief of the
apotheosis of the saint is by Foggini ; one one side, repre
sented in a similar manner, is the story of a victory pf the
Florentines over a faraous leader of Free Corapanies, won
by the prayers of Sant' Andrea ; on the other, the Virgin
accompanied by Angels, appears to the Saint. Andrea
Corsini died in 1373 ; he was first a Carmelite friar, and
afterwards Bishop of Fiesole, and was canonized by
Urban VIII. in 1629.
From the Carmine to the Walls is inhabited by the Ipwest
population of Florence. The Porta San Frediano, buUt in
1324 by Andrea Pisano, is one of the finest gates in tfie city.
The remains of the Ante-Port may be traced on the outside
wall. It was here that Charles VIII. of Fra.rice ma,de his
entrance into Florence in 1494. " On the day apppinted,
the 17 th November, the Signory were in attendance in a
balcony erected near the San Frediano gate. Many of the
young Florentines of the first famiUes went out to meet the
king, who, at two o'clock in the afternoon, made his solemn
entry. As he approached, the Signory rose, and Lucca
Corsini, to whpm the duty had been assigned, advanced to
read an address that had been prepared. But just at that
moment rain began to fall, the horses would not stand, but
pushed against one another, and the whole cereraony was
thus thrown into confusion : Gaddi alone, who was steward

314 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
of the palazzo, had, however, suflficient presence of mind to
make his way, and contrived in the hubbub to say a few
words to the king in French, suited to the occasion, after
which Charles went forward under a rich canopy. ... On
each side of him rode the Cardinals San Piero in Vincola
and of San Malo, together with some of his marshals. The
royal body-guard followed, consisting of a hundred archers
selected from amongst the handsomest youths of France,
and two hundred knights of France on foot, in splendid
dresses, and armed ; then came the Swiss guard, with their
brilliant uniforms of various colours, having halberts of
burnished steel, their officers wearing rich plumes on their
helmets. , . . The centre consisted of the Gascons, short,
light, active men, whose numbers seemed to multiply as
they marched forward. But the most splendid appearance
of all was made by the cavalry, in which were to be found
themost noble young men of .France: theyhad engraved
arraour, raantles of the richest brocade, banners of velvet
erabroidered with gold, chains of gold, and ornaments of
the same precious metal. The cuirassiers presented a
hideous appearance with the horses looking like monsters,
from their ears and taUs being cut short. The archers were
extraordinarily tall men; they came from Scotland and other
northem countries, and they looked more like wild beasts
than men." * Such was the accompaniment of one of the
greatest sovereigns in Christendom, whom Pier Capponi
awed into submission by the mere force of his firra and
courageous patriotisra.

* See " Savonarola and his Times," by Pasquale ViUari, translated
by Leonard Homer, Esq., vol. i. p. 219,

THE CARMINE, ETC, 315
Between the Porta San Frediano and the Porta Romana,
beneath the walls, was the old Cemetery of the Jews, who
were not permitted to Ue within the city ; the small stones
amidst the grass still remaining, mark the graves of this
persecuted people. Within the walls, at the comer nearest
the river, is a Tabemacle, attiibuted to Domenico Ghir
landaio, which is all that reraains of a convent which once
stood here. The subject is a Madonna and Child, St. John
the EvangeUst, and Mary Magdalene. Beyond this point,
outside the city, is the last remaining of the Tiratoii, or
buildings adapted for stretching and drying cloth, once
belonging to the most influential Guild in Florence. The
Church of San Frediano is as old as the ninth century, when
it stood in the midst of fields, before the third circuit of
walls included the borough. The Soderini were granted
the patronage by Pope Paul IL, in 1462, The present
church is wholly modem ; it occupies the area of the old
convent of the Carmelites of Santa Maria degli AngioU and
Santa Maria Maddalena de Pazzi; the nuns ceded their
convent, in 1628, to the Cistercian fnars, and received in
exchange the convent in the Borgo Pinti. The cell of
Santa Maddalena de' Pazzi has been converted into a
chapel. Retuming to the Piazza Soderini, the Via de' Serragli
continues as far as the Porta Romana. To the right, on
entering this street, is one of the finest palaces in the city,
built by the Marchese Ubaldo Feroni in 1770, after a design
by Zanobi del Rosso. The palaces on the other side are sup
posed to have belonged to the extinct family of the Serragli.
The narae of the street was probably derived frora thera,
and not, as some have supposed, from barricades raised

3i6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
in it. Further on, to the left, a long line of houses formed
the palaces of the Salviati, who were descended from
a celebrated physician in the thirteenth century, Maestro
Salvi by name. Twenty-one of the family sat as Gon
faloniers of the RepubUc, and sixty-three held the office of
Priors ; the most celebrated was Frangesco, who held the
archbishopric of Pisa at the time of the Pazzi conspiracy,
and who joined Jacopo and Frangesco Pazzi in their attempt
against the lives of Lorenzo and GiuUano de' Medici. The
archbishop was hung from a window of the Palazzo della
Signoria. This palace is supposed by sorae to have been
inhabited by hira, but the fact is doubtful.
To the right is the suppressed Convent and Church of
Santa Elisabetta, in which was included a poor dwelling
where San FiUppo Neri was born, in 1515. The tabernacle
at the corner is attributed by sorae to Pocetti, by others to
Giovanni di San Giovanni. Near the Gardens of the Villino
deUa Torre, between the Via de' Serragli and the Via
Romana, is the Uttle Church of Ser Umido, built on part of
the site of the larger church of San Piero Gattolino, which
was demolished by Cosimo I. It was in San Piero Gatto^
lino that the Padri Scopetini took refuge during the siege
of 1529. After its destraction, in 1547, a poor man
caUed Messer Umido, who earned his Uvelihood by the
sale of old iron, resolved to collect money to build a
church in its stead ; he persevered and succeeded, and the
church of his erection is stUl known as San Piero di Ser
Umido. On the opposite side of the Via de' Serragli are the
extensive gardens and viUas belonging to the Marchese
Torrigiani. The grandfather of the present owner built a

THE CARMINE, ETC. 317
high tower in the centre, — the crest of the family being a
tower, — from whence a fine panorama of all the country
round can be obtained. His son, the Marchese Carlo, who
inherited the garden, and bequeathed it to his nephew, the
present owner, placed there a good statue of his father by
the Uving artist Fede.
At the farther end of the Via de' Serragli is the Church
and Seminary of La Calza, which has had a succession of
inhabitants. In 1323 it was an hospital belonging to the
Order of the Knights of Jerusalera, and it was at that time
called San Nicolb de' Frieri. In 1392, certain ladies, of
the Order of St. John of Jerasalem were aUowed to use the
building for their convent. They were removed during the
siege, when the convent was given to the Ingesuati frora the
Porta Pinti, when the name was chaiiged to San Giusto della
Calza, frora the stocking-like material of the cowl worn by
these monks. They enlarged the church and monastery,
and enriched it by various pictures ; but the Ingesuati were
suppressed by Clement IX. in 1688, and the convent was
finally sold to the Congregation of Priests of San Salvatore,
and changed its name again to San Giovan Battista della
Calza. The church was probably indebted to the Ingesuati
for the picture by Pemgino over the high altar. The cmcified
Saviour is in the same attitude with that in Sta. Mad-
dalene de' Pazzi, though without its refinement and grace ;
on one side is the Beato Giovanni Colorabini, of Sienna,
and St. John the Baptist ; a vigorous figure, but more in the
hard style of Andrea Castagno, and by some attributed to
Luca SignoreUi. The Magdalene on her knees contem
plates the feet of the Saviour, and strives to draw out the
nails ; she has a beautiful, expressive face ; St. Jerome, who

3i8 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
presses eagerly forward, looking up in the Saviour's face, iS
Ukewise very fine ; behind him, St. Francis, is a repetition of
Perugino's usual figures, soft in expression, and carefully
drawn. The colour is very sweet throughout, but wants
cleansing and refreshing to bring out the tone, which, in its
present condition, is dead and hard.
In the Refectory is a Cenacolo by Franciabigio; the
heads are gopd, though feeble ; the drawing of the
figures careless, and the whole painting is in a damaged
condition. The Porta Roraana, which is on the old high road to
Rome, was formerly known as the Porta di San Piero Gatto
lino. It was by this gate that Pope Leo X. and the Emperor
Charles V. raade their entry into Florence in 1536. They
passed up the Via de' Serragli to the Canto alia Cuculia,
where the triumphal arch was prepared by Ridolfo Ghir
landaio, to the Piazza San Felice, by the Via Maggio to the
Ponte SS. Trinitk, thence to the Via de' Martelli, by which
they reached the Palazzo Medici, now Riccardi, where they
took up their abode. Fra Bartoloraraeo, in his youth, lived
near the Porta Romana, and thence obtained the name of
Baccio deUa Porta.
Opposite the Porta Roraana is a nearly effaced fresco by
Giovanni di San Giovanni, which the artist is supposed to
have painted in one night. Mars, Pallas, and Mercury, with
the Graces, dance to the rausic of Apollo's lyre. Florence is
represented as a majestic female seated on a throne, habited
in the sacred vestraents of St. Stephen, pope and martyr.
Beside her are feraale representatives of Sienna and Pisa,
as well as Flora, and the four seasons, with Amorini ; the
River Arno is above the architrave.

THE CARMINE, ETC. 319
Turning into the Via Romana, and passing the Church
of Ser Umido, before arriving at a gate of the Boboli Gar
dens, is a house with a tablet recording the dwelUng of
Giovanni di San Giovanni. The opposite Casa MacDonald
is on the site of what was once the large Convent of Anna-
lena, founded by the unhappy widow of Baldaccio dell'
Anguillara, whose tragical fate was recorded in the chapter
on the " Palazzo della Signoria," and who owed his death to
Cosimo de' Medici's jealousy of Neri Capponi, whom he
wished to deprive of the services of so able a commander.
The Convent of Annalena belonged to Dominican nuns
until they were suppressed in 1808. It extended as far back
as the Via de' Serragli, where for many years the American
Hiram Powers, one of the greatest of living sculptors, had
his studio.

CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
Benedetto da Rovezzano  1478 — 1552
Branelleschi, FUippo  1379 — 1446
Carmme built  1475
,, destroyed by fire  1771
Charles VIII. of France  1494
Charles V., Emperor, entered Florence .... 1575
Corsini, Andrea  d. 1373
„ Amerigo, first Archbishop of Florence . . 1420
„ Chapel in Carmine buUt  1676
DonateUo  1386— 1466
FrancavUla  . b. 1548
Frediano, San, under the Soderini ..... 1467
Gaddi, Agnolo  '. . 1333— 139^
Ghirlandaio, Domenico  1449 — 1494
„ Ridolfo ....... 1483— 1561

3=0 WALKS IN FLORENCE. A.D.
Giordano, Luca  1632  1705
Giovanni di San Giovanni  1576 — 1636
Lippi, Fra Filippo  b. 1412-1469
„ FUippino  1457-1504
Masaccio  1402—1427
Medici, Giovanni de'  1360  1429
Neri, San FiUppo  b. 1515
Perugino  1446—1524
Pisano, Andrea .  15J5
Pocetti ...  1542—1591
PoUaiolo, Antonio  1429—1498
Porta San Frediano  1024
Pulci, Luigi  d. 1490
Ridolfi, Lorenzo, at Venice  1425
Salviati, Fran9esco, Archbishop of Pisa, hung . 1478
Soderini, Marco  d. 1486
,,, Piero, Gonfalonier  1502
Urban VIIL, Pope .... 1625— 1644
Uzzano, NicoI6 d'  . j_ j.,2
Valori, Bartolommeo  13S4-1427

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTI.
' I 'HE gate opposite the site of the former Convent of
Annalena is one of the entrances to the Boboli Gar
dens, which were laid out by order of the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I., when he purchased the Palazzo dei Pitti for his
wife, Eleonora of Toledo. Buontalenti and Tribolo were
the architects commissioned to make the designs for this
magnificent garden, which was given the name of Bogoli,
or Boboli, from a family who had once houses fn this
quarter. Tall trees and hedges of bay, cypress, oUve, ilex,
and other evergreens, divide the ground into endless walks,
shady pathways, and groves adorned with statues of unequal
merit, and varied with water containing gold fish. Above
aU towers the noble stone pine, and beneath are banks of
roses and grassy lawns, which refresh the eye, fatigued by
the glare of the city. In the midst of a large sheet of
water near the Porta Romana, is a group of statuary by
Giovan Bologna, placed on what is called the Isoletto, from
whence the ground rises abruptly ; and an avenue of tall
trees and hedges, with statues at intervals, leads to a plateau,;
commanding, towards the south and west, splendid views of
the town and surrounding country. The little meadow on
the plateau is called L' Uccellaja, probably from having at
VOL. II. Y

322 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
one time been a bird-snare, so common around Florence.
A Uttle higher is a winding staircase, the entrance to the
Garden of the CavaUere, where there is a casino or villa,
with a small garden, from whence is obtained a distant view
of hill and valley in the direction of Arezzo and Rome.
Returning to the BoboU, a narrow path conducts to the
highest point, directly above the palace, facing which is a
statue of Dovizia — ^Abundance — supposed to have been a
portrait of the Grand-Duchess Joanna of Austria, the first
wife of Francis I. This statue was commenced by Giovan
Bologna, and finished by his scholar, Tacca. To the right
is the Fortress of San Giorgio, overlooking the garden ;
immediately below is the Fountain of Neptune, in the centre
of which is a good statue of the sea-god throwing his
trident, executed in 1565 by Stoldo Lorenzi, an artist who
is little known, but who was probably a scholar of Giovan
Bologna. Near the Fortress of San Giorgio is the Tower
of the Belvedere ; and a rapid descent by various paths, as
well as by the broad way which leads directly from the
Fountain of Neptune, conducts to the semicircular space
behind the palace, called the Amphitheatre ; stone benches
rise one above the other, on either side, and here various
spectacles were formerly exhibited for the diversion of the
grand-ducal family. An Egyptian Obelisk and Porphyry
Bason occupy the centre. The path to the left leads to
the apartraents usuaUy occupied by the king in a wing
of the palace, opposite the UcceUaja, at the foot of which
is a statue of Pegasus by the raodern sculptor Costoli.
Beyond are the gates of Annalena and of the Porta Romana.
The path to the right of the Amphitheatre conducts to the
usual entrance to. the gardens, beneath the palace. Opposite

THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTI. 323
this gate is a grotto, built by Buontalenti, to receive four
large unfinished statues by Michael Angelo, which the artist
had intended to forra part of his Monument to Pope
Julius IL, and which were presented to the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I. by Leonardo Buonarotti, the nephew of Michael
Angelo. The statues of Apollo and Ceres, at the entrance
of the Grotto, were executed by Baccio BandineUi ; Paris
and Helen are by Rossi da Fiesole ; and in the small inner
grotto, painted by Pocetti, is a raarble bason supported by
four satyrs, and surmounted by a figure of Venus, the work
of Giovan Bologna.
The Palazzo dei Pitti was commenced in 1441, by LJta
Pitti, one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of
Florence, a rival of the Medici rather than of the Strozzi,
but who did not )deld the palm to either, in his arabition to
play a leading part in the governraent ; he was, at any rate,
resolved that his palace should exceed both of theirs in size
and magnificence. When Piero de' Medici lost his father
Cosimo Vecchio, Luca Pitti conspired with Agnolo Accia-?
juoli, Nicolb Soderini, and Dioti-Salvi Neroni, to wrest
the power from his hands. The marriage of Piero's son,
Lorenzo, with Clarice Orsini, belonging to one of the
greatest of the Roman farailies, still farther aroused the
vigilance of his eneraies, and this niarriage added mortifi
cation to Luca Pitti's jealousy, since he had intended hi^
own daughter for the young Medici.
Luca's faction obtained the name of Del Poggio, because
the Pitti Palace was built on the hill of San Giorgio, whilst
the Medici Palace, in the plain below, gave the name Del
Piano to their opponents. Fortunately for Piero, Luca
Pini appears, to have b'een of as weak and irresolute a cha^

324 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
racter as his own ; and after the final discomfiture of the
Pitti and their party, and the banishment of all who had
followed their banner, Luca was allowed to remain in
Florence, where he lived with a suspicion of treachery
attached to his name, despised and shunned by all, and
left to wander in solitude through his vast palace.
The building was beguii by Maestro Fanelli, a clever
builder, after a design by Filippo Brunelleschi. The fagade
is divided into three tiers, and constructed of enormous
blocks of stone.- On the lowest part are lions' heads finely
executed, from one of which flows the purest water in
Florence, carried hither by pipes from the raountains near
Pratolino. At the death of Brunelleschi, in 1444, the
palace was only finished as far as the second row of
windows, and the loggia, which, according to the original
design, was to have crowned the edifice, has never been
added. The roof was placed by Fanelli, but the wings
were not even begun when Luca Pitti died. His descen
dants were unable to meet the expenses of so vast a
building, and in 1549 Buonaccorso Pitti sold it to Eleonora
of Toledo. On a house in the Fondaccio di Santo Spirito,
which at that time belonged to the Pitti, may still be seen
a sketch of the palace as it was when they abandoned it to
their rivals the Medici. Araraanati added the wings, and
enclosed the beautiful little court behind, where he built a
grotto, with niches containing three groups of statuary :
Hercules and Antseus, Hercules leaning on his club, and
Pluto with Cerberus. At one end of the surrounding
colonnade is a mule in black marble, supposed to com
meraorate the aniraal employed to carry the materials for
the erection of the palace. Above the grotto is a bason
ynthputti playing musical instruments.

THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTL 325
To the right of the palace entrance, beneath the colonnade,
is the Royal Chapel, adorned with frescos by Luigi Ade
moUo, an artist of mediocre powers. The high altar is
richly decorated with arabesques and pictures in flat and
raised pietra-dura. In front of the table is the Last
Supper, and beautiful statuettes are inserted in niches at the
sides, where rubies and other precious stones are scattered
over a ground of lapis lazuli. Above the altar is a Cracifix
in ivory, by Giovan Bologna. In the sacristy are copies of
the famous Magdalene of Correggio, at Parma, as well as of
other pictures.
Retuming to the colonnade, and passing to the left of
the entrance, there is a small court in which is the statue of
Ajax supporting a dying warrior, a repetition of the group
under the Loggia de' Lanzi, and, judging by its merits,
probably the original work In the anteroom beyond is a
bust of Luca Pitti, the founder of the palace, and three
drawings of the original design for the Palazzo dei Pitti, with
the loggia on the top, as intended by Brunelleschi. The ad
joining chamber contains the splendid collection of old plate.
Within a glass case in front of the entrance are tazze, by
one of the school of Benvenuto Cellini, each containing a
relief representing a different subject In a cabinet to the
left is old church plate, and beyond, in another cabinet, a
cassetta or casket for the holy wafer, wben exhibited on
Maunday Thursday ; it is worked in rich enamel, and set
with enormous emeralds. Two beautifully sUver-gilt and
enamel goblets, with delicately wrought handles, are by
Benvenuto CeUini ; but one of the greatest treasures in this
room is a large niello by Maso Finiguerra, in the centre of
which is the Madonna and Child, and around are scenes
from the Life of our Lord.

32« WALKS IN FLORENCE.
A mosaic table of fine workmanship is placed under glass
in the raiddle of the roora. Two silver salvers are by Ben
venuto Cellini, on one of which is the Rape of Proserpine ;
on the other, Orpheus. In the same cabinet are goblets
and a flask of fine enamel, also by Benvenuto, Farther on
is a little iraage of the Infant Saviour, in pietra-dura, which
belonged to the Grand-Duke Cosimo I. ; also a beautiful
crozier. Opposite the entrance is a bronze-gilt candelabrum,
supported by satyrs, and standing on a pedestal of tortoise-
shell, the work of Giovan Bologna. A little dog, in ivory, by
Donatello, is in a case between two miniature wax-heads by
the celebrated modeller in wax, Zurabo; one of these
represents the Suflferings of Purgatory, the other the Tortures
of Hell. In the window is a bronze Crucifix by Giovan
Bologna, a relief by Tacca of the Crucifixion, and a very
fine Limoges enamel with the history of our Lord. The
finest cmcifix here is in a cabinet near the entrance ; it is in
ivory, and by Donatello. Christ is represented looking
upwards in the agony of prayer ; at his feet is the skull.
On the first floor of the palace a suite of rooms are exhi
bited, once occupied by Pius IX. j but they contain nothing
of iraportance. The state apartments beyond are richly
decorated, and the ball-room, though too narrow for its
height and length, is very handsome; it has lately been
fitted up with much taste and magnificence for the receptions
of Victor Emmanuel.
As the Palazzo della Signoria is the monument of early
lepubUcan government in Florence, so the Palazzo dei Pitti
is associated with the period when she was under the rale
of sovereign princes. When we remember that this city,
which played so prominent a part in European politics, and

THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTI. 327
in the progress of civiUsation, was torn by factions within
her waUs which not unfrequently converted Florence into
a battle-field, we may well marvel at the strength of her
Republic, and at the sagacity of her civic rulers, which
could maintain her independence during seven centuries,
and raise their city to the first rank in commerce, Uterature,
and art. On one side were rariged haughty nobles, glorying
in their supposed superiority of birth, supported by an
armed peasantry whom they Summoned to their aid from
their casties in the country, abetted by the Gerraan emperors,
who claimed suzerainty over nearly the whole peninsula,
and reinforced by wealthy citizens who preferred titles and
power to liberty; on the other side, simple merchants,
strong only in union for the preservation of their just rights,
and supported by the Church, which in those days repre
sented Italian nationality. It was not until the citizens them
selves consented to bow beneath the sway of one of their
own order, and Florence had submitted to become the slav6
of Medicean arabition, that she fell frora her high estate, and
gradually sank as much below the level of other com
munities as she had once soared above therai Cruelty,
rapacity, and superstition were the characteristics of the
princely inhabitants of the Pitti, from Cosimo I. to Giovan
Gastone. Some curious observations on the condition of Florence
in the seventeenth century, under Ferdinand IL, may be
found in a letter from one of the clerks of the English
Privy Council, written in 1650, of which the following is an
extract :-—
" This letter conies to kisse your hands firom fair Florence,
a Citie so beautifuU that the great Emperour (Charles V.)

328 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
said that she was sitting to be shewn and seen, onely upon
HoUdays. She marvailously flourisheth with BuUdings, with
Wealth, and Artisans; for it is thought that in Serges,
which is but one commodity, ther are made two millions
evry year. All degrees of people live here not onely well
but splendidly well, notvrithstanding the manifold exactions
of the Duke upon all things : For none can buy here Land
or Houses, but they must pay eight in the Hundred to the
Duke ; none can marry or commence suit in Law but
ther's a Fee to the Duke ; none can bring as much as an
Egg or SaUet to the Market, but the Duke hath share
.therinna  Add herunto that the Duke himself in
som respect is a Marchant, for he sometimes ingrosseth all
the Corn of the Country, and retails it at what rate he
pleaseth," &c., &c.
In 1765, with the accession of Pietro Leopoldo, the son of
Francis II. of Lorraine and the Empress Maria Theresa,
Tuscany became an Austrian province, and all the unappro
priated revenue was claimed by Vienna. Pietro Leopoldo
was irabued with the admirable theories of govemment of
his brother the Emperor Joseph, and he endeavoured to
enforce them on a people degraded by two centuries of
despotic rule, and who had therefore neither previous training
nor education to accept the new ideas willingly. Many of his
good works nevertheless remain, and have borne fruit ; but
after a reign of twenty-five years he was called to the throne of
Austria, and the Council of Regency opposed and abolished
his measures, and set at nought the principles he had vainly
attempted to inculcate ; another proof, if such were want
ing, that tme liberty cannot be given by an individual, but
must spring from the heart of the people. In 1 790 Pietro
Leopoldo sent his second son, Ferdinand, to Tuscany as

THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTL 329
Grand-Duke — his principal adviser, Fossombroni, was
celebrated for the reforms he introduced, but, in 1805, Fer
dinand was obliged to abdicate in favour of the Duke of
Parma, and Buonaparte shortly afterwards placed his sister
EUsa on the throne of Tuscany, with the title of Queen of
Etraria ; her reign ended in 18 14, when Ferdinand resumed
the crown. He died in 1824, and was succeeded by his son
Leopold II., the last Austrian grand-duke. Though Leopold
was a man of mild temper, irreproachable character, culti
vated mind, and a patron of literature and science, the
general condition of the country did not greatly improve
under his rule ; and in a time of revolution the fears of
the govemment prevented all communication between
city and city, even for commercial purposes, whilst the
Bargello was crowded with political prisoners, some of
whom were among the best and most able men, as well
as belonging to the first . families. Firially, an Austrian
army was invited by the grand-duke himself into the
country to protect him against his own subjects. Since
the accession of Victor Emmanuel, Tuscany, with the rest
of Italy, has not only enjoyed a parUamentary govemment,
but communication between the cities has been promoted,
and commerce improved, though the most enlightened prin
ciples of firee trade have not yet crossed the Alps, whilst agricul
tural meetings have been instituted, and education is actively
assisted both by the legislature and by private individuals.
More than all this, these benefits have not been conferred
or dictated by the sovereign or his ministers, but have
emanated from the representatives of the people and from
the people themselves,
Tuscany cannot yet bear a coraparison with countries
which have long enjoyed a democratic constitution, but a

330 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
steady and rapid progress may be traced during twelve
years of freedora. If there is still a young nobility who
waste their substance whUst their country demands the
energies of all her sons, and if the religious sentiment has
been weakened in the mass of the people by the misconduct
or mistakes of those who should have been their guides,
there are some even among the nobles whose active exer
tions for good may in time leaven the whole lump, and the
education which is to train the heart as well as understanding
to higher views of right and wrong, must eventuaUy reawaken
a deeper religious sentiment, whilst leading the child to the
knowledge and love of God.
Under the government of which Victor Emmanuel is the
constitutional head, the Tuscan people have little reason tp
regret that they have ceased to be an Austrian province, and
that the Palazzo dei Pitti is no longer inhabited by an
Austiian prince, the last of whom has been thus described
by the Tuscan poet, Giuseppe Giusti : —
" II Toscano Morfeo vien lemme-lerarae,
Di papaveri cinto e di lattuga,
Che per la smania d' etemarsi asciuga
Tasche e Maremme.
" Co' tribunali e co' catasti annaspa,
E benchfe snervi i popoli col sonno,
Quando si sogna d' imitare U nonno
Qualcosa raspa." *
* " The Tuscan Morpheus gently moves along.
With poppies and with lettuce garlands crowned,
Eager for immortality he drains
Our pockets and the Marshes.
" In courts of law and taxes feels his way.
And whilst in sleep he drowns his people's sense,
Whene'er he dreams to iraitate his grandsire
He rasps the crust,"

THE BOBOLI GARDENS.— PALAZZO DEI PITTL 331
CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
AdemoUo, Luigi 
Ammanati, Bartolommeo  151 1 — 1592
BmneUeschi, FiUppo  1379 — 1446
CeUini, Benvenuto .  1500—1571
Cosimo I., Grand-Duke, began to reign ^ , . . 1537
Donatello . •  1386 — 1466
Eleanora of Toledo married to Cosimo I. , . . 1539
Ferdinand HI  1790—1824
Francis II  '737- 17^5
Giovan Bologna  1524 — 1608
Joanna of Austria  1565
Julius II., Pope  1 50s
Medici, Piero de'  1416— 1463
Michael Angelo  1475 — 1564
Pietro Leopoldo, Grand-Duke  1765
Pitti, Luca ,......,. 1395-1472
Tribolo ....  1485—1550

PUBLIC GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS
OF FLORENCE.

THE ACADEMY.
First Room.
A T the comer of the Via RicasoU and the Piazza di San
Marco is the Accademia deUe Belle Arti, once the Hos
pital of St. Matthew, which now contains the finest exaraples
of early Florentine art.
The entrance-hall has four reliefs by Luca della Robbia :
over the principal door is St Augustine ; facing it, the
Madonna and ChUd, with St. Francis and St. Ursula ; over
the door to the right, the Resurrection ; and opposite, the
Virgin lowering her girdle to St. Thomas. Within the
cloister, leading to the rooms for academical study, are
various reliefs of the Robbia school, and statues by Tuscan
artists. Among these are the models for Virtue trampling
on Vice, and for the Rape of the Sabines, by Giovan
Bologna ; an unfinished torso for a figure of St. Matthew,
by Michael Angelo ; a colossal horse's head belonging to
the antique group on Monte Cavallo, at Rome, and casts
from the Boar and Dogs, of the Uflfizi.

THE ACADEMY. 333
A corridor to the right of the entrance-hall is lined with
casts of modern statues, and leads directly to the Library.
Midway, a door to the left opens on a vast room, which for
merly served as the Female Ward of the Hospital, but which
is now the principal Picture Gallery : —
No. I. The Life of Mary Magdalene: a curious example
of early Italian art, retaining the conventional Byzantine
type, which had been imported from Constantinople (the
ancient Byzantium) through Venice.
No. 2. The Madonna Enthroned, by Cimabue : in many
respects this picture resembles his more celebrated and
better preserved painting in the RuceUai Chapel of Sta.
Maria Novella. We find here little variety of expression or
action : the heads lean either towards the right or left
shoulder ; but there is a certain majesty in the tranquil form
of the Virgin becoming the Queen of Heaven, and Cimabue
has given her more animation than in pictures of the Byzan
tine school; in the heads of the prophets below, the spectator
is rerainded that Ciraabue was the master of Giotto. The
unaffected eamestness with which the sacred subject is
treated, gives this work a higher interest than it deserves for
mere technical skiU; CavalcaseUe observes, "that it may
rank higher than that of the RuceUai as regards composi
tion and the study of nature ; but the old types are more
obstinately maintained ; and, above all, the colour has
been so altered by time and restoring that the exceUent
qualities of Cimabue in this respect can hardly be traced
any longer. Cimabue here gave the Virgin a raore natural
attitude and a less rotund head, but a weightier frame,
stronger outlines, and a less careful execution than before.
He characterized with a wild energy the two prophets in

334 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the centre niche, and gave them individuality and expres
sion." *
No. 15 is another large altar-piece, painted by Cimabue's
pupil, Giotto. Though not a favourable specimen of this
great Florentine artist, it exhibits the progress raade in a
few years ; there is a nearer approach to nature, and less of
the old conventional type. The drawing is carefully studied ;
a feeling for beauty is shown in the head of the Virgin, as
weU as in sorae of the surrounding angels, and the Child is
fuller and rounder in form ; but the type throughout has less
dignity, and is heavier than in earlier paintings ; the
Virgin's mantle is arranged in large massy forms, following
the outline of the figure beneath. Giotto painted this
picture for the Frati UmiUati of the Church of Ogni
Santi. No. 3. Santa Umiltk, the foundress of the convent which
stood on the site now occupied by the Fortezza del Basso ;
the picture is by an unknown author, but of the Giot
tesque school, and represents various incidents in the life
of the saint ; it is cleverly composed, and tells, the story
weU. No. 4 to No. 13 are small panel pictures attributed to
Giotto, representing the Life of St. Francis, which once
adomed the presses of the sacristy of Sta. Croce ; they are,
however, supposed more probably to have been painted by
Taddeo Gaddi ; the reasons for this ppinion are thus stated
by CavalcaseUe : " It is evident that the compositions are
Giotto's, and executed according to his maxims— -that the
attitudes, the action, are likewise his — that the subjects are,
• See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol, i. p. 206.

THE ACADEMY. 33S
in fact, more or less repetitions of the frescos of the upper
Church of Assisi, but that the execution is sketchy, con
ventional and decorative — that the feeling of the great
master is absent, whilst the heads, features, and extremities
are of the false and ever-recurring forms peculiar to Taddeo
in the Madonnas of 1334 and 1335, and the frescos of the
Baroncelli family." The series includes the whole history
of St. Francis, but it is not arranged in chronological order.
They are as follows : — He abandons his father to consecrate
himself to a religious life, under the protection of the Bishop
of Assisi ; the Dream of Pope Innocent III., in which
St. Peter points to St. Francis supporting the falling church ;
St. Francis asking for the confirmation of his Order from the
Pope ; he ascends to Heaven in a car of fire ; he appears to
his martjrred disciples ; he receives the confirmation of his
Order from Pope Honorius IV. ; he holds the Infant Christ
in his arras on Christraas-eve ; he appears to his disciples in
church, and shows thera the stigmata, or marks of the nails
on his own hands and feet; he receives the stigma^ta — a
coraposition identical with Giotto's fresco of the same sub
ject, lately discovered on the walls of the interior of
Sta. Croce ; his Death. Every variety of natural and
appropriate movement and attitude is displayed in these
little pictures.
No. 18 to No. 29. The Life of our Saviour, another series
of panel pictures belonging to the sacristy of Sta. Croce, and
likewise attributed to Giotto, but more probably the work of
Taddeo Gaddi : these are in some respects inferior to the
Life of St. Francis ; they are harder in outiine and less beauti
ful, if we except the Adoration of the Kings, and the Pre
sentation in the Temple, which in treatment resembles the

336 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
same subject by Andrea Pisano on the bronze gates of the
Baptistery.* No. 14. The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard, by an early
unknown artist. It is clear in colour, and sweet and true in
expression. The two heads behind St. Bemard, looking
over him, are full of character and in excellent contrast.
No. 16. A damaged picture,, by Giovanni da Milano, in
which may be observed a closer attention to natural forms
and power of expression, with further abandonment of con
ventional types ; there is, however, exaggeration, amounting
to caricature, in the heads of the Virgin and the Mag
dalene. No. 17. The Presentation in the Temple, by Ambrogio
Lorenzetti of Sienna. A feeble picture much repainted ;
but the architectural drawing and the perspective of the
Temple are executed with great care and finish ; restorations
and vamish have, however, nearly obUterated all traces of
the master's hand.t
No. 30. An Annunciation, by Lorenzo Monaco, The
Virgin timidly shrinks back at the approach of the angel.
Vasari describes this new and original treatment of the sub
ject by Giotto in the Badia, The picture he aUudes to,
however, has long disappeared, with all Giotto's paintings in
that church; but this Annunciation, which was removed
from the Badia in 1812, so exactly corresponds with Vasari's
description, that it is probably the same, although he has
mistaken the author. The' attitude of the Virgin is re
peated in the picture by Lippo Memmi of Sienna, in the

* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe,'' vol. i. p. 145.
t Ibid,, vol. i, p. 310.

THE ACADEMY. 337
corridor of the Uflfizi Gallery (No. 9). On each side of the
Annunciation ai-e pictures of saints — St. Catherine and
St. Anthony, and St. Proculus and St. Francis. St. Proculus
is not unlike the representation of a wanior saint in the
picture. No. 14. The angel of the Annunciation with his
wings of many colours, his hands folded on his breast, and
a flame on his head, is very graceful.
No. 31. Alarge composition of many figures attributed
to Taddeo Gaddi, the favourite pupil of Giotto, but more
probably the work of Nicolb di Pietro Gerini, an artist of
his school, who occasionally painted with Taddeo, but was
greatly his inferior ; the date of his last picture is 1401. This
Entombment, as described by CavalcaseUe, "does not improve
on acquaintance, being at first sight more pleasing than on
closer examination. The draperies are overcharged with line
and folds, and gay changing hues appear to have been pre
ferred by a painter who can be no other than Gerini," *
No. 32. An interesting picture of the Adoration of the
Kings, by Gentile da Fabriano, an Umbrian painter, born
in the latter half of the fourteenth century, who exercised
considerable influence on the school of early Venetian Art.
His works have been compared with those of Fra Angelico,
but GentUe used gold only to add ornament to his
pictures, and not, as Fra Angelico, to suggest an idea of
heavenly glory ; he imitated embroidery and rich stuffs, thus
destroying the poetry or Ulusion of his picture. Gentile's
" masterpieces are oiUy reraarkable for their longing softness,
their affectation of grace, their laborious fusion, and for a
profuse ornamentation inherited from the Umbrian and
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. u. pp. 21, 22.
VOL. II. Z

33? WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Siennese schools ;  the tendemess, and fini.sh, arid
care," with which he, as well as Fra Angelico, prepared and
used their materials, is one of his greatest merits.* Gentile
was first employed in Bergamo and Venice, from whence he
came to Florence in 1422. This picture was painted in
1423. The attempts at foreshortening, and the portrait-like
character of the heads, as well as the multitude of figures,
men, horses, dogs, birds, and apes, recall Paolo Uccello and
the Pesellini ; whilst the Umbrian tendemess of tieatment,
and Venetian rich colouring and love of ornament, indicate
the various schools in which the artist had studied. The
Holy FamUy is insipid, but the three kings are in natural
attitudes, and have much beauty of expression.
No. 33. The Madonna and Child surrounded by Angels
and Saints in Adoration, by Agnolo Gaddi, the son of
Taddeo, and the pupil of Giovanni da Milano, from whom
he derived a certain realistic tendency, or the endeavour to
imitate nature closely, without selection; he sometimes
even descended to caricature in his attempt to portray
violent emotion ; as Agnolo advanced in the knowledge and
practice of his art, he ceased to follow his master in this
respect, and even developed greater powers in composition
than his father Taddeo : — " As a draughtsman he was free
and bold, defining everything equally . . , , he frequently
failed to define form traly, and, whilst the best of his figures
are still below the standard of Giotto, certain forras are
purposely and persistently false. The eyes are straight and
narrow, and the nose expanded flatly at the end, and the
mouths generally droop at the corners  In the draw-
• See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. pp, 96 — 101.

THE ACADEMY, 339
ings of hands and feet he bestowed more care, but he evidentiy
never possessed the clear comprehension of the nature of
the forms he depicted. His hands are defective and coarse;
the fingers are short, broken and angular at the joints, and
mechanically executed. .... As a colourist Angelo was
bold. His tones are bright, clear, light, and transparent,
and he shows a feeling for the true nature of harmonies.
His idea of relief was greater than that of Taddeo." This
picture was painted for the Church of San Pancrazio, in
Florence. "The Virgin has a vulgar face, but a graceful
action ; the draperies are massive and fine." *
No. 34. A Deposition, by Fra Angelico, executed with
the utmost care and finish. The brilliancy of the colour,
without shade or chiaroscuro, becomes flat and gaudy in a
picture of these dimensions, and is not as well adapted for the
representation of an earthly scene, as when meant to sym
boUze celestial purity. The worshipping angels in the sky
are here not devoid of grimace. The body ef the Saviour is
covered with dark lines, to denote the strokes of the rod
with which he had been scourged, and is feeble in drawing
and colour; the group of females on the left is the most
interesting part of this picture, especially the woman without
a glory, dressed in black and with a white veil, who holds
one end of the sheet in which the body of the Saviour is to
lie. The best raale heads are, a man in a black cap in the
centre, evidently a portrait; Nicodemus, standing below; and
the two who are detaching the body from the cross, St. John
is a very graceful figure, and is full of feeling. The hands
are all delicately executed. The miniatures of saints, set in
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. i. pp. 463—473.

340 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the frame of this picture, are admirable both in expression
and colour. Those above are by Lorenzo Monaco, but not
equal to the rest by Fra Angelico. It is with some hesita
tion we venture to differ in our estimation of this picture
from so high an authority as -CavalcaseUe, who writes : —
" Nothing can be better than the nude in its fleshy, flexible
forms, which show the scars of the previous flagellation,
nothing tmer than the movement. The group to the right is
remarkable ; the heads revealing a point of contact between
Angelico and the works of MasoUno di Castiglione, as
regards character and drawing ; and the landscape, betray
ing the usual defects of perspective. Yet composition,
design, and colour combine to create the harmony, which was
¦the great gift of Fra Giovanni."
No. 35. An altar-piece, painted for the Church of Sta.
Felice, in Florence, by Spinello of Arezzo, assisted by
Nicolb Gerini, the author of the Entombment, No. 31,
and by his son,*Lorenzo di Nicolb Gerini. The Coronation
of the Virgin is by Lorenzo, and is not unlike a picture by
. an unknown artist in the Uflfizi Gallery (No. 1 5), which has
been attributed to SpineUo. The compartment to the right
is by Nicolb, and represents St. Peter, St. John the Evan
geUst, St. Jaraes, and St, Benedict. That to the left is by
Spinello ; St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew, Sta. Felicitk,
and St. Andrew; they are grand and dignified figures,
especially that of St. FeUcitk. Below are half-length figures
of St. Jerome and St. Peter ; St. Luke and St. Thaddeus ;
St. Jaraes the Less and St. Philip ; St. Siraon and St. Bar
tholomew; St. Thomas and St. Paul; St. Gregory and
St. Lawrence. At the base of the central panel are words
to this effect-T-This picture was painted for the chapter of

THE ACADEMY. 341
the Convent of Sta. Felicita, and (paid for) by raoney of the
said convent in the time of the Abbess Lorenza de Mossi,
(Mozzi), in the year of our Lord, 1401. CavalcaseUe
observes : — " But for this record it would be difficult to
assign to each of these painters his share in the entire work.
That of Spinello is undoubtedly beneath his usual powers,
and in harmony with the third-rate talent exhibited by
Lorenzo and Nicolb." *
No. 36. A Madonna and Child, by Masaccio; above,
St. Anna and Angels : probably an early picture by the
master, painted for the Church of St. Ambrogio. Masaccio
was apt to neglect minute details, and to aim principally at
life and movement; his figures were sketched in rapidly.
This picture is an iraperfect specimen of the master.
No. 37. St. Jerome, attributed to Andrea Castagno, but
more probably by Filippino Lippi ; the two accompanying
pictures, Mary Magdalene and St. John the Baptist, which
have all the defects and none of the merits of Andrea, are
evidently by an inferior hand.
No. 40. A Madonna and ChUd, by Fra Filippo Lippi,
with littie to recommend it, except the infantine grace of the
child. No. 41. The Coronation of the Virgin, an important
picture by the sarae master. Fra Filippo's own portiait, as
a friar of the Carmine, is on the right; he wears a red
scarf, and his hands are joined in prayer as he ascends the
steps of the celestial temple, in which are assembled angelic
beings who witness the coronation of the Virgin, represented
as a young and modest girl, not daring to raise her eyes
.* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vpl^ii. p. j8.

342 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
to the Etemai, who is crowning her, but looking towards
one of the slender angels who support the band or ScroU
that descends from the Saviour. Groups of angels crowned
with roses, among whom are scattered aged saints, sing
hymns on either side of the throne ; below thera, and nearer
the spectator, are similar groups and small children. The
type is the same throughout ; heavy-featured, round faces,
with light hair, but they have the charra of a sweet simpli
city united with grave eamestness of demeanour, and their
attitudes are graceful. The draperies are drawn and com
posed with care and judgment. An aged monk in white, in
the foreground to the left of St. Anthony, has a fine portrait
like head. The picture has been much damaged, and has
been repaired in most parts.'''
The predella below, No. 42, belonged to the Barbadori
altar-piece, which was executed for the Church of Santo
Spirito, and is now in the Louvre at Paris ; the colour of this
predella has been injured by time, but it has far greater
claim to admiration than the picture above. It was painted
when Fra Filippo was only twenty-six years of age ; and as
the Barbadori picture is said to be one of the greatest eflforts
of his genius, so this predella has a refinement of feeling and
grandeur of composition which werniss in the large picture.
No. 41. The Annunciation is treated in a novel manner,
The angel kneels gracefully, the curve of his wings follows
the inclination of his body, and forms an arch over his
head : he presents a lighted candle to the Virgin, whose
dignified and noble presence is unlike the simple peasant
girl the painter Usually represents her.
* See " Growe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 327.

THE ACADEMY, 343
No. 43. The Baptism of Christ, by Andrea Verocchio.
The aerial distance, the sky, and landscape, are very beau
tiful. The outline of the figures is extremely fine, though
hard, and the anatomy in that of the Baptist is too much
defined ; this, probably, is occasioned by the unfinished
state in which Verocchio left the picture. The features of
the Baptist, as well as of the Saviour, are rather coarse and
vulgar, but the expression noble; the soft and delicate
beauty of the kneeling angels is due to Leonardo da Vinci,
the pupil of Verocchio, who was so disgusted at his own
inferiority that he is said from that time forth to have
renounced painting.
No. 44. St. Jerome kneeUng in Prayer, attributed to Fra
Filippo, but more probably by his son, Filippino Lippi, in
his decline.*
No. 46. A very fine picture by Sandro BotticeUi, painted
at the period when his works display the influence of the
PoUaioU. The hands of the Virgin, especially her left, are
executed with the utmost truth and finish; the chUd is
most lovely and graceful, though both mother and child
have tfae angular movements characteristic of Botticelli.
St. Cosimo and St. Damian kneel in the foreground ; the
first tums to the spectator, the last looks up at the Virgin ;
both are noble heads. St. Francis, who is behind St.
Catherine, is extremely fine; the other saints are more
remarkable for the beauty of their draperies than their per
sons. The colour is full and powerful.
The predella below. No. 48, is by the younger PeseUino,
and represents the Birth of the Saviour, the Martyrdom of
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii, p. 347, note,

344 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
St. Cosimo and St. Damian, and St. Anthony of Padua
discovering the heart of a dead usurer in his money chest ;
this last is the finest of the three compartments. According
to CavalcaseUe — " a gentle and natural animation pervades
all the figures. The females on the foreground are in good
proportions, and the whole is drawn and executed with
neatness, precision, and freshness, and without vulgarity."
No. 47. The Coronation of the Virgin, one of BotticeUi's
finest works. Angels, hand in hand, dance in a circle
round the glory which surrounds her ; they are light and
graceful, with floating hair, and draperies which quiver in
many folds in the breezy air — one angel especially, clothed
in crimson, bending forwards as if preparing to join in the
movement, is most lovely. Of the four saints below, St.
John the Evangelist, holding his Gospel in one hand and
raising the Other in ecstasy, is in an awkward attitude ;
St. Augustine, who writes in a book, is very grand ; the two
others are St. Jerome and St. Eloy or St. Lo. The extremi
ties are admirably drawn. No. 49, the predella to this
picture, is also by Sandro BotticeUi. B.eginning at the left
hand, St. John the Evangelist is seated on the island of
Patmos; St. Augustine in his study; St. Jerome in the
Wildemess; and last, and finest, St. Lo as a blacksmith,
shoeing the leg he has cut oflf from a white horse beside
him, whilst Satan, disguised as a lovely female, stands by,
watching the operation.
No. 50. The Visits of the Shepherds and the Magi, by
Domenico Ghirlandaio, a highly finished picture. The
Virgin is especially beautiful ; she kneels with a sweet smile :
her hands joined as in prayer, and her whole soul absorbed
in the contemplation of her child, who lies on the hem of

THE. ACADEMY. 345
his mother's garment, with his finger to his lips ; the tradi
tional goldfiijch, the scarlet of whose head is the s)mibol of
sacrifice, stands perched of a stone near. A group of pea
sants, the shepherds of sacred story, one of whom carries
a lamb, converse together ; Joseph shades his eyes from the
Ught, and looks up at the angel who is descending with the
good tidings to another group of shepherds, who are seen
on a distant hill tending their flocks. A gay procession of
riders, every horseman attended by his Fante, or footman,
wind along the road below, and pass through a triuraphal
arch dedicated to Porapey the Great ; these are the Magi,
or Kings from the East. Near the Holy Family, the ox
and ass drink frora a sarcophagus, on which is an inscription
to another Porapey, an augur. The landscape is very
beautiful ; the river, town, the church, with a spire, and the
pale, quiet colour throughout the bacl^round, reserables that
in Ghirlandaio's equally fine picture of the same subject in
the Church of the Innocenti.
No. 51. An Adoration of the Shepherds, by Lorenzo
Credi ; though the glazes have been injured, which occasions
some crudeness, the warm under-tint of brown prevents any
real harshness in the clear, pure colour, aiid gives a delicious
harmony to the whole ; the devotional and animated ex
pression of the angels and shepherds, the graceful attitudes,
delicately drawn hands and refined type of the heads, as well
as of the figures, betray the influence of Leonardo da Vinci.
The shepherd carrying the lamb on his arm is especially
beautiful ; he stands in a natural and easy attitude of repose,
and the tender expression of his countenance corresponds
with the action syrabolical of Hira "who gathers the lambs
with His arm, and carries them in His bosom,"

346 WALKS IN FLOMENCE.
No. 52, A Madonna and Saints, by Sandro BotticeUi,'
the upper part of this picture, according to CavalcaseUe, is
a modem addition by Veracini.*
No. 53. Christ in Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane,
by Pietro Peragino ; one of the loveliest compositions of
the Umbrian School, and painted for the Gesuati of this
city, who had their monastery beyond the Porta Pinti,
where they were celebrated for their manufacture of coloured
glass. Perugino worked much for the friars during his resiv
dence in Florence, from 1492 to 1499. The sleeping St.
John, in this picture, is of a beauty so akin to the compo
sitions of Raffaelle, that it is diflScult not to assign it to the
pupU rather than the master ; but no such doubt exists in the
Inind of the modem critic, who thus describes the picture ;
*' One sees how well Perugino has placed the Redeemer on
an elevation, kneeling, and praying, whUst an angel brings
the cup. The three apostles lie sleeping on the foreground,
as Iscariot, in the distance, leads the soldiers to the capture,
With much thought in the composition, and much freshness
in the types, the picture gains an additional charm from the
hour with which Perugino marks the time of action. The
Sun has just set, and the strong reflection still rests on the
Saviour and apostles, who detach themselves in gloora from
the pale horizon of the sky. In this twUight the forms are
finely brought out by well-modelled reUef." t
No. 54. A Trinitk, by Luca Signorelli of Cortona, in his
grand style. The Virgin's head and throat are beautifully
modelled; the archangel Michael weighing human souls
in the balance is noble in composition and drawing.
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ii. p. 424.
t Ibid, vol, iii, p. 200.

THE ACADEMY. 347
St. Anastasius is a splendid head, and the attitude
of the hands, as well as those of St. Augustine, is natural
and easy. The picture is painted in simple full colour :
the angel Gabriel is, however, a heavy figure, and inferior
to the rest of the composition.
No. 55. An Assumption of the Virgin, by Peragino: a
choir of angels play on dififerent musical instraments ; below
are the Cardinal San Bemardo dei Uberti, San Giovanni
Gualberto, St. Benedict, and the archangel Michael. The
artist has inscribed his name- below, with the date, a.d.
MCCCCC. The gorgeous and spotty colouring is dis
agreeable at first sight, but the picture grows on the spectator
as the wonderful beauty and life in the countenances reveal
themselves, especially those of St. Benedict and Giovanni
Gualberto ; the hands are executed with the utmost finish,
and the landscape is very lovely, fading away in the light
horizon. The Virgin, gazing upwards, is one of Perugino's
finest conceptions of the subject. The picture was painted
for the monks of VaUombrosa, when Peragino executed the
frescos in the Sala del Cambio, at Perugia ; and a few years
later than the picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethse
mane. No. 56. The Cracifixion — the Virgin and St. Jerome on
either side of the cross; likewise by Perugino. The sun
has set, and to enhance the solemnity of the hour a low
tone of colour pervades the picture. The figures are exe
cuted soraewhat carelessly. The Madonna is the same
which Pemgino painted in his masterpiece, the Crucifixion
of Sta. Maddalena de' Pazzi, only inferior in expression.*
,*¦'' Passavant observes on this picture, " They are on the whole
beautiful figures, which in many respects recaU those in the Sala del

348 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No. 57. A Descent from the Cross, by Peragino and
FUippino Lippi, painted for the SS. Annunziata. Filippino
had only flnished the upper half of the picture when he
died, in 15 14, and Perugino was requested to finish it. The
eamest upward gaze of the kneeling Magdalene is very
beautiful, as weU as FUippino's work, the head of Christ,
and the old man above, disengaging the body from the.
cross. No. 58. An Entombment, by the same artist. St. John,
Mary Magdalene, and the Saviour, are the most beautiful
parts of the picture, which was executed for the Gesuati,
beyond the Porta Pmti, and transferred to the convent of
the Calza during the siege of Florence.
Nos. 59, 62, and 63 belong to an altar-piece on panel,
painted by Andrea del Sarto for the Church of the Her
mitage, at VaUombrosa, in 1528. No. 59. Four Saints,
life size — St. Michael ; St. John the Baptist ; San Giovanni
Gualberto, the founder of the Vallombrosian Monastery;
and Cardinal Bemardo degli Uberti. The head and atti
tude of St. John, with his arm raised in the act of preaching,
is very grand; the lines of composition are flowing, and
there is great breadth of chiaroscuro, and a deep rich colour,
low in tone, and in harmony with the solemn and majestic
figures composing the picture. The two charming little
arch boy angels of No. 62 are full of life and vivacity.
No, 63 is the Predella for this altar-piece. Breadth
and harmony of chiaroscuro and colour, the free,,

Cambio (of Peragia) ; but we discover the fiirst trace of that hasty
treatraent which unfortunately always acts disadvantageously in his
later works." See Passavant, '' Rafael von Urbino," vol. i, p. 496. ,

THE ACADEMY. 349
bold dash of the pencil, and aim at effect rather
than finish, mark the later Florentine school, distin
guished from the careful drawing and attention to detail of
earlier masters. St, Michael, as usual, is seen weighing
human souls, entirely indifferent to the touch of the
expectant deraon by his side. San Giovanni Gualberto,
passing unscathed through the fire, is a very grand compo
sition ; and the decapitation of John the Baptist is equally
fine. The last corapartraent, likewise very admirable, repre
sents Cardinal Bernardo degli Uberti. The two circular
pictures of Madonnas on each side of the boy angels. No. 64,
are by Fra Bartolommeo, and are sketched without out
line. No. 6r. A fresco by Andrea del Sarto — Christ seated
on his tomb, Ufe size; a noble figure, grand in drawing and
in position ; the relaxation of all the limbs, and the prostra
tion of extieme debUity, is given very finely ; the colour is
soft and transparent.
No. 65. The Virgin enthroned, attributed to Fra Bar
toloraraeo. The infant Christ exchanges his heart with that
of St. Catherine ; he stands beside his mother, and is singu
larly graceful and beautiful in form and action. This is,
however, the repetition of a picture sent to France,
and is probably the work of Bartoloraraeo's pupil, Fra
PaoUno. No. 66. The Virgin and ChUd appearing to St. Bemard,
by Fra Bartolommeo. St. Bemard, on his knees, is finely
composed and executed ; the head is full of deep feeling,
the drapery falling in majestic folds, and drawn with care
and precision. The rest of the picture is soft and feeble,
from the absence of the last glazes or transparent colours.

350 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
but its merits in composition, grace, and elegance are worthy
of high estiraation.'''
No, 67. The Resurrection, by Raffaellino del Garbo, the
pupU of FUlippino Lippi, who, as described by Caval
caseUe, has "affectation in forms, mannerism in drawing,
and flatness," but who has also the merit, especially in some
of his Madonnas and Saints, of grace, correctness, and clear,
brilliant colour. This picture is not a good specimen of the
master, either in composition or coloiu-. Behind it is a
small fresco in terra verde, by Andrea del Sarto, painted
when this room was an hospital for women.
No. 68. The body of the Saviour supported on the
knees of his Mother; Mary Magdalene, St. John, St.
Dorainick with another .friar, designed by Fra Bartolommeo
'and coloured by Fra Paolino. The arms and hands of the
Christ are very finely drawn.
No. 69, San Vincenzio, by Fra Bartolommeo, executed
in 1 51 6, whenhe painted the San Marco, now in the Palazzo
dei Pitti; very fine in chiaroscuro and colour, as weU as
composition. No. 70, A feeble representation of the Trinity, by
Mariotto AlbertineUi, the friend of Fra Bartolommeo. The
outUne and general effect of the figures have been injured
by fresh gilding in the background.
No. 72. Also painted by Albertinelli for the Monastery
of St. Julian, representing the Madonna enthroned, with St.
Dominick, St, Nicholas, St. JuUan, and St. Jerome, " The
figures are firm and weU proportioned ; the chiaroscuro weU
defined, the colour a Uttie bold."t

• See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. p. 443.
t Ibid, vol. iii. p. 488 and note.

THE ACADEMY. 351
No. 73. An Annunciation, painted by Mariotto Alberti
nelli for the company of St. Zenobius, in 1510, and thus
described by CavalcaseUe : — " In order to suit this subject
for its position, he placed the panel on the altar, and
studied the perspective as weU as the play of light and
shade on the spot ; and as he had some pecuUar notions as
to the propriety of combining marked relief with fusion, he
tried a nuraber of experiments with little satisfaction to
himself. The result, as we now see it, was an excessive
lucidity of colour, obtained by a copious use of strong
vamish in the oils, and a substance at once viscous, flow
ing, and diflBcult to model. Tirae dealt severely with this
example, and what it has spared has suflfered frora restoring ;
but besides, Mariotto gave evidence of an extravagant fancy
in the confused arrangeraent and strange dresses of the
angels sunounding the apparitions of the Etemai ; thus
casting into the shade the finer points raade in the fair
types of the Virgin and angel. The subsequent reraoval to the
gallery, where the eflfect of a low centre of vision is negatived
by hanging below the line, corabines such other disadvantages
as to give Mariotto's work an unfavourable aspect."*
No. 75. The Virgin in Glory, with Saints, by Frangesco
Granacci, painted at the same period with his picture of the
Virgin and St. Thomas in the UflSzi Gallery. The Madonna
is very dignified, and is surrounded by four beautiful angels.
The saints below are St. Catherine, St, Bemard, St. Giovanni
Gualberto, and St. George ; they are eamest and noble in
expression, but the picture has been damaged, and is gaudy
in colour. ? See " Crpwe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. pp. 487, 48.S,

352 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No. 78 to 82 are heads in fresco, by Fra Bartolomffieo
and his scholars, of which the finest are St. Peter Martyr
and a monk.
The remaining pictures in this room are not of suflScient
interest to detain the visitor.

Second Room.
Three rooras of this gaUery are kept closed, but ad
mittance is obtained by application at the door.
First in the catalogue, as well as in age, is a Coronation
of the Virgin, attributed to Ugolino, of Sienna. The dates
of this artist's birth and death are uncertain, and nothing is
positively known of him, except that he lived early in the
fourteenth century, and that, although a native of Sienna,
he painted principally in Florence, where he executed- the
miraculous picture of the Virgin for Or San Michele, which
has long since disappeared. The only other painting which
can, with any degree of certainty, be assigned to UgoUno, is
a fragraent of an altar-piece for Sta. Croce, which was' sold
to England. The picture belonging to the Academy is of
doubtful authenticity, and has been given to a conteraporary
of the Gaddi's, half a century later than Ugolino. Another
early painter, Luca Bonaventura Berlinghieri, has a picture
here. No. 28, a Crucifixion. Berlinghieri's name is known
less as an artist than from having assisted in a treaty
between Luca and Pisa in 1228. A portrait by hira of
his contemporary, St. Francis of Assisi, which exists at
Pescia, was once assigned to Margheritone or Arezzo, whose
painted Crucifix is in Sta. Croce.
No. 9. A picture of the fourteenth century by an unknown

THE ACADEMY. 353
artist ; the predeUa is by a superior hand ; the life of the
Virgin is well told, and her marriage is treated in an original
manner; she stands under the porch of the Temple to
receive the ring from Joseph.
There are several pictures in this room by the Bicci, both
Lorenzo and Neri, marking the decline of the Giottesque
school. Neri's best production is. No. 41, a Madonna and
ChUd, with St. Catherine, St. Agnes, Sta. Lucia, and St.
Margherita. In the lower part of this picture is a Cracifixion
and two angels ; in the predella, the dead Saviour raourned
over by the Virgin and the Disciples; also St. Andrew,
St. James, St. Jerome, St. Anthony with his pig, St. Augus
tine, and another Bishop.
No. 35, a picture in three compartraents, by Spinello of
Arezzo. The Virgin and Child are in the centre; the Child
aUows a goldfinch to peck his finger; four angels are in
adoration. On one side are St. PauUnus and St. John the
Baptist ; on the other, St Andrew and St. Matthew, who
dips his finger in the ink bottle brought hira by an angel.
The head of the Virgin is sweet, and she bends gracefully.
SpineUo painted this picture in 1391.
No. 34. A curious painting by an unknown artist, repre
senting the marriage of Bocaccio Adimari and Lisa RicasoU,
in 1420. The family of the Adimari, whose palaces occupied
a considerable part bf the present Via Calzaioli, towards the
Piazza del Battisterio, were then at the height of their
power, and one Alemanno, probably the uncle of the bride
groom, was Cardinal and Archbishop of Pisa : he died in
1422. The lady was of no less illustrious parentage; her
familv settled in Florence about 1306 ; several of them had
served under the Emperors Frederick Barbarossa, Henry VI.,
VOL. II. ^ ^

354 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
and Otho IV. The costumes of the period are here exhi
bited ; the procession is moving from the Loggia dei Adi
mari towards the Cathedral, which is represented as a red
brick building, with a belfry seen above the awning. Sta,
Maria del Fiore was not finished earlier than 1419, and we
may therefore suppose it possible that this marriage may
have taken place a few years sooner than the date assigned,
for the artist appears to have given a faithful representation of
the surrounding buUdings, viz., the Baptistery, before which
ladies are seated to witness the show, and a gate beyond,
probably the postem of the Spadai, or sword-makers. A
carpet is spread over the old pavement of Florence ;
beneath the Loggia, servants are carrying golden dishes for
the banquet, and rausicians are seated near ; one plays the
trombone, the rest are the tmmpeters of the Republic, and
have banners with the red Uly of Florence attached to their
trumpets. No, 24, An Allegory of Spring, one of Sandro BotticeUi's
raost celebrated works. It was painted for Cosirao de'
Medici's VUla of Castello, near Florence, at the same time
with the Venus, now in the corridor of the UflSzi GaUery.*
Both the subjects, and their treatment, are in accordance
with the taste of the period, when Greek classics were in
fashion, although Greek art was imperfectly understood.
The influence of Fra Filippo Lippi raay be traced in Botti
ceUi's slender figures, and the influence of the PoUaioU in his
love of ornament.t In the raidst of a grove. Spring is seen
attired in a white garraent, sprinkled over with bunches of
* See Uffizi GaUery Corridor.
t See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. u. p. 418 ; " Vasari," vol. v.
p. 113.

THE ACADEMY, 355
powers. She holds a bow in one hand, and raises her
dress with the other to receive the flowers poured into it
from the lips of a nymph, who flies from a genius of the
wood. These two last figures resemble the Zephyrus and
Aurora in the picture of Venus rising from the Sea. In the
midst of the grove, Venus stands clothed in a white dress,
over which is thrown a red mantle, lined with blue and
gold. BotticelU has been more successful in producing his
idea of beauty in the goddess than in Spring. She stands
gracefully, with her head slightly bent ; Cupid hovers above,
and aims his arrow at the Graces, who dance in a circle,
their hands entwined, whilst gazing at a youth wearing the
cap of Mercury and gathering the roses above his head.
The Graces are draped in white, and their movements appear
slow and languid. The colour of this picture has been
much damaged.
Nos. 19 and 20 are by Fra Angelico; the Madonna and
ChUd with Saints. Though both pictures are faded, the
charm of the master remains in that peculiarly grave dignity
and grace which he imparts to all his figures ; the hands
are delicately drawn : an Angel in No. 20, to the right of
the spectator, is especially lovely : No. 23 is another but
feebler production by Fra Angelico.
No. 16. A Visitation of Elizabeth to Mary, by Giacomo
Pacchiarotti, of Sienna, born in 1474. He appears, ac
cording to Vasari, to have been much esteemed in his
native city, though almost all the numerons pictures he
executed have long since disappeared. He joined in
revolutionary disturbances within Sienna, and was con
sequently banished. This picture is one of three, which
are aU that remain to show his powers as an artist. "Though

3S6 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
light and washy in colour," * and somewhat insipid, there
is a pleasing simplicity in the composition : a triumphal
arch, and long paved way form the background, and the
Holy Spirit as a dove is hovering in the clear blue sky
above the principal group.
Returning to No. 6, a Crucifixion with a kneeling Mag
dalene, is attributed to Andrea del Castagno, but Caval
caseUe considers it to have been painted by Luca SignoreUi,
and used as a church standard : it is very fine, though the
attitude of the Magdalene is rather theatrical.
No. 17. A Madonna and Child with Saints, by Domenico
Ghirlandaio, is the finest picture in this room. It is power
ful in drawing and expression, and painted in full bright
colours. The head of the Virgin is very lovely. The four
splendid figures of saints are — St. Tliomas Aquinas, St.
Denis the Areopagite; St. Clement, who was the third
Bishop of Rome, and therefore represented as Pope ! t
and St. Dominick. St. Thomas, one of the greatest theo
logians of the Roman Catholic Church, has a countenance
expressive of conscious power ; acute, yet dignified : he
was descended from the sister of Frederick Barbarossa, who
married a Count of Aquino. Their grandson was educated
in the schools of the Benedictine friars of Monte Cassino,
but he took the Dominican habit in Naples. He was re
raarkable for self-comraand, for his calra deportment, and
for his humUity as well as leaming ; he refused all Church
preferment, and died in 1274, in a Cistercian abbey at
Fossa Nova, near Rome, on his way to Lyoris, to complain

* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. in. p. 378.
t'See Mrs. Jameson's "Legendar)' Art," p. 371.

THE ACADEMY, 357
against Charles of Anjou.* St. Denis is here represented
with a red collar round his neck, to signify his death by
decapitation ; he stands on the other side of the Virgin ; he
"has been confounded with Dionysius the Areopagite, or
judge of the Areopagus, at Athens. St. Denis was sent
to France, by Pope Cleraent, to preach the Gospel, and
was beheaded during the persecution under Trajan. He
is said to have risen after his execution, and, carrying his
own head in his arms, to have walked two railes, accom
panied by angels singing, until he reached a hill outside
Paris, since known as Mont-Martre, where St. Denis and
his fellow-martyrs were buried. The body of the saint
was afterwards transfened to the Abbey, which bears his
name. St. Dominick, v\ho is next to St. Thomas Aquinas,
has an earnest, noble countenance ; he looks back at the
spectator. In the predella below are scenes from the Uves of these
holy personages. One of the loveliest represents the Legend
of St. Clement. Condemned to banishment during the
persecution by Trajan, he was obliged, with other Christian
prisoners, to break stones : they were all suffering frora
thirst, when St. Clement knelt down and prayed, upon
which a lamb appeared to him, standing on a rising ground ;
the vision was unseen by the saint's companions in mis
fortune, but on their digging where he directed them, a
stream of water gushed forth. The contrast between the
calm yet fervent expression of St, Clement, and the in
difference of the other captives, who are busily at work, is
admirably given. Next the Legend of St. Clement is an
* See Mrs. Jameson's " Monastic Orders," p. 392.

358 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
anecdote relating to St, Thomas Aquinas : he was reading
aloud to the brethren in the Refectory of the Convent,
when the Superior corrected his pronunciation ; St. Thomas
meekly acquiesced, although he knew hiraself to have been
in the right ; only observing afterwards, " the pronunciation
of a word is of small importance, but humility and obedience
are of the greatest." The saint is represented seated ; he
wears 'a white dress, and has a beautiful expression of
mingled dignity and resigriation. The centre compartment
of this predeUa has the Entombment of the Saviour; be
yond, is the Legend of St. Dominick. On Ash-Wednesday,
in the year 1218, Dominick, with Cardinal Stefano di Fossa
Nova, was in, the Chapter-house of the Convent of St.
Sixtus, in Rome, when news was brought that the Cardinal's
nephew had been thrown frora his horse and killed. The
body was carried into the Chapter - house, where the
prayers of St. Dorainick restored the youth to life. The last
scene in the predella represents the execution of St. Denis,
who is walking oflf with his own head.
No. 36. A Cracifixion, by Antonio del Ceraiolo, a pupil
of Lorenzo Credi. The devotional expression of the coun
tenance of St. Francis is fine. Darkness spreads over the
sky, and only a streak of light is visible on the horizon.
The landscape has a green tone throughout. Tlie painter
belonged to the latter half of the fifteenth and the begin
ning of the sixteenth century.
Beyond this room are two of smaller size, but containing
some ofthe gieatest treasures ofthe collection.
No. I comprises a series of small pictures intended
for a predeUa to an altar-piece, by Luca Signorelli ; they
represent the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane,

THE ACADEMY. 359
and the FlageUation, and are late works of the master,
treated with freedom and great power, though slight and
sketchy. A predeUa by Neri de' Bicci foUows.
From No. 22 to No. 29 are pictures by Frangesco
Granacci, the pupil of Domenico Ghirlandaio, and the
friend and admirer of Michael Angelo and Raflfaelle. These
pictures represent the life and martyrdom of St, ApoUonia.
The figures are too tall and slender, but nevertheless they
have grace, moveraent, and draraatic appropriateness ; the
saint herself is very lovely.*
No. 9. Two Angels, attributed to Granacci.
No. 13. A Holy FamUy, by Lorenzo Credi, executed
for the Church of SS. Annunziata, and painted in the clear,
hard colour peculiar to the artist. The child is pufify and
heavy, as are also the forms of that still raore original artist,
Fra FiUppo Lippi, to whom is attributed the Holy Family,
No. 12, next that of Credi, This defect does not, however,
exist in the picture. No. 26, also in Lippi's early style, when
he was still under the influence of Fra AngeUco.t The
Virgin kneels in adoration of the infant Saviour ; the Holy
Spirit descends, and two hands above are typical of the
Creator, from whom the Dove has flown. St. John the
Baptist as a boy is seen to the right, pointing to the Christ,
and looking back, as if calling others to follow ; to the left
is a Camaldoline monk. The wilderness, represented by
rocks, trees, and rivers, covers the whole background, leav
ing no space for sky. The Madonna has the high forehead.

* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ui. p. 539.
t Ibid., vol. ii. p. 322.

360 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the pale delicate colour, and serious, yet pure, innocent
and girlish expression usual, with the representations of the
Mother of the Saviour in the religious school of Florentine
artists ; two angels kneel above.
No. 47 and No. 48, are also by Lippi ; both interesting
pictures, especially that of the Annunciation ; St. Anthony
is hard and defective in dravnng, especially in the hands
and feet.
No. 25 is a damaged, though very interesting picture,
by Sandro BotticeUi, of Tobias led by the angel Gabriel ;
though the forms are angular, the moveraents are free, and
the coraposition grand.
The most important works in the room are by Fra An
gelico. No. II to No. 24 include two series of small panel
pictures, principally by this master, which once adomed the
doors of the cupboards containing the sacred plate in the
monastery of SS. Annunziata. The subjects are all taken
from the life of the Saviour, except one mystical representa
tion of the Wheel in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel.
These pictures were executed by order of Piero de' Medici,
the son of Cosimo, Pater Patrise, about 1433. The anima
tion and dramatic power, as well as traditional type, in these
small compositions, recall the Giottesque school, whilst
there is a superior refineraent, beauty, and tenderness, with
greater vigour than usually characterizes Fra Angelico. In
the Visit of the Magi, the Virgin is one of his purest and
most lovely conceptions of the Mother of the Saviour. The
Worship of the Shepherds, the Present^ition in the Temple
— St. Anna seen on one side — the Flight into Egypt, the
Raising of Lazaras — the treatment of which is peculiarly
Giottesque — the Last Supper, which, though not supposed

THE ACADEMY, 361
to be by AngeUco, is represented in an original and beau
tiful manner : these are among the best. In the panel
where the Saviour bears his cross to Calvary, his mother is
pushed back by the Roraan soldiers, who bear on their
cloaks the scorpion, the sign of the Gentiles.
No. 19, a predella by Fra AngeUco, containing six scenes
from the lives of St. Cosirao and St. Daraian ; the subject
was chosen in compliment to the artist's patrons, the
Medici ; this was also painted for the SS. Annunziata.
No. 20, a Madonna with the Child clothed, standing on
her knee, by Fra Angelico.
No. 37 and No. 38 are rainiatures by the same painter^
representing the Cracifixion, and Christ rising from the
tomb; in the background are the instruments of the
Passion; the kiss of Judas; the ear of the high priest's
servant, &c.
The gem of this collection is the Last Judgment, by Era
Angelico — No. 41. Every figure in this wonderful picture
is in itself a perfectly beautiful rainiature, yet each necessary
to the rest, and forming, as a whole, a most harmonious
and lovely composition. A deep blue sky, gradually fading
to a thin, white horizon, composes the background, and a
double line of tombs divides the lower part of the picture.
The Saviour above is feebly iraagined and coldly executed ;
he is seated in glory, and turns the back of his left hand to
the condemned, whilst extending towards the blest the Open
palm of his right, in which the wound is still perceptible.
Around the Vescica Pisces in which he is seated, are fiery
seraphim ; lovely infant heads with wings. Beyond them
is a garland of still more angelic beings, some of whom
wear the "helmet of righteousness," and the "whole armour

362 WALKS IN FLORENCE,
of God." Near these the Virgin is seated in a robe of
silver, embroidered in gold ; and, with her arms crossed on
her bosom, she bends meekly towards her Son, Opposite
her is St. John the Baptist, his hands clasped reverentiaUy.
On either side are patriarchs, prophets, and saints, seated
in a half circle ; St. Dominick concluding that on the right ;
St. Francis on the left. In the centre St. Michael bears
the cross on his shoulder, whilst attendant angels arouse
the dead by the sound of the trampet.
The condemned on the right of the spectator are hurried
to torments by deraons ; some stop their ears, others gnaw
their own hands, and this part of the picture, as well as
that still further on to the right, representing every degree
of physical torture, and ending with that inflicted by Lucifer
himself, is in accordance with the traditions of an ignorant
and barbarous age, and which, though immortaUsed by
Dante, would be simply disgusting, if it was not also
ludicrous. But no genius save that of Fra AngeUco could
have painted the happiness of the blessed with such trath
of expression, nor have described every variety of eraotion
which we raay suppose possible at such a moment. Some
look up with grateful love to the Saviour ; others embrace
one another, or are embraced by their guardian angels ; one,
overcome with joy and wonder at the glorious vision open
ing before hira, can advance no farther, but kneels, with
eyes entranced, fixed on the gates of Paradise, to which the
celestial being at his side points the way. Angels crowned
with roses, and with glittering wings, raove in a mystic
dance araidst flowers, whilst others float onwards in a stream
of golden light, and enter the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Carlo Dolce has painted an ideal portrait of Fra Angelico,

THE ACADEMY. 363
No. 27; a good picture, but seen to disadvantage beside
the powerful head of Girolamo Savonarola, represented as
Peter Martyr, by Fra Bartolommeo. Though the features
are plain, the sweet, patient, and devout expression of the
eye and mouth is singularly beautiful; and whether this
picture be a genuine portrait or an imaginary likeness, it
conveys a true idea of the character belonging to this real
martyr to his faith.
No. 39 and No. 42 are rainiatures by Sandro BotticeUi ;
the first represents scenes taken from the life of St. Augus
tine; the second, Herodias with the head of John the
Baptist in a charger, and Christ rising from the Tomb.
Two splendid heads of Vallombrosian monks, seen in pro
file, are attributed to Perugino, but are more probably by Raf
faelle. That turning to the right is a portrait of Don Blasio,
General of the Order ; the other Don Balthasar, Abbot of
VaUombrosa. Raffaelle may have painted these pictures
when visiting VaUombrosa on his way from Urbino to
Florence. The heads are sharply defined on a dark back
ground, and modelled with the utmost care in good
relief; every feature, including the ears, is drawn with
individuality; and yet this close attention to exact form
is kept duly subordinate, or made to assist the higher aim
of the artist in trath of expression. Light, shade, and
colour, have here each their relative importance. The
lovely Madonna del CardelUno, now in the Tribune of the
Uffizi Gallery, is said to have been painted for this Abbot
of VaUombrosa.
Beyond the room containing these pictures is a small
coUection of drawings, or cartoons, by eminent painters.
The Apostles Peter and Paul, by Fra Bartolommeo, are

3fi4 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the original designs for paintings now in the Quirinal, at
Rome. No. 8 and No. 9. Mary Magdalene and Christ appearing
to the Marys, by the same master.
No. 18, a Holy Family, and No. 23, St. Dominick, also
by Fra Bartolommeo.
No. 5. A Virgin and Child, attributed, with great proba
biUty, to Rafifaelle.
No. 21, a still more lovely drawing of the subject, like
wise attributed to him, but doubtful.
No. 2 is a copy of RafifaeUe's Madonna della Gatta. A
colossal female head, said to be intended for the Virgin, is
by Correggio. There are also drawings by Lorenzo Credi,
Pocetti, Bronzino, Baroccio, and Cigoli.
A custode, from the Accademia, will accompany the
visitor who may desire to see the celebrated works of
Andrea del Sarto, at the Scalzo, in the Via Cavour. This
building was at one time part of the dwelling of Ottaviano
de' Medici, situated near the gardens of San Marco ; and in
a room above, the Scalzi, or " Barefooted " Friars held
their meetings. These friars were called Scalzi because,
when they bore the crucifix in public processions, they
always walked barefoot, The house had a cortUe, or court,
with cloisters resting on columns ; and when Andrea del
Sarto was beginning Ufe as an artist, and living with his
friend, Franciabigio, near the Mercato del Grano, they were
bpth employed by this confratemity to adorn the waUs with
frescos in chiaroscuro. The subject chosen was the Life of
St. John the Baptist, to which saint the confraternity was
dedicated. The only joint work of the artists was the
Baptism of Christ, which, though full of feeling, and a

THE ACADEMY. 365
wonderful production for two young men, is the least well
executed of the series. The rest of the frescos were painted
with a certain rivalry, which gave a stimulus to the work.
Andrea was often called away by other engagements, and
therefore these paintings are spread over a lapse of years.
In 1 51 7 he executed the borders round the fresco of the
Baptism of Christ ; all the rest of the friezes were the work
of Franciabigio, who also painted St. John taking leave of
his father Zacbarias when departing for the desert, and the
meeting of the Saviour and St. John. In 151 7 Andrea
finished the compartment of St. John baptizing in the
Desert. In 1520 he painted the allegories of Faith and
Charity, and, soon afterwards, Herodias dancing before
Herod, the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, and Salome
presenting his head to her mother Herodias; the Angel
appearing to Zacbarias ; and the aUegory of Hope. He
finished the fresco of Zacbarias in 1523, when he painted
the panel picture of the History of Joseph for the Borgherini
family, now in the Pitti. In 1524 Andrea resumed his
work at the Scalzo, and painted the Visit of Elizabeth to
Mary; and in 1526 he executed his latest fresco, the Birth
of St. John. We have here an opportunity of tracing
Andrea del Sarto's progress in his art during the eleven
years that he painted in this cloister. In the Preaching of
St. John we see the influence of Ghirlandaio; in the
Baptism of St. Jolm, and St. John before Herod, that of
Albert Diirer. The Angel appearing to Zacbarias was
painted just before the Madonna del Sacco, in the SS. An
nunziata ; and the two latest and largest frescos preceded
Andrea's Last Supper, in the Monastery of the Salvi. These
frescos have all been much injured by damp and exposure

366 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
to weather, before the Cloister was protected by glass. In
1735) die Confraternity of the Scalzi was suppressed by the
Grand-Duke Pietro Leopoldo, who sold all the buUding,
except the Cloister, which from that time forth was attached
tp the Academy of Fine Arts,

THE PITTI GALLERY.
Large Rooms.
T^HE collection of pictures in the Pitti was made wholly
by the Medici, who, about the year 1640, after they
had become sovereign princes, brought them to this palace,
which was then converted into a royal residence, Pietro da
Cortona, and another artist, C3nrus Ferri, were employed to
decorate the magnificent suite of rooms which were destined
to contain the chefs-d'ceuvre of the greatest masters in paint
ing. All these pictures belong to the best period of Tuscan
art, and to the second Revival ; but in the smaller rooms,
paraUel with the suite towards the Piazza, are excellent
specimens of works by earlier artists,
The numbers begin with the pictures of the latest school ;
and in the furthest room, which is called the Sala di Venus,
Pietro da Cortona, wishing to flatter the reigning Medici,
painted on the ceiling allegorical scenes and personages
symbolical of the virtues of their ancestor, the Grand-Duke
Cosimo I., who appears as a youth, protected and specially
favoured by the gods.
Two splendid Sea Pieces by Salvator Rosa, Nos, 4 and
15, are placed opposite one another. The sea and sky

368 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
have the glow and melting softness of Claude Lorraine, but
the figures are more carefully drawn and are grouped natu
rally in easy attitudes ; those especiaUy in No. 4, to the right,
are admirably placed; the drawing is spirited, and the colour
forcible. No. 2, Duplicity, composed of two figures, is by
the same master ; but this picture has neither the wUd pic
turesque beauty nor dash of the pencU usual with Salvator,
and is insipid in its sobriety. Nos. 9 and 14, two Land
scapes by Rubens, are in a very diflferent style from the sea-
pieces of Salvator, though they are painted with equal free
dom. The town, on a bay, with mountains in the fore
ground. No. 9, is apparently taken from Genoa, No. 14
is a Flemish scene, fresh in breezy clouds, cornfields, hedges,
and trees.
No. II. A good picture, by Frangesco Bassano, of the
Martyrdom of St. Catherine. Francesco belonged to the
Venetian school, and was the son of the more celebrated
Jacopo, and the brother of Leandro Bassano. He was
inclined to exaggerate the chiaroscuro of his picturesj
No. 16. A fine Portrait of an Old Man, by Rembrandt.
Nos. 17 and 18 are by Titian. No. 17, the Marriage of
St. Catherine, is an inferior repetition of the picture in the
National Gallery of London; and No. 18 is a very lovely
Portrait of a Lady in the Venetian costume, who has been
altemately called a Duchess of Urbino, the daughter of
Palma Vecchio, and Titian's mistress. When the picture
was carried to Paris, in the last century, the background
was entirely repainted, and part of the veil which hung
behind the face was destroyed.
No. 13. Agood Florentine picture ofthe second Revival,
by Matteo RosseUi-^the Triumph of David. The move-

THE PITTI GALLERY. 369
ment of the figures is well expressed, but the heads, though
not without beauty of feature, are insipid, and the clear
bright colour has a certain prettiness, inappropriate to a
subject taken from sacred story. Matteo Rosselli and
Jacopo da Empoli may be regarded as the colourists of this
school ; they endeavoured to raodify the exclusive attention
paid to anatomy and drawing, which, in the hands of the
followers of Michael Angelo, had become pedantic and
exaggerated. No. 10. A graceful picture of Narcissus at the Fountain,
by Frangesco Curradi : Narcissus is represented as a peasant-
lad. No. 21. Sta. Martina, by Pietro da Cortona.
No. 22. Apollo flaying Marsyas, by Bilivert.
No. 27. The Saviour appearing to St. Peter on the Water,
by CigoU. Though in an obscure place between the win
dows, it is one of the best pictures in- this room, and is a
work of considerable power, with more nature and expres
sion, and less of the raodel, than is usual with this school
whose principal merit is correct drawing and strict obe
dience to rule.
The ceUing of the next room, the Sala di Apollo, was
chiefly painted by Cyrus Ferri.
No. 36. The Portrait of the Archbishop BartoUni Salim-
beni, by Girolamo da Carpi, of the Ferrarese School, 1494
— 1 566. The archbishop was of the Florentine faraily whose
palace, now forraing part of the Hotel de I'Europe, in the
Via Porta Rossa, is still distinguished by the Salimbeni
poppy. He was appointed administrator of the Pisan Church
by Pope Leo X., and Archbishop of Malaga by Charles V.,
and he was buried in the Campo Santo of Pisa.
VOL. II. B B

370 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Nos. 37 and 38 are indifferent examples of pictures by
Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Palma of Venice.
No, 29. A Holy Family, by Angelo Bronzino. The head
of the Virgin is a fine portrait, in his usual style, and not
unlike Bianca Capello.
No. 40. A Madonna and ChUd, by Murillo. The ChUd
stands on his mother's knee and rests his right arm on her
breast. The Virgin has the modest, girl-like simplicity usual
with Murillo, and more than his ordinary refinement of type.
No. 41. The Hospitality of St. Julian, by Cristofano
AUori. The legend of St. Julian is as follows : — As an act
of penance the saint became a ferryman, and one night he
brought a youth across the river whom he discovered to be
a leper. The wife of St. Julian, however, received the sick
man into their house, and they laid him on their bed. The
next moming the leper was transfigured before them, and
appeared as an angel, bringing pardon for past sins.''' This
picture is considered as the chef-d'ceuvre of AUori. The
original drawing for the man with the oar in his hand is in
the Gallery of the Uflfizi.
No. 42. A Head of Mary Magdalene, by Perugino ; very
sweet in expression, drawn and painted with great softness,
although rather the portrait of a lovely woman than the
ideal representation of a penitent sinner.
No. 43. A Male Portrait, by Franciabigio, the friend and
brother-artist of Andrea del Sarto. The black under-tint
has come to the surface, and injured the picture, which is
finely executed, and has an agreeable landscape background.
No. 46. St. Francis in Prayer, by Cigoli ; fuU of deep
* See Mrs. Jameson, " Legendary Art,"

THE PITTI GALLERY. 371
feeling; the rocky scenery of La Vernia forms the back
ground. This is one of the most beautiful and touching
pictures by the master.
No. 49. The Infant-Prince Leopold de' Medici, afterwards
Cardinal, by Tiberio Titi, a Florentine. This prince was
the son of the Grand-Duke Cosimo II,, by the Grand-
Duchess Maria Maddalena, of Austria. He devoted his
life to the study of literature and art, and made the
coUection of portraits for the Gallery of the Uflfizi. He
died in 1675.
No. 51. A Deposition, by CigoU; carefuUy drawn and
coraposed, but the figures are in attitudes which recall the
model, therefore the picture, whatever claim it may have
for admiration of the correct drawing and colour, does not
awaken syrapathy or interest in the subject.
No. 54. A fine Portrait, by Titian, of the poet Pietro
Aretino, who was bom in 1492, the illegitiraate son ofa
gentleraan of Arezzo. He wrote a treatise against the
system of Papal Indulgences, which caused his banish
ment from his native city, but Pope Clement VII. allowed
him to reside in Rome, where his talents ensured him a
favourable reception. Though his satirical writings were
directed against those in power, and obtained for him the
name of " the Scourge of Princes," he contrived to secure
the favour and patronage of the greatest monarchs of the
age : Francis I. lavished gifts on hira, and Charles V. pre-.
sented hira with a valuable gold chain. He coraposed a
paraphrase of the Seven Psalras, and several religious
works. Some of his publications had, however, an immoral
tendency, and caused so much scandal that the Pope was
at length obliged to banish him from Rome. He was

372 WALKS 'IN FLORENCE.
Ultimate with the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., to whom h^
sent this picture, in which the gift of the emperor is repre
sented. He writes to Cosimo, " Surely I breathe here ;
the blood circulates, and I see ray living self in a painting ;
had I given the artist a few more crowns he would have
bestowed more pains on the material of the dress, the silk,
the velvet, and brocade ; I say nothing of the chain, for it
is indeed painted, sic transit mutidi.
In the sarae letter, Aretino alludes to the picture, by
Titian, of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, the father of
Cosimo, under whom Aretino had served, and who had
made his peace with the Pope. The two portraits appear
to have been painted about the same time ; but Aretino
declares the artist had kept that of Giovanni unfinished,
because he was tempted to Rome by the oflfer of greater
remuneration from Paul III. (Alexander Famese).
No. 55. Portrait, by Baroccio, of the Infant- Prince Fre
derick, of Urbino, the son of Frangesco Maria IL, Duke of
Urbino, and of the Princess Claudia, daughter of the Grand-
Duke Ferdinand I. Frederick of Urbino was father of the
Princess Vittoria della Rovere, who married her cousin the
Grand-Duke Ferdinand II. , and brought the valuable col
lection of pictures to Florence, as her dowry.
No. 56. The Madonna del Rosario, by MurUlo.
No. 58. A Pietk, by Andrea del Sarto, one of his finest
compositions ; the colouring is rich, the drawing masterly,
especially in the foreshortening, and in the body of the
Saviour, which is extended on a white cloth; the impression
left on the spectator, however, is cold, from the absence ot
appropriate feeling in the countenances and actions of the
figures, which appear to have been painted separately from

THE PITTI GALLERY. 373
models. CavalcaseUe describes this picture as, " a com
position according to the correct rules, very dramatic and
powerful, in which even the merit of originality cannot'be
denied. The Michael Angelesque fibre in it shews strength ;
and the cleverness with which Andrea presents a scene, in
its movements forcible yet human and familiar, in its ex
pressing realistic, yet sufficiently elevated,, is greatly to be
praised." * This picture was painted, in 1524, for a convent
in the Mugello, where Andrea had sought refuge frora the
plague, then raging in Florence,
No. 59 and No. 61 are portraits of Maddelena and
Angelo Doni, by Raffaelle. The lady was of the wealthy
family of Strozzi, and was married to a rich Florentine,
Doni, the patron of Rafifaelle. There is nothing ideal in
either portrait ; both are faithful renderings of truth. The
hands are studied carefully, and the dress and jewels are
finished with attention to detail; the landscape back
ground is clear and pure, and, though Ught, retreats behind
the full-coloured forms. The countenances of Doni and
his wife are serious ; Maddalena's is. expressive of good
ness, whilst there is more force and talent in the face of
Angelo. In both there is a defect in the perspective,
the farther eye being placed too high. They were
painted during RaffaeUe's second visit to Florence, when
he was still very young, and had not yet attempted por
traits.} No. 60. Portrait of Rembrandt, by hiraself.
No. 62. A Holy Family, by Andrea del Sarto, painted in
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iu. p. 571.
t See Passavant, " Rafael von Urbino," vol. i. p. 94 ; voL U. p. 52,^

374 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
1521 for Zanobi Bracci, when the artist was employed by
Ottaviano de' Medici in the decorations of the Palace of
Poggio a Caiano for Pope Leo X. The chUdren, especially
St. John, are easy and graceful ; the Virgin gazes at her son
with a sweet, happy countenance ; the colour is rich and
warm, and the group natural, without any attempt at
scientific display.
No. 63. Portrait of Pope Leo X., by Raflfaelle; to the
right of the Pope is his cousin. Cardinal Giulio de' Medici,
afterwards Clement VII. ; on his left, Cardinal Luigi de'
Rossi, the Pope's secretary. The Pope is seated at a table
with an illurainated raissal and a silver bell ; though large
and coarse in person, he is represented as the man of
cultivated and luxurious tastes and habits ; his attitude is
dignified, and his hands beautiful. The picture was painted
about 1518 ; there is a copy by Andrea del Sarto at Mantua
so exact that it deceived Raffaelle's scholar, Giulio Romano,
who supposed it was the original which Ottavio de' Medici,
by order of Pope Clement VIL, had promised to bestow on
the Duke of Mantua.
No. 64. A Pietk over one of the doors, by Fra Bartolom
meo. The expression of the dead Christ is touchingly
beautiful, mild, dignified, and sad. The gentle resignation
of the sorrowing Virgin, and the passionate grief of the
Magdalene, who clasps his feet, are given with the simple
truth of nature. The colour is pure and correct. " The
group reaUses at once all the precepts considered as final in
the sixteenth century. It is a modification and an advance
upon Perugino's, combining all the tendemess of the Um
brian, with greater selection, astonishing individuality, pure
nature, and refined feeUng, It is not possible to cite an

THE PITTI GALLERY. 375
instance in which a lifeless form is rendered with more
flexibility or with raore anatomical accuracy." *
No. 66. Andrea del Sarto, by himself.
No. 67. The Magdalene, by Titian; wonderful in colour ;
a lovely Venetian woraan looking upwards in prayer, and
half covered by the soft waving tresses of her golden
hair. No. 72. The Portrait of a Man in Black, by Cristofano
AUori. The Sala di Marte has a representation on the ceiling of
Mars, accorapanied by Hercules, Victory, &c., to signify the
warUke achieveraents of the House of Medici.
No. 76. Portrait of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough,
by Adrian Van der Werff.
No. 79. The Madonna della Seggiola, by Raflfaelle,
painted entirely by his own hand, probably in the year 1510,
when he was engaged with the fresco of the School of
Athens in the Vatican. The Virgin is not divine, but she
is the perfection of womanly beauty and modesty, as well as
of maternal tenderness. The Child is grand in form and
expression, although the rounded limbs and features and the
clinging action are wholly infantine ; the eamest, yet child
like worship of the little St. John is no less appropriate and
exceUent. The composition is simple, the colour rich, and
the heads of the Virgin and ChUd are highly finished, whilst
the rest of the picture is painted with great freedora, yet
softness, produced without scumbling, and leaving the out
lines distinct.t
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. ui. p. 471.
t See Passavant's "Rafael von Urbino," vol. i. p. 294; vol. ii.
p. 294.

376 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No. 80. The Portrait of a Belgian anatomist, Andrea
Vesale, by Titian. Vesale was accused of homicide, and
condemned to death, for having opened the body of a
Spanish gentleraan. He had been invited to Spain by the
Eraperor Charles V., and Philip II. corarauted his sentence
to banishment.
No. 81. A most lovely Holy Family, by Andrea del
Sarto, which, though entirely diflferent in thought and treat
ment from the Madonna della Seggiola, is not unworthy of
its place beside the work of Raflfaelle. The Virgin is simple
and dignified, though without classical beauty ; and the
children are animated and drawn with grace and power.
The Christ sits astride on his mother's knee, and looks back
to listen to the eager words of St. John, who leans over the
lap of Elizabeth. The colours are agreeable, and melt into
one another ; the outline is almost lost ; there is great
breadth as well as softness in the chiaroscuro.
• No. 82. The Portrait of Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, by
Vandyke, may be compared with the portraits of Titian, not
only in the quiet dignity, character, and elegance of corapo
sition for which Vandyke was reraarkable, but in truth of
flesh tints and warmth of colour, in which in this instance
the Fleming is not far short of the Venetian master. Car
dinal Bentivoglio was bom at Ferrara of an ancient Bolog
nese family in 151 9. When only nineteen years of age he
was appointed secretary to Pope Clement VIL, and Avas
sent later by Pope Paul V. as Papal Nuncio to Flanders.
Though one of the judges of Galileo at Rome, he had not
the power to prevent his condemnation. He wrote the
" History of the War in the Netherlands," and his own
memoirs, and died in 1644.

THE PITTI GALLERY. 377
No. 83. Luigi Cornaro, a splendid portrait of a Venetian
nobleman, by Titian. Cornaro died at the age of ninety-six>
His youth was spent in dissipation, but he early reforraed
his life, and in 1 558 he wrote a treatise on sobriety. He was
greatiy and universally respected, and was held in high
honour by his fellow-citizens. The large, penetrating, dark
eyes, and the finely-cut raovable nostrils, bespeak a quick
and fiery nature, whilst the high forehead, thoughtful brow,
the firm lips, and dignified deportment, to which may be
added the weU-ordered dress, are significant of a wise and
resolute character, as well as of that taste and refineraent
which belong to a true gentleraan. The picture is full of
life, and it is impossible to say what is most worthy of
adniiration — the correct drawing, the reality of the flesh
tints, or the great painter's power in expressing the raind of
the sitter.
No. 85. A fine picture, by Rubens, with portraits of hira
self and his brother and of the philosophers Lipsius and
Grotius. They are seated at a table, with a bust of Seneca
in a niche behind them, and a landscape background.
WhUst Rubens was celebrated as a diplomatist as well as
painter, his brother and Justus Lipsius were equally remark
able as philologists. Lipsius became professor of history at
Leyden, and subsequently at Louvain; he was appointed
historiographer to Philip IL, and created a councillor of
state by the Archduke Albert ; in his old age he abjured
the Protestant reUgion, and died a Roman Catholic in 1606.
Hugo Grotius, the son ofa burgomaster of Delft, in Holland,
was born in 1583, and was sent, when a youth, in the Dutch
ambassador's suite to France; he was already so distin
guished for learning that King Henry IV., as a token of his

378 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
admiration, bestowed on him a gold chain, at the same time
calling hira " the marvel of Holland." He was afterwards
condemned for his religious opinions to imprisonment in the
fortress of Loevenstein, frora whence he escaped by the
assistance of his wife, and fled to France, where he received
a pension from the king. After a vain attempt to return to
Holland, he entered the service of Queen Christina of
Sweden and her minister Oxenstiern, and died at Dantzic in
1645. In this picture, the artist, Peter Paul Rubens, is seen
in three-quarter face, with red moustaches, his hand resting
on his hip ; his brother PhiUp is beside him ; he has light
hair and moustaches, and holds a pen. Justus Lipsius has
a long beard and short hair; his forefinger rests upon a
book. Grotius is in profile, with moustaches and barbe-
royale. The character and power displayed in this picture
gives it a place beside the noble portraits of Titian, though
the rich and varied colours in which Rubens delighted
hardly suit the gravity of the persons represented.
No. 86. An Allegory, by Rubens, in which he has re
velled in wondrous sunlights and bright colours. The sub
ject is Peace and War. The restless spirit and gigantic
power of the master is displayed in size of rauscle, violent
action, contrasts of storra and sunshine, astonishing breadth
of light and shade, in deep full colour and warm shadow,
intended to give full value to the dazzUng brilliancy of his
lights on the fair skins of women and , children. There is
nothing to interest or please, in this picture, and its sole
attraction is the example it presents of the qualities peculiar
to Rubens. The original sketch is in the National Gallery
of London, bequeathed by the poet Sarauel Rogers.
No. 87 and No. 88 are two oblong paintings containing

THE PITTI GALLERY. 379
many figures, and both charming in colour, by Andrea del
Sarto; they represent the History of Joseph, and raay be
considered as one picture. In the first is Jacob and Rachel
with Joseph, who is relating his drearas to his parents;
Jacob sending Joseph to his brethren ; the brethren putting
Joseph into the well ; they sell him to the merchants, and
one of them in the foreground is showing his blood-stained
garment to their father. In the second painting Pharaoh is
seen asleep : the curtains of his bed are sustained by two
boy-genii; behind are seen the fat and lean kine, and in
front the ears of corn ; at the top of the staircase leading to
Pharaoh's palace Joseph is led to prison, and again below
he is brought before Pharaoh ; Pharaoh listens to Joseph's
interpretation of his dreams ; Pharaoh names hira govemor,
and bestows on him a gold chain ; two children are playing
with a dog in the foreground, and there is a lovely landscape
background, with architecture, figures, &c. Both these pic
tures, as well as similar pictures in the Uflfizi Gallery, No.
1,249 3.nd No. 1,282, by Jacopo Pontormo, were painted
for Frangesco Borgheri upon his raarriage.
No. 90. The Ecce Homo, by Cigoli. The noble dignity
and patient suffering expressed in the Christ is more touch
ing from the contrast with the vulgar countenances of his
persecutors ; the traces of the scourging are given with pain
ful reality ; the picture is finely drawn and coloured, and is
an excellent example of the master.
No. 92. A fine Portrait, by Titian, of a young Venetian
Gentleman ; the type is pecuUarly characteristic of the
race ; finely cut long features, oval contour, blue eyes, and
reddish brown air, with that grave dignified demeanour
which gives an air of nobiUty to the Venetian of every class.

38o WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No. 93. St. Francis in Prayer ; a good study of an Italian
Peasant, by Reubens ; inferior in poetic sentiment to the
same subject treated by Cigoli, No. 46.
No. 94. The Holy Family, by Raflfaelle, known as the
Madonna dell' Irapannata, from the white cio'Ca.— panno —
used instead of glass for the window in the background ;
the composition is wholly by Rafifaelle, as well as the paint
ing of the head of the Child, whom EUzabeth is restoring
to the Virgin ; the rest of the picture was probably painted
by one of RafifaeUe's scholars ; the expression of EUzabeth
is fine, and full of feeling ; the other female heads, as well
as that of St. John, are feeble and cold.*
No. 95. The Sacrifice of Abraham : a good picture by
Cristofano AUori, II Bronzino; in colour resembling the
painting of Matteo Rosselli.
No. 96. Also by Bronzino : Judith with the Head of
Holofemes, which is said to have been painted from the
artist's own head. Judith is supposed to be a portrait of
Bronzino's mistress, and the old woraan her mother. The
arms of Judith, extended and foreshortened, are finely
drawn, and her head and figure are grand and powerful.
The golden silk of which her dress is composed is painted
with raarvellous clearness and vigour, and the whole colour
is rich and harmonious.
No. 97. An Annunciation, by Andrea del Sarto : good in
colour, but feeble in coraposition ; Joseph stands beside the
Virgin, . who starts back as two angels approach, one of
whora bears the Uly. This picture has been much re
painted. * See Passavant's " Rafael von Urbino,'' vol. i. p. 186 ; vol. ii. p. 394.

THE PITTI GALLERY. 381
No. 92. A Magdalene, by CigoU.
No. 106. A good Portrait of GalUeo when old, by Suster
mans ; the end of his telescope is seen below, near the
frame : this likeness of the philosopher appears to have
been taken later than the portrait in the Uflfizi Gallery.
The Sala di Giove has a statue, in the raiddle of the
roora,'representing Victory, by the modern sculptor, Con-
sani : the goddess is seated on a rock, and is inscribing
upon her shield the words " Montebello, Palestro," &c.
No. no. A sketch for part of the picture of Bacchus
and Ariadne, by Titian, in the National Gallery of London.
No. III. Over the door, the Conspiracy of CatiUne, by
Salvator Rosa ; and
No. 135. A Battlepiece, by the same artist.
No. 112. Another Battlepiece, finely treated by Jacopo
Cortese, called the Borgognone, a native of France, who
also painted the same subject (No. 133) with even greater
power. These and two others in this" gallery are among
his finest productions.
No. 113. The most celebrated picture in this room is
the Three Fates, by Michael Angelo. They are all taken
from one old woman, represented in diflferent attitudes ;
Clotho holds the spindle, oflf which she spins the thread of
life ; Lachesis twists the yam in her fingers, and Atropos
prepares to cut it with her scissors. A romantic tale is
told relating' to this picture. During the siege of Florence,
in 1529, when Michael Angelo was conducting the defen
sive operations, an old woman is supposed to have presented
herself before the municipaUty, and oflfered her son to fight
for his native city ; the great artist, it is further said, was so
struck with her countenance, that he has recorded it in this

382 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
picture. The story is, however, -probably a fiction, and it
is even uncertain whether the picture itself is by the hand
of Michael Angelo. " Severe, keen, and characteristic," as
Kugler describes it, he does not consider it a genuine
work of the master ; there is a want of variety of attitude
and countenance, and even of exaggeration of form, as well
as a certain meagreness, which Michael Angelo would
hardly have imitated, far less invented.
No. ii6. Portrait of Vittoria della Rovere, the wife of
the Grand-Duke Ferdinand II. , by Sustermans. The artist
has represented her in the costurae of a Vestal Virgin.
No. 1 1 8. Portrait of Andrea del Sarto and his wife;
not an authentic picture.
No. 123. The Virgin in Glory, with four Saints below,
by Andrea del Sarto. The kneeling St. Catherine, a bright
happy-looking girl, is the best figure in the group ; the
male saints are feeble. The Virgin above has no preten
sion to beauty, but is well placed ; two kneeling and sitting
cherabim with scrolls in their hands, on either side of her,
are the best part of the picture ; the colour, as usual with
this master, is very agreeable, but the upper part is so
much niore feeble than the lower, they hardly seem to
belong to one picture ; and, as it was finished ten years after
Andrea's death, by a certain Vincenzio, called Morgante
Bonilli, of Poppi, this diflference may be easily accounted
for. No. 124. Another and most beautiful Annunciation, by
Andrea. The Virgin stands in an attitude of meek sus
pense, looking back at the angel : she holds a book in her
left hand, and raises the forefinger of the right, as if ques
tioning. The archangel, a lovely and graceful figure, kneels

THE PITTI GALLERY. 383
and looks at her with earnest appealing gaze; two angels
stand behind ; the architecture and landscape background
is extiemely beautiful, and the warm colour in the fore
ground is carried out by the red mantles of the figures
leaning over the balcony in an adjoining house. Cavel-
caselle thus describes this picture : " The mode in which
the angel is presented recalls Fra Bartolommeo. But the
movement and lines, though soft and gentle, are uncon
strained and free, as in Del Sarto's own creation, the
Nativity, at the Servi. The Virgin is most dignified in air
and pose. Decorum and grave beauty are almost as com
bined as in Della Porta, without the eraptiness which grew
to a defect with Andrea's later years ; the colour is rich, and
in good keeping with a landscape full of atmosphere."
No. 125. St. Mark, a colossal figure by Fra Bartolom
meo, painted at the same time with the San Vincenzio of
the Academy, which Kugler preferred to this picture. St.
Mark is a gigantic and powerful figure, grand in drawing
and composition. He is seated in a niche, holding his
gospel and pen with both hands, whUst looking back, lost in
conteraplation. The picture was placed over the entrance
to the choir of St. Mark, but after the demolition of the
choir, which was in the centre of the church, it was bought
by Prince Ferdinand de' Medici, and in 1799 was taken to
Paris, where it was transferred frora wood to canvas.
No. 37. A Meeting of Huntsmen, by Giovanni di San
Giovanni, a Florentine painter of tiie Second Revival. The
heads are very spirited.
No. 138. Portrait of Guidobaldo IL, Duke of Urbino,
grandfather of Vittoria della Rovere, by Federigo Zucchero,
a painter of the Roraan School (1543 — 1609).

384 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No. 139. A Holy Faraily, by Rubens. The colour of the
children is very lovely.
No. 140. The Portrait ofa Lady, by Leonardo da Vinci.
A raost exquisitely finished painting ; the drawing is careful,
though the left eye is somewhat too high ; the lips are just
closed, the eyes calm, the nostril delicate ; her grave and
gentle deportment are significant of self-restraint ; the head
is gracefully bent, and the perfect simplicity and dignified
composure mark a, woman of noble mind and training.
Her hands are very beautiful; she holds a missal in her
left. The landscape, seen between two open arches, re
presents a walled town — probably Florence — and distant
hills. No. 144. The Battle of Montemurlo, in which the Grand-
Duke Cosimo I. destroyed his enemies, and secured his seat
on the throne of Tuscany. The picture is by Giovan Bat
tista Franco. A nude figure, to the right, may have been
copied from a small picture in the National Gallery of
London, attributed to Michael Angelo ; and the Ganymede
above appears also to have been borrowed from other
pictures. The fifth room of this suite is called the Sala di Saturno.
The god is represented on the ceiling, with Mars and Pru
dence — the work of Pietro di Cortona.
Nos.. 145, 146, and 169. The Virgin and Child, with an
Angel, and two other Holy Families, are by Domenico
Puligo, a pupU of Andrea del Sarto.
No. 147. A Nymph and Satyr, by Giorgione.
No. 149. A fine Portrait of Cardinal HippoUto de' Medici,
by Jacopo Pontormo. His hand rests on the head of a dog,
which is painted with much Ufe and power. HippoUto was

THE PITTI GALLERY. 385
the natural son of Giulio de' Medici, Duke of Nemours,
whose monument by Michael Angelo is in the Sacristy of
San Lorenzo. HippoUto was educated by his uncle Leo X. ;
and although his tastes led him to prefer a secular to an
ecclesiastical career, he was forced to enter the Church and
accept a cardinal's hat. He died — it is supposed by poison
—in 1535-
No. 1 50. Very beautiful Portraits of Charles I. of Eng
land and Henrietta Maria, by Vandyke,
No. 151, The Portrait of Pope JuUus IL, by Raflfaelle,
a repetition of the fine portrait in the Uflfizi Gallery
(No. 1,131),
No. 152. The Death of Abel. A powerful picture by
Schiavone. No. 154. John the Baptist when a child, asleep, watched
over by Elizabeth. One of the most lovely compositions of
Carlo Dolce. The tranquU sleep of infancy is beautifully
given, and the colouring and chiaroscuro have the fulness
and power of Ludovico Caracci. No. 155. Sta. Rosa, by
the same artist, has his usual . qualities of sweetness and
finish, with insipidity.
No. 158. The Portrait of Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi of
Bibbiena, by Raflfaelle. A most wonderfully life-like picture
of an astute, polished ecclesiastic, mild but immovable ; his
hands are very elegantiy formed, and rich with jewels. The
picture is only in part by Raflfaelle, who executed another
some years later, which is now in the Museum at Madrid.
The cardinal was the son of poor parents in the Casentino, a
valley behind the mountains of Vallorabrosa, and he took
the name of Bibbiena from his native city. He began life as
tutor to the sons of Lorenzo de' Medici, who had already
VOL. II. c c

386 -WALKS IN FLORENCE,
secured the services of his brother as secretary. When Bib-
biena's pupU became Pope Leo X.— 1515— he was created
a cardinal. He died suddenly at Rome in 1520. Paolo
Jovius, the historian, whose monument is in the Cloister of
San Lorenzo, attributes the death of the cardinal to poison
in a dish of new-laid eggs.
No. 159. Christ rising from the Tomb, with the Evange
lists on either side, by Fra Bartolommeo. In his left hand
the Saviour holds the sceptre, with the globe surmounted by
the cross, and raises his right to bless. His countenance
is mUd and noble, his attitude dignified, and the flowing
lines of his white drapery add to the majesty of his appear
ance. With the exception of a defect in the right arm, the
drawing is very fine. The arm of St. Matthew is boldly
foreshortened; St. John is beside him; St. Luke and St.
Mark on the other side ; all four are powerful figures ; the
draperies are grandly composed, and we may perceive in
them the examples Raflfaelle followed in his later works.
The two little angels below, who support a picture of the
world on which rests the sacramental cup, are most lovely ;
the colour is sober, but fine. This picture was painted soon
after Fra Bartoloraraeo had lost his best-beloved friend,
Mariotto AlbertineUi, in 1515.*
The paintings of Giorgione are so rare, and can so seldom
be authenticated, that both the pictures in this room —
No. 147 and No. 161 — are doubtful. The last represents
Moses taken from the Nile, and presented to Pharaoh's
daughter. It is fine in colour, and has an exceedingly
lovely landscape background. The figures are drawn with
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol, iii. p. 466. '

THE PITTI GALLERY. 387
spirit and grace, and the picture is probably a sketch for
some larger work, or it may have belonged to a bridal chest,
or other piece of fumiture.
No. 162. The Portrait of Frangesco Maria della Rovere,
Duke of Urbino, and father of the Grand-Duchess "Vittoria
della Rovere, by Federigo Baroccio.
No. 163. An Annunciation, by Andrea del Sarto, the
third in this gallery ; it was painted for Giuliano della Scala,
to be placed in a chapel of the SS. Annunziata. The cur^
tains at the side were added later. It is a feeble picture,
and injured by restorations.
No. 164. The Deposition from the Cross, by Pietro Peru
gino ; a noble yet simple composition, in the tender, sweet,
and eamest manner of the Umbrian School, with careful
and somewhat academical treatment. It was in this picture
that Peragino, in 1495, presented an example of landscape
painting to the Florentines, such as had never before been
seen in Florence. Vasari speaks of the brilliancy of the
general tones and of the backgrounds ; they are still pre
served in all the charm of freshness, in spite of time and
repairs. The Umbrian School directed their attention
especially to landscape, and Perugino made the best of his
opportunities in studying earlier and contemporary masters
in the sarae line. According to CavalcaseUe, when de
scribing the picture, "He fitted trees and shrabbery so
cleverly, that in spite of all the calculations which it reveals,
the result seeras a spontaneous creation of nature 
He also made the lines of the country complementary to
those of the figures, which he ceased to place with Umbrian
symmetry and regularity, in order to put them together
pyramidally. . . , The Saviour's body, stUl full of the

388 -WALKS IN FLORENCE.
¦ flexibiUty of life, but supine in death, is supported in its
, winding-sheet on a stone by Joseph of Arimathea ; the head
is held up by the Magdalene, the left arm by the Virgin.
Mary Cleofas looking over the heads of both, completed
the pyraimid, with Mary Salome kneeling at her side, betweeri
the Virgin and a youth who stoops to raise the comers of
the cloth at the Redeemer's feet; St. John and the wife of
Zebedee, Nicodemus, and two others stand to the right
and left. The Virgin shows her matemal love in an agony
.of grief without grimace. In the Magdalene sorrow and
sympathy are united in the face and action ; Joseph of
Arimathea turns away his head, overcorae by the melancholy
of the scene, while the youth at the Saviour's feet is less
affected. ... As a study of nude the Redeemer is finely
proportioned, without the false conventionalism so often
conspicuous in the hands, feet, or articulations of earUer
and later creations, and without their stiffness, length, or
laraeness. One sees in it, as in the surrounding mourners,
the forerunner of that splendid work of the sixteenth century,
the Pietk of Fra Bartolommeo " * (No. 64 of this gallery).
No. 165. The Madonna del Baldacchino, by Raffaelle,
executed on his return frora Rorae, after he had painted his
first large coraposition of the Entorabment of Christ. He
had studied the grand treatment of drapery with Fra Bar
tolommeo, and in return he had imparted to him the know
ledge of perspective, which he had acquired in the school of
Perugino ; in this picture, which he painted for the Floren
tine family of Dei, to be placed in Santo Spirito, Raffaelle
endeavoured to iraitate Fra Bartoloraraeo ; and it may be
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. p.- 196.

THE PITTI GALLERY.. 389
compared with the Madonna by Bartolommeo in the
Academy— No. 65. The Virgin, seated on a throne, holds
the Child on her knee, who looks back naively at the Apostle
Peter, standing beside St. Bruno ; St. James the Less and<
St. Augustus are on the opposite side. Two angels support
the canopy above the Virgin and Child, and two other most
lovely infants stand below, one having his arra round the
other's neck, and sing praises. The picture was left un-.
finished, which is evident from the weak face and figure of
St. James, and was sold by RaffaeUe's scholars, GiuUo
Romano and Giov. Francesco Penni, to Baldassare Turini,
who conveyed it to his city of Pescia, from whence it was
afterwards brought to the Pitti. The head and figure of
the Virgin is extiemely lovely and graceful, and quite in
RaffaeUe's own style, and it is only in the composition and
draperies that we discover the influence of Fra Barto
lommeo.* No. 167. Apollo and the Muses dancing in a circle on
the top of Mount Parnassus, by Giulio Romano ; a truly
magical group, which seeras to float in the graceful raove
raent of the dance ; a golden sunlight in the background.
No. 171. The Portrait of Tommaso de Phcedra Inghirarai,
by Raflfaelle. The faithful adherence to nature in portrait is
shovm in the squint and the coarse features, as much as in
the large, fat, yet delicately white hands of Inghirarai, all
painted with the highest finish. The clever expression of
the face compensates for want of beauty; the drawing ia
careful, and the composition and colour simple. The dress
. . * See Passavant's "Rafael von Urbino," vol, i. p. 125; vol. ii.
p. 89.

390 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
is that wom by Inghirarai when he acted as secretary tO
the conclave of cardinals which elected Giovanni de' Medici
Pope, as Leo X, Inghirarai belonged to an ancient family
of Volterra, and when only an infant he lost his father, and
was brought to Florence, where he was placed under
Medicean protection. At thirteen he was sent to Rorae,
where his remarkable powers were developed, and he was
eelebrated for his great learning. On one occasion he per
formed in Seneca's tragedy of Hippolytus, before the Car
dinal di San Giorgio; the part assigned Inghirarai was
Phcedra ; the piece having been intermpted by an accident
to the raachinery, he came forward and araused the corapany
by improvising Latin verses ; he was applauded and called
for in his character of Phcedra, and the name was ever after
wards attached to his own. Passavant remarks the full
daylight eflfect of this picture, and the fine modeUing, with
the tenderest fusion, which strikingly recall Hans Holbein's
method, although Raffaelle could not have seen any work
of the German master, since Holbein was at that time only
fifteen years of age. "The flat treatment of the accessories
leads to the conclusion that this part of the picture is by the
hand of a scholar.*
No. 172. The Dispute of the Holy Trinity, one of Andrea
del Sarto's most celebrated pictures, equally fine in compo
sition, drawing, colour, and expression. The head and
action of the youthful St. Lawrence, who stands in the centre
and carries his gridiron, is extremely beautiful and dignified.
St. Augustine and St. Peter Martyr pursue the discussion

. * See Passavant's "Rafael von Urbino," voL i, p. 212; voL u.
p. 164.

THE PITTI GALLERT. 39 r
With animation; St. Francis Ustens with a meek' countenance ;
he has one hand on his breast, in the other he carries his
Institutes ; St. Sebastian, half undressed, kneels at the feet
of St. Augustine — ^his back is finely painted ; St. Mary
Magdalene, a lovely portrait of Andrea's wife, holds her
vase of ointment, and kneels beside St. Francis, with lips
apart, listening. The emblem ofthe Trinity descends upon
the group. CavalcaseUe writes of this picture in the fol
lowing terms : — " In order to show that he (Andrea) was
at home in every mood, he accepted a coraraission from
the monastery of San Gallo, and thought out the noble altar-
piece (of the Pitti) of the Fathers disputing on the doctiine
of the Trinity, in every lUie of which stern power and bold
ness are discerned. Yet, as usual, there is abundance of
the atmosphere and vapour which are now his peculiar
characteristics. He seems, at this moment, to have been
looking at some of Fra Bartolommeo's latest eraanations,
such as the solitary St. Vincent, now at the Acaderay, or
sorae statues of Michael Angelo; for the masks are ex-
pressi'v^e and resolute, the attitudes are grandiose, the forms
are well proportioned, weighty, and nobly draped." *
No. 1 74. The Vision of Ezekiel, by Raffaelle, one of his
noblest compositions, though painted on so sraall a scale.
It is not only exquisitely finished in all the details, but com
posed, drawn, and Coloured with a grandeur which is not
surpassed by any of his larger paintings, whether in oU or
fresco. , The countenance and attitude of Jehovah are traly
majestic, and the Lion, the Ox, and the Eagle, the symbols
of St. Mark, St. Luke, arid St. John, partake of the solemn
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. p. 562*

392 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
grandeur which pervades the picture ; the youthful angel in
adoration, typical of St. Matthew, is a noble as well as
lovely forra, and no less fine are the infant-angels who
support the arms of the Eternal; a glory, composed of
faintly tiaced angels' heads, descends in rays from above ;
and far beneath, the world is seen at early dawn in a myste
rious and beautiful twilight. Ezekiel is walking below on
the earth. The picture was painted for Count Vincenzio
Ercolani of Bologna.
No. 178. Cleopatra, by Guido Reni ; a painting possessing
wonderful breadth and delicacy in the shadows and half;
tints. The Sala dell' Iliade is painted by a recent artist, Luigi
SabateUi. In the centre is a very lovely statue of Charity,
by the Tuscan sculptor, BartoUni ; it is gracefully composed,
and the flesh tenderly modelled ; the drapery falls in large
and weU-arranged folds, but the hair is stifif and inferior in
execution. The composition is the sarae as a group of the
Cinque-cento period in the Bargello.
The two principal pictures facing one another in this
room are by Andrea del Sarto, No. 191 and No. 225 ; both
represent the Assumption of the Virgin. No. 225 was
painted for the Cathedral of Cortona, and greatly to the
disgust of the inhabitants of that city, it was brought to Flo?
rence in 1609 by comraand of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand II.
The Madonna is seated above in the clouds; her hands
are clasped in adoration ; her eyes are cast down. Three
boy-angels bear her upwards, and proclaim the glad tidings
to the Apostles below, whilst five lovely cherabs' heads forra
a garland around her of exquisite beauty. St. John gazes
earnestly upwards ; the rest of the Apostles, among whom

THE PITTI GALLERY. 393
is a kneeling saint, gather round the Virgin's tomb. The,
Bishop, St, Nicholas, with his three typical balls beside him,
tums to the spectator. These figures have too much the air,
of acaderaical studies placed in groups, though the artist has
thrown rauch expression in each of the heads ; the colour is
very brilUant, yet harmonious.
No. 191 is in many respects diflferent, and on the whole
superior to the picture just described. Vasari gives its
history as follows : — Bartolommeo Panciaticchi, a Floren
tine merchant, settled at Lyons in France, desired to leave
a remembrance of himself in that city. He accordingly
ordered a painting of the Assuraption of the Virgin from
Andrea del Sarto, The panel chosen by the artist, how
ever, split several times whilst he was at work. Andrea
becarae discouraged, and after leaving and resuming this
picture at intervals, he at last abandoned it altogether, and
it was still unfinished at his death. The son of Bartolommeo
Panciaticchi, however, held it in high estimation, and had
it conveyed to his viUa, which stood on the site of the pre
sent Palace of the Poggio Imperiale, beyond the Porta
Romana of Florence. From thence it has been brought to
the Palazzo Pitti. The Madonna in this picture appear^
wrapt in heavenly thoughts, and looks upwards, one hand
extended as in prayer, the other holding her mantle. A
boy-angel below the clouds from whence she is ascending
raises his finger, and tells the Apostle she has risen. The
early morning is dawning in a pale, grey sky. St. John
and two other Apostles have heard the news ; their attitude
is full of eamest devotion and wonder. The others who
look into the tomb are figures of inferior merit. The painter
has. introduced his own portrait among the Apostles. The

394 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
standing cherabs round the Virgin are very graceful and
lovely. CavalcaseUe writes of No. 225 : — " A more quiet and
orderly distribution than No. 191, and something more remi
niscent of Fra Bartolommeo. The Virgin is raised up to
heaven most gracefully, and there is an atraosphere almost
like Correggio's in the glory." Of No. 191 he writes : — "A
riiaster-piece for Ughtness, vapour, and finish, and of a good
' sfumato.' "
No. 184. Andrea's own portrait when young, by him*
self. No. 185. The only positively genuine picture by Giorgione
in this gallery, and one of the few in existence ; it represents
a group of musicians. The centre figure plays on a spinnet
or piano, whilst looking back at a man behind ; his fingers
are pressed firmly on the keys, as if pausing whilst Ustening
to the friend, who is laying one hand on his shoulder to
krrest his attention : though in shade, the mild expression
of this raan's countenance is not lost. All the force and bril
liancy of the picture is, however, concentrated in the head
Of the central rausician, but the Ught is carried on to a third
person standing on his right. There is great breadth of
chiaroscuro, and no sudden transitions, but a uniform golden
or rich sunset glow throughout the composition.
No. 186. The Baptism of Christ, by Paolo Veronese,
No. 188. Salvator Rosa when young, by himself; and
No. 218, a Warrior, bythe same artist, painted with breadth
and vigour, though a coarse, ugly figure.
No. 146. St. Benedict and Saints, by Paolo Veronese ; and
No. 216, a portrait by him of Daniel Barbero, a Venetian
Ambassador to England : the hands are magnificently
painted, the attitude easy ; the fur of the dress treated with

.The pitti gallery, 395-
great breadth, dashed in without attention to detail, but the
more eflfective from the contiast with the high finish of the
head and hands ; a noble example of Venetian painting.
No. 199. A Holy Family, by Frangesco Granacci; an
agreeable picture, sweet in expression, especially the Infant
Christ, but not a fine speciraen of the raaster.
No. 202. The Angel refusing the Gifts of Tobias, by
Bilivert ; this is one of the best works of the Revival, good
in drawing, though too florid in colour.
No. 208. The Madonna enthroned, With Saints, by Fra
Bartolommeo. The two angels at the foot of the throne,
with a vioUn and guitar, are most lovely, and full of re
ligious feeling; nothing can exceed the sweet infantine
grace of the Christ, who places a ring on the finger of St.
Catherine ; the attitude of the Virgin is somewhat affected,
but she holds the Child tenderly, whilst tuming her head
towards Sta. Reparata, a sweet, modest-looking young
maiden, clothed in green and red, kneeling at her feet.
The saints standing on the right of the ChUd are very fine,
especially St. George ; St. Bartholoraew carries a knife, the
symbol of his martyrdom by being flayed alive ; three
Augustinian monks, probably portraits, are behind. The
flying angels who support the canopy are painted with the
utmost trath and beauty, and the Ught striking on one of
them is very effective. There are five heads among the
crowd of spectators who converse together, and all are in
natural attitudes; the colour of the picture is dark and
rather heavy. CavalcaseUe considers this the finest of Era
Bartoloraraeo's creations during the period that he was
assisted by his friend Mariotto Albertinelli. It was painted
in theyear 1512. "In composition, drawing, and reUef, it

396. WALKS IN FLORENCE.
was beyond his own power to coriie nearer perfection. Great;
as the charm had been with which he had invested the
group of the Virgin and ChUd in the altar-piece of Bishop
Hurault " (in the Louvre), " he now infused new elements of
beauty into it by increased grace in the shape and air of the
Virgin, and by contrasting the tum of her head and frame
with that of the Infant. In balancing the positions of the
kneeling St. Catherine at the foot of the pedestal, and
seating two boy-angels with viol and guitar on the steps of
the throne, he reared the well-known pyraraid of distribu
tion. He placed a fine St. Michael " (St. George ?) " in armour,
and a St. Bartholomew erect, in weighty position, as main
stays on the foreground, uniting thera by a circular chain of
spectators in converse on the floor of the semi-dome. In
rivalry with Raphael at times in bold foreshortening, he
prodigally wasted his science in the reproduction of form
and drapery, poising four lovely seraphs in flight under the
festoons of the dais. The whole is thrown on the panel, as
Vasari says, in so gallant a style as to leave the impression
of a living scene. Yet it is more by trathful transition of
neutral light and shade, than by colour, that Fra Barto
lommeo obtained eflfect, the tone being reduced almost to a
monochrome by the use of lampblack."*
No. 214. A good copy of Correggio's Madonna and St.
Jerorae, by Baroccio, though partaking of the prettiness of
the copyist.
There are several fine portraits by Titian in this room.
No. 200. PhUip II, of Spain, a picture presented by that
monarch to the Grand-Duke Cosimo I., with a portrait of
* See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol, iii. p. 454 ; Vasari, "Vite dei
Pittori," vol. vu, p. 158,

the pitti gallery. 397
PhUip's father, the Emperor Charles V., also by Titian,
which is in another room of the palace. This mean and
vulgar features and countenance of Philip have received a
certain air of dignity from Titian's pencil.
No. 20I. A second splendid portrait of HippoUto de'
Medici, by Titian ; the young Cardinal is here represented
as a Hungarian magnate, in the costume he wore when sent
as papal legate to the Emperor Charles V. The face is
pecuUarly Italian, as weU as indicative of the passions fostered
by the unhappy circumstances of his life ; a young and
chivalrous spirit forced to bend to the yoke of the priest
hood : the quick, penetrating eye beneath the raised eye
brow, and the dilated nostril, express a high temper, whilst
the fine and delicate sraile on the lips tells less of pleasure
than repressed feeling.
No. 215. A beautiful portrait of an unknovm gentleman,
by Titian ; the dress, consisting of a black velvet coat and
short mantle, is almost lost in the background, whilst the
white at the throat and wrists is kept low in tone. Although
the architectural background is carefully defined, it is sub
dued in colour, and gives relief to the figure, which stands
easily ; the hands are beautifully coraposed, easy, graceful,
and drawn and coloured with truth ; the head is fine, but
the picture is placed too high to judge of all its merits.
No. 221. Portrait, by Titian, of Constance Bentivoglio,
the daughter of Hercules BentivogUo, a captain of Free
Companies, who fought for Florence. The lady married first,
in 15 1 2, Lorenzo Strozzi of Ferrara, and secondly, Filippo
Tomiello, of Novara.
No, 219. The Virgin adoring the Infant Jesus, by Peru
gino.

398 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
No, 220. Jesus and Saints, by Annibale Caracci.
No, 223. Portiait ofa man, by Hans Holbein,
No. 224, Portrait of a lady in the Florentine costume, by
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio ; hard in outline, sharp, clear, correct,
with much animation in the countenance. This picture is
not unlike that of Maddalena Doni, by Raflfaelle — No. 59 —
particularly in the treatment of the hair, though this work of
Ghirlandaio is inferior in finish.
No, 228. The Saviour, a head by Titian, extremely fine,
though not equal to the Tribute Money, now in Dresden,
which it in sorae respects resembles.
No. 232, Portrait of Vittoria della Rovere and her son,
painted as the Madonna and Child, by Sustermans ; the
maestro di casa, or head steward of the duchess, stood for
Joseph, No. 230. The Madonna del CoUo Lungo (long neck), by
Parraigiannino. The painter, according to Vasari, was so
delighted with his own work that he left it in an unfinished
state. Not only the neck of the Virgin, but all the figures,
including that of a raan, as well as a column in the back
ground, are drawn out to an extraordinary length. There
is much sweetness of expression, raingled with affectation,
in this picture.
No. 235. A Holy Family, by Rubens.
No. 237. A Madonna and Saints, by Rosso Rossi, who
lived 1496 — 1541. This picture was painted for the family
of Dei, and was placed in their chapel at the Santo Spirito,
when the Madonna del Baldacchino was removed.
Rich tables of Florentine raosaic, and valuable vases of
black marble and gold, adorn every room of this suite,

THE PITTI GALLERY. 399
Small Rooms.
A square room to the back of the palace is called
the Stufa, or Stove. Pietro da Cortona painted the walls
in fresco, with allegories representing the Ages of Man,
from sketches by the younger Michael Angelo Buonarotti,
the nephew of the great sculptor. Matteo Rosselli added
the Virtues on the ceUing in 1622. Two celebrated bronze
statues of Cain and Abel, by the modem sculptor Dupre,
are the treasures of this room. They are finely composed
and modelled, and are no less reraarkable as an example of
Florentine bronze casting by Passi. Cain is placed in the
centre of the room ; the body of Abel lies prostrate, as if
from the violence of the fall. It is to be regretted the two
statues are not placed near one another, so as to form one
group. The adjoining room contains one of the most celebrated
pictures of the coUection, No. 266, the Madonna del Gran
Duca, by Raflfaelle — so called because it was always kept in
the private apartments of the grand-duke; and it is even
said that the grand-duchess directed her prayers to this
picture when she desired the birth of a son. The Virgin is
singularly modest and sweet ; the contour of her face and
the delicate form of the mouth, ^s well as the soft, downcast
eyes, are pre-eminently beautiful, even among RafifaeUe's
Madonnas, although this picture belongs to the artist's
Florentine period, and is neither so classical as the Madonna
della Seggiola, nor so subUme as his greatest creation, the
Madonna di San Sisto ; but for simple, noble loveUness and
purity, this representation of the Virgin is unrivalled ; the
light which seems to pass from her face melts in her soft

400 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
fair hair and in the blue-grey of her mantle, until lost in the
dark background ; her hands are rather large ; she holds
the ChUd tenderly, who is less lovely in face than' his
mother, but his flesh and limbs are beautifully painted and
modelled. Towards the end of the last century this valuable
work was in the possession of a poor widow, who sold it to
a picture-dealer for twelve crowns ; frora thence it found its
way to the GaUery of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand III., who
carried it with hira wherever he went. When bought from
the widow it was in a perfect state, but it has since that time
twice undergone the process of cleaning. This was the first
picture RaflfaeUe painted when he visited Florence, after
leaving the school of Perugino.*
No. 245 is also attributed to Rafifaelle. Passavant believes
this female portrait to be the model from which he painted
or rather idealized the Madonna di San Sisto. The fine
Roman head and bust and the sleeve of the dress he sup
poses to have been executed, by Rafifaelle himself, but the
rest of the picture to have been finished after his death by
an inferior hand. This portrait was in the Palace of the
Poggio Imperiale until 1824, when it was brought to the
Pitti. t
No. 256. A Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo : the com
position is very Leonardesque ; the infant St. John crouches
at the feet of Elizabeth, who smiles as if amused; the Virgin
is not elevated in feeUng, but the colour of this picture
is agreeable, though it has suffered from cleaning and
restorations.

* See Passavant's "Rafael von Urbino,'' vol. i. p, 85, vol. ii. p. 35.
t Ibid,, vol, i, p, 225, vol. ii. p, 336,

THE PITTI GALLERY. 401
No. 265. A fine half-length figure of St. John the Baptist,
by Andrea del Sarto, painted for the King of France, but
kept back by Ottaviano de* Medici, and finally placed in
this coUection.
No. 243. Portrait of King Philip IV. of Spain on horse
back, by Velasquez.
No. 255. An adrairable portrait of a gentleraan, by Van
der Heist.
No. 258. Another fine portrait of a gentleman, by the
Venetian, Tinelli, a scholar of Titian and Bassano. Tinelli
enjoyed a high reputation, and was patronised by Louis
XIII. of France.
No. 244. Portrait of a young man, by Franz Pourbus, an
excellent Flemish painter of the school of Floris. He
painted Henry IV. of France and Marie de' Medici ; the
hands are finely drawn.
Passing along a short passage, and leaving a boudoir
adomed with statues to the left, the first room arri<^ed at is
the Sala di Ulisse.
No. 307. Another fine picture, by Andrea del Sarto — the
Madonna and Child, with St. Lawrence, St. Paul the Her
mit, St, Sebastian, and St. Mark behind, and in the fore
ground St. John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. The
Infant Christ is full of dignity ; heads of cherubim support
the Madonna. "A fine, easily-handled work of the niaster,
in well-fused tones."*
No. 311. An interesting portrait of Charles V., by Titian,
painted at the same time with his son Philip II. for the
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iii. p. 571, and p. 572, note.
VOL. II. D D

402 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Grand-Duke Cosirao I. The emperor is advanced in years,
and has a worn and unhappy countenance.
No. 297. A very fine portrait of Pope Paul IIL, by the
Venetian, Paris Bordone. His long, thin figure, gaunt
features, and his sharp, querulous countenance, though full
of intelligence, are indicative of an unhappy, restless old
age. Paul III. (Alexander Farnese) was chosen Pope in
1554 at sixty-eight years of age. His chief aim was to check
the progress of Lutheranism. He had been married before
he took sacred orders, and he asked and obtained the hand
of Margaret of Austria, the illegitimate daughter of the
Emperor Charles V., for his grandson, Octavius Famese,
The benefits which he bestowed on his relations were only
repaid by ingratitude, and thus embittered the latter years
of his life ; he died at the advanced age of eighty-four.
Though a correspondent of Erasmus, he established the
Inquisition at Naples, and confirmed the Order of Jesuits.
No. 287. A good male portrait, by Santi di Tito.
Nos. 306 and 312. Two good landscapes, by Salvator
Rosa. No. 300. An old man, likewise by Salvator Rosa.
No. 324. Portrait of George VUliers, Duke of Buckingn
harii, the handsorae favourite of James I. and Charles I.,
by Rubens, assassinated by Felton in 1628. The picture is
full of Ufe, a face uniting beauty and talent.
Several pictures in this room are by Cigoli — No. 291, St.
Francis; No. 301, portiait ofa man; and No. 303, the Supper
at Emmaus.
There are also pictures by Cristofano AUori ; and No.
289, a fine picture by Ligozzi : the Virgin appearing to St.
Francis.

THE PITTI GALLERY. 403
The Sala di Prometeo contains some fine specimens of
the early Florentine school.
No. 338. A Madonna and Child, by Fra FUippo Lippi,
which has great sweetness and refinement ; the flesh tints
are painted with a gentie gradation, and the hands of
the Madonna, as well as the Child, are well drawn. The
Virgin holds a pomegranate in her left hand, which the
Saviour grasps with His right. In the background St. Anne
is seen in bed, and the infant Virgin is in the arms of an
attendant ; at the bedside is a woman followed by a female
servant with a basket on her head ; two other females with a
child bring offerings. The meeting of Joachim and Anne is
also represented.
No. 388. The death of Lucretia, by Fra Filippo Lippi.
No. 347. A Holy Family and Angels, attributed to
FUippino Lippi. The Virgin is kneeUng before the Child
in a garden of roses ; she is very tender and graceful ; the
ChUd is in a playful attitude; one of the angels throws
flowers. CavalcaseUe remarks : " This piece, which pleases
at first sight, will not bear close inspection, as it wants the
finish and feeling noticeable in Filippino. It reminds one
of the rounds by BotticeUi, without being assignable to him
either. It is a production of some subordinate." *
No. 357 is by BotticelU. The Virgin stands holding the
Infant Jesus down to receive the erabrace of the little
St. John, whose child-like tenderness and graceful figure
constitute the principal charm of this picture. There are
rose-bushes in the background.
No. 353. A portrait by Botticelli, of Simonetta, a lady
* See "Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. U. pp. 333, 334..

404 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
celebrated for her beauty, which is certainly nbt remarkable
in this picture. She has regular features, but her long neck
and awkward figure are not improved by a cap and gown as
ugly as they are simple. La bella Simonetta was beloved
by Giulio de' Medici.
No. 369. Ecce Homo, by Antonio da PoUaiolo ; and
No. 384, St. Sebastian, by the sarae master, of which
CavalcaseUe observes : " In the usual coarse forms and
proportions in the parts, but still displaying and reminding
of a study of the antique, and coloured with the bright tones
impregnated with much vehicle, which mark the Prudence
in the Uffizi."
No. 354. A Holy Family, attributed to Lorenzo Credi.
The Madonna worshipping the Child, who is laid on the
ground, his head resting on a bundle of faggots. In the
distance is a bright sunny landscape ; the ox and ass are in
one comer ; Joseph is looking on. This picture is probably
of the school of Credi.
No. 365 is by Mariotto AlbertinelH. The Virgin kneels
before the Child, who receives the nails, the instruments of
his sacrifice, frora an angel ; both the Christ and the angel
are very graceful, and the Virgin is pleasing. " A brilliant
easel piece, charming for the combination of the qualities of
Leonardo and Credi, for noble seriousness in the face of
the Virgin and the pleasing plumpness in the shape of the
Infant Christ; the landscape of Ferrarese minuteness in
detail, like that of Fra Bartolommeo's Vision of St.
Bernard." *
No. 377. Ecce Homo, by Fra Bartoloraraeo. . A head in
. * See " Crowe and CavalcaseUe," vol. iu. p. 486.

THE PITTI GALLERY. 405
fresco, resembling that of the half-length figure in the
Academy, No. 78 ; the expression is sad though sweet, and
there is a peculiar tenderness about the mouth.
No. 341. A small picture, by Pinturicchio, the Visit of
the Magi ; interesting from the variety of heads and expression.
No. 344. The Grand-Duke Cosimo III. when a Child,
by Sustermans ; a charming portrait, natural and siraple.
No. 345. A Holy Family, by Baldassare Peruzzi of Sienna.
No. 346. The Magdalene borne to Heaven by Angels, by
Taddeo Zuccaro ; the groups of cherubira and angels ex
treraely lovely.
No. 359. The Holy Family, by Domenico Beccafumi of
Sienna ; the children are pleasing.
No. 362. A Holy Family, by an artist of the school of
Francia of Bologna.
No. 363. A very lovely Holy Family, by Garofolo ; very
charming, though not divine.
A long, narrow corridor connects these rooms with a suite
farther in the interior of the palace, called the Corridor of
the Columns, frora two valuable columns of oriental ala
baster which are placed here. Six pictures in pietra-dura
represent Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music, the
Pantheon of Rome and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella. The
coUection of miniatures in water-colour and oil was made by
Cardinal Leopold de' Medici in the course of his travels
through Europe, but, unfortunately, there is no catalogue,
nor raeans to leam whom they represent. The first room
foUowing the corridor is called the Sala della Giustizia. The
rich Stipo, or Ebony Cabinet, inlaid with precious marbles in
the centre, was formerly used by Cardinal Leopold de'
Medici, when officiating at mass.

406 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
One of the most interesting pictures is No. 408, a portrait
of Oliver Cromwell, by Sir Peter Lely. The story connected
with this picture adds to its interest. When the persecution
of the Waldensian Protestants, whose suflferings Milton has
immortalised in his beautiful Ode, had -reached its height,
the Lord Protector of England deterrained to arrest its
course. He accordingly sent a raessage to the Pope, Alex
ander VIL, that if these barbarities did not cease, he would
send the English fleet up the Tiber. The result was an
order to the Duke of Savoy to stay his hand. The Grand-
Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II. , was so struck by the cour
age and character of CroraweU, that he requested him to sit
for this picture, which Lely, then a young raan, painted.
No. 401. A fine portrait ofthe Canon Pandolfo Ricasoli,
by Susterraans. He belonged to the Order of Jesuits, but
was accused of immoral practices, and was conderaned by
the Inquisition to be waUed up alive.
No. 403. Portrait of the Grand-Duke Cosirao I,, by
Angiolo Bronzino.
No. 404. Portrait of the Grand-Duchess Vittoria della
Rovere, by Carlo Dolce.
The ceiling of the Sala di Flora was painted by the
modem artist Marini. In the centre ofthe room is Canova's
celebrated statue of Venus, which was intended to replace
the Venus de' Medici, when this antique statue was carried
to Paris.
No. 415. Portrait of Ferdinand II., by Sustermans.
No. 423. The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Titian.
No. 427. The Calumny of Apelles, by Franciabigio,
who, like Sandro Botticelli, revived the subject treated by
Apelles,

THE PITTI GALLERY. 407
No. 430. The Madonna and Child, by CigoU.
No. 431. A landscape, by Agostino Tassi, the master of
Claude Lorraine, a very rare raaster.
No. 434. Portrait, by Bronzino, of the Engineer Luca
Martini, who drained the Tuscan Marshes by order of the
Grand-Duke Cosimo I.
No. 437. The Repose in Egypt, by Vandyke, painted in
the manner of his master, Rubens.
No. 447. A supposed portrait, by Giovan Bologna.
In the Sala dei Putti, No. 453, Peace burning the weapons
of war, by Salvator Rosa : a very fine landscape, which might
have furnished a study to our own Gainsborough ; the same
eflfects of light on sky and water, the broad touch in the
trees, dark-brown shadows in the foreground, and simple
chia.roscuro with little colour.
No. 458. Portrait, by Franz Dowen, of the Electress
Palatine Anna Maria de' Medici. She was daughter of
Cosimo IIL, and sister of the last Medicean Grand-Duke
Gian Gastone ; she survived all her faraily, dying in 1743.
She is again represented by the same artist. No, 459, in a
hunting costurae ; a third tirae. No. 466, and again. No. 467,
with her husband, the Elector Palatine.
No. 472. A beautiful little landscape, by Ruysdael ; No.
481, a good picture by Breughel, of a Madonna encircled
by a garland of flowers. There is also a Madonna, by
Andrea del Sarto.
Returning to the Sala di Prometeo, a room to the left is
called the Galleria Pocetti, as the ceiUng was painted by
that artist. At the end is a bust of the first Napoleon in
marble. The pictures contained in this room are not of
sufficient importance to deserve notice.

TABERNACLES,
'T^HE only reraaining speciraens of pictorial art to be
noticed are the Tabemacles at the corners of the old
streets and alleys, which once forraed a conspicuous feature
in Florence. Many of these were painted by the best
raasters, and enclosed in frames of raarble carved with
much elegance. The best have been removed to the
galleries, and though a few good pictures are still left in
their original positions, they are hardly to be distinguished
behind the glass, thickly engrained with dust.*
Sorae of the most iraportant are as foUows : —
The Cinque Lampade in the Via degli Alfani, already
raentioned. Charitable Persons bestowing Alras on Prisoners, by
Fabrizio Boschi, at the corner of the Bargello, also men
tioned above.
The Virgin and Joseph adoring the Child, by Pocetti,
opposite the Church of San Procolo.
Christ bestowing Alras on Prisoners, by Giovanni di San
Giovanni, in the Via del Palagio, where was once the
prison of the Stinche.
In the Via de' Tintori, at the corner of the wall opposite
* See vol. i. p. 197.

TABERNACLES. 40q
the Church of San Giuseppe, is a Tabernacle, by Jacopo da
Casentino, which has, however, been much repainted.
Beyond the Porta Sta. Croce is a Madonna, by Domenico
Veneziano, The Madonna and Child appearing to a Cardinal, and
chUdren, who worship below, by Alessandro Gherardini, is
near the Pia Casa di Lavoro di Montedomini.
Between the Via San Piero Maggiore and the Via dell'
Agnolo, near the market of San Piero Maggiore, is an
Annunciation, by Giovanni Balducci.
In the Piazza di San Martino, near the Institution for
the Poveri Vergognosi, is a fresco representing the good
Bishop Antonino distributing alms, by Cosimo UUvelli.
A tabemacle at the corner of the Via Larga and the
Piazza di San Marco, a good deal repainted, is by Gherardo,
a celebrated miniature-painter of the sixteenth century.
In the Via Chiara, between the Via Nazionale and the
Via Sanf Antonino, are two tabernacles — one by Gia-
nozzo Manetti, of a Holy Faraily, and the other a Cruci
fixion, with the Virgin and St. John, the Magdalene kneeling
in the background, by Pocetti.
In the Via deUa Ruote, between the Via San GaUo and
the Via Caterina, is the Marriage of St. Catherine, by
Doraenico Puligo ; the Virgin is standing with her Son in
her arms, who is giving the ring to St. Catherine, and
St. Peter Martyr is beside them.
The Martyrdom of St. Catherine, near San Boriifazio, is
by Ferrucci.
In the Via Nazionale is the Ltica della Robbia, already
mentioned.* * See vol. ii. p. 184.

4IO WALKS IN FLORENCE.
On the house in the Via de' Ginori, which once belonged
to Taddeo Taddei, the friend of Raffaelle, was a tabernacle
by Giovanni Sogliani, now transferred to the corner of the
Via del Bisogno ; it represents the Crucifixion, with the
Virgin and St. John below, and weeping angels above.
To the left of the Church of Sta. Maria Nuova, Christ is
represented with a mother and three children, by Giovanni
di San Giovanni ; and at the entrance to the cortile there
is another tabernacle — Christ with the Woman of Samaria,
by Alessandro AUori.
At the Canto de' Camesecchi, at the corner of the two
roads which lead to the old and new piazzas of Sta. Maria
NoveUa, is a fresco of the Virgin and Saints, by Domenico
Veneziano, which was so much admired that it excited the
envy of Andrea del Castagno, and led to his assassination of
Domenico. Behind the Hospital of San Paolo, near the Piazza di
Sta. Maria Novella, is a Virgin and Child enthroned, with
St. Peter and St. Paul on either side and angels above, by
Anton Domenico Bamberini.
The tabernacle at the comer of Santa Maria Novella,
at the head of the Via della Scala, is by Frangesco Fioren
tino, a pupil of Don Lorenzo Monaco, which, though in
jured, exhibits delicacy in the execution, and is pleasing in
colour.* In the Via Palazzuolo, near the Via del Prato, is a fresco
of Christ when a child, walking between his parents, by
Giovanni di San Giovanni.
A Virgin and Child, by Carlo PortelU, is in the Via delle
Terme. * See " Vasari," vol. ii. p. 214, note 3.

TABERNACLES. 4''
South of the Arno : a Virgin and Child appearing to a
Bishop, with two angels seated in front, by Cipriano Sensi,
is in the Via Maffia, leading from the Via Michelozzi to the
Via Fondaccio Santo Spirito,
In the Via della Chiesa is a Bishop kneeling, with a
Mother and Children, by Cosimo UUveUi.
A Holy Family, with St. Roch and other saints, and with
a cardinal on his knees, by FiUppino Lippi, is in the Via
de' Preti, in the neighbourhood of Santo Spirito.
Two Monks glorified, the Saviour above, by Domenico
Ghirlandaio, is in the Via della Caldaia, near the Via de'
Preti. A Virgin and Child, with two angels, by Pier Dandini,
is in the Piazza Santo Spirito.
Among these, it is probable that the best may still be
removed to the galleries. The purpose of these taber
nacles, to awaken the reUgious sentiment in the people, is
fulfilled, and the stimulus has lost its efifect ; the devout
worshipper is no longer seen in prayer before them, and
the crowd of indifferent passengers hurry past without even
appearing conscious of their existence.

MANUFACTURE OF PIETRA-DURA.
T N the Via degU Alfani is the establishment for the manu
facture of articles in Florentine mosaic, or pietra-dura,
which was at one time a royal monopoly, like that of
Sfevres china in France, and was chiefly used for gifts to
sovereigns and other exalted personages.
The art of producing pictures of fruit, flowers, and even
landscape and figures, by uniting stones of various colours
cut into the required shape, had been practised in Lom
bardy before it was introduced into Tuscany by the Medi
cean Grand-Dukes Cosirao I. and Francis I. When
Ferdinand I. fulfilled the intention of his father and brother,
by erecting the Mausoleum of San Lorenzo * for the inter
ment of the Medicean family, he desired that the walls
should be incrusted with marbles and precious stones ; and
for this object he founded the royal manufactory of pietra-
dura. About the year 1580, six Milanese masters in the
craft had been invited to Florence to teach the art of what
is now called Florentine mosaic; and in 1597, the first
atterapt at figure on record was made in a portrait of

* See vol. i. chap. viii.

MANUFACTURE OF PIETRA-DURA. 413
Cosirao I., executed by Messer Frangesco Ferrucci.* It
was not until the year 1600, however, that the Royal
Institute for the manufacture of pietra-dura commenced
operations; and, in i6oi, the Grand-Duke ordered a por
trait in this material of Pope Clement VIII. — Aldobrandini
of Florence — which portrait is still to be seen in the Corsini
Palace at Rome. The artist placed at the head of the
estabUshment was the architect Costantino de' Servi, who
was specially enjoined to superintend the excavation of the
stones, whether imported from other parts of Italy or from
abroad, and to see them sawed, to discover any flaws, and
select those best adapted for the ornaments destined to
enrich the Medicean Mausoleum. According to Baldinucci,
Costantino was remarkable for his skill in works of both
high and low relief, and stUl more in flat mosaic. Describ
ing the dilficulties of the art, Baldinucci proceeds thus : —
" The work is so excellent in its kind, that it not only
resembles a picture, but reaUty ; with this diflference, that
whereas it is the aim of a good painter to mix and diffuse
his colours, so as to form an indefinite nuraber of half-tints,
all differing essentially from the original colour, the artist
in commesso t cannot multiply his material, nor melt one
colour into another, but he raust adopt the stone as nature
has made it. In order to convey the colour by insensible
gradations from the highest light to the deepest shadow, he
must seek out the most delicate tints which nature has pro
duced, and observe the infinite number of shades dis-

* Not to be confounded with the sculptor in porphyry of the same
narae, who died a few years previously.
t The term used for this kind of mosaic.

414 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
coverable on the hardest geras and other stones. To ac
coraplish this, he must be well acquainted with the painter's
art, so as to be able at once to recognise in the stones or
gems those he can adapt for his purpose, and whether
intended for deep shadow or half-lights, to retain always
present and fresh in his memory, the kind of stone neces
sary to produce the eflfect."
The pietra-dura and gold reliefs, statuettes, and columns
now in the Gem Room of the Uflfizi Gallery, were all in
tended for the Medici Chapel, and were manufactured here..
In imitation of the Royal Mausoleum, the Senator Giovan
Battista Michelozzi, forty years later, placed the choir
in Santo Spirito, richly adomed with pietia-dura mosaic.
The art was carried from Florence to the East, when
Ferdinand I. sent four artificers to the Great Mogul to pro
cure a variety of silices, which abound in Northem India ;
and where, it is supposed, they assisted in the decorations of
the Taj Mehal, the famous tomb of Akbar, at Agra, on
which Orpheus is represented playing the violin, with beasts
who listen ; the whole encircled by garlands of flowers and
fruit of every description. Similar decorations in the Palace
of Shah Jehan, at Delhi, are likewise attributed to Italian
artists. The works in pietra-dura mosaic reached their highest
perfection in the reign of Ferdinand IL, when foreign
countries became eager to emulate Florence in this raanu
facture, and Florentine artists were invited both to France
and Naples. The greatest advance was made in the pro
duction and variety of half-tints and shadows — due, how
ever, principally to a French goldsmith and gem-carver,
Luigi Sirifes, who left the service of Louis XV, in 1722, and

MANUFACTURE OF PIETRA-DURA, 415
settled in Florence, where he was appointed Director in
the Pietra-dura Establishraent. He confined the art to
omamental uses, for which it is in reaUty adapted, and
ceased to represent figure and landscape, which, however
wonderfully achieved, only prove the irapossibiUty in this
raaterial to vie with the painter's art. The large tables
with a porphyry ground in the Pitti Gallery, and with repre
sentations of shells, flowers, &c., delicately shaded, are the
work of the brothers Luigi and Carlo Sirifes.
On the staircase leading to the Museum is a bust of the
founder, Ferdinand I. Within are specimens of the old
Florentine raosaic, chiefly intended for the altar of San
Lorenzo. The artist now eraployed for the designs is Signor
Odoardo Marchionni, who has introduced a harder raaterial
than paragona, which is allied to marble, and formerly used
for the ground of the raosaic. About thirty-eight persons are
employed in the establishment, which is wholly supported
by the Govemment, though no longer a monopoly, as indi
viduals are now perraitted to follow the art on their own
account ; but as the materials are expensive, shell is often
used instead of chalcedony in the pietra-dura sold in shops.
Both the designs and execution have lately been greatly
improved. A collection of the stones in use, such as agates
and siliceous substances, are arranged according to the
countries whence they are obtained, so as to enable the
workmen to select those best fitted for the purpose. They
are cut with wire saws and eraery powder, which last is also
used to poUsh the stone. Most of the work is inlaid and
flat, as statuettes and raised relief are now rare.

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM—ETRUSCAN REMAINS.
1 N the Via di Faenza, not far from the Piazza della Indi
pendenza, is the Egyptian Museum, to which the collec
tion of Etruscan remains, formerly in the Gallery of the
Uffizi, has lately been transported.
Early in the sixteenth century this buUding was a convent
belonging tg the nuns of San Onofrio, but it had long been
applied to secular uses, when in 1826 the proprietor, by
trade a coach-builder, wishing to increase the Ught in the
large square room, formerly the Refectory of the convent,
began whitewashing the walls. In the course of the work
traces of painting appeared beneath the dirt and coats of
whitening ; an artist was summoned to assist in cleansing
this away, and a beautiful cenacolo, or fresco, of the Last
Supper was discovered. As Raflfaelle visited Florence
from 1504 to 1505, and is supposed to have been employed
by the nuns to decorate the walls of their convent, the
Avork was at once assigned to him,; and this opinion ap
peared confirraed by the refined beauty of the heads, and
the careful drawing of the hands, feet, and drapery, to
which raay be added the period to which the painting cer
tainly belongs, and the inscription o^ RaffaeUe's name,

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 417
now indistinctiy seen on the border of Saint Thomas's
dress : —

«^«./ ^ M.D.V<

The following description of this fresco, at the tirae of its
discovery, was written by an eminent connoisseur in Art : *
— " The heads generally are pretty well varied, but much on
a level, in the stifif, hard style of the early raasters ; the
countenances wanting in expression, excepting that of Christ
and that of Judas. The Saviour is not divine, but a man
acquainted with sorrow ; mild, benignant, and melancholy.
His countenance is very sweet. The head of Judas is full
of spirit, but has rather the air of a fierce captain of banditti
than of a scoundrel betraying his Master, and seUing his
faith. The draperies are in general pretty broad, but the
remarkably fine master-work is in the painting of the hands
and feet; these are admirable, and the position of the
former surprisingly varied. On the hem of the garment of
one of. the disciples are to be found these characters, or
something near it — ' Raf. Vrbj. x MDXV.' Nb raan ex
cept Raflfaelle was ever adraitted within these walls."
Doubts have since arisen as to the authorship of this
fresco, and CavalcaseUe attributes it to other pupils of
Pemgino, stating that it had been painted over, and that
" the colour is that of a practised coarse hand, which is
neither Raffaelle's nor Perugino's." It is not, however,
* The late Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Bunbuiy, Bart., K.C.B.
VOL. II. E E

4 18 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
impossible that when the fresco, originally by Raflfaelle, was
restored by an inferior hand, the inscription may have been
injured in the process, which would account for its present
indistinctness. The obscure position of this inscription,
which can only be discovered after a close inspection, would
not have been selected by an impostor ; and the character
of the heads may be corapared with other works of Raflfaelle
at this period — his Madonna del Gran Duca, and Madonna
del Baldachino, both in the Gallery of the Pitti, as well as
with the -"portraits of Angelo Doni and his wife Madda
lena Strozzi, &c., &c. The head and- figure of St. James,
with his hands beautifully placed in repose, of St. Thomas
and of St. John, are very Rafifaellesque. Around the room
—besides original drawings and studies for this fresco,
which are likewise attributed to Rafifaelle — are other draw
ings, photographs, and engravings, showing the varied and
yet similar treatraent of the subject by artists of dififerent
schools and countries.
In the corridor from which this room is entered are
various Papyri and Egyptian remains ; and, tuming to the
left, a door opens on a large hall containing a valuable col
lection of Egyptian antiquities. At the end of this haU is a
very interesting bas-reUef, engraved and painted on the
stone which closed the burial place of King Sethos I.
(Ramases), and which was removed by Belzoni. The god
dess Hather, the supposed nurse of Sethos, raakes hira touch
her necklace, to express he was her cherished son. The
necklace is coloured, and of a flexible • material, fastened at
intervals by a ribbon. Imitations of this style of necklace
will be found on the statues of Etruscan Cippi, as well as
chains which resemble that round the neck of the king.

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 419
To the right of the relief is a curious stone cage, which
once held the sacred Hawk of the Egyptians. In the centre
of the room are large sarcophagi and statues, whilst along
the whole length of the wall, from the door, are ranged
rauraraies under glass. Over a closed door at the end is a
picture of all who were engaged in the Franco-Tuscan expe
dition to Egypt, 1828 — 1829. ChampolUon, who was at the
head, is seated, dressed as an Egyptian ; on his right is the
Director RoseUini ; both are listening to explanations from
a sheik. To the left of this picture is a case containing
Egyptian masks or busts in high relief, and an ancient
encaustic portrait of a very lovely Egyptian girl. A small
case near contains com grown from the seed found in a
mummy. Among the various utensils, articles of clothing,
sculpture, &c., which fill the cases down this side of the
room, there are most interesting bas-reUefs, showing the
whole process of making pottery.
Leaving this room at the end of the coiTidor is a smaUer
room, isontaining the rest of the Egyptian collection. In
the centre is a War-chariot of the simplest construction,
which was discovered in .a tomb. No iron has been
employed, but the wheels as well as the body of the vehicle
are all wood, bound together with thongs of leather. The
chariot is composed, of a half-circle of wood filled in with
straw plait — the only modem addition — on which the
charioteer could standi; a larger hoop, supported in the
centre by a wooden pole,^was for the reins ; the shafts are
long, and a very simple kind of harness is suspended from
the end of the shafts. Two flne mummy cases are placed
on each side of the room, and many smaUer ones are ranged
round the waUs, In the window are two black stone altars.

420 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
and a sraall statue in the same raaterial near the door repre
sents a priest or god, holding an inscription before him.
Cases No. VI. and VIII. are filled with recent acquisitions.
Case VI. has gold ornaments, a chain of amulets, statuettes of
Egyptian women washing clothes, and bronzes of various
periods. Case VIII. contains articles from the Island of
Cyprus ; a mixed asserablage of Greek, Phoenician, and native
Cypriote manufacture. Some of the vases do not dififer in
form from those of Greece proper or Etruria ; two or three
are unique in shape. The symbol of Cyprus — a series of
circles from small to large— is to be found on almost all.
One shelf is fitted with glass, among which some of the
beads are precisely the same as those found in Etruria.
Another shelf has terra-cottas, most of which are small
busts, and several are unraistakably Greek ; the Phoenician
ave in very rade art, and have the tall pointed cap usually
worn by that people. The Cypriote busts have a peculiar
physiognoray, and, according to Asiatic custom, are crowned
with wreaths or diadems, such as are seen on the heads of
Etruscan monumental figures.
Beyond this Egyptian roora is a small corridor with
shelves, on which are placed Etruscan ash-chests, coloured ;
one of these has the representation of a youth faUing in
battie, very spirited. The female figure to the left of the
entrance, and another to the right wheri leaving this corridor,
wear the virginal wreath, and belonged to monuments of
unmarried women. The fluted vase to the left, with a relief
round the rim representing a race, has b#en lately added.
In the. centre of the first Etruscan room is a bronze
statue, above life-size, of an orator, with his arm raised, as
if addressing an audience. He is attired in a tunic with

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 421
short sleeves, and a mantle which hangs in large and simple
folds ; an inscription in Etruscan character, on the border
of his tunic, has the name of the orator or of the sculptor,
Aulo Metello. The buskins, or shoes, are fastened by
leathern thongs twisted round the leg; the head is noble
and aniraated, with the eager expression, plain features, and
square intellectual brow commonly seen in Tuscany. The
exaggerated length of the right arra is owing to imperfect
repairs. The statue was discovered at Sanguinetto, near
the Lake of Thrasymenus ; it is a proof to what perfection
the art of bronze casting, as well as of modeUing, was
brought by the Etruscans. All round this room are ranged
cippi, or chests, which contained the ashes of the dead ;
there is one exception, where a statue, life-size, is placed
over a sarcophagus containing the body of the deceased.
These statues, which probably bore some resemblance in
face to the person when alive, are in general in short
proportions to fit the lid of the ash-chest, and are of a con
ventional type ; the reliefs below are generally very superior.
We are reminded in these monuraental figures of their
Asiatic origin : the men wear garlands or coronals, and
chains or necklaces like those of the Egyptian Sethos and
the goddess Hather ; these chains are sometimes twisted in
their coronals, instead of being hung round their necks ;
they have besides rings on their fingers, and hold the patera
or sacrificial cup ; soraetimes they have a tablet or diptych
in their hands ; the. females are generally represented with a
fan forraed like a palm-leaf, or they have rairrors. In the
window is a statue of a reclining female, raore than usually
elegant ; she has a bracelet and armlet on her right arm,
not unlike the silver bracelets worn by Hindoo women.

422 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
The favourite subjects of the reliefs on these cippi are
taken from Greek story, and the composition and even the
execution of several are worthy of Greek artists. Incidents
from the tale of the siege of Thebes, the Calydonian Boar,
the fight with the Minotaiu, the Rape of Helen, the Trojan
War, and the events in the history of Ulysses, are frequently
repeated. Many of the subjects are simply typical of
death ; the -separation of a husband and wife, and of parents
from their children, — ^winged demons wait to convey the
soul away in a chariot with horses ; in some instances a
female is anointing a seated figure, as for sacrifice ; in others,
a victim is kneeUng at an altar. Nearly in the centre ofthe
wall, and facing tlie -window, is a monument on which is
represented a, group of persons lifting the body of the
deceased into' a car; the sinking figure, the actions of those
around, and the whole composition might bave formed a
study for a Deposition from the Cross to an artist of the
Cinque-cento period.
The second room is smaller, but contains a choice collec
tion of cippi ; one especially, which faces the entrance to
the Hall of the Orator, a little to the right, has two warriors
sinking to the ground after a fatal combat ; each is sup
ported byhis genius or guardian spirit, whilst between them,
seated on a rock, is a third winged genius, holding the
sword of justice. The expression of the fainting heroes,
particularly of the warrior nearest death, is extremely
beautiful. Above them is placed another relief, with a
similar subject, repeated on one of the cippi in the Hall of
the Orator, though inferior in execution. Two nude statues
of Proserpine, with stones for arms, are on each side of the
door leading to- a further room. The following subjects are

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 423
represented on cippi in this room : — The soul departing in
a chariot ; a group of persons starting on a journey — the
females in a waggon, the men on horseback; a family is
taking leave of a dying person ; Ulysses and the Syrens, —
possibly signifying that those on the voyage of life must,
like Ulysses, be deaf to all the seductions which might
detain them here, — this subject is very common ; pointed
columns are also frequent, though the meaning is not satis
factorily explained ; a beautiful relief of the story of Oirestes
and Pylades — they are at the tomb of Agamemnon, and
Electra, the sister of Orestes, is foUowed by a slave, who
bears a tray, or focolaro, so pften met with in Etruscan
tombs. 'Where a dolphin is represented, it refers tp the story
of the Tyrrhenean pirates, whom Dionysius or Bacchus, the
god whose rites are symbpUcal of immortality, turned into
dolphins. Snakes or hippocampi were considered by the
Etruscans emblematical of the passage of the soul from one
state of existence to another ; and the same idea is applied
to. all amphibious animals, fabulous or real, when represented
on these tombs.
^In the centre of this roora is the bronze Chiraaera found
near Cortona, when the fortifications of the city were
repaired in 1554; it is cited by Vasari as a proof of the
perfection of Etruscan bronze casting.* The inscription on
the paw may signify the name of the artist; the characters
mark the period, as some letters in the Etruscan alphabet
are known to have been a late irino vation. When first dis
covered, the Chimaera was conveyed to Florence, and
plaped- in a room of the Palazzo Vecchio, inhabited by the

* .See Vasari, " yite dei Pittori," vol. i. p. 199.

424 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Grand-Duke Cosirao I. The rayth of the Chirasra or Fire-
breathing monster, — therefore the more appropriately repre
sented in raetal, — was first invented in a volcanic district of
Asia Minor, from whence a colony was planted in Etruria ;
but it seeras difificult to account for the forra given to it of
a lion with a dragon or serpent's tail, and a goat's head
springing frora the back. The Chimsera, as here repre
sented, has been wounded by Hercules, the chosen hero of
the Etruscans, and the whole action of the animal and of
its three heads express pain.
The small room beyond contains armour discovered a
few years ago in a tomb near Orvieto. It has been
moulded to the form of the wearer, and the grieves and
every part is finished with the utmost precision. The
reraains of gilding are still to be traced on the bronze.
Cabinets with various instraments, strigils, &c., surround
the room, and in the window is a most exquisite bronze
pail, suspended on a hook, with a relief around it. The
subject is a Bacchanalian procession. An outline drawing
of this beautiful composition is exhibited on the wall.
At the entrance to a second suite of rooms are two rude
though expressive terra-cotta figures; on one side is a
raost beautiful bronze statue of Pallas Athenas with the
vfEgis. The repairs have been badly made, and are easily
detected. The statue is worthy of the utraost praise for
elegant proportions and finish of detaU. Around, placed
under glass, is a collection of small bronzes. In the case
to the left is a representation of a dead stag, hanging head
downwards ; there are Ukewise statuettes of warriors, winged
horses, chimaeras, &c. Opposite this case a very early
period of art is represented in the long, shapeless figures of

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 425
gods, taken from an Etruscan teraple, the bells of which are
exhibited below. A third case has a collection of various
instruments, such as handles, and the strigil used to scrape
the oil from the persons of gladiators preparing for the
games. Lastiy, a case of other utensils, handles, Src,
which exhibit a high state of art ; one handle is formed of
two genii supporting a wounded raan ; a second, of a warrior
who raises another sinking in death.
The long corridor, which connects this cabinet with
another at the farther end, is filled with Etruscan inscrip
tions ; these are chiefly on tiles, which were used to close
up the graves of the dependants or friends of a great family,
and who were buried in the walls or the erabankments on
either side of the passage or staircase leading to the prin
cipal tomb. Other inscriptions belong to cippi. On the
top of three ranges of shelves are placed roiind or conical
stones, which were used to mark the burial-places in the
Etruscan cemetery.
The cabinet beyond contains a collection of raost ex
quisite gold omaments, some unique of their kind — such as
a pair of earrings formed of a lion's head, grand in its
small proportions, and, hanging from its jaws, is a little
filigree basket, with a dove at the top. In another case
there is a sraall but valuable collection of Etruscan coins,
beginning with the large, clurasy bronze raoney, having the
wheel of Etraria, and ending with a fine Greek work on the
silver coin, besides two or three rare and valuable gold
pieces, bearing the head of the chimaera; these last have
been contributed to the Museum by the Marchese Carlo
Strozzi. The wheel, which often appears on the monuments
as well as coins, is a symbol peculiar to Etruria ; and even

426 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
in these days the inhabitants of certain villages in the
neighbourhood of Coitona are known as the Ruotelesi, or
the people of the wheel. Another case in this room con
tains articles in ivory and glass. In the third and fourth
cases are exhibited bronze instruments, spear-heads, hatchets,
fibulae, or clasps, and flint arrow-heads.
The next room contains objects in terra-cotta ; sorae very
spirited heads or masks are in the case to the right ; one,
of an old woman with a single tooth and bUnd of an eye,
is especially remarkable ; also a relief of a ship with rowers
and pilot, as well as a very elegant little torso of a
youth. Opposite are vases of white terra-cotta, richly ornamented,
and evidently ofa late period ; others are black, fluted, with
a fine polish ; on some of these is a very beautifully i -jecuf ed
representation of a hunter and dog. Terra-cottas of animals
in very rude workmanship, horses, &c., not unlike the toys
sold to this day in the streets of Florence, and ex voto
offerings, of arras, feet, &c., are in the last case to the left;
whilst opposite are Canopi, or ash-chests, with the head
and arms of a man.
The last two rooms of this Museum contain a small but
choice collection of Etruscan vases, beginning with those
in the farther room near the . entrance-hall. The cases are
divided by two shelves, and within the lowest division is a
narrrower shelf, on which are ranged the. smaUest vases.
Below are imperfect or unimportant vases and terra-cottas
of various kinds.
The earUest Etruscan pottery in Case I. is mde iu
material and in construction, The third little jar from the
right is one of the oldest specimens of pottery in existenc ;,

Forms of Etruscan Vases,

Page 427. II.

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 427
and was found at Sovana, near Pitigliano. The fourth and
sixth vases ai-e peculiar, from the perpendicular lines on
their surface. All these early vases have been baked in
the sun. The curious vessel on the bottom shelf of
Case II, is supposed to have been intended to hold Uve
animals, pigeons, or rabbits. In Case II, the vases are of
an improved form, and we find the black ware pecuUar
to Chiusi, the ancient capital of Etruria. Jugs with one
handle (CEnochoe) {see No. 7 of illustration), mixing-jars—-
wide-raouthed vessels with two sraall handles, for mixing
the wine with water, and known as Stamni {see No. 9),
and cups (Cylix) {see No. 6), have on them representations
of virild animals, sea-horses, &c., typical of immortality.
On the lowest shelf is a curious and ugly vessel with many
mouths. As these vases haye been all found in the vaults or
chamber-tombs of Etruria, it is supposed their forms weie
imitations of vessels in common use ; but their peculiar
omaments are symbolical of Etruscan ideas of iramdftaUty.
They were probably manufactured for the funereal banquets
held in these abodes of the dead.
On the top shelf of Case IV. is a very fine Canopus ; the
hunian head is supposed to represent the manes or soulless
body of a dead person, and is found on Greek gems with
Mercury, the guide of souls to the infernal regions. Upon
the jugs below are seen the symbolical bird, the dove or
cock ; the last suggesting the re-awakening of the spirit.
On the lowest shelf, a kind of stove and dishes are orna
mented with heads of a very Egyptian type.
In the centre of the top shelf. Case V,, is a very large
water jar, a vessel with three handles (Hydria) {see No. 10) ;

428 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
and on either side, jars for wine or oil with two handles
(./Vraphorae) {see No. 2) — one of these has a man and horse
in relief repeated all round. Two fine cups without
handles are on the next shelf, with an GEnochoe, having
likewise subjects in relief; below is a two-handled cup
(Cantharus) {see No. 5), good in form, and with a delicate
fan-like ornament in white. On the bottom shelf is a large
circular Focolaro, a sort of tray containing various vessels
left exactly as they were found in the tomb whence it was
taken. These focolari are supposed by some to have been
placed in the tombs of raothers of families, and the vessels
within to represent household or kitchen utensUs ; besides
cups, bottles, ladles, &c., there is generally a tablet, which
may have been used to write down the orders for the day.
Case VI. On the second shelf are five remarkable
CEriochoe. The central vase has a lid in the form of a
bull's head, and round it is a relief representing a raan
seizing a bull by the horns with one hand, whilst with the
other he grasps one of the aniraal's forelegs, — probably
Theseus conquering the ferocious Marathanian bull ; above
are heads of lions and of the Chiraaera. The four remain
ing CEnochoe have huraan faces and winged grififins in
relief around, with the bird at the top. Below this shelf is
a large CEnochoe with tigers carrying off their prey ; in the
upper part are Egyptian heads. On either side of this vase
are Focolari.
Case VII. Two large CEnochoe and a Hydria with the
cock at the top; round these vases are reUefs of wild
animals. In the middle of the second shelf is a singular-
shaped vase, like a tunny fish, with a huraan face, having
Egyptian curls hanging down at the end; on either side

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 429
are very singularly-shaped small CEnochoe ; lower down are
cups with a heating apparatus beneath thera ; also curiously
shaped vessels, supposed to support the arra when writing.
On the bottora shelf is a large dish with two handles, and
two Focolari, one ofwhich has also two handles.
Case VIII. A Hydria and CEnochoe, both of which have
the cock at the top, and two circular bowls ; on the bottom
shelf is a very large Focolaro, omamented by human heads
with ram's horns ; there are likewise flat dishes with beauti
fully twisted handles and doves, and, where the handles
join the dish, Egyptian heads. These dishes rest on sraall
round stoves.
Case IX. Amphorae with reUefs ; on the shelf of small
vases is a dish, composed of three cups, probably for condi
ments to be placed in the middle of the table. There are,
besides, two circular bowls, and another large Focolaro,
with hunian heads, without the ram's horns ; the eyes are
half-closed, and the mouths are smiling; the chins are
singularly long, and the cheek-bones high.
Case X. A large circular Focolaro with the usual accom
paniments, and two more round bowls.
Case XI. A singular vessel or mixing-jar, in the form of
a gourd. Next this case is the entrance to a low chamber, con
structed to resemble the Etrascan tomb recently discovered
near Orvieto, with copies ofthe paintings on the walls, and
vases on a low shelf around. The bronze gUt armour and
vases in a room already described were taken from this
torab. An ancient bronze candelabrura is placed in front,
with candles attached to it, in the same manner as the
painted candelabram on the wall of the compartmerit to the

430 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
right. The paintings represent what -may 'be supposed to
be the funereal banquet. Meat is hung up, and cooks
engaged in the preparations are seen to the left. On the
right, Pluto and Proserpine and guests are seated at the
feast. One young man with a vase in his hand is singulariy
beautiful and Greek in character.
Retuming to the first room. Case XII. contains another
gourd-shaped vessel with a Ud, the edge of which is moulded
like the lotus leaf
Case XIII. On the second shelf is an CEnochoe, with a
head of Egyptian type seen in profile, and animals in relief.
Case XIV. The raaterial, as well as designs, of the vases
exhibited in this case, arid in Case XV., belong to the finest
period of black pottery. The polish is singularly clear and
bright, the shapes are simple and elegant ; sorae are fluted,
but most of them smooth. The smaller vases, lamps,
oenochoe, &c., are exceedingly beautiful. There are also
two Pateras (saucers), with a hollow protrusion in the centre
for the insertion of the middle finger, precisely like those
seen in the hands of male figures on the Etruscan cippi.
Case XV. A sieve of very fine workmanship ; a beauti
fully fluted cup is on the second shelf, and among these
elegant vases a jug of an old and singular form {see No. 4).
A small marble chair in the window of this room was
found in a tomb with a canopus upon it.
The vases in the adjoining room are all supposed to be of
Greek origin, though found in Etruria, and probably of
Etruscan manufacture. The works of art of this singular
people prove them to have attained a high degree of civili
sation, but nothing remains of their history beyond a few
inscriptions, difificult to decipher, in an extinct language.

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 431
and the scanty records, or references made to them by
Roman authors. They appear to have been a mixed race
of colonists frora Asia, Egypt, and Greece, who had inter
married with the Italian aborigines ; and everything, how
ever trifling, which can throw light on their manners and
customs, and on their ideas of religion,, has an additional
interest when associated with the character of their descend
ants, inhabiting the same country.
The earliest pottery which had any pretension to artistic
form was made in Corinth, and the few speciraens that
remain, may be recognised by a rude representation of the
Corinthian Rose, of which one or two may be seen in
Case I. A Corinthian is supposed to have first imported
the art to Etraria. The Etruscan vases of the earliest
period, in the sarae case, are of a yellow or pale ashen
colour, and have a dull opaque surface ; they are decorated
with designs in brown, crirason, purple, and white. The
figures are ranged within horizontal bands round the vase,
and are Asiatic in character, whUst the lotus-leaf of Egypt
forms a conspicuous ornament : the subjects are chiefly the
combats of wild animals — lions, leopards, bulls, goats,
swans, the sphinx, chimaera, and grififin, all representing a
chaotic age ; whenever the human form appears, it is stiff
and conventional, and the names are -written over each, in
early Greek or Etrascan characters.
The second style of vase-painting was probably of
Athenian origin, as Athens was celebrated for beauty of
design, and a portion of the city was assigned to the potters,
whose works must have been held in high estimation, since
they were given as prizes in the games. It is not surprising
that works of art so fragile have almost all perished during

432 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
the centuries of barbarian rule in Greece ; and only a few,
which have been assigned by conjecture to Athens, may
still be seen in the museums of Europe. The period of
painted Greek vases coraraences earlier than any known
Greek sculpture, and ends about the reign of Alexander of
Macedon, b.c. 360. They were used first in the celebration
of the rites of Bacchus and Ceres, the divinities of wine
and corn, whose ceremonies were symbolical of immortality ;
for as the skin of the grape must be broken to produce
wine, and the corn must be sown in the ground and die
before bread can be made, so the body of man must perish
before his spirit can be set free. These painted vases were
sometimes used to contain the wine thrown on the funereal
pile, and were afterwards placed in the torab ; others con
tained the ashes of the dead ; others, again, were the gifts of
friends, and these have the narae, and the Greek word KAAOS,
Beautiful, equivalent to " HaU," inscribed on thera : many of
the vases were used as rewards for the victors in the public
games. The ground of these vases of the second period is
red, and the figures black, with the occasional use of white
for the faces and hands of females, and even purple in
the. draperies. The drawing is dry and stifif, but with Ufe,
movement, and dramatic effect sometimes bordering on
caricature ; the subjects are chiefly taken from the exploits
of Hercules, the favourite Etruscan hero. The large eyes
represented on two small CyUce and on the Patera, in Case I.,
have been variously explained; some suppose them to
represent the eyes in the peacock's tail, well-known in
Christian legends to be typical of immortality ; others be
lieve the vases which have eyes, belonged to ships, as eyes
were commonly painted on the prows of Greek vessels, and

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 433
continue to be so on the trading ships of Greece or Dal
matia to this day ; a celebrated vase in the British Museum
has the eye on the ship of Ulysses, who is passing the
S)Tens. This peculiarity may have arisen from the resera
blance a ship bears to the dolphin.
The subject on an Araphora of early date in Case I.,
lowest shelf, is a hero and his charioteer starting on a
joumey. Mars and Minerva are beside him. An old
white bearded man is seated at the horses' heads. On
another Amphora, Mercury (bearded) is represented leading
Juno, Minerva, and Venus to Paris. A third Amphora has
Apollo seated beside a palm-tree, and playing on a lyre,
whilst a female tums to listen, and raises her hands to her
liead. Case III. An Amphora from Vulci. The drawing is
archaic but true. Hercules carries a pole on his shoulder,
at the ends of which two youths are suspended with their
heads downwards. These youths are the two Cercopes or
Gnomes who robbed Hercules in his sleep. The hero has
his club in one iiand. He is preceded by Mercury, the god
of thieves, as well as conductor of souls to Pluto, who tums
round, raising his right hand. Mercury wears his cloak and
wiflged Petasus or cap, and holds his caduceus in his left
hand, A goat is beside him.
Case IV. On the second shelf an CEnochoe, on which
Miner\'a is represented seated. She is attired in her xgis
and helmet, and carries her lance in her left hand, whilst
raising her right to receive the Ubation which Hercules
oflfers her in a cantharus ; above hang his bow, quiver, and
club. On an Olpe or jug, of a peculiar shape, No. 12,
Ariadne is seated on the bull. The word Olpe signifies a
VOL, II. F F

434 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
leathem flask, and was used for jugs without spouts. The
Olpe belongs generally to an early period. Two CEnochoe
have representations of warriors fighting over a dead body,
and three female figures with stars above them, carrying a
cornucopia and grapes, probably the Hesperides, from whom
Hercules stole the golden apples.
Case V. A very singular Hydria, with a chequered pattern
round the mouth. On the lid is an asserably of the gods ;
below are bacchanalian figures saluting a superior personage
by raising the hand to the forehead in the Indian manner.
In the central band is a dance of satyrs. The colours are
black, white, and red. Another Hydria of early or archaic
tinies represents the legend of Triptolemus, the favoured of
.Demeter or Ceres, the inventor of the plough and of agri
culture, and the hero of the Eleusinian mysteries. Deraeter
had giveii Triptoleraus a chariot with winged dragons, and
seeds of wheat which he sowed over the earth. He is
always represented as a youthful hero, sometimes with the
Petasus (the felt cap worn by ploughraen and fishermen, the
same as that worn by Mercury, with the addition of wings),
with a sceptre and ears of corn, and with a chariot drawn
by dragons. On this vase Triptolemus is represented with
winged horses. Lower down he is attended by a female
figure with a cup. In another part of the vase Hercules is
seen strangling the lion, and Triptoleraus again in his
chariot, besides warriors and a female carrjang a vase. On
the small shelf is a beautiful little Cantharus with two
handles. The third and best style of ceramic art consists of red
figures on a black ground. The designs do not at first
differ widely from those of the second period, and the' style

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 435
may be divided into eariy and late. The eariy is stiflf and
archaic, but vigorous ; the late, in which the art of drawing
has attained greater elegance, as well as freedom, may be
assigned to three hundred years before our era, or from the
end of the Peloponnesian War to Alexander the Great. The
early or strong style belongs to the age of Phidias ; the
more graceful is cotemporary with Panhasius and Apelles.
Inscriptions gradually disappear, and scenes of domestic
Ufe, or the gentler tales of heroic legend, are substituted for
the labours of Hercules and the feats of Achilles,
Case V. A large and very beautiful Hydria. A warrior is
dancing on a board, whUst a lovely feraale is seated before
him ; her attendants play on musical instruments in a l3and.
Below, a female flies from a youthful warrior, and two other
maidens turn towards a dignified old man, as if to appeal
to him for protection.
A fine Stamnos has a representation of a ceremony during
the feast of new wine. A table, on which are two Stamni,
is placed before an image of Bacchus, and females with cups
and ladles are mixing the wine with water. Their drapery
falls in straight folds, but is very elegant. The Feasts of
Bacchus or Dionysius are favourite subjects on Greek or
Etrascan pottery ; for the god was held in peculiar venera
tion in Lydia, whence a colony had settled in Etruria,
Near the Stamnos just described, is an Araphora on which
Mercury is represented pursuing a nyraph ; and on another
Stamnos, Hercules plays the double pipe to Pan, who
carries his club, whilst a Faun falls backwards in wonder at
the sight.
On a PelUce, a vase rarely found in Etruria, and belong- '
ing to the most perfect style of art {see No. i.), is the figure

436 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
of a man binding up the arm of a youth, in very fine draw
ing. Case VII. contains a Celebe, or wide-mouthed vessel, gene
rally found in Sicily or Magna Grecia {see No. ii.); this
Celebe belongs to the Phidian period, and the drawing of a
Centaur and Lapitha is full of vigorous movement, Ufe, and
strength. A beautiful little Amphora has the genius of
Harmony, and on a companion vase is a nymph with ribbons ;
both were intended for marriage presents. A fine Cylix, or
shallow cup {see No. 6.), has two Fauns playing the double
pipe and dancing before a child, over whom a male figure
with two sticks appears to be performing an incantation ;
a female with her back turned to this group has the sarae
child, on whora she is placing an ass's head ; two other
females, with sticks and a cup, converse, or are engaged
in a ceremony. This design may allude to sorae legend of
the sorceress Circe; the coraposition and drawing are
excellent. On a fine Crater, Neptune is covering Encelades
with the Island of Sicily ; both figures are very powerful in
drawing, and belong to the Phidian period. Within this
crater is a second vase to contain the ashes of the dead,
which was originally closed by the beautiful Rhyton or
drinking cup, shaped like a horse's head, hanging above.
Within the rim of this Rhyton is a delicate little drawing of
male and female figures. A Celebe in this case has again
the subject of the feast of new wine ; two male and two
female figures with cups and the double pipe.
The cases which follow contain some vases of greater in
terest, found in the recentiy discovered torabs of Orvieto,
the copy of which is next the first room of vases. A
Stamnos with yeUow figures on a black ground, and with a

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 437
duU surface, has a spirited and beautiful drawing of Hercules
or Herakles, as an infant, strangling the serpent sent to
destroy him by Juno-Hera. His mother, Alcmena, noble
in person and attired in majestic drapery, has her spindle in
her left hand, whilst extending the right to her heroic son ;
Ificles, the half-brother of Herakles, here called lolaus (who
was in reality the son of Ificles), flies for protection to a
wonian, who is probably an attendant or nurse. Zeus or
Jupiter, and Hera, look on with displeasure from behind.
On the other side of this vase, Priam is represented kneeling
at the feet of Achilles to beg for the body of Hector ;
Achilles, seated in the centre, turns towards Pallas-Athenae-
Minerva, who wears the agis, but has laid aside her helraet ;
the owl is seated on her spear. A female between Athenae
and Achilles, with an amphora and oenochoe in her hands,
possibly Briseis, appears to intercede. The Trojan hero
lies dead at the feet of Achilles ; Priam wears his royal
mantle and the fillet round his head ; a youth, to whom it is
difficult to assign a name, is between him and Achilles.
The horses behind, fed by a groom, are probably meant to
signify the crael fate of Hector, since they have been taken
frora the chariot of Achillej. The groora or slave has an
entirely dififerent type of face frora the Greco-Etruscan.
A second vase, in the forra of an Araphora, has the repre
sentation of a soul urged on by a Deinon towards Charon,
who has yellow and white wings on his shoulders and heels,
and homs on his head; he is seizing on the soul of a
woman enveloped in a mantle ; behind Charon is Cerberus.
The figures are short and clumsy, though animated, and
the contrast is well given between the calm and wonder
ing aspect of the soul and the fury of the demons. Another

438 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Amphora has twisted handles ; the design is a combat of
Centaurs. The rest of the vases within the cases in this room illus
trate the fourth period, or that of the decline ; the ground is
left pale red, or reddish yellow ; the designs are overloaded
with ornament without regard to symmetry, and the drawing
is careless and incorrect. This style extends nearly to the
end of the Roman Republic, a few years before the
Christian era.
In the window is a large Amphora of white terra-cotta,
round which is painted three dancing nymphs. On each
side are Amphorae of immense size, in one of which was
found the ashes of the dead. The soul is represented seated
within a shrine, and a horse ready to convey it away. On
one vase is a winged genius with an old man, possibly
Pluto or Vulcan, who is admonishing the departed soul ;
friends bring gifts ; the head or manes of the deceased is
represented on the handles and neck of the vase. The lid
of one vase has been lately restored.
In the middle of this room is the celebrated Frangois
Vase, discovered by Monsieur Frangois near Chiusi, in 1845,
also called the Vase of Peleus^^from the principal subject ;
a lost fragment was long afterwards discovered by the
Marchese Carlo Strozzi, which is now placed below it. It
i.s in the second style, black figures on a light ground ; in
the central band is the marriage of Peleus, the father of
Achilles, to Thetis, on Mount Pelicon ; the gods are here
represented taking part in the marriage solemnity. The
uppermost band has the hunt of the Calydonian Boar, and
Theseus slaying the Minotaur ; the second contains the
legend of the Centaurs and of Achilles. Below the marriage

EGYPTO-ETRUSCAN MUSEUM. 439
of Peleus is the story of TroUus, and Vulcan's return to
Olympus ; the fifth band is filled with wild animals ; the
sixth has the Pigmies and the Cranes.
In the glass case below are also several curious and
elegant small vases of various periods. A beautiful Patera
has the representation of a banquet ; two youths prepare
for the games, and are holding the stiagil with which they
have scooped ofif the oil anointing their bodies ; a fillet is
bound around their heads ; above the principal figures, who
recUne on couches, hang all the utensils for the banquet.
The subject is repeated on the sarae vase.

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
'¦"["'HE palace in which the Natural History Museum of
Florence is preserved originally belonged to the Bini
family, but passed through several hands until the year
1795, when the Grand-Duke Pietro Leopoldo purchased
the building from the Torrigiani. He employed the Abate
Felice Fontana to begin a collection of objects illustrative
of natural history, and afterwards appointed him Director of
the Museura, which was opened to the public in the year
1780. In 1807 the Queen of Etruria, Elisa Buonaparte —
Bacciocchi — added a School of Public Instruction, and
founded Chairs of Astronomy, Physics, Anatomy, Zoology,
Mineralogy, Botany, and Chemistry, which were maintained
until the restoration of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand III. in
1 8 14, when this admirable institution was suppressed. It
was, however, restored in 1833, after the accession of the
late- Grand-Duke Leopold II. , with the exception of the
Botanical Chair, which was only reinstated in 1842. Since
the accession of Victor Emmanuel in 1859, the institution for
raore advanced studies — Studii Superiori — has been founded,
and Chairs of Geology, Metallurgy, and Mining added.
Courses of lectures are annually delivered. The present
Directpr or President of the School and Museum, is the
eminent botanist, Professor Filippo Parlatore.

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 441
The Palaeontological Museum is on the ground-floor,
where there are also rooms devoted to the cheraical and
philological department. Within the court of the building
is a fine block of lignite, and another.of lead ore from Sardinia.
The two singular globes, one terrestrial, the other celestial,
placed at the entrance, were constructed by Matteo Neroni,
and by Ignazio Dante, the author of the maps in the Palazzo
Vecchio and of the astionomical instruments on the fagade
of Sta. Maria Novella. These globes were brought here
from the Palazzo Vecchio.
On the first-floor are tiie collection of physical instru
ments, as well as the Botanical Museura. Immediately to
the right, at the head of the staircase, is a small temple con
secrated by the last Grand-Duke Leopold II. to the memory
of the celebrated Galileo Galilei, the inventor of experi
mental philosophy, who was born at Pisa in 1564, and died
in Florence 1692. His statue here is by Aristodemo Costoli,
a Florentine sculptor, recently deceased ; it is placed in the
centre of the Tribune. The walls, decorated with stucco,
are also painted with frescos representing incidents in the
Ufe of the philosopher ; and around are busts of his disciples
or fellow-workers. Some of Galileo's most valuable instru
ments are exhibited in cases or niches. Among the most
interesting are the two first telescopes constructed by him
self in 1609, when he held the Chair of Mathematics in
Padua. The Venetian Senate, as a reward for this inven
tion, confirmed him in his professorship for life. It was by
means of one of these telescopes that he discovered the
satellites of Jupiter. The Grand-Duke Ferdinand I. of
Tuscany desired to possess this instrument, but it was only

442 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
after the death of Galileo that it became the property of
his son Cosimo III.
In another niche is the first microscope invented by
Cialileo, and presented by his disciple Vincenzio Viviani,
b. 1622, d. 1703. The telescopes which belonged to Torri
celli, Viviani, and other physicists are all likewise preserved
here, as well as the powerful crystal lens made by Brezans
of Dresden, and placed on a wooden pedestal, which thir
teen years after the extinction of the Accademia del Ciraento
was used by Averani and Targioni, the pupils of Viviani
and Redi, in their experiments on the combustibility of the
diamond, and of other precious stones, and which in our
days was also employed by the celebrated Sir Huraphrey
Davy, in his researches into the cheraical components of
the diamond.
Viviani, the favourite pupil of GaUleo, has been already
mentioned in a previous chapter ; but Evangelista TomceUi,
the inventor of the barometer, has a name of even greater
celebrity, A native of Faenza, born in 1608, he was
educated in the Jesuits' College of that city, until his uncle,
a Camaldoline friar, anxious for the further development of
his remarkable talents, sent hira to Rome. TorriceUi there
formed the acquaintance of Castelli, a pupil of Galileo, and,
some years later, the great philosopher invited hira to
Florence, and received him as a son. After the death of
Galileo, which took place within three months afterwards,
Torricelli was appointed his successor as Court Mathema
tician, and was chosen a member of the Accademia della
Crusca, but he died at the early age of thirty-nine.
Averani, a Florentine, bom in 1645, was educated at the
Jesuits' College in Florence, where he displayed an almost

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 443
universal genius; equally distinguished in Uterature and
science, he was appointed Professor of Greek at Pisa,
where he died in 1707.
Targioni Tozzetti, a celebrated physician and botanist,
was born in 17 12, and died in 1783. At twenty-three years
of age he was appointed Professor of Botany, under Micheli,
at Pisa, and afterwards Director of the Botanical Garden in
Florence, where he completed the catalogue of plants.
Having been made Librarian to the Magliabecchian Library,
he arranged the vast number of volumes bequeathed to the
city by that eccentric book-collector. Targioni having
resigned his place as Director of the Garden, was appointed
Physician to the Grand Ducal faniily. He travelled in
Tuscany to collect materials for his great work on the agrir
culture, natural history, art, and antiquities of his native
country; he suggested raeasures for the drainage of the
marshes, and to prevent the frequent inundations from the
Amo ; but his most important work was his last, on the
progress of physical science.
Frangesco Redi, the last whose narae is raentioned in
connection with the Tribune pf Galileo, was born at Arezzo
in 1626, and educated at Pisa; he practised as a physician
in Florence, and was one of the raost remarkable observers
of his time. His attention was chiefly directed to the study
of insect life, but he threw light on other subjects of natural
history : he also contributed to maintain the purity of the
Tuscan idiom, and is best known abroad by his graceful
poem, " Bacco in Toscana," in which he gives a description
of the vines of Tuscany. Redi died in 1694, and was buried
at Arezzo.
In rooms on the same floor with the Tribune of Galileo

444 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
are other physical instraments of historical interest : an
inclined plane, said to have been used by Galileo ; the
tube of Torricelli, placed on a wooden frarae, and inscribed
Tubo di Torricelli Firenze, anno 1604; a chromatic scale
invented by Nobili, whose raonument is in Sta. Croce, and
a medallion drawn and coloured by means of electro
chemistry. The first galvanometer, Ukewise constructed by
Nobili, as well as his first thermo-electric pile. Besides
instmments of inferior value, there is a case containing all
required for experiments on attraction by electric currents
and the lode-stones. Lastly, a large lode-stone, with wires,
to obtain the electric spark, produced by raagnetic action ;
on the stand is inscribed, Sotto gli auspici di Leopoldo II.,
diede la prima scintilla il 30 Geun., 1832. A. L. Nobili e Y
Aiitinori. Among the collection of modern instmments, which is
gradually increasing, is a galvanometer by which the late
distinguished Professor Matteucci first discovered the
currerits of magnetism in animals ; Matteucci presented his
library of scientific books and periodicals to this Museum.
Facing the staircase is the room assigned for lectures on
botany, surrounded by a valuable botanical Ubrary of five
thousand volumes, handsomely bound, bequeathed by Mr.
Philip Barker Webb, whose portrait in oil is over the door
opposite the entrance. Mr. Webb travelled over a large
portion of Europe and Asia Minor, accorapanied by
Monsieur BerthoUet; they published a valuable work on
the Canary Islands, which they also visited. In the winter
of 1848 Mr. Webb arrived in Florence, and he was so rauch
impressed with the value of the botanical collection, as well
as with the interest taken in the Museum by the Grand-Duke

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 445
Leopold IL, that, at his death, he bequeathed his own large
and rare collection of dried plants to this prince, and desired
by his will that a house he had recentiy purchased in Paris
should be sold, and the profits invested to purchase an
annual sum for additions to the botanical section of the
Museum. Beyond the lecture-room is an exhibition of the* natural
products used for medicine and art, arranged by the pre
sent Director, Professor Filippo Parlatore. Though not
equal in size to the sirailar collection in Kew, founded by
the distinguished botanist the late Sir Williara Hooker, it is
as complete. Professor Parlatore began this collection, as
well as the Herbarium of Central Italy, in 1842, and ob
tained specimens of flowers, fruit, and seeds from the
botanical gardens attached to the Museum, as well as from
ItaUan and foreign botanists. When the Professor was one
of the jurors at the great Exhibitions of Paris and London
of 185s, 1862, and 1867, and at the Italian Exhibition of
1 86 1, he obtained great additions to the collection; and
when chosen Director of the Museum he sent a circular to
the ItaUan Consuls in all parts of the world, to request their
assistance in contributions of natural products from every
place in which they were stationed. By these means the
collection of vegetable products has become singularly rich
and important, including specimens preserved in spirits of
wine ; woods, starches, sugars, oils, gums, resins, balsams,
textile fibres, &c., with manufactures of all kinds, such as
ropes, cloths, hats, fans, carpets, boxes, and articles of dress,
as well as everything applicable to medicine or the indus
trial arts. There are, besides, drawings and photographs of
various useful, iraportant, or singular plants : the dragon

446 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
tree of Teneriffe, the Mexican cypress, the raphia palm of
Madagascar, the palra which produces the vegetable ivory,
the kauri pine of New Zealand, &c. — a section of the trunk
of this pine is exhibited which is nearly eight feet in
diaraeter. Besides these, there is a very rich collection of cereals
and grasses, such as serve for brooras, matting, &c. ; the
Italian reed, Arundo donax, so faraiUar to every traveller
crossing the Alps into Italy ; the sheaths of the Indian corn,
which, frora their elasticity, are used for under-mattresses — •
Sacconi; the Coix lacryma, Job's tears, the seeds of which
are used for rosaries ; the papyri of Syria and Syracuse —
Cyperus Syriacus — on which Professor Parlatore has pub
lished a pamphlet to prove this papyrus to be a diflferent
species frora that of Abyssinia and Nubia ; also the tubers
of the Cyperus esculentus, eaten in Sicily, and from which a
refreshing drink can be obtained.
Among the specimens of the bulrash tribe are Typha
found in marshes all over Europe, and used in Tuscany to
protect the oil and wine flasks, and for ropes ; also speci
raens of Typha angustifolia, L., which the Sicilian peasants
use for candles ; and the product of the Palmi di San Pier
Martire — Chamcerops humilis, L., from Algeria and Sicily.
The Oricello, or OrcheU, is a Uchen most worthy of
notice, because of the beautiful amaranth colour obtained
from it, and from which the family of Rucellai, or Oricellai,
who first introduced the dye into Florence, took their name.
There are good specimens of lichens which grow on the
lavas of Etna and Vesuvius, collected by Professor Parla
tore ; and a fine specimen of the Pietra Napoletana of the
Apennines, or Fungus Stone, which, when soaked in water

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 447
for a certain time, produces good edible fungi, and whose
nature has occasioned much discussion among naturalists.
All these products are arranged in the natural order, be
ginning with the Cryptogams, proceeding to the Mono
cotyledons, and ending with the Dicotyledons. The
famiUes to which tiie plants belong are marked on the cases,
and each speciraen has the common as well as scientific
name attached, with its locality, the name of the donor, and
the date.
The wax preparations are especially interesting ; in one
case is a magnificent representation of the anatomical
stiucture of the Truflfie ; also of the Fungus, Oidium Tuckeri,
which causes the vine disease, made under the direction
of Professor Amici ; as well as that of the rainute fungi
which attack both the vine and the rose ; some of the
most beautiful of these wax specimens represent the fecun
dation ofthe Gourd and Orchids.
This coUection is one of the richest in Conifera and
Gnetaceae, illustrated by Professor Parlatore in his mono
graph of these families of plants, which forms part of the
great work — the Prodromus — of De CandoUe. There are
also various specimens of cottons, with coloured illustra
tions ; and woods and fruits of Borneo, contributed by Signor
Odoardo Beccari, who is now engaged in a second voyage
for the discovery of objects in Natural History. China,
Japan, and Australia, are all here represented, with rare
specimens from Central Africa, Angola, and Benguela, added
by the German naturalist, Mr. Welwitsch.
Beyond the room containing this collection of plants and
vegetable products, is the valuable Herbarium of the
Museum, which owes its existence to Professor Parlatore.

448 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
Several small Herbariums of pecuUar value are kept in the
Director's private apartment, all of which have been col
lected by botanists prior to Linnaeus.
The Herbarium of Andrea Cesalpino is supposed to be
the oldest in existence ; its date is about 1563. Cesalpino
was born at Arezzo, in 1519, and becanie Professor of
Botany and Medicine in his native city : he was afterwards
choseii physician to Pope Clement VIIL, and died in Rorae
in 1603. He was one of the first who arranged his speci
raens according to classification founded on the organization
and fructification of the plant. His Herbarium, preserved
in the Florentine Museum, was made for one of the Torna
buoni family, as appears in a letter written by him from
Pisa in 1563. The specimens, which are very small, are
pasted on half-sheets of strong, coarse, white paper, which
Professor Parlatore has had bound into folio volumes. Each
speciraen has its Greek, Latin, and Italian name, written by
Cesalpino himself; there is no atterapt at systeraatic no
raenclature, and nothing of systera visible in the arrange
raent, but an index in the collector's handwriting is prefixed
to the volume. This Herbarium belonged to the Palatine
Library until 1844, when the Grand-Duke Leopold II.
presented it to the Museum of Natural History.
The Herbarium of Pier Antonio Micheli is no less valu
able. MicheU, born in Florence in 1699, died, in 1737.
His volumes of manuscripts and drawings were purchased
for the late Professor Targioni Tozzetti ; araong these last
are a vast number of coloured drawings .of fungi : Micheli
was the first to discover these were real vegetables, and
he has been called the precursor of Linnaeus. His Her
barium was bought from the Targioni's faniily by the

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 449
Grand-Duke, in 1845, to increase the collections in this
Museum. A smaU volume is preserved here, containing a few
plants, with their names in autograph, by Linnaeus, Thun
berg, Swartz, and Acharius.*
The central Herbarium of tiie Florentine Museum is very
rich in European and African specimens, and is arranged
with the utmost care and ingenuity, so as to enable the
student to find any specimen he requires with the greatest
facility. The plants are in sheets of paper made up into
separate packets ; and each packet, containing certain farai
lies, is placed between boards, fastened together by straps
and buckles. Within every sheet are various speciraens of
the same species, and these are arranged within the packet
according to geographical distribution, beginning with plants
growing in the most northern latitudes, and gradually pro
ceeding south, or, in like manner, from east to west. Every
plant has a label attached to it, with its name, locality, the
name of the donor, and the date of its discovery, inscribed ;
thus enabling the student to compare the specimen with
observations on the subject, published prior or subsequent
to the date here given. This label is fastened with pins to
a half folio sheet of paper, to avoid the use of gum or
cement, so injurious to the specimen. The packets are laid

* Charles de Linne (Linnseus), bom at RoeskUde, Sweden, 1 707 ;
died in 1778.
Charles Peter Thunberg, Swedish botanist, pupU of Linnseus, pro-
fessor at Upsala; died 1798.
Olaus Swartz, bom 1760; died 1817,
Eric Acharius, born in Sweden 1757, one of Linnaeus's best pupils ;
died at Upsala in 1819. ,
VOL. II. G G

450 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
on shelves in niches, resembling Columbaria, around a very
large chamber. The systera followed in the arrangement of
the whole is that of De CandoUe.
The adjoining room contains the Herbarium of Mr,
Webb, comprising 1,062 packets of plants, which include
80,000 species. Besides Mr. Webb's Herbarium there are
those of Pavon, Labillardifere, Desfontaine^^ and Mercier.
Pavon raade his coUection in Peru and Chili. Labillardifere
accompanied La Perouse on his expedition to New Hol
land. He was taken prisoner by the Dutch, and his collec
tions were brought to England ; but, through the generous
intervention of Sir Joseph Banks, they were restored to
Labillardiere without being opened ; lest, as Sir Jpseph
wrote to Jussieu, "a single botanical thought should be
taken from hira who had gained them at the risk of his own
life," LabiUardifere died in 1834, and his Herbarium was
bought by Mr. Webb. It is especially valuable, because
containing the description of each plant in Labillardifere's
own handwriting, afterwards published in his works.
Rene Desfontaines was the master of De CandoUe ; he
coUected 1,600 species in Tunis and Algeria, and discovered
300 new ones. Mr. Webb purchased his Herbarium for
6,000 francs. Philippe Mercier was a Genoese,
The Botanical Museura has also a rich coUection of fossil
plants, sorae of which are wanting in the botanical cabinets
of the capital cities of Europe, This collection was begun
by Professor Parlatore, and possesses already more than
4,000 valuable specimens. Among these, the most note
worthy are the fossils of the Carboniferous formation from
the mines of Mercurio di Iano, near Volterra, and the fossil
plants frora the vicinity of Sinigaglia ; those of the Travertine

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 451
and of the Miocene formation of Tuscany, and from many
formations in other parts of Italy, including the Permian
formation of the Brescian territory. The splendid collection
of large palms from the country around Verona and Vicenza
formerly belonged to the naturaUsts Massalongo and Visiani ;
the impressions of plants from the lava of the Island of
Lipari ; those from the supposed Carboniferous strata of the
Tarantaise which shine like silver, because covered by a
strata of talc, are all important ; as well as the great collec
tion from the Miocene of Switzerland, illustrated by Pro
fessor Heer, with many fossil impressions from the Carboni
ferous strata of France, Belgium, England, and Gerraany ;
those frora the Tertiary of New Zealand, and the models in
plaster of many fraits and unique speciraens, with stems of
trees from all parts of the world.
The celebrated wax anatomical preparations of this
Museum are among the most interesting objects here. This
art was first brought to perfection by a Sicilian noble,
Gaetano Giulio Zurabo, bom in Syracuse, 1656. The
report of his wonderful skill in wax-modelling having reached
the ears of the Grand-Duke Cosirao IIL, Zumbo was invited
to Florence ; some time later he left Tuscany for Marseilles,
where he lived under the patronage of Louis XIV., and
died in 1 703.* The anatomical preparations of the struc
ture of the- torpedo, iUustrate the experiraents raade by
Tain and Matteucci on animal electricity. The representa
tions in wax of the magnified anatomy of the lobster, cuttle
fish earth-worm, and the tongues of molluscs, are well

* Several small waxen figures of Zurabo have already been men
tioned in the description of the BargeUo and Pitti Palace.

452 WALKS IN FLORENCE.
deserving of attention; there is likewise the egg in the
several stages of the chicken's developraent ; the anatomy
of various types of vertebrated aniraals, the cat, goat, rabbit,
codfish, &c. In adjoining rooms are exhibited specimens
of human anatomy, among which are wax raodels of the
rauscles, ligaments, and cartilages, and of skeletons ; the
last are, however, of small value, since the reality can be so
easily procured.
The zoological, anatomical, and mineralogical coUections
are all on the second floor. The visitor passes through a
succession of small rooms containing a large collection of
insects, under the care of Professor Targioni Tozzetti, who
represents the third generation of a race of illustrious
naturalists ; beyond the insects, are corals and madrapores ;
and finally the MammaUa of Italy, adrairably prepared. In
one roora is a reraarkably fine example of the Tuscan wolf ;
also a good specimen of the wild boar of the Maremraa, the
moufifions or wild sheep from Sardinia and Corsica, and
very fine specimens of fish frora the Mediterranean, both
stuffed and preserved in spirits; the globo-cephalus, with
its skeleton, and the pilot-whale found at Orbitello.
The collection of birds is tolerably large, and remarkably
well preserved.
The palaeontological coUection from Central Italy is ex
tremely valuable. It was first formed by order of the
govemment frora raaterials already existing in the Museum,
and in the third Scientific Congress held in Florence, a reso
lution was passed, to add minerals and geological specimens
from all parts of Italy, to be arranged geographically, ac
cording to the geological divisions of the Peninsula, — the
fossils foUowing the rock speciraen of each formation, and

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTQRY. 453
the minerals in Uke manner illustrating the formation, and
arranged according to a consecutive system. That part
which exhibits the minerals of all countries is very rich,
though less remarkable for number or variety than for the
beauty of the specimen. Those from the Island of Elba are
among the raost valuable of the whole collection. The
Museura has been lately enriched by the addition of that of
Prince Demidoflf.
The geological collection, under the direction of Professor
Cocchi, is in two divisions — the general collection, and that
intended to exhibit the rock formations of Italy. The raost
important specimens belonging to the first of these divisions
are those from Hungary — Kaiserstuhl — and those from Egypt
recentiy presented to the Museum. As an appendix to these
collections, is a yet incomplete collection of geological speci
mens applied to the useful arts, the most important of which
are the Italian marbles, cut and poUshed, which received the
Premium at the London Exhibition of 186 1.
The Palaeontological Museura of Central Italy, on the
ground-floor, consists chiefly of fossil raammiferi. It is also
reraarkable for fossils frora the Tertiary deposit, the Pliocene
portion of which. Professor Cesare d' Ancona is now illustrat
ing. An important part, for the beauty and number of the
specimens, are the fossils from the Pietra-forte, Upper
Cretaceous, as well as of fossils of the Secondary formation
in Tuscany, alraost unique of their kind, and collected by
the exertions of Professor Cocchi.
The general collection has been noticed by some of the
most eminent Em-opean naturalists, especially by the late
Dr. Hugh Falconer, who has published nuraerous observa
tions on the fossils of the Florentine Museum.

454

• WALKS IN FLORENCE.

The celebrated fossil huraan skuU from the neighbourhood
of Arezzo is preserved here, as well as other specimens of
great value, such as those of the —

Elephas meridionalis

named

by Nesti.

Rhinoceros Etmscus

>t

Falconer

R. Megarhinus

tl

Christof.

Hippopotamus major

31

Cuvier.

Bos Etrascus

tt

Falconer

Equus Stenonis

It

Cocchi.

Sus ....

11

Sp.

Cervus dicranios .

tt

Nesti.

Cervus ctinoidas

tt

Nesti.

Bos primigenius

tt

Blum.

The recent discoveries on animal physiology by means of
vivisection, by the distinguished German Professor Schiff,
though open to animadversion from those who consider that
no addition to human knowledge can justify the raeans
employed, have greatly added to the scientific reputation of
the institute attached to this Museura.
The Museura is chiefly distinguished — for its collection of
Physical Instraments; for Mr. Webb's Herbarium and
Library ; for the fossil bones from the Val d' Arno Superiore,
and Inferiore, contained in the Palaeontological Museum; for
the complete collection of Vicentine Fossils, and for the
wax models of anatomical stmctures.
Attached to the building, and adjoining the Boboli, is the
Botanical Gardens. It was commenced by the Grand-Duke
Pietro Leopoldo, a few years after the foundation of the
Museum, and was considerably enlarged by Ferdinand IIL,
whose favourite study was botany, and who therefore added
tiie hot-houses, and enriched the garden with a coUection of
foreign plants, some of which were iraported by the Botanist

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 455
Raddi, sent by Ferdinand to explore the vast Empire of
Brazil. Under the direction of Professor Ottaviano Tar
gioni Tozzetti, and by the aid of. the . gardener Berni, and
afterwards of the gardeners Giuseppe and Antonio Piccioli,
the gardens were entirely re-formed arid riearly doubled in
extent; and in 1842, when Professor. Parlatore was called
to the Chair of Botany, they again underwent improve
ments to adapt them better for scientific study. One part
of the garden is assigned to the sexes of plants, iUustra
tive of the natural system ; another to. represent the flora of
China and Japari, and to assist in the study of geographical
distribution ; another part to plants from the temperate and
frigid zones of America and Europe.
This garden is especially distinguished by the great num
ber of specie, which have increased from 826, which they
were in 1842, to above 121,000. There is a fine collection
of Palms, Cycadeae, Conifers, Tree-ferns, Aroideae, Orchids,
Draconse, Maranite, &c. Airiong the rare plants are, the
Pachira, Anda, Hura, Psidiura, Pandanus and Cycas, Arau
caria, and various species of Cinnaraon, Quassia, Cinchona,
Ipecacuanha, Coca, Nux voraica. Nepenthes, Bursera gura-
mifera, Anacardium, Mango, &c.
It is to be hoped that in the new arrangements making in
the Museum, the Director may be allowed to improve, and
add to the hothouses, which are few, sraall, and ill con
structed.

456

WALKS IN FLORENCE,

CHRONOLOGY.
¦Acharius, Eric
Averani
Botanical Chair
Cesalpino, Andrea .
Desfontaines, Ren6
Galileo Galilei
„ his first telescope
LabiUardiere . ,
Linnaeus .
Michele, Pier Antonio
Museum commenced
„ opened to the pubUc
„ School of Public Instruction founded
„ „ „ suppressed
,, „ „ restored
„ Institute of Studii Superiori
Redi, Francesco
Swartz, Olaus
Targioni Tozzetti .
Thunberg, Peter
Torricelli, Evangelista
Viviani, Vincenzio .
Zumbo, Gaetano Giulio

A.D.
b. I7S7 — d. 1819
b. 164s— d. 17071842
b. 1519- d. 1603
b. 1564 — d. 1692
1609
d. 1834
b. 1707— d. 1778
b. 1699 — d. 1737
177s
17801807
1814
18331859
b. 1626 — d. 1694
b. 1760 — d. 1817
b. 1712 — d. 1783
d. 1798
b. 1608— d. 1647
b. 1622— d. 1703
b. i6s6 — d. 1703

INDEX.

Abate, Neri, vol. i., 198
Academy of FineArts, vol. ii., 141
,, Platonic, vol. i., 74; vol, ii„
240
Accademia degli Apatisti, vol. ii., 88
„ del Cimento, vol. i., 241
„ della Crusca, vol. i., 240;
vol. ii., 175
¦ „ Filarmonica, vol. ii., 80
Alfieri, "Vittorio, vol. ii., 27
Alighieri, Dante, vol. i., 329; vol. ii.,
27, 136, 143, 174, 180
Altafronte, Castle of, vol. ii., 4
Anthologia, the, vol. i., 186
Antonino, Bishop, vol. i., 73, 218, 290;
vol. ii., 157, 169, 177, 214
Archives, the, vol. i., 238
Ariosto, Ludovico, vol. ii., 252
Athens, Duke of, vol. i., 193, 317, 328;
vol. ii., 10.
Baccano, II, vol. i., 173
Baglioni, Malatesta, vol. ii-, 269, 286
Banca Nazionale, vol. ii., 88
Baptistery, the, vol. i., 23
„ Gates of, vol. i., 28
Bargello, the, vol. i,, 314
,, Chapel of, vol. i., 329 ;
„ Oifice of, vol. i., 316
Bastiniani, Girolamo, vol. ii., 164
Beatrice, Countess, vol. i., 126
Benivieni, Girolamo, vol. ii., 178, 266
Benizi, San Filippo, vol. ii., 116
Benvenuti, Pietro, vol. ii., 200
Bianca Capello, vol. i., 239; vol. ii..

Bocaccio, vol. li,, 32, 254, 261
Boniface VIII., vol. ii., 22
Borsi, Pietro, vol. i., 93, 107
Bracciolino, Poggio, vol. i., 85, 137 ;
vol. ii., 185
Browning, Mrs. Eliz. B., vol. ii., 99,
291
Bruni, Leonardo Aretino, vol. ii., 31
Calcio, game of, vol. ii., 9
Calimala, term of, vol. i., 172
Canto della Cuculia, vol. ii., 304
„ della Farina, vol. i., 232
,, alia Paglia, vol. i., 120
Capanna, Puccio, vol. ii., 210
Capello, Bianca, vol. i., 239 ; vol. ii.,
141, 288
Capitano del Popolo, his residence,
vol. i., 178
Capponi, Nicolo, vol. ii., 282
„ Piero, vol. ii., 10
Captains of Guelphic party, vol. i., 317
Camesecchi, vol. i., 244; vol. ii., i^o
Caroceio in Mercato Nuovo, vol. i., 174
Casa Casuccini, vol. i., 306.
,, Guidi, vol. ii,, 291
„ Londi, vol. i., 301
„ Pia di Lavoro, vol. ii., 76
„ Stufa, vol. ii., 304
Cascine, the, vol. ii., 242
Cavalcante, Guido, vol. i., 26
Cecco d* Ascoli, vol. ii., 45
Cemetery, ancient, of Cathedral, vol. i.,
61
„ round Baptistery, vol. i., 26
„ of Jews, vol. ii., 315

458

INDEX.

Cemetery, Protestant, vol. ii., g8 ..'
Church of S. Ambrogio, vol. ii., 93
„ S. Andrea, vol. i., 168
,, SS. Annunziata, vol. ii., 113,
120
), S, Apollinare, vol. i., 320 ;
vol. ii., I
,, S. ApoUonia, vol. ii., 183
„ SS. Apostoli, vol. i., 180
„ Badia, vol. i., 306
„ S. Barnaba, vol. ii.,_i83
,. S. Biagio, vol. i., 175
,, S. Carlo, vol. i., 196
„ S Cecilia, vol. i., 229
,, S. Croce, vol. ii., 15
„ S. Elisabetta, vol. ii., 316
,, S. Felice, vol. ii., 299
,, S. Felicita, vol. ii., 274
,, S. Firenze, vol. ii. 2
„ S. Frediano, vol. ii., 315
,, S. Gaetano, vol. ii., 186
„ S. Giovannino, vol. ii., 149
„ S. Giovannino dei Cavalieri,
vol. ii., 181
„ S. Jacopo sopr' Arno, vol.
ii., 280
¦ f, S. Jacopo tra Fossi, vol.
ii., 7
„ S. Jacopo in Ripoli, vol. ii.,
240
„ S. Leonardo in Arcetri, vol.
i., 222
„ S. Lorenzo, vol. i., 124
,, S. Lucia degli Magnoli,
vol. ii., 259
„ S. Marco, vol. ii., 175
,, S. Margherita de* Ricci,
vol. i., 294
„ S. Maria sopr* Amo, vol. ii.,
254
, S. Maria dei Battilani,
vol. ii., 181
S. Maria in Campo, vol. ii.,
87
„ S. Maria della Carmine,
vol. ii., 305
S. Maria dei Fiore, vol. 1.,
50
„ S. Maria Maggiore, vol. ii.,
185
„ S. Maria Nipotlcosa, vol. i.,
193

Church of S. Maria Novella, vol. ii.,
w207.
„ S. Maria sopra Porta, vol. i.,
175
„ S. Maria degU Ughi, vol. i.,
188
„ S. Martino, vol. i., 290
„ S. Michele, vol. i., 196
„ S. Michele delle Trombe,
vol. i., 295
„ S. Michele dei Visdomini,
vol. i., 50 ; vol. ii., 88
„' S. Nicolo sopr' Amo, vol.
ii., 269
,', Ogni Santi, vol. ii., 243
,, Or San Michele, vol. i., 196
„ S. Pancrazio, vol. ii., 195
„ S. Paolo, vol. ii., 201
„ S. Piero Gattolino, vol. ii.,
316
„* S. Piero Maggiore, vol. i.,
306
„ S. Piero Scheraggio, vol. i.,
198, 22r, 2561
„ dei Pretori, vol. ii., i8S .
-„ SS. Procolo e Niromede,
vol. ii., 84
„ S. Reparata, vol. i., 5, 49
„ S. Romolo, vol. i., 232 ^
„ S. Salvador, vol. i., 120
„ S. Simone, vol. ii., 82
,, S. Spirito, vol. ii., 295
„ S. Stefano, vol. i., 178
„ S. Tommaso, vol. i., 162
„ SS. TrinitS., vol. ii., 196
,, Ser' Umido, vol. li., 316
,, S. Zenobius, vol. i., 64
Cimabue, workshop of, vol. i., 117
Ciompi, Riot of the, vol. i., 319
Collegio Eugeniano, vol. i., 112
Column of S. Feliciti, vol. ii., 274
„ of Mars, vol. i.,39
,, in Mercato Vecchio, vol. i.,
165
Compagrni, Dino, vol. i., 48 ; vol. ii., 8g
Corapany of the Bigallo, vol. i., g8
„ Buonuomini di S. Martino,
vol. i., 218, 291
„ Laudesi di S. Maria, vol.
i., 198 ; vol. ii., 73
„ S. Luke, vol. ii., 126
], Misericordia, vol. i., 92

INDEX.

459

Company ofthe Scalzi, vol. ii., 364
,, Umiliati, vol. ii., 241J 247
,, Vanchetone, vol. ii., 201
Convent of S. Ambrogio, vol. ii., 93
,, Annalena, vol. ii., 319
„ S. Caterina, vol. ii., 142
S. Clemente, vol. ii., 181
,, S. Egidio, vol. ii., 90
M S. Maddalena de' Pazzi,
vol. ii., 99, 103
,, S. Marco, vol. ii., 154
S. Maria degli Angeli, vol.
"•> 135
,, S. Maria Novella, vol. ii.,
206
„ Monte Domini, vol. ii., 78
„ Montecelli, vol. ii., 76
„ S. Rocco, vol. ii., i8i
Corsini, Don Neri, vol. ii., 32
Council of Greek and Latin Churches,
vol. ii., 9
Croce al Trebbio, vol. ii., 204
Dante (see Alighieri)
Dante da Castiglione, vol. i., 169, 328;
vol. ii., 157
Danti, Fra Ignazio, vol. i., 276
Davanzati, Bernardo, vol. i., 188
Donati, Forese, vol. i., 178
„ Piccarda, vol. ii., 77
Dudley, Robt., Duke of Northumber
land, vol. ii., 192
Duomo, the, vol. i., 50
„ Opera del, vol. i., 114
Esecutore della Giustizia, vol. i., 261
Ltruscan origin of Florence, vol. i., i.
Family of Acciajoli, vol. i., 180; vol.
ii.. 249
Adimari, vol. i., 192
Alberti, vol. ii., 7
Alessandri, vol.i., 302
Amidei, vol. i., 178
Amieri, vol. i., 167
Bardi, vol. ii., 257
Bischieri, vol. i., 50
Buondelmonte, vol. i., 178;
vol. ii., 25s
Capponi, vol. ii., 108, 299
Corsini, vol. il., ig8
Falconieri, vol. i., 50

Family of Fransoni, vol. ii., 242
,, Frescobaldi, vol. ii., 280
„ Ginori, vol. ii., 151
„ Gondi, vol. ii., 225
„ Guadagni, vol. ii., 293
„ Guicciardini, vol. ii., ^ 275,
278
„ Guidi, vol. ii., 85
,, Infangati, vol. 1., 229
„ Lambertesca, vol, i., 176
,, Lamberti, vol. i,, 170, 178
„ Macci, vol. i., 193
„ Marucelli, vol. ii., 142
„ Medici, vol. i., 113
,, Michelozzi, vol. ii., 291
„ Nerli, vol. ii., 297
,, Pandolfini, vol. ii., 182 1
„ Pazzi, vol. i., 175
„ Peruzzi, vol, ii., 8
„ Pitti, vol. ii., 323
„ Ricasoli, vol. ii., 353
„ Ricci, vol, ii., 220
„ Ridolfi, vol. ii., 289
„ Rinnuccini, vol. i., 238; vol,
ii., 287
„ Rondinelli, vol. ii., 186
„ Rossi, vol. ii., 274
„ Rucellai, vol. ii., 193, 215
„ Serristori, vol. ii., 269
„ Soderini, vol. ii., 284
„ Strozzi, vol. ii., 217, 226, 230
„ Tomabuoni, vol. ii., 195, 220
„ Torrigiani, vol. ii., 260
„ Vacca, vol. i., 230, 257
„ Velluti Zati, vol. ii., 58, no,
287
„ Vespucci, vol. ii., 247
Fanali, or Lanterns, vol. ii., 7
Ferucci, Frangesco, vol. ii., 196
Ficino, Marsilio, vol. i., 74
Fiesole, Etruscan city of, vol. i., 2
Filicaia, Vincenzio, vol. ii., 34
Florence, origin of name, vol. i., 3
,, topography of, vol. i., 9
Fortezza del Basso, vol. ii., 184
„ S. Giorgio, vol. ii., 271
Foscolo, Ugo, vol. ii., 29
Fossombroni, Vittorio, vol. ii,, 35
Galilei, Galileo, vol. ii., 36, 271
Galleries, Public, of Art, vol. i., 346
vol. ii., 332

460

INDEX.

Galuzzi, vol. i., 301
Game of Calcio, vol. ii., 9
,, Palla e Maglio, vol. ii., in
Gardens of Boboli, vol. ii., 321
„ Medici, vol. ii., 142
„ Orti Oricellari, vol. ii., 240
„ Torrigiani, vol. ii., 317
Gherardo, Bishop, vol. i., 125
Ghetto, the, vol. i., 159
Ghibellines and Guelphs, vol. i., igi
Giotto, Campanile of, vol. i., 62
Giovio, Paolo, vol. i., 151
Giudici alia Ruota, vol. i., 320; vol.
ii., 4
Gonfalonier, Office of, vol. i., 201
Grand-Duke Cosimo I., vol. i., 113,
231; vol. ii., 208
Grand-Dake Ferdinand I., vol. i., 146
„ Pietro Leopoldo, vol. ii.,
328
Grazzini, Anton Fran9esco, vol. i., 83
Guilds, vol. i,, 117
Guild of Advocates, vol. i., 211
,, Butchers, vol. i., 177, 210
„ Farriers, vol. i., 205
„ Flax Merchants, vol. i., 168,
204
„ Foreign "Wool Merchants,
vol. i,, 172, 212
„ Furriers, vol. i., 204
„ Hosiers, vol. i., 209
„ Merchants on Exchange,
vol. i., 164
„ Notaries, vol. i., 212
„ Physicians and Apothe
caries, vol. i., 162, 203
„ Silk, vol. i., 176, 200
„ Smiths, Carpenters, and
Masons, vol. i., 208
„ Swordmakers, vol. i., 20S
„ Vintners, vol. i., 180
,, "Wool, vol. i., 172, 206
Guittone, Fra, of Arrezzo, vol. ii., 135
Hospital of S. Bonifazio, vol. ii., 182
„ Foundling — the Innocenti,
vol. ii., 130
, „ S. Maria Nuova, vol. ii., 8g
„ S. Maria della Scala, vol.
ii., 239
„ S. Matthew (see Academy
of Fine Arts)

Hospital of S. Paolo, vol. ii., 202
„ Templars and Knights of
Malta, vol. ii., 252
Inquisition, Office of the, vol. ii., 45
Landino, Jacopo, vol i., 213
Lando da Gubbio, vol. i., 316
Lapo, Arnolfo di,vol. i., 315 ; vol. ii., 15
Latini, Brunetto, vol. ii., 186
Library of S. Croce, vol. ii., 44
„ Laurentian, vol. i., 152
of S. Marco, vol. ii., 171
„ MaruceUiana, vol. ii., 142
„ National, vol. i., 239
Lions of the Republic, vol. i., 256, 261
Loggia degli Adimari, vol. i., 193
„ of Bigallo, vol. i., gg
„ de' Lanzi, vol. i., 222, 225
Macchiavelli, Nicold, vol. ii., 29, 279
Magliabecchia, Antonio, vol. i., 239
Manetti, Gianozzo, vol. i., 6g, 73
Manin, Daniel, vol. ii., 25
Marsili, Luigi, vol. i., 82
Marzocco, the, vol. i., 268
Marzuppini, Carlo, vol. i., 72; vol. ii.,
35
Matilda, Countess, vol. i., 7, ng
Medici, Card. Alexander de', vol. ii.,
201
„ Bernadetto de', vol. ii., 145
„ Cosimo de', vol. i., 25g ; vol.
ii., 171
„ Giovanni de', vol. 1., 113,126,
137
„ Giovanni delle Bande Nere,
vol. i., 123, 119, 296
„ Giuliano de', vol, i., 141
„ Lorenzo de', vol. i., 77
„ Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, vol.
i., 142
„ Orlando de', vol. ii., 121
„ Ottaviano de', vol. ii., 142
,, Piero il Gottoso, vol. i., 137
„ Salvestro de', vol. i., 318
„ Tombs of the, vol. i., 140 — 146
Mercanzia, Office ofthe, vol. i., 211
Mercato Nuovo, vol. i., 174
„ Vecchio, vol. i., 160
Mirandola, Pico della, vol. ii., 94, 178,

INDEX.

"461

Monti, the, (Public Funds), vol. i., 170
Mugnone, course of the, vol. i., 11
Murate, Prison of, vol. ii., 79
Museum, Egyptian, vol. ii., 416
„ Etruscan, vol. ii., 420
„ Natural History, vol. ii., 440

Neri, S. Philippo, vol. ii., 316
Niccoli, Nicolo, vol. i., 153 ; vol. ii,
171
Niccolini, Gio, Bat., vol. ii., 145

Order ofthe Seivi, vol, ii., 113
Orlandini Baldassare, vol. i., 281
Orso, Bishop Antonio de', vol. i., 75

Palio, the, or Cloth of Gold, vol. i., 302
Palazzo Acciajuoli, vol. ii., 251
Albizi, vol. i., 306
Alessandri, vol. i., 302
Antellesi, vol. ii., n
Antinori, vol ii., 186
Arcivescovile, vol. i., 119
Barbadori, vol. ii., 280
Barberini, vol. ii., 11
. Buonarotti, vol. ii., 82
Canigiani, vol. ii., 259
Capello, vol. ii., 288
Capponi, vol. ii., 108
Capponi Oltr' Amo, vol. ii.,
2S2
Capponi, Uzzano, vol. ii,, 259
CasteUani, vol. ii., 4
Cerchi, vol. ii., 280
S. Clemente, vol, ii., no
Conte Bardi, vol, ii., 81
Conti Galli, vol. i., 301
Corsi, vol. ii., 187
Corsini, vol. ii., 198
delle Cento Finestre, vol. ii.
186
Feroni, Oltr' Amo, vol. ii.,315
Feroni, Spini, vol. i., 184
Feruccio, vol. ii., 287
Firidolfi, vol. ii-, 288
Fransoni, vol. ii., 242
Frescobaldi, vol. ii., 248, 280
Gherardesca, vol. ii., 107
Ginori, vol. ii., 151

Palazzo Gondi, vol, ii,, 3
,, Guadagni, vol, ii., 293
„ Guicciardini, vol. ii,, 278
„ Guidi, Conti, vol. ii., 85
,, Guigni, vol. ii., 139
„ Manelli, vol. ii., 140, 254
„ Martelli, vol. ii., 130
„ Michelozzi, vol. ii., 291
,, Montalvo, vol. i., 300
,, Murat, Caroline, vol. ii., 246
„ Nonfinito, vol. i., 297
„ Orlandini, vol. ii., 186
„ Panciatichi, vol. ii., gg
„ Pandolfini, vol. 1., 231 ; vol. ii.,
182
„ Pazzi, vol. i., 300 ; vol. ii., 88
„ Pitti, vol. ii., 323
„ Pucci, vol. ii., 140
„ Quaratesi, vol. i., 298; vol, ii.j
243
„ Riccardi, vol. ii., 146
,, Ridolfi, vol. ii., 289
„ Rinuccini, vol. ii., 287
„ Rucellai, vol. ii., 192
„ Salimbeni, vol. i., 188
„ Salviati, vol. ii., 316
Seristori, vol. ii., 11, 269
„ Siraone di Firenzuole, vol. ii.,
103
,, Spini, vol. i., 183 ; vol. ii., 198
„ Strozzi, vol. i., 188 ; vol, ii.,
187, 240
„ Tempi, vol. ii., 257
„ Torrigiani, vol. ii., 260
„ Uguccione, vol. 1., 231
„ Valori, vol. i., 306
„ Vecchio, vol. i., 255, 273
Pandects of Justinian, vol. i., 157
Panzano, Michele da, vol. ii., 90
Passavanti, Fra Jacopo, vol, ii., 232
Paterini, the, vol. i., 95 ; vol. ii,, 204
Pedro, Don, di Toledo, vol. 1., 85
Peter Martyr, vol, i., g6; vol. ii., 204,
229
Piazza dei Cimatori, vol. i., 290
„ di S. Croce, vol. ii., 9
di S, Maria Novella, vol. ii,,
203
„ della Signoria, vol. i., 221
„ SS. Trinita, vol. ii,, 195 *
,, Vecchia, vol. ii., 185
Pietra-dura, vol. ii., 412

462'

INDEX.

Pitti Gallery of Paintinef, vol. ii., 367
Podesta, Office of the, vol. i., 314
Poliziano,Angelo,vol. i.,74, 85 ; vol.ii.,
178
Ponte alia Carraia, vol. ii., 247
„ alle Grazie, or Rubaconte, vol.
iiv 5
„ SS. Trinita, vol. ii., 248
„ Vecchio, vol. ii., 251
Pope John XXIL, vol. i., 44
„ Leo X., vol. ii., 318
Martin V,, vol, i., 120
„ Paschal II., vol. i,, 126
Porta Bacchiera, vol. ii., 206
„ a Balia, vol. ii., 88
,, San Frediano, vol. ii., 313
„ San Gallo, vol, ii,, 180
„ alia Giustizia, vol. ii., 76
i, „ San Miniato, vol. ii., 271
,, delle Pere, vol. ii., 8
„ Romana, vol. ii., 318
„ San Giorgio, vol. ii., 272
' „ Visdomini, vol. ii., 88
Porte yjates) of Florence, vol. i., 14
Portinari, Folco, vol. i., 295

Quarters of Florence, vol. i., 11, 262
Quay Lung' Arno AcciajuoU, voL-ii.,
247
Quay Lung' Amo Corsini, vol. ii., 248

Races, Horse, vol. i., 297
Ranieri, Bishop, vol. i., 46
Ricasoli, Giovan Batt., vol. ii., 212
„ Pandolfo, vol. ii., 45
Ringhiera, the, of Palazzo Vecchio,
vol. i., 267
Ripa Fratta, Fra Lorenzo, vol. ii,, 167

S. Bemard, Chapel of,Pala2zo Vecchio,
vol. i., 278
S. Bernardino, vol. ii., 23
S. Louis of Toulouse, vol. ii., 22
Sacchetti, Fran9esco, vol. i., 217
Savonarola, Girolamo, vol. i., 149, 260 ;
vol. ii., 164, 174
Scala, Bartol. della, vol. ii., 107
Soderini, Nicolo, vol. ii., 304
„ Piero, vol. ii., 104, 312

Stinche Vecchio, (Prison), vol, i,, 257;
vol. ii., 80
Strozzi, Filippo, vol. ii., 184, 187
„ Palla, vol, ii., 197
„ Strozzo, vol. i., 24, 44
Stufa, Ugo della, vol. i,, 123

Tabemacles, at comers of streets, vol.
1., 197; vol. ii., 408
Tabemacle of "Cinque Lampade,"
vol. li., 140
Tamburo, the, vol. i., 261
Tasso, Torquato, vol. ii., 290
Theatre in Uffizi, vol. i., 237
Tiratojo, vol. ii., 315
Torrigiani, March. Carlo, vol. ii., 184
Toscanelli, Paolo, vol. i., 82
Towers, old, of Florence, vol. 1., 20
„ of Boscoli, vol, i., 315 ^
„ La Castagna, vol. i., 292
„ Cerchi, vol. i., 294
„ Guardamorto, vol. i., 94
,, Palazzo Vecchio, vol. i.,. 258
Tozzetti, Targioni, vol. ii., 25
Turpin, Archbishop, vol. i., 181

Uberti, Farinata degli, vol. ii., 64
„ Uberto degli, vol. i., ig8
Uccellatojo, bird-tower, vol, i., 10
Uffizi, the, vol. i., 234
„ Gallery of Paintings, vol. i., 346
Ugolino of Sienna^ vol. i., 197
Uzzano, Nicol6 d*, vol. i., 30, 180 ; vol.
ii., 141, 259

Valori, Baccio, vol. i., 306; vol. ii., 104
,, Francesco, vol. i., 312
Vettori, Piero, vol, ii., 300
Via Borgo Allegri, vol. ii., 79
„' degli Albizzi, vol. i., 297
,, de* Bardi, vol. ii,, 254
„ Cacciajoli, vol. i., 193
„ Calzaioli, vol. i., 192
,, del Corso, vol. i., 296
„ San Gallo, vol. ii., 181
„ Ghibellina, vol. ii., 79
,, Borgo de' Greci, vol. ii., 9
„ Borgo San Lorenzo, vol. i., 122
„ Oricellari, vol. ii., 240

INDEX.

463

Via dei Pittori, vol. i., igs
„ della Sapienza, vol. ii., 141
Vieusseux, Gian Pietro, vol. i., 185
Villa Petrovitz, vol. li., 271
Villani, the, vol. ii., 84
Visdomini, Cerettleri, vol. i., ig3
Viviani, Vincenzio, vol. ii., 66, 93

Walls, circle of, vol. i., 12
„ of city, vol. i., 194
"Willa, Countess, vol. i., 306
Zecca, the, or Mint, vol. i., 236
Zenobius, Bishop, vol. i., 5, 7g, 118
vol. ii., 177

THE END.

PRINTED BY VIRTUE AiND CO., CITY ROAD, LONDON.

3 9002